More Firsts

Our trip to New Hampshire was a tornado of firsts for our little Emry. Some of them (like first time out of her birth state) were obviously going to occur. Others were not planned, but when your nearly-six-month-old starts waking up hungry at 4:30 in the morning and wants to eat more often than ever, well…it’s time to start real food! (Either that or spend half your day feeding her and getting less sleep than you did when she was born!) Here’s a list of some of her wonderful firsts:

• ·      First time out of Pennsylvania, her birth state. We drove through or visited the states of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey. Funny enough, she has visited more states in her five months of life than some people do their entire lives – including all the New England states but Rhode Island. (Which we had planned to visit, but sadly did not.)
• ·      First time at the beach and putting her feet in the ocean. It was a little cold, but she didn’t seem to mind until a slightly large wave caught us by surprise.
• ·      First time meeting dogs up close. My sister has two: a five-year-old Labradoodle named Coda and a ten-week-old German Shepherd named Chloe. I wasn’t sure how she would respond, but she didn’t mind them coming up and licking her on the face. She would just scrunch up her face in preparation and then put out her hands to pet them afterwards.
• ·      First time playing the piano. Aunt Jenny gave her a very short lesson one morning.
• ·      First time eating bananas. They are a hit and she knew exactly what to do, although she would very much like to feed herself.
• ·      First animal crackers. We weren’t sure what to do with the first one, but we are an animal cracker eating champ now.
• ·      First nickname (besides Peanut). Cousin Jay somehow transposed Emry into “Aggie”.
• ·      First time around lots of kids. Of course, her cousin Jay kept her very occupied, wanting to build houses with “Aggie” every day. He would even pull his blanket from his bed so she could lie on his bedroom floor and “play” with him. We also visited my dearest friend Allyson and her fast-growing seven children. As well as that house full, Allyson’s sister Charity stopped by with her three kids. Let’s just say our little place is very quiet and dull…
• ·      First time apple picking. Well, she didn’t exactly pick…
• ·      First tumble – and bruise. Sitting among pumpkins can be dangerous…especially when you don’t sit up on your own very well yet. Of course, that was the first of many tumbles yet to come.
• ·      First time screaming most of a Sunday church service. Not sure this is a first I want to remember, but she worked herself up so much she couldn’t settle down. We spent half of the service walking around outside, but she’s very hard to settle because she simply doesn’t want to be held and soothed. So much for being the sweet, quiet angel everyone thought she was when meeting her before the service!
• ·      First pair of shoes. Grandma sent her her first pair of shoes and we did put them on Sunday morning. They didn’t last long…
• ·      First visit to “Boston in the fall”. My favorite city! Pittsburgh can take a back seat. And she enjoyed the cool, brisk, somewhat drizzly day all bundled up in her stroller. We got her picture with “Make Way for Ducklings” and she fell fast asleep.
• ·      First Patriots gear. Papa would rather we not mention this…  And, don’t worry, our little Pittsburgher has lots of Steelers gear.
• ·      First taste of lemon. Between Papa and Uncle Scott…funny enough, she rather enjoyed it. She did make one face when Ed took it from her and the sourness hit, but I think she enjoyed it because it felt good on her gums.