Emmett's 2-month mark

Two month stats:
Weight:  11 pounds 13 ounces (still average)
Length:  23.5 inches (still a bit above average)
Head: 41.5 inches (now just barely above the curve)

This growing bundle is full of smiles--especially after feedings.  He loves to lie on the floor and kick his legs.  He has discovered his voice and makes lots of adorable coo-ing sounds and is always surprising us with new noises.  While his mouth makes lots of endearing smiles and sounds, it also produces a pretty consistent supply of drool which mostly accounts for his permanently damp clothes.  Speaking of his mouth, he can practically stick his entire fist inside of it.  He still likes to suck/gnaw on his fingers and often gags himself from sticking his fingers too far down his throat. He has forgotten how to sleep through the night, but his overall cuteness makes it much too difficult for his momma to get mad at him.  He often sleeps with his eyes open, which is both impressive and creepy.  He is thickening up, starting to get rolls on his little thighs; and his growing double chin is making it increasingly difficult for me to get his neck clean.  

Love A Fair

 This year Clark, Emmett and I ventured out to the NC State Fair on opening day.  We were extra prepared with an annotated map of all the must-see exhibits and, most importantly, food stands prepared by my friend and fair expert, Ruth.  The weather was perfect for wandering through the fair grounds.  I love looking at the gardens, the livestock and the produce.  The people-watching is fun, too.

The food is probably the most central part of the fair, and we didn't hold back this year.  Here are the tasty, deep-fried treats we tried:
• Texas Fried Frito Pie--Our favorite of the night.  Fritos with a scoop of chili, topped with cheese, battered and fried, then served with salsa and sour cream.  Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm.
• Hand-dipped corn dog--Also one of our favorites.  A tasty classic.
• Fried Mac & Cheese--Came in little triangle shapes with a spicy dipping sauce.  They were alright.  Worth trying once.
• Deep-fried cookie dough--Pretty tasty.  Also, worth trying once.  
• Mini doughnuts--Covered in cinnamon and powdered sugar.  Yummy but not super new or unusual.
• Lime Fizz--Tart but tasty.  Kind of like a fresh lime.
• Ham biscuit--A little salty, but a true southern staple. 
• Apple slush--You can't go wrong with a slushy apple cider.  Very appropriate for nice fall weather.

 In addition to the food and traditional exhibits, you have to appreciate the randomness that the fair brings.  Clark got to check out the human oddities booth (we were willing to fork out $2, not $4, to see what mysterious things laid behind the curtains).  I would be glad to tell you what I saw behind the curtain, but I was sworn to secrecy by a one-eyed midget who was half goat man and could breath fire  and he seemed pretty serious about it.

This crazy vine lady was also a new feature we hadn't seen before.  You'll have to enlarge the picture to see the detail of her camouflage--it was impressive.  The way she moved was both captivating and creepy.  Check out the short video clip below.

Did you notice the man in the white shirt?  He is her bodyguard.

 Another classic fair adventure was the pig racing, which happens to also include a duck race and a goat race.

Emmett was a trooper during the fair.  There was so much to look at; and with those big eyes of his, he was sure to take it all in.  Whether he was bright-eyed or zonked out (like in the picture above), he sure got a lot of admiration from fellow fair-goers.  Being the proud parents that we are, we happily accepted all compliments.  Side note:  Our babe has become quite the drooler in the last couple of weeks--thus, the bib.  By the looks of this picture our baby has passed out from the lack of oxygen flow to his brain, but I promise that the carrier doesn't strangle him.  It looks scary though.

Just as we were walking to the car, the firework show began.  Emmett was quite enthralled with bright bursts of light and didn't seem to be bothered by the noise.  

 

And so ended a perfectly lovely evening at the fair.  Amy needs to work on spicing up her endings a bit.  Give her suggestions on how to end this post in the comments.

Emerald Isle in October

 October is the perfect time to go to the beach in North Carolina.  At least it was a perfect weekend when we went.  The second weekend in October we drove out to Emerald Isle to stay for a couple of days.  Charles was kind enough to let us use his beach house, which is less than a ten-minute walk from the beach.  The temperature was in the 70s, and the skies were clear.  There were no crowds and you could spend the whole day sitting on the beach without breaking a sweat.  Like I said, the perfect time to go to the beach.

Charlotte, General Conference and a little Baby Yoga

We spent the first weekend of October in Charlotte where Vaughn and Margaret recently moved.  We are so excited to have family within a two hour drive. 

 We love how much Vaughn and Margaret love our little Emmett.  They make a great aunt and uncle. 

One of the many interests/talents Margaret has is yoga.  She works at a yoga studio that offers baby yoga classes and arranged for Emmett and me to go to one.  I had lots of fun and Emmett seemed to have a pretty good time, too!

Wilmington

Our last six weeks have been jam-packed with travel and fun, which means I am far behind on blogging and recording all of our adventures.  And since I have to record everything chronologically, we are going to jump back to mid-September when we took Emmett on his first road trip and hotel stay at the tender age of 5 weeks.  We traveled to Wilmington where we attended the wedding of two of Clark's co-workers.  We definitely had to change his clothes on a little strip of grass outside a gas station but overall, he traveled quite well.  

We got Emmett all fancied up (we rarely put shoes on the little guy) for the wedding, but unfortunately that was short-lived as we had to make a wardrobe change just minutes after getting him ready.  We hurried and snapped a picture of the front view before heading to the restroom. 

 

Emmett was very well-behaved during the ceremony and reception.  Charles, a good friend and co-worker of Clark's, was so sweet with him and held him the majority of the evening.  Despite the chilly temperature, it was a lovely wedding on the beach and a fun reception with lots of food and dancing.  And it's a good thing our babe was a decent traveler because he was in for many more hours in the car over the next few weeks!