Maternity Shoot

A little over a month ago Mark took my maternity pictures. I think I was around 30 weeks so I'm much bigger now! But, I wanted to get them done before I got too big. 

We headed down to take a few at the farmers market in Durham.

I was so excited to get my sweater dress for about $6 at Old Navy on clearance. Maybe even less since my preggo brain is failing me. I love a good deal and it was $35.00 regularly. 

This is one of my favorites. I think I'll get this one framed for the house one day. I love the turquoise colors of the bench.

I've always envisioned having maternity pictures with Emerson kissing my belly and so happy. Well, she wasn't having it. Ha! Her attention span was just not there. 

Here I am coaxing her to touch the baby.

And this is real life. Her running away from me. 

Last but not least a vintage version. Thanks Mark for being my photog!

Week in IPhone pictures

With Mommy at her weekly Midwife Appointment. Sporting new shoes, a bow, and a mouthful of cheerios! 

 Putting Emerson to work and torturing the dog.

Enjoying the swing on a very warm spring day. She thinks she is a big girl now and insists on using the real swings even though she can't get in it without help. :) 

Shower Time Part 1

A couple weeks ago we were lucky enough to have a shower back in my hometown for Baby Boy. Of course Look at these yummy cupcakes!

We played several games which made me feel a little brain dead. Ha!

The best punch ever! Orange, pineapple, strawberries, and mint. Yum.

Emerson thought all the presents were for her. Of course getting some late bday gifts didn't hurt either. I would say she is a shower fan!

Ignore my sleepy eyes but I wanted to show this cool wrapping job from my Aunt. It had a creative paper bow on it as well as the letters made from paper.

Hanging out with the cousins was one of Emerson's favorite part. We were blessed to get many things for Baby Boy!

Celebrate

Finally a post about Emerson's actually birthday! We decided not to do a huge party this year. But, to instead do something low key. It ended up being 75 on her birthday. The day she was born it was freezing and sleeted! So maybe we would have had a big party if we had known everyone could have been outside enjoying the beautiful day! Anyways Mark made us french toast for breakfast and we had a yummy lunch at Parker and Otis. Well we did and Emerson watched. She refused to eat her cheddar biscuit so we ate it. Ha! After nap failure we headed to the park for some cupcakes. 

Here is me explaining to blow out the candle and she did much to my surprise. But, then tried to eat the candle she was so excited about the cupcake!

I think they were a hit. 

Yummy! Such a change from last year. 

We made chocolate cupcakes with homemade vanilla buttercream icing and a touch of sprinkles. After making buttercream from scratch last year I'll never use can icing. It's so easy and delicious. I tried to make cake pops but sadly failed. So if anyone knows how to cover them without them failing apart let me know. Because they were tasty just not pretty. 

We were overwhelmed by the presents Emerson got. She really needs nothing. She was happy with the balloons I got her. :) But, she loved the "cute" clothes. 

She was very into opening the birthday presents this year. Could not get enough of it.  Her birthday outfit consisted of an adorable tutu and precious necklace my friend Nicole gave me from Stella and Dot.  Emerson loves it!

Here she is trying on some more jewels.

Our family picture. 

Emerson enjoyed her birthday the rest of the week. 

Gotta love the heels!

34 weeks

This picture is 33ish weeks but at this point you are just big so it can count for 34. :)  I'm feeling rather  large and everything feels very stretched. According to the internet baby is about the size of a cantaloupe. He's stretching out a lot in there and loves to stick his feet out. So I'm always feeling pointy little heels and if I push them he pulls them back in. He also likes to stick his behind out making for an interesting looking belly. I can't believe we could possibly meet him in 3 weeks. That's when I'm full-term. Crazy! I guess I should probably have some things organized but sadly I do not yet. Although I've been working on Emerson's Easter basket just in case I'm not in the position to make it for her. I've had some slight insomnia as it takes forever for me to get to sleep and if I ever wake up Little Guy is up as well. That might also be because he seems to have hiccups every night. I remember it maybe once or twice with Emerson but he has them all the time! I believe he has dropped some as my shirts seem to fit even less than before and on our short walk yesterday I thought for sure he just might fall out! I haven't had any specific cravings lately except I'm just starving. Although I'm looking forward to trying the Chic-Fil-A banana pudding milkshake sometime very soon. Sounds like a pregnant woman's dream.

2 years old

Emerson is two years old! I can remember the day she was born like it was yesterday and I can't believe how much she has changed! She is talking quite a bit now and says all kinds of words and shows lots of understanding about the world around her. An expert at mimicking, Emerson can repeat pretty much any word we say and likes to impersonate us. One day Mark was talking and she is sitting there shaking her head going, "yeah, yeah, uh huh, yeah." She will also get on the phone and do that as well as pretending to tell jokes. Funny girl. Right now she loves to take care of her baby saying shhh, rocking her, as well as checking for a dirty diaper. Such a good little Mama. Emerson has become very sympathetic of when we are hurt. She points out any boo boo and asks if it hurts and wants to kiss it. Of course she wants someone to kiss her boo boos in return. She can also name tons of animals but her favorite right now is an elephant. I think a trip to the zoo is definitely in order. She loves her dog and is always saying, "Hey Mia," and chasing her. She loves to run after her telling her to sit, and of course hush. Ha! She has a new found love for airplanes after a trip to the airport observation deck and has become an expert spotter. She is still tiny as ever and is probably 20lbs soaking wet. Although the girl can eat. Her favorite foods include pizza, grapes, hummus, homemade sweet potato fries, anything with peanut butter, varieties of fruit, and recently baby carrots. Such a blessing she will finally eat at least one vegetable! Hopefully over the next year she will continue to add more and more foods to her diet.  She has entered the 2 zone already throwing fits, saying, "Mine!," and of course hesitant to share. She even says, "My Daddy." A daddy's girl for sure, she claims him, and calls not just for any Daddy but her Daddy.  She enthusiastically spots his picture, and always asks where he is when he isn't around. Emerson knows how to say please and does it quite often as she thinks it's the magic word to get whatever she wants. After months and months and months of prompting she will finally say thanks occasionally.  She enthusiastically counts 1, 2, 5, 6! We're working on filling in those numbers. :) She loves the a, b, c's and it's one of her favorite tunes. Although she will dance to just about anything but especially loves high energy music and latin inspired. We're so thankful for a healthy and fun girl and can't wait to see what the next year brings. Happy Birthday Emerson Kaye!

Birthday Fun

The day before Emerson's birthday we decided to take her and her best buddy to Marbles for a fun trip. We had been once before and she had such a good time we knew she would have a blast again. Here are her and Ben playing with the train station.

Taking a ride in the bank truck.

Emerson found two giant bears in the story room and was determined they were her new best friends.

It took some convincing to leave them there.

Emerson the professional surfer!

Playing in the grocery store was one of the favorite activities. 

You had to keep close watch to keep hold of your shopping cart, as they were a hot commodity.

The super fun money room, toward the end of the day so she was looking pretty tired. Afterwards we ate our packed lunch outside then headed home for a nap!

Little Princess

Until I can do a birthday post...