Jackson Hole, WY Baby!

Ivan and most of his friends are turning 30 this year. We made a 24 hour trip to Jackson Hole this weekend with Sam and Meagan to celebrate Sam's 30th birthday. We had a really good time like we always do with Sam and Meagan. We enjoyed a couple of good meals and went River Rafting. Meagan and I had never been and were terrified. Once I found out that we were only going to be on the water for a little over an hour I was okay, I figured that I could survive that long if I hated it. We ended up having a blast and when the guide guided us to the "dock" I looked back at Ivan and said, "it's over already". Our boat got the wettest out of any of the boats that went in our time slot. Meagan also got pulled into the water completely by her lovely husband Sam.


We stayed at these cute cabins at Cowboy Village. Thanks to Meagan for putting it all together and for inviting us along!






These next photos are the best we could get. It was late, dark and me being so bright, asked the oldest men around to take our picture. Ooh well, what do you do?




Some pictures of the scenery on the drive back to Utah.



We also had old fashioned pictures taken. I will have to wait for Meagan to send me the pictures online, but I will be sure to post them too. They turned out so cute and I can't wait for Sam and Meagan to use them for their Christmas Card this year!

Where does the time go?

I've been friends with Lindsey since High School. We just had our 10 year reunion this summer, so it's been a while. I've been friends with Jodi for about 8 years or so. As time goes by, we all know friendships are challenged with time constraints from everyday life. I don't see or talk to Lindsey or Jodi often these days, although I think about both of them often. I had the pleasure of driving 1 hr with Jodi to Lindsey's baby shower last weekend. It was great to catch up on our days and compare baby stores - Jodi's youngest, Saige, is 2 weeks older than Emery.

Here are some photos that I stole from Jodi's blog from the baby shower and some of our girl trips. Boy how I miss the girl trips.




The last one is from a cruise we took back in 2001. We all look so young .. it will be so quick now that our daughters will grow up and be taking girl trips as well. I can only hope that they grow up to have such good friends as I have had.

Family

We've had several family members in town over the weekend. Here are just a few pictures to enjoy..

Emery and her cousin Brandon who is 11 weeks old
The girls ... myself, Makayla, Tasha, Shannon and Emery

Myself and Emery with Brenda and Brandon


Okay, we had a lot of family in town for 4 days. I really need to get better with taking pictures. If only I had a better camera (hint, hint Ivan ... )

Emery has TEETH!

Emery has been working on getting her two bottom teeth for a few weeks now. She is very shy about it though and we usually only get to see them when she is eating and opens wide for a mouthful of food. I finally captured the teeth in a picture..

You need to click on the pictures to enlarge them to actually see the pearly whites though.

Happy 8th Birthday Makayla!

We had Makayla's 8th birthday party at Boondock's last night. It was a blast - when we got there, Makayla said, " please wake me up, I think I'm dreaming". We were there from 7p until midnight when the place closed. We had pizza, cake, played mini-golf, rode the go-carts, played video games, you name it. We all had a great time, but were exhausted by the time we left. A special thank you to Grandma Phyllis for putting on such a wonderful birthday for Makayla!

The girl wrapped tickets around Makayla as we sang happy birthday. If she was wrapped in them all by the time we finished singing, she got all 200 tickets. And, she earned them all.

Misc Events

Our annual trip to the zoo...


I was reading People magazine the other night and Emery wanted to join in on the fun ...
Makayla and Emery at the Children's Museum at Gateway. Makayla was a little old for the museum, but if you have children between the ages of 3-5, I would definitely recommend it.

Recent Pictures

Ivan and Emery on the 4th of July
Makayla is in town - yeah! Her and Emery playing..
We took Makayla to Hollywood Connection last Sunday since we couldn't find anything else open. Emery wasn't too amused, she went to sleep in her stroller.
Emery really does smile a lot. But, she refuses to for the camera most days. If you notice, she has the exact same expression in both pictures below. The last one is her 8 month picture. Time goes by way too quick.

Emery Goes Swimming

My Mom and I took Emery to the pool 2 weeks ago for the first time. She really wasn't too sure about it at first but I think it's because the water was a little cold. We went again on Wednesday and she loves to "jump" into the pool. We will sit her on the side of the pool and she will lean in to get in the pool when she's ready. She can only stand being out in the heat for about an hour and a half, but we still enjoy it while we're there.

Emery, Emery, Emery..

Just about every post is about Emery, but I guess that is expected since we are first time parents, right? Below are a few pictures of the last month or so.

Emery and Carter spending quality time together ..


I told you we are swaddle free .. this was a rare occasion, now Emery is a belly sleeper and it is the cutest thing. I go in every night before I go to sleep to check on her and see what her sleeping position is like.

