Yogurt and the spoon

Learning to use a spoon to eat one of her favorite treats. She looks so out of it. Cracks me up.

Santa's helper and the Christmas tree

All gone

Usually when I'm finished giving Emily a snack I put whatever container it's in aside and tell her that it's all gone. Now when I put the container aside she shrugs her shoulders,puts her hands up, and says "gone?". I'm lovin it.

Pre Christmas 08

Random stuff

Well, Emily changes a little bit every week. Lately she has been using the words she knows on a more consistent basis. She has also learned a couple new words. One is night night and the other is duck. She has the "Five Little Ducks" book and loves it. That's where she picked up on the word duck. Also,if she is upset I will sometimes sing the song from the book and she usually calms down. She is also working on thank you. She makes the voice inflections for it right now. Her two favorite activities right now are putting objects into larger objects (i.e. buckets, bowls) and bouncing on her butt. Just put a crib mattress on the floor or let her get in your bed and she can bounce for hours. Emily also delights in feeling water running through her fingers. So, at the beginning of baths she just holds her hands underneath the faucet while the tub fills. Once the faucet is off she requests that I take a cup and pour water on her hands. Lately she has been requesting me to do things she likes if she thinks I can do it better than she can. I'm really enjoying that. She has also been repeating what I do more and more. Such as after I was done aspirating her snotty nose today, she took the aspirator from me and stuck it up her nose. Which if you know how much she hates things up her nose you'd understand that that is pretty funny. She also learned how to pucker her lips yesterday after watching me. Another trick she is working on happened yesterday. She was in her high chair eating her breakfast. At some point she was done eating and instead of letting me know she wanted to get down she decided she would just entertain herself. She generally kicks her feet and will move her high chair in the process. This time she decided she was going to go somewhere. She moved her high chair all the way across the door frame (which is big enough for two doors). It was funny because I wasn't paying attention so when I looked up she was not where she was supposed to be. It's time to apply the brakes on that sucker (the high chair, not Emily). Other than all of that, we had a good Thanksgiving at my parents' house. We discovered that she likes stuffing. We also had a good time visiting with Josh's family on Friday. He got to see his sister and 2 of his cousins that he hadn't seen in 15 years or so. Well, I must get going because Emily decided to empty the shoe basket while I wrote this blog.

Christmas pics 08

 

Emily Jane and motherhood

I thought I'd reflect on this past year plus a couple of months. In this past year I have learned a lot about who I am and what kind of mother I can be. Honestly, I was scared about being a mother. Putting it off because of a fear that I wouldn't make a very good mom. I wanted to have children but I just didn't trust myself. I have an issue with having patience. I don't have much. It's an unfortunate trait I inherited from my dad. Anyway, I didn't think I would have enough of it to raise a child. In anticipation for our new arrival 14 months ago I was really excited to welcome her and I knew that I had to try my hardest to be the best mom I could be because ready or not she was coming. For the first few months I discovered that being a mom comes so much more naturally to me than I could have ever imagined. Don't get me wrong, my patience has been tried and there are quite a few times I have doubted my abilities. But all of this is greatly overshadowed by one of the most special kinds of love one could ever experience. The pride you feel helps too. She has taught me how to be patient, how to love unconditionally, and about one of the purest joys on this earth. That joy comes from experiencing her laughter, watching her learn, and feeling her love. She has made it easy to learn these lessons by being so sweet,funny,and patient with me. God knew what He was doing when he gave me such a precious daughter. She has taught me so much in such a short time and she has made me a better person for it. I still make mistakes but with each day my love for her grows and so my determination to be a good mom grows. I have been blessed and am glad that motherhood is no longer something I fear. It's something I cherish,love,and am so very thankful for.

Word and tricks of the Week

Ok, so Emily has been saying her version of doggie for months. It sounded more like daddy but she would say it when referring to her doggies and so we counted it. Well, today I am wearing a Big Dogs t-shirt. It has a cartoon drawing of a dog on the front. Emily saw it and pointed and said her version of doggie. I then pointed at it and said doggie repeatedly. She then began to press in on the doggie on my shirt and said doggie over and over while jabbing me in the chest. But this time she said it as clearly as I was saying it. I was so proud. Not only because she finally got the pronunciation right but that she knew that that was a doggie on my shirt.

