Baby Cummings: 2013

Our baby Em is 6 months old!!!!!! No, I'm not kidding, it's true! Half a year old...unbelievable!

I feel like Emerson is becoming such a little lady these days. She is really becoming her own unique person with her own personality and features. On the whole, she's a fairly serious baby. She doesn't just give away smiles for free...she makes you work for them :) That being said, when you do get a smile or better yet a laugh, it's the cutest thing in the world! She also has such a girly little voice, it's adorable. Unfortunately, the spit up continues. There were two days this month where she only spit up about 10 times, and I thought maybe it was coming to an end, but I knew it was too good to be true.

Our little peach has got to be teething because she's been chewing on everything and drooling like crazy. She has also had three rough nights in a row where she hasn't been sleeping well. I keep checking every morning, but so far no pearly whites to be seen! Em had her six month shots today, and she didn't even cry - big brave girl!

We are so looking forward to the holidays and Emerson's first X-mas. Even though she won't have a clue what's going on, everything is more fun with Em around. We also can't wait for January because Em's Aunt Karey and Uncle Dan are coming home, and we finally get to meet Em's cousin Lochlan...seriously can't wait!!!!!

Here's some tidbits from the past month:

- At six months old, Emmy weighs 18lbs 5oz., and she's 26.5 inches long. The other babies are starting to catch up, she's only at the 80-85th percentile now instead of the 95th

- Emerson can now roll from front to back too!

- Emerson sat up by herself for the first time on Nov.21, now it's the only thing she wants to do

- She's got quite the appetite! We started solids this month and her first food was sweet potato. She has liked everything we've given her, except beef and vegetables. So far she's had sweet potato, butternut squash, carrots, peas, green beans, peaches, pears, raspberry and banana, apple and strawberry

- She laughs when I kiss her belly over and over again

- Emerson and Casey are best friends, she laughs at Casey so much it's hilarious

- She just really learned how to jump in her jolly jumper over the weekend. Now she will jump continuously for almost 15 mins.

- She always sleeps on her belly now

- She is wearing size 9 months now. She can still wear a lot of her 6 month tops, but not for much longer

- She has almost outgrown her carseat, we'll have to get a stage 2 carseat in the next month

- Emerson has just learned to love her Sophie over the past couple of days

- She now sits up in her whale tub during bath time, and she knows how to turn on the faucet

- She can grab for toys and pull them to her, and pass things from one hand to the other

- We're pretty sure she knows her name, she seems to look whenever we call for her

- She has started to cry whenever I leave the room...

- She's babbling a lot, blowing bubbles, and saying "yayayayaya" and "dadadadadada"

- We got Em to start taking a bottle again this month

- She watches me like a hawk! Everywhere I go she follows, to the point of falling over just to keep watching me

- She is still a very snuggly baby which I love! I don't love that she won't nap in her crib, but I do love when she sleeps on my tummy

- This month we did the following: went to her cousin Amelia's first birthday party in St. Catharines, went to the movies with a few of Em's baby friends, went swimming, went to lots of momsgroup gatherings, had visits from Bethany and Zee, Grandma and Grandpa Cummings, Auntie Alex, and Great-Grandma Gracie, had some friends over for the Sweet Pea Swag Open House and visited with Grandma Levstik, Aunt Jenny, and her cousins, spent a weekend in Clarksburg, and had her first visit with Santa Clause.

Yummy!

We have twinsie slippers...so comfy!

Funny girl with Grandma Levstik

She rolled over in the tub (don't worry, we were right there!)

I'm on my belly in the tub...haha!

Sleepy time while out for brunch at Timeless Cafe

Daddy and his girls (notice Casey tucked in at his feet)

Playtime at moms group (Sweater and Headband made by Grandma Cummings)

First food...sweet potato!

Hanging out with Daddy

SnuggleBug

Playing in her exersaucer for the first time

I tried to take my own X-Mas photos of Em....

Look at me sitting up!

Tree shopping...

She loved it there!

My friend's husband, Zee, took these photos for us. They are waaay better than mine...haha! I love them, so sweet!

Ready to go...waiting for Mommy

Waiting to see Santa...doesn't she look thrilled

Meeting Santa...doesn't she look thrilled? Hahahaha! That's our Em!

That's right.....5 MONTHS OLD.....what???? It's true....out sweet pea is 5 months old, and what an incredibly amazing, exhausting, and hilarious 5 months it has been. As with every other month, this one has been full of adventures and lots of developments. We've been keeping super busy, and have a pretty consistent schedule now. Our weeks generally go something like this:

Mondays: Swimming and Grocery Shopping

Tuesdays: Sip N Stroll with moms group, and afternoon walk with the neighbour

Wednesdays: Swimming and Movies @ 1pm

Thursdays: 11am - Baby Basics Moms group

Fridays: Out and About with Daddy

In general, our daily schedule goes like this:

6am: Emmy wakes up and wants to eat, I usually change her and feed her in the nursery

6:30am: Head downstairs for the day, try to eat something for breakfast, and have some playtime

7am: Emmy usually has a power nap

7:30am - 9am: Tummy time, jolly jumper, playtime on the floor, or time in her bouncy chair

9am - Time to eat again! I change her bum, and we usually do rice cereal and I nurse her

9:15am - Put Emmy in her bouncy chair, she usually naps for a few mins. and I try to get ready for the day (much faster than I used to...ha!)

