Yesterday was a fun day. Emerson was in a fantastic mood. Maybe it's because it's her birthday week or maybe it was because she was into everything! Like moving the doormat. You can see she completely removed the liner.
Then I'm unloading dishes and she comes over which she usually does and starts touching the door. No biggie. Then I literally turn around for 5 seconds to grab a dish and she is in the dishwasher. When did she become an expert climber??!?

While I was prepping dinner I had to contain her from doing more naughty things. She didn't mind though. She was having a blast. She might not be saying, "hey" but it sounds like it to me. Emerson is such a goofball. Please excuse my silly commentary.

Fun in the sun

Friday we had a special treat. Mark took the afternoon off to spend with us and the weather was great. We took advantage and headed for a hike in the park.

It wasn't incredibly warm but still a big improvement from what it has been lately. We soaked up the sunshine and enjoyed every minute of it. It was so much fun! I was hoping to be sore from our hike and jump start my get in shape crusade but sadly I wasn't. Except maybe my back which just kind of makes me feel old not fit.

I thought Emerson would pass out for her afternoon nap but she was way too interested in enjoying the view. She loved watching the dog run around like a nut.

When we reached the lake we practiced walking a bit. She doesn't seem to interested in starting on her own anytime soon which is fine by me!

Although she is getting pretty fast walking like this she prefers to drop down and crawl.

"Now how do I get this off?"

Mia tried to coax Emerson into setting her loose so she could jump in the lake. She almost fell for it!

Mark with his girls

Sunday was even better weather and we hit up the playground. We even took the dog again and she did great. She has come a long way with kids since this time last year. She even let a toddler pet her! We had so much fun outside we kind of forgot to get some shopping done for the birthday. You know the big one! So hopefully we'll get a jump on it because it's coming fast. I plan on making E. a healthy baby cake. It doesn't have sugar or anything in case she decides she wants some. Which I seriously doubt she will but in the off case she did I would really hate her stuffing sugar in her mouth when she rejects all other forms of food. We have plenty of time for a sweet tooth to develop. Why rush it?

Random Video of the Day

This video has no real purpose. Haha! But, you can kinda see what our days our usually like. She was talking up a storm before I pulled out the camera. Then of course gave me the silent treatment. If you look closely you can see her top teeth at the end.

Second time around

Do you like Emerson's outfit?

Does it look familiar? Maybe that's because she wore it way back when. It is one of my favorite dresses so I was feeling nostalgic and pulled it out. What do you know it still fits!!! Put some black leggings underneath and we are good to go for the second time around.

She wore this to rhyme time and I must say she was the cutest one there! Not that I'm biased or anything. I was going to pull out her summer dresses from last year out of her closet to allow room for new stuff but maybe I'll hold onto a few so that we can pair with a little skirt or shorts. Thanks Emerson for being so teeny and reusing your clothes! On another fun note Emerson said hi this w.e. Then I had a dream last night that she was talking up a storm. Haha!

HAPPY VALENTINES!

This weekend Emerson experienced her first valentine without the candy of course. She received valentines in the mail from both her Grandparents and was thrilled as you can see. I was thrilled that she didn't eat the cards.

She seemed to know they were a special gift for her and she carefully inspected them.

I think these might come in handy when she pitches a fit (which she has been doing A LOT lately) to pull out and distract her.

But, we're still waiting on our valentines. They must have gotten lost in the mail. Ahem. But, Emerson says thanks for her special valentines!

Mark and I enjoyed the holiday with the typical romantic date....

Bowling of course! We had to keep score by hand which challenged our math skills. We soon came to realize that we are much better at Wii bowling than real bowling. Oh well. It was still fun!

Progress?

So Emerson slept in her crib for the first time for an extended amount of time. I've been putting her down every night at 8pm and it's worked out pretty well. We had a little hiccup last night around 9:30 but she was passed out again at 10pm. She was sleeping so well I decided to leave her in there in hopes she would sleep through the night. A girl can dream right? I have to admit it took me about 15 minutes to leave her in the room, double checking everything. Is she still breathing? Is this a sleep hazard? Is the fan too cold? Is it too hot? Finally I went to bed anxious and honestly had a tough time going to sleep. Ugh. Around 3:30am I heard her a little voice and jumped up to find her crying in her crib. I picked her up and headed towards our room. I nursed her and hoped she would go back to sleep as she usually does. An hour and a half later of kicking, crying, attempting to crawl off the bed I was a little tired of it. Seriously we have never had a wake up for that long. I was laying there thinking, "Is this progress?" I mean she slept for longer than she ever had in the crib but we definitely paid for it. She took her first nap at 9am for 2 hours followed by another one at 1pm. Now at 5ish we are taking a third nap and frankly she hasn't been herself today. So I'm not really sure if I will try this again in tonight. I think I would rather have an early 5am wake up call than an all niter.

