The Latest with Emmabelle

So I really don't know what to say about Emmabelle's newest trick. She really isn't quite old enough for this one, but some how she figured it out and it is now her favorite thing to do when she is laying on the floor, or even the couch which we now are very careful about. At 2 1/2 months she has figured out how to roll over from her back to her front. It is actually really cute. She only rolls one way. She starts on her back and rolls herself from left to right. She still has some troubles getting her arm out from under her, but she gets over enough that she can't get back on her back so we have to help her with her arm. She really loves it though. As soon as you lay her on the floor she starts to ball up and roll. Here are some pictures of the event.

From the Back

To the Side

To the Tummy

Avery's New Bathtub

When Grandpa and Grandma Hartman were down here last time they were nice enough to bring Avery a baby pool. Unfortunatly Avery wanted nothing to do with it. You see I decided that it would be fun for Avery and I to take a Parent/Tot class together at the public pool this year. Initially thinking that it would be some good quality time for us to spend together I was all excited about it. To my dismay it didn't turn out that way at all. Avery hated it completely and it left her pretty tramatized. It was a little more agressive than I expected. We only went for one of the two weeks. We would say the word swimming and Avery would have a complete meltdown (much like the one she throws every Sunday when the closing song begins, I will explain later). Avery hasn't gotten back into a big pool ever since, but I am glad to say that she will get in and has a great time in her bathtub as she calls it. I filled it up for Marcy's birthday party and since Avery wouldn't get her swim suit on she eventually made her way in fully clothed and now I even have her back in a swim suit and sitting in the water.

I often wonder how smart I really was as a child. Avery just amazes me at how smart she really is. Avery has been in nursery now for four months and she knows when it is coming. We literally have to remove her from the chapel before the closing song is over because she knows what is next and has a complete meltdown and that involves screaming at the top of her lungs. The whole congregation is staring in our direction. It has even gotten so bad that last week we had to sit in the foyer because she started screaming as we were walking in. Dave gave her a good talking to this week so she did a little better. We were able to sit in the chapel, but we have to be careful where we sit because if we sit near her nursery leaders she gets very anxious and looks at them saying "no take you" which means don't take me. The crazy thing is once she gets there after a few minutes of crying she is perfectly fine. She loves it and has so much fun playing, and when I get to the door she says "mommy come back". That is also a phrase she says throughout the week when the subject of nursery comes up or playing comes up she gets a smile on her face and says "mommy come back", I reply by saying "yes Avery I did come back I will always come back for you".

Here are a few more pictures of the girls from the past week or so that I thought were cute. Hope you enjoy them as well.

Avery loves to hold her little sister.

She also likes to have Emmabelle sit by her.

Avery found a bandana so Dave put it on her. Poor thing it made her ears stick out even more. But she sure is cute.

Just some good smiles from Emmabelle. She is getting really good at it.

Emmabelle with her favorite rattle. And a halo compliments of her big sister. She is quite the little angel though.

Over the Weekend

Well this last weekend was a fun one for our family. I decided that it was time that I had some new clothing so we went to the valley for a big shopping trip. We left on Friday afternoon. We were able to have dinner with our good friends Scott and Stephanie Jones. They have a little boy that is a few months older than Avery. His name is Orren, but Avery calls him Orange it is rather cute. They are also expecting a new addition to their family any day. We went to the famous Joe's BBQ. It was so good to see and visit with them.

As usual we were able to stay with Dave's brother James and his family. It is so nice to be able to spend time with them. We love that Avery gets to play with her cousins. I am sure that they will grow up to be good friends. Here is a picture of all the Hartman grandkids.

So Dave and I decided or learned the hard way I should say that we will never go extensive clothes shopping as a family again. It was definately a long and challenging day. I am very surprised to say that Emmabelle was the good one. Avery was so grouchy and tired that it made things pretty difficult. All she wanted to do was go home and be in her bed. She kept telling us it was time to go home. After a full day of shopping I am sad to say that I only purchased two articles of clothing for myself. I was successful in getting Avery's shopping done, but I was pretty disapointed that I didn't achieve my full goal. Now I am bound for Tucson this next weekend to finish what I started, and Dave is staying home with the kids. But it was still nice to be able to spent some quality time with my family that I love so dearly.

A little insight to Avery.

I have decided to once again try to cut some TV time out of my life. That is one of my biggest weaknesses. I really enjoy the background noise, but I end up sitting on the couch and watching the TV instead of just listening. Anyways I needed something to fill my time so I decided to do some updating on the blog. I thought I would focus on some of the amusing things that happen that you just can't capture on film. So it will mostly consist of the quirky little things that Avery does.

I honestly don't know what we did without Avery in our lives. She is quite the little entertainer. She has more personality and spunk than she knows what to do with really. Our biggest challenge at the moment is watching what we say. It really is amazing to hear her talk. It doesn't matter what we say or how complex it is Avery will mimic it everytime, and then repeats it multiple times for emphasis. Just yesterday she had snuck into her daddy's office to see him and when I realized she was back there I went to get her and as I walked in Dave told me that she was ok. Not a second later Avery piped in I ok, I ok, I ok. She didn't want me to take her away from her dad. Now everytime I find her in there on her daddy's lap she starts saying I ok. One upside to her being a mimic is she is starting to say the blessing on the food. We are still working on it, but there is just something about your child saying the blessing for the first time that just makes you feel good.

