Emma's First Halloween!!

We took Emma to the mall for her first Halloween. The trick-or-treating in our neighborhood was too late, since she goes to bed at 7:30. She loved seeing all of the other kids. We didn't wait in line for candy (since she can't eat it anyway). We just walked around and let her see all the kids. On Friday, she had a costume parade at her daycare. She was Tinker Bell for both occasions. Here are some pictures of our fairy:

Pumpkin Patch

We took Emma to the pumpkin patch to take some pictures in her pretty Halloween dress (thank you Lisa).

Scariest Day of my Life....

On Friday, October 15th, Emma and I were in a car accident. I had just picked her up from daycare (seriously, like 3 minutes before). We were starting to slow down for a red light. I heard screeching tires and looked back just in time to be hit. Emma screamed and started crying, which freaked me out. I jumped out of the car, glared at the car who hit us, and got my little girl in my arms. I had the EMS workers check her out to make sure she was OK. When she started smiling and laughing at them, I figured she was OK. My car was undriveable and the estimate is close to 5,000. Thank goodness we were both OK. It was the first accident I've ever been in, and of course it had to be with Em. The girl hit us really hard. She said she looked down. She was only 15 driving with a permit. Thank God and our angels for watching over us.

Photo Shoot

A parent at my school is a photographer and she asked if Emma would like to come out to the shoot she was doing for "Brag About Baby." It was so fun to have Emma dress up and take pictures. We don't know if any of the photos will be used, but it doesn't matter either way. Here is a picture of our princess in the "Brag About Baby" clothes.

Emma is SEVEN months

Wow, I can't even explain to you how fast the last year and a half has gone by! It seems like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant with Em. I can't believe that she is already seven months. She is so fun these days! Her true personality is starting to come out. She is laughing all the time. She is babbling like crazy. Her newest thrill is to scream. She does this for fun, not because she's upset. It's cute now, but I'm sure out in public won't be too cute :).

She can sit by herself so well. I have to put her in a sitting position, but she stays there forever. She can get into a sitting position by herself if she is raised up a little, she just can't from flat on her back. She is trying so hard to crawl. She rocks back and forth and maneuvers herself all around by scooting/sliding. She just doesn't pick her belly up all the way off the ground yet. I think it won't be too long and we'll have a mobile baby. She likes to roll all over the place.

She is sleeping so great at night. She has slept through the night a few times, but usually gets up one time around 3 am. She can finally put herself back to sleep when she wakes up during the night. Her naps are still crazy at daycare. Some days she naps so well and other days she naps a total of 30 minutes all day. We are trying to get her on a consistent napping schedule now.

She is doing such a good job with solid food. She is eating veggies, fruits, and cereal. We just started some of the stage 2 mixed fruit and veggie baby food. Just yesterday, she started waving "hi" and "bye." We've been working on it. She is so cute when music is playing. She bounces to the music. She LOVES jumping. We have a few different jumpers for her. We have the door-way jumper and two standing up stationary jumpers. She can even hold herself up on her legs if holding onto something. She buckles after a few minutes but does good.

We took her out of the infant tub. She was just getting too big. We got one of those inflatable tubs that goes in the big bathtub. She splashes like crazy. Yesterday the whole bathroom was soaked. She gets water all over her face and in her eyes, and it doesn't even bother her.

I can't believe in 5 months she'll be a year. Craziness!!

Diet

It's been 3 months now since I've been on the dairy and soy free diet. Slowly the last couple of weeks, I have been adding back food to see if it causes a reaction with Em. I have added back soy completely, and still no reaction--yay! I started simple with soybean oil and then went to soy milk. I can finally go to Starbucks again! I still can't eat out because almost everything is made with butter. I am slowly starting to reintroduce dairy. I start last week eating real bread---soooo good! Hopefully by Thanksgiving I can have mashed potatoes--yum! So far...nothing has bothered her-yay!

I know this is going to sound crazy...but I actually can't wait to eat again and gain some weight back! I am smaller than I have ever been in my adult life. I was so excited to finally be able to wear all of my clothes again, and now they are all falling off of me. I refuse to buy all new clothes. I bought a couple of pairs of cheap work pants and one pair of jeans.

Keep your fingers crossed that I'll be able to eat yummy food again :)

Daycare

We LOVE Emma's daycare!! She is always so happy when we are dropping her off or picking her up. I love that I can log-in from work and see her on the web cam. I have gotten much better and just check it a few times throughout the day. Thank goodness my days are so busy, or I think I'd be glued to it. She gets to go outside daily and swing on the baby swings. She makes art projects every week. Each week they have a word of the week that they learn in English, Spanish, and Sign Language. She gets read to, listens to music, plays with toys, and they sing songs to the babies. She had picture day last week and they are having a Halloween Costume Parade. I'm so glad we found that place! :) It makes being a working mom a little easier.

I think that I'm finally getting into a good routine. It's crazy how busy my days are from the time I get home to the time I go to bed. When we get home, I wash all the days bottles and pump parts. Then we play until bath time. After I put her to sleep, I shower, make bottles and food for daycare, make my lunch, make coffee, and grade papers. Then do it all again the next day.