10am - Head out to group, or swimming, or some other activity

12 - 1pm ish - Get home, change her bum, nurse her, and try to get her to nap in her crib at 1pm. This almost never happens though, and she usually ends up sleeping on my tummy on the couch. This whole process take a long time!

3pm ish - Emmy wakes up, and we have some playtime

4pm - Daddy gets home from work, changes Emmy's bum, and time to feed her again!

4:30pm - Daddy has some time with Emmy while I make dinner

5-5:30pm ish - We eat dinner while Emmy joins us in her bumbo chair

5:30-6:30pm - Emmy's fussy time! We spend this hour trying to keep her happy, and usually end up walking her, bouncing her, singing to her, etc.

6:30pm - Bathtime!!!!!

6:40pm - Daddy takes her out, lotions her up, puts her in her pj's and sleepsack, and gives her a kiss goodnight.

6:45pm - Upstairs to bed! I read Em a story, nurse her, and she's in her crib asleep at 7pm!

7pm - 6am - Who knows! Haha! Once Emmy slept this whole stretch without waking. Usually I feed her once around 1am, and then she goes back down until 6am.

As you'll notice, I mentioned that we've been doing rice cereal. I know, I know, I said last month that we weren't going to...but her spitting up has been out of control! That being said, I don't actually think it's been helping at all, but she really seems to love it. We've been doing organic brown rice cereal, and we haven't noticed her being constipated or any bad reactions at all...so we'll keep going with it!

Her spitting up is ridonculous right now!!!!! Soooo much spit up, all the time, everywhere! The only thing I can think of is that she's starting to teethe. It's very possible, because sometimes they teethe for weeks before you actually see a tooth. She's had more drool than usual, and has been extra fussy...so I'm guessing teething but who knows!

Here's some tidbits from Emerson's 5th month:

- She had her 4-month shots on October 10th, she cried so hard, it was sad

- At 4 months, Emmy weighed 17lbs 1oz, and was 25.75 inches long (95th percentile for height and weight!)

- Emmy slept through the night for the first time on October 12! I put her down at 7pm and she slept until 5am....heaven! There may be a light at the end of the sleepless nights tunnel

- She also did her first real belly laugh on October 12, and it seemed to go on and on and on. It was by far one of my favourite moments since she was born. Luckily I had my phone next to me and was able to catch most of it on video

- Emmy rolled over for the first time on October 15, she rolled from back to front. She has yet to roll from front to back yet. Now she rolls onto her tummy all the time, and then cries when she can't get back!

- She went through the dreaded 4-month sleep regression mid-October. There was about a week where she was waking up every 3 hours and refused to go back to sleep. It was roooough!

- She is grabbing at things more than ever! I know last month I said everything went into her mouth, but now that is really true! We have to be really careful about what we keep within her reach

- She is constantly doing her little laugh that sounds more like a cough/sneeze...so funny!

- She experienced her first Halloween, and we dressed her up as a lion

- She laughs when I pretend to pinch her chubby legs

- She's still wearing size 6 months clothing (with the odd 9-month bottoms)

- She loves any toy that makes that crinkly sound

- We now do a story before bed and she seems to like it!

- She has started reaching out and grabbing our faces, sometimes she grabs onto our lips or pinches our skin...ouch!

- She is obsessed with Casey. She watches her whenever she's walking around the house and loves feeling her fur

- She only nurses for about 10 mins. each time now, but she is still really easily distracted by anything: lights, Casey, the tv, Andrew's voice...

-Although she sleeps great in her crib, she refuses to nap there! This usually means naps on my tummy...I know, she's spoiled!

- She loves when I sing "Rockin' Robin"and she always stops crying when I sing "Songbird"

- This month we did the following: went swimming lots of time and to a few movies, lots of momsgroup gatherings, celebrated Emmy's first Thanksgiving at Great Uncle Sandy's house, went to Mississauga to visit Grandma Levstik, went to Clarksburg for a baby shower and a visit with Grandma and Grandpa Cummings, went to Emmy's first Halloween party, went to the dentist so Mommy and Daddy could get cleanings done, had visits from Grandma Levstik, Grandma Cummings, and Auntie Alex, and lots of other fun adventures!

Sleeptime with Daddy

Cool Dude

Baby in the Sink!

We had some family photos done on Thanksgiving, but don't expect they'll be very good. So we took Emmy's bumbo chair into the forest by our house and took some of our own.