Concrete Beach

Emerson had a rough day yesterday due to her vaccine so I decided she needed a pick me up. Since she loves taking a bath I figured she would love playing in a "pool." We have a pool in our neighborhood but since she can't wear sunscreen yet, and the water is chilly I decided to create our make-shift beach day. :) One beverage tub, and a few miscellaneous toys later here is our own concrete beach.

The water was 86 degrees, it was 90 something outside and she still had goosebumps.

After all my work she wasn't that impressed. No usual splashing, and kicking around.

But, it made for some fun shots. I just love this one. She alternated between each finger and her thumb. Her expression is priceless.

Mia was thrilled to participate in our fun. Notice how she is sitting supported so well!

Lastly because I love baby feet so much....

Show us your Life-Wedding Party/Flowers/Ceremony

This is the second part of Kelly's Korner Blog's "Show us your Wedding." First up are our wedding flowers. Since we got married in October I knew I wanted something bright and colorful to match the beautiful leaves. My bouquet include red roses, red dahlias, purple calalillies, berries, and a spark of purple. The bridesmaid flowers were similar except much smaller and without the calalillies. They were all tied up with a brown satin ribbon. I loved my florist. Once I saw her portfolio I knew I had to have her. She was already booked for another wedding so I begged and begged and got her to agree to just drop off my flowers at 6ish and I would do the rest. It was economically and I was completely thrilled with the results.

For my wedding party I had three flower girls (my beautiful nieces) who wore flowy ivory dresses and ballet slippers. Their Mom came up with the rest of their look with cute curls and a floral headdress.

Now for the bridesmaids who wore floor length brown satin gowns. They were made by Jim Helm and the bridal boutique matched the outlet price! They featured shirring in the torso which I thought complimented my gown. The ladies sported gold strappy sandals and matching accessories of their choice.

The guys wore bright red vests and ties with an light ivory shirt. Don't they look sharp??

We got married outside, on a pleasant fall day under a rugged arbor. Red rose petals lined the isles, (fake flowers I might add), that we got at oriental trading for $5. The next day the mountain wind blew them everywhere and I felt so bad, since I try to be earth conscious. :( For music I had a guitar play as I walked down the isle. During the ceremony my Aunt and Guitarist sang "It's your love," by Tim McGraw which was very special to me. Another singer also sang, "The Lord's Prayer." One memorable part of the ceremony was a pesky bee that really really liked us. My niece was kind of enough to yell out, "Amy Leigh, there is a bee!" :)

****Again, my pictures are being cut off! Come on blogger.

A Playdate and New Toy

Chowing Down

Yesterday I watched our 6 month old neighbor, Baby B. I have to admit at first I was a little apprehensive to have 2 babies in my care but it went really well. The "kids" had fun and the dog was very entertained by a new visitor.

I think Emerson is a little young to be leaning on a boy's shoulder!

Having him over made me realize how very petite our gal is. I mean seriously look at the size difference. He is only a month older. Notice the classic E. look. "Why are you here again?" Emerson did cry a bit when he screamed and I told her she does the same thing. :) But, of course sometimes she is sensitive. After our fun half day of playing we had the dreaded vaccination visit. It was not fun, I hated ever minute, and it was worse than last time. The whole time I was thinking they can create vaccinations that prevent life threatening illnesses but they can't figure out how to make them less painful? I mean seriously. That's of course coming from a Mommy point of view. The only good thing about the trip was being able to head out to Trader Joes. I stocked up on some goodies and to my delight the chicken lime burgers are back. They are delicious! If you haven't had them before I highly recommend stopping by to get some because I haven't seen the burgers in the store in almost a year. Perfect for summer!

Too Close?

Here is Emerson's new toy which Mark found at the consignment sale. I have to give him credit because she really loves the music. She even uses it as a chew toy since the corners are somewhat rubbery. Usually she rejects teething toys and goes for my finger. You can imagine that can get painful! Here are a few more of her enjoying the "music box."

Yummm...Plastic!

5 Month shoot with homemade attire

The only grin I caught on camera all day.

A birthday kiss from Mia.

