Jumping For Joy!

Emily has a lot of things to be joyful about (appropriate, don't you think, since Joy is her middle name) . . . her Daddy had his birthday on Wednesday, she got to visit Grandma Kathy & Auntie Mandy on Wednesday night while Mommy & Daddy went to see the new Die Hard movie, her Mommy doesn't have to go back to work again until the end of August, she has 2 teeth, she has started eating more solid foods (like oatmeal--which she LOVES, and applesauce--which she would rather live without, in fact applesauce elicits a face from Emily that makes it worth giving her a spoonful just to witness her reaction.), she gets to go to swimming lessons & the zoo again soon, she had A LOT of fun last weekend with her Overindulgent (and very polka dotted) Aunt S & The Italian Godfather, plus she has her jumperoo . . . and who doesn't love a jumperoo?

As Emily has gotten taller, the jumperoo has become more and more fun for her to play with. When we first got the jumperoo, her feet didn't really reach the floor and her arms kind of stuck up out of the seat, so she couldn't really reach any of her toys very easily. Now that she is a whopping 27 inches tall, her feet can reach the floor with no problem and can reach all of her toys with ease. She has even tried to stand up on her tippy toes and extend her arms out all the way to reach for the parrot & blue frog that are hanging from the "leaves" above her head. She hasn't managed to get them yet, but she occasionally tries and it's really cute to watch how determined she gets about trying to get them. It's also really funny to watch her when she gets really excited about jumping; sometimes she can't stop jumping, she's having so much fun. There is music that plays when she moves the toys or when she starts jumping; there are also animal sound effects (monkeys, elephants, and birds) and when she really gets going, the animal sounds start skipping because they can't keep up. It doesn't really matter that they can't keep up because Emily manages to keep up her own running commentary with squeaks, squeals, grunts, giggles . . . it is really fantastic. It is really unfortunate that the video below doesn't have sound but at least you can see the joy on her face (and in the pictures below you can see the teeth in her mouth).

The run time on this video is 3 min, 13 sec.

(We apologize for the length, but we were having so much fun making the movie, we couldn't stop. Emily was having so much fun jumping, she couldn't stop. We all got a little carried away. We hope you enjoy the movie . . . you may want to get some popcorn before it starts. We also want to mention that there are no trailers, credits, or commercials, Just Emily & her Jumperoo.)

An Overindulgent Weekend

As the title implies, Emily had quite the fantastic weekend. Her Aunt S & "The Godfather" (AKA Uncle J) came to Chicago for the weekend. Emily has been very excited about this for several weeks and could not wait for them to get here. They arrived very late on Friday night, and while Emily was at Grandma & Grandpa Bellock's house to greet them, she did so with her eyes closed. Aunt S didn't care, and gave her smooches anyway.

On Saturday morning, Emily had her second swimming lesson and she was very happy to get back in the water. Our official teacher was sick, so we had a substitute who told me that Emily was very cute and a "natural" in the water. She made this determination because this week Emily was actually kicking her feet in the water by herself. After our swimming lesson, we went home for a bath and to get ready to meet Aunt S & The Godfather at the Brickworld Show in Wheeling. The Godfather is a big fan of Legos, and this was part of the reason that they came out to visit. When we finally met them at the show, they were very excited to see Emily awake, and Emily was smiling ear to ear and showing off her new choppers. Inside the Brickworld exhibit, we discovered that Emily is 63 Lego bricks tall. Emily was very impressed with the detail that the Lego fans put into their creations. The Brickworld show really exhausted Emily, and she slept through lunch at Claim Jumper and as a result missed her chance at the chocolate cake. Upon our return to Grandma & Grandpa's, Aunt S presented Emily with a very special gift. She knitted her a very cute and very handsome Mr. Darcy doll. Emily immediately chomped on his hand, which we took to mean that she liked it. Mommy & Daddy had to go to a special party, so they left Emily with Aunt S & The Godfather for the evening. When we returned, we received some very disturbing news . . . Aunt S told us that after we left Emily took it upon herself to go joyriding on the fire engine (for those of you who don't know, my father keeps a 1939 Seagrave fire engine in the garage). After returning to the house, she then invited her friends over for a party. I can only assume that it was during this party that Emily hacked into air traffic control computer for O'Hare airport and forced planes to land. If that wasn't enough, she went back into the garage, souped up the lawn tractor and was having lawnmower races in the back yard. To cap off her evening, she started prank calling the White House, asking the President if his refrigerator was running! (He apparently didn't get the joke.) After all of her prank calls, she promptly fell asleep, exhausted from all of her antics. I am just happy that we came home when we did, I can't imagine the kind of trouble she would have gotten into if we hadn't.

