My Baby turns ONE!!

We have had a wonderful past few weeks. Emory took her first steps back in June, but the week of her birthday was when she really started to get somewhere. She also got her first 2 teeth that same week. It has been so much fun watching her turn into a sweet little girl.

We also had a great time at her birthday party. It was a somewhat rushed event. I had been teaching Threshold (the gifted camp at HSU) for two weeks so Emory had been in Ackerly for a few days the first week, home with Gramsy for a couple more days, and then spent the days (and a night) at Nana's with help from her cousin Sarah. So I got home at 5 and had most of Emory's friends from church come around 6. We all had a great time.

Emory didn't dive into her cake like I expected, but we were able to get some good shots of her cake eating with Aunt Martha the weekend before. Even then she wasn't a complete mess.

Some things Emory's up to at the age of 1:

- pulling up on any and everything

- walking across a room without falling

- has 2 teeth

- LOVES to eat all fruits, mac & cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, most breakfast foods (Nutri-Grain bars, waffles, yogurt)

- does NOT like the texture of veggies, meats, eggs (I was told by the dr today that she will eventually come around...I sure hope so)

- weighs 18.2 lbs and is 27 3/4 in long -10th percentile

- can sign "all done", "more", "please", "bath", and sometimes "dog" although she is just imitating Pali when she does it

- wearing 9-12 month clothes

We are definitely blessed by our precious little girl. Our life has changed drastically in the past year, but we certainly wouldn't trade it for anything. We love you sweet Emory!!

Fireworks, family, & fun

We just returned from a trip to Nacogdoches visiting my brother and aunt and uncle. We had so much fun. We got there on Friday (early afternoon). We had a low key evening with ordering pizza and letting Emory loose after being in the car for 6+ hours. She is the BEST traveler. She doesn't sleep the whole time, but stays mostly happy and content. What a blessing!!

Saturday we were able to go to the next town (Lufkin) and ride a train and go to their zoo. It was lots of fun and Emory loved the train ride. She would have enjoyed the zoo more if she wasn't quite so tired. It was definitely lots of fun. Here she is on the train ride.

Sunday was the day of Freedom Fest. My brother's band plays there every year and once again did a great job. Emory enjoyed being able to crawl around on the blanket and enjoy the music. Emory with her Uncle Justin after he played his set.

Since I haven't updated in a while, here's a little bit of what E is up to these days.

-Uses sign language for more (always) and all done (sometimes). Here's a pic of her saying more. She doesn't do it correctly with all fingers together. She taps one finger on her other palm, but she definitely gets her point across. It's so cute...she does it any time she is eating and when she wants to eat. It definitely helps to know what she wants.

-Eating all the time. She loves goldfish, Gerber's puffs, fruit of any kind, waffles, yogurt. She's not too into her veggies so we're still doing baby food there just to get some vegetables in her.

-She's getting very clingy lately since we're spending so much time together during the summer. I'm hoping this is just a short phase and that going back to "school" won't be too traumatic.

-She has actually taken a few steps!!!! She took her first (unassisted) steps at my parents the weekend they kept her. She's taken quite a few more since then and I know it will be no time before she's cruising right along. I don't think she actually walked without assistance this time, but she was trying.

-She still has NO teeth. I'm hoping that her fussy attitude is due to that, but I have thought that many times before so we'll see.

-She's wearing 6-9 month clothes.

And most importantly she is absolutely PERFECT!!! We are having so much fun. We are planning her one year party for the end of the month. It is definitely hard to believe that this time last year I was absolutely miserable and now I know how worth it all that uncomfortableness was.