Catch Up!

Oh my. We are far behind on this blogging thing. How does life get so busy so quickly? I guess I better start filling in the gap of the past two months! Not even a week after our last blog post, Emery started crawling. A ridiculous crawl. Here is a video of her first crawling experience. Luckily Drew and I were both home to see it and catch it on video.



Then a week after she started crawling, she got her first tooth. Then...a week later she started walking. Forget this crawling business. Walking is for big girls! How is it possible for my baby to have grown up in two weeks!

Now she is ALWAYS on the move. She doesn't want to do anything but walk. Which makes it easier in some respects..and much harder to find her in others! Now that she can walk, she has found new loves of things such as: opening all the cabinets. Thank you for child proof locks...if only I could remember they were there! She loves the toilet paper in the bathroom, dropping everything including Daddy's shoes and the baby monitor into the bathtub, playing with her night light, opening the trash can, licking the TV, playing peek a boo behind my chair, pulling the clock off my night stand, eating Gus' dog food...and I could go on for hours!

She is as rotten as they come (except maybe Carter Hignight -- her betrothed boyfriend :)) and quite the little drama queen. It's amazing to watch her personality develop. We've taught her "tricks" such as to make a mean face, act surprised, beat her chest like Tarzan and go ah-ah-ah-ah, blow kisses and most recently dance. Let's just pray she doesn't inherit moves from Drew or I!

I can't believe that in less than a month we will be celebrating her first birthday! What a year.

Drew officially has less than a year left of physical therapy school...for which we are VERY glad and excited. I have a feeling this year will fly by for him and before we know it, we'll be off on an entirely new adventure.

Nothing new is happening on my end of things in life. I'm so thankful its just about summertime and that all of the things I love most are about to begin: warm days and evenings, campfires, fresh garden produce, fireflies, beach vacations, tanning and a generally happier outlook on life. How can you not be happy when its the middle of spring/beginning of summer?

Here's a recap on Emery's latest happenings the past two months:
- At 9 1/2 months: You started crawling with a crazy hitch in your right leg. It didn't last long before you figured out how to move...although not very quickly....hence the reason
- At 10 months: that you figured out how to walk. You also had your first two bottom teeth come in and now you are into everything and eating everything! You now walk around your crib in circles during nap time when you don't want to go to bed.
- At 10 1/2 months: You've figured out what it means to be chased and love to run. Your run usually consists of walk, walk, face plant, crawl, laugh, crawl, stand up, walk, walk, face plant...but nonetheless. You are figuring it out and getting pretty quick! You are also obsessed with taking your Pooh Bear and soft fleece blankets everywhere you go...dragging the blanket between your legs and Pooh Bear tucked under your arm. You also are now thinking about sharing your binkie with others..although you steal it right back and pop it in your mouth. You are also amazing at sneezing, laughing and coughing, all while keeping that thing in your mouth!
- At 11 months: You constantly walk and jibber jabber to yourself. You will consistently shake your head no when we say no, no and the best thing to keep you out of something is to say: Leave It. Whoops...it's hard to break a habit after you've trained two dogs! :) You can wear your hair back in rubber bands now, eat like there is no tomorrow and love giving kisses if we ask for them. You love to read books all the time and can sit still long enough for only a few favorites. You love going to the park, swinging on swings and anything to do with water!

My first mother's day was so wonderful surrounded by my precious baby and family! I hope everyone else had a wonderful day as well!

Emery and the big, bad bronchitis!

Emery is sick again. I can't even count the number of colds this poor child has had in her short 9 months. Thankfully she is an uber-happy child, even when sick. Until her ears start hurting, it's hard to tell she's sick because she still sits and sings and plays and giggles. When those ears start hurting though, watch out. She throws her toys, cries and whines, actually snuggles! and pulls her hair out. Thank goodness for antibiotics. I know earaches hurt as an adult. I can't imagine having both ears hurting.

We went in for her nine-month appointment yesterday, which couldn't have come sooner since shes' been sick over a week with coughing. After an extremely long wait, they quickly told me she has bronchitis and a double ear infection. She now has to take a nasty thick antibiotic, and use an inhaler with a mask for the bronchitis. She was really chill and actually liked the mask at the doctor's office when they demonstrated how to do it on her. Getting her home and attempting it is an entirely different story though! She rips it off her face and shakes her head as fast as she can. This could be an interesting time. By the way, she's 19 lbs 6 ounces and 27.5 inches long. She's finally slimming down and dropped from the 90th percentile to a more normal 60-70 percentile. Have no fear though, her precious rolls and cankles are sticking around for the long haul.

Besides her sickness though, it has been a big few weeks for us!

