A Drive and a Picnic

Eric wanted to go for a drive to get a better lay of the land for hunting this fall, so we decided to make a day of it. So we packed a picnic and planned for a hike in the Tex Creek Land Management area. 

The drive was really pretty, even though some parts nearly sent me into hysterics--I do NOT like driving next to cliffs and such.

We drove and drove and drove. We kept looking for what looked like a good hike, but never found one. Turns out hunting area is pretty sparse and boring, not exciting enough for a hike. But eventually we stopped for some lunch. We didn't want to eat on the tailgate of our car, parked on the side of the dirt road, so we walked a few hundred yards into the brush and plunked down to eat our picnic on a blanket. 

The drive was pretty but more confusing than anything as far as finding "public hunting areas." As soon as we would see a sign saying it was public, we would see a no trespassing sign or fences right and left. If it's public, what are all the fences for? We were so confused. And we saw other signs that said, "No hunting without permission," with no phone number posted. Well how on earth do find out how to ask? Ugh, the more and more we drove the more and more it seemed that the only people who know where to hunt are those that have been hunting for generations and generations in this area. So un-user friendly. Oh well, at least we had a fun afternoon of it.

Emmeline at 7 Months (August 22, 2013)

Every time I write another monthly post, I'm reminded how quickly time is passing, how big she is getting, how much more fun she is becoming, and how much she is progressing. 

• Scoots backwards when she obviously intends to go forwards, but she doesn't realize that she never gets where she wants to go--kind of funny really. 
• Sits very well, she hardly ever falls over. 
• Can roll over whenever she wants to get a toy. It's nice that she's finally realized that she has some control over her movement, and it's even more nice that I don't have to hand her all her toys, she can grab them herself with her weird manuering of rolling and scooting. 
• Likes peek a boo. Though right now, it's rather one-sided. She doesn't know how to play, but she loves it when we do!
• LOVES her jumperoo. Such a relief, we can put her in it, and most of the time she'll be content and contained for about 30 minutes. 
• Can hold her bottle all by herself, and will even take it from us if we try to hold it for her.
• A touch of stranger anxiety. She gets upset if someone who just walked in the room holds her, she needs to see them and get comfortable with them before they hold her. She has a harder time with men, she doesn't seem to be that comfortable with my or Eric's dad. 
• Needs to see me at all times.... She freaks out when I go into another room, which makes it rather difficult to get much cleaning done. I try to find something I can sit down and do while she's playing so she's happy. 
• Struggles sleeping when not in her crib--which is great when we are home, but not so great when we aren't
• At her 6 month apt, the doctor gave us Zantac for her excessive spitting up. It has helped some, but she still spits up sometimes.
• She's been trying all sorts of new foods: popsicles, french fries, green beans (whole), corn on the cob, cheese, yogurt, crackers. And she pretty much loves them all. 
• Pretty much weaned--almost by accident. With all our activities in Utah she got more bottles than normal. And when we got home from Utah, she just didn't want to eat longer than five seconds at a time, so within a few days, we were kind of just done, and so was my supply. I didn't really plan it, it just happened, but I sure am happy to be done. Good riddance bf... until the the next baby anyways. 
• Moving like crazy in her sleep. She gets herself into the wierdest positions in her sleep. Sometimes I wonder if I should wake her up and move her because it does not look comfy to be squished up against the bars, or having your limbs sticking through the bars...lol
• "Talking like crazy." She has gotten a lot more vocal. We started putting her in the baby seat in carseats instead of just taking her in in her carseat, and she LOVES that. She LOVES looking at all the things, and all the people. Errands have become one of my favorite things to do with her, because she is so fun and adorable at the store. And I love it when other people come up to coo at her. 

We Ran Away to Utah

While Eric was gone at Annual Training (AT) for the National Guard, Emmeline and I escaped to Utah for a few days to give me a break from too much Emmeline-mommy time. Love this girl, but two weeks, just the two of us, and no breaks...a bit overwhelming. 

We had fun in Utah, but in the end vacationing with a 7 month-old as a single mommy is even more overwhelming. Emmeline and I probably won't try another trip without daddy for awhile.

Being a first-time-mom you just aren't really adventurous with your baby's eating--or at least I wasn't. Emmeline tried all kinds of news things at Grandma and Grandpas, she must have thought I was depriving her. 

Right before Emmeline had her first popsicle. 

During...aww come on mom, no more pictures, just give me some more of the good stuff. 

Afterwards...I think she's already picturing her next popsicle.

Enjoying her first french fry at our favorite burger joint--Dairy Keen. 

Knawing on leftover corn on the cob. We tried to move her hand for a better picture, and she freaked out. Don't come between her and her corn.

Just chillin' in my parent's backyard. 

Emmeline at 6 Months

Holy cow, where did the time go?

Six months is half a year! I feel like if I blink she'll be all grown up. Sometimes I really feel like time is our enemy. I'm starting to wonder how people ever decide to stop having more kids. It would be terribly depressing to not have a baby around the house. She is just so adorable and so fun! Ha ha, maybe I'll feel more differently when I have a few more around the house. But right now the thought of her, and my future children all grown up makes me want to cry.

