I'm in a bucket!

Literally. She's in a pickle bucket. And loves it!

My dad had a pickle bucket hanging around and I thought "why not put a little baby in a bucket?" First she loved standing in it but then squished herself down into the bucket.

Fortunately, mom's camera was outside with us. Some of these are my absolute FAVORITE pictures of Emersen ever. Her eyes just pop, and her outfit having green in it worked out very well too.

She's looking at her Papaw there - she thinks he's pretty funny.

This is her pensive look...

It almost looks like she knows how to sit still....don't let these pictures fool you.

LOVE THIS ONE! The natural light was awesome.

And then she got over it and was ready to NOT be in a bucket. She was a trooper though - she was probably in there like 10 minutes or something. Boxes and buckets - kids favorite toys. Who needs flashing lights and loud music? Thanks to a neighbor Billy for unknowingly providing Emersen with some brief excitement as well.

It was a good trip home - we got to visit my Aunt Elinor, Uncle Bob and Cousin Ember. Plus, it was warm and breezy out on the covered patio - I could have napped. Somebody get me, I mean my dad, a hammock!

Emersen is getting a tooth on top. We've started brushing her teeth now too - her dad takes great pleasure in this as he get special enjoyment from dental hygiene. I'm the black sheep... We're up to two bottles of formula a day - still the Nutramigen for her milk protein allergy. Her skin is doing pretty well - I think the heat irritates it sometimes. That and now that it's warm, she doesn't have pants on often. Still not crawling but bobbing from sitting position to turning like she's going to crawl. It's in her eyes - she wants to GO! We've added avocado, zucchini, and mango to her diet. She really liked the avocado. You can see that Em's learning how to move individual fingers at a time, rather than swatting things. Sometimes it looks like she's waving bye-bye to herself as she discovers how her hand moves.

This past weekend she visited so many people and loved all the attention. She got to show off her standing skills. Everyone commented on how strong she is as she uses her legs to move their body parts out of her way. She usually puts on a good show - laughing and smiling for people. I think some of the ladies were using Emersen to hint for grandchildren - not saying any names there... but someone said "She's so cute, you almost can't stand it! How do you stand it?" I can't. I say the same thing all the time to Emersen. Even with a smelly poopy diaper, she's cute. Even when she cries, her alligator tears are cute. But cutest of all is when her daddy makes her laugh and giggle. Nothing better than a baby laughing.

Heavenly Seven

HELP ME....

So Emersen is 7 months old now! It's just flying by and we're loving every minute of it. Based on the quantity of slobber from her mouth, and some little teeny white dots, we're thinking another tooth is on its way in on top. Her bottom two are in for the most part and are SO cute when she smiles with them showing.

Still 4 bottles a day, but amount of milk has decreased to about 25 oz a day. Oatmeal twice a day. Fruits/veggies with 3 meals. Sometimes she has some juice in a sippy cup (with water mixed in) mostly when she gets a little irregular. Occasionally she'll have a rice rusk called a Mum Mum or something. She likes being able to eat on her own a little and you can see her bite up on it with her teeth.

She's starting to do parts of crawling. While on her belly, she pushes her chest and upper body up pretty far. Then, from sitting, she's twisting onto her side some where if she just turned a little more, she would be on all fours. She wants to GO! - you can see it in her eyes.

Right now, her schedule has been off - she's waking up earlier, but she stays in her crib regardless until 7:30am usually - rolling around or talking. But its been even earlier. So that throws off everything - try to wait to feed her but then she's so tired that eating is a challenge, etc. But this morning I let her "cry it out" - there wasn't much crying, just fussing a bit after being in her crib and awake for so long. But she went back to sleep and I got her up at 8am to eat. Hopefully after a couple days of this, we'll be back on track. Weekends often throw the schedule for a loop.

I've been trying to say grace with Emersen before most of her meals. Can't wait to hear that little voice, and then hear that little voice talking to God.

She is saying ma-ma-ma. She doesn't look at me and say "Mama" though. But that's her sound at the moment - it's like she learns a new one and forgets the others until she's got the new one mastered. It used to be da-da-da but it's only ma-ma-ma now. Speaking of da-da - he is still the comedy star for Em. She thinks he is SO funny - he can always make her laugh. And there is nothing better than a baby laughing!

I can't believe how grown up she looks sitting in the chair! Thanks to Waverly for the cute little dress to borrow for awhile.

And eventually our true nature comes out - this one sums up Emersen I think. Generally, she's ridiculous. Ridiculously cute...

Cha...cha...changes

Sometimes I look at her and she's just so cute I can't even stand it...

Sitting up so well now! And maybe a little cross-eyed?

She thinks a lot of stuff is funny - she gets her unique sense of humor from her parents.

Em would really just rather stand that anything we think. You can kind of see her eczema, which has improved a lot. She has flare ups - she'll go days with smooth legs, and then, like this morning, they have red blotches. She's fine. Really.

And now she can do it all by herself - with a little support from a friendly piece of furniture, that is. No she doesn't have socks on. She doesn't wear socks really. We went to the store the other day and left with one less sock than we came with. My position is affirmed.

I made a change too - I suppose I look more like a mommy now. But mostly, I have too much hair. I would put it in a ponytail, which would hurt my head/hair. Yes, my hair hurts. And it was hurting BAD. And then I have neckaches and headaches all the time, so I figured less weight wouldn't hurt.

FAQ:

Do you like it? YES.

Does Wes like it? YES.

