Video of Emma Crawling

Emma has been crawling for quite sometime now, but I was finally able to take some time to record her! Emma liked pulling the neck thingy attached to the camera to bring it closer to her face. She thought this was funny :)

Emma in her pretty dress

Last night we had an orientation to go to for Richard. It was intended for the families to get a better look into what the recruits did day to day. All of his instuctors were there and also the "top dogs" of the Dallas PD were there too! During our break for food, it was like every mother, wife, fiance, and girlfriends of the recruits went out of their way to approach Richard and I to tell us that Emma was absolutely beautiful and that we were definitely going to have our hands full when she gets older! They also loved Emma big eyes! Richards main instructor and priest thought Emma was so adorable also! I knew when his instructors met Emma, it would definitely score Richard some "brownie points" :) P.S.- Aunt BB bought Emma the dress

Video

Here is Emma "belly crawling" she is soooo funny when she is determined to get somewhere :)

Video

Emma is now pulling herself into standing position, especially in her crib. Of coarse when I try to record her doing this, she doesn't, but as soon as I put the camera down, she is pulling herself up. Here she is when I am finally able to record her!

Lots of 1st's

Emma has been learning so many new things the past few weeks, I figured it's time for some updates:

• She has learned to "Belly Crawl" and if you have food, WATCH OUT!
• She is now pulling herself up into a standing position, especially in her crib
• She can go from laying on the floor into a sitting position, yay!
• She has figured out how to open the door to Richard's entertainment stuff (he is not happy about that!)
• BABY PROOFING is now essential
• She loves most food we give her EXCEPT bananas and avacados

Here are some other updates:

• Nikki (Richard's younger sister)was nominated for Homecoming Court and the game is this Friday at 7:30, CONGRATS Nikki!!


• Richard has been notified that he has passed background check and is now moving on to Phase II of the Dallas Police Academy which includes a medical review and psychological review, which is this Friday at 8am and will be offered the job by the next Monday!! YAY!

Finally meeting Little Billy!

My mom flew Rae, Billy and LB in for Labor Day weekend. I was so excited to finally meet my nephew I was counting down the days. It was so surreal to be face to face with Rae for the first time in over a year. I can't believe how much has happened within that year. The pics of LB dont do any justice! He is SOOOOOO adorable in person. But it was weird because he is a little over 5 weeks younger than Emma, but he made her look so tiny!!! We had a great weeekend, exhausting, but great! Here are some pics:Note Pettie in the background, lol!

School has finally begun....

I am going to UTA and school started on Monday. I had such a bad day on the Sunday before because mentally I was scared that maybe I wasn't ready yet. But everything went sooooo great! I love all my classes and I'm having a very optimistic outlook for this semester, which it's nothing like me to be optimistic! I am very excited about all the work and projects and I feel like everything is going in the right direction for the three of us! We may have been thrown a curveball but we made the best of it!!! Also, my goal for this semester is to attend ALL of my classes if possible.

Emma did great for her first day of daycare! She also has a tooth coming in, we can't "see" it yet but we can definitely feel it underneath her lower front gums!

Thank you Uncle Steve for all your nuturing and having so much faith and belief in us!!! It really has made a difference knowing that all our friends and family have supported us through everything!

Biter Biscuits

Emma is a little over 6 months now and her Well Baby check went so great and had some great news too! Dr. Harris was so impressed by Emma's abilites at her age. She couldn't believe Emma had been sitting up unsupported for a month now and is already showing interest in crawling. Her alertness and dexterity were both unbelievable. The dr said if she hadn't seen it for herself, she wouldn't have believed me. Besides not crawling yet, Dr. Harris says Emma's development is at a 9 month old level!!! She has now said that we can start Emma on pureed chicken and meats, which I will most likely hold off on the "meats" for awhile longer. We can alao start feeding her twice a day and start on "2nd" foods and "biter" biscuits. Those biscuits are so messy, I hate the clean up but Emma chows down on them!!!