Another thing that Avery just loves is singing. She is constantly asking us to "Sing songs me". "Daddy" (I'm so glad when Daddy comes home), "Papa" we just substitute Papa for Daddy in the song, Wheels on The Bus, Popcorn, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider, are just a few of her favorites, but I think we sing at least a dozen or so before she is satisfied. We recently bought a small stereo and put it in her room and she loves to go in there and listen to her songs, while she is jumping on her new big girl bed. That has been another big milestone for her recently. We were able to purchase a daybed and it came with a trundle so we put that in Avery's room. She loves her new bed and does such a good job at sleeping in it. We have yet to move Emmabelle in the room with her, but the crib is unoccupied so the transition should be a little easier when the time comes.

She is also quite the little priss. There isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't come to me and say "Mommy I brokea my nail." So I have to get out the clippers and fix her broken nail. She is also in a nail polish kick. She loves to have her toes painted and just recently added her fingernails to the equation. Most of the time she also has to take a purse with her when we go out to the store or something. It usually just makes it to the car, but she won't leave the house without one.

This evening she did something out of the blue that just cracked me up. We were sitting on the couch and all the sudden she asked "Mommy go store me" I told her that we didn't really need to go to the store and then asked her why she wanted to go to the store? She replied "buy apple juice" The crazy thing is we really were out of apple juice. So we packed up and went to the store to get some apple juice.

Another thing that we have been attempting lately is some mild potty training. I am by no means in full potty training mode, but she is always telling me that she is either poopy or poopy which also mean wet. She hasn't quite got them distinguished in her head, but she does tell me when she is both wet and stinky. We bought a little potty for her and I guess you could say we have some good days, and then just days. I can't call them bad days, because I am not pushing the issue. When she wants to sit on the potty she tells me. Alot of times it is right after she has just gone in her diaper, but we go and sit on the potty and when she is done she gets rewarded accordingly. She is picking up on it though tonight in fact she told Dave she wanted to go to the potty and actually went in the potty. So hopefully in the near future we can be consistant and then I won't have to spend so much money on diapers. Diapers for two kids is out of control.

Well I am sure there are a lot of other quirky little things that I am leaving out, but it is getting rather late and my mind isn't functioning properly, not that it ever functions at 100%. I just hope you got a kick out of the little stories that really make my days brighter. I love Avery so much and am so grateful for her presence in my life. She really makes our home a happier and brighter place.

Emmabelle's Blessing Day

We have started a tradition in our family to bless the babies at home. We blessed Avery at home also and have just decided that we really like the closeness that comes from being with just our family. So this morning before church our family was able to get together and bless Emmabelle. Those in attendance were: Dave's parents, Dave's brother Tom, my parents, my brother Clint and his family, and my sister Lori. Dave gave the blessing. It was a very nice blessing and the spirit in the room was so strong. I know that many of our ancestors were there with us today, especially her namesake. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

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4th of July fun!!!

This 4th of July for the Hartman family was very eventful. We just partied all weekend long. Both Dave's and my parents were able to come to town for the weekend so we decided we would also bless Emmabelle.

The day of the 4th started out as every 4th should with the Gila Valley 4th of July parade. I am not sure that is its official title, but I know that all the towns are involved in it so that is what I will call it. The Hartman's and the Mortensen's got together to attend the fun event, eventhough it was stifling outside. Avery didn't have much reaction to the parade. I am not sure she really got the concept, but she did enjoy the candy that was thrown to her. After the parade we were able to get together with a few of our friends and family, it was pretty much an Animas reunion almost all of the attendees were from Animas, for a BBQ. Dave of course created a masterpiece with his brisquet. The kids and big kids (the dad's who haven't really grown up) had a nice little water fight. The kids also flew some kites, and we all had a great time visiting. Later that evening we were able to go and cool off in Clint and Nicole's pool which is a wonderful blessing. We were planning on driving out to the fair grounds to watch the fireworks, but as we were loading the car we saw in the distance that they were starting them early. Probably due to the weather. So we just pulled up some chairs outside and watched them from our front lawn. The view was great, and it was nice because they weren't so loud that they would scare the smaller kids, namely Avery. It was an awesome fireworks show. Dave thinks it is one of the best he has seen. All in all it was a great day and we were glad we were able to celebrate the birth of our nation with so many of our friends and family. Hope you enjoy the pictures from the day.

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A Trip to the Duck Ponds

The other evening we were able to take a family trip to the duck ponds. This is one of Avery's favorite outings and since my counter was being overrun by duck food we decided it was time to feed the ducks. They also have a little park there and so we usually swing for a few minutes after we are done feeding the ducks. Here are some pictures of the girls. Emmabelle was even able to swing for the first time. It was lots of fun.

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