Happy Baby!

During July, Mimi and Papa came down for a weekend.  We hit Kennedy Space Center.  Kara enjoyed the space center as much the second time as she did the first.  Now she talks about rockets blasting off and crew capsules all the time.  In addition to the space center, there was an Atlas V launch, which is the rocket Daddy used to work on, while Mimi and Papa were visiting.

Emily is getting very strong these days.  She has figured out how to roll from her back to her front.  This was giving her some trouble at night, but she's now figured out how to sleep on her stomach.  Emily has recently started sitting up by herself.  She was unsteady for the first day, but can now sit up, play and reach for things.  Pretty cool!  She's sleeping very well these days.  Bedtime is around 6:30-7:00 at night, and she stays asleep until almost 7:00 am every day.  She loves it when Mommy and Daddy read her books.  In particular, she seems to enjoy Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and Goodnight Moon.  In general, Emily is a very happy, quiet baby.

Kara is enjoying her time down at the beach.  She just wrapped up the fourth (and final) session of Sports Camp.  Kara had a ton of fun playing soccer, tennis, hockey, lacrosse, and just running around!  Mommy will certainly miss it!  Kara's also improving a lot with her swimming.  She can tool all around the pool while wearing her vest (check out the video of her butterfly!).  We're hoping to get her in some swim lessons this fall when we get back home.

On a not-so-good note, Emily is in the middle of her first cold.  Everyone has it, but this is her first time being sick.  So far, she's being a big trooper and trying to sleep it off.  Yay, Emily!

And some Kara quotes that Mommy reminds herself of when Kara is screaming her head off.....

To Mommy: "I love to stay in your hugs!"
                    "I love you.  We are the best of friends.  When I grow up, we'll REALLY be best friends!"

Link to pictures

Summer Vacation!

Daddy got a new job at the beginning of May.  There was one catch/perk, though.  The job includes a six-month temporary assignment to work for NASA at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and they wanted Daddy there ASAP.  So, we packed up the family and headed down to Florida to spend some time on the beach.  We've been pretty busy since we got down here. We have hit the beach several times, Daddy and Kara got to watch a launch from the beach, Daddy got to visit the space shuttle launch pad and mobile launcher, and we all hit Disney World for a day with Mimi and Uncle Trey. Not a bad start to the summer!

Emily is getting a little bigger and stronger all the time.  She recently started pulling her head up during tummy time. She also can stand up while holding onto someone's hands.  In general, she's a very happy baby, always smiling and cooing at Mommy and Daddy.  She's also sleeping really well.  She'll get in a couple hour-long naps (plus a few other cat naps) every day and will sleep almost 8 hours straight at night.

Anyone want to visit us down in Florida?  We're only an hour away from Disney World, SeaWorld, and Universal Studios!

Link to pictures

And Daddy got to see another launch one evening.