Emilia Reaches Double Digits!

This week Emilia reached the double digits—that’s right, she’s now 10 months old. Today she started swim lessons with grandma. Agustin and I were in favor of taking her to the pool and teaching her ourselves (after all, we both spent years competing with swim and water polo teams, as well as lifeguarding, not to mention that I also taught swim lessons in college). But we told grandma she was more than welcome to spend her money if she wanted to have this special bonding time with Emilia. Emilia cried through most of the first lesson, but we assume she’ll enjoy it more in the future since she has enjoyed our informal visits to the pool. It wouldn’t hurt if she put on a few more pounds for insulation.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this past week. In this first one, Emilia is checking to see if the bathroom is occupied. In the second one, she’s apparently practicing her gymnastic skills (a new favorite pose) while waiting her turn.

Emilia models her new fall coat:

Grandma bought Emilia her first pumpkin, and only six weeks before Halloween!

Discovering the World & Goodbye Devin!

Tonight my immediate family enjoyed our last family dinner together for awhile (where we took the photo above). On Wednesday my brother Devin is off to Washington DC to begin life after college. After many years with all of us spread out over the world (Thailand, Spain, Cuba, Czech Republic, Chicago, Los Angeles, Texas, Wisconsin, Colorado, etc.), it’s been great to have the whole family in the Twin Cities for the past several months. Good luck Devin! We’ll miss you! This picture is a little old, but it’s a great one of Emilia and her uncle Devin. Now you know where she gets her eye lashes!

This week Emilia made several new discoveries, including two pictured below. First she discovered the spring doorstop and had a ball pinging it back and forth.

She also discovered lunch meat, which has quickly become a new favorite. She is really starting to favor table foods that she can feed herself over baby foods. She eats up the turkey almost faster than I can rip it up. Can you find the lost piece of lunch meat in this photo?

September is Birthday Month!

Last week we celebrated the birthdays of my mom, brother (Jordan) and grandmother. Jordan made a great salmon dinner for our immediate family on my mom’s birthday and Agustin, Emilia and I hosted a Sunday dinner for a larger group. These pictures are from the first celebration. Happy birthday tomorrow to Agustin’s dad and my good friend AnnMarie!

Emilia is now crawling all over the place and getting into anything and everything. Why is it that we spend all this money on toys and babies seem more attracted to things like cell phones and their chargers (or pretty much anything with a cord), the TV remote, and their parents’ important papers? Here’s Emilia exploring her surroundings.

Our Anniversary & Emilia on the Move!

Can you believe it's already September? On Friday, Agustin and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. Emilia stayed with grandma (or vice versa, depending on how you look at it) while we enjoyed a night on the town. As can be expected of new parents, we're so busy taking pictures of Emilia these days, we completely forgot to take the camera with and record any memory of our anniversary celebration.

In other news, Emilia is really starting to move! She can now sit up from lying down all by herself and has also started crawling. The other day I went in her room and found her sitting in her crib (instead of napping)--she'd untied the bumper from the railing and was shaking the two bumper ties like she was driving a horse and buggy. Here's a picture of one of her early crawling attempts.

Here she is helping mom fold the laundry. Aparently she thinks we're "number 1"!

And here she is enjoying what might be the last swim of the summer (unless this Minnesota heat keeps up) with grandma at the lake.