She's a trooper!

Emma had her first set of vaccinations today...and she was SUCH a trooper! She barely cried at all...much to our relief! We, well mostly I (Carrie), was dreading today's appointment. I was so worried that she was going to bawl inconsolably that I almost started crying before the doctor even had the needle out. But Emma proved that she was a tough girl, just like her Mommy ;) and only cried for a few seconds. She didn't even use her hurt cry, which we've accidentally heard once or twice (like when I pulled her hair the other day trying to unsnap a shirt without turning her over to undo it, oops!).

Now, in addition to her kinderpass (baby book) she has an International Certificate of Vaccination. Luckily, the German schedule of vaccinations is pretty much the same as the American schedule, so we shouldn't have any problems after we move back to the States. Today she received three vaccinations against the following bacteria/viruses/toxins: Rotavirus, Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Polio, Haemophilus influenza, Hepatitis B, and Pneumococcus.

We'll see what the afternoon and evening brings. Here's hoping that her only reaction is to sleep. Just in case it's not, I filled a prescription for a pain/fever reliever (probably just Tylenol) so that we're prepared.

Here she is resting after her tough morning:

Emma's Exciting Weekend

Emma had an exciting weekend. On Saturday, we bought her a few new toys including a play mat with toys that dangle above her. She absolutely loves it! The toys on the mat are pretty far above her arm reach, so we hung another toy we already had from it. Emma loves batting at it and making it move.





On Sunday, Emma started out the day by reaching for a rubber duckie while Daddy was giving her a bath. It was very exciting! During the last few baths, one of us always exclaims how big she looks in the tub. As a result, we've been putting more water in the tub. It's really cute to watch her slowly starting to figure out that she can kick and move her hands to splash water. In the afternoon, Kurt had her sitting on his lap and she leaned forward to touch the couch throw pillow and then proceeded to examine the pillow intently for several minutes. That evening, I was showing her one of her cloth blocks and she reached and actually held the block for a minute!

It seems like she developed overnight! It's so exciting watching her watch the world around her and learning how to interact with it.

Our little doll baby

"I have hands!"

Happy Girl!
-Our happy little girl has found her hands! Over the past few days, Emma's random arm and hand movements have become a little more refined. Previously, if her hand accidentally found it's way to her mouth she tried to fit her whole fist in. Recently though, she's been able to put her hand to her mouth and then suck on a finger or two. Last night, she even refused her pacifier because she wanted her fingers! While we're not advocating her becoming a thumb sucker, this has provided her some entertainment and pacification in the past few days. It also reaffirms that she's becoming more self aware.

(Thanks for the picture Ashley!)

-Emma is truly a happy little girl. When she wakes up from a nap, she usually just looks around or amuses herself until she gets bored. Then, instead of all out crying, she'll let out this one sharp "WAH!" that is basically "Hey! I'm awake and bored!" When we go to get her, she'll give us the biggest smile. It's very cute!

She's a mover!
-Emma doesn't realize that she can rest when she has tummy time. She's constantly moving her legs trying to crawl. When she does put her head down, she doesn't realize that she doesn't have to rest on her forehead...she can turn her head and relax. This gets her frustrated and quickly ends tummy time!
-The past two nights, whenever I go in to feed her, her body has been at a 90 degree angle from how we laid her down. This position makes it easy for her to push her pacifier out of the crib...which means Mommy gets to crawl under the crib at 3am to find it!

It has been really fun for Kurt and I watching Emma grow and change so much in the last few weeks. We are so lucky to have such a great little girl.

New pictures!

Here are some pictures from June and the first part of July. Enjoy!

Emma in June and July

It was just a matter of time...

