Four Christmases - number 3

Don't be confused - I've only posted once earlier of Christmas. We had 4, but I'm out of order. Mom sent me these so they're getting posted next. I'll have to upload those of our Christmas morning with Em and Cooper Christmas yesterday. 

Em is in amazement at the presents. She was tempted by that one in front, wrapped in paper with doggies on it. She kept petting it.

My parents gave Em a Disney princess tent (really it was called like a mega hut or mega palace or something). It was so cute. Wes can even fit in it....which is what's going on below. Plus, Em moved her new princess fold out couch into her new digs.

Every time Em opened a present that needed to be undone from packaging, she would take it to Papaw and wait for him to get it out for her. They were best friends on Christmas day. 

LOVE these shades my dad found for Em and strangely enough she leaves them on. Wes is playing with Emersen's new Meowtastic keyboard.

She's a conqueror.

The pull out couch is now her nest for toys. 

Again in the tent. We even pulled out a battery operated lantern for her to take in and play with. 

She loved it!

Christmas was really fun this year with Emersen. I'm truly sad to see the season end. And it has officially ended retail-wise...VALENTINE'S stuff was out today. Give me a break people. I'm thankful for KLOVE that is currently still playing Christmas music intermittently. Weaning me off. I appreciate this. It better start snowing soon - that's the only other good thing about winter. And Em got a sled for Christmas...so...

More  updates to come. And more pictures on a regular basis as my parents got us a new fancy camera for Christmas - thanks folks!

Merry Christmas because I probably haven't said it to you yet.

First Christmas Weekend

This was the first of two Christmas weekends. Em was happier after some food on Saturday, in the pretty dress. The other picture is of her exploring outside in my parent's front yard, playing around the nativity scene they have set up. More of those pics to come. I can't believe Christmas is in a few days. I feel like I completely missed December this year. Boo. Oh, I mean, Bah Humbug.

Pig Tails

We put Emersen's hair in pigtails this weekend. Can't believe we can even do that to a 14 month old! But she looks ADORABLE with them. And she leaves them in as well. Getting them fixed isn't the easiest thing, but I can do it without resistance if she's drinking her milk. It's all about strategy with kids.

I love putting my scarf on her, she looks so cute. Sometimes if she gets a hold of one when I'm not wearing it, she'll wrap it around her neck or around her body.  

And THIS is "silly face". It's self explanatory really. And outrageous. It'll take any annoyance or anger you might have right out of you. This is a trifecta of cute right here - pig tails, scarf and silly face. Go ahead, just pinch her cheeks and eat her up.

Look Out!

Thanks to Grandma Fischer for the cute hat and to Bev Wyman for bringing the hats over for a personal fitting. Em was beyond exhausted at the time and was not one bit interested in the hat. Obviously, things changed.

I looked over at her and thought "who is the 4 year old sitting with me?" She looks so much older to me. Yes she's loving glow worm and drinking her milk. And looking a bit intimidating in the second picture! The first picture she's just playing with the pillows. She LOVES her some pillows.

Em's tricks right now: 

Saying ho, ho, ho to "What does Santa say?"

Saying "ats!" and holding her arm up to "What do we say when Kentucky plays?"

She's doing REALLY well on using her Please and More signs other than at meal times to communicate what she wants. 

She has a new "silly face" that's hilarious. Hopefully I, or my mom, can get it on camera to share - so more to come!

Another Year

 We got family pictures again this year, almost to the same day as right after Emersen was born. We stayed local this year and did a quick mini-session. For some reason, I'm having trouble uploading the pictures onto the blog. The black and whites seemed to work best and even then it was a slow and painful process. So here is a mini-sampling. Color pictures will be on our Christmas cards.

It's funny to see Emersen walking with our hands only now. She's walking on her own now. Not in long distances and not on command. She still claps for herself when she stands up on her own. And she looks a little drunk too. It's so funny to see her little head bobbing along in the living room, or see her head pop up over the back of the chair. Yesterday she really seemed to be embracing walking longer distances, from the kitchen into the living room, so that was exciting for all of us.

Right now I'm trying to transition her to two consistent naps a day. She usually takes 2-3 a day but it's not consistent. She one day doesn't nap in the morning, one days its in the afternoon. So we're trying to get her to a two naps a day, an afternoon nap so she can eat dinner with us, and drop her milk before bed since she'll be eating later. This is the third day of this. The weekend makes it easy to keep her busy so she stays up longer, naps longer, etc. Today is another story. She was tired early at home. I kept her up and now she's taking a little while to fall asleep and it worries me because she's going between babbling and crying. Sometimes she will be SO tired, we put her in her bed and then suddenly its comedy hour. 

Last night she slept 11 1/2 hours. But she only had one nap yesterday afternoon - almost 3 hours. This kind of stuff wears me out a bit - you can't control a baby. And I only have 3 days over a weekend to make changes - well initiate change at least.

As you can see, I changed the background to Christmas. I was so excited about Christmas but suddenly I'm behind on finishing decorations and the month is going by TOO fast. I'm almost finished with shopping. We've wrapped a ton of presents. I LOVE online shopping, by the way. I am enjoying It's a Wonderful Lifetime, all Christmas movies on Lifetime. 

Hopefully I'll have more pictures to add soon and it won't be a WHOLE week (dad...) before I post again.

