One Year Old!

Well, it's official.  Our little girl is one year old!  How can that even be?  The past year has easily been the best of our lives.  I'd say that it's also been the hardest, and it ways it has been hard, but it's also been wonderful.  I don't really even remember much about the hard times because the amazing times completely outweigh them.  This month has been great and our little girl is really changing from baby into toddler.  It's amazing to watch.  Let's get started, shall we?

• Walking- Emily has officially begun taking steps.  She still isn't all over the place walking, but she can walk.  Mostly, she just takes three or four steps and then sits down.  Her crazy height makes it a bit harder for her to balance.  It's so much faster and easier for her to crawl that she isn't very interested in walking on her own.  If we hold her hand, though, she loves to walk.  It won't be long and she'll be running, so I'm not pushing the walking!
• Clapping- Emily also began clapping on her own this month.  It is so cute!  When we clap for her, she also starts clapping for herself.  You can see how proud she is.
• Eating- This month Emily has discovered green beans and she LOVES them.  She could eat a whole can at once.  She also finally decided that she likes mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese.  Both of these she has balked at on multiple occasions in the past, but now she is a big fan.
• Sick again-  Just a little cold this time, but she gave it to mommy and daddy.  Thanks, sweetie!
• Jazzercise friends- Emily goes to babysitting at Jazzercise every day and she is making some sweet little friends.  Most of them are older and they all just love her.  They all crowd around her when we get there and call her by name as we leave.  So super sweet.
• Peek-a-boo- She loves to play Peek-a-boo and Where's Emily?  We've been doing it for awhile, but she has finally started initiating the game herself this month.
• Words- Her main words are still Mama, Dada, ball, and hi.  She says Hi ALL THE TIME.  She loves it!  She says ba and da as well to mean alot of different things. 
• Kisses- Emily has started giving kisses this week and it is the sweetest thing ever.  Right smack on the lips.  

At her one year appointment, Emily was 21 lbs (50%,) 31.5 inches (98%,) and her head is 90%.  Dr. Copeland said she is perfectly proportional and the size of an 18 month old.  So glad she's long and thin!  Her Daddy and I are working hard on our own health to make sure that she grows up to be a healthy adult.  She wears a size three diaper and twelve month clothes.

And of course...Emily's many faces.

Emily Elizabeth,
Every day you amaze us with your sweetness, your brightness, and your precious personality.  You are independent, strong willed, loving, beautiful, and you were made especially for us by God!  We have loved every single moment of our first year together.  You will never know how much we love you...until you have your own little girl!  We pray for you every day that you will grow up to be healthy and strong and that you will live a long, happy life at the center of God's will for your life.  We pray that the Lord will use you to do great and mighty things for him.  Selfishly, I pray that God will give you the amazing gift of music and that you will lead people in worship to him, but I know that whatever gifting the Lord gives you will be amazing and we will always be so proud of you.  We love you so much, baby girl.  Happy Birthday!

We somehow didn't manage to take any good pictures this past month, so these are all from my phone.  Oh well!

Trying to squeeze around the changing table barricade to get to the stairs.  I have since purchased more gates. :)

Playing in the laundry basket

Getting an early start on AdvoCare

Green beans!

She loves her daddy!

About to get in trouble

And again...sitting on the fireplace.

Little puppy girl

Birthday invitation photoshoot

Emily's Berry First Birthday Party

Today marked the culmination of roughly nine months of dreaming and a solid two months of planning a very important event...Emily's Berry First Birthday Party!  While I'm sure it sounds ridiculous to put that much planning into a birthday party for a one year-old, it was worth every single moment.  This little party was such a labor of love, down to every little detail.  I spent hours of time planning decorations, handmaking the majority of them.  Each part of the party was thought about probably too much, and while I budgeted myself pretty well, choosing to do much myself rather than purchasing ready made, too much money was probably spent.  Regardless, I am so glad I did it and would (and will) do it again in a heartbeat.  Emily had a FABULOUS time and so did all of our sweet friends and family who came to celebrate.  I will never forget what a wonderful time we had together celebrating our sweet, perfect little one year-old princess, Emily Elizabeth.

Emily's Berry Sweet Invitation

Back of Invitation- Month by Month

Pictures from Invitation Photoshoot

Birthday Girl

The Front Porch

Some inside decor and party favors (picture taken after party was over and most favors were gone...oops!)

The Food Table

More Food- A simple, but yummy menu

Party Guests

Opening Gifts

Dessert table

The CAKE!

Can't wait for birthday number two!

Swimming Lessons

This summer, Emily and I took Mom and Tot swimming lessons together with S&A Swimming.  It was very special not only because it was a fun time together, but also because I took lessons from the same people when I was a little girl.  Such fun memories!  Emily did great, especially to be the youngest in the class, and we are excited to take lessons again next summer!

