Goodbye sleep and get on your running shoes, Emmie is in the house!

SHhhhhh.......

Do you hear that? Ahhhh. It's almost hard to even recognize these days....yes, that's right.

It's PEACE AND QUIET!

You better read fast because who knows how long it will last....!

Sheesh. I'm exhausted. I feel like this last few months have been so crazy busy, I haven't had a moment to sit down - let alone think. You may recognize that I've had a little lull in blogging lately...Why is that, you ask? (I know you're really not wondering, or even caring - I just have to pretend that you do to make myself feel better about life ;))

Well, it's been in large part due to this sweet little face: Yes, our sweet little angel Emmie, who hardly made a peep in her first six months of life, has really become quite - how should I say this - BUSY? SPIRITED? SUPER QUICK BUT CLUMSY? ACCIDENT PRONE BECAUSE SHE'S TRYING TO DO WAY TOO MUCH WAY TOO EARLY? NO LONGER MY INCREDIBLE SLEEPER THAT I COULD JUST LAY DOWN AND SHE'D FALL ASLEEP?... Yeah, basically all of those things and more but I can't come up with one word to combine it all.

So basically, to sum it up, my baby is growing up. *SIGH* Yes, I knew it was inevitable but I just didn't expect the mobility part to onset quite so early.

The main milestones that have brought about these changes???

Two things: 1)TEETHING. It happened right at six months. Her two bottom middle teeth sprouted through & since then the girl has only slept through the night a couple of times, and it takes a lot of work to get her to sleep. The hardest part is that she screams now when putting her down, which keeps up Parker, or vice versa, which has made the bedtime routine last up to 2 and a half hours which is really no fun. That right there has eliminated any small 'blog' time that I used to be able to squeeze in. My fingers are crossed that this 'phase' will change back over quickly...

2) HER LIGHTNING CRAWLING PACE mixed with her awfully early attempts at being an acrobat keeps me from cleaning, cooking, sitting, eating, using the bathroom, etc. for more than about three seconds at a time. She gets from here to there in a flash and has definitely been working her tail off to let her presence be known in this family for the last 8 weeks or so. In turn I have been running ragged to keep up with this precious and not so "quiet" anymore baby girl, all the while trying to keep my animated, somewhat demanding little Parker entertained. Anyone with a mobile infant knows what I am talking about. How about using an exersaucer or a bouncer, etc. to contain her? Those don't satisfy her for long at all. This girl wants to MOVE! OR be held. That works too, but it keeps me from the three seconds of 'free' time to get anything somewhat accomplished.

The Stink Bug is already pulling herself to a standing position...much to my dismay. 7 months is WAY too early for this if you ask me. I am definitely not one of those moms who thinks that having an early walker means that my child is destined for Harvard...I just think early mobility sets them up for a lot more accidents. And it has... she's already got a scar on her elbow from falling and I think she's bumped her head more in her 7 months than Parker has in his 2 1/2 years. There is plenty of time for the awkward frankenstein walk later. So I am hoping she is satisfied with just pulling herself up for at least 5 months or so. :)
Oh, and so much for the Bumbo chair... she gets herself out of it! This is partly where her acrobatic skills have come in handy for her.
Onto some of her other skills...
She's getting more used to baby food and cereal although I wouldn't say she loves it yet, she DOES love these dissolvable rice crackers for babies called "Mum Mums" that my sweet friend Karen introduced us to. She has also started saying "Da da".

Despite her hurry to grow up on us, one thing that has stayed the same is that she's still a total sweetheart. We LOVE having this baby girl in our family! She is all smiles (unless I put her in her crib), ADORES her big brother with whom she LOVES to share bathtime with, has an insatiable hunger and radar for paper, wants to be in on the action at all times, already has a teasing sense of humor, still has a crazy (& I mean crazy) calic in the front of her hair, has the cutest dimpled chubby cheeks you'll ever see, and has the most precious countenance (mixed with a bit of impatience these days, but who isn't at fault for that once in a while?).
She is so much fun - just like her brother - even though some days the pair of them completely wear Chris and I out.
But... that's what parenthood entails... and that's partly why I love blogging... because so many of us are in the midst of this crazy, busy fulfilling time of life. We can understand and relate with each other's experiences, all the while recording our own moments so that we can still cherish them in years to come, when our memories are a little faded and our brains are completely fried due to this role called
MOMMYHOOD. :)

If you actually read that entire post - BLESS YOU! And thanks for tuning in to my ridiculously long posts. :) If you did not, I don't blame you!