She has grown so much. She seems to learn something new everyday. Which makes everyday so exciting.

• Teething has started in full force. There have been a few days that she has been pretty miserable. Gah, just when your baby seems to be sleeping well, teething hits. She had a canine tooth poke out for a couple of days, but then it disappeared again. How weird is that? Apparently teeth pop up and down until they're there for good. 
• Chewing on everything. As she's teething, she loves to chew on everything, including my chin. But when she tries to chew on someone's chin at church!?! Awkward!
• Amateur escape artist. Sometimes when she's done eating or is just being a pill, she tries to escape her bumbo chair by arching her back and nearly tipping the thing over. I think we need to get a high chair... lol. 
• Sitting very well. She went from barely being able to sit up--more like the bent in half, I'm doing stretches kind of sitting-- to sitting up very well within the last month.
• Standing! If she is holding onto something she can stand by herself and she loves it. Standing is her favorite thing. 
• Rolling more consistently. She's been able to roll over since 3 months old, but only did so occasionally, but now she will roll to a toy or something she wants. The moment I lay her on her back, she rolls over. Changing her diaper is getting to be a challenge.
• LOVES clapping. When we clap she gets so excited and she does this adorable thing, where she'll clasp her hands together and pumps her arms up and down as she tries to imitate us. Doesn't really look like clapping, but it's the cutest thing since, you know that last cutest thing that she did :)
• Grins all. the. time. She doesn't laugh much, but she does smile all the time. I love it! 
• No attention span for breastfeeding. Every two seconds she stops breastfeeding to look at eric and smile. In fact she'll stop breastfeeding to look at ANYTHING. Instead of eating faster as she gets older, it's taking longer and longer because she has zero attention span. But she'll take a bottle just fine because she can look around while she eats. Breastfeeding may be at a close for us. 
• Loves to go outside. If she's fussy, the fastest way to get her to stop, is to go outside. I'm so glad that she loves being outside so much! Unfortunately it has been so hot this summer, that we've avoided being outside :(
• Sleeping through the night, again. She's gone through phases of sleeping through the night and phases when she won't. Currently she's sleeping through the night :) Lol, I can't wait until she decided to be consistent long-term.
• Transitioning to two naps a day. Her naps are getting longer and less frequent. Halleujah! We can be out and about for more than 2 hours at a time. 
• Cuddling. Although she won't cuddle with us :(  she does cuddle with her elephant to go to sleep. It is so cute. When she's really tired, she'll grab onto her elephant, shove it into her face, and curl up to it. So cute!
• Grabs her toes. I wondered when she was going to finally "discover" them. I tried putting her hands on them and showing her feet to her, but I guess she had to "discover" it on her own. 
• Grabs and plays with toys. It has been so nice that she can play with toys. Although she won't let me leave the room, at least I don't have to play with her every single second.
• Will take things that are handed to her.This has been so helpful. I can hand her crackers, her binkie, a toy, and she'll take it from me. Little new advancements like this are making my life easier. 
• Reaches to be picked up. When I go get her from her crib she'll half raise her arms. Melted my heart the first few times. 

This is her sitting at the beginning of the month. 

I was husking corn when she grabbed onto the garbage can and held on--she stood, holding onto something for the very first time!

Enjoying bath time. 

She sleeps in the cutest positions. 

This is Emmeline sitting in the middle of the month.

She does this funny thing when you lie her on her back. She hates being on her back because she can't see anything. So she'll do an incredible crunch that she holds for as long as she can to try and see what's going on. Then she uses that crunch to help her roll over.

Emmeline sitting like a pro at the end of the month.

I can only imagine what she'll do next month!

Emmeline's First Trip to the Zoo

Eric got back from Annual Training on Friday (those where a LONG two weeks) and we decided we needed an outing. So when our friends, Collin and Hilary, invited us to go to the zoo with them, we jumped at the chance. 

She did really well, even though it through off her schedule (sometimes it is so hard to do anything with babies). 

The Tauphaus Zoo was just the right size for her. Any bigger and we might have had a huge melt down. We also might have melted from the heat, it was so hot!

LOVE!

As unsanitary as it may be, Emmeline put her mouth on every rail within reach. 

Afterwards we went to this new crepe place in town, called Crave. It was fantastic, so yummy, and thankfully Emmeline slept the whole time so we could enjoy our crepe!

https://www.facebook.com/icravecrepes

Seriously, people, go support this place so it'll remain open. Idaho Falls desperately needs the variety! Now if only we could get an Indian restaurant...

Thanks Collin and Hilary for inviting us!

Update of Random Proportions

When people ask what's going on. I usually say, "oh not much." But that's actually not true, I just haven't really thought about it. But a bunch of random, funny, and exciting things have happened--well at least in my eyes. So I thought I'd share.

