Fifteen Months

Another fun and exciting month with our sweet baby girl has passed.  Love that little thing more than life!  Here are some fun 15 month highlights:

• So many words!  Emily says: hi, bye, happy, midnight (grandparent's cat,) no, go, mama, dada, mimi, papa, and then of course myna, beeda, and memememe. 
• Loves to dip things.  She started out by dipping chips in queso and has gone on to include dipping any solid food on her plate into any liquid on her plate.  
• Always wants to be outside.  Emily loves to play outside and most enjoys collecting acorns and walking up and down porch steps.
• Teeth.  Emily got her two upper canines this month, which brings her to a total of 14.
• Food:  She has finally begun to eat meat willingly.  She still doesn't always eat it, but most of the time if we offer it to her, she will.
• From high chair to booster:  Emily can now sit in a booster seat rather than a high chair when we go out to eat.  She thinks she is SO big!
• Dogs:  Bailey has now begun to come around and Emily is loving both of the dogs.  She loves to pet them, feed them, let them kiss her, and pull their tails.  
• Follow the leader: Emily's favorite pastime is to grab anyone around by the finger and lead them around the house.  
• Cheese!  Sometime she will say cheese for the camera.  Only when she wants to, of course.  Such a strong will!

At Emily's 15 month appointment, we were once again reminded that she is HUGE!  She is 33.25 inches, which is off the charts.  Weight is 24 pounds (69%) and head is 18.82 inches (92%.)  Put all this info together and it makes her the size of an average 23 month old.

Breakfast time!  This girl is a GOOD eater.

Eating lunch with good friends.

Following in Daddy's footsteps

Pumpkin patch

Doing the cake walk with Papa at Trunk or Treat

Watching Babas (Backyardigans) at work with Daddy

Halloween with mommy

Saying "cheese" in her outfit from Aunt Kimmy

Isn't this the right way to wear a bib?

Playing at the park

Sweet tea drinking girl

Gathering acorns

Emily's new hat

Beautiful girl

First haircut

Calculating is serious business!

Date Weekend and the Pumpkin Patch

I know it's November, but it's never too late for pumpkin pictures, right?  RIGHT?  There are no jack-o-lanterns here,  so the way I see it, we're doing good. 

Before we get to the pictures, I think I must do a little something to commemorate our fun October date night/weekend.  Back in March, we had planned to go spend the night at our wedding night hotel to celebrate our five year anniversary.  When the actual day rolled around, we knew that we weren't ready to leave Emily yet overnight, so we nixed it.  Fast forward seven months, and we found ourselves ready to cash in that date night.  We decided to stay at the Omni Dallas to see what all the hype was about.  It certainly lived up to our expectations!  It was beautiful with great views of the city, tons of space, and a TV in the bathroom mirror.  Seriously.  After we checked in, we headed to Northpark to walk around a bit and to have dinner at Maggiano's.  SO yummy!  We then headed to Barnes and Noble for a quick book purchase and then back to the hotel for some relaxation, cable TV, and my first experience with Duck Dynasty!  The next morning we ordered room service and took our time getting ready before going to see a movie.  It was a much needed time together away from all the distractions that fill up so much of our life.

That evening, we loaded up the Highlander just like last year and set out for Hall's Pumpkin Farm.  This patch is located on one of the few working farms still left in the DFW area, right in the middle of Colleyville.  Emily was a bit harder to contain this year, but at least she could sit up without toppling over, which was a huge improvement from last year. :)  We had a great time, got a few pictures, saw some friends, and ended it all with yummy Rosa's.  

Looking like the perfect angel she thinks she is

Sweet excitement

I could seriously eat those cheeks.  And I've tried.

Our least favorite face and the one we see more and more these days!

I'm done, Mom!  See you later!

Remember that face I told you we love so much?  Here's its twin.

Me trying to sweet talk my girl into posing for a picture with me

Our sweet little family

Angel baby with Papa and Mimi

I am loving this time of year!  I can't believe Thanksgiving is already here, which basically means Christmas is here.  We are excited for this season and all that it means!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, right up there with Christmas and Thanksgiving.  The crisp weather, the costumes, the pumpkins, the candy...it's all just good fun!  This year was awesome since Emily was old enough to dress up and go trick-or-treating.  We visited her grandparents and great grandparents, then came home and did a little trick-or-treating with our neighbors before we put Emmy to bed and passed out candy.  We had lots of trick-or-treaters this year, which was a fun change.  Here are a few pics of our evening.  We forgot to bring the camera out at Mawmaw's house, our first stop. :(  I hope your Halloween was as fun as ours!

Sweet little zebra

The zebra and her Papa

Mimi, Zebra, Papa

Pure joy

Our little family

Zebra escaping from grandpa

Zebra in the flowers

Zebra with Grandma

Funny face zebra

Grandma, Zebra, Grandpa

Zebra putting candy in her pumpkin

Beautiful zebra

Zebra grazing

Sea Life Aquarium

At the end of September, Daddy took the day off and we headed to the new Sea Life Aquarium at Grapevine Mills.  Emily loves to feed the fish at Mimi and Papa's pond, so we thought she might like to see some BIG fish! 

Overall the aquarium wasn't worth the price to get in, but it did have a really neat tunnel to walk through that had fish and sharks all around.  It was very cool and Emily loved it.  I think she would've stayed forever if we had let her. 

Amazed by the fishies.

Checking out the fish under her feet

Can we get one of these at home?

Attempting a Daddy-Daughter picture

The best we could do. :)  Notice her light up Sea Urchin toy.

