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!

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And Daddy got to see another launch one evening.

Emily is 6 weeks old!

The last 6 weeks have been a bit of a blur.  Mimi came out shortly after Emily was born and helped out a lot.  Papa also came out for a week early this month.  They were here to experience some of this great Colorado weather we get during the spring - we got two large snow storms while they were here (one with about a foot of snow, another with 6 inches).  Hopefully the weather starts warming up soon!

Emily is doing great these days.  She does what babies do - eat, poop, sleep, and cry.  Mommy and Daddy are just trying to survive day to day.  She does flash us beautiful smiles often, so that's pretty great.  Also, there was something that will live forever in family lore as the Projectile Poo Incident.  Daddy is still a little gun-shy about changing diapers.  He may never recover...

Kara's doing fine adjusting to being a big sister.  She seems to act out a bit more to get attention, but we're hoping it will pass.  One day while Papa was here, he and Daddy headed down to the Children's Museum in Denver with Kara.  Kara had a great time exploring all the exhibits they had there.  Also, Mimi and Papa got Kara a tricycle for Easter.  Kara has been having a great time cruising around the neighborhood with her sweet wheels!

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Emily's First Professional Photos!

On Emily's 4th week birthday (April 4th), we had Esther from BlueThistlePhotography come over and take some pictures of Emily (the rest of us joined in the fun while she was here). We were hoping to get some sweet sleeping baby pictures, but Emily would just not cooperate with us.  In the end, we got some pretty good pictures, though. Enjoy!

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Easter 2013

Easter this year as quite the affair.  We had a full house with Mimi, Grandma S., Grandpa S., Aunt Amy, GG K, Cousin Jennifer, and her boyfriend J (and of course Mommy, Daddy, Kara, and Emily) coming over for Easter dinner!  Luckily, it was a beautiful spring day in Colorado, so we were able to hang out in the backyard.  Kara had a great time looking for eggs (she had an egg hunt in the morning and another in the afternoon).  Kara and Emily both cleaned up with presents and candy!  Emily, of course, was a little too small for the candy, so Kara volunteered to eat hers.

Emily is doing quite well these days.  She's getting a little bigger every day.  Some of her newborn clothes are starting to get a little tight on her.  It's amazing how fast babies grow!

And congratulations to our friends Patrick and Akila and their latest addition, Amara.  You guys are in for quite a ride, but a ton of fun!

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Baby Days (and Nights)

So far life with our newest addition is going pretty smoothly.  She's sleeping pretty well (at least for a newborn).  Mommy and Daddy were better prepared this time about the sleep deprivation, so it doesn't seem so bad.  Kara's adjusting to Emily's presence pretty well.  About once a day or so, she'll have a little melt down, but we're hoping that will subside as the weather gets better and we can get out more.

Mimi came out to help the Wednesday after Emily was born (March 13th).  She's been taking the first night shift (and helping out a lot around the house) while Daddy takes the late night/early morning shift.  Mommy, of course, is always on call. :-)

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