Baby Gates and Coffee Tables

As you can see Boots is enjoying most of his days now on the other side of the gate. 

 Emberly was excited just to be this close to the cat!

And Cello is still maintaining her 3 foot distance from Emberly.  Cello is always on the look out for Emberly... Emberly doesn't really keep track of the cats.  She just notices them when she knows she can get to them.

This is how she braces herself while on her knees.  A few times she has attempted to stand while holding on like this...it didn't work so well.

Om nom nom...mmm table.

New skills

Emberly has discovered that she can get to her knees while holding onto the furniture.  This new found skill provides her closer access to the cats - both of which assumed they were safe on the couch.  This is probably the closest Cello will allow Emberly to come.  I'm actually surprised she's that close.  The nice part about this is that she still can't reach very far due to the height of the couch and coffee table...so some things are still safe sitting out, but not for long I'm sure.

Rock Band practice?

Just practicing vocals for when I get to play Rock Band.

Pretty sure I'm gonna rock!!!

Costume Check PLEASE!!

(she kind of looks like those scary dinos from Jurassic Park)

9 Months!

I'm 9 months old today!

Here's my fish.  I'm big into shaking things these days.

Ok Mom, I guess I'll let you take a nice picture of me.

It was supposed to be bed time....

but apparently pretending your bed is a jail cell is much more fun than sleeping!

Cat Chasing

Emberly has discovered she can now use her new skills to reach the cats.  She has found it very entertaining to make any attempt reach them!  The cats on the other hand are not as fond of her new found skills.  Boots will allow her close, while Cello prefers to maintain a 3 foot distance from her.

How did you get there??

I left the room for a moment and heard Emberly fussing about something.  I couldn't figure out what it could be since she usually just sits and plays contently on her own so often.  Somehow she managed to roll under the table and was then trying to crawl out.  The problem with that plan was she can't get up on her hands and knees under there.  She was mad because she couldn't figure out how to get up to crawl out.  It was pretty funny! =)

are you really that big?

Well, today I decided to show Mom that it's time to lower the crib mattress.  At one point I was standing on my feet, but I slipped and got stuck and scared and wouldn't try it again.  I'll just use my knees for now.  

wild adventures

Emberly had some yogurt for dinner, along with her cherrios, and decided to wear some on her face in the fashion of a mustache.  Now if only she could talk with a french accent =)

After dinner we decided to go for a walk and try out the new back pack carry we got.  This one is much easier to get on and off than the front to back carrier we already had.  Plus she's gotten so big she didn't really fit well in the other.  She loves going for walks.  She especially likes the trees.

While we were

out we saw a black squirrel.  I tried really hard to get a good picture of it, but the ground I was on was slippery and the squirrel was fast.

Rock the River!

Today we decided not to put Emberly in the nursery at church.  She is so social and doesn't sleep when she's in there.  We set up the Pack-n-Play in Mark's office and bring the baby monitor with around church.  At least she sleeps!

She napped quite well in Daddy's office - which is great since we were headed to the Rock the River tour this afternoon.  

Here she is at her first Concert!!  I had a couple girls from youth group ride with and we parked at the River Center parking ramp and walked over to Harriet Island.  

It was nice when we got up to the line to get in - we got to cut the line because I had the stroller with!!  We scoured the crowd to find Mark and the others from youth group.  Some how I spotted him right away!!  I'm not very good at Where's Waldo, but I found Mark pretty quick!  And he was wearing a red and white striped shirt!  

I felt kind of bad having Emberly there because it was so loud, but there were quite a few babies there...many of which were closer to the action than we were.

Emberly was super tired by the time we left.  I was glad she made it long enough for me to see Lecrae and Superchick!  I thought I'd miss one for sure maybe even both, but they were both early enough in the line up that I got to see them.  

The walk back to the car seemed longer than the walk there.  I took another girl home early with me, so at least I didn't have to go alone =)  The only problem was trying to remember where I parked the car.  I was impressed that I remembered right where the car was this time - I've had some issues with this at the River Center before =)  

Emberly slept most of the way home.  I couldn't believe it took us an hour to get home.  I also couldn't believe it was 7 when we got home.  I feared Emberly wouldn't sleep well through the night because of napping so close to bed time, but she did just fine!

The picture doesn't really allow you to see how many people were really there ~ it was incredible how many there were!!!  I couldn't really get a good picture of the whole event.

Swimming!

Emberly had been begging all day to go swimming at the Peterson's.  Mark called and they said, "Sure, come on over!"

The water was a little scary at first, but Emberly had a great time!!

I was amazed that she didn't get cold!  I got cold before she did~if she even did.  

Once she started splashing and having fun she didn't want to come out!

First Time at the Park

We took Emberly to the park for the first time tonight.  Mark put her in the swing and she loved it!  She seemed so tiny in the swing!  I took her down the slide.  I was a slight bit nervous at first. . . the slide looked rather steep and fast.  However, after sliding to the edge and onto the slide and not really going anywhere, I wasn't so worried anymore.  Emberly didn't seem to enjoy it as much as the swing or the dog to the right of us. 

After the park we discovered a small ghetto-it was like one block and that was it - crazy!  We weren't out to discover it; we were actually on our way to Dairy Queen.  Mark and I got blizzards and poor little Emberly was only given Cheerios and Gerber Puffs.  What a wonderful night!!

Laundry Helper

Today I thought instead of just playing while Mommy works I would help.  Mom was busy folding my laundry.  I didn't really like the way she was folding my clothes so I thought I should show her how it's done.  

(usually she's more inquisitive, but she was content to take a few articles of clothing and play with those while I got the rest folded and put away.)

Can it really be that comfortable?

 This is the latest sleep position Emberly has been trying out

I've watched her a couple times wake up during a nap, sit up 

and flop back over into this position and sleep for a while longer

I'm so glad I made a little blankie with tags for her...she obviously loves it!  

She snuggles with it every time she sleeps.

Emberly is very fond of tags.  It's fun to watch her play, then discover a toy has a tag.  The excitement on her sweet little face is priceless.  I wonder how many other kids know there is a jackpot of tags on the back of their 'Johnny Jump Up'??

Playing with Dad

Here we are practicing how to stick out our tongues!

Hey, look, Dad gave me a new hat!

What do you think??

I don't think I like it...I'm gonna take it off now.

Nap time?

Emberly thought it would be fun to try out her new skills that came with crawling.  I would lay her down in the crib for nap...come back 10 minutes later to check on her and every time she'd be up sitting like this in the crib!!  She had the most adorable look on her face ~ 'look what I can do mom!!'  Eventually she did lay down and sleep....

A few more days without Daddy

We had some more time without Dad.  He got to go to the Boundary Waters and go camping with some guys from church.  Us girls stayed home and had some fun!  

We played around on the floor, played with some toys, and made some silly faces to show Dad when he gets home.  

Dinner was quite the time as well.  Emberly got to feed her self one night!  She loved it!  I'm not really sure how much made it in...there was quite a bit in the chair, on the floor and somehow in her hair.  Definitely a bath night! =)

Daddy wasn't gone as long as he was for SEMP, but it sure felt like a long time.  I was ready for him to be home and so was Emberly!

Ahh wonderful sleep!

Emberly decided to try out some new sleep positions this week.

I bought the bumper to prevent her legs from going through the crib slats and getting stuck.

Clearly it has worked well =)

Squished into the corner

This one always makes me nervous....please still be breathing!!

It must be comfortable - this is how she sleeps most of the time now!