As I mentioned in the previous post, we took Emma to Darmstadt's Heinerfest at the beginning of July. Since we were still in a heatwave, we ended up going to the fest a few hours later than planned when it was a few degrees cooler. We had a great time walking around with friends and getting some good fest food and drink and were on our way back to our car when we were approached by a German lady. Since Kurt was pushing the stroller at this point, she talked directly to him...well actually she didn't talk, she reprimanded. She didn't think that Emma was dressed appropriately in her sunsuit with a light blanket covering her legs and took it upon herself to take the blanket and cover Emma up to her chin. Keep in mind that it was at least 80 degrees out and she was in her car seat which keeps her VERY warm! As soon as the lady walked away, I wanted to rip the blanket off of Emma, unfortunately though, the wind had picked up and she did need the blanket. *sigh*

Several friends have told me that the Germans have no qualms about telling you what is best for your baby, so I knew it was only a matter of time before this happened, however, I was astounded that it occurred on a very warm day!

July Update

I've fallen behind in blogging a bit...but hopefully will be all caught up by the end of this post. In the past 2 weeks, Emma has had several "firsts."

- On 3 July, Emma went to her first German Fest: Darmstadt's Heinerfest. Although she couldn't partake, we had bratwurst and beer in her honor.


- Emma celebrated July 4th with her buddy Calvin and a few other friends at a barbecue. Carrie was most excited about the watermelon and had quite a few pieces!


- On 8 July, Emma met her Aunt Kelly and Uncle Mike who visited with us for a few days before heading off on vacation. While they were here, we took Emma out to dinner for the first time. Luckily she slept the entire time. On Thursday, Emma went on her first day trip. We went to Rudesheim and walked around for a few hours. Since she handled Rudesheim like a pro, we went to Mainz on Friday. One downfall of the day trips though, was that Emma slept all day in her car seat, and as a result, was wide awake until midnight!

- On 11 July, we put Emma to bed in her crib for the first time. While she has taken a few naps in her crib, thus far, she sleeps in a pack 'n play in our room every night. She's a pretty noisy sleeper though, so we thought it might be time to try the crib. She slept in the crib until her 2am feeding and then stayed in our room. The following nights though, she stayed in her room all night.

In the past few weeks, Emma has been smiling more and trying to figure out how to 'talk' to us. She watches our mouths move and looks perplexed when she moves her mouth but no sound comes out. She's been making more and more baby coos though and we absolutely love them and encourage her to make more! She's also getting stronger, she can hold her head up when we sit her up and when we have her on our shoulders to burp her. We've found that we really have to hold on to her when we're walking around because she can (and does) throw herself if she would rather be laying down instead of upright.

Our little girl isn't so little...she had a checkup on 4 July, and she was just shy of 11 pounds. She's quickly out growing clothes that are 0-3 months and the 3 month clothes will not be far behind. She's so long that the legs are a bit short and her feet stretch the feet in her footed rompers! We think she might be getting ready for a growth spurt because she's been fussy for past 2 days and has been eating a lot and with greater frequency.

Update 1

This past week has been uncommonly warm for Germany...at least 85 AND humid. While it doesn't seem too bad, lack of air conditioning and air movement make it not pleasant. As a result, Emma has been "Naked Baby" for several days.


On Sunday, Daddy and Emma hung out for the afternoon while Mommy went out and ran errands. It was the first time that Carrie was away from Emma and that Kurt and Emma were alone to fend for themselves. Everyone did pretty well...groceries were bought and Kurt fed Emma. Kurt swears that Emma was upset while Carrie was out, but Emma was a perfect angel from the second Carrie walked in the door ;)

Emma's first concert was Elton John who performed an outdoor concert in Wiesbaden on Tuesday. While there was a section of the park cordoned off so that you couldn't see Elton unless you bought a ticket, it didn't stop people from gathering in the park surrounding the concert to listen. After a cookout at a friend's, we walked down to listen. We didn't stay too long since we were a bit close and it was too loud for Emma's little ears.

Emma's swing has four music choices that can be played. We're not sure if it's coincidence but she definitely passes out every time we put on the nature sounds. Maybe when she's older, she'll find the outdoors peaceful and centering like her parents do.

We've noticed that Emma's clogged tear duct seems to have been unclogged. We know that it was clogged on Saturday evening...but neither of us remember 'ungunking' her eye after that, so sometime between Saturday evening and Wednesday morning, it unblocked itself. While we were assured that the blockage didn't hurt her and that it bothered us more than it bothered Emma, we're happy that it's unblocked since it was impossible not to wipe at her eye constantly!