Emma is so ridiculously cute it isn't funny. I was very concerned that if Elena stayed home with Emma that she would burn out quickly. Needless to say, when I come home to take over at the end of the day or on the weekend, Elena just can't get enough. She just wants to stare at Emma and take her in. When she does go away, and I have put Emma to sleep, Elena could be found in our office looking at pictures we had taken of Emma, or making a scrapbook of Emma, or writing in her journal about Emma. She is an Emma junkie! I could not have asked for a better mother for my child. Elena is the reason why I don't play the lottery, because as I see it, I have already won.

One of my main functions, as Dad, is to put Emma to sleep every night. It is probably the one thing I do almost exclusively. It's our special bonding time. Usually I play some Bach and rock her in our rocking chair. Lately I have been mixing it up a bit and playing some more contemporary ballads. As a result, I have learned that Emma is really into "Green Day". Her favorite song is appropriately titled, "Wake Me Up When September Ends", and when it is played she diverts all her attention to listening to this melody. I usually follow this with Nickleback's "Photograph". By then she is usually out like a light. If not I have a host of other Alternative-based ballads to play for her. She likes them all and will even sit on my lap to listen to them until she is overcome by narcolepsy.

I am beginning to feel more and more like a Dad now. I suppose it's because Emma is more engaging and radiates a sense of comfort and security when I hold her in my arms. As insignificant as these signs may seem, they make me feel like an extremely important part of her life. Like I am as important to her as she is to me.

During the past two weeks Elena introduced Emma to two new solid foods, oatmeal and carrots. Emma ate her oatmeal like a champ, but had difficulty with the carrots. Despite this, Elena continued trying carrots three days in a row in the hope that Emma would acquire a taste for her first vegetable but that never happened. On the third day I tasted the carrots myself and they tasted like crap. I don't blame Emma for not eating them. I don't know how you can ruin carrots but Gerber did. Hopefully not all the vegetables from Gerber are so bland and vomit inducing.

Emma's great Uncle Tio Juany stopped by to pay her a visit. It was really nice of him to take the time and make the long drive to our house. Emma was happy to meet him.

Developmentally

Emma is still not quite sitting up on her own yet bet she is so on the verge. She continues to teethe something fierce and has started making raspberry sounds. She is really exercising her vocal chords and mouth muscles to develop her language skills. She now weighs 18 lbs 7 ounces and is 25.5 inches long.