Emily has a few new tricks this week. One is something that she has been doing for a while but has been doing it more often lately. She likes to mimic the things I do. Such as if I pound on a table she will, if I put something on my head she wants it so she can put it on her head, if I put something in my mouth she wants to put it in her mouth, etc. One day I had the end of a pen in my mouth and she put it in her mouth and held in there exactly how I had. Another thing she did that I thought was cute was when I was combing one of her doggie's hair the other day. When I was done she wanted the comb so she could comb the doggie's hair. Another trick she does is a game of trade. If she has something in her hand but sees that I have something that she wants more she'll hand me what she already has and takes what I have. She also likes to play a game of keep away. She finds this game to be hilarious. Her last trick is that she can now get on and off her rocking zebra without assistance. She was just getting off by herself but can now do both.

Trick of the week

Emily can finally stand up from a sitting position without holding onto something. She's been holding on to things to stand up for months and has been trying to stand up without holding onto anything for a couple of weeks now. She finally got it done tonight. At one point she stood and immediately began clapping for herself because I had been doing that every time she stood. She also twisted her torso from left to right without moving her feet (like the inside of a washing machine) and can stand for at least 10 seconds or more. I'm so happy for her building confidence. She's been strong enough to do this for a while but just lacked the confidence in herself. So it's good to see her take a chance and succeed.

Mighty Entertaining

Emily has been entertaining us with her tricks lately. Well she always does but more so lately. She's seeming to understand more and more. She has also started to play her own made up games with us and we've noticed her little personality develop more. Just a few of my favorites are:

1. Lately she has decided that anything that looks like a phone is a phone and so she puts whatever it is up to her ear. We keep saying hello when she does this and I swear she said hello today when she picked up her daddy's cell phone (she actually guessed right this time).

2. On Saturday Emily was looking through a book with pictures of babies in it and when I asked her where the baby was she pointed to one of them. To make sure it wasn't a fluke I asked her again and she pointed to another baby. She also looked at herself in the mirror today and said baby.

3. When I was drinking my soda today Emily looked at me and swallowed and said "ahh" like a lot of people often do when they're done taking a sip and it's refreshing. For that I almost gave her a sip but resisted once I remembered how messy and bad for her it is.

4. Emily has been giving more kisses lately and today she was giving an abundance away. She has learned to kind of pucker her lips and will lean in to give you a kiss or to receive one. She kept doing that with her daddy tonight and when she was done she clapped for herself. By far my favorite of the things she does (besides laugh). She also kissed one of her Little People figurines. Too cute.

5. Speaking of laughing, we turned on "Over the Hedge" tonight. When she saw the main character (a cartoon raccoon) she just started laughing and kept laughing at him on and off for a few minutes. It was the first time she had that kind of reaction to something on t.v. I mean she's danced to music and smiled at things on t.v. But this was the type of laugh where you'd think she understood what was going on in the movie (which I know she doesn't).

6. Lately I've noticed that she has started pretending to eat things. It's like a little game she plays. I don't know how she thought of this but it's funny to watch. The only thing I can think she learned this from is from the times she almost puts something she shouldn't in her mouth, I'd tell her no, and she would stop. But then soon afterward she would pretend that she was going to put it in her mouth (I guess she thought it was funny to pretend). Anyway, some examples are that today she was pulling on the hairs on her daddy's chest and pretended to put a piece of it in her mouth. He said she did this for a few minutes. Later today I was holding her and she grabbed the tip of my nose and repeatedly pretended to pick something off of it and put it in her mouth.

7. One day last week she was sitting in her bath with a cup of water. She repeatedly took her pincher fingers and acted like she was taking the water out one drop at a time and placing it in the bath. Her imagination is starting to really develop.

8. Often times Emily will look at things that interest her and say "oh" with a tone of great curiosity.

9. She has learned to feed her doggies from her high chair tray. It's my fault because she sees me feed them what she doesn't eat after almost every meal. Doh, I shouldn't have taught her that but they make such great garbage disposals.

10. Lastly, on Halloween night my mom, Emily, and I were all sitting on the couch. My mom and I would clap and then Emily would clap in response. She then took over the game and we would repeat her clapping instead.