Is it easier? Well, I have full access to all of my hair, where before there was too much to even get to.

Coming soon...Emersen's 7 month old picture and update. Hard to believe it's been seven months. Loving every day of it, loving her more and more each day. Love being parents with Wes. Love watching him with Em. The end.

Family Ties

Emersen and Grandma Fischer - not one month old here obviously, we just use a LOT of bibs each day so we're not picky about what is decorating it.

My cousin Ember sent Emersen this bunny. It's so fun that she can actually play with gifts people give her now.

Bunny and Emersen with some weird face...this bunny has SUCH soft fur.

She's easily distracted...

My Aunt Elinor gave Emersen this cup, with her initials engraved on it, at Christmas. She's getting to use it now too. Not quite drinking from it but we put ice in it for her to clink around and drink the melted water out of it. Really, she likes to chew on the silver part when it gets so cold because of the ice. A hand held chew toy for baby!

It's so thoughtful that family members think of us and send little treats - Em is so spoiled by folks but I guess people just love babies! We feel so special, and holidays are so fun with baby.

April Showers...and it's May...

Emersen got a darling little merry go round with animals on it from her great grandmother Cooper - this is her Easter outfit, by the way. Sorry no frills and apparently no shoes by this point. And thanks to the Jenkins girls for the dress - a yard sale find from my mom! It was a great Easter. It will be great next year when she knows what is going on. We gave her an Easter egg and she stuck it in her mouth, of course.

This is our 2nd outfit Easter afternoon - practical of course. And Emersen using Uncle Bryce's Iphone. She LOVES cell phones - which she got a Fisher Price one from Granna and Grandpa Cooper. Among her other Easter treats - a mirror for the car from great grandma Cooper, 2 new pairs of shoes and her first Disney movie (Snow White), and little swimming duck for the bath from Granna and Grandpa.

"Mom, let me get that camera from ya..."

In my famous words to Wes... "wrap me up!"

Em is still doing her "da da da" and "na na na" sounds. Two bottom teeth still pushing their way out. Trying all the different foods out there. We've basically conquered them all - we went back to try again on pears and barley cereal and had success. The changes and increase of food/decrease of milk has had her stopped up a bit but we're working to prevent that with our 4 fruit p's - plums, prunes, pears and peaches.

I recently had a well visit with a new doctor. My general conclusion after speaking with him is that if we treated ourselves like we do babies - a routine for same bedtime and waketime, whole grains and organic fruits and veggies, playtime, naptime - man, we would all be feeling a lot better I think! My family went together to get me a Wii, Wii Fit Plus and the game Just Dance for my birthday/mother's day. I'm trying to get back to a morning workout routine with it. I mean, just play Just Dance and you'll get a work out - and a fun one!

More pictures to follow.

Deep Thoughts by Morgan Cooper

So it's been a big night/day - Osama Bin Laden has been killed. And people have a lot to say about it. When there is so much unrest in the Middle East, and maybe even in your own home/family, many rest in relief at one less worry.

As I watch the news about the attacks in Libya as well as those on Bin Laden, I hear of the "bystanders" that were also killed. It seems like God has been impressing a lesson upon my heart over the past week or so, reminding me how far wide the hands of sin reach, how our sins affect others, and in my lesson specifically, how it affects the children too. Plus, it's been obvious how iron sharpens iron, or doesn't, depending on your company.

Gaddafi's youngest son and 3 of Gaddafi's grandchildren were killed in the process of trying to fight against Gadaffi himself. Osama Bin Laden's son was killed, plus others in his house including a woman who was apparently used as a human shield during the firefight. It's so evident that the sin has permeated through several generations of the family, that these evil leader's children suffered because of their father's sins, but also because of their association.

As I talk to people in my life, I hear of hurting people in their lives. Those going through the loss of a child, divorce or potential divorce, drug addiction, promiscuity, & broken friendships and relationships. It's unbelievable the effects sin has on the life of the sinner, as well as those is close proximity. And we're all sinners, but those who have surrendered their life to Christ have been saved by grace and escaped the wages for our sin: death and hell. But we still have the tendency towards sin, we're still tempted. I hope that the lesson I'll take away is that sin is selfish. It's me thinking I know better than God (sound familiar - Eve thinking the serpent knew more, believing that God had lied to her...) and I don't think about how my sin might affect Wes, or Emersen or my friends, family and/or co-workers.

At our church, our youth group is going through a series called "One Month To Live." We're contemplating how our life might look different if given the news we only had 30 days to live. In reality, we're not given any indication of how much time we have left. In Matthew6, Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow because today has enough worries of it's own. I think we can all agree on that. So we're talking about 6 things in 1 Timothy 6 that God tells us to pursue - godliness, faith, love, gentleness, endurance, and righteousness. We talked last night about fear being the absence of faith in our big God. We talked about how we would talk to people, address conflict, forgive, and love more if only given 30 days to live - that we would live passionately and have the courage to follow our God given passions regardless of the risk. This attitude or perspective helps us live in a way to glorify God rather than please ourselves and reduces the risk we run of creating stumbling blocks for others in our lives with our selfish desires and sin.

We talked about how life is short, how we have no guarantees, so we best be knowing where we're going once our physical life is over? Do you know with 100% certainty?

I included a little picture of Emersen because 1) she's so cute 2) to remind you that really, my blog is to communicate her development 3) to lighten the mood 4) and most importantly, she's the inspiration for my thoughts as now I have to think how my actions affect her life.