Grandpa's 80th Birthday

On July 7th, my mom's side of the family got together to throw my wonderful grandfather a surprise 80th birthday party.  We rented Heritage Park in Downtown Irving and braved the heat (and boy was it HOT) for an awesome time of celebration.  The party was in a small building there in the park that was the original Irving Public Library.  We invited around 120 of Grandpa's friends, family, and former employees and colleagues.  Almost all of them showed up, so it was a full house!

In case you don't know about my special relationship with my grandfather, here is a bit of background.  He was a coach and administrator all around Texas for many years.  He became the principal of an elementary school in Irving a couple of years before I was born.  I had the amazing experience of attending that school as a student.  Many of the party guests were the teachers who worked for him, which was so much fun!

I had a really great time planning the party.  We made sure that all of the food was themed around him.  We served cupcakes that had toppers on them with pictures throughout his years, white chocolate popcorn because of his love of movies, football decorated chocolate covered strawberries because of his years as a coach, golf ball cake balls because of his golf hobby, and chips and salsa because of his being from Jacksonville, Texas (the Tomato Capitol of the World and salsa also being a very popular food in Texas.)  My uncle Andy made an amazing video that looped during the party and he also brought some awesome memorabilia of grandpa's that we used for decor.

Overall, it was a smashing success!

The spread.  Next to each food item there was a framed explanation of why we chose to serve that food.

Some of the decorations- old letter jackets and football jerseys, a football for guests to sign, a football calendar from Plano High School, and an AWESOME banner courtesy of Waldrum Signs.

A few pictures taken before the party.  Setting up and the arrival of Grandpa and Grandma.

Teachers from Lively Elementary.  These people LOVE my grandpa!  The top right photo is Mrs. Sullivan, the former music teacher, entertaining the crowd with a song she wrote for the occasion.

And of course, Emily was there, too!  She and Lucas had to leave early to take a nap, though.

So much love, laughter and friendship!

Family who came to the party.  Grandpa's brother Charlie and all of Charlie's children and their families came to Dallas for the party.  Too bad Lucas and Emily were already gone for these pictures.

Grandpa and Grandma

Eleven months!

It is basically impossible that next month I will be writing a blog post about our one year-old daughter.  Emily is eleven months old.  How did that even happen?  I remember when I went back to work, I thought the summer would never get here.  And now, the summer is halfway over and I'm writing an eleven month blog entry and planning a first birthday party.  This month has been one of the most fun months so far.  She is growing so much and seems like she masters a new skill every day.  Our lives are so much richer because of this little girl.  Month eleven highlights:

• First bloody injury- This month, Emily has become much more curious and much more mobile.  A bad combination!  While I was baby proofing the living room, she fell and busted her lip.  I'm not sure exactly what she hit, because I wasn't watching her when it happened, but it was either on the floor or the small bit of fireplace that isn't covered.
• Playing games- Emily has really started playing games this month.  She has learned to click her tongue and likes to play a "call and response" tongue clicking game when we are in the car.   She also has just become much more interactive with the dogs, playing with them.
• Give me five- We learned give me five this month and she is really good at it!  We are working on clapping right now.
• Standing alone- Emily still isn't standing alone very much, but she totally can.  Anytime she is standing up and holding a toy with both hands, she thinks she is holding on to something stable and will stand for quite awhile.  As soon as she realizes she's not holding on to something, she sits down immediately.
• Affection- She has been much more affectionate this month, holding on, patting, and giving hugs and kisses.
• Eating update- Right now, she is eating pretty much anything we put in front of her, although she much prefers eating with her hands than being spoon fed.
• Walking with push toy- She has been practicing walking while holding on to her push toy and she does great!
• Knees- Emily has learned how to sit on her knees and also walk on her knees.  She likes to walk on them while pushing the push toy. 
• First words- I think we have some official first words.  She's been doing mamamama and dadadada for awhile, but now we have "Hi" with a wave and "ball."
• Swimming lessons- We did mom and tot swimming lessons this past month and had alot of fun!  She is a little swimmer!
• Climbing- With increased mobility, she has begun trying to climb.  She can get on top of the fireplace hearth pretty easily, which we obviously try to keep her from doing.
• Biting- Now that she has so many teeth, she has started biting.  Not surprisingly, it is normally when she isn't getting her way about something.  Her little temper has also begun to show this month!

We are still right around 20 lbs and 30 inches.  Wearing size three diaper and moving into 12 month clothes, although most nine month still fit.  The jammies are always the problem.  She's just so tall!

Unfortunately, we don't have a carseat timeline this month. :(  Can you believe it?  It just didn't happen.  When we did her photoshoot, the carseat wasn't at our house, and right after we went and picked it up, I had some kind of weird allergic reaction and got sidetracked by that.  Next thing we knew, the moment to get the picture had passed.  Oh well.  We'll get one next month!

 

Emily,

What to say little girl?  You are truly the love of our lives.  What would we do without you?  We love you more than you know.

Swimming lessons

Big girl seat

Walking...kind of!

Look at those teeth!

Re-fueling after swimming lessons

Super snazzy on the Fourth

First bloody boo-boo...and pretty eyes!