October California Visit

Bry, Emma and I flew out to California early Saturday morning on the 10th. Sunday was Charlotte's baby blessing which we were happy to attend. We were able to see a lot of family that day and I enjoyed visits to family and friends during the week, as well. 

On Monday we went to the Oakland Zoo which was Emma and Charlotte's first zoo trip. I'm pretty sure Emma was more interested in people watching than looking at animals. On our way back from the zoo we stopped by the Oakland Temple, which I love dearly, to see the reflection pool now visible there.

Later in the week we visited the pumpkin patch at Ardenwood which was fun. 

Mostly, we just enjoyed time together with family. Emma loved being around lots of people, particularly her grandma who she got to see a lot of and her entertaining boy cousins who often do what she dreams of someday doing - running. 

Here are some pictures from the week:

Love the view from the temple grounds.

Emma loved the teeny pumpkin we got for her.

My attempts at getting good cousin pictures:

I loved the turned heads. 

Almost 8 months apart.

One last funny one:

My 9-month-old baby!

Emma is a fairly proficient crawler.
She loves to eat food still but I think she may love walking (by holding onto fingers) even more.
Being the social butterfly she is, Emma also loves seeing people - those who come visit us or those we see when we go out.
Baths are still a favorite activity, which is great.
She is a very determined girl who doesn't hesitate to speak her mind. I love her babble; I do not love her frustrated/angry noises/crying.
She absolutely loves books. and loves her family.
Emma has said "dada" for I-don't-remember-how-many-months but just yesterday (day after she hit 9 months) she started saying "mom"/"mama" and has said it more today. So awesome. Makes me happier than I had anticipated. I might actually like hearing it more than her giggles. Maybe.

Her outfit is blue - it has cute pink birds on it... I was going to put her in a more girly outfit but was in the process of doing laundry, so... here's my blue-eyed, blue-dressed baby girl.

Those eyebrows.

She doesn't always make this face - just always when a camera is noisily taking pictures.

She did a head dive into my lap shortly after this picture was taken. 

hahahaha

A true Bingham (and baby) - fascinated by teeth. 

"How'd you get all those teeth, dad?"

Outtakes from 8-month pictures

Because these were just too funny not to share.

Serious face

Oooo - camera

I don't even remember catching this photo - priceless

This face reminds me of her cousin Aiden's cheeser smile

Apparently this is how she felt about taking pictures

8-month-old Emma

She's been trying more and more foods lately. Some of her new favorites are salmon, and avocado. She's not much of a fan of bread or noodles because of the texture but she'll eat bread (not so much noodles). She still enjoys pretty much every pureed food we feed her.

She's rolling around and has gotten to the rocking-on-all-fours stage but no crawling yet except an occasion of accidental backwards crawling that didn't go far. Mobility limitations frustrate her and she fairly often lets us hear about those frustrations.

Emma enjoys story time/looking at books which is cute. Her favorite activity (aside from eating) is holding on to someone's fingers and walking around on her own two feet. It's pretty adorable except she hates to stop even though her legs will get tired and she can barely stand up after a while.

She still likes to go out and about and see new places and people. She has a much harder time now sleeping when we're not at home. Three hours at church sometimes messes her up because she typically will resist sleep while we're there and then have a hard time napping after we get home.

Typically she is most happy right after eating. A full belly makes for a happy baby Emma. That's when she's mostly likely to "converse" with me. She usually says "da da dadada" a lot which is pretty cute (although not as cute as if she were saying mama...).

We love her to pieces and she's often so darn cute. From approximations I can make at home she's almost 28 inches long and around 17 lbs (give or take).

Here are some pictures of her with her sweet baby face. =)

Love the concentration on her face.