Emily is pleased to announce that she will become a big sister this October. Actually, she has no idea what is coming, but I think she will adjust to the change just fine. Emily is quite independent and enjoys playing by herself. We have started practicing ‘gentle’ with her so that she can have a head start on the idea.

Emily loves the feeling of wind on her face. We spent a little while at the park and she loved the freedom of walking anywhere she wanted, but swinging is what she really loved.

(10 months) We have had a few rough days with Emily not feeling well. We couldn’t tell if she had a cold or was teething and were beginning to worry that it was a cold. On Saturday it reached a climax and our normally happy baby girl was anything but happy. She just cried for no reason. By the time we went to some friends to watch the UT football game she was doing better. Emily is putting everything into her mouth now, so when I went fishing to pull out the little string that Emily put in her mouth I found a tooth instead. The first tooth is her lower left front tooth. The tooth has been pretty interesting to Emily. She keeps feeling it with both her tongue and her finger. We have new funny faces to chuckle at as she plays with her new tooth.

Emily is 9 months old and it’s another trip to the pediatrician. At this visit she weighed in at 17 lbs 7 oz. and 28 inches long. This is just over 3 lbs heavier and 2 1/2 inches longer in three months. Emily doesn’t like her checkups much, but she puts up with it without much fuss. We were not planning on having any shots this checkup, but we added the flu shot to the visit. We will go back for another check up at 1 year.

(8 months) We have been setting Emily on the floor by herself to sit, but we always had something next to her to help her steady herself. Obviously, she is more comfortable than we thought. Last week, as she was crawling across the floor, we looked away and when we looked back at her, she had pulled herself up to a sitting position. Since then it has been a lot of fun to watch Emily as she has been exploring the world on her own with crawling and sitting.

Daddy’s perspective

I took a morning off work to spend some time with Emily during her swim class. She seemed to really enjoy our time together. Especially, when I made motorboat sounds, and encouraged her to “chase” me through the water. She seems to favor the breaststroke; she kicks like a frog. I think she gets that from me.

She seemed fairly comfortable in the water, with the one exception that she latched one of her hands around my arm, and would only paddle with one hand. It was sweet, and a bit silly looking, too. She also didn’t like it when I dunked her under the water, so I only put her under once.

I am really looking forward to more swim time with Emily. When can we go back, Mommy?

Emily is 6 months old and it’s time for another doctor appointment. At this visit she weighed in at 14 lbs 4 oz. and 25 1/2 inches. The doctor was pleased with her growth and gave her a clean bill of health. With this visit she didn’t have as many shots, so we didn’t hear as many cries. She bounced back from this set of shots by the next morning. I’m sure glad that we can get all of these shots out of the way while she can’t remember. We will go back for another check up at 9 months.