This one makes me laugh. So last week I was digging around in the diaper bag when I found this. I was so confused how this little plaque made it into my bag, when it obviously belongs next to one of the baby changing tables at our church. I just had to laugh. It must have fallen into the bag somehow. I'm just glad that I wasn't the one who had changed Emmeline at church last week. When I showed it to Eric, he was just as amused as I was. We'll have to make sure it makes it back to church next week :)

This one is exciting for me, if long overdue--I finally made it into some of my pre-pregnancy jeans! I still have a long ways to go, but it is definitely a great start :)

Emmeline is crawling! It took her a little while to get the confidence to just go for it. She could crawl, she just didn't want to, or would get scared and stop after a step or two. But now she's crawling all over the place. 

About a month ago, Eric built a fire pit! I'm so happy with how it turned out. He was able to find a used fire pit ring at a junk yard for $10 and used the curved stones from Lowes. We love it, and have spent the last month roasting marshmallows, warming our toes, and eating dutch oven. We think it is a great addition to our home, especially as Emmeline and future kids get older. Once again, we feel so blessed to have such a large yard where we can put a fire pit!

Emmeline has had a few bad days with teething. The only thing that seems to snap her out of it is frozen blueberries, lots and lots of frozen blueberries. But she now has two very visible teeth :)

Remember, My Child

When I was rocking Emmeline to sleep the other night and thinking about Ella (see previous post). I did something I never do. I started to sing. (Well, it was more like humming for a few lines here and there. I have a horrible memory, and can never remember words to songs unless I sing them constantly--just ask Eric about my singing to the car radio--this is one of the reasons why I don't sing to Emmeline).

And the song that came to mind is Souviens-toi.

It's an LDS French hymn, and unfortunately, it is only in the French hymnal. Which is unfortunate, because it's message is unlike any other hymn.

Every missionary falls in love with Souviens-toi, and it is easy to see why. Here is how the hymn came to be:

A French LDS woman and her husband tried for many years to have children, but unfortunately it never happened. Eventually they began the process to adopt a child from Tahiti. One sleepless night she wrote a song to the tune of Dvorak's New World Symphony.

Sometime later (unclear on how much later) they were offered a baby. But because of the adoption process it took some time before they received the baby. After they accepted the baby into their home they discovered that the baby was born the same night that the woman wrote the hymn. (Coincidence? I think not.)

The French hymnal committee then adjusted the lyrics and added it to the hymnal.

(Not sure if all of this is accurate--but that is how the story was told to me).

Souviens-toi, mon enfant
Souviens-toi, mon enfant: Tes parents divins
te serraient dans leurs bras, ce temps ne’st pas loin.
Aujourd’hui, tu es là, présent merveilleux,
ton regard brille encore du reflet des cieux.
Parle-moi, mon enfant, de ces lieux bénis
car pour toi est léger le voile d’oubli.

Souviens-toi, mon enfant des bois, des cités.
Pouvons-nous ici-bas les imaginer?
Et le ciel jusqu’au soir, est-il rose ou gris ?
Le soleil attend-il la neige ou la pluie?
Conte-moi, mon enfant, la couleur des prés
et le chant des oiseaux d’un monde oublié.

Souviens-toi, mon enfant : A l’aube des temps,
nous étions des amis jouant dans le vent.
Puis un jour, dans la joie nous avons choisi
d’accepter du Seigneur le grand plan de vie.
Ce soir-là, mon enfant, nous avons promis
par l’amour, par la foi, d’être réunis.

English Translation

Remember, My Child (This translation is the most accurate, but doesn't fit the music)
Remember, my child : not long ago,
your divine parents held you in their arms.
Today you are here, marvelously present.
Your gaze still shines with the reflection of heaven.
Talk to me, my child, about that blessed place,
because for you the veil is still thin.

Remember, my child, the forests, the cities.
Can we down here imagine them?
And the night sky, is it rosy or gray?
Is the sun waiting for snow or rain?
Describe to me, my child, the color of the meadows
and the birdsongs of a forgotten world.

Remember, my child: at the dawn of time,
we were friends playing in the wind.
Then one day in joy we chose to accept
the Lord’s grand plan of life.
That night, my child, we promised through love,
and through faith, to be reunited.

Here is the piano music and another English translation. http://www.nyx.net/~cgibbons/do-you-know/dyk3.pdf

This song has always brought me such peace, and I feel it adds a missing piece to the hymnal. No other hymn talks so openly about the pre-existence. It so clearly expresses the thoughts and feelings that come when holding your newborn baby. I so wish it were in the English hymnal! We're missing out on a real beauty.

I don't know why MOTAB hasn't snatched this up, when it's available to them. Are they not aware? I've often thought about contacting them about it---maybe I will.

So, my friends with spectacular voices--I challenge, no plead, with you to make a recording of this song. I can only find a fuzzy one on YouTube. I'm talking like a recording studio. Someone who has the connections and the vocal chords must love this song also!?!

I'm talking to you-Felicia Bennett, Matt Clegg, Missy Spencer, Rebecca Daun...