June 8th

Thanks for all the birthday wishes sent my way yesterday. With the girls' birthday just around the corner, I had Emily help me open up my presents. They're a lot more interesting to her now then they were at Christmas time.

It has been a long time since I've been able to spend my birthday with my parents, and sadly they left early this morning. They hope to be back in Iowa by tomorrow night. Today was pretty exhausting without Mom's help. I somehow had to figure out how to cram laundry, dishes, and other duties into Emily's very short nap times. However, it was the first non rainy day in weeks, so the two of us did get a good walk in this afternoon.

June 8th is one of those dates I wish didn't have any significance, but it was a year ago today that Aaron and I went to Boise for what we thought was just another weekly ob visit but actually ended up with me on bedrest. At the time, I never thought I could have made it through twelve weeks in that hospital room with leaf designs in the ceiling and a view of a tree. But if I knew then what I know now, I would have never complained about a moment spent in that bed.




Notice the butterfly card that Emily finger painted for me and my mom assembled. Emily is quite the budding artist.

Yankee Fork

Despite a rainy Sunday, we drove north to the Yankee Fork today. First stop was the Sunbeam Hot Springs, then the Bonanza Cemetery, followed by the gold dredge, the ghost town of Custer, and then back to Stanley for a late lunch.
the hot springs



checking out the cemetery from the Idaho gold mining days

and the gold dredge

The Beginning of June

Emily learns sharing and taking turns through coffee time with Dad in the morning...


June is a big birthday month in this family! Emily's cousin Sam just turned 18, then my own, then the girls' first birthday, which they happen to share with Grandpa. The presents are starting to pile up for Emily, which she curiously checks out. It doesn't matter what's inside - the paper and ribbons are entertaining enough.


Grandpa arrived on Tuesday. He'll stay for a week, then head back to Iowa with Grandma next Tuesday. This was Emily's expression when he walked in the door. She's slowly warming up to him...

Sunday

There are only 4 days left before summer vacation, so this time next week, we will all be pretty happy campers.

The quickest path is a straight line...

Why go around, when you can go through things?



but it doesn't always work out so well.

It seems as if Emily has no fear these days, as it should be. She'll go under, or through, anything in her path to get to what she wants. And it's hard to distract her away from what she has in mind (the dogs' tennis ball, a cord, a shoe). And she is now pulling herself up on anything and everything! Sure enough, the morning after we lowered the crib mattress, she greeted me in the morning standing in her crib.

Babyproofing

It was time to start baby proofing the house - the crib mattress was lowered as far as it would go and safety plugs are in the outlets. Now we need to start shopping for a gate for the staircase (boy, that's going to be difficult for a blind dog to figure out!).
Discovering the other side of the room - where are all the toys are kept! Despite this, I think her favorite place to go is under the rocking chairs.

Breakfast

This is a photo I received from Aaron on Friday. Emily was eating breakfast and decided to hold her spoon hostage.

Almost to 1

You're 11 months today!

At this point, you can crawl, but not very well. Especially when you find yourself on the hardwood floor. You sort of spin your wheels...
You talk - a lot, but aren't saying any words yet.
You know how to scream. Lungs are not a problem.
You are a total momma's girl. I'm okay with that.
Most of the time you sleep through the night.
You like to eat almost anything, but I think Gerber Puffs might be your favorite. Not the most nutritional choice. But you get to eat a lot of what we eat.
You like to bang your toys, pull my hair, and bite with your 8 teeth. We need to work on the last two.
You're in size three diapers and nine month clothes.
You love shoes. The fastest you move is when you eye shoes across the room.
The dogs make you laugh.
You make us laugh.

Spaghetti...

is yummy (and check out all my teeth!)

8 months adjusted age

Not that anyone is counting - but I only have 15 days left before summer vacation. I'm not sure if I gave the update about our daycare situation for the fall. The lady we had originally planned on taking care of Emily suddenly wasn't so sure about having in-home daycare past summer (due to personal reasons) so luckily we were able to score a spot with another in-home daycare with someone who happens to have been a pediatric nurse in her former life. It was ideal having Mom move in this year and be able to keep Emily home, but having a nurse watch Emily is probably the next best thing. I'm really happy with the outcome of what felt like the start of a bad situation.

Emily has pulled herself up twice without help, but she hasn't been able to differentiate between what is and is not stable enough to help her!

It was such a nice weekend here. We spent most of it outdoors getting some planting done. Emily observed from her stroller - sometimes pleased, sometimes not so much.






By the way, this ball popper toy is a total hit with Emily. I'd highly recommend it. It's one of those toys that the music is good enough that even after you hear it for the fiftieth time it isn't totally annoying.