We got a Ford Edge a few weeks ago and traded by blue hot rod Honda Civic. I thought I would be sadder getting rid of my college car, but it really wasn't hard at all upgrading to a sleek, sexier, I might add, mini-suv. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all of the space we have now. It is so much easier getting her into her car seat, when I don't have to squeeze behind the passenger side door and wedge myself between the car seat and the door to put her in, all the while banging her head on my roof! Not to mention the large trunk space for Gus to ride in. Now we can all ride in style, and boy is Gus loving it. The car came with rubber floor mats, which we've already decided is a Godsend. I can't think of a better invention for a vehicle with children and dogs at this point. Who knew getting a new vehicle could be so fun?

Emery has also been attempting more finger foods such as strawberries and American cheese. She loves the flavors, but cannot understand to pick the pieces up and put them in her mouth. Put a piece of carpet fuzz in front of her though, and man, she swallows it faster than you can say boo. Gus has been very helpful in cleaning up her mashed American cheese chunks that she throws on the floor.

She also has figured out how to walk all over the place holding your hand. Forget the rolling over and crawling business. I swear she's going to skip straight to walking. We now spend our days exploring the house and hanging out by the glass door watching and singing to Gus.

Drew has started his second clinical in Dover this week. He loves working with the patients, but not the 5 a.m. wake up time! His schooling is flying by. Only one year left until we're off to who knows where. I can't wait for the bigger, better things in life waiting for us.

Hopefully in the upcoming months I'll be writing about how fantastic my workouts are going and how amazing I'm looking. I made a deal with Drew that if we reach our goal weight (yes, we still have to lose the post-pregnancy laziness and sympathy weight) by Emery's birthday, that two things will happen: I will buy Drew his expensive shoes he wants and he will get me my stretch mark ridding cream and a bikini. I swore I'd never get to wear one again after the Emery explosion that occurred on my skin, but we'll see. If Mederma's new stretch mark scar treatment works and I actually lose the weight....we could all be seeing a more svelte me! Wish me luck!

Here's an update on Emery's timeline we've been keeping:
At 8 1/2 months: You've figured out how to wave to people, although haven't put two and two together what it means. You definitely know your name, Mama, Daddy, Gus, Poppy, Mimi, Nana and Grandpa. You instantly look for them when we talk about them. You're starting some finger foods and still have no luck with sippy cups.

At 9 months: You are now OBSESSED with waving. You wave at anything you see, anytime we say hello or bye bye, or when we point to things. You wave at Gus, the sweeper, the news anchors, cars and anyone watching you. You get up on all fours and rock back and forth singing and still immediately drop to your stomach and swim. You love walking around the house holding our hands, but have to drop everything to wave your arms up and down like a conductor when you hear someone singing a song. Your favorite songs right now are the Winnie the Pooh song, Soul Sister by Train and the Bellybutton Song by Veggie Tales...what a collection! You refuse to eat any meal without trying to spit it out by singing and making motor boat noises. Not cool child. And you're still the most precious thing I've ever laid eyes on.

We're enjoying a rainy, gray day by watching the Food Network and playing with toys. Hope all is well your way.

Out With the Old, In With the New

Surprise! We have a baby. I know it's been forever and then some since we have updated, so I decided that one of my resolutions this year will be to update the blog AT LEAST once a month, more if possible.

So much has happened that I don't know where to start, so I'll just skip over most of it. I saw on a friend's blog that they wrote what new things their child had been doing that week or month. I find it a wonderful way to track what Emery's been up to since I am so bad at staying on top of things.

Emery is now seven months old! Happy seven months to you baby. I have had the time of my life so far and couldn't imagine a single second without you. Being a momma to you is the greatest thing in the world.

Here's what's new in your life:
At 5 1/2 months: You began trying to sit up by yourself and twirl your ankles constantly. This is a trait that never ends. Whether you're eating, laying down to play, throwing a tantrum in your bed, your cankles are going non-stop.
At 6 months: You get upset when we take away a toy you love, you can sit up by yourself with minimal wobbling and you are recognizing your name when we talk to you. You love to squeal as high as you can go and crack yourself up with your noises.
At 6 1/2 months: You wave your arms at people if they wave back at you and are starting to have Momma separation anxiety. You also pick your arms up when you want picked up by someone. You are blowing bubbles and jibber jabbering to yourself when you play.
At 7 months: You definitely have Momma separation anxiety and want me around if you can see me. You are very independent and don't want to take naps very often, wearing me out! You like trying to sip out of our cups, but I don't want you to grow up too fast, so I haven't bought you a sippie cup yet.

I've posted a few pics of us in Mexico for our early Christmas above.

Drew started back to classes again today. Thankfully his schedule gets better each semester, so we see him more and he has time to hang out with us and play with Emery. He'll be done next April and I am counting down the days. I'm even contemplating making a paper chain to countdown...perhaps when we are only down to a year. :)

I've started working full-time again this week. It's been one day and it's been long. We'll see how long I can last working 40 hours and chasing a goofball around. Thankfully she isn't rolling across the floor or crawling yet. It saves me a little bit before everything gets baby-proofed.

Well, she's actually sleeping and hasn't woken up yet wanting to play. So I'm off to bed. Good night!