Watch Emily Grow!: The First Update as a ONE YEAR OLD!!

Hi Everyone! This is Emmy's Mommy writing right now. Figured it was MY turn to update her blog - Emily is SUCH a computer hog. Plus, she's in bed asleep, so she doesn't really have a say in the matter, does she?? :)

I can't believe our little lady is a year old. I try not to think about it very long or very hard, because if I do, I get all weepy, and no one wants to see THAT. So, I just power on through each day, refusing not to dwell on big girl things like, "Did you just eat an entire piece of raisin bread?" "Did you get on and off of your car ALL by yourself??" and "Did you just crawl across the equivalent of two back yards to get to a swing??" Yes, people, she did that - pictures will be below. Also, today we, and by we, I mean Brandon, :) installed her new carseats. That's right people we have (finally) graduated to carseat #2. Again, as I carried the infant carrier to the basement, I refused to reflect on the fact that my baby is slowly but surely becoming a toddler. So.....it'll probably hit me full force somewhere really embarrassing, like the meat department at HyVee. AND, it'll be the out of control weeping, perhaps reminiscent of my 30th birthday. Ugh. Not pretty.

Wanted to share a couple of pictures from the last few weeks, but before I do, here's a few Emily tidbits...
--Sign language is going well. She is definitely not at 100% by any stretch, but she DOES sign eat, all done, sleep, more, telephone, swing, and milk on a regular basis. (Except when we're wanting her to perform - the she gets stage fright.) :) She has also signed please, thank you, cat, hat, drink....and some others that are escaping me at the moment. What's really fun is when she ties a couple of them together. For example, at a recent playdate, after the snacks had been put away, she signed "more eat." After waking from a nap, she looked up, grinned and signed, "Sleep all done." My personal favorite is when she signs "More Sleep." That one ALWAYS makes me smile. And I swear, tonight she saw a dude at the restaurant we were at who was wearing a hat and talking on a telephone, and she HAD to tell me about it. :) That's the only explanation I can figure why she signed hat and phone together. (Or she MAY have just been making random hand gestures, but I, as her mother, prefer to think of her as brilliant, thank you very much. So, it was DEFINITELY "Mom, dude, that guy is talking on the PHONE and wearing a HAT! LOOK!" :)
--Teeth. Um, I think she has 8 total? If you count the two that have "broke ground" and are coming in. I will post a picture of the massive drool that preceded said teeth. :)
--Hair. I have, to my sadness, become one of THOSE mothers who is obsessed with her child's hair. The fact that I recently discovered that it is now possible for Emily to wear PIGTAILS is really not helping the situation. It's bad people. Tonight, when Brandon affectionaly patted the top of his little girl's head, I (very annoyingly, I'm sure) screeched, "CAREFUL! Don't mess up her hair!!" Sigh. Babe, I'm so sorry. :(
--She had her first carousel ride, at the KC Zoo. (no pictures = sad) She also fed her first animal, a deer, also at the KC Zoo.
--She pushed the changing table mattress onto the floor, from her bed. Granted, I DID show her how to do that the day before, like any good mother would, and she only needed one demonstration. I did take pictures, but there's wasn't a card in the camera....not sure they're accessible. :( Maybe we'll replicate them! HA!

Enough talking! Time for some pictures!!! Enjoy!

Entertaining herself while I cleaned. Didn't really mind the "extra" cleaning this little game resulted in, as it definitely kept her busy!

Her new favorite thing - my phone! She signs "telephone" every time she hears it ring. Also, notice the massive drool. Two teeth contributed to it.

Pigtails!!!! (one of my favorite pics taken in her entire 380ish day life.) ;)

It's hard to tell in this picture, but here is Emily almost all the way through our neighbor's yard, after starting in the middle of OURS, on her way to a SWING, in the next yard over! Her obsession is so bad we have to spell the word, b/c if she hears it, she signs it and then has to have it. Wha-oh...

Almost there.....

Yes, she did get all the way to it. However, we do not have permission to be on this swing, so sadly, we had to take her away. I know it was mean, but I wanted to know if she was going to really go the whole way. Apparently she's a little determined. This could be.....well.....a challenging character trait when she's a teen-ager!