Croup, there it is

Poor Emma has the croup! But you wouldn't know from this photo taken during the second night of Chanukah. Unfortunately only a few hours later she was barking like a seal and quite miserable. We took her to the doctor today and our thoughts of croup were confirmed, but it hasn't gotten her down. Here are a few pictures of her playing happily with some of her favorite animals. We'll see how tonight goes... wish us luck!

Croup can't get me down!

Dreidel time!

Emma celebrates her first Chanukah by attempting to eat a menorah and a dreidel since she's too young to digest a pile of greasy potato latkes. We had lots of fun going through my Jewish holiday bins that my mother collected over the years. Thanks to Emma's Grandma Susan we have enough candles to light a dozen menorahs for several decades, not to mention lots of Chanukah kitsch like crystal dreidels and talking bears with yarmulkas.

Check out this hysterical montage of Steven and Emma enjoying themselves (if you ask me, Steven is enjoying himself a little too much!)

Rainy Days and Sundays

Last week Jill and Vram brightened up our rainy Sunday by bringing over yummy food and playing with Em while Steven made pancakes with the berries they brought us, yum!

Em and her fellow red-headed buddy.


Vram and nugget share a special moment.


Group photo!

Growing up

Seven months... hard to believe we're more than half way there to Emma being one year old. She makes us smile so much our faces ache. Here are some pictures of her devouring her favorite food (sweet potatoes), wearing her favorite pajamas (whales), looking so grown up in her pretty jacket, and then finally, the finale - Em sitting up all on her own!

International Play Date

Two weeks ago Emma's French pal Matthew came over for a visit and the two got along wonderfully until Emma scared him by making pterodactyl noises and flapping her hands like a penguin. That was just her way of saying hi, but perhaps it didn't translate. Before Em's decibel level got ear shattering, they shared some sweet moments.

Here's Lauren and her cute little dude.

Meeting of the babes.



Now this is crazy. Here's a picture of me and Lauren prego a year ago...


And us with our babies!

Pick it up, put it in my mouth

This is Emma's mantra as she explores the world with her mouth. She is LOVING food - especially sweet potatoes, apples, pears, and bananas, but she is not afraid to try other things, such as knuckles, noses, and remote controls.

I love this face. If she gets this excited for apple sauce and remote controls, what's she going to look like when she finally gets to try some ice cream?

6 months!

Em had her 6 month doctor's appointment today. She's 27 inches long and 18 pounds! Eighty-something percentiles in everything, including her little head circumference which is finally catching up with the rest of her body, ha. She is a big strong healthy baby who had her very first vaccine today and barely flinched - what a tough cookie! Also, she's been enjoying some real food - rice cereal and bananas so far. We tried to give her avocado today and she made her opinion very clear by gagging and pushing it out of her mouth. Sorry Em! We gave her some more bananas to make it up to her. Below is Em eating her first taste of rice cereal and above check out her delicious bowl of banana mush.

Candy Thief!

Emma wore an adorable green costume complete with scales, a snout, and tail! It only makes sense since she was quite the little dragon for the first 4 months of her life. Now she is a smiley happy sweet nugget who is growing so fast she almost didn't fit into her costume, which was way too big for her just a few weeks ago. Check out our little candy thief and her daddy's very professional pumpkin carvings!

New Paltz (and a chicken)

Here are some picture from our trip to New Paltz the second week of October! Emma met her friend Leif from California and was so inspired (and jealous!) by his walking and crawling that she learned to roll over while we were there. We had a great time hanging out in our country commune with our friends Becky, Adam, Jill, Vram, Jen, Brent & Leif. We can't wait to take another group vacation!