Emmalina Malaya is 11 months

My little adventurer is now 11 months old. I can't believe we will soon be bringing in the new year and celebrating her 1st birthday! Where did my baby go? This last month she has given Mommy quite the workout. She never sits still very long, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. She has started listening to the word Mom hates saying, but finds herself saying numerous times a day, "NO!" She will even shake her head along with Mommy's chorus of no's. We are also exploring the world of words and repeating words that we hear others saying. She is still enjoying climbing on anything and everything and has found that she can move many objects around the house and use them as a stool to get a boost up to what she really wants. Dancing has also become our new favorite thing to do. She will head bang and dance every time she hears music play. This little monkey is quite exhausting, but she is so fun to watch. She is a very happy baby and it's always easy to get a smile and a laugh out of her.

Emmalina 10 months

It was time to take Emmy's 10 month old pictures. I knew it was going to be quite the challenge to get this little girl to sit still for a minute. Boy was I right about that! I decided to put together a photo montage that captures her personality perfectly at 10 months. So, here is what happened during the shoot!
Emmy did not like that bear anywhere near her. I was trying to get her to sit on the box next to her bear, and she kept standing up and throwing him on the floor.

Since she liked standing we tried to stand her up inside the box. That didn't work well either. She thought it would be fun to close her self in the box, but couldn't quite figure out how to close herself inside. Eventually she ended up almost closing it on her head. She leaned forward to avoid getting bonked on the noggin and tipped the whole box over and face planted on the floor.
After not having success with closing herself in the box she decided, hey, let's shut the bear in the box.

Oh, I guess it was poor bears turn to get bonked on the head!

Success! Bear is locked in the box, but if you look closely poor guys arm got slammed!

Finally she left bear alone, but decided to stand up and stick her bootie out at me!
Finally an okay shot of her! Would have been better if she were sitting!
Another not to shabby shot of my stinky face!
Another pretty cute Emmy in the box!
Yes, a picture of her sitting next to bear. The only one I got and she's looking at the feather on the floor.
Another okay shot of her actually sitting on the box! Not the best pictures, but they capture the inquisitive daredevil Emmy at 10 months!

Determined Monkey

This is my 9 month old monkey. She is nothing but trouble with a capital T. She loves escaping from the family room, so I am constantly coming up with new ways to keep her pinned in. This is the latest barricade and our newest adventure. After I stopped the video she actually continued on with her adventure and decided to stand on top of the kitchen! I wonder why I am always so exhausted with this little girl running around. I can't sit down for more than a minute!

Emmalina gut giggling!

Funny video of Emmalina laughing!

Emmalina Malaya is 8 months old and walking!

We knew she'd be walking early and we were right! On the day after she turned 8 months old she started trying to walk to things on her own. A couple weeks later and she is now walking all over the place and even trying to run to things. This little girl is amazing! Not only is she a strong little booger, but she has got determination! She will keep trying and trying until she gets to where she wants to be. We have already started climbing on things. She has climbed the stairs. We barricaded her in the family room a bin and she can now climb in and over the bin to get out. She started trying to climb Aunt Nenna's bar stool chairs. If she wants it she's gonna get it.

Needless to say she is keeping Mommy on her toes. If she's not climbing on top of things or getting into things she shouldn't, then she is eating anything and everything in sight. I will clean the entire floor and she will still find something to put in her mouth. Yesterday we were at Aunt Nenna's house and she came walking across the kitchen with a huge smile and chewing on something. Upon retrieving it and examining it we came to find out that it was a CRICKET! Jimmeney Cricket!

Here is a video of her walking at 8 months. I will try to post a more recent one of her in a bit.

Emmalina Malaya is 5 months

Emmalina Malaya turned five months old a week and a half ago. I was a little late taking her pictures because I've been sick for an entire week now and all the girls have been sick too. Somehow Tristan managed to escape it this time around! We were still feeling under the weather for this shoot, however I did manage to get some decent shots.