Our laundry basket prop did a good job of entertaining both Emerson and the dog.

What is she looking at? Seems interested in something.

Yep, something definitely is not right.

Emerson's view behind me. Someone should really control these critters.

I made Emerson some applique shirts this weekend. They aren't complete yet but did the job for a cute picture. By the way, look! Emerson has a bow in her hair. I think she is growing a tiny bit more back each day.

Hmmm...Why do I get so many pictures taken of me? I must be famous.

Is she bright enough for you? This is the new felt flower clip I made for her in addition to the dress I made her in my favorite pattern.

Bird's Eye View

Happy Birthday Emerson!

Look at those long legs!

It's so very hard to believe that Emerson is 5 months today! To celebrate she slept in until 9am because you know it's HER birthday. It is going by all too fast. I just want to freeze time for a little bit and savor all the sweet moments with her. Can the second half of the year go by slower?? I really love this age. She seems to really enjoy being around Mark and I and smiles and laughs lots. As you saw from the previous video her laugh is adorable. But, of course the one who gets the most laughs out of her is our dog, Mia. Especially when she is misbehaving or chasing the cat. So I'm pretty sure E. will be an animal lover or at least The Baby Whisperer. Here is what's new or going on with Emerson at this age.

~ She has recently discovered she can scream. It's pretty loud but, you can't be mad because it really it is out of pure excitement.

~She goes to bed pretty consistently around 8pm. She isn't a very long napper but she definitely needs those short ones or watch out!

~She is still wearing the same cloth diapers from when she was 2 weeks old. So she is tiny and cost efficient! ;)

~She loves, loves music. She really seems to enjoy worship time at church and always smiles when I sing to her.

~E. can still wear 0-3 month old clothes but is transitioning slowly into 3-6. Although she has pushed through the 0-3 sleepers because she is a long string bean.

~If people stop in the store to talk to her she gives them this look like, "I'm sorry, do I know you?" She has very intense looks and is constantly analyzing.

~I still can't tell what color her eyes will be. They are right now blueish/grayish green with brown in the middle. But, I can say for certain it won't be blue.

~She loves bath time and will almost kick herself out of the tub. I think it might be time for bath toys!

~She has started in the last day or so to reach out and grab for things that she wants. Granted, most of the time it's something she really shouldn't have. Also I think yesterday she may have reached out to me to pick her up. The way her hand dexterity has developed is amazing. She loves to to touch different textures ( including my hair) and wants to touch my mouth when I talk. She can also often be found petting her stuffed animals or pulling the dog's hair out.

~E. has been pretty good about putting herself to sleep for a nap. On a good day I notice she is tired and I put her down with soft blanket and she will rub it and suck her thumb until she is asleep.

~She rolls all over the place and can't be contained!

~Her personality is still laid back, she loves to cuddle with us, and brings so much joy to our lives! We would have never imagined 5 months ago how much our life would change but at the same time feel so right.

We love you Emerson!

A Sale Savvy Baby

This past weekend we hit up the consignment sale to find Emerson some clothes for the Fall. Although it can be a bit claustrophobic you can't beat the deals and the massive selection. I went last January and Emerson got tons of cute stuff for this summer. Well, of course she was still in my belly at the time. I'm still not sure if it was harder to shop while being very pregnant or with a 5 month old baby?? Since the sale was for cold weather clothes you are forced to predict what size your child could be in 3-6 months so hopefully I got it right. Right now she is probably around 11.5 lbs so she got mostly 6-9 month clothes for the cold weather. Does that sound about right? Then add in that all brands are different and it's pretty much a gambling game. But, overall it went great, we got a lot of stuff, and the lines were very fast.

Emerson begged me to let her try on her "new" clothes even though of course they are too big.

I think this is a good look for her.

She even knows how to pose already. Her Dad picked out this lovely outfit. I promise come winter we won't layer everything over pink plaid and with a Christmas hat unless she absolutely insists. Here are some more pictures of the weekend!

Enjoying a nice summer evening on the patio.

Is it okay if I suck your thumb instead???

Show us your Life-Wedding Dress!

