Emerson is one month old today! Hard to believe! As you can see, she is still quite floppy, but her head control is getting much better. She can hold her head up while on her tummy for quite a while. Her first smile was July 5th. I think she actually smiled at me while I was playing with her on the 4th, but I wasn't sure if it was a real smile or gas. When she did it again on the 5th while I was playing & talking to her, I decided it was real. Daddy has only seen a few of those precious smiles, but they do exist! It still seems like she is ALWAYS eating, but the nights are much more controlled now than they were just a week ago. She eats at 9pm, midnight and then usually around 4 or 4:30am. So it's not too bad. We are having to keep her upright for at least 20 minutes after each feeding because of possible reflux. It only happens every so often, but occasionally she has milk come out of her nose when she sneezes or coughs, so Dr. Pielop suggested trying this. She is sleeping well in her cradle in our room unless I fall asleep while nursing her or while keeping her upright for those 20 mins. sigh. Emerson wants to be held ALL the time, so we are trying to break her of that. I put her in her bouncy seat or swing and sometimes if she cries, I just let her for a few minutes...don't everyone nominate me for mother of the year at once. It might look suspicious! No, I know it sounds cruel, but I can't hold her all day long. Usually, she will quit crying within 5 minutes and then she's fine. She seems to tolerate tummy time much better than Jackson did and she will look around and kick for a while (10 or so minutes) before signaling that she has had enough. We do this 1-2 times a day. She loves her baths! You can just tell by the contented look on her face that she doesn't want it to end. I can't wait until she is big enough to take a bath with Jackson...I always think it is so cute when siblings bathe together (when they are little, obviously)! One other thing I have found interesting is that she already has tears when she cries. Jackson didn't have any until he was like 3 months old. I guess girls really do develop that much faster than boys. ;)
Jackson is doing GREAT with her! He is such a good big brother! He loves to kiss her and hold her. He does the sign for more when we take her away from him. It's really cute! He also likes to point out her body parts, especially toes. He is on a toe kick right now...he points out everyones toes even Leyla's. Jackson is such a big helper to Mommy too. He will hand me her papi, blanket, or burp rag. He always looks so proud of himself and of course, Aaron and I really are proud of him!
So that is pretty much it for 1 month old Emerson. We can't wait to see what's next for her!
Peyton, Rachel, Lindsey, Bethany, Michelle (who looks amazing just 3 short weeks after having Miss Riley), Cari, Ashley me & Jackson. 
Peyton & Jackson 
She looks totally thrilled here.
That's better!
Jackson giving Emerson kisses.
This is one of my favorite pictures.
Papa got conned into going deeper than he had intended.
The "big" kids (including Aaron) had a sand castle contest. Jackson tried to help.
How Emme spent part of her first trip to the beach....
....how she spent the other half
He loves to show off by putting his face in the water. This was immediately afterwards.
Poppy shirt
Kind of a blurry picture, but I can get Jackson to smile if I say "cheese" in a really goofy voice. I feel so stupid doing it in public, but it works EVERY time. (For Aaron too apparently!)
He wanted to sit on this motorcycle so badly, but then refused to smile. I was standing next to him instead of in front of him, so I couldn't do the goofy voice thing to make it happen.
One of Jackson's (and my) favorite parts. This crazy man would drive a motorcycle out on a high wire and do all kinds of tricks while the chick would do her own tricks on the bar below. It was crazy good! The guy would drive out, do some tricks then reverse down to the bottom, come back out, do some more tricks, etc. Jackson thought he was getting his own personal show because everytime the motorcycle would go back to the bottom, Jackson would do the sign for "more" and the motorcycle would come back out.
Another amazing part...they got 7 motorcycles driving around all at once in this cage!
Our attempt at a group picture.
The Greatest Show on Earth!
After reading his favorite "car" book, he was done!
Emerson is one month old today! Hard to believe! As you can see, she is still quite floppy, but her head control is getting much better. She can hold her head up while on her tummy for quite a while. Her first smile was July 5th. I think she actually smiled at me while I was playing with her on the 4th, but I wasn't sure if it was a real smile or gas. When she did it again on the 5th while I was playing & talking to her, I decided it was real. Daddy has only seen a few of those precious smiles, but they do exist! It still seems like she is ALWAYS eating, but the nights are much more controlled now than they were just a week ago. She eats at 9pm, midnight and then usually around 4 or 4:30am. So it's not too bad. We are having to keep her upright for at least 20 minutes after each feeding because of possible reflux. It only happens every so often, but occasionally she has milk come out of her nose when she sneezes or coughs, so Dr. Pielop suggested trying this. She is sleeping well in her cradle in our room unless I fall asleep while nursing her or while keeping her upright for those 20 mins. sigh. Emerson wants to be held ALL the time, so we are trying to break her of that. I put her in her bouncy seat or swing and sometimes if she cries, I just let her for a few minutes...don't everyone nominate me for mother of the year at once. It might look suspicious! No, I know it sounds cruel, but I can't hold her all day long. Usually, she will quit crying within 5 minutes and then she's fine. She seems to tolerate tummy time much better than Jackson did and she will look around and kick for a while (10 or so minutes) before signaling that she has had enough. We do this 1-2 times a day. She loves her baths! You can just tell by the contented look on her face that she doesn't want it to end. I can't wait until she is big enough to take a bath with Jackson...I always think it is so cute when siblings bathe together (when they are little, obviously)! One other thing I have found interesting is that she already has tears when she cries. Jackson didn't have any until he was like 3 months old. I guess girls really do develop that much faster than boys. ;) 
Pops directing Jackson's attention back to the game
Eating his fav - a corn dog. He looks so sleepy in this picture.
And I guess he was.
Wearing Pops hat & saying "cheese!"
Eating yummy pasta!
This is how Emerson spends our mealtimes...she doesn't usually cry.
