Day After Christmas!

Emily had an eventful day after Christmas.  She tried her high chair for the first time - we tried using it before and she was not comfortable in it.  It must have been too early. Yesterday, she loved sitting in the chair. We also noticed that she stares a hole through you when you drink from a cup, and we decided to let her try a sippy cup for the first time. It actually worked great! She didn't know to tilt it high enough to drink but she was doing everything else - holding it, taking it to her mouth, trying to sip, etc. 

In the evening, Emily's aunt Rebecca, uncle Stan, and cousins Alexandra and David came to visit. We had a great time eating pizza, watching Emily play, talking, and hanging out.  Here's Ems with aunt Rebecca:

Showing off her Jumperoo skills:

Sitting with cousin Alex:

George Girls and momma Olga aka Mimi:

Mommy and Mimi by the Christmas tree:

Emily's First Christmas

Getting ready to hit the road - to Granmom and Grandad's house we go!

Christmas Tree!

The hand in mouth syndrome....it lasted all night - she's teething....

Digging for presents under the tree:

Found one!

Cousins Allison (who is expecting her first baby in May of 2009) and Merichelle:

The elf's had it for the night.....just look at that expression!  :)

Polka Dots and Christmas Trees

Polka dots on her shirt and on the boppy pillow....could she be any cuter?  :)

We finally decorated our Christmas tree - Emily loves it. She likes to touch the branches and also the ornaments, we don't let her actually "play" with them but she is allowed to touch them under our supervision :)

This is Emily's Christmas gift from Mimi  - we opened it early so we can all enjoy it. It's a bronze Christmas tree with hand made ornaments from the song, "Twelve Days of Christmas".  This is something we will keep - hopefully forever - and Emily can always remember this came from Mimi on her very first Christmas.

My friend Margaret Smith, who works for Bank of New York Mellon, and saves my life daily at BOA, sent Ems this gorgeous pink ornament. It has Emily's name on it, too! This was a surprise and such a wonderful perfect gift!  Something else Emily can keep forever!

Shopping at North Park

One of Steve's producer clients gave me a generous gift card to Baby Gap, and I decided, what better place to redeem it than the North Park Gap?  I love that mall anyway, but this time of year, at Christmas, it is a spectacular sight.  They have Christmas trees all over the mall, live music (piano), children's choir (my eyes got all watery because I started imagining Emily singing in one - we are hoping she'll have a musical ear and singing voice like her Grandfather Vladimir, my Dad....we'll see...)   In the middle of the mall, everything is set up for Train Rides and puppet shows.  Emily was mesmerized.  She stared at all the lights, cooed and "talked" non stop, and soooo many people came up to us and commented on how cute she was :)  (Extra bonus).

Here are a couple of pics!  The trip was super successful because we got the cutest outfits for Emily for when she is older (I decided to get her things she can "grow into" as opposed to things for "now" that she will outgrow in a month.)  Thanks for the card, Beaird and Boone Productions!!  :)

Mimi at the Coach window:

 

My two favorite girls :)

One of the MANY Christmas trees:

Emily loved that Santa hanging from the ceiling by Tiffany's:

Some ladies from the local retirement home dressed all festive (their exact words) and decided to take a holiday stroll through the mall.  Mom and I admired their hats and they gladly posed for a picture!

This fountain had live baby ducks and a turtle!

More Christmas trees:

When we got home, Daddy was home from his long trip to Oklahoma - he finished shooting a Chesapeake Energy commercial in Oklahoma City.  Grandad was Daddy's ride home so he was there, too!  Emily loved the attention, and at one point, when Dad and Grandad were being silly and letting Emily wear Daddy's Boston Red Sox cap, I decided to snap a photo.  Although, I have to say, she looks like a little BOY in that hat!!  :)

5 Months Old

Emily is 5 months old already.  She loves to sit, but still can't completely do it on her own, so in these 2 pictures we just propped her with a bunch of pillows.

Cereal is her new favorite thing - so much so that she doesn't let go of the spoon and won't drink as much formula as before!!  

She recently discovered that she can suck on her hands AND her toes....so here she is practicing that new skill :)

Looking in the mirror....who is that baby?  :)

Activities

I cannot believe I had 4 days off, and they are already over - why does time fly so fast when you are enjoying what you are doing?  Back to work tomorrow....so I decided I better post this right now!!

My friend Elizabeth Breed Smith will enjoy these first two - Emily is really starting to like books.  So far, her favorites are books of colors and basic names of things, also "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle (Elizabeth's suggestion), and this Russian book that Emily is "reading" in the picture that my Mom brought from Vladimir.  I am excited Em likes books because I always have and do, and it's important to me that she appreciates books and learning - even though at the moment, it's mostly fun colors and trying to eat the books that appeal to her most!

Bath time - Steve was being silly today and tried to do a mohawk....didn't really work but you can see how long her hair is on the top of her head - she was born with it and still hasn't lost that top part.  We try to put bows in it but it's too thin for bows....oh well.  All in due time.

Emily's First Thanksgiving

Emily's first Thanksgiving was wonderful. If you know me, then you know I worry about everything, and my main concern was that Emily was not going to do too well in new surroundings (after all, she is too young to know this "new" house is her Granmom's!) and around a lot of new people (well, new to her.)  She did amazing. Did not fuss, cry, or get upset, let people hold her, laughed and smiled, and enjoyed every moment! She wore her Thanksgiving outfit, too - her first one. So many wonderful memories were made, and we are all so excited Emily got to share in them!

Night before Thanksgiving.....trying harder and harder to sit up on her own:

And every chance she gets, she reaches for things and grabs them now:

Thanksgiving morning....playing in the gym (the folded out version) while Mommy, Daddy, and Mimi get ready:

And, here we are!  In Daddy's lap taking it all in:

Cousin Merichelle Roberts (soon to be Jones :) and her fiance Bryan.  Emily fell in love with Bryan!!!  She smiled huge at him and just about stared a hole through the poor guy!!  But, if anything, she has good taste!!  (So does Merichelle!!  :)

Mimi, Mommy, and Emmie:

Our family.  I am so thankful for Steve, his parents, and all his relatives.  They are the nicest, sweetest, kindest people on this planet!!  I am so lucky to be  a George!!  :)

Practicing her cooing in uncle Ed's arms:

Uncle Ed:

Aunt Karen:

Mimi and Mommy took Emily for a walk in her stroller in the afternoon.  The day was gorgeous, Em fell right asleep, and stayed that way for an hour and a half.  Another thing to be thankful for!!  We wandered over to White Rock Elementary, where Steve, Karen, and Stan all went to grade school, and took pictures with their pumpkin patch/display:

Too bad Em could not have any of that delicious food - but she seemed happy with her bottle!

Aunt Rebecca:

Granmom:

A nice mid-afternoon snack (her hand) as the evening draws to a close:

Thanks George family (as well as the Roberts of course!!) for making Emily's first major "American" holiday so meaningful and fun!!  We love you all!!