Sitting

Emma is now sitting up on her own at 5 months 1 week and 1 day old! yay!

The future Gerber baby ;)

So Emma is 5 months today and so much has happened since the last post! Well we started Emma on cereal at 4 1/2 months and she is doing great! She also likes to wear it! Well have had 2 more attempts in the swimming pool. The first at Grandma Lori's and Grandpa Larry's house. Emma loved it! The pool was warm like bath water and Emma was just splashing around! The 2nd time was at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Ruiz's house this past weekend, and again, she loved it! Grandpa Roland (Richard's dad) got Emma to laugh more than we have seen or heard ever! It was so precious! She is also very close to being able to sit up unsupported!! And she is also trying to figure out how to get herself up into a crawling position. We were told it is only a matter of a few more weeks before she is crawling!!! Yay!!!

During the 4th of July weekend, my parents and us went to Aledo to see Weldon and LeAnne and their kids. During this visit it became clear that Emma wasn't letting anyone hold her except me, Richard, and our parents. It was becoming wearying because Richard and I had to keep taking turns holding her so that we could socialize with everyone. I decided that this habit of Emma needing me to hold all day needed to be broken before we had a serious problem on our hands. So Richard called Lori a few days later and asked if she would like to have Emma for the night. Of coarse she said yes. Emma had the greatest time and came home soooo happy! So since then Emma has stayed the night 3 times and loves it everytime!

Like mother like daughter

Richard took this picture this morning while me and Emma were sleeping. It's too funny how we sleep the same!

Emma in the pool attempt #1

This was on Father's Day. We went to Larry's parents for lunch. They had garlic shrimp, cocktail shrimp, all kinds of fruit, and deserts! Their house was beautiful! But Emma's 1st attempt with the pool didn't go over too well. I think right now the water might still be too cold for her, probably because she is used to warm baths, which she LOVES! These pics are with Lori, Richard's mom. She bought Emma this bathing suit, its light green and pink with pink flamengos on it. Adorable!

Saturday Brunch

This weekend, my aunt and her family came into town. I hadn't seen them in almost 4 years. It was great to finally see them and spend a great weekend with them. We went to the Ranger game Thursday night, and that did not go well with Emma. She did not like the heat or the screaming of the fans, so my mom and dad had to take her back to our apartment. Saturday we had brunch and then went to the Allen Outlet Shopping center, then Joe's Crabshack for lunch, and a cookout back at my parent's with fajitas, sopita, queso and guacamole. Mmmm good!

This is my crazy aunt Celeste and Emma!

My cousin Joshua, 10, with my mom in the background.

My uncle John, Emma giving her look to Celeste, and my youngest cousin Juliana, 4, on the left.

My cousin Desiree, 8, Juliana, John and Emma

Rolling Over

So a couple of weeks ago, Emma was starting to roll to her side. It seemed like she couldn't get her butt and legs to go with her. Then one morning while I was doing the dishes, I decided to lay Emma on her back on the floor and would periodically look over at her to make sure she was ok. Next thing I know I looked over and she was on her stomach, completely shocked and excited, I rolled her back over on her back and she did it again! I was so excited. Now she wont stop rolling! It's the beginning of Mobile Emma!

Emma

So my baby girl is growing up so fast. It seems like only yesterday I was arriving at the hospital to induce labor because if it was up to Emma, she would have probably stayed put. I remember being dilated at 7 cm and not even 5 minutes later I felt this weird pain/pressure, and next thing I know I am at 10 cm and I start freaking out telling the nurse, "I'm not ready to push, I'm not ready!" And the nurse told me only one of us was allowed to freak out and it was not going to be me. So here is a picture of Emma "striking a pose" because she knows she is Miss Diva! This is also how she has started to eat. Too cute!

Emma now has a favorite toy, a soft bunny that plays "Rock a bye baby..." (not shown in this picture)But in this picture she is holding her doll that says a bedtime prayer. As you can also see in this picture Emma has big beautiful eyes. My dad says her nickname is "Hootie" like an owl. Funny funny old man!

