Before we left Emma experienced a few "southern first's" she was always seeing her daddy drinking out of a big blue cup and she finally got curious enough and we let her try Sweet Tea for the first time! She enjoyed it, so now every time she sees him drinking out of any kind of cup she instantly reaches up towards it ha! The other thing she tried and LOVES is Watermelon! We put a piece of seedless watermelon into a mesh container thing (not sure what its called) and she was just sucking the juices and oh my goodness if you try to take it away from her, even if your trying to add more watermelon she throws a hissy fit! It's crazy how much she loves a piece of watermelon.
her trying sweet tea/eating watermelon
While we were home Emma took a stroll in her new stroller for the first time and we took her down front street. It was incredibly hot that day, so of course to cool her off we stopped into the General Store where we got some ice cream (cookie dough) and I gave Emma her first taste of the General Store :) Definitely a right of passage....if you are from Carteret County you have to get ice cream from the General Store. Below is a picture of her striking a pose in her stroller...I love this little girl more than words can express!
We took Emma to the Aquarium for the first time while we were home. Papa B came to visit for the day so he got to go with us. Emma seemed to enjoy bits and pieces of the aquarium, but I think some of the tanks were too dark for her to really see inside and see the fish. But it was still a fun experience and we also did the nature walk, where she ended up falling asleep. She did enjoy being able to touch some of the fish sculptures (you are allowed to touch).
This picture below was pretty cool (in person) the ground would do a ripple effect when you walked over it and she seemed to enjoy this, of course the pictures don't do its justice.
Haha this picture of her mouth is the best I could get because every time I try to stick my finger in there she just licks my finger. But I'm trying to take a picture of her first tooth! Its barely showing but it is there! :) Its on the bottom in the front. She hasn't been cranky like you hear of most babies when they are teething. She's been acting like she normally does so perhaps we have lucked out again!
Emma's first Memorial weekend and we finally took her to the beach!!!! We went with our neighbor's to a local beach here in VA called "Pub Beach". It was a nice beach with lots of families :) There is a place where you could order food and drinks and they also have bands that play on Sundays. It was very hot that day we went, which was perfect beach weather! The water was cool and refreshing, but NOT to Emma! We put her in the water for the first time and she cried! We kept bringing her back thinking she was just in shock of all that was around her, but she still cried every time. Finally I put her in the water with me facing towards the beach and she seemed content longer than she had been in the water. The thing is she loves a bath so I really thought she'd enjoy the beach, but it just wasn't her thing. I'm guessing its the temperature of the water. Maybe when we go home for the entire month of June the water will be warmer for her. I know once we move to FL the water is going to be like bath water!
She did love playing on the beach and consuming LOTS of sand! Every time I tried to pull her hand away from her mouth she would get upset! But all in all it was such a great experience! I'm so glad we got to share it with some great friends. We are truly going to miss our neighbors once we move :(
So speaking of moving and "first's" we had been looking and looking for places to rent in FL and we finally crunched some number's and realized it's cheaper for us to BUY a place then to rent one. We contacted the VA Loan people to see how much we could get a loan for and then they basically did the rest for us! They found us a realtor who found us a few places to look. Eric ended up having to drive to FL our last weekend, but it was well worth it because he found us a place that is just perfect! It is located in a great neighborhood that has lots of other military families who also have lots of kids everywhere. Eric met the neighbor's on both sides of the house. The house is a 2 story, fenced in backyard, front porch, 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house built in 2005..it is perfect for our first time buying a house! I can't wait to actually see it in person! We put an offer on the house and a few days later the seller's accepted the offer! They first told us we could close by June 30th, but do to the military HAP (homeowners assistance program) that the sellers are doing it might take longer so they pushed the closing to say on or before July 31st! Our realtor seems to think that it could still close by June 30th, but I'm not going to get my hopes up! Eric's first day at his new job is July 8th so in an ideal world it would be PERFECT to move in by July 1st, but I just don't see that happening. Our lender says they are ready on their end. Anyway we are extremely excited!!!!!!!
I'm sure I missed mentioning something, but I figured this was a good start :) OHHH yeah Emma bug is now saying "dada" she doesn't say it all the time, but she does say it! As many times that I've said "mama" to her somehow "dada" came out haha! Either way its super cute!
Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Memorial Day Weekend!