Sunday was Emily's last day with Aunt S & The Godfather. We spent the early portion of the afternoon visiting Great Ray and Great Bob. As usual, Emily loved her time with the Greats, and followed Great Bob's every move with rapt attention. At Great Bob's she also received a lovely present from her Great Aunt Linda which she immediately fell in love with. Following our Great visit we went letterboxing and then to the Zoo to visit with Joseph's bear. We found out that he was born in the morning, so he too is Emily's older brother. Aunt S & The Godfather had a really fun time with Emily at the Zoo. The Godfather was very happy to show Emily his favorite animal, the Rhinoceros (pronounced Rhino-Saurous). After the zoo, we all went back to Grandma & Grandpa's for a yummy dinner before it was time to say goodbye. Emily was exhausted from all the fun she had and can't wait to visit with Aunt S & The Godfather again.

Having fun in the water with Daddy, and kicking her own feet. (Last week, Daddy had to do this for her.)

"OK, Daddy, now I'm going to jump in and I don't want any funny business. It's your job to catch me and make sure that I don't get a face full of water."

Aunt S helps Emily size herself up to the John Hancock building . . . the Lego John Hancock building that is.

"Wow, I'm as 63 Lego bricks tall, Daddy! Does that mean I can have chocolate cake now?"

Mommy liked this Lego creation the best. I wonder why . . .

**Deep Breathing** "Emily, he is your father." **Deep Breathing**

"Daddy, I didn't know that Auntie Mandy was going to be here."

Click on this picture to see all of the details. There was a giant Lego city, and you really had to look closely to catch all of the comical details that the Lego artists added in. Here is a car crash between a Krispy Kreme truck and a Dunkin Donuts truck. The cops are showing up from everywhere with coffee from Starbucks. (We couldn't stop laughing when we saw this part of the city.)

"Wow, My own Mr. Darcy. I love Mr. Darcy. Thanks, Aunt S, you are so overindulgent."

"Mr. Darcy, do you have any toes that you need me to suck on, or nibble?"

Smiling at Great Ray.

The two of them were having a lot of fun.

Aunt S got too close and her fingers became a snack for Emily. Emily, however, wouldn't let go of Great Ray's fingers either.

Saying "Hi" to Great Bob. (Latched onto Aunt S's hand.)

"Wow, Aunt S, your fingers are so tasty."

"Daddy, look at this really pretty stool that Great Aunt Linda gave me! I can't wait to use it to climb out of my crib at night and sneak into the kitchen to find the cookies."

Joseph's Bear

Emily gets ready to take a nap with her new friend, who has not yet been named. (Hudson, Joseph, Polar Bear . . . we can't decide.)

. . . One elephant went out to play, upon a spider's web one day, he had such enormous fun, he called for another elephant to come. ELEPHANT! (a lullaby that Mommy likes to sing to Emily)

The Godfather's favorite . . . the Rhinosaurous! (Not Rhinoceros, Rhinosaurous)

Everybody go surfing, surfing USA . . . Emily was "surfing" on Aunt S's stomach. She thought that this was BIG fun!!! Aunt S did too, until Emily kept kicking her in the ribs and the gut.

