Couch Jumping

This is Emmett's favorite thing to do right now.  He wants to jump on the couch all the time.  He will crawl over to me, pull up on my legs and just whine until I pull him up onto the couch with me.  Yesterday I picked him up off of the couch and he let out an ear piercing scream at the very top of his lungs.  This child knows what he wants.  His toddler years are going to be tough, I can see it already.

Here he is again, grinning like a madman.  And this picture was taken last month.  I always upload photos from the camera to the computer at the end of the month.  Its the only way I can keep them organized.  And I sure am going to miss summer weather where I can throw a onesie on him and that's it.  I always put a pair of shorts on over the onesie if we go out in public, but around the house I don't bother.  Oh and soon he'll start to need socks again...and maybe shoes if he starts walking.  Ugh.  I hate cold weather.

My parents were here this weekend and we had a great time.  Friday night I made burritos and spanish rice and we stayed home and played with Emmett.  After he went to bed we played a round of nertz.  It was a weird game where the scores were very close.  Everyone went out and Chris ended up winning because he was the one doubled on the last hand.  It was his first win, so he was excited.  Usually my dad wins or my brother if he's there (but he wasn't).  It was a typical game in that we laughed a lot and yelled a lot.  And we managed not to wake up the baby.

Saturday I made blueberry muffins for breakfast and we just hung around home until after Emmett's morning nap.  Then we headed to the park.  It was cloudy when we left but not raining, but as we drove it began to sprinkle and gradually picked up.  We decided to go on and walk when we got there, hoping the trees would block most of the sprinkles, which they did for the most part.  We were able to walk around for at least an hour without getting wet.  The park is great because its in the woods but the paths are paved so we could push the stroller.  Just as we were leaving the rain picked up, so our timing was perfect.  We stopped and got some ice cream at Sonic on the way home.  Yum! 

When we got home Emmet took his afternoon nap and we watched Avatar.  Chris and I rented the movie a few weeks ago but we kept falling asleep whenever we would try to watch it.  We eventually just sent it back.  Mom and Dad had rented it and watched it already, but they said they wanted to see it again and that it was worth watching.  I thought it was pretty good, but it wasn't quite all it was cracked up to be.  The animation was beautiful and the concept was interesting.  Not sure I cared for the political message behind it, but that's ok.  We didn't quite finish the movie before Emmett woke up.

Next we went out to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.  The food was great and Emmett was really good.  We fed him his cereal and his veggies before we left because its just easier that way.  At the restaurant he munched on his cheerios and puffs for a while.  When he got tired of those we gave him some bread, which he absolutely loved.  He still had some of his puffs on the table when we started giving him bread.  Once he accidently picked up a puff instead of a piece of bread.  He looked at it and tossed it over his shoulder.  So much for puffs being his favorite.  By the end he was getting pretty tired of being in his highchair so Chris and I took him outside while Mom and Dad paid the check.

After dinner we headed to Babies R Us to look at a new carseat for E.  If he gaines another pound he will be too heavy for his infant seat.  And frankly, I can barely carry him in the infant carrier anymore anyway.  We usually just leave it in the car and pull him out of it.  There's not really any point to using it anymore now that he sits up in a highchair at restaurants and in the front of the buggy at stores.  We had narrowed it down to two carseats and decided to discuss it later and go back the next day to actually purchase the seat.  I have a lot of trouble making a final decision when purchasing expensive items.  And my parents were even paying for the seat as an early birthday present for him.  But still, I needed to sleep on it.  So we went home, did bath and bedtime with Emmett, and then finished watching Avatar.

Sunday morning we decided to forgo church because it just happens to be right in the middle of E's morning nap, and if he doesn't get his nap it throws the whole day off.  So Chris and my dad went golfing while Mom and I stayed with the baby while he napped and then went and bought his new carseat.  We ended up with the Britax Marathon 70.  We chose Britax because they test their seats at 65 mph, as opposed to 45 mph as do all other carseat manufacturers.  The seat was more expensive than we could afford to buy, but how do you put a price on your child's safety?  Thanks Mom and Dad for taking care of it for us.

When we all got home we ordered some tasty wings and then Dad helped us with a couple of things that needed fixed around the house.  For one, our dishwasher detergent cup wouldn't stay closed anymore.  Dad and I took that apart and managed to fix it or at least rig it so that it works.  The other project was Emmett's crib.  Now that he is standing up we needed to lower his crib mattress.  However, it only has 3 levels and we are on the middle one.  The bottom level is almost all the way to the floor, which makes it next to impossible for me to lay a sleeping Emmett down in the crib.  And at this stage I am still rocking him to sleep at nap and bedtime.  For a while he was able to go to sleep on his own, but as soon as he learned to pull up he was just too good at keeping himself awake.  He would eventually go to sleep but it would take 45 minutes of jumping and playing first, and that just wasn't working.  So we managed to create a 4th level between the middle and bottom levels.  Its perfect.  When E stands up, only his head is above the crib rail so there's no way he's climbing out, and I can still lay him down gently enough that he stays asleep.  Yay success!

We had a great weekend!  I was sad when my parents left, as usual.  And somehow it feels worse when they leave ever since E was born.  I was in a funk for the rest of the evening, even though we're going up to my parents house this coming weekend because Chris is going to the ECU game.  My dad will be gone for the weekend though, so we'll miss him.  Chris and a friend of ours have tickets to the game, but there wasn't one for me.  So I'll stay home with Emmett and Mom and I are going to make spaghetti sauce.  The way the Hokies are playing lately I'll probably be glad I'm not at the game.  Maybe they can get it together before the Duke game, I do have a ticket to that one.