Emma's Sweater...

Grandma Smith... here's the sweater that Mom made for Emma:) Isn't this picture a crack-up?! Love you!

We're back!!!

Hello! We are finally home and back into the swing of things! The past month has been incredibly busy! We spent a week in Arkansas camping with the Kroese side....then Beka came home with the 3 of us for a week... then Emma and I took Beka home and we stayed in Missouri for a week. And now we're back home and we're finally getting back into a normal routine and schedule!
Emma has grown TREMENDOUSLY over the past month! We went to her 6 month checkup and as usual she is way off the chart in heigth! She figured out how to roll over from her back to her stomache while we were in Missouri (the little toot did it while I was away... but lucky Grandma and Uncle Timmy were the ones to see her do it for the first time!!!!)... the days of her laying in one spot are OVER! :) I'll set her down and leave the room for a minute and then I'll return and she'll be all the way across the room. She gets stuck underneath the couch and ottoman quite frequently! I'll try to do a better job of updating from now on! Hope everyone is doing well!

1st Pic-This one is of Emma dressed in her tutu that Beka and I made her!

2nd Pic-On my birthday at Sprinkles Cupcake shop in Dallas... it was so tasty!

3rd Pic-Emma stuck under the ottoman

4th Pic-We went blueberry picking while we were in Missouri... Emma wasn't to impressed:)

4th of July

We had a very relaxing Fourth! We spent most of the day lounging around the house... it was so nice! Then in the evening we went over to Hank and Tricia's for supper and fireworks! The first 2 pics that I posted are from the 4th evening..and the last 2 are from the morning of the 4th out on our front porch!
This is a shorter post than usual... we're getting organized and packed for our vacation with the Kroese side!!! We leave tomorrow and will be gone almost a week! I'll post pics when we get back! Have a great week!

Sitting!!!

This past week Emma has begun to sit all by herself! She can't sit UP by herself but if we set her on her bottom she'll sit in the same spot for up to 20 seconds (that's the record time as of this evening... her dad in true coaching style has been timing her on his stop-watch:) ). I posted two pictures of her in action... the top one of her and her little hippo toy sitting together is my favorite! As for rolling over she still can only roll from her front to her back. I'm pretty sure if she wanted to she could roll from her back to her front... but frankly I don't think she has any desire to do so.
The past two weeks we've been spending our afternoons at the pool. I've been teaching swimming lessons for some friends of ours at their community pool. Trav watches Emma while I teach... they swim together for awhile and then she takes a nap for the rest of the afternoon in her stroller.
It's time for Emma's bed on this end... Trav is trying to keep her entertained while I finish this up! Hope all is well with everyone! Have a great 4th of July!

Our Baby Bird and Austin

Yay for the weekend! We started out the weekend on Friday with a trip to Great-Nana's pool... Emma has a new pool floaty that looks like a turtle (pic). She never showed any emotion while she was floating... just a solemn little face:) So I'm not sure if she loved it or hated it?

Friday evening Emma experienced her first taste of peas! The first taste threw her for a little loop... but she ate the rest like a machine! While she was eating she formed a little "pea beak" and resembled a baby bird:) I've always thought she looks like a baby bird but she REALLY looks like a baby bird in the pic! It makes me laugh every time I look at the picture:)

Saturday morning bright and early we headed to Austin to meet Emma's new cousin Maci Jane (pic) and to spend time with her other cousin Tyler! We spent Saturday evening at their house and then headed back Sunday morning. It was so fun to have all three of the kids together... little Maci made Emma look SO BIG! Tyler loved playing with Emma...he would run up to her and pinch her cheeks and talk baby talk to her in a high voice (just like a grandma would do:) ) It was a crack-up! We tried to take a picture with all 3 of them... the one that I posted was about as good as it got! Emma did a great job traveling to and from Austin... it was about a 4 hour drive. The last pic I have posted today is of her snoozing on the way home... she was pooped from the long weekend! It was great to meet our new cousin/niece! Thanks for letting us stay with you guys Jeff and Kim! Have a great week everyone!

The weekend is here!

In the last post I said that Emma is no longer interested in her pacifier... I think she's out to make me eat my words:) As you can see in the picture below she loves it again... who knows? I made her a special blankie a couple days ago and she loves it! (pic) One side is flannel and the other is silk... around the outside of it I sewed different colored ribbons all the way around it. It's super cute!

Emma is turning into quite a little comedian with all of her faces. I attached a couple of pics we took yesterday... the picture with Trav is the face she's been doing most often. She'll stick her lower jaw out and tilt her little face up!

The last pic I attached is of Emma hanging off of the couch... I love it because it shows all of her little fat rolls on her neck:)

Tomorrow we're heading to Austen to meet our new niece/cousin Maci Jane! We're going to make a quick day trip of it... should be fun! Have a great weekend!

First Post!

Hello! I've decided that our family needs to have a blog where I can update family and friends with what is going on with our family! (or rather what is new with Emma!) We just celebrated Trav's first Father's Day yesterday. We had a great day! We spent the morning at Sunday School and Emma at nursery. Normally she doesn't do very well in the nursery... she throws quite a fit... I was afraid she was going to have a bad nursery reputation! :) Fortunately yesterday she was a jewel and enjoyed herself! After church we met Hank and Tricia for lunch at one of our favorite places...County Line BBQ. (pic) Delicious! Then we spent the evening at Hank and Tricia's for visiting and supper! It was a long day but very enjoyable. Emma was a trooper the whole day!

It's hard to believe that she'll be 5 months old NEXT WEEK! Her new thing now is sucking on her bottom lip... she not only does it while she's awake but while she's sleeping too (pic). It's super cute! She started to become re-interested in her pacifier last week but has no interest in it this week. I guess the lip is alot more convenient for the both of us:)

Trav's Nana moved into the retirement community that is a couple of blocks from our house about a month ago. The community has a beautiful pool that we have been taking full advantage of! Emma wasn't quite sure what to think the first couple of times she went swimming but she's slowly turning into quite a little fish! (pic)

We are really looking forward to tomorrow. Emma's first little girl cousin will be born! Trav's sister Kimmie and our brother-in-law Jeff will be having a little girl named Maci Jane! Woohoo!

Our summer has started off wonderfully... we've been enjoying having Travis home from school for the summer! We are really looking forward to vacationing with my family the 2nd week in July!!! We will be camping in Arkansas... I can hardly wait!