Little Lady

These are pictures up through about 6 months I believe. Crazy how much her hair can change over the period of a year - like watching TV hosts look back over the decades!

Party #1: Part 1

My whole life, at least what I can remember, it took like the whole month of April to celebrate my birthday. Between my mom's side of the family, my dad's, my friends, school and so on - birthday cards in the mail, gift cards, and on and on that it lasted a while. People would say "Sorry your gift is late" but really it just made it all last longer!

So in Emersen's attempt to be just like me...HA....we started birthday celebrations two weekend ago with her first bday present given to her by Tracy to her first of two parties this past weekend.

I have a lot of pictures to add of this party so here is a start. And I want to look at old pics of Em too so...I'm going overwhelm the blog and those reading I'm sure. Oh well.

Looking Back

Look at my ankles....sheesh, I mean cankles. 

Before.

After. Yep, 10 lbs and 13.7 oz, born at 3:56pm on October 16th.

LOOK at her hair, love it.

We're at home and she's still puffy. Love her.

Cupcakes everywhere! Still in her first month.

Beginning of November 2011. 

One of the first times she had on a whole outfit - think this was the day a friend came to visit.

End of November 

(camera date says November, but Christmas outfit and Christmas decorations are up....but that probably just means it's Thanksgiving).

December 2011. We could prop her up on the couch. 

Remember, she was born the size of a 2-3 month old ...

As we finished the first weekend of Emersen's bday celebrations, and her actual birthday, I'm proud to say that she's taking 2 of her 4 servings of milk out of  a cup (and we're working on dropping another bottle time), and as of yesterday, she's on all whole milk. While we did mix formula and milk for a week or a little more, it IS having an affect on her now with her pooping issues, just like when we increased the amount of formula she was taking and switched formulas. Hopefully, it will pass and we have the tools to manage it now. She's standing on her own sometimes and walking holding our hand some. She's most intrigued being outside in the grass playing with leaves. I have a TON of pictures from the weekend taken on my mom's wonderful camera. I'll be posting those soon!

Countdown to 1 Year

HOLY CRAP - it's been a whole year since Emersen made her appearance into the world. Can you believe it?


We're excited to celebrate starting this weekend and going through next weekend. I think back to this time last year and have been comparing dates/days with others. Like Britney in the office - she had an emergency C-section on the 13th to deliver little Stella at 32 weeks. Stella is now 1 year old and 13 lbs big! Such a miraculous blessing. On the 13th last year I had a melt down at youth group at church - I felt terrible for wanting Emersen to come out SO BAD and there Britney needed Stella to stay in. I let the youth pastor know it was my last Wednesday for a while. The next day at work, I told my boss it was my last day there as well. Then, on this DAY last year, I visited Britney in the hospital - the maternity ward - and the nurses asked ME if I needed help on where to go. Several people asked if it was time and if I should be driving any more. I shouldn't have really. On this DAY last year, I was sitting at Kelli's table telling a little bitty Waverly to tell Emersen (babies can talk in utero, right?) to tell Emersen to come out. And then my doctor called to see how I was doing and let me know he could make some magic happen if we came in over the weekend if I was feel miserable. Which, I was.


I can't believe the time that has flown by (and I don't need anyone to tell me it will only go faster, these are comments that aren't supportive, encouraging or productive). I just know that I LOVE being a mom to little miss and it's so much fun. I am glad that she smiles, laughs, plays, jabbers and can almost walk - they're so fun at this age. I held a little baby in the nursery and was quickly bored because they don't do anything!


I'm including some pics of the beginning (and I mean true beginning) of Emersen's life. I'll update over the next couple days of the festivities, etc. I've loved having friends and family follow this past year or more on the blog - it means a lot to us.

At Seven Weeks

At 13 weeks - unscheduled due to a health scare

At 20 weeks - found out we were having a girl

At a little shy of 12 months - bath time with Grandma

Again, almost 12 months old! Haircut might be in our very immediate future...

Happy Birthday Emersen Reese Cooper - a few days early.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

 

We took a trip to Boyd Orchard with friends this weekend. It was so much fun. A little warm for me but beautiful day! The girls (big and small) had fun hanging out as friends, as we rarely get to do. And between apple slushies, apple cider doughnuts and a hay ride, it was big fun! 

Tracy was helping Emersen play with pumpkins.

I think they like each other...

Two very pretty girls!

Waverly thinks she's the Hulk apparently.

She would go pick up little pumpkins and bring them back to show "Emmy".

Peek-a-boo

What?

Oooh, forget pumpkins, I've found GRASS!

Huh?

A little mischievous looking, don't you think?

 

Family pic!

They're almost the same height...Waverly is 7 months older.

Group picture - Snyders, Coopers, and Tollivers

Seriously, we could have left you in the backyard for grass.

I LOVE it. 

This was pretty much our first outing with Emersen with friends for an activity - not eating out or at someone's house - and she loved it. Loved crawling around. LOVED the apple slushie. Even after being without a nap, she had fun! It was amazing that the three groups could get together but it was Chandler's FIRST SATURDAY OFF in who knows how long, as he just left Best Buy. And the Tollivers came down from Indianapolis. Throw in two kids to the mix and it was pretty much miraculous.

This upcoming Sunday, Emersen will be turning ONE YEAR OLD! She can show you that as well. We're excited to celebrate with family the next two weekends and I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures to show too. I'm working to transition her to drinking from the cup more and even mixing in a little whole milk with each meal. If you know Emersen, you know you can't just make a switch drastically like dropping formula and going to whole milk. So, as always, changes every day. I will say I'm much more comfortable than this time last year - I just squeezed (and zipped) into the jeans I was wearing when I got pregnant. They're admittedly tighter, but they do fit, just different. Such is life. Happy Fall Ya'll! 

What Grandpas Do

Wes' dad keeps Emersen on Thursday and Friday each week. Which is BEYOND helpful and amazing, we're so grateful. Because of this, she gets to do some not-so-typical activities. Such as watch the car get an oil change. Apparently the car lift was a big hit, and Em clapped - that might have been the mechanics first ovation while on the job?

Now, as I type, Em is supervising the painters at our house painting the front door/sidelights (CertaPro Painters - who I do the bookkeeping for to this day). She will be so well rounded, don't you think? 

Her other escapades have included putting up yard signs for church events and a lunch/cookout our church did for a local precinct of the police department. I don't know if you know about flat Stanley for kids, but I suggested my father-in-law just take pics of their adventures for his own flat Emersen collection. 

Glad to have our little miss home - she spent Sunday through Wednesday with my parents in Louisville. Apparently her and my dad had a big ol' time - she likes to wave at him. And mom was tired, she said. She also may have described Emersen as a little devil who will test you at every turn. Oh boy.