A Day At The Park

Although we have been having some unusually super cold weather for an unusually long time this winter, we did have a nice, warm weekend to enjoy. We all were so happy to be able to get out of the house for a while, especially Emily! 

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

 

  

  

  

For some reason, the park closest to our house does not have any baby swings, and the big park in town does not have any swings. Weird. And annoying. I would love to put Emily in one because she likes to swing more than she likes to slide, but I just don't know where any are around here. Locals, do you know where we can find some baby swings?

Our Snow Day

For some people, snow is nothing special. For some people, snow is a pain in the butt. But for us? Snow is AMAZING.

We never get snow here. Ok, so we do get snow sometimes, but usually only once every decade and it's only a few flurries. Until this time, it had only snowed here twice in my lifetime, and one of those two times I don't even remember because I was so young. The only reason I know it happened is because there are pictures of it. It's  kind of like Emily's first snow: she is too young to ever remember it, but there are plenty of pictures for her to look at someday.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

Denny & I had a blast. It was the first time either of us had ever built a snowman, had a snowball fight, and ridden on a sled. Well, a redneck sled. We don't have much need for a real sled where we live, so Denny improvised by putting a spare golf cart roof behind our golf cart, and we took turns pulling each other. It was one of the most fun things I have ever done in my entire life! Emily wasn't too sure about the snow. She didn't like walking on it because it was so slippery, and she absolutely hated being bundled up in her thick coat. But sledding? She loved sledding. We just might have to take a vacation to somewhere cold and snowy when she (and her brothers and sisters) are a bit older!

Back

I feel like such a bad person, when the truth is I'm just a bad blogger. And I don't like that about myself. I like blogging, and I wish I did it more. 

I feel like I have failed at it, and by failing at blogging, I have failed at saving the memories of Emily's first year. I am horrible at writing things in her baby book, and I had intended for this blog to be the place where all of her firsts would be remembered forever. But sadly, there are a lot of things that have gotten left out.

On Twitter yesterday, someone said (and I'm sorry that I don't remember who it was; I wish I did so I could give them credit) that blogging is like exercise; the longer you go without doing it, the harder it is to start back. And it is so, so true for me. It's been so long that I don't even know how or where to start. But I'm gonna try.

Month 11

My Emily,

Once again I have put off writing your monthly letter for so long that I can barely remember what happened in your eleventh month. Honestly, we didn't do anything that was very exciting or memorable since it was so, so cold that we stayed cooped up indoors for most of the time. You hate to be inside, and you love to be outside, so January (and the half of February that has already passed) has been a bit miserable for us all. 

You spent the first few days of the month practicing the walking that you started doing on New Years Day, and you have not slowed down ever since then. You absolutely hate to be still and I have to hold you down in a death grip to change your diaper. And feeding you isn't easy either since you have to sit down in your chair to eat, which most of the time ends in you screaming and me chasing you around the house with a spoon. Most of what you eat right now is goldfish crackers - even though I really don't like feeding those to you, if they are all you will eat then they are better than nothing. Eating isn't really one of your favorite things to do these days and I don't know how you manage to survive on what seems like only tablespoons of food per day, but somehow you do.

 

 

I'm thinking that maybe all of these new teeth that you are getting are throwing you off and you're not quite sure how to use them yet. At the end of the month you had five teeth - you got your fourth one of the 21st, and your fifth tooth on the 30th. You are a champ at cutting teeth and unlike the first two teeth that kept you (and Daddy and I) awake all night for several nights in a row, these newest teeth haven't interrupted your sleep at all. Hooray! You are sleeping for about 10 straight hours at night now, and you take two naps on most day. You are sleeping better than you ever have before, and so am I baby, so am I. (Thank you God.)

In January I started taking at least 1 picture every day (which ended up being at least 20 every day) and so there are TONS of pictures of you from this month. Pictures of you playing, pictures of you plundering, pictures of you just being silly. And I am so glad that I have these pictures so that I can remember you and these times with you. You are growing up so fast and I feel like I don't have a baby at all anymore. You walk and talk and you understand things that I tell you. You climb and you run and you help me around the house. 

 

  

  

 

 You are infatuated with your daddy and it is so sweet to watch the two of you together. Every morning before he leaves for work you follow him around and cling to his leg and you cry when he finally leaves. Your face lights up like the sun when he comes home in the afternoon and no matter how cold it is outside, he bundles you up and takes you out for a few minutes. This is probably your most favorite time of the day. Not only do you love daddy and being outside, but outside is where the dogs are. And you LOVE THE DOGS. You pet them and they lick you and you just squeal! You spend a lot of time each day looking out the window at them, and every time you hear them bark you will say "doh!" (dog) and get so tickled at hearing them. I have been trying to get daddy to let us have a smaller, less hyper inside dog, but no suck luck yet baby girl. 

 

  

  

  

  

 

I can't believe how quickly time is passing us by. I love you my Emily, my baby girl. 


                                                                                                       Love, Mommy