outside my window, upside down, and under the christmas tree

Ha, that title made you wonder, didn't it? ;-)

Here we have some photos taken outside our lovely patio. It was raining (what a surprise), and these little birds were filling the tree just outside. I couldn't resist. :-)

Playing with my camera... it gets pretty sweet closeups! Believe me, these birds were tiny and far away.

Playing inside with Emma - here she's enjoying standing on her head. ;-)

And playing with a peek-a-boo box, which she loves! She still likes her rattle, but she's getting beyond that and needs some brain-exercising toys. She's getting pretty adept at closing those little jack-in-the boxes.

Trying to get a good picture of her under the tree - she was simply captivated! But I haven't figured out what the best setting is for getting her in the dark and it still being somewhat clear.

Emma News:

Emma is eating her "people food" a lot more lately, at least once a day and sometimes twice. It mainly consists of rice cereal and baby oatmeal with bananas - the oatmeal is the most recent and she loooves it even more than the rice cereal. How can I tell? Well, the rice cereal comes out of her mouth a whole lot more often. ;-)

I'm just so amazed at how time flies when you have a little baby. And especially with her little milestones! It's all new to me because I haven't really been around kids much. :-) Actually, I can't say that now, can I? Anyway, she loves to throw things and much prefers standing to sitting. Funny to watch because I'll be trying to get her to sit on my lap and her legs are stiff - there's no way she's sitting if she can possibly stand! Because of this, she doesn't really sit independently for longer than a couple of minutes (she sits fine if there is something to lean against like the curved Boppy pillow or a chair). She does, however, stand for a LONG time while holding on to something (like the side of her crib) and she's taken her first steps with me holding her hands. And now when she's on the floor all I have to do is put my hands palms up in front of her and she grins, grabs each one, and pulls herself up. Fun fun! lol

She's also "talking" up a storm. She says num-num-num-num while she's eating and when she wants me she says, "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" and it sounds just like that, but with a question mark at the end. lol No sign of da-da yet but I'm sure it'll be soon. I say "daddy" all the time - "Daddy's home! Look, there's daddy! Oh here, daddy will change your diaper!" ;-)

As far as non-baby-related news (is there such a thing?), John and I are keeping very busy with worship at church, work, college for John, and I've been busily reviewing books. John is doing great with college, of course. Every class he worries about not getting an A (or mentions that he might not) and then every class he ends up with an A and breathes a sigh of relief. And I laugh. ;-)

Below you'll find a video of Emma doing her little acrobatics.