The Godfather helps Aunt S give Emily her bottle while the rest of us finish our dinner.

How Big Is The Kid?

As I alluded to at the end of the Father's Day post, Emily had another doctor's appointment on Monday. Those of you who have been reading the blog regularly know that this post will be an examination of things that are bigger and smaller than Emily and also things that weigh more or less than she does. Before I get to that though, lets discuss how Emily is doing according to the doctor. In a word, she is GREAT! The doctor was impressed with her growth, her strength, her teeth, her demeanor, and overall cuteness. Emily also received three more shots in this appointment, something she was less than excited about, in a preemptive retaliatory strike she trashed the office, as this picture shows. With the business out of the way, lets have some fun.

How much does Emily weigh? Before I can answer that let me tell you about some things that weigh more than Emily: Joseph's Bear, 80 lbs., Cement Truck (fully loaded), 70,000 lbs, Giraffe, 3,000 lbs. Something that weighs less than Emily, 15 pounds of feathers. Something that weighs roughly the same as Emily, a bowling ball. Emily officially weighs in at . . . drum roll please . . . 16.1 lbs!!!!

By now you must be asking yourself, "Self, how big is a 16.1 lb Emily?" Lucky for you I can answer that question. First, let's discuss things that are bigger and smaller than Emily: Mount Rushmore, 5,725 ft; the Washington Monument, 555 ft; the Millennium Force roller coaster in Cedar Point, 310 ft; a Cicada, 1 - 2 in; Emily's pink Crocs, 4.25 in; Christa's pink Crocs, 10.5 in; Auntie Mandy's pink Crocs, bigger than can be accurately be measured. So how big is Emily, she is 27 INCHES LONG!!! That is right, this little kid is growing like a weed. She is in the 75th - to 90th percentile for height and she is in the 50th percentile for weight. Overall she is just terrific.

We have a pretty big weekend planned and I can't wait to tell you about it, so until Monday...

Emily relaxing on top of Auntie Mandy's pink croc, laying next to Mommy's pink croc, holding her own pink croc.

Below is a VIDEO of Emily redecorating the doctor's office.

Happy Fathers Day!!

The Father's Day weekend extravaganza was simply amazing. Everything began on Friday night with a trip to Ravinia to see the Doobie Brothers. I should say hear, instead of see, as we don't sit in the pavilion, but choose to sit on the lawn and picnic. Emily had a great time and so did I. They played a great set. We went with our friends Mary & her daughter Katie, and while we were there, ran into some other friends. If you have ever been to Ravinia that is pretty impressive, if you haven't you probably don't care, however to offer some perspective, the Pavilion seats 3200, the lawn seats quite a few more. It should also be noted that Emily started working on her second tooth during the afternoon, and that continued into the early evening while in the car going to Ravinia.

Saturday dawned bright and beautiful, and we were all up very early because our first Daddy/Daughter swimming lesson started at 8:00 am and we didn't want to be late. We got Emily ready and headed off to the Centre of Elgin for our class. There were a lot of people there, and once again we ran into someone we knew, one of our neighbors from down the street was there for an adult class (not a swimming lesson though, I think it was a form of water based exercise). One of the lifeguards started reading off names to split everyone into their respective groups, Emily was the first name called. Most of our class was infants, like Emily, so I am not really sure that anyone "learned" anything but we all had fun playing in the water. After the swimming lesson was over, we had to rush off to make it to the massage appointment that Christa & Emily had made for me to celebrate Father's Day, and make my back feel amazing. Once we were finished there we went home to take shower's, and bath's and get ready for Daddy/Daughter pictures. We would also be taking Emily's official 6 Month portrait. We had a lot of fun at the Picture People and Emily took some great pictures (as usual); she just would not stop smiling the whole time. The only downside was that when we wanted to get pictures of her grabbing her toes she wouldn't do it!! All morning long, even during swimming lessons, Emily was playing with her toes, all afternoon after the pictures she wouldn't let go of them, but during the session . . . toes? what toes? The evening finished with a dinner at Pilot Pete's with Grandma Kathy & Auntie Mandy.