Well, Emmy has surprised us this last week! She is sitting up unassisted and army crawling across the floor! She can make it from one side to the other in no time at all. She is super fast! She also has a pretty good little pincher grasp going on and has started trying to climb up on things. Her development is progressing in leaps and bounds. Before we know it she will be walking! I guess being the youngest of four gives her the determination to do all the things her brothers and sisters are doing. Also, with little miss Kyla running around and trying to be a little to helpful with Emmy she's gotta learn how to escape kyla bear who can be a little to loving sometimes.

Emmalina is four months old!

Emmy turned 4 months this weekend. We have her Dr's appointment tomorrow, so we will see how big she has gotten since our last check up. She is quite the petite little thing. She is still fitting into some of her newborn clothes and her 0-3 months clothes are finally starting to fit nicely and not falling off of her. In fact her favorite song that we sing to her is the Thumbelina song, only instead we sing it with her name. Little as she may be, she is no longer a newborn. Her cry is no longer the cute little infant cry. She can scream now! Especially when put in the car seat. Man she's got lungs! The rest of the time she is a really mellow baby and hardly ever cries. She just goes with the flow. In fact she sleeps through the night now (I'm lucky cause she's been doing that for 2 months now) and when she wakes up after 12 hours of sleep ( so blessed with this) she doesn't even cry. She just starts looking around and playing with her toys. We usually find her snuggling with her bunny or her bear.

She can roll over from her tummy to her back now and is getting pretty good at sitting with assistance. Oh, and man you put her on her tummy and she will push off with those legs and squirm around now to get what she wants. We have been eye balling food too. She is so ready for that baby cereal! She is growing up so fast. Here are some pictures of her at 4 months.

Rolling Hills Botanical Gardens

It was a beautiful day today, a nice 80 degrees and it inspired me to get out into nature. I wanted to feel the lush green grass between my toes, see the blossoming spring flowers, and smell the sweet aroma offered by all of natures miracles. So, we decided to go to the Botanical Gardens right here in the South Bay. Our timing was perfect the Cherry blossoms were blooming all around us. I have to say they are my favorite! We had such a good time getting lost in nature, just me and my three girls and I had a wonderful time getting lost in my photography!!!!

Sienna Skye's 12th Birthday Party!

Sienna had her 12th Birthday Party today. She won't actually be 12 until March 30th, but we had to do her Birthday this weekend since Easter is next weekend. For her Birthday we had a Hawaiian theme, so I made her a tropical Hawaiian cake with a hut made out of pretzels and some hula dancers and surf boards. It came out pretty cute. She had her 3 good friends from school come over to celebrate and a fun time was had by all.

Here's a picture of her and her friends modeling their new styles after a game we played. The game is kinda like hot potato with a twist. The girl who gets stuck with the potato has to reach into a bag filled with funky clothing and accessories without looking and pull something out. They then put whatever it is on. At the end the girl with the least amount of clothing on wins. The girls loved this game and afterwards they took some model pictures.

Emmalina Malaya is 12 weeks old today! We dressed her up in this cute little outfit that Aunt Nenna bought her from Mommy's new favorite store (Jenna turned us on to them) Naartjie. Their clothes are to cute. I think this outfit makes Emmy look like an old fashion doll. It's funny when we are out and about with her in the stroller we have had numerous people do a double take cause they think that she's Kyla's doll.

I've been playing around with my photography a lot and I'm loving it! There is still a little bit of a chill in the air, so we haven't been able to get outdoors much. Can't wait for the sunshine to fall upon us, so that I can get out into nature and get some spring shots. Well, until then I have the perfect little subjects running around or in this case laying around (Emmy is not quite mobile yet)
Anyway, here is my little Emmalina's feet at 11 weeks old. I've been noticing that the thing to do in maternity pictures is to make a heart on your belly with your hands and I thought why not do that with your baby's feet. Wish I had done this when she was smaller, nut still came out cute. I had Tristan take this picture for me and he did pretty good.