Lots of little things.

We've had a nice, relaxing week and weekend, and don't have much to update this week. It's Brad's last week with his students, so we're looking forward to having him home with us very soon. We're also looking forward to spending next weekend in Carrollton for my best friend, Amber's, sister's baby shower. Although the shower will be fun, we're mostly looking forward to spending time with our best friends. It's so nice to be back in Carrollton. Amber and I were co-workers many moons ago, and Jason and Brad quickly became best buds. Amber and I have a blast together and when you throw Emma and their son, Seth, into the mix, we just love being together!

Brad spent most of the day Saturday doing a few outdoor projects. He drained, cleaned out, and refilled our pond. He also hung the swing that my parents got Emma for Easter. She LOVES to swing!!

The finished product.

One happy girl!

Here's a project I've been working on. I broke down and bought a Topsy Turvy hanging tomato planter. I think it looks pretty happy so far. Hoping for tons of tomatoes!

So I thought I'd just use this post to tell you a little bit about what Emma's up to lately. It's mostly for myself and for Emma to be able to look back and remember. She changes SO much SO fast that it just blows my mind. It's hard to think that just a couple of months ago she was not crawling, not pulling up. She's growing up too fast for me!

Emma's sleeping through the night. She goes to sleep between 8:30 and 9:00 and wakes up at 6:15 AM to eat and then is back down until around 8:00-8:30. It's SO nice!

She naps 2-3 times a day. She goes down for her first nap 1 hour and 15 minutes after she wakes up in the morning, and then her second nap starts 2 hours after she wakes up from her first. If, for some reason, she wakes up early or takes short naps (they vary in length from 45 minutes to 2.5 hours!) she will take a 3rd nap, which is usually only around 30 minutes but is ESSENTIAL to making it through the evening.

She is pulling up on EVERYTHING! She is also starting to cruise. She has even started to stand on her own for a few seconds!!

I STILL cannot eat chocolate. She's always had a sensitivity of some sort to my breastmilk whenever I eat chocolate. She stays up half the night screaming. Not sure exactly why, but we've tried it again every few months and she STILL has issues.

She says "more" consistently when she's eating and her tray is empty.

She loves finger foods, but is back to letting us spoon-feed her some healthy foods. She doesn't like meat very much, but will taste just about anything.

Her favorite finger foods are American cheese, cheerios, yogurt melts, and GOLDFISH!

Her favorite "spoon foods" are YOGURT, sweet potato, pears, avocado, and anything off of our plates (banana pudding, Italian ice from Rita's, anything she's not 'supposed' to have).

She still refuses juice of any kind, but is a sweet tea girl!

She wears 12 month clothes, though anything (like onesies) that have to snap at the crotch or include shorts, have to be 18 months (cloth diapers cause big booties!).

She's STILL swaddled to sleep. We've recently tried to unswaddle that notorious one arm again and it was a HUGE fail. Still waiting for her to let us know she doesn't need it anymore. I promise, she won't be swaddled in preschool!

She LOVES Lucy and our cats. If she's eating and one walks into the room she must immediately stop eating to stare and smile at them until they leave.

She makes the funniest throat clearing sound before she gets in trouble. She does it mainly when she's really close to grabbing one of the animals, but also when she's about to get into something she's not supposed to. SO funny!

She thinks it's hysterical when Lucy sneezes or hacks. She BELLYLAUGHS!

She hates having her diaper changed/holding still on the changing table, and screams through most changes. You'd think that she'd get the picture that it's not optional, but she just doesn't care. She's a little hard-headed. Ok, a lot.

She LOVES her Daddy. She busts into a huge grin when he gets home from work.

She's a big snuggle bug. She likes to give hugs when she wakes up from naps and has recently started to bury her head in my shoulder just to be sweet. I eat up every second of it.

She is still nursing really well, though for shorter amounts of time. A lot of people have asked when I plan to wean her. It's not likely to be any time soon. I'm going to wait until we're both ready. My initial plan was to nurse for one year. We'll see.

She loves water! We've recently set up her baby pool and she loves to splash around. She also still loves her bath and fusses when she has to get out.

She still is my little toothless wonder. She has days where she drools and we think "she's GOT to be teething!" but no teeth yet!

She's got her Daddy's gorgeous green eyes. They go back and forth between looking green and hazel.

She looks a LOT like her Daddy when you compare her to his baby pictures. She also looks a LOT like ME when you compare her to MY baby pictures. It's uncanny that she doesn't favor one of us more than the other, but just about everyone agrees that she's a perfect mix of the 2.

She has a surprise. Can you see it??


The strange look on her face is because she can't stand the feeling of grass. She takes after her mama. Do you see her surprise? Look closer.


She held very still and let mama paint her toenails! Is that not just the cutest thing you've ever seen?? I think it is. And that's what matters!