And she's off!

Love this happy face!

One of these days I'm going to write Emma's monthly update on time, but not this month. She's almost eight months old now so I figured I better take a look back at the month leading up to her seven month birthday!

The majority of this month was spent back in the U.S. with family and friends, so it was especially fun to watch and see how Emma's surroundings and people helped her learn and grow (Emma's Grandpa Souders was especially good at teaching her how to high five, but I'm afraid thus far he is the only person Emma wants to give a high five to!).

At the beginning of this month Emma was just starting to scoot around on the floor, but by the end of the month she became a very proficient army crawler! Sitting still quickly became a thing of the past as she realized when she saw something she wanted she could get it.

Emma also was just starting to sit up a little on her own about the time she turned six months, but by the end of her seventh month she was doing it easily and had even figured out how to manuever herself from her tummy into a sitting up position! And the final big development was she figured out how to wave. It was cute to watch during the last couple weeks of the trip when every morning as we walked into my parents' kitchen she would be looking to find grandma so she could wave at her!

Emma was pretty excited upon our return to Zurich to use her new crawling skills to chase the cats!

Demonstrating how well she can sit up and help mom open all the Christmas cards!

Although Emma gained some comfort with our relatives and friends during our time back she still maintained a very strong attachment to me. There may not be a greater feeling in the world than feeling loved and needed by your child, but I can't lie and say that it wouldn't be all that bad to just have a few minutes to myself too! Luckily Emma's grandparents helped provide many more minutes than I think I've had to myself since before she was born.

Carrying on the Souders family tradition of making an orange Christmas ornament the year you are born. It dries up and shrinks a little each year, so the smallest orange on the tree is usually the oldest person!

While we were watching Emma learn how to move much more proficiently, she also continued to develop her vocabulary. Much of the month she was still enjoying repeatedly saying "mama," but she also added "baba" to her repetoire. And her sampling of foods tried grew by leaps and bounds as she continued to be a good eater and tried new things like yogurt, egg and many other fruits and vegetables.

The start of self-feeding... Gerber Puffs, Emma's favorite and we don't have them in Switzerland! Good thing we stockpiled them in our luggage and we have a grandma who sends care packages!

Love the expression in her eyes trying to get that last puff in her mouth!

And of course, it wouldn't be January without being a little sick too. Yet, I can't complain at all (and I don't think Emma can) that this was her first time being sick and it was only a small cold and cough. It also is probably to be expected for the amount of traveling and meeting people we did in a short amount of time. Lucky for Emma all she got was a cold while her parents got the flu too!

Just being goofy with her bath towel

I would say I can't wait to see what Emma is going to do during the next month, but I pretty much already know what that is (unless something huge happens in the next four days). However, what I can tell you is that she's not slowing down... not one little bit. I think I can be pretty confident that she is my daughter!

Here's a look at Emma's seven month photos... there will be no more sitting in the chair with monkey because someone no longer sits! And she clearly becomes very quickly distracted sitting on the floor with monkey too! I think the photos tell the story quite well, no words needed.

And when she's not crawling.. she's running!