Tuesday, September 25, 2012

March - September : A Summary

Once again, it's time to play catch up on our blog!  March - April found us settling into parenthood.  Emilee's first official outing was on April 8th for Easter at Mom and Dad's.

Easter - April 8th, 2012
 For the most part, Matt and I stayed home with Emilee until we slowly started getting comfortable going out with her.  We worked hard on her schedule, and by 8 weeks she was sleeping through the night!  Once this happened, life got easier!  We celebrated Mom's 50th birthday and my sister's birthday in April.  Then on May 5th, we took our first baby-free outing!

Wine Tasting in Temecula
Matt and I booked a wine-tasting tour in Temecula with a group of friends.  We had a limo bus drive all of us to 4-5 different wineries.  Emilee got to stay with her Grandma for the day.  We had such a great time, although by the end of the day we couldn't wait to get back to our sweet daughter.

Towards the end of May, we took Emilee to meet more of her family.  She got to meet her Great Auntie June and Uncle Mike, as well as her Great Uncle Curt and Uncle Richard.  It was a wonderful visit getting to see everyone!

Lunch at Auntie June and Uncle Mike's

In June, Emilee got to attend her first wedding (for our family friend Kelly).  She did great on staying quiet for the ceremony, although she did just about everything else (belching after her bottle, passing gas, and dirtying her diaper real good), but overall, she was an angel, and we had a great evening!

Temecula Wedding
The end of June, Emilee had her baby dedication done at Wilshire Avenue Community Church in Fullerton.  We had started taking Emilee to church by about 3 months of age, and she has loved it!  She likes watching the band, and everyone singing.

July our good friend Nick was turning 30, and his wife planned a surprise trip to Vegas for him.  It was Emilee's first long road trip.  She did great in the car, and was fascinated by everything around her.  We also have friends that live out in Vegas, so we went to visit with them a couple hours, and later checked into our hotel.  
Nick's 30th Birthday in Vegas
5 month old picture
Speaking of Emilee so much, parenthood has been wonderful!  Emilee is now 6 months old, and getting so big!  She's taller than 95% of babies her age, and bigger than 85% of babies her age.  We call her our gentle giant.

She's gathering so many nicknames as she gets older.  We call her "Em" for short a lot.  This has led to: Em-N-Em (or Em-N-Em Peanut), and Emma-Boo (or Em-e-Boo).  She's also been called Hunny Bunny and Boo-Boo.

She's started on her baby foods, and has loved everything with the exception of green beans... she'll eat them, but make faces.  She's also learning to sit up by herself.  1-2 more weeks and she'll probably have it down.  Rolling over from her back to her tummy is her favorite movement currently.

She's been playing with her voice a lot more now too.  Her first noises were blowing bubbles and raspberries, followed next by a low-pitched "aaahhhh", and now she's discovered her high-pitched voice and is experimenting with all kinds of "aaahhhhs" and "ooooohs".  She's entertaining herself so much more these days, it's been so fun to watch!

August found Matt and I house hunting.  We found a cute starter home in Glendora, and made our offer.  The entire house buying process was quite a headache.  We had to deal with sellers that were pretty selfish and inconsiderate, Wells Fargo delaying our loan and giving us false promises, and a realtor who was stuck in the middle of it all.

During this time, we planned a trip up to Salinas.  We spent a weekend wine tasting in Carmel, eating clam chowder in Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey, and having a great time with our friends.

Wine Tasting in Carmel
Taking a baby break
After our trip, we moved in with my parents since the lease at our apartment ended.  This had not been part of our original plan, since escrow was supposed to close two weeks before the end of our lease (giving us time to make upgrades to the house before moving in), but we ended up finally getting keys two weeks after.

The day we got our keys, disaster struck.  The 21 year old water heater in the middle of the house busted and flooded the hall and bedrooms.  Sad part is that we were concerned about the water heater from the very beginning, and even our home inspector said it should be replaced.  We made the request, but the sellers refused.  Not quite the "Welcome Home" we were hoping for.  We are now working through the seller's home insurance to have repairs done since this occurred before escrow closed.

On a positive note though, we are hoping to be moved in and settled by mid-October if everything goes well.

That's about everything so far!  It's going to be a busy and exciting holiday season coming up that's for sure!