A Day in the Life: The holidays are here!

Emma got a new tooth today. It's her 8th tooth. It's her bottom right (next to the center teeth). There were no indicators that she was getting a new tooth. She hasn't been especially fussy. Right around Thanksgiving she got her 7th tooth, the bottom left (next to the center teeth). She was fussy for maybe a day, and that was about it. She likes to chew on everything, always. So that's not really a good indicator. I'm very thankful that getting new teeth isn't horribly painful for her. Even if it is uncomfortable, she seems to handle it well.

We got a box of shapes/balls for Emma to play with from Costco. They're called sensory balls.

I've tried giving her a little baby massage before, but she's way too squirmy and doesn't like to sit still. However, if you roll these sensory balls on her back or on her head, she really seems to like it. She sits still, which is pretty amazing!

One of her favorite activities right now is looking at her books. Pretty cute. She goes through most of the board books that we have accessible to her.

She just started getting up on furniture. She's also climbed over furniture to get into areas that are forbidden. She doesn't really listen when we tell her "no." I think that's related to her age more than anything else, although she's very strong willed. I really think we're in big trouble when she gets older.

Starting this past week, she's been staying up as late as 10:30pm. I don't have it in me to do cry-it-out. So if she doesn't want to sleep, she comes out in the living room and hangs out with us. It's a big bonus because she's either super cuddly (which she never ever is) or she acts delirious and laughs uncontrollably. So it's a big treat. And equally nice, she'll then sleep in- til 8:30am or so. Love!!

She's babbling quite a bit. She keeps saying a word that sounds like her name. Not sure if she realizes she's saying her name or not.

This past week, she started waving. She doesn't do it 100% of the time, even when we try to get her to. But when she does wave, it's pretty stinkin cute!
We're still working on her clapping but she doesn't seem too interested yet.

Her crawl has turned into a running crawl. It's amazing how fast she can get around. I think she's still a few weeks off from walking. We walk around the apartment a lot with us holding her hands. She'll stand and think about walking for a second, but she always goes back to crawling. I'm not sure her balance is quite there yet.

She knows where her Christmas presents are and keeps trying to get to them. Trouble!

We decided to get a small Christmas tree this year. We were afraid she'd try to pull a big Christmas tree on top of herself. I think it was a smart decision given our lack of space and considering we would have had to haul it up a flight of stairs. I feel a little guilty that she's not getting a full sized tree, so we're decorating in other ways too. We got a wreath for the first time. We also put up other small decorations around the apartment. Our box of Christmas decorations (stockings, lights, ornaments) is too hard to get to since it's likely in the back of on or our storage closets. I'm going to make Emma a stocking with the help of my mom. I'm sure I"ll post a photo once we finish.

Steve, Emma, and I went to Starry Nights at Shelby Farms last night. They have thousands of light displays all throughout the park. Monday nights are for walkers, runners, and bikers only. The rest of the week is for people to drive through the park. We knew there would be fewer people and it was Baptist night, so all Baptist Hospital employees got free admission. We were sold, especially considering we didn't make it through the Spooky Nights display at Shelby Farms in a car. Emma started screaming so we knew it would be too long of a drive with a screaming baby :-)
It was pretty awesome, minus the freezing temperatures. I worried too much about Emma because of the cold. She was bundled up minus her hands. She doesn't have mittens and she wouldn't keep them under the blankets. I was a little afraid that we'd cause permanent damage when we left. I felt horrible. :-( Needless to say, Emma had a nice warm bath when we got home.

I am really bad at narrowing down photos. So I'm posting a bunch! Eventually I'll be uploading even more photos onto my Picasa page if you want to see more.

Emma loves exploring the cabinets