1st Christmas Tree

One of my favorite times of the year is Christmas, due in large part to the fact I get to decorate the house for the holidays. We choose a tall tree this year – 9 ft – and although the living room size probably doesn’t merit such a big tree, I still love it! Emmy doesn’t seem to notice the tree’s existence because we aren’t in that room too often. But I know this is the last year that will be the case. I suspect that next year the bottom 2 feet of the tree will be void of decorations.

Emmy loves her Shug!

It’s been a tough week at the Webb household. Little EJ was sick and home from school Tuesday-Friday, which meant Drew and I were also home, sharing baby care duties. But we couldn’t have made it through the week without Emmy’s Sugar Gram. My mom is always such a huge help to us, and this week was no exception.

Happy Birthday Britton

A couple weeks ago, Emmy's first official friend, Britton Mackintosh, turned one-year-old. It's been fun watching her grow this past year, and being able to see what's just around the corner for our little one. Below are some pics from the wonderful party Barbara hosted.

Baby's First Thanksgiving

The fam loaded up and headed down to Quincy, Florida this past Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving with Drew’s dad and brothers. Mary Helena cooked a wonderful feast and you can see how happy Emmy was to be there!

It’s been a strange yet wonderful year and we certainly have very much to be thankful for. I'm thankful first and foremost for my family. Our little threesome brings me so much joy -- it's tough to imagine life before Junebug.

Big Girl Stroller

Had to share this cute photo of Em in her new ride. This is what we take on our shopping trips. You wouldn’t believe how small it folds up!

Emmy’s Baptism & Half Birthday

It’s hard to believe our little pumpkin is 6 months old. Just before her half birthday on November 9th, Emmy was baptized at our church, All Saints Episcopal. Junebug doesn’t do very well sitting through an hour-long service, and even managed to fit in a smelly surprise just as the service began. But I’ll say she did do beautifully as Rev’d Geoffrey Hoare showered her little noggin with holy water. No screams from our little one.

We were joined at the church by close friends and family to witness the sacred moment. We know that Mackensy, Heidi and Evan will make wonderful godparents.

Following the service, everyone joined us back at the house for a get-together and lunch. It meant so much to have everyone there. Playing the role of host, I managed to not take a single picture all weekend. So yes, I missed the chance to get a shot of Emmy’s first trip to the Georgia Aquarium, which she seemed to enjoy. And all of the wonderful photo opps with my dear cousin Carrie and her son Alex, in from Philly. And shots of my Mom-Mom (in from Florida) spending time with Emmy.

So I’m relying on friends’ and family’s shots (see below). And luckily, Sean Randall came and took some great shots of the family with little Em – the one black and white shot below is one that he took. The rest of the pics can be found on his website:

www.seanrandallphotography.com
Click “Online Galleries”
Click “Families & Children”
Click “Emerson”
Click “Emerson Christening”

Morning Person

Emmy is most happy in the morning. She smiles nonstop and is in the best mood.

And ladies and gentleman, we have another milestone.......I have to help Em stay focused, but for the most part, she's a big girl and can give herself a bottle!

Lastly, she's developed a fascination and love for our other girls -- Maddie & Jane. She pushes herself forward in her swing so she can get a good view of them. It's so cute.

Our Ladybug's First Halloween

Emmy’s first Halloween was a success. She was the cutest darn ladybug I’ve ever seen. See below some pics of her all dressed up.

I'm a Slacker Mommy

It’s been a really busy time in the Webb House this past month. Daddy came home, and we’ve been going, going, going ever since. For this reason, this is my first post in a month…I’m so bad!



Some highlights from the month – Emmy now rolls over from back to front, but can’t seem to get back over. For this reason, nights quickly became nightmarish this past weekend. She rolls over in the crib to sleep, but when she wakes up, I think she’s frightened that she’s on her stomach and she can’t get back over. We counted 6 times Friday night, 4 times Saturday night, and just 2 times last night. So if she keeps trending this way, we’ll get a full night’s sleep tonight!

The Bug has also discovered she has feet, and that they taste pretty good. They, along with anything else she can get her hands on, are in her mouth constantly.



And lastly, we have a good eater! It took a few weeks, but now we’ve mastered apples, bananas, butternut squash and carrots. If we don’t keep the bites coming quickly enough, little bit lets us know by letting out a big growl. It’s the funniest thing. Tonight we’re going to try some green beans I made last night. We’ll see how that goes over. I’m not sure I’d like to eat mushy green beans, but maybe she’ll like them.

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!