You and me baby are stuck like glue

This past week Emma celebrated her half birthday!  When Lucy turned six months, we celebrated with a fall photo shoot so we decided to carry on that tradition.  It was a lot harder this time around to get two kids looking at the camera.  Emma was freezing cold and more interested in eating leaves than smiling, and Lucy was hard-pressed to sit still.  The three 'unique' pumpkins came from our garden.  Below is our best attempt at showcasing both children and pumpkins.

Here is the photo from Lucy's half birthday fall photo shoot two years ago.  I like to compare Lucy and Emma pictures and see how similar and yet how different they both are.

Emma is such a big girl, now that she is half a year old.  This past month we introduced solid foods to her.  First, we brought up Lucy's old high chair from the basement and let Emma get a feel for sitting in it.  We even gave her an empty bowl to try out.

She seemed to pass these steps with flying colors, so we decided she was ready to try something a little more substantial.  We were temporarily delayed however, as we couldn't find any of our rubber coated baby spoons from Lucy (Will thinks I donated them, which is entirely possible - if we haven't used it in a year, out it goes!).  But then last weekend when we were at our local supermarket making the samples round, we realized the little black plastic spoon that came along with the bite of cake in the paper cup was perfect for a baby spoon!  

So far, she has eaten rice cereal, bananas, butternut squash and applesauce.  Banana is her favorite but she gags every time she tries the squash.  I can't really blame her, as I prefer butter, cinnamon and brown sugar on mine and she can't have those ingredients yet.  Until then, I mix the squash with a bit of apple sauce and she only makes mild grimaces when the food touches her mouth.

It seems Emma is starting to exhibit more of her own personality.  As much as I have tried to let her be her own person, I need to admit that I have been routing for Emma to be the 'laid back' sister.  And although she may be laid back in certain aspects she is definitely beginning to show her own stubborn streak.  She also has become a genuine 'mama's girl' and refuses to be with anyone else if she can see me.  For some reason, this has taken me by surprise as I only assumed that subsequent children naturally accept that their parents have divided attention.  Nope, Emma could care less that it is difficult for me to cut her older sister's food, wipe mouths and bottoms, cook meals and generally run a household one-handed.  She is stuck to me like glue.  She can hold out for hours, screaming until I can feed her or rock her to sleep.  It makes having evening plans almost impossible and extremely stressful for babysitters.  And as tiring as it is to be someone's one and only, I melt whenever she cries and reaches for me.  So I guess it is a two way street and a better description would be that we are like Velcro.

Fortunately, Emma does peel herself off of me for plenty of floor time.  She loves to be on the floor next to Lucy while playing and rolls to whatever it is she wants.  

She even gets up on her hands and knees to rock back and forth, causing a bolt of terror to run down my spine as I realize it is probably time to re-baby-proof the house.

Besides being a mama's girl, she is also Lucy's number one fan.  She lights up whenever Lucy comes into the room, and wants to be wherever Lucy is.  Lucy is the only one that can make her laugh uncontrollably and just when I think Lucy really hurt her, Emma breaks out in giddy laughter.  Emma adores Lucy.  Here Emma is below playing baby doll with Lucy in the bouncer...

in the doll stroller...

 and in Lucy's play car.

Emma eventually gets her fill, and finds her way back in my arms.

She has been a little Miss Fussy Pants lately.  Her crying really flusters me, and I find it extremely difficult to concentrate on whatever task is at hand when she is upset.  This past month I shook up a container of orange juice with the cap off, left a cup of water filling in the fridge door and didn't notice until the water spilled into the dining room, and almost blew through a stop sign.  Fortunately, none of these incidents happened on the same day, and I did stop halfway into the intersection with only a mild reprimand from my backseat driver - "Whoooa, Mom!"  We are hoping that she is cutting teeth and that this fussy phase will go as fast as it came.  Until then, stay tuned for next month's post and I will end this one with a picture of Emma at her very first annual Timmerman Apple Picking event.

Apparently the only person looking at the camera was the only person interested in the numerous aunts, uncles and cousins behind the camera who were jumping up and down and making strange noises.