Weekly update

Emerson has been improving her mobility this week. She can now stand for about 30 seconds by herself and even do many squats at the same time. I'm impressed! She is loving walking back and forth while holding our hands and now only wants to hold on with one hand. Check out her balance. Any guesses on when she'll take off walking?

A cute little development this week is Emerson has been "reading" books by herself. I've noticed her pull out some books, sit down and turn the pages. She gets especially excited at her touch and feel book of kittens and puppies. It's really adorable. Of course it lasts about 20 seconds and then she takes a bite out of it. But, a development none the less. We have our books barricaded behind her rocking chair because of her biting tendencies but now she is constantly trying to climb over to get a book out!

A mouthful and a little fetch

So in the past 2-3 weeks Emerson has cut 4 teeth! So she has quite a mouthful these days. She had been sleeping horribly the past couple weeks, waking pretty much every 2 hours. Especially this past weekend it was rough. I suspected it was teething but now I'm 100% reassured. As soon as the last tooth popped through I was able to put Emerson to bed within 10 minutes and didn't hear a peep out of her for hours! I actually was a little neurotic about checking on her because she was so quiet. Let's hope this wonderful sleep pattern lasts for awhile and any extra teeth wait it out.

I don't have any new pictures on hand so here is Emerson attempting to play with the dog. I think it's adorable!

Snowed in

The snow started falling on Friday night and I was pretty excited to be snowed in. I prepped by loading up on ingredients for baked spaghetti and chili. So we had hearty delicious food all weekend long! Emerson was really excited to watch the snow fall and even more excited the next day to see the blanket of white outside. She woke up at 6:50 am and I lifted the blinds and she had a blast banging on the window and we appreciated the extra few minutes of sleep.

But, once we walked outside she was pretty miserable. It was freezing and still sleeting. We did not last long and she was thankful to get back inside. But we had to get at least one picture, right?

The next day was much better. It was sunny, still cold but much easier to handle. So we ventured out to find some more sledding. Emerson joined Mark for a couple rides down but was really unimpressed. I guess she is not going to be a snow girl.

You can see the level of excitement on her face. Haha!

Perhaps next year she will be more into it if we even get snow. This is the most I have ever seen while living here. We had a great weekend and I really enjoyed just relaxing and not worrying about having to get anywhere. It was a much appreciated rest! Now that we have had our "big snow" I'm ready for spring. :)

11 Months Old!

I'm a little behind on the birthday update but I guess that's just how it goes sometimes. Emerson is becoming more mobile and chatty everyday. She is a cruising queen, always standing up and moving from object to object. When I sit her down she starts walking pretty much on her own and only holds onto me with one hand! So I know walking is not too far away. Her favorite thing to do these days is push everything around the house. She has decided that we need help with the furniture arrangement and moves the dining room chairs to her liking. She also moves the high chair, her play table, and anything else she finds. She loves to jump and dance around and tends to do squats constantly. Emerson gets much more exercise than me! Language development is full speed ahead as now I hear a very distinct Mama, and she is definitely saying, "Hey! I'm talking to you!" It's not just babbles like before. When she sees something interesting to her or that she wants she yells out, "Ohhh, Ohhh." Very cute. Occasionally she says, "Uh, oh." She is feisty and independent but loves to cuddle at bedtime. Emerson enjoys taking objects out. For example pans out of the cabinets, shoes out of the closet, all her toys out of the box, and books off our nightstand. She is destructive to say the least! She has a new found interest in paper, and really enjoys tearing it up! So we have to keep a watchful eye on books we would like to keep. Emerson also likes to throw things now. Which is fun for the dog in many ways. Emerson will throw her toys about 6 inches. Ha! Mia looks at her like, "Seriously, that's it?" She also throws any food off her highchair to the dog. Isn't she a generous gal?
As you can see by this picture she is so much fun right now and has a lot of personality. I can't believe in a month she will be one! But, for now she is still our little baby!

A day in the life

Rearranging cooking supplies

Practicing balance

Trying to push the stove out of the way

Discovering a new drawer to explore

Rounding the corner

Making a break for it

"Hey! Who moved all the magnets out of reach?!?!"