A Bumblebee Halloween

Halloween was pretty low key. It was spent at my sister Jennifer's house. We dressed her up and took some photos. We were planning to take her trick or treating with her cousins but right before we went she decided that her cousins' masks were quite frightening. As they were leaving she was still getting over the whole ordeal and so we decided to just hang out at my sister's house. We thought she might get scared of all the other kids with masks as well. I kind of wish we went. But I know it would have been more for me than her. Seeing how she hadn't a clue what was going on. We had a good time waiting, with her grandma Jane, for their return from all the candy grabbing. Josh had to work. So at least he didn't miss her first trick or treating experience. Anyway, she made a fine looking bumblebee.

Emily's word and tricks of the week

This week's word is "nana." Which is Emily's word for banana. She loves her some bananas and when I offered a piece of one on Thursday she said nana.

This week's tricks and/or skills are standing solo,retrieving her ball when asked to, and handing me her sippy cup when she wants more milk. The standing solo thing was the most exciting of all of these for us. On Thursday, she was holding onto the couch, as she does everyday, when she decided to let go without immediately plopping down afterward. She stood without holding on for about 5 seconds. She,Josh, and I were all quite pleased with her new skill. She was so pleased that she decided to show off for us a few more times.

The State Fair

Well, Emily kicked off the week by going to her first NC state fair. I knew that it wasn't really a fun place to be for a 1 yr old but we took her anyway. She is so laid back when it comes to new experiences I thought it wouldn't hurt to take her. She loves being out and about because she loves socializing. She generally smiles at people when they are paying her no mind. So showing her farm animals really didn't impress her since they're not people. Though all the cock-a-doodle dooing at the chicken exhibit left her looking perplexed. Other than that she just chilled and at one point fell asleep. Her most exciting moment was trying some cotton candy. It seemed to both delight and intrigue her. My nieces and my 2 older nephews went also. The highlight for us was sending them to check out the "World's Smallest Horse." We kept asking if they were sure if it was truly a horse or just a dog with a mane glued on. They swear he was real.We had a pretty good time overall.

Fun times at the pumpkin patch

We journeyed out to a pumpkin patch with my family today. All of Emily's cousins on my side of the family were there. We all had a good time. There was farm animal gawking and a big plastic tube slide. The line for the slide was about as long as one you might find at the fair. Josh decided that Emily might have fun going down it with him (yeah I'm sure it was just for her). We joked about just sending her down by herself but we don't think Emily or the state of North Carolina would forgive us too quickly. She didn't seem to have much of a reaction to the whole ordeal. By the time Josh and she appeared at the end, some of us thought she was napping on him. We also enjoyed a hayride to the actual pumpkin patch away from all the brouhaha. Emily seemed to enjoy this and hanging around the pumpkins the most.

Kisses

I discovered that Emily knows what "kiss" means yesterday. Today I said kiss and she leaned in to let me kiss her on the lips and then kept leaning in so I could kiss her a few more times. It's the small things. :)

Funny stuff

Elmo

Emily LOVES her talking Elmo doll. We picked him out for her with some of her birthday money about a month ago. It was between him and Cookie Monster (one of my faves). We showed her both and she seemed to chat with Elmo more. So we picked him with a little hesitation from me. At the time I thought Elmo was slightly....ok very annoying and the toy market was so saturated with his products. But seeing the delight Emily was expressing when holding him made me quickly reassess my feelings for the little red guy. I now love him only because she loves him. Everyday she has the same reaction when she finds him in her toy basket. She takes him in her arms and hugs him to her chest while smiling profusely. She generally speaks a few of her words to him and I just sit back and smile at the whole production. Anyway, I decided a couple of weeks ago that I would make sure she would know his name since he currently is her best non human friend (aside from her doggies). So today I decided to test to see if she knew his name as I do almost everyday. I wasn't sure if she knew it until today. I asked her where he was while she was sitting across the living room from him. She looked around for a few seconds, spotted him, crawled to him, and picked him up. I was pleased to see that she knew that her Elmo was the little red chatty thing that she has loved since meeting him in Target a month ago.

