The DeLorme Family

Emmy at 7 Months

My little love chunk is now 7 months old! Why must time fly by so quickly? I just love the baby stage so much and she makes it that much more enjoyable. She is such a joy and I just love her to pieces. She is such a sweet and happy little girl.
She is also a very, very popular girl. The other kids all just love her to pieces. They are always playing with her and wanting to be around her. The first thing Jameson says any time he walks in my house is, "Where's Emmy?" Ella and Ashlyn fight over who gets to hold her. She is like a little living doll for all of them. I have decided it is very nice to have older children to help with a baby. Dawson will play with her in the family room while I cook dinner. They are at an age where they know what she can't have and they do a good job keeping an eye on her when I need them to. I am always nearby, but having an extra pair of hands is so helpful! They also love getting the chance to play with her. I think she is really going to miss them when they go back to school.
Emmy is so incredibly close to being mobile and I am not ready for it at all! She has mastered the army crawl. She also loves getting on all fours and practicing her crawling. She always gets the biggest smile on her face when she does it. She has been practicing moving her arms and legs while she is on all fours. She is so super close and I know its only a matter of days until she has it down and is really on the go! This week she has started to pull herself up and stands holding the couch. She gets the biggest kick out of this and laughs when she does it. I know she will be cruising the furniture soon too. She can also now sit up from a laying down position. I swear she does something new every day!
This month Emmy got two new teeth. I randomly put my finger in her mouth one day and felt a little bump. I had no clue she was even teething because she was still as happy as can be. She ended up getting two teeth at the same time and she is a wonderful teether. Ashlyn was the same way. I am glad she stayed happy and didn't seem bothered by it.
Emmy continues to eat like a champ. I have had so much fun making all sorts of food for her. I recently made a bunch of mixed foods that she has really liked. I even made her beef stew that she really likes. She has pretty much liked just about everything I have made for her. Recently she has started to like feeding herself more and more. Tonight at dinner I cut up what we were eating into little pieces and she LOVED it!
Emmy has been babbling like crazy! She loves to "talk". She says "Dada" but hasn't referred to Joey specifically as Dada yet. I can't wait to hear "Mama". She also has started to wave and she says "Hi".
This girl has so much going on developmentally with all her mobility and speech that I think it is taking a real toll on her sleep. She has hit a major regression and has been waking up a lot lately during the night. It has been very hard on me, but I try to remind myself that it is temporary. I am hoping for some better sleep soon!
Here are some pictures of our growing princess!

7 month photo shoot

Showing off her crawling skills

Crawling

She already loves Harry Potter like her big sister Ashlyn

Such a happy girl!

Her Bubba is one of her favorite people in the world!

Camp Shady Brook

It was a really special summer for Ashlyn. She experienced sleep away camp for the first time ever. We decided to sign her up for the YMCA Camp Shady Brook this winter. Her best friend, Lucy planned to go with her the same week. Ashlyn was really excited to spend a week with her best friend. We were a little worried as to how she would like it. I was also concerned about what she would eat because she is truly the world's pickiest eater.
Camp was about a ninety minute drive from our house. We drove her up on a Sunday afternoon. When we checked it, Ashlyn was so excited to discover it was Harry Potter week. Lucy was already there, so it nice for Ashlyn to already know someone. We went to her tent and Lucy had already picked out a bunk for them. Ashlyn got the top bunk. Once we got her settled in a bit, it was time to leave. It was very hard to leave her!
I missed her so much that week. We were able to write her some letters in advance so she would get less homesick. I think the hardest part was having no communication with her or about her. I have never been away from her that long. Anytime she has been away with family I have been able to check in on her. The week did fly by, and before we knew it, it was Friday and time to pick her up!
We all drove up to pick her up. I was so excited to see her again! The first thing she said to me was, "I am coming back next year!" I knew immediately that she had had a good experience. We met her counselors again and Ashlyn showed us the lake and some other spots. It was then time to leave. We were headed up to the cabin from there. The entire way, she told Joey and I all about camp and the fun adventures she had. They did some really neat stuff. She even found some food to eat at each meal and didn't starve to death! She had so much fun that Dawson decided he wants to go as well next year. We loved hearing about her adventures and I am so glad the she got the experience of sleep away camp because I have such fond memories from camp as kid.

Driving into camp

Ashlyn's tent

Checking out the bunks

Our little campers

Getting her bed set up

Ashlyn and her cabin mates

Serving cupcakes

Goodbye Camp Shady Brook! See you next year!

Mining Museum

I am FINALLY done with school for the summer!!! The hardest part for me was missing out on all the usual fun summer adventures we usually have. As a teacher, I get to spend the summers with the kids and I am not used to missing out on all the fun! As I mentioned, Joey made sure they still had a great summer even without me. As soon as I was done with school, I was ready to start having some fun too! We made a list of what we wanted to do the most. One thing we wanted to do was go to the Ghost Town museum. We have driven by a million times, but have never stopped in. We decided we had to check it out.
We had such a great time! It is a small museum, but we still had a great time exploring. It is set up to look like an old western town. We enjoyed it because it helped us imagine what St. Elmo must have looked like it in it's glory days. The kids enjoyed looking at life long ago. At the end, they had an area to pan for gold. The kids and I really had fun doing that. We even were able to get a few pieces of gold too! I would definitely recommend the Ghost Town museum.

Dawson playing a shooting game

Our sharp shooters

Panning for gold

Standing in front of an old stage coach

In the general store

Dawson trying out an old washing machine. What a lot of work!

Emmy at 6 Months

I'm super late in posting these. Poor Emmy suffers from being the fourth child and a mom who is getting a Master's degree. I am doing my best to get these posts up!
At 6 months old Emmy has sure changed a lot since she was a newborn. We are seeing more and more of her personality every day. She is still the sweetest thing in the world. She just has the sunniest little disposition. She loves to smile at everyone. She is the also the cutest little thing you ever did see. We get stopped constantly when we are out by people commenting as to how cute she is. I think the fact that she is always smiling contributes to that as well!
Emmy has mastered sitting up by herself. She can sit for long periods of time and play. She is also getting really good at rolling across the floor to get to where she wants to go.
At her six month appointment, we learned that she is now 16 lbs and 7 oz and 25 1/2 inches long. I think she is still around the 50% for both height and weight. The doctor was very pleased with her growth and said she looks great.
At six months we also got to start solids. What an exciting time for Emmy! The few weeks prior I spent a lot of time making all sorts of homemade, organic purees for her to try. We were so excited to give her her first taste. I was so disappointed when she wanted nothing to do with it! I guess I would feel the same way if I had a liquid only diet my entire life too! I talked to the doctor about it and she said to just keep trying. I decided to buy some store bought purees since they tend to be a little thinner. I was able to get her to eat those. Once she got used to the consistency, she started eating the homemade food like a champ. She is a pretty good eater and loves to try new things.