The Art of Rolling Over by Emma

Step 1: Lie down on back.

Step 2: Roll onto side with legs and arms sticking out in front of you and shoulder to floor slightly tucked under.

Step 3: Swing leg on top over to pull your weight.

Step 4: Put your arm out as well to catch yourself when you get on your stomach.

Step 5: Put both hands out.

Be proud and say it was a piece of cake (or baby food - that's even easier to eat).

7-month baby Emma

This is late but whatever.

Emma is learning more every day it seems. She practices rolling from tummy to back now that back to tummy has become so easy she can do it instantly. She loves it if I applaud her for practicing and will sometimes go back and forth a few times. Note: It takes a lot of ab muscles to keep from hitting your head when you roll from stomach to back so you can't do it too many times (the baby way).
Emma has been sending mixed signals about food - sometimes she loves it and sometimes she spits it out. I'm trying to figure out what her preferences are but it has been challenging. She still loves milk and wishes she could have like a hamster-feeder with it so she could eat it all day every day whenever she wants. She is fed baby food about three times a day - minimum twice a day.
She continues to be a good traveler although she has a harder time falling asleep if we take her out for errands. She resists sleeping until we get home most of the time or if she does nap it's only 20-30 minutes which isn't great but we'll take it.
Emma LOVES to have visitors come over who will play with her and converse with her. She loves talking to people although she typically won't talk to people she doesn't know well. She definitely loves attention though. That being said she requires a lot of it when she's awake which makes it hard for me to do much.
She's still a good sleeper and typically takes 4 naps a day and sleeps through the night. There are the exceptions but she does well. She has become accustomed to waking up between 6:30am and 7:00am (although I don't really know WHY - she seems to be more Bry's child). It's not a habit I am fond of. She doesn't usually stay awake for too long before her first nap though (45-60 minutes).
Emma is an enthusiastic little baby who wants so badly to be mobile so that she can get into all the stuff she sees. She likes to play a lot and loves her family.
Also, she LOVES hands and toes; they fascinate her. I'll often catch her admiring one of her hands as she turns it and bends her fingers.
I love to hear and see her "talk" and she does lots of funny sounds and faces. She's challenging at times but she's so very sweet and cute too.

So many fun faces...

I love when she sticks her legs straight out and rotates her feet. So funny.

You have to love that sweet face.

Love that lip.

AAAHHHHH!! This is her daddy face.

"Toes. I like toes."

Last Day of Hawaii Adventures

We moved out of the house in the morning, stopped by an amazing lookout on our way to Laie, went to the temple, took family photos, got lunch (yummy shrimp), attempted to check into our hotel (which was a pain because they were way behind and our rooms weren't ready for hours), went to the PCC briefly, did souvenir shopping, and got a late dinner at Kahuku grill (burgers) which was super tasty but really slow. Sadly I didn't do a good job of taking pictures of food on this trip (as in I'm pretty sure I didn't take pictures of any of it except the Dole Whips).

Nu'uanu Pali Lookout

Laie Temple Grounds

Lunch at Giovanni's

Shrimp (not shown) and smoothies (not shown)

Becca's baby was approximately pineapple-sized on the trip. ;)
This was taken in front of a truck we ordered smoothies at - they were super good. 

Back at the PCC

LOVE this stroller (Graco Verb). It was so amazing for the whole trip.

Did I mention I LOVE hibiscus? LOVE!

Pearl Harbor

We left early in the morning to get there for tickets to the USS Arizona Memorial. Emma was cranky and ended up crying during most of the pre-boat ride documentary, through most of the boat ride and after we arrived at the memorial where her cries echoed off the walls. We eventually got her to go to sleep (she was definitely overtired) by having me hold her sideways toward me, bouncing her, and playing white noise on Bry's phone via an app. Hallelujah for (free) white noise.

After that we decided to spend the rest of the day leisurely enjoying our time at the house by the beach.

Photo dump #4 (Friday, July 24)

Early morning before we left; view out the back of the house.

Seriously sad face.

Emma's First Time

in the ocean and on the beach 

Yes, we really did take almost all week before getting her in the water. We were out and about most days and those days we weren't out as much I would forget or remember right before she needed to go down for a nap or someone would be napping who I'd figured would want to see it happen. So Friday was it.

Emma's first dip in the ocean.
Aiden on right. Ha. He LOVES the beach.

 

She loved being in the water - just look at that face. Baths are one of her favorite things, so I had hopes she'd like it.

Her swim suit was just a little small and barely covered her tummy. 

Happy beach baby.

Haha - her face. She loved this activity seat thing we rented.
Not that she got to use it much with so many fun people around to hold her. ;) 

Kualoa Ranch and Dole Plantation

Photo dump #3 (Thursday, July 23)

Kualoa Ranch

It rained a little during our bus tour. 

AAAHHH! DINOSAUR! (I think Becca and Aiden missed the memo.)

Cows

Along the Road

(and in the car)

Sleepy traveler

Awake! Leg has assumed a normal position. 

Dole Plantation

Scenery leading to the plantation.

It looks like Aiden's arm is Uncle Ryan's. Ha. 

I love hibiscus.

Sadly I didn't catch a picture of the ones you could really see cacao beans on.

Dole Whips - SO delicious.

Emma thought they were delicious too and that Grandma is the best.

Random

It's our street and the exit number is my favorite number. So awesome.

Emma's first experience with a straw - she didn't get using it the other way but we discovered we could get some water to her through the bottom end. She liked it. Sort of.