So we have this ultra saucer that Teri and Kam gave us, and Emma loves to play in it. She can entertain herself for a good hour at a time in this thing. In just a matter of a few more months, she will be eating solids, sitting up on her own, and crawling... Time flys bye...

A Busy Weekend

This weekend was pretty busy. On the way to Vin's party we got stuck in traffic for an hour and a half, and practically missed the whole party :( But at least we made it. Sunday we went over to visit Richard's grandparents, great uncles, and great grandmother. They were all in town for Richard's cousins wedding. We didn't go because knowing our luck when the preist would ask if anyone had any objections to the wedding, Emma would probably start screaming, lol! Richard's uncles wife, Larisa, has finally moved here from Russia. She was so anxious to hold Emma. Larisa was very sweet and is very pretty. She is still having a hard time adjusting to the time difference, and getting use to air conditioning being IN the house because in Russia it's mostly cold, so they dont need A/C. Here are some pics from the weekend.

Here is Jess and the birthday boy with my dad and Laura in the background.

Jackie's baby shower was tons of fun with great food and games. Poor Richard, it was a girls only baby shower, but he had to come because we were leaving straight from the party to Vin's party. This is Tammy, Ronnie's mom who is practically my second mom, holding Emma.
This is Jackie. It was my first time meeting her. She was very sweet. It was kind of fun to ask her how all she was feeling. The typical being tired from the restless sleep, feet always swollen, and just being ready for the baby to be here. Ronnie and Jackie are having a girl, deciding on the name Laila Alejandra Burruss. She is due in June.

Teri and Kam invited us over for some Hamburgers a few weeks ago, and we all sat out on the deck. Here is Emma and Vin swinging together! This is the cutest picture, and actually might be the first one of them together.

So this video was recorded a few weeks ago. Emma was just figuring out how to grasp onto things, especially mommy's hair! So I decided to put this rattle in her hand. You can see in the middle of video she knocks herself in the head!

A little background to start us off

So I decided to start a blog, per Kam, and figured it would be a nice way to keep everyone updated, especially those that I don't get a chance to talk to a lot. So here is what is going on lately...

Richard and I both got accepted into UTA and start in the fall. Richard has also applied to the Dallas Police Department. He does his Phase I Physical Testing at the end of this month. If he passes, they will start the background check (which might take up to 2 months) then he does a Medical review, and if he passes all of this, they will offer him a job and then he will start the Academy hopefully no later then September. We also found out that he is a candidate for Lasik eye surgery and will be getting that done in June with Dr. Boothe. He is so excited, especially knowing that he WILL be having 20/20 vision or BETTER!!!

Emma is doing great! I can't believe she is already less then a week away from being 3 months old. We went for a consulation with another pediatrician, and Richard and I both loved her! So Emma starts going to her at the end of June. And hopefully then the Dr. will get her started on some solid foods!

Richard and I are planning on going down to San Antonio for the 4th of July to visit his aunt and uncle and cousins. We initally figured we could drive to El Paso because Richard has never been, but with it being such a long drive, especially with a baby, we will wait til we have a longer weekend or holiday to go.

This weekend is busy busy busy! It is Vin's 1st birthday party! I can't believe he is already a year old. I'm especially excited to see what Kam and Teri have planned with the party, decorations, and food! It is also Ronnie and Jackie's baby shower, I'm excited to go because I haven't seen Ronnie in years, and since we grew up together and he is practically my brother, I miss him a lot! We also have plans to visit Richard's grandparents because his Great Grandmother is in town. Emma and I first met her last weekend! The first thing his great grandmother said was that Emma looked exactly like me. Richard got a little jealous!

But it's only a matter of a few more months before Emma is a daddy's girl. It's already starting to happen! She smiles everytime Richard comes home from work, and she loves sleeping on his chest. It's the most precious thing to see!