Exploring the Space

Definitive proof that Emery does indeed like the bows.

Exploring the Space from Weylon Smith on Vimeo.

The Happy Elf

Attack of the Baby!

Emery: 1 Ashley: 0

Pass the Peas, Please

Pass the Peas, Please from Weylon Smith on Vimeo.

Over Thanksgiving weekend Emery entered the world of solid food. She took to the spoon right away, but has been slow to warm up to the idea of the food on the actual spoon. So far she's tasted rice cereal, oatmeal, green beans, peas, squash and jerk chicken. I let her taste a bit of guacamole the other night and I think she might have liked that one little bit above all the others! She'll be eating salsa like her momma in no time.

Disclaimer: No, she's not always wearing a bow when she's eating. :)

6 months

Wow, it's been a while since we posted one of our monthly updates. Seems like in the past month we've been traveling and traveling and have run out of time for updating!

Emery weighed in at 16lbs 10 oz at her 6 month check up...still a chunk! She measured 27 inches- the nurse said she's in the 90th percentile for height...not so sure about that but we'll see where she measures next time. It's hard to get those squirmy babies to sit still! Emery did manage to rip apart every piece of that tissue type paper on the exam table. It was pretty comical waiting for the doctor to come in- she would get so excited seeing herself in the mirror and then in the process rip up the paper. I finally just tore the paper off the table as that was easier than trying to pick the pieces out of her mouth!

In many ways, this month has been the most fun and exciting as we've watched Emery's personality really bloom. She has really started to figure things out and will sit and play with a toy for a while trying to realize how it works. I think she has her dad's patience and her mom's determination. She's much more animated now and has started making fart noises with her mouth with drool hitting any nearby targets! She now says "ma ma" and "ba ba." I have to admit it's pretty amazing to hear her crying out "ma ma" even though I know she has no clue that's me!
Emery is really close to crawling. Rocking back and forth on her hands and knees is her new past time and she wants so badly to get to her toys but just falls flat after reaching out further than her body can hold. In many ways I'm nervous for this stage as baby proofing will really have to be figured out, but I also know she is going to LOVE the independence.

More than anything I think it's hard to believe that our little girl is 6 months. Time is flying by with her in every way. I continue to be so grateful for God's blessings on us this year and am looking forward to the next 6 months!

Peek-A-Boo with Mommy and Didder

Peek-a-Boo with Mommy and Didder from Weylon Smith on Vimeo.

Tall Glass of Water

Tall Glass of Water from Weylon Smith on Vimeo.

Just because

It's been so much fun to watch Emery grow these past 5 months, and equally as fun to see the relationship between a daddy and daughter. Weylon is so good with Emery and soaks up just about every minute with Emery between getting home from work and Emery's bedtime. Emery's been especially happy and bubbly the past two nights at dinner time and this picture just makes me smile! I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful husband and daddy to Emery.

Cutest Lil Pumpkin

Weylon and I saw a magazine the other day with a little boy in a pumpkin and thought Emery was the perfect size and age for this little photo shoot. Pretty cute don't ya think? It was supposed to be her naptime, so she was pretty sleepy in some of the shots, but we were able to get some great pictures. I think she even liked being stuffed inside the pumpkin!

And I Helped!

Lately Emery has been "helping" during bottle feedings—with some interesting results.

And I helped! from Weylon Smith on Vimeo.

Four Months

Sorry it's taken us so long to post Emery's four month pictures. We have been keeping very busy around here with our recent beach trip and all Bible studies and community group starting back up. Emery is now 14 lbs+ and always gets comments about her arm rolls and acorn filled cheeks. We love our chubby baby and all her new discoveries. While we were at the beach Emery learned to roll over. It was pretty funny as it happened first with only my mom around to see, then other family members, but Weylon and I never seemed to be around to see it at the perfect moment. Finally, about the last day of vacation and probably the 10th time she rolled over, I got to see it. She is now quite a pro from her back to her front and loves to push up on her arms to show off! She's all over the crib and some nights we can't find her on the monitor--gotta love the video monitor--when she's off the screen, you know you better go check!

Emery is also now laughing- It's taken her longer than I thought, but it's so cute and she definitely takes after me with the "silent laugh." We can't wait to hear more of it--we've tried to get it on video, but every time she sees the video camera she stops and looks, trying to figure out what's going on. She loves to see what's going on ALL the time...hmm...does she get that from her dad???

Emery also has a new fascination with holding everything. She just started wanting to hold her bottle. She attempts to hold it, just can't figure out how to target the bottle to her mouth. She grabs just about anything else in sight though--toys, hair, phones, earrings...guess I'll be wearing stud earrings til she learns the meaning of "no."

Lastly, I believe Emery is officially now teething. Yesterday and today she just wanted to be held and bite down on my finger. It seems like she wants to bite down on the side, so not sure which tooth will appear first- It's still to hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure that's what it is. She is chewing on her hands now constantly and I'm so thankful she can now hold on to things better.
It's been a fun month so far, can't wait to see what this next month brings!

Rollover

Well, the elusive rollover has finally been caught on video. Just about everyone has seen her do this except for me and Ashley, until just a couple of days ago. It was worth the wait. Now Emery's so proficient at it, she's rolling over just to show off. After performing her new trick, she will often have a look on her face that says "Impressive, huh?"

Rollover from Weylon Smith on Vimeo.

Emery Laughs!

Okay, you'll have to excuse all the goofy stuff I'm doing on this video—but if you listen closely, you can hear one of Emery's first few laughs ever. They might be numbers 3, 4, and 5, or 6, 7, and 8. I don't know. But her laugh is the best sound in the world.

