Emma's Birthday!

Tom and I both took Emma's birthday off of work. We wanted to spend the day with her. We decided to take her to this baby play place in Palm Harbor. It is an indoor play area for kids ages 0-6. She loved it! Then we went to Panera Bread and she had her FIRST kid's meal. She got a grilled cheese sandwich. We decided to stop in Chuck E. Cheese, but there wasn't much for kids her age. We tried to put her on one ride, and she wasn't having it. We went back home and went on a family walk in her new buggy and then just hung out and played. It was a GREAT day!! :)

Emma's 1st Birthday Party!

We had the BEST time at Emma's birthday party. We are SO lucky to have the most amazing family and friends that helped us celebrate. We found a cute owl theme that said, "Look Whoo's Turning One..." We decorated with pink and green, which matched the owl theme. Tom and I made chocolate owl popsicles as a favor. I hung up all of her monthly pictures with sock monkey and we just had a great time celebrating with friends. Emma put her hands right into her smash cake, but immediately was not happy that they were dirty. She let me feed her the cake, but wasn't a big fan of getting dirty (didn't get that from me, haha).

We Made It....

If you asked me before I had Emma if I was planning on nursing my baby, I would have said no. I am not a very open person and always thought nursing wasn't for me. When I was pregnant I read a lot of books (I always have to be over-prepared), and realized it was the best thing for my baby. I was lucky and Emma took to it right away without difficulty. We had a little trouble the 2nd time after birth because she wouldn't wake up, but for the most part it wasn't that hard. At four months we found out about her milk allergy, and I didn't eat any dairy or soy products for four months (which was tough). However, it made me lose more weight than needed and I'm smaller now than before Emma. (which is a plus). I pumped every day twice a day at school, which meant that I had to do a lot more work at home. I had to bring my pump and find a place to pump on two field trips. It's been interesting! :) I'm so glad that we made it to a year! I know that I did what was best for my baby. I am slowly stopping pumping (wohoo)! I am down to one time, and then plan to be done by next week. We will start weaning one session at a time.

Emma is ONE year old!!!! (WOW!)

I can't believe it's been one year since God blessed us with the most calm, sweetest, prettiest little baby girl. Every day she gets more fun (if that's even possible). She is talking ALL the time. She says a lot of sounds but has been saying, "mama", "dada", "emma", "r", "ba" (for bath and baby), and we think "hi." She is waving at every one, clapping, making that noise with her fingers on her lips, crawling so fast, pulling up on every thing, walking pushing things all over, and so much more. She has 2 teeth. She is eating what we eat. She is still nursing, but not taking any bottles while at daycare. We are slowly cutting back on the nursing to gradually wean her. She isn't walking alone yet, but I know she could. She just isn't brave enough to take that first step. She'll walk around the house holding my finger or the wall. We are so blessed to have her in our life. She is the perfect baby!! I am so excited to embark on this new year of adventure and exploration with her! :) Her stats are 23.5 lbs and 29.5 inches tall. That means in ONE year she has gained 16 pounds and 10 1/2 inches--wow!! :)

Emma's 2nd Tooth!!

We just noticed on Sunday, March 13th (the day before Em's first birthday) that her 2nd tooth cut through. It's funny because it's not one that we thought would be next. It's on the top but not the front teeth. It's the one next to her right front tooth (the 2nd one in). She is one year old and has 2 teeth that have cut through (but you can't even see the 2nd one really).