Sunday was another beautiful day. I was able to sleep in until after 10:00, while Christa looked after Emily. Once we finally got moving, we went out to brunch and had a terrific meal. From brunch, we did a little letterboxing and then went to the Brookfield Zoo to visit Joseph's bear and meet a letterboxing friend, FungusWoman, whose letterboxes we had been seeking. We left the zoo a little earlier than expected because it seemed like a thunderstorm was rolling in. We parted ways with FungusWoman, and headed to the car, and then no storm ever showed! That was a real bummer because we were really having fun with FungusWoman, and the zoo was open late and the animals were all really active. That is when the zoo is at its best, oh well, maybe another day.

That was the end of our Father's Day extravaganza, Emily had a doctor's appointment on Monday which we will write about on Friday, see you then. (You know how we like to keep you all in suspense . . . Ha, Ha, Ha!)

"Woo-Hoo, I get to go swimming!! Come on, Daddy, quit standing around and get your suit on!"

Sitting on the wall, waiting to jump in.

Taking a little break, while Daddy listens to the instructor's directions.

Look at Emily go! She's quite the little mermaid.

Floating on her back. Emily really liked this.

Getting a little comforting from Daddy after having swallowed a mouthful of water.

Here we go again, her face is back in the water. She's trying so hard to get that little duck!

She got it!!!! Yay, Emily!!!!

Sitting with Daddy at Ravinia, checking out her new surroundings.

Getting some hugs from our friend, Mary Kennedy.

Hey, what are the odds that we'd see Chewski at Ravinia, not to mention, on the next blanket over?!

We also saw some of Grandma B's friends, the Francois Family (Steve, Sylvia & Sean). Emily was not happy at this moment because her Tylenol was wearing off and her mouth was sore from her SECOND tooth coming in. Poor little girl.

Laying on the blanket, playing with her toys, waiting for it to be time for some more Tylenol.

The Tylenol has kicked in and Emily & Daddy take a little nap before the concert starts. (Notice, Emily has had a costume change. She got all ready for bed so we wouldn't have to change a sleeping baby after the concert.)

Emily & Daddy get their groove on during the Doobie Brothers' set.

"Hey, Daddy, you have a water bottle here. Can I have some?"

"Aunt" Chewski had these really neat clapping hands. Look in the picture below to see why Emily was so enthralled by them.

At the Picture People, we found Emily's pictures on the wall in the frame that they were making last month. How cool?!

The little star (Em-Joy) poses next to her picture.

The photo shoot began with Daddy/Daughter shots. After all, it was Father's Day Weekend.

After the shots with Daddy, Emily told him that he was cramping her style and she wanted some solo shots. If you click on this picture, you can see the 2 (count them 2!) new teeth in this cute little smile.

Tell me she doesn't look like she's up to something in these 2 pictures. . .





Wearing her pretty "Blue for Joseph" dress for her 6 Month photos. She's also laying on one of the blue blankets that would have been Joseph's. We thought that it would be a very neat addition to the 6 Month picture.
Look Grandpa Jerry, she's wearing her bracelet. It's also not falling off this time!



Later, at Grandma Kathy's, Emily gets a manicure.



Now sitting in high chairs (when she's not asleep and in her car seat), Emily made herself very comfortable while Mommy & Daddy ate their brunch at the Apple Villa.




"Pink Monkey" was one of Emily's gifts from Mommy & Daddy at her 6 Month birthday party. Emily liked having her attached to the stroller.




Emily & "Pink Monkey" were having a staring contest. Pink Monkey won because Emily was soon distracted by something that Daddy was doing. Silly Daddy.

Nibbling on the Zebra ribbon on her new tabby blanket that Grandma Kathy made for her. Appropriate ribbon choice, since we were at the zoo.