One Year Check-Up & Happy 4th of July!

Emma had her one year check-up with Dr. C last Tuesday. She is a healthy 21 lbs 3 oz and is now 30" long. She is in the 60th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height. He was very impressed with how solid she was walking and her vocabulary of about six words. Her reflux has completely vanished since she started walking. Daddy was the one who had to take her to this appointment since Mommy had to work and he despises needles. Poor Emma had to get three shots and I think it hurt Daddy more than it hurt her!

She has also been battling allergies this past week. Her little eyes have been so red and watery and she is so sneezy...she actually loves to sneeze though. She thinks it is funny. We gave her the very first dose of Benedryl that she's ever had the other day. I had heard that it makes some kids hyperactive so I didn't really know what to expect. It was kind of funny to watch her about 30 minutes after I gave it to her. She was already fighting sleep and was kind of wound up and giggling. We were laying together on our bed and she would go to stand up and would fall backwards laughing...it was as if Emma was intoxicated! I was so close to grabbing our camcorder but I was thinking that is what a bad mommy would do...I should not be entertained by my poor medicated child. She finally gave in to sleep and slept for four hours (it was nap time) but the next dose before bedtime had the absolute opposite effect on her.



She was wired! She was chasing our dachshund Retto around the house. He really didn't know what he was in for! She was taking his toys and putting them in her shopping cart. She was catching him and hugging on him then he would get away and jump on the couch. She would chase him back and forth on the couch until he would give up and dive of the end of the couch. She thought that was hysterical so she would start chasing him on the floor to get him to jump back up on the couch. I seriously thought that she was never going to wind down. We laid down together on our bed again but it was pretty much a futile effort. She finally gave in to sleep around 11:00 PM.



I hope everyone enjoyed a great 4th of July holiday. We went up to Jon's grandparents' house and had a BBQ lunch with his grandparents and parents. Our neighborhood has about five families that try to outdo each other with fireworks. Emma & I sat out on our porch steps and watched them for a while. She was so cute throwing her hands up in the air like she could touch all the pretty lights. I should have grabbed my camera but I didn't think about it in time. She has also started teething again this weekend. I hope that third tooth cuts soon! I do not like seeing my happy girl so miserable.







Lastly, I just want to thank Chelsea again for the contest that we won from her blog. She is one of the boutique designers on eBay that Lovelyn has introduced me to. :o) She offered a drawing on her blog, if you purchased something from her in June and subscribed to her newsletter and our name was drawn. Emma won a cute girly skirt and embellished shirt! So if anyone if looking for some unique, adorable baby girl clothing...please look no further than the links on my blog. These girls are amazing!

What a year its been...

Emma came into the world at 1:11 PM on June 15th last year. My doctor felt that it was best that I have a c-section. He was afraid of her estimated size (8+ lbs) and my tilted pelvic bone that she would require help (suction, forceps, etc) to get out so we opted for the c-section. I was terrified of having a c-section but it was not anything at all like I had going on in my head. She was perfect, 7 lbs 13 oz, 20" long and I got to see her for about ten minutes before they took her away to the nursery. It wasn't until we were home and I saw the pictures Jon had taken in the delivery room that I noticed she was blue. I guess God has a way of making us only see the perfection.

Just look at how much our baby girl has changed in the past year.


She is only a few minutes old here.


This was taken a few nights ago during bath time, her favorite time of the day.

I admit the c-section recovery was hard for about three weeks...it was painful just getting in and out of bed every two hours to feed Emma. I have felt like a single mom several times and also felt as if I have two children on occassion and at other times have had the most amazing husband. The past year has definitely had its ups & downs and times when I really wanted to give up in one way or another but my darling Emma Grace has been beyond worth every single tear, laugh and smile.

Emma Cakes...you are perfect and I love you more than I could have ever imagined.

Our birthday party for Emma Cakes!

We had her birthday party here on June 16th. This was the first time that Emma had so many little kids in her house. I fed her lunch in the exersaucer and Tristan, Peyton, Noah and Tyler were playing in her room...she would not take her eyes off of them. As soon as I put her down, she toddled into her room and they all had came back into our living room...Emma sat on the floor and cried. It was almost like a"Hey its my party and my room...pleeeeeease play with meeeeeeee" kind of cry. The tears didn't last long though as we moved on to opening her gifts.







