Seventh Heaven

Today Emmeline is 7 months old. It is hard to believe. Last year at this time, I was just getting over being nauseous all the time and just starting to show. I thought I was HUGE but I went on to gain a total of 48 pounds by the end of my pregnancy. We were nearly half way though the pregnancy and just had our second ultrasound. Paul and I had started to collect some things for the nursery but had not yet started painting or organizing. We actually didn't get the nursery painted and ready until mid-March. I was writing almost every night in my pregnancy journal, which I swore to keep up with after the baby was born...ha! I have only written in her journal twice since her birth. Here is an entry from the journal:
January 24, 2007
"Yesterday I could feel you moving around a lot. I read in a magazine that one mom described the sensation of her baby's first movements like popcorn popping. Yesterday that is exactly what it felt like. I am not sure what got you so excited by I did play some music for you. I especially like to play and sing "Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks. My mom played it for me when I was home for Christmas. She said it reminded her of all four of her kids; and the song makes me think of you. The music and the lyrics are beautiful:
'They didn't have you where I come from
Never knew the best was yet to come
Life began when I saw your face
And I hear your laugh like a serenade
How long do you want to be loved?
Is forever enough, is forever enough?
How long do you want to be loved?
Is forever enough, 'cuz I'm never giving you up.
I slip in bed when your asleep
To hold you close and feel your breath on me
Tomorrow there'll be so much to do
So tonight I'll drift in a dream with you.
How long do you want to be loved?
Is forever enough, is forever enough?
How long do you want to be loved?
Is forever enough, 'cuz I'm never giving you up.
As you wander through this troubled world
In search of all things beautiful
You can close your eyes when your miles away
And hear my voice like a serenade.
How long do you want to be loved?
Is forever enough, is forever enough?
How long do you want to be loved?
Is forever enough, 'cuz I'm never giving you up.'
I am looking forward to the day when I can rock you to sleep in my arms as I sing that song to you."
Well, now a year later I do sing that song to her. But she does not stand for this rocking nonsense! Paul and I instead do a lot of laps around the house to get her to sleep.
It is amazing how much she has grown and learned in those few short seven months of life. In the past few days she has been saying "dat!" and we are convinced that she is trying to say "cat." We have been repeating the sign and word over and over for many days now. She started to pinch her thumb and forefinger together as if she is making the sign but she has yet to finish the sign by putting her fingers up to her cheek (as in making a whisker). And of course everything is "dat!" I know that she is just working on mimicking us and it will take some time for her to correlate words to things or people but it is fun and exciting just the same.
It is also amazing how much our lives have changed in these past seven months. We oftentimes talk about how we can barely remember what our lives were like before Emmeline was here. And we can't imagine our lives any other way now that she is here. We are truly and profoundly lucky to have her in our lives.