Sweet girl and sweet daddy

Fourteen Months

Oh, sweet Emily.  What was life even like before you?  This month has been wonderful, just like the 13 before it.  We had lots of fun this month, started some new activities, became even more mobile, and basically just loved life!  Here are a few highlights:

• Kindermusik:  We started Kindermusik classes in Grapevine on Emily's 13 month birthday.  It has been SO much fun.  It was basically inevitable that Emily would be a musical child, but I figured it would only help things to encourage that talent.  It has been really fun seeing her interact with other kids all about the same age as her, and to watch her grow to love singing and dancing right before my eyes has been an amazing treat.  Her musicality has improved so much in the past month- she is singing more, swaying and bopping more, and being easily soothed by music when she gets fussy.  I can't wait to keep watching her grow to love music even more.
• More teeth:  Bottom two molars are in, which puts us at a total of 12.  If the ridiculous amount of time spent chewing on her hands is any indication, there is at least one more coming in soon.  I'm guessing it's the canines, because those spots seem to be a bit swollen.
• Food:  Emily is such a good eater.  She pretty much loves it all except for meat.  We did get her to eat a good amount of rotisserie chicken this month as well as some brisket, so maybe there is hope for her yet. :)  She loves spaghetti and chicken spaghetti, so that's one sneaky way we're getting more meat in.  Some of the fun things she tried this month were popcorn, candy corn, and roasted chickpeas.  She loved them all!  We also gave her some fresh green beans, which she wasn't a huge fan of...canned are SO much better, you know.
• Words:  She has really seemed to start picking up more words this month.  This is the first month where she has said Mama and Dada and really seemed to be aware that she was calling for/talking to and about us.  She still loves hi and has added bye.  She also says clock- referring to the clock in my parents kitchen and clack- referring to/singing with one of her Kindermusik songs.  She has said dog a couple of times and BaBas for the Backyardigans.  She also says go, thanks to a BaBa song.  Mostly, though, she just babbles non-stop, all the time, from sunup to sundown.  We don't have a clue what she's saying, but she is certainly saying something.  It usually involves stern eyebrows and lots of pointing.
• Books:  Finally has become interested in books and reading.  She is really into her Halloween books right now, and especially loves books where she can lift flaps.
• Mobility:  Emily is walking better and better every day.  She loves to grab our hands and lead us around to wherever she wants to go.  I have started letting her walk from the car to the building when we are going to the grocery store, Jazzercise, etc and she loves it.  Such a big girl!
• Shoes:  We finally bought Emily some big girl shoes this month.  Stylish little diva that she is, she's been wearing shoes all her life, but since she's now an official walker, we decided she needed some good quality shoes.  She is now rocking a precious pair of Keds as well as some black Mary Janes from Stride Rite.  And thanks to her sweet friend Carrigan loaning out her too-small shoes, she has some other super cute kicks, as well!
• Temper tantrums:  There is no doubt we have a real toddler on our hands.  When she doesn't get her way, she often sits down on the floor and screams.  I just love when it happens in public!  She is certainly her mother's daughter.  I have been hearing the stories about my toddler temper for years now.
• Personality:  If there has ever been an independent and strong-willed child, this is the one.  Although it is difficult at times right now, I am so thankful for it.  I know she will grow up to be a strong child, teenager, and adult and that makes me happy!  We are trusting the Lord will guide all of that strong-willedness in the right direction.

Our girl has actually lost weight in the last month since she started walking all the time.  We are around 21.5 lbs right now, and well over 30 inches.  I would guess about 32 or 33.  Size 3 diapers and mostly (baggy) 18 month clothing.

And now for the pictures...

First time coloring with crayons at a restaurant

Sweet girl

Saying "cheese" with Daddy

Reading!

Sweet girl in her new shoes

Early morning smiles

 

 

I LOVE spaghetti!

Skinny baby, playing with her favorite toys.

Beauty queen swinging

Picnics at the park are serious business!

Eating Kissing her puppy.  This girl is SUCH a little mommy.

So sweet.

Big girl on the ottoman

Eating lunch with her new friend Garrett

Hanging out with the firemen at our block party

Celebrating Mimi on her birthday

Emily Reads!

Up to this point, I must admit I've been a bit disappointed at Emily's lack of interest in all things literary.  I see other friends with babies her age that say their kids love to read.  Emily just likes to turn the pages to get to the end of the book as quickly as possible so that, sooner than later, she can get down and move on to the next thing.  It's a means to an end.  Being a children's librarian, it made me completely question myself as both a parent and bibliophile.  What had I done wrong?  Would my child never love books the way I do?  Would my MS in Library Science be revoked? 

A couple weeks ago she began to show a little bit of interest in dear Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  I'm quite sure she cared more about the funny little graduated-size pages and the holes through which she could stick her fingers (Bravo, Mr. Carle) than the story itself, but that's beside the point.  That beloved little Caterpillar got her at least somewhat book curious. 

On Friday, October 5th, I believe we made a real breakthrough.  The day before, I read her Dan Yaccarino's version of Five Little Pumpkins and she seemed to really enjoy it.  It has a great rhyme scheme and cute colorful pictures.  Also, Dan Yaccarino is the artist who created the Backyardigans characters, who Emily absolutely loves.  I think she may see a resemblance between pumpkin number five and Pablo. :)  So anyway, last Friday she went to her book basket, pulled out Five Little Pumpkins, carried it to her daddy, and sat down in his lap.  Finally!  She wanted to read!  Since that day, we have probably read Five Little Pumpkins 25 times.  Such a sweet and fun milestone for this book-loving mama.