I usually don't participate in the Kelly's Korner Blog fun but I couldn't resist this wedding dress one. Because I just love, love my wedding dress and still do. Here is me with my Dad before the wedding began. My dress was by Pronovias and it was a raw dupioni silk. So it wasn't shiny and had that kind of rough texture. I ordered my dress from Victorian Rose in Raleigh and it was made in Spain, which I thought was super cool at the time.

Here is a good view of the bodice. The alteration lady put boning in it so it was pretty snug in there. Couldn't really sit down too comfortably but, it looked good.

I wore a long veil during the ceremony that blew like crazy in the mountain wind. We got married outside on the lawn. After 4 years of living in the mountains you think I would know better. :) This is our first dance and I just adored my french bustle. Below are my professional pictures by VisionQuest Photography. He did an amazing job so I thought I would give due credit.

Although this doesn't show my dress too much it was my favorite wedding picture that I framed in our bedroom. It was candid and I think it really shows the emotions of the day. This is moments after we said I do.

Take a few steps back here is us obviously getting married. I loved how my dressed swirled around. It was assymetrically with the shirring pulled to one side.

Taking a little stroll as the Mr. and Mrs.

My favorite bridal shot.

Close up of the bodice.

This is my bridesmaids and myself trucking down the hill take some shots. Everyone about fell face first, as it had just rained the night before and I forced them all to wear stilettos. :) But, luckily we got a nice shot of it. Obviously it was one of the photographer's favorites too because it still featured on his site 3 years later. This is probably way too many pictures of my dress but of course as I said before I loved it and I sincerely hope that Emerson will wear it one day too.

***Update*** So apparently my pictures are a bit too big so I'm not intentionally cutting off my husband or my dear friend Julie. Sorry guys!

ErgoBABY!

Thanks to selling our Wii Fit game I was able to order a new Ergobaby carrier. Since the snazzy retro green color I wanted was out of stock at all the boutiques around here I ordered it online. I ordered yesterday around 3pm and it got here today at 1pm! That has to be the fastest shipping that has ever occured. On top of that I didn't have to pay shipping. So if you need some baby gear go to diapers.com. They have lots of cool stuff. Don't we look cozy!?! This always can be used as a back carry, or hip carry and can carry a child until 40lbs or something nuts. I'm looking forward to trying it out this w.e. Hopefully Emerson is too!

Pocketful of Sunshine

Isn't she a cutie? I'm just loving her new onesie and it includes my favorite color combo right now pink and orange. So fun, cheery, and happy. I was pretty stoked that her yellow headband went with it as well. We have been adding that to almost every outfit. Thankfully she can wear yellow because I can't and I just love it! Little Miss E. is either going to grow up to love bright colors like me or loathe them because I constantly dress her in shocking combinations.

Before

I edited this picture to a funky color but I couldn't tell which I liked better so here is both for you to enjoy.

After

It's a little funky, right? But strangely cool. I was pretty impressed I took these pictures of her yesterday considering I wasn't feeling so well. I was feeling all achy and not so great combined with soreness in the food station for Emerson so I decided to call the trusty midwives. Turns out I more than likely have Inflammatory Mastitis. Awesome. But, luckily since I don't have a fever it should go away on it's on and it's not infectious. If it turns infectious it can get pretty ugly recalling antibiotics.

Even though I was feeling rough I decided to take E. on a walk because A. I haven't exercised in forever and B. that means the dog hasn't either which causes all kinds of chaos and neurotic behavior. I've set the date at 6 months to start running again once I can use my jogging stroller. But, after my rough tiring walk yesterday I know I have a long road of getting back into shape ahead of me.

Anyways isn't Emerson a scary combo of color and patterns. :) I decide to take a walk around 10:30 because Emerson hadn't gone for a nap and I knew the stroller would put her out.

I had her covered up from the blaring sun so when I got home this is how my passed out baby looked. She created her own sleeping mask! She is super savvy. On a side note did anyone watch "So you think you can Dance"? I missed it for the first time this season and I don't have dvr so I'm desperate to know what happened. If you don't know what I'm talking about you need to check it out because it really is the best show EVER! Well, reality wise.