11-month baby Emma

Bry and I have been able to get Emma to take a step here and there on her own. She's much more comfortable walking when holding onto at least one of our fingers or grabbing onto our pant leg which is a new trick. She is getting steadier every day and we expect she'll be walking on her own at least a little before her first birthday. I expect she'll be happier when she can walk on her own since she gets frustrated if I won't take her walking around when she wants to and gets frustrated when I stop after I have walked her around because she never wants to stop even when her legs are giving out.
(Excuse the poor lighting in these photos.)

Emma has become more picky about which foods she likes to eat but she generally seems to like any non-pureed foods to which we introduce her. Some of her favorite foods include creamy peanut butter (her pediatrician gave the okay for PB at her last appointment and Emma hasn't had any issues with it) on wheat bread (or other breads), melted cheese on wheat bread, salmon, and egg. She still likes pureed sweet potatoes, carrots and squash, and most fruits except banana (which we recently discovered she does like fresh). When Bry and I eat with her around she often stares at the food and at us with this face that says "I have a mouth. I know how to eat stuff. Share. With. Me. NOW" and will get upset if we don't share. Oftentimes, since Bry isn't home by the time Emma is having her dinner and Emma gets upset if we eat without sharing everything, Bry and I end up eating after we put Emma down for the night which means a lot of late dinners.

She is still sleeping great for the most part and does okay when her schedule gets a little off due to things that come up. At night she usually sleeps about 11 hours and during the day takes 2 naps that total about 3 hours. She's very active when she's awake and has gotten into the wonderful habit (that babies commonly do) of picking up tiny random things off the ground and trying to eat them making me feel like I need to vacuum every 3 hours (which I don't).

Emma is generally good at "telling"/showing us what she wants and is often determined in where she wants to go and what she wants to do. She enjoys getting out of the house (as does her mom) especially if it involves going somewhere with people who will adore her and talk to her. She is usually not happy if they try to pick her up, though, but she may be willing to steal their fingers to help her with walking.

We are very excited to share our first Christmas with her. It's a little odd for Bry and I to realize that I was super pregnant last Christmas and now that sweet baby we were anticipating is here with us and has grown so much.

Also, she still loves books. =)

They taste good...

Family photos

This past Saturday we decided to take some family photos. The lighting didn't work out very well for about half of them and Emma isn't really smiling in any of them but here are some of them anyway.

 

You can see me holding the clicker in some of these. haha.

Baby catchphrases

"Yeah" is a "word" Emma has sort of said a lot over the past few months. Over the past few days she has been practicing "Hi" often. It's adorable but it also sort of makes me wish she could say other words. She doesn't say "hi" to other people (other people being not Bry or I) yet, really, but hopefully will start to say it when we prompt her since it's pretty adorable.

Emma "talks" in the second half of the video below. You should be able to hear "yeah" followed a moment later by "hi" as she brings her hand to her shirt. Unless I'm actually crazy and just think what comes out of her mouth are words.

Big Emma

I forgot to mention in her 10-month post that she has been wearing 12-month size clothing for a few weeks. At her 10-month check-up she was measured to be 80th percentile in all three measures - height, weight and head. She's our big little girl. =)

I also forgot to mention that her four top front teeth seem to still be making their way out slowly and are most of the way out. I think. We haven't noticed any other new teeth, so she just has four on top and two on bottom for now.

Here's a video I took today. She continues to get better at standing and cruising the furniture in our house. I could see today at times when she was standing up this look on her face as she focused on something a little ways away and how I believe she just looked at it thinking "I wish I could just walk over there."

More photos

I took more pictures today, so here are the best ones of my sweet girl. =)

Making up her own poses.

My little puppy

Bry got a roll (bread) and sat down in the living room. Emma crawled over to him and stared at him with this face that said "haven't you told me I am your FAVORITE girl? Don't you want to share with me?" It was pretty funny. Lately she has become much more interested in what we put in our mouths and thinks whatever goes in ours should also go in hers. Oh, Emma.

10-month-old Emma

Emma definitely likes to be moving. She crawls quickly now and is always pulling herself up to stand. Over the past week or two she has become much more sturdy and doesn't bonk her head/face into things as much as she did before. She seems to prefer playing around more than eating now although she makes sure to let you know when she's hungry. Emma still loves to take baths and now likes to help push the shiny handles to get the water out if she gets the chance. She loves all shiny handles - sink handles, cabinet handles, dresser handles. If they're somewhat shiny she likes them.

Emma is taking two naps a day and still sleeping through the night except the last couple nights because she's been sick with a cold and waking up not feeling well.

Excuse the food on her face in these not great snapshots... I took these on Saturday quickly since we were busy. Hopefully I'll have better pictures to post later in the week.