Memorial Day

It's become tradition that we have our family over for Memorial Day every year.  We grill and let the nieces play in the sprinkler, which is just too cute because the "cousins" (I don't really know what you would call my nieces' relationship to Jesse's nieces) have so much fun together.  You'll notice a difference in quality of these pictures as compared to my normal pictures.  Jesse's brother Scott is a photographer. :) www.thestormwatch.com


Also, I realize these pictures may be Audrey heavy but let's face it, that kid was born to be a performer.

Cute Emma

Emi had to stay inside and out of the sun.

The Audge

Pretty Karina

The Grillmaster

Cousin Sydney

Audrey

Karina

Molly

This girl has had some dance lessons.

Seriously, where does she get this stuff?

Emma finally gets in on the action

Carolyn and Sydney

The sprinkler got stepped on and wouldn't move anymore.  Of course the eldest cousins in each family stepped in to fix it.

Emi is going to have so much fun playing with her cousins.

And P.S.  No boys allowed.

Mother's Day Trip to NY

Jesse, Emi and I spent a week up in central NY visiting Jesse's mom and stepfather for Mother's Day.  I got to enjoy my first Mother's Day relaxing, taking two naps and not changing a diaper or preparing any food the entire day. :)

We always enjoy our time in CNY with Fred and Connie.  Here are some highlights:

Not so sure about Grandpa Fred yet, but at least she wasn't crying. :)

Playing with Nonna

So much fun!

Having lunch at the lake and trying to minimize sun exposure- hence the awesome sun hat.

Me relaxing with a cold one.  Haha, jk.  That is Grandpa Fred's.  I don't know why I think it is so funny that it looks like the beer is mine.

We took a short drive to the town of Cazenovia, which is about 20 minutes away up in the mountains.  It has a cute main street and happens to be the hometown of Ann Burrell from the Food Network (one of my favorite Food Network stars).  After a little stalking and talking to store owners, we found out her mother owns a flower shop on main street.  So of course we stopped in and chatted with Momma Burrell for a little bit, which I just thought was so cool.

Fred and Connie live way out in the country.  The closest town, Chittenango, is about 10 minutes away and happens to be the birthplace of Frank L. Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz. They have an Oz festival every year, and there are a couple of stores devoted to selling all things Oz that I have always wanted to visit and finally got to during this trip.

Poppies!

Emi 4 & 5 Months

OK, so I'm a bad mommy blogger.  Maybe Emi will just get posts every other month. That's not so bad, right?

Four Months
My little girl is getting so big way too fast. At four months, Emi's pediatrician told us we could (and should) put her in her crib to sleep.  I knew it was time, she was just getting too long for her little bassinet.  So the night of her 4 month checkup Jesse and I did normal bedtime routine: bath, lotion/massage, jammies, family prayer, nurse and down for sleep.  When we laid her down she was looking up at me with those big brown eyes and looked so tiny in her big girl crib...I told her I love her then walked out and balled!  Jesse was already sitting in our room ready to console me and let me cry on his shoulder.  I really do like having our bedroom back to ourselves so we don't have to tiptoe around and whisper, but I still miss her once we put her down at night.

Mmmmm, so yummy!

Also at her four month mark we were told that she could start eating solids.  I bought some organic oatmeal cereal and we invited my parents over for dinner and to see her eat her first food.  She got cereal for three nights.  We had a rough couple of days around that time, the third day was full of particularly high-pitched painful wails that ended after a big diarrhea (TMI? I think baby bowel movements are ok to talk about). I figured her tummy wasn't handling the cereal very well and decided to skip it that night and see if we had a better day the next day.  Lo and behold my angel baby was back, smiley and happy as ever. Jesse and I decided we should wait until she turned 5 months to try cereal again.

Somewhere in between 4 and 5 months...

Emi has been "talking" since she was really tiny, but lately she has been finding new things to do with her voice and mouth that are just so cute...or maybe just cute to me. :)

Five Months
Five months has brought so many changes!  Emi has gone through a major growth spurt- at least it seems so, I should probably weigh her. We started her on cereal again and her tummy is doing really well, she LOVES to eat (not a huge surprise). Thank goodness for that too, because I would feel so horrible whenever we would eat because she would smack her lips and drool because she wanted some too!

I love Mr. Elefante!

Emi has also begun grabbing everything and putting things in her mouth.  Thankfully she is pretty content with her toys right now and doesn't get upset when I don't let her take my phone, the remote, my iPad or other non-Emi things. It's really cute when I am dressing her or changing her diaper and she grabs my arm with both hands like she's captured me.  Along with the discovery that she can use her hands, she has also learned to play games with me. She thinks it is hilarious when someone "eats" her hands or feet, so she will put her hand up to my mouth and I will gobble it, which makes her giggle and pull it away, then she'll repeat.  It is just so neat that she can interact and show her sense of humor. A few short months ago she couldn't even smile and now she is giving me belly laughs and squeals of joy. It's just too precious.


I can't even describe how much I love this little girl, and my love grows more and more every day which really kind of baffles my mind.


Months 4 & 5.  Serious growing action!