Emily @ 13 months

I'm just going to try to bring anyone who is interested up to speed on what Emily is up to at the ripe old age of 13 months. She is keeping me busy with her curiosity. She will put anything in her mouth at least once. Her absolute favorite thing is our dogs' food. She acts like it's candy. She has learned the word no but she can't bring herself to resist temptation when it comes to dog food. Luckily she has started to hold her tongue out for you to take things out of her mouth. I guess she wants to be spared of our fingers digging around in there. She also loves playing with her toy piano and drum. She absolutely loves music and will dance by rocking or swaying to the beat to anything that has a beat. Lately she has been swaying in slow motion. Which is hilarious. She also loves playing in the bath,playing peek a boo (she'll hide her face and then when it reappears I say peek a boo),spinning around and hopping on her butt (she's mighty tricky),looking and talking to herself in the mirror, and cuddling her stuffed animals and her Elmo doll (she'll pat their backs while hugging them).Emily also enjoys playing in the nursery at church and loves everyone she meets. She'll go to anyone and you'd think she's known the person forever. One slightly amusing story is when we went to visit Josh's grandma in August. We were all sitting in the living room chatting when his cousin (who she had only seen once when she was 3 months old) came in the door. Emily looked up at her and reached for her. It was like she was saying excuse me, aren't you going to hold me? Lately I've noticed that she has figured out how to use most of her toys (i.e. she can turn pretty much all of them on and knows how they work, she also knows how to get off of her rocking zebra etc.). Which is fun because I love seeing her brain at work.She has also started putting objects inside of other objects (such as small toys inside of a bucket she has) and then taking them back out and starting the process all over again. She has also started to let me read to her (she used to just grab the book out of my hands). While outside she likes to swing and play with the grass.She just recently got a little slide that has a landing at the top that she likes to jump on. She's not too sure of the actual slide yet. She's a very cautious little girl and so it scares her a little. I think her cautiousness is the reason she isn't walking independently yet. She can if you hold her by one hand and walk with her but as soon as you let go she plops down. She'll climb brick steps with ease but for some reason thinks walking by herself is the scariest thing ever. I know she'll get it one of these days but I'm getting a little anxious. At least she's been cruising more lately and has been acting like she'd rather walk to something than crawl to it. She has also been practicing standing from a sitting position without holding on to something. She's done it once successfully. It's so cute to watch. Overall she's a laid back kid and I think she's going to do everything at her own pace. Anyway, in other news she is getting her 8th tooth and loves to have her teeth brushed. She says "num num" (I think her version of yum yum) when she sees it. She usually says this when she really likes something (such as ice cream sandwiches and Reese's pb cups). She can also say up, ma ma or mommy, da da or daddy(almost everytime the phone rings she assumes it's Josh calling and so she'll point at it and say "da da"), doggie,baby, and bye bye (while waving). Speaking of pointing and saying da da, the other day she was on her slide when she saw our neighbor. He, like her daddy, has a shaved head and so when she saw him she pointed at him and said da da a couple of times. It was quite amusing and I'm just glad he didnt' hear her. She will also clap if you say clap and will give you something if you say thank you. Well, I guess that's enough rambling for one night.

October 08

Well, this is my very first blog. For right now I'm writing it to replace the good ole pen and paper to keep track of the happenings in our life. So one day I can look back and remind myself of what was going on way back when. I'll probably talk mostly about Emily since she's such a huge part of my life. Anyway, I'm currently a stay at home mom and I'm enjoying mostly every minute of it. Josh is currently working as an assistant meat market manager at Harris Teeter and is trying to avoid chopping off any other digits (as most probably know he lost half of one back in 05). We are living la vida loca in Clayton, NC in our cozy home that I've enjoyed putting together since moving in back in 04. We occasionally get out on our pontoon boat and get to go camping from time to time. We took Emily on her first camping trip back in August. We went to the NC mountains. She did quite well and the only incident we had was a raccoon that didn't want to leave our food alone. I also enjoy spending Sundays with my parents, sisters, and their families. One of my sisters (Jennifer) will be having her first and only girl in February. I'm looking forward to Emily having a girl cousin to play with here in the Raleigh area because she's the only granddaughter around these parts (she has 3 girl cousins in TN). Other than all of that, our life for the most part is pretty uneventful and we like it that way.