Day Care

Emory started back to day care last week. She had quite a rough week last week. The rest of the kiddos did not make the promotion until this week, but we didn't really want to start her back in her old class just to move her again in a week. So last week she was in with some of the "big kids." She would only take 20 minute naps and would not be on the floor to play. She was very clingy to the teachers and would have to take her naps in another room where there was a crib.

This week, however, is a completely different story. She has still gotten a little sad during drop off, but the notes have said "Emory was GREAT today!" She has even taken 1 1/2 hour naps on her nap mat! What a big accomplishment for my little one-year-old.

*Warning-bragging moment*

Today I went to pick her up and all the babies were sitting in the table watching the teacher with flash cards. Emory's back was to me so I was able to watch her for a second. The teacher showed them a picture of food and I watched Emory sign "eat" then said "mo" (which is her more), and sign "please." The teacher didn't understand her "mo" and thought she was saying "meow." Luckily her mama knows how smart she is. I was so proud!!!

Unfortunately there are no pictures to add to this post, but I have yet to take my camera with me to day care.

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.

Memorial Day weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. E and I went to Ackerly for most of the weekend where we got to spend time with Gramsy and Papa Reg. The Addison's and the Brown's also came out on Saturday to play and visit. Emory was surprised by a pool just her size to take her first swim. She loved it (even after taking a nose dive into it while playing).

Emory and I came home on Sunday so we could spend the day with Aaron on Monday. We went to have an early breakfast and then went to the zoo early before it got too hot. Emory was tired and fell asleep on the way to the zoo so she was a little zoned out while we were there. We will have to keep trying until she's there at a time where she's wide awake and can enjoy the zoo to it's fullest. :)

Although I did have to go back to work for a few days after Memorial Day, I did make it through and we are now enjoying summertime!

Random Pics / 10 months

Here are just a few pics from here and there.

Here's Aaron and Emory swinging at the park. Our church class met at the park one night for a devo and play time for the kids. Emory enjoyed crawling around on the ground, picking up wood chips and leaves and then of course swing time with Daddy. So sweet!

Emory has started more and more table food. In fact she's at the point where she doesn't really like baby food anymore, but without teeth it's hard to find things I'm not afraid to feed her. In fact as long as she can feed herself, she's a happy girl. She has gotten very good at "chewing" all of her food and getting used to the texture of different things. She LOVES mac and cheese. In fact that is all she would eat I think if I would let her. She also likes rice and beans, watermelon, bananas, and yogurt. I can't believe how much she's changing. She still has 3-4 bottles of formula a day, but I think it will be an easy transition to whole milk when the time comes. She weighs (approximately) 17 lbs and a little over 25" tall. We haven't been to the dr in a while (thank goodness) so I don't know the exact stats.

The weather has been so nice lately. We have enjoyed many evenings hanging out outside. Emory loves being outside so we try to get out there as often as we can and during times of the day when it's not too hot. As you can see Aaron has been working hard to get our house looking nice. He's done such a great job...now we'll see how long we stay in this house. It won't be long before Aaron insists on moving to the country again.

Mother's Day/Graduation

Yes I know I'm way behind, but I have been too tired (until now) to get this updated. We had a big weekend in May. My first Mother's Day came on the same weekend I graduated with my Master's degree. So needless to say, it was one GREAT weekend. Here's Emory and I after graduation. She did great all the way through graduation. It was very nice to have my parents, Aaron's parents, and Justin (and of course Aaron) there to help me celebrate. It has definitely been a long and sometimes difficult journey, but it has definitely been worth it. I learned so much and had a great group of professors and peers to work with.

The other part of the weekend was Mother's Day. We had a very nice day. We ate lunch at Perini Ranch with the family (YUM-MY) and then spent the rest of the day relaxing. Emory has been the best thing that has ever happened to us. I am so lucky and blessed with her and thank God everyday for blessing us with her. Here's a picture of my sweet family on Mother's Day.

Just wanted to include a sweet bath picture. Emory LOVES her bath time. Anytime she has travel out of the same room with me, she is almost always in the bathroom standing next to the bathtub. She is always ready to take a bath. :)

We also had our Baby Blessing at church, but my camera batteries died the morning of so I have no picture to show for it. Hopefully some of my friends got some pictures and they will be kind enough to share. We are so blessed to be part of a church family that has so many babies and kids. We love them all.

Bluebonnet pics

We finally got some bluebonnet pictures. Every good Texas kid needs their picture taken in a field of bluebonnets. This might not be the last ones of the year, but here's just a few from our "shoot" today.

In our Easter best!

This is her new trick. Isn't she cute???

Sweet girl!!!

Our beautiful Texas girl. What a beautiful scenery and an even beautiful girl.