Labor Day Weekend - North Carolina

Labor Day Weekend brought Emily face-to-face with her first lake experience. Granted she was immersed in the jumbo party raft so she only got a taste of the water from the mesh netting that let water in from the bottom, but she seemed to enjoy it. Soon enough she'll be jumping off the boat house roof, unlike her mommy here who was a big chicken and didn't do it.

We're In Trouble Now

Lounging in her boppy tonight, we looked down and realized Emily had pulled herself forward and upright. She was half way home to pulling herself onto the floor and we quickly realized neither our world, or hers would ever be the same again. No doubt, she was quite pleased with herself.

It's an Out and Out War! -- Costume Big Picture - See Photos Immediately Below

So since it seems there is an all out war between Tootsie Roll lovers and Wonderbread dieheards, I thought perhaps I should provide a little more insight into the overall big picture idea of each.

Tootsie Roll:  Our little nugget will be dressed in candy's finest and will be transported door to door while sitting in a large, homemade candy bucket, surrounded by other scrumptious morsels. 

Wonderbread: The same little nugget will be dressed in loaf's finest, and will experience her 1st Halloween from an A&P shopping cart, surrounded by a giant canned ham, mustard, and other sandwich necessities.  

Lil Crab:  If the crab wins, Emily will be sacrificed to a giant pot of melted butter and lemons.

Choose wisely. 

Cousin Kelley and Nick's Wedding

This weekend we attended Karen's cousin Kelley's wedding in Annapolis, MD. It was a beautiful ceremony, and we had such a lovely time at the reception. I don't think anybody had as much fun, with as many dancing partners as Em did.

Karen, Cousin Mike and Katie

Em showing off her new dress with Grammy

Fighting to stay awake with Papa

Losing the battle with mom

Unplanned, but color coordinated outfits for Sunday Brunch!

HALLOWEEN COSTUME...?

What do you think? Halloween isn't far away. We have a number of options, but we want to know what you think. Should Emily be a Tootsie Roll? A Wonder Bread? A Lil Crab? Or maybe there's one we've missed. Take the poll to the right and vote for your favorite...

OTHER POSSIBILITIES TO BRING ABOUT FUTURE THERAPY

I'll Make It Worth Your While

Stephanie will pay top dollar for someone to find Karen a pair of pants like these. And if they can't be purchased, Joy, start working, Christmas is just around the corner...

The Joys of Tummy-Time

Thanks to the gift of a digital slr, we can now show you in quick shutter time, just how quickly tummy time can go from an "Ok, I'll tolerate this" experience to "you have been given your 2 second warning to get me up" to "oh wait, that was a cool sound" to "alright, you've distracted no one, I want up!!"

4th of July Weekend - Fire Island Reunion 2009 Part II

4th of July brought Fire Island Reunion- 2009. Or, according to Allison who has had her head in books for too long, Reunion-2008. Our trip got cut a little short, but boy did we have a blast while it lasted.

We now require about 10x more space, and 20x more gear

Snugglin' with Auntie Joy

Taking a break from my busy day to eat

No Jay, I don't think I'd like to sit on the cooler today

4th of July Weekend - Fire Island Reunion 2009 Part I

Baby Em and Mommy

Em sporting her new beach outfit

Hanging with Auntie Joy and mommy at the beach house

Check out my beach gear

And some people like to ride horses on the beach...

Cousin Mike and Katie's Wedding

Karen's cousin Mike got hitched to a great girl (Katie) in York, PA this weekend. It was a beautiful wedding and a heckuva reception, and we just had a ball. Em had a dance partner practically the whole night!

The Bride and Groom

Scott, Karen, Aunt Pat and little Em

Ginny, Steph, Karen, Kelley and Em at the reception

Cousin Kelley's Bridal Shower

We drove to Annapolis, MD to visit Kelley, family, and friends to celebrate her upcoming wedding in August. It was a very lovely day. Emily met her two "great" aunts (grin grin -- Aunt Lori is holding her in pic two below) and cousins Kelley, Keri, and Cody. We had a nice time catching up with everybody and watching Kelley (with helper Cody) unwrap all of her loot!

1st Visit to Kentucky!

We knew she loved the car, but we didn't know she loved it that much! We drove 12 hours each way to Kentucky and back with all of us, Sadie, and Aunt Laurel! (pictured below) in the car, and it just flew by, with Emily sleeping the majority of it. Unfortunately we spent about as much time in the car as we got to spend at grandma and grandpa's, but it was so worth it. We were able to go out for dinner a couple of times, and enjoyed one evening with a pretty water view. Emily even scored some great music and books at the mega children's bookstore. She encountered her first kitty cat (and perhaps in turn, Emily was the kitty's first baby), and they were both mesmerized. But we think she liked dancing with mommy as grandma played the piano the best!

Grammy Comes to Visit

Emily loved spending time with her Grammy this weekend. They enjoyed a lovely lunch out and plenty of grammy/baby bonding time in. They're both smiling here, but we can attest to Emily being sad when she left. We suspect Grammy was too.

Our 1st Mothers' Day

We enjoyed our first mothers' day by having a lovely afternoon lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. The weather was beautiful so we were able to sit outside with her - and she never made a fuss. We realized just how very lucky we were when another family, with a not-so-agreeable little one, were seated next to us. We were afraid Emily would join in on the chorus of crying, but she was a good little trooper and just hung out in her car seat. See, we weren't lying, she loves that thing!!

Lunch out in Westfield was popular this year, and we were able to meet up with our friend Linda, her mom Pat, and their family. Somehow we only managed to get a picture of Linda--which is shocking since it didn't take long once Pat laid eyes on Emily for her to snatch her up and run off to their table with her. We weren't sure if she was going to give her back. :)

1st Kentucky Derby

No Kentucky Derby party is complete without sporting the proper hat. And well, it's really the whole ensemble. Finding a horsey outfit for an infant is no small task. And no Auntie Joy, when we said we found a horsey outfit, we did not mean that we dressed her up like a mascot horse. That would just be cruel. This getup is just funny. And it will be years until she's mad about it. We'd also like to mention that while nobody is ever going to believe this, that we split the field evenly among Karen, Wes and Stephanie- and since there were 19 horses in the race, we picked one out of the hat and let that be Emily's horse. And yes, that 50-1 longshot Mine That Bird won the Derby. So much for our plan to make the winner drive to KFC to fetch dinner.

Some recent visitors

"Great Auntie L!!"

Auntie Allison!!

Grammy and Papa!!

Uncle Scott!!

Emily has had a number of loving family and friends come see her.  If you've been here and escaped the camera, next time you won't!  

2 Weeks Old and Loving the Car

Much to mommy's dismay, I prefer the car to just about anything.  

Including my bassinet.

Musical Lullaby to Sleep

Promise we didn't edit this!

Da Feet

We know we're biased but she she's pretty special.  But what's really special are her monkey feet! Hit the play button and check out the video, and them, for yourself!  

9 1/2 Months Later, I'm Here!!

She took her sweet time getting here, but she made it. And oh was she worth the wait.