Mystery Reader

Guess who showed up during reading time at Ryan's school last week?

 Grant is one of the best story readers/tellers I know....way more animated than I.  

He thought he would then try to spring Ryan from school early and go get a little treat.  Ryan loved the idea but 'just after recess dad' and then 'well, we can't miss library time, so after library, ok?', then 'well now it's time to sing our song', you get the drift.  Grant ended up hanging out at school all afternoon.
But don't you worry......they still got that treat after school, just about an hour later than intended.

4 months!

We are one week overdue with the four month update for Emerson but all for good reason....her check-up was yesterday and what's a four month update without the four month stats?
Weight:  13 lb, 12 oz = 38th percentile
Height:  26" = 95th percentile
Head:  16.5" = 82nd percentile
Our long, lean string bean is still awesome.  Rolling, laughing, sleeping well.  Not a fan of being without mom for too long but oh well.   We've dabbled in a little crying-it-out (that may sound early to some of you but I did it with both Ryan and Reese and they became great sleepers) this past week to develop some solid naps and thankfully it has worked....I can lay her down, put on a 7 minute vacuum 'song' and most often she is out by the time it's over.  Better naps have then turned into better sleeping at night.  When she has napped well, she'll sleep from about 8:30pm - 6:15am.  Without solid napping, she likes to rise between 4:30am and 5:30am.
Food wise, our pediatrician says the baby gods have changed their way of thinking yet again and now I am to start her out on various cereals at four months (vs. the exclusive breast feeding for six months)....rice first, then oatmeal, barley, etc...before introducing some fruits.  And apparently fruits first vs. the often thought vegetables.  Funny how things have changed since we did this last with Reese.  And I'm sure it'll change again in a few years.  The thought (this time around) being that the sooner you introduce foods to them, the less likely they are to develop some food allergies.  Considering Ryan has the peanut allergy, I'm all for helping to keep Emerson allergy free.  Off to buy some rice cereal we go....Girlfriend can't even really sit up in a high chair (time to dust that puppy off I guess), but apparently she's going to start dining with us.

Never too early....

To learn the ins and outs of the iPad. Or a little online gambling. Whichever.

Ryan can text

Much to my dismay and slight embarrassment when I let her play with my phone the other day, grabbed it back as she was getting in the car and heard the dreaded "hello?" coming from the phone. Sweet Jesus who has she called at 8:15 on a Sunday morning and how long has the call been going. Thankfully it was a friend and fellow mom. And apparently Ryan had been sending confusing text messages to the same friend prior to opting just to call her. And as a side note, Ryan likes to take pictures of her shows on the iPad which would slightly help to explain the Indian woman in the shot below (I think a princess, Jasmine perhaps?). Bottom line...make sure you only have fellow moms in your contact list lest you start texting your boss or Doctor or god knows who else random labor pics. PS - I love her simple response.....?

Blogger App

Well who knew one existed? Where the hell have I been. Thanks to my sister, I can now easily post all my grainy iPhone pics with ease. Lucky you. Consider this our maiden voyage. Only one pic for very scientific testing purposes as I can't seem to figure out how to caption individual ones. Okay fine, a bonus pic at the bottom of Emerson and one of her major financial backers.
Back to Ryan and a visit last week to Tilles Park. The swings had to wait until steamer time was over....my kind of girl. Coffee first. Strenuous activity second. And by 'coffee' I mean steamed milk. No haters please. The ladies at the gym gave me the most judgmental look once when Ryan asked if we could go get 'coffee' after we left.

Third times the charm

Every few weeks it seems, I find myself heading down to the basement to bring up another large, plastic contraption, passed down from her sisters, for Emerson to play in.  The latest.....the Baby Einstein jumpy thingymajiggy.
Ryan enjoyed it back in the day:

Then the Reesers....

 And now Emerson...

 She's okay with it for now....mainly just wants to slobber all over it.

 Reese is a little less than enthused with the process....especially after I had to inform her that she is not to climb in.  Which she has of course tried to do no less than 54 times already.

 Smiles

And then trying to pull one of the toys (very few remaining this time around, sorry Emme, but that's what imaginations are for) as hard as she can.

While I will be sad to see Emerson out grow this puppy, I'm not going to lie that it will be nice to rid our house of these crazy contraptions once and for all.   Unless Grant wants to go for a fourth:)

Kidding.  Get up off the floor.  You may breathe again.

Smiles...or gang signs?

Your guess is as good as mine.

And a few pics of Ryan and Emerson.  Sorry Ella for the lack of Reese - I promise I will track that child down with good camera in hand!   But we all know that Reese + sitting still + following directions aren't really her strong suit.  Plus, the girl was probably knee deep in her closet planning her outfits for the day.