Why kids and cats can't share toys.......

Birthday Girl

A few weels ago Emma turned one. I can't believe she's already almost 13 months now! She's changing more and more every day. She took a step the other night from me to Cody and will stand up on her own every now and then when she doesn't realize it. I think in the next month she's just going to take off and there will be no stopping her! We're having a great time, and dying to get out on the river with her. I think she'll enjoy it even more this year. Here are a few of my favorite pics from her birthday.

Teeth

Our little ham was being silly this weekend and I thought this was a good showing of her teeth, (or lack thereof). Right now she's only got four on the bottom and you can barely see one peeking through on the top. Her gums are pretty puffy across the front and at her one year checkup her doctor said it looks like she's getting all four at once. She's been pretty agreeable, so I guess it hasn't bothered her too much. It's been a blessing that she didn't have teeth on the top and bottom so we could stick to breastfeeding (she was just weaned last week and is doing great), but I can't wait for her to have top teeth now because it will help with her eating. She still can't bite into harder things very efficiently, but is ready to try everything. She's starting to want to feed herself with a spoon (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) and is doing great with softer finger foods. I would love any tips on introducing veggies. She loves them as baby food, but is not at all interested in the real thing. She just spits them out. She does great with fruit, bread, meat cheese, crackers - everything but veggies. I've tried green beans, squash, peas, carrots - all seasoned and unseasoned - and it doesn't seem to make a difference. But she's healthy and growing like a weed, so I'm not worried. She'll figure it out sooner or later.

Emma's new apron

Emma was cooking in her kitchen yesterday and was not in the mood for any clothes. So I suggested she put on her new apron that her friend Gavin gave her for her birthday (handmade by his mom Wrenda). She was too cute to pass up on the photo op!

Santa is Awesome!

Here's Emma on her first ever visit with Santa. Who knows if they'll always turn out this well, but we're off to a great start! What a cutie! Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

Halloween Pics - Better Late than Never!

So here's the cutest little ladybug on halloween. She was such a good sport - she kept her costume on all night at the Fall Festival at our church. I was proud of myself for having made her costume - I don't anticipate doing a lot of sewing like that, but at least I know I can if I need to (with Mom's help of course!).

The Pumpkin Patch

Here are a couple of pictures from the Pumkin Patch last week - adorable!!! She did really well for these too - it was so hot, but she was a good sport - even for a few wardrobe changes!

I have a blog?

I know, you probably thought I forgot. I won't spend a lot of time on words because I have too many cute pictures to share with you. Emma's 7 1/2 months old and is doing wonderfully. She's rolling all over the place and is sooo close to crawling. No teeth yet, but I'm not complaining! Here are some pictures taken by Uncle Carlton a couple of weeks ago. She was a great subject. Hope everyone is doing well. We're going to be a ladybug for halloween, so I'll try to get some new pictures up soon!

I'm a Big Girl Now!

First, let me apologize for the fact that it's been two months since I last posted - I'm a lazy blogger! Between working, night meetings, having dial-up at home, and a fun little baby to play with in my spare time, I have neglected my blog. As many of you already know from the pictures I sent, Emma is now eating cereal and boy does she love it! She's waking up every once in a while during the night, but I don't know if this is due to her new food, teething, or because she's more hungry. Overall, she still sleeps through the night and is a complete joy. It is hard to believe she is almost six months old. She has been sitting up since 4 1/2 months, but has still yet to roll over. She comes so close, but just hasn't seen anywhere she wants to go bad enough to try and get there. Her biggest motivation is usually to get to one of the cats to grab a handful of fur! She has also begun to push up on her arms a bit, but still doesn't like tummy time enough to give it more than a couple of minutes of effort. She's also chewing on everything in sight, so we expect some teeth some time in the next month or two. We're having lots of fun with her. Cody and have talked about how proud we are every time someone tells us how beautiful she is, or what a good baby she is - but ultimately we're just glad she is happy and in good health.

Our most recent visitors were Gail, Cal and Granny. We were so glad they could finally meet Emma face to face, and had a wonderful visit. I'm so excited to finally get to see almost everyone else in our Charlotte family at our 'reunion' at the end of September.

It's hard to believe it's almost fall already. I was driving to work this morning and there's a little old drug store downtown near my office and they had put up a hay bail and some scarecrows out front - I couldn't believe it! We've still barely had a chance to get out on the river. Could the summer already be gone?!? I guess we're blessed to have been able to go out at all. We've taken Emma out three times - two of which it rained and the last time the boat broke down. But Cody fixed the problem with the boat so we plan to go out this Saturday, weather permitting. In case you're wondering, no, we don't have a boat. Cody's friend Thomas won a little 14' Jon boat at his company picnic and already has a boat, so he's letting us borrow it for a while. Emma seems to like being out on the river, and she loves having Sunny in the boat with us where she can pet her without Sunny running off.

Well, who knows when I'll have to time to post again, but I'll try to get some more pictures up soon. Take care everyone!

Emma Update - 4 Months

In my Bumbo at the river

Emma & Gavin - Memorial Day weekend

Emma after Church last Sunday - looking ready for a nap!

In the 'ExerSaucer' for the first time - she had this look on her face for about five minutes!

Well, it's been an exciting third month with Emma. She has continued to make things pretty easy on us. She sleeps all night and is growing like a weed! We just went today for her 4 month checkup and she's staying on pace to outgrown both me and her Daddy! I'm back at work now, which is a challenge, but I've been lucky enough to be able to work from home two days a week. Emma and her Grandmama have been getting along swimmingly - she's been a huge help and made the transition very easy for me. It's still so hard to know that my child is in someone else's care more of the time than mine, even though it is my mother. Hopefully one day that won't be the case, and I can stay home with her more, at least part time if nothing else. We went to the river for the weekend on Memorial Day and had a great time. We had lots of fun with several of our friends who came down with their kids. We're hoping to maybe do something similar on the 4th of July, and then it's off to the beach for our usual time with Vernon, Carol and Katie!