Emery Laughs from Weylon Smith on Vimeo.

Wardrobe Malfunction

Ok, this outfit just did not want to come off. I struggled for five minutes and Emery was clearly annoyed—I had to call for backup. Ashley revealed the impossibly small release button that I had missed in the back. Silly baby clothes! If I were a baby fashion designer, everything would be velcro.

Stick-to-it-iveness

Go On Baby—Cry, Cry You Want To

This week Emery's fussy spells have resembled high-pitched squawking more than crying. There are no tears or screaming. It's more of a disgruntled, emotional complaint.

Emery Squawk from Weylon Smith on Vimeo.

3 Month Pictures (a little late)

Emery is three months old already. Can't believe how fast the time has flown by. Her recent activities include:

• Rolling over most of the way (still can't get that last fifteen percent).
• Jibber-jabbering all the live long day.
• Reading books—okay we're reading the books, but she loves 'em anyway.
• Sleeping with her left thumb in her mouth and her right hand covering her face.

Discoveries

Emery was dedicated at church this past weekend and so my family was in town to help celebrate her big day. We'll post pictures soon from the weekend, but here's a quick video we have been enjoying of Emery and her foot. I find her most times in the car staring at her foot, watching what it can do. It'll be so fun to see her actually grab and start playing with her foot!

Emery Finds Her Foot from Weylon Smith on Vimeo.

All Smiles

Emery is such a smiley baby. It has been so much fun seeing her smile develop and I'm pretty sure that she is going to follow in my footsteps with full body smiles and laughs. Hopefully she won't fall off chairs laughing too hard! Every morning now we are greeted by big big smiles and I can't wait for the day when she breaks out in a true laugh!
These are some recent pictures taken just to document her adorable and wonderful smile!

Growing Fast!

Emery had her 2 month check up on Friday and is growing fast! She is now 11 lbs, 10 oz and 22.5 inches long. She has started to talk quite a bit now and is drooling all over the place--hope that doesn't mean early teeth! Emery is now also fitting into some 3-6 month clothes, so is getting good use out of all of her dresses and clothes. Dress up time is so much fun with a little girl!
We've been trying to fit in a photo shoot as often as possible--our baby girl is growing up so fast!

A Good Activity

One of Emery's new toys is this activity mat. I didn't expect that she would know what to do (I don't know kids' ages and what they should do at what age)—but she's taken to it quite well. There's a mirror on one of the overhead bars so she can see herself during playtime. Don't get vain Emery : )

Emery's New Trick

Emery's been sucking her thumb (mostly her left) starting end of last week. The greatest part is seeing her fumble around with each finger until she finds her thumb by process of elimination.

Thumbs Up from Weylon Smith on Vimeo.

Visitors!

It's been a busy season around here lately with lots of visitors in town. After Grambo and Grammie's visit, Emery got to meet her cousin Stafford and Aunt Courtney and Uncle Andy. It was a really great weekend to all be together--Stafford gave Emery a big kiss and seemed pretty interested in her right away; Emery on the other hand, slept a lot and wasn't sure what to think of all these new faces! I'm pretty sure that Pap had a grandchild in his hand the whole time!!
During that same weekend my cousins Corey and Carolyn and their little baby girl Elsa came down to visit. At one point during the weekend we had 14 adults and 3 babies in the house with very little working air---I really felt bad for the guys having to sweat it out!
We tried to get a good picture of the cousins together, but poor Elsa was pretty hungry! Stafford LOVED the attention as about 10 cameras were all on him at once! Emery, just chilled.

It was a great time and we really can't wait to see Emery, Elsa and Stafford together again soon!



After Grandpa's visit, next came Sarah and Evan. Evan was born in December, making him just old enough now to be quite the mover!! (wow, I'm not ready to babyproof!) Emery was more awake for this visit and so they got to play a bit and hopefully will become great friends!


Last week, Emery got to meet her other big cousin Scarlett. Weylon and I had never met Scarlett either, so it was so much fun to meet her for the first time and see her cute personality! Both of the girls loved the pool time and spent some quality time together on Emery's sheep mat! Emery does have a few battle wounds from the excitement, but thankfully baby skin repairs quickly! We can't wait for Christmastime to see the girls together again and watch them really get to play and interact with each other. Scarlett, watch out, Emery might fight back this time!

Visit with Great Grandpa

Had a wonderful visit with Grandpa and Shirley this weekend. In the words of Newman, it was "a dizzying array of textures...and moments."

Rock-a-Bye from Weylon Smith on Vimeo.

First Swim

Emery is now a pool girl! Yesterday Weylon and I decided to surprise Pap and Oma and take a spur of the moment trip up to Paducah for Emery's first swim. I couldn't really see Emery's first dip in the pool in any other pool--plus it was so nice to be able to video the experience and not have teenagers doing cannonballs in the background. I know my parents really enjoyed the surprise--not quite as much of a surprise as last September when we arrived unexpectedly to tell them we were pregnant, but just about as good as they got to play with her and experience her first swim! She seemed to like it--as much as a one month old can. Hopefully soon she'll be kicking around in the water and putting those big feet to good use!

Doesn't she look cute in her hat!?! (Thanks Sarah!)

Emery and Pap enjoying the water!

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes

Supergirl!

Our little girl's changing everyday. It's so fun to wake up and see what she looks like each morning. Lately she's got fuller cheeks—she might be on track to chunk-a-dunk!