Emery finally held her sippy cup for the first time. She doesn't get much water out of it, but we keep on trying
I was being silly with her new bathing suit
She finally cuddled with one of us. Emery is very active, which is expected at this age. She doesn't like to be held all of the time and sure as heck doesn't like to be cuddled. After a few tries of putting her to sleep, Ivan brought Emery into our room to hang out and watch TV. I grabbed her and started stroking the side of her face. She laid still for about 10 minutes and then I put her in bed and she was out. It was such a rare occasion that I kept checking to make sure she was still breathing :)

We are finally swaddle free!

Yes, we were still swaddling Emery at 7 months old. The baby just wouldn't sleep well unless she was swaddled nice and tight. At around 4 months old, I finally had to have a friend of mine make bigger swaddling blankets. And then it got to the point where Ivan had to swaddle her because she would break out of my swaddles in no time flat.

Well, now that we are finally having summer like weather, the only blankets I've had to swaddle Emery with are 2 sided flannel - way too hot these days. So, I decided we're done with the swaddling. We started 100% swaddle free on Friday night. Emery was up every 2 hours or so just to give her the binky. Last night she slept through the night swaddle free. Such a nice feeling! I feel the binky is going soon too. We'll see how tough that one is to give up.

Emery's 7 Month Update

Below are some random pictures from the last month or so. Emery is still a very happy, easy-going baby. She has a hard time sitting still at all. She also loves remote controls and cell phones, and the breeze in her face.

Emery helps with laundry...

I was folding laundry the other morning and had my stack of kitchen towels right in front of Emery. As soon as I put a new towel on the stack, she reached right over and grabbed it. She put the towel right into her mouth and started chewing on it. I thought it was cute, so I had to take a picture and post it.

Is it separation anxiety?

Dr Ring told us that separation anxiety would start at about 6 months if Emery would have it at all. I think it set in last weekend. Emery wanted to be held all of the time. And, putting her down for a nap or for bed isn't as easy as it used to be. Prior to last weekend, we would swaddle Emery, yes we are STILL swaddling, and she would go right to sleep. Not a peep from her at all, right to sleep. Well, this last weekend was a whole different story. On Saturday, Emery was clearly tired - rubbing her eyes and yawning. So, I went with the swaddling and put her in her crib. The minute I walked out of her room, she cried. She has done that everyday since Saturday. It just breaks my heart to hear her cry and cry. But, she is tired and I can't sit and hold my baby all day long - I've got things to do. I'm not sure how long this separation anxiety could last, but I'm over it already. Can I have my easygoing, easy sleeping baby back?

Emery is 6 months old already...

I continue to be surprised at how quickly time is going by. We had Emery's 6 month check up yesterday and she is right on track for everything and is still a perfect little baby. She took her shots like a champ as well and only cried for a minute until I picked her up.

She weighs 17.1 pounds and is 26 inches long.

Some things she has discovered in the last month:

• Her bottom lip - she loves to suck on it
• Her upper lip - it is the dang cutest thing when she is trying to suck it in with her tongue
  
• Not so fond of peaches yet
• She loves to be outside and feel a nice breeze on her face and in her hair
• She loves bath time and just discovered how to splash water

I just have to share this story as well. Emery's personality is really starting to come out and she knows what she wants and gets upset if she doesn't get it. I think Ivan's mom may be spoiling her just a little. Ivan had given Emery a small baggy with the headset from his cell phone in it. She loved playing with it and had it for about 10 minutes. Then, Ivan took it from her. She was not a happy camper at all. She let out a wine and the bottom lip started to tremble and she looked at me. She cried until she got the baggy back. Not a good sign of what is to come in the next few months!

Happy Mother's Day to me...

Emery and Carter

Here is a most recent picture of our two babies. Emery has really started to like Carter lately. She will watch him walk around and tries to "pet" him, which really means squeezing whatever part of him that she can grab. She loves to watch Ivan and Carter rough house - she is mesmerized by that and sometimes giggles at the silly boys.

Emery tries baby food...

We've been giving Emery baby food here and there since her 4 month check up. We started with plain old rice cereal mixed with formula. She didn't really care for it, so we mixed in a little applesauce. Still not very fond of the rice cereal. Since then, we have tried sweet potatoes, peas, carrots and bananas. She will eat all of them, but she definitely prefers the bananas. Yeah, I found something she really likes!! Who would have ever imagined that she would prefer fruit to veggies??

Emery's Room

I just had to share these. I love Emery's room and wanted everyone to see it. Most people think the stripes are wallpaper, but Ivan and I actually painted them on. They were really easy too. Enjoy!