6 whole months.

Half of a year has gone by since sweet Emily Mae joined our clan.  I am seriously in disbelief.  I have no idea where these six months went, but I have a feeling I will grow to miss them greatly.  Emily has drastically changed the dynamic of our family, but she has definitely changed it for the better.  I have enjoyed watching her grow and change, and every now and then I see glimpses of what she will be like as a toddler.  I can almost predict she'll be a spunky one :)  As I've posted before, Em gave us a crazy introduction to the world of 2 kids, but she has settled into a very easy routine.  I am just starting to see indications that she is getting bored with certain toys that I've abused by giving them over and over to her... I can see that look in her eye when she is annoyed with something, and it makes me laugh.  Jordan and I were talking the other day about "starting over" in training Em.  He commented that it would be much easier if the girls had little USB ports we could use to plug in the latest downloads.  Well, since that isn't happening, I might as well enjoy the next few months with Emily before she gets feisty on me. :)  

Emily loves to put everything in her mouth.  If she can get her shirt, excellent.  If she can get her fist, even better.  Toys will do, too, as long as they're the right texture.  She loves to grab at my face, and I know she's getting close to trying to put that in her mouth, too.  I love seeing her focus on grabbing something... she's trying so. very. hard. to get it - and- oops, missed.  I also love when I see her get distracted and she ends up looking at her own fingers in awe.  Seeing the way her little eyes take in the big world makes me marvel.  I love how she catches her breath when the wind is blowing on her face.  How often I ignore the beauty & wonder all around me.  Emily seems on the small end of the charts to me, still, but I'll know more when I take her in next week for her check-up.  She adores watching Elyse, and Elyse has the most success getting this girl to giggle.  I must say, Emily does not seem quite as free-spirited as her sister was at this age.  She seems much more reserved, and though she loves to "talk" and smile often, she is determined to make us work at getting her to laugh.  I love her flirty smiles and the way she wiggles her eyebrows at us when she's just begging for more attention.  She is still scooting all over her crib, but she has no desire to get on her knees and crawl around :)  She will roll from her tummy to her back once in a while but has not tried rolling the other way yet.

(Don't you love this "I'm sick of pictures" response??  I do.)

Her latest trick is sucking on her bottom lip and blowing raspberries at the same time.  Very funny.  I'll hear her in the next room (where she should be napping) just making her happy noises all to herself.  Though Emily has been a good sleeper, she doesn't like or need to sleep nearly as much as Elyse did, and I'm learning to be okay with that :)  I am starting to believe that Emily has a very high metabolism, as well.  She does not make very many "messes" (if you get my drift), and the pediatrician we saw last evaluated her x-rays and mentioned that Emily just might be metabolizing every last bit of her food.  Little PIGGY.  She would seriously eat all day if I let her.  Not happening.  I still haven't been able to hold her off to four hours between most feedings (which makes me very said if I think about it), but I'm hoping starting her on cereal will help.  Having said that, she has hardly any fat rolls and is just the cutest little string bean out there :)  Hmm... extremely high metabolism seems to run in my family but skipped moi.  How sad.

Here are my fun's and not-so-fun's for this age.  There are so many other things I could list about what Emily is doing, but most of them are details only Mommy and Daddy care about :)

fun's:

* she's ticklish under her chin.  putting her jammies on and zipping them up is always fun :)
* she loves to be teased and lights up when you play peek-a-boo with her.
* I love that she will still fall asleep on me often.  seriously, I could hold her forever.
* Emily has found her thumb, but she still prefers to suck on her index finger knuckle.  strange, huh?
* I love watching her light up when Elyse comes over for kisses or to just say "hi!"
* she holds onto the changing table almost every time she's there as if she might fall off :)
* she loves loves loves to stand (with help, of course :)  this is foreign to me, as big E preferred to SIT.
* she is enjoying "trying" to sit up, but she's still pretty floppy.
* she makes the cutest face when she gets close to a toy with a "face" on it.  her expression seems to say, "why, hello, toy!"
* she can still sleep in the corner of a noisy room, but I know those days are coming to an end!
* I love bringing her into our bed when she's up early- I think that might be my favorite time of day with her, after a long night's sleep.  she is almost giddy.
* My mom has a theory that every second girl on our side of the family will be left-handed.  So far, she's been proven right.  Emily seems to be taking after her mommy :)

not-so-fun's:

* I truly am getting a glimpse of her temper now and then, and it makes me pray hard that she will learn compliance someday soon :)
* I am kind of dreading the start of this food-thing.  I do feel like she needs it, but I will miss the days of not having to pack "meals" for the times we're out.  Welcome back, baby food!
* it's not exactly easy to tote her around in the car seat anymore, especially when Elyse has one of my hands.  THANK YOU, Elyse, for learning to walk, though! :)  I try to utilize my sling or my carrier whenever possible.
* I thought I would have a much easier time leaving Emily in the nursery, or with babysitters, etc... than I did with Elyse.  Actually, it's harder for some reason.  Maybe it's knowing what a dynamic duo they can be :)
* I packed up all the newborn clothes the other day, and I almost cried as I remembered getting most of them only "yesterday."

I have been pondering more and more recently the beauty of this life God grants us.  My girls are such a huge part of God's display of his grace to me and Jordan.  I look into their eyes now and know that someday they will look back at me with older eyes; eyes that have seen more of the world & eyes that know life isn't perfect.  So, for today, I will continue to look into Emily's sweet little wide-eyed face and enjoy introducing her to the beauty of the life around us.  I will enjoy the fact that she doesn't care that mommy hasn't plucked her eyebrows or done her hair...  All she knows how to show is adoration, and I'm fine with that :)  I love being her mommy.  It's been a happy six months, Emily Mae.  You are a treasure!