To Our Birthday Girl

Dear Emmy -

A year ago today, you became a part of our family and forever changed our world. It is hard to believe that 365 days have passed since you were first placed in my arms. There were so many things that I didn't know about being a mother, but you have been the most patient teacher. Your fun personality and contagious smile brighten my days, and I can hardly believe that you are mine. Your Daddy and I love you so much!

Now that you are a year old, you are showing us more and more of who you are. You love to play with any toy that makes a noise, and you bounce and bob along to the music. You especially like carrying around the remote control, so we have several old clickers that we let you play with. You often like to crawl around the house with one of these clickers or another toy in your hand. Sometimes you even crawl like a bear, with your legs straight and your knees off the floor. It will probably only be a matter of weeks until you are walking. When you are sitting on your bottom, you like to reach up high to make yourself tall. You continue to pull up on furniture, and you like to open anything with a door. You especially like opening the cabinet in your nursery and taking all of the books off of the shelf. You show such concentration when you are playing with your toys or books. I hope that one day you will be interested in actually reading -- right now, you don't often like to sit still. You smile the biggest for Daddy, and you get upset when he leaves the room. He gets the best laughs from you when he makes silly noises and funny faces. You both enjoy the time together in the mornings when he takes you to school. I think it will be even more special when we turn your car seat around and you can 'talk' more. Right now, you say "mama" and "dada", but perhaps your favorite word is "Hi!" You love greeting people and also making faces (and staring) at strangers in restaurants or at the store. Your newest trick is giving high-five. You picked up on it so quickly; you are just a little sponge, so smart and observant. You also like when we cheer for you; you like clapping and hearing "yay". You certainly don't like hearing "no." We have to be careful when we are scolding Sox, Grammy and Grandpa's dog. You have such a tender heart, and when we shout at him, your face will scrunch up and big tears will fall down your cheeks. It certainly makes it hard to think of disciplining you, which I am sure will come in the months ahead. In addition to the word 'no', you also don't like napping at daycare or bath time. During baths, you hold on to the side of the tub, standing up and crying almost the whole time. I hope that changes soon! I think you would like bathtime if you gave it a chance.

You are wearing size 12-month clothes and size 3 diapers. We go to the doctor on Monday to see just how much you have grown in the last few months. We just introduced whole milk, so we are cutting down on the amount of breastmilk you are getting. I love the time that we have in the morning, just you and me in your nursery. I am only nursing now in the morning, and soon I will stop doing that, too. Just another sign that you are getting bigger. You are getting more adventurous with foods, trying chicken, peanut butter, eggs, and cake!

It has been a fun but fast year! The highs have greatly outweighed the lows. What an adventure it was to travel with you this summer; how hard it was to take you to daycare; it was so special to have you dedicated at church; the highlight of each day is when we are together. We hope you continue to grow to be big and healthy. We thank God for the blessing that you are to our lives and the rest of your family. We look forward to more adventures and memories with you in the year ahead.

We love you, girl girl! 

Mommy & Daddy

The difference a year makes!

I couldn't help but pull out this momento from November 8th of last year. With the election results on the tv in the background, Boomer and I were recording my contractions. It would still be another day before our little blessing arrived -- November 10th at 1:57AM. 

Since Emmy's birthday is so close to Veteran's Day, Boomer and I both had the day off to celebrate with the birthday girl! Our morning started with breakfast at Fitz on Main and then a stop at Cake & All Things Yummy. We visited the teachers at Emmy's school and also stopped by Arbor Ridge to see Great Gma and Great Gpa. We ended the evening with dinner at The Loop with Grammy, Uncle Zack, Aunt Megan, Zander, and Maddox.



Practicing high-fives!

Update: At our doctor's appointment, Emmy weighed in at 19 lbs 4 oz (41st percentile) and measured 29.75 inches long (71st percentile). She is starting to follow a more average growth curve -- she may not be as tall as we originally suspected. It's still possible that she could be taller than me though! She was a good sport to be poked and prodded. She received the flu vaccine and three other shots, plus a finger stick to draw blood. We've noticed that Emmy has been tugging on her ears, and the doctor said that some of that could be because of teething (her molars are coming in!) He did see some 'old fluid' in one of her ears, which suggests that she had an ear infection at some point in the last few weeks but that her body has been fighting it off. He said that that was a good sign and that it helps to build up immunity without the need for prescription drugs. Even so, I feel bad that we left it untreated! Overall, he was very reassuring about her development at this stage. Emmy loved crawling around on the examination tab and playing with the crinkly paper. I was very thankful that Grammy came along to keep our busy little bee entertained! We resorted to puffs at the very end to keep her still. We will go back again at 15 months. Hopefully we can make it through the winter with no major sickness!