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.