Busted Up

Emersen was sliding along on the kitchen floor, pushing some kind of container and fell on her baby version of a key fab and keys. And busted her lip. Apparently there was lots of blood in her mouth. Mom was keeping her - apparently 5pm on Wednesday when's she's about to go home is the time for these mishaps. But you'll see in the pictures, for the girl who drools incessantly and gets food on her at every meal, there's NO BLOOD on her clothes. Good job Grandma! She sat in mom's lap, sucked on an ice cube and when I got home, was pretty much fine. She wanted me to hold her, but she was in a good mood. Of course, she had had some Tylenol as well. It was swollen again the next day as well, but less and you could see the cut on her lip. And the next day it was pretty much better. I'm amazed at how fast a baby heals. Emersen would scratch her face as a baby and in 12-24 hours it would be completely gone. Ah, young skin.

Mom told Emersen that her bears mouth was hurt and she needed to kiss it to make it better. So she did. Love her.

Updates: Emersen is up to taking about 5 steps max at a time. Yesterday she did figure out how to stand up on her own. And even take a step afterwards. She was SO cute when she was doing it. We would clap and cheer so she would just stand there carefully balanced and clap her hands. She also climbed on top of the tupperware storage containers we had out this weekend. 

Stay tuned for pictures of Emersen in her new red, green and white polka dot TUTU that a friend gave her!!! It's almost that time of year!

Just Another Day

Who is this little KID!?

She likes to sit in her bins. Sometimes she asks her baby doll to join her.

This is Strawberry (Berry) the Bear - she was a gift and Em loves to hug her. 

A Walk to Remember

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." What movie?


Well, Emersen didn't visit a gin joint, nor could she have walked into one. Because SHE'S NOT WALKING. I'm not bitter. But our friend Mike said it best last night...that he would say "Oh yeah, whenever he's (they have a son) ready, that's fine" but all the while he was running baby boot camp with push ups and squats to get their son ready to run. He also added "Now what have I got myself into?" once he was walking.


These are all realities I'm aware of. Nonetheless, I'd still like her to walk. I'm not worried about it. But it would be fun for her to wear skirts and dresses without getting stuck because the hem catches under her legs. Also, because I know she CAN do it. She's taken steps towards me about 3 times.


Oh well. At least she can _________ [insert here all the things she can do by the grace of God]. I'm so thankful for her little face every morning. Sometimes I think I should record these sweet moments to remind me I like her when she's 16 years old. 


Em's other favorite past time right now is laughing - cackling, sucking in air, giggling, high pitched, raspy - ANY kind of laughing. Also, we're working on getting her to say GaGa for grandma Fischer. Right now she just does a fake cough to get her attention, often at breakfast, and I keep saying "SAY HER NAME!" 


Emersen has really mastered her "please" sign in sign language - master in that she uses it, not perfect form. And "more" and "all done". Now she holds her hands out to her sides, palms up like "what?" and also "loves" everything...she hugs it and says "aww". Too cute for her own good, and ours. 


The movie is Casablanca, and I wouldn't have been able to tell you that until today.

Oh to be a kid again...

Remember playing in leaves....I think I had more fun than Emersen did in this particular pile. 

Thanks to my Dad for piling them up!

 

Nothing like climbing on mommy....

 

And remember when stuff like lawnmowers was SO cool, so fun to play on?

 

Em loves being outside - which I love, especially this time of year. 

My parents backyard is so fun for her to wander around in.

What's your favorite childhood memory playing outdoors or in the fall?

Happy Belated Halloween!

Woof woof.

At this point, Em had been awake for probably 5 hours. No afternoon nap.

LOVE that face. LOVE the girl too.

Dad's helping the girls trick-or-treat. Waverly eventually said it to somebody. This is our new neighbor also!

Aren't they so cute!? People commented every where we went about how the girls were doing it right, riding in style. Thanks to my cousin for passing this down to us for use - feeling fancy!

What's been going on in the past couple weeks:

1. Em is one.

2. Em is not walking.

3. Em is 32 1/2 inches tall and 22 1/2 lbs - looks like 18 month old but not walking.

4. Em threw up ALL over my mom, the floor and the couch last week. One time only. Felt better after. Mom gave her half a veggie burger at lunch - cause & effect?

5. Em learned to use her finger over her mouth to tell Molly (the dog) to be quiet.

6. Em will stand momentarily by herself.

7. Em LOVES going outside and playing with leaves. My dad made her a pile when we were in Louisville to jump in.

8. It's NOVEMBER! On to Christmas music and cozy memories and holidays. Mixmas on 94.5 in Lexington is already doing Christmas music all the time. I'm missing having the Hallmark and Family Channels.

9. Changes in our church are making for exciting and busy times. Trying to find where we are or can be.

10. Had family pictures today in the LOVELY weather at Waveland. There were many other families taking DIY pictures as well - it was beautiful. Em was overwhelmed with the quantity of leaves!

I'm One! - Again

Lexington Birthday Party - Puppy theme because she might as well be one.

The dog has a USB plug in so you can download songs....and the cake knows when you blow out the candles. Fancy.

Chex Mix Puppy Chow (Muddy Buddies)

Scooby Snacks - hilarious

Granna will let Em do whatever she wants include sit on her and play the xylophone dangerously close to her face. Great gift for kids, by the way. And husbands/dads apparently because Wes has mastered almost all well known Christmas songs on it, playing by ear.

Look at all these presents!

With her GREAT-Grandma's...lucky girl.

Another fun and exciting day in the life of Emersen. Lots of fun toys to play with too! 

Thanks to everybody who spoiled my little girl even more, it means so much to have so many people involved in her life.