A Belated Birthday Post

As you may have figured out by now, my little Emelia turned ONE!

(three months ago)

 

Here is a recap:

 

Opening presents is fun!

 

 

The stuff inside them?  Eh... not so much.

 

 

Birthday cake you say?  That sounds promising.

 

 

Eeeewww.... gross.

 

 

It won't come off...

 

 

Hey, this stuff tastes pretty good, want to try it?

 

 

Nom, nom, nom...

 

 

Are they really going to let me eat the whole thing?

 

 

This stuff is seriously good.

 

 

Get in my belly!

 

 

Victory!  I owned that cupcake!

 

 

Can I have another one?  Please?

 

 

 

 

 

 



Cuddle Bug

Lately Emelia has turned into a complete cuddle bug.  Giving hugs, being held, smacking her lips when she wants a kiss.  Too sweet. 

 

I've even shared her with Papa.

 

And Auntie

 

 



Top Ten Things About Emelia

1.  Nothing makes her happier than holding your fingers and walking.  In fact, if you start you better be willing to continue until she wears herself out and it is time for bed.  Should you try to stop before then, you will se what I call the "Rage of Emelia" which is a very dramatic fit she pitches complete with wailing, throwing herself on the floor, and rolling back and forth while kicking her legs and flailing her arms.  It's actually kind of funny.

 

 

2.  Emelia has a rather large gap between her front teeth.  It is so stinking cute!

 

3.  We call her Baby-girl.  So much so, that I'm worried she thinks her name is baby-girl.... oops. 

 

4.  Until very recently, she didn't like to crawl.  Instead, she would scoot along the floor, hand first with her butt and legs following.  When I come home I can hear her coming.  It goes like this: thwap-thwap swoosh,  thwap-thwap swoosh.

 

5.  She loves to twirl hair, mine or hers, it doesn't matter.  As you can see, she doen't have much hair, but it is a little longer in the back, and if you gather it togehter it forms a half-curl loop.  She twirls it around, and around, and around.  Especially when she's eating. Which is gross.

 

6.  She makes this happy-face where she wrinkles up her nose.  I don't have a very good picture of it, but it is so funny.  You can kind of tell below.

 

 

 

 

7.  She loves to hug anything that is soft and cuddly.

 

8.  Her favorite game is peek-a-boo.  She throws a blanket over her head and flaps her arms until you say "Where'd Emelia go?"  She even plays by herself.  Sometimes, she wakes up from her nap, and I hear noises over the baby monitor.  Then I go in her room and she's got the blanket over her head and she pulls it off and smiles.

 

9.  She LOVES water.  I've never seen a kid enjoy a bath so much.  She has so much fun splashing that Oliver has started asking to take baths with her.

 

10.  She's a Papa's girl through and through.  When she learned to give kisses, they were only for Papa, and given a choice, she'll to to him most of the time.

 

 



A letter to my daughter

My sweet Emelia,

You wouldn't know it from looking at this blog lately, but you turned one a little over a month ago.  I can't believe how much you have grown and changed since the last time I blogged.  I also can't believe how few blogs I've written since you were born.  I feel the need to explain a few things to you.

First, my failure to blog as frequently about you as I did Oliver does not reflect how much I love you.  It is simply a reflection of how much more time it takes to have two kids instead of one.  But, being a parent of two doesn't explain it either.  You see, your Grandpa Mike died before you turned one.  In December.  He had been sick for a while, and I spent as much time with him as I could this year.  And when I wasn't with Grandpa Mike, I was home with you and Oliver; singing songs and reading books, playing and cuddling, not blogging. 

Over the next few days and weeks, I hope to do some catching up.  I have notes in various notebooks about things that I intended to blog about, when I had time.  I hope that focusing for a while on all the wonderful things that happend this year with you and your brother will help to heal my broken heart.

Please know this, as hard as the last year has been for me, nothing made me happier than snuggling with you and your brother.  Even during the darkest days, your gap-toothed grin and chuckle would make my heart soar.  I will always equate your first year with my Dad's last.  I wish this wasn't the case. But every happy moment we have together is that much brighter because of the darkness.

I can't wait to see you grow and changed into the smart, strong and beautiful young woman you will become.  I am so proud to be your Mama.

Hugs and a million kisses.

Would it be too much to ask...

...for you to put down the camera and put me to bed.

Emelia was really tired the other day and kept falling asleep where she was playing... and I did what any responsible mother would do,

I grabbed my camera!

She kept falling asleep on her little keyboard, which started the music playing and she woke up.  It was so stinkin' cute!

Those are her tired eyes.



Head, sholders, knees and toes...

Oliver learned a new song.  It goes like this:

 

 

Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes

Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes

 

and eyes and ears and mouth and nose and elbow and penis and chin....

 

 

Ollie really likes to sing to Emelia, or as he refers to her "my baby siser"

 

Here are some other songs he sings here:

 

The Spider Man theme song

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

 

and

one he made up called "baby siser"

 



Summer time!

Its funny that I'm just getting to my summer re-cap post on the first day of autumn!  Actually, it is a bit sad, so much has happened!  But we've been busy playing, traveling (me, for work), working around the house and geting back into the back-to-school schedule (Andy).

 

 

Here are some of our favorite memories of this summer:

 

Playing with Henry and Gabrielle.

 

 

Playing in the pool, running through the sprinkler and eating popciciles!

 

Gabrielle sure loves the baby! (Maybe a bit too much sometimes!)

 

 

 

Oliver continues to adore his sister and cuddles her every chance he gets!

 

 

We took some time (a week!)

 to give our kitchen a face lift and do some other work around our house. 

 

 Here is our kitchen before (but after I removed some cabinets...oops!):

 

 

 

And after:

 

 

In the before pictures, all of the kitchen lights are on.  In the after picture, none of the lights are on!  Since the picture was taken we switched out the light fixture from the brassy colored on pictured to one with a brushed nickel finish and painted the walls a beachy blue.

 

So.Much.Better!

 

Like this:

 

 

Emelia is 7 months old now and has learned a lot of new tricks.

 

She is rolling over like a champ.

 

She's eating solids and, like her brother, has a BIG appetite.

 

Here is how her first bite went...

 

doesn't she look thrilled:

 

What the hell is that?!

 

me: it's yummy!

 

Emelia: if you say so...

 

Can I be done now?

 

Please?

 

But seriously, now that we are beyond cereal, the girl loves to eat!  I'm still making most of my own baby food and I'm still mixing flavors and adding spices.  So far, so good.

 

Oliver has been practicing his soccer skills, he's pretty good!

 

 

Here's Emelia, sitting up like a big girl.

 

 

and laughing at Grandpa Mike.

 

I love the way her little toes are sticking out in this picture.

 

Modeling the short sleeve hoodie Grandma Sherri made.

 

and Oliver's new socks.

 

The End.

 

For now.