A long overdue update on the happy, smiling baby

Hello all,

I know I haven't posted in a while! After we returned from Greenville, there hasn't been a whole lot going on around here, just taking things one day at a time! This past weekend Charles' parents came for another quick visit and we had a nice time with them. Richard took TONS of pictures, of course, and we downloaded them before he left so I have added those to the August web album and will shortly upload a few more of my own that I have taken in the last week.

Let's see...Emmy and I came home Thursday before last after stopping in Spartanburg on Wednesday to see some friends/former colleagues (here she is below with baby Stella!) and Anderson on Thursday to see Grandma (see all four generations at left!). We had a good time away, but we were glad to be home and Charles was of course glad to have all of us home again. That Friday night Emmy had her first non-family baby-sitter come over to take care of her while we went to our friend Jim's retirement party. We had a great time and were reminded of how much we love our Augusta friends with all the antics. Emmy did great and Celia even agreed to come again. :) The rest of the weekend passed pretty uneventfully as well. Charles helped our friend Joel put up a fan in their new house. It took them 4 hours. They said it was because of the giant hole in the ceiling under the exisiting light fixture. I think the beers they were drinking might have slowed things down. Ha! While the boys were "working" Mary Ann and Emmy and I went to Ms. Peggy's 75th birthday party. Except, oh wait, the party was Sunday. So we got all the way out to Hephzibah just as Pam and Steph were getting ready to take her to get her hair done for the party the next day. So we headed home, only to get caught in major traffic because of a wreck or construction, we were never sure, with Emmy screaming in the back. As Mary Ann said, we spent an hour and 45 minutes NOT going to a party. So, we returned Sunday, this time with Charles, to celebrate with them.

Last Wednesday some of the wives in Charles' unit threw me (and Emmy) a little shower. It was lots of fun to be out and we were also celebrating the upcoming birth of one of the other girl's baby boy. It was a nice evening and the diaper cakes that our hostess made as centerpieces were fabulous! I forgot to take any pictures at the shower, but I did take a couple of photos of the cake when I brought it home. Isn't it fabulous? She said she knew I was using cloth, but of course that would have been a bit more expensive so she used disposables. I'm sure I can find someone who needs them!

We kept the weekend low key with Granddaddy and DiDi in town. They got here Saturday evening just in time to head to dinner. Then we played hooky Sunday from church (the choir traveled to Louisville to sing with another choir for a big concert and we opted out since Charles couldn't take off work and I was pretty sure that 8-10 hours in a bus with Emmy wouldn't have been much fun for anyone). We had a leisurely breakfast and dinner and then they headed home late afternoon.

Emmy has been sleeping really well at night, on average 7-10 hours. Ocassionally she will wake up earlier or have a "bad" night where she's up a good bit, but those are rare for now. She is not napping very well during the day, though, unless I hold her or lay down on the bed with her. It's a big challenge to get her to nap in her crib, but I'm not complaining as long as she keeps sleeping well at night. And lately day napping has been better.

She's really "talking" and smiling a lot and she's better at entertaining herself for longer stretches in her bouncy, swing, or just hanging out on the sofa or floor. This weekend we put her in high chair for the first time while we were eating and she loved it! Richard took tons of cute photos of her in it, like the one here.

Emmy also LOVES her changing table. Seriously, about the only time she's unhappy there is first thing in the morning if you change her before you feed her. The girl needs her food. When you put her down and start to take her diaper off, she starts kicking those legs. She'll babble and wiggle around. When we take all her clothes off before bath time, she really gets going. We call it the "naked baby dance," and it is hilarious.

She's also started "talking" to her food sometimes. It's like she's so excited to eat, just just has to say so. It's pretty funny, but obviously an event pretty much reserved for my enjoyment. I'd imagine she's thinking, as one of my favorite bloggers interprets it, "shut up, another buffet?"

Her eyes have become very blue, as you can see, and I expect at this point they're probably going to stay that way, which is exciting. She's getting these amazingly long and thick eyelashes, which she'll thank her Daddy for later. I'm a little jealous, I must admit. Her hair is growing in a bit darker, but still pretty blonde. A friend said she looks like a little doll, and I guess she does!

Anyways, the smiles and laughs are lots of fun and we're enjoying it all!