Tyler and Noah had fun helping her open her presents...it was hard to get the Sesame Street toy away from her to open the other presents. She kept her left hand on it almost the whole time as if she thought it would get away! She got a pair of Merrell shoes, a shopping cart with food, a baby doll bed, books, bracelets, a potty, several outfits and even a bikini!

My Mom and I had made her cakes that morning. We made Emma's smash cake a little bit "messy" so she could have some fun with it. This was her third time having a birthday cake so she was all about smashing it...even using both hands!









It was a great day spent with our family and close friends celebrating Emma's big day. I absolutely love how loved my baby girl is. I am off to start on Emma Cakes' thank you notes and try to figure out my sewing machine.

Father's Day at the Zoo

My parents were down here visiting us until Tuesday and it was so awesome to have them here with us. We took Emma to the Zoo in Nashville on Sunday and it just happened to be the hottest day of the year so far! It was fun and exhausting at the same time. We saw the elephants, giraffes, meerkats, monkeys, lorakeet birds and even a goat. I hadn't been to a Zoo since I was probably in like 4th grade and we went to the Indianapolis Zoo where I managed to get slimed by a giraffe! Luckily, the giraffes here kept their distance.

Emma thought the meerkats playing with each other were hilarious. There were about five of them in the corner near us that kept knocking each other around. My questions is...how do they not escape as they dig all those holes?!





Emma was a little uncertain going into the lorakeet cage to feed the birds. She kept her finger in her mouth like she was afraid the bird would try to get it! One landed on a little girl's arm while we were there...





I love this picture even though its not the best one we took...it shows Emma's excitement once she saw the big elephant.



I was hoping that they would have a hippo but the Zoo is only ten years old so they are still growing. Emma did get to ride a hippo on the carosel with Gramma though.





Can you tell we were getting HOT?! Jon actually turned our day's admission in on an individual membership (and guest) for a year. So we will definitely be going a few more times...just not when its so hot. I think it'll be awesome to go this fall. I don't have a whole lot of pictures because our camera died about halfway so I'll post some more when my Mom sends them to me.

We also had dinner at Red Robin after her portraits on Friday and the waiters all sang to her and brought her a sundae with a balloon. My Mom also has those pictures on her camera. :( I was such an ill-prepared Mommy! She was being extra cute and making cheesy faces at everyone in her Princess Picasso outfit. My daughter is such a little ham!

Lastly, her Max Daniel blankets finally arrived today (interesting issues with the store we ordered them from online back on 6/2 but she sent an extra one for the confusion!) and it caught her eye the second I pulled it from the box. She has been toddling around all evening with it...Daddy made the mistake of trying to take it away from her and she cried! I swear my daughter is really Linus from Peanuts. She loves her blanket but now she has one the right size to toddle around with and not trip up. I am kind of jealous of her new blanket...they are sooooo soft!

Look who's ONE!

I cannot believe my baby girl is one. We have been celebrating Emma's birthday all week! She has now had three birthday parties. One at Gramma & Grampa's in Indiana last Saturday, one at daycare on Thursday and her party at our house yesterday afternoon. So she was really into the smash cake yesterday and was quite the little ham with it. :) I'll post pictures a little later when I have time to upload them.

We took Emma over to Portrait Innovations for her one year portraits on Friday evening. She wore her birthday outfit by ModKid Boutique and another outfit I won off of eBay from Princess Picasso. All the ladies in the photo studio had an absolute fit over her. We had wrapped up a box for her to stand in and took along a few of her presents as props. I may be biased...I think she could be a Baby Gap model. What do you think?











Emma started out being very serious but then the smiles came out when Daddy broke out the Backyardigans' "Mission to Mars" ringer on his phone. That song gets a big ole smile every time. I admit that I am in love with the bright colors of these boutique outfits on my baby girl. They made for great pictures! Well, my parents are in town until Tuesday so I'll post again later this week after we enjoy their visit!