Dinner at Heather's

Aunt Heather had us girls over for dinner Thursday night and to watch the premiere of Grey's...and to celebrate her engagement. Congrats Heather and Spencer!

Who likes oatmeal anyway?

Upon Drew's return home, we helped Em try her first solid food. Oatmeal was the food of choice. She didn't quite understand how it worked. There was oatmeal everywhere -- on her head, in what little hair she has, between her toes -- and she didn't seem to like the extra effort eating solid food requires. Her patience quickly dwindled to nothing, and we finished the meal with her usual bottle. We'll keep on trying. She'll get the hang of it sooner or later!

Happy Birthday Jonah!

Our neighbors threw a great birthday party in the park for their son, Jonah, who turned a year old today. Emmy had a great time on the playground (with a little help from her parents). And Jonah had a fun time eating his first bit of sugar. I love watching kids dig into their first birthday cake. It was so cute!

Weekend in South Georgia

We were in South Georgia this weekend for Ed & Lindsey's wedding and luckily, we were able to see some of Drew's family while there. The Bell's, Drew's aunt and uncle, watched Junebug for the evening while we attended the wedding, and we were so thankful. It was nice to have the night off, although we couldn't wait to get to home to little Em!

On the way home today, we stopped in to visit Drew's grandma, Emmy's great grandma. This was the first time she was able to meet the Bug. They both seemed to really like each other...

4 months old

Little Em turned 4 months old on Monday! I can't believe how quickly the time has passed and how much our little munchkin has changed. She has changed our lives, and we welcome the change. I couldn't imagine life without our little ray of sunshine.

So along with a her 4-month birthday, came a doctor's appointment. I very much look forward to these appointments because we get to see how much she has grown. Shots also come with these appointments, but Emmy handles those as best she can. It's strange the sense of pride you feel when you hear "90th percentile". We have a big, healthy, beautiful little girl that we've nourished for really over a year now. She's so curious about everything around her. Emmy now swats at her toys and brings anything into her mouth she can get a hold of, stares at the doggies (Maddie and Jane), and I've never seen anyone more excited about brightly colored plastic rings before in my life.

Her face lights up at the sight of not only toys and animals, but more than anything, familiar faces. There isn't a better feeling in the world than walking into Junebug's room in the morning, and finding her with a huge grin on her face in the crib. It's the best way to start any day.

And I'd say the best development I've witnessed thus far is her laugh. It's now a regular occurrance to hear her little belly laugh -- it is the sweetest thing ever.

So, onto the stats...

15 lbs, 7 oz -- 90th percentile
25" length -- 75th percentile
16 3/4" head circumference -- 90th percentile

The doctor informed us since she has doubled her birth weight, that it is ok to start feeding little Em solid food. We're going to wait for daddy to get home tomorrow, but we're planning on trying rice cereal or oatmeal first, and then move onto veggies and fruits. Exciting stuff!

First Ladies' Brunch

Emmy attended her first of many ladies' brunches today at Fritti. Despite the fact she was denied a mimosa, she really seemed to enjoy herself.

I wonder if there's a spot for this milestone in the baby book?

Reunited and it feels so good

Em and I made our way up to Connecticut this weekend to see Daddy. Because of dad's rigorous studying schedule, we were only able to stay one night, but we were all happy we were at least able to work that out. Our day went something like this...

We awoke at 5am so that we could leave by 6am for our 7:40 flight out of Hartsfield-Jackson. Uncle Kyle was flying out an hour after us, so he decided to join the fam, sneaking to the front of security lines with Em's stroller, and more important, helping us lug all of our things. You may think I'm crazy for scheduling a flight so early, but it was all part of the plan. Junebug was still so tired and groggy, that she slept the entire flight up to La Guardia.



Don't get me wrong, her peaceful state occurred after a few minutes of pretty intense fussing right when we boarded -- you should have seen the looks on the passengers' faces around us. Fear that she'd continue screaming the entire flight. Anger that I'd decided it was a good idea to bring an infant along for the ride. Just a few friendly people here and there were thrilled to see a baby.

When we finally nestled into our seat, we were situated beside a German woman who spoke not a bit of English. She immediately started speaking to me in German, and continued even though I clearly had no idea what she was saying. She then turned her attention to Em-girl, poking at her cheeks, playing with her little fingers...before I knew it she was holding Emmy, bouncing her up and down on her lap, and kissing her cheeks. It brought me back quickly to my pregnancy where perfect strangers think they are entitled to touch your belly, just because you are bearing a child. I proceeded to politely take Emmy back onto my lap, happy there was a baby lover beside me, but also happy to have EJ back with me.

We rented a car to drive the 45 minutes to Norwalk, where Daddy has been living for the past few weeks. We arrived early, so we checked into our hotel room and waited for the next few hours. When Drew notified us he was on his way back from corporate, we hopped in the car and made our way to see him. Drew proceeded to call me every few minutes to check on our progress. When we pulled into the parking lot, Dad came running up with the biggest smile on his face. The below pic is when Drew first put his head in the car to say hi to Emmy. You can see the glow on our little one's face. Tears were shed, and all was good in the world!



We headed back to La Guardia Saturday at around 2:30pm. More tears were shed, but at least now there seems to be more of an end to this madness. Drew will be back on Friday! He leaves again on Monday for the week, but being able to see him over the weekend will be enough to keep us going.

Below are some of my other favorite pics from the visit. If you can't tell, Drew didn't put little Em down the entire time!

Back to the beach...

This weekend Emmy made her second trip to the beach, this time for Brandi and Nate's wedding (see below pics of the beautiful bride). Sadly, Em still seemed to hate the sand, sun and surf. Her eyes are just too sensitive to the bright sunlight. I put her little feet down in the wet sand and she was fine with that. It wasn't until the water rushed up that she lost her cool. The waters were quite rough for the Gulf...all because of the storm surge from Hurricane Ike that hit Texas. It was wild to watch.

You'll see below how good Em is getting at tummy time, although I wouldn't say she loves it by any means. She's starting to roll on her side every time she's on her back, so I'd say rolling over is right around the corner.

Little EJ is getting really good at grasping and batting at her toys...and then chewing on them. Anything she's able to get her hands on goes straight into her mouth. I wouldn't be surprised if she has a couple teeth make a grand appearance soon. The doctor informed us a couple months ago that she was already teething, and judging by the amount of drool pouring from her mouth, those teeth will be here before we know it!

Shout out to Dad

10 days and counting...that's how long Drew has been in CT at training. We're so proud of how hard he's working. He's done very well on his tests, role plays, and pig operations (yep, you heard me right).

We have 8 days until Em and I make a trip up to see him for the night, and about 14 days until he comes home. For a few days at least. We just found out that he'll have to leave again the following Monday for more training, but this time for just 4 days.

We miss him terribly, and I know he misses us too. But in the end it will all be worth it.

I send several picture texts daily to Drew to keep him up on June Bug's looks. Babies change so fast! Below are some of my favorites.

Happy September Birthdays!

The fam came over Saturday afternoon to celebrate Cousin Michelle and Uncle Gary's birthdays. The weather was beautiful - warm and breezy. We had a little picnic in the park and then played a little bocce ball. Here are a few pics from the day.