Month 12

Dear Emily,

You are 1 year old! This past year has been the best, but also the hardest year of my life. You have brought so much joy to my life, and because of you, I finally know what real, unconditional love feels like. I am so proud of you for all that you have accomplished in these 12 short months. I am also proud of myself for keeping you (and myself) alive, proving that I can do this. We have both grown so much and not a day goes by that you don't amaze me with something new that you have learned. Slow down, baby girl, slow down.

In February, you learned how to get down from the couch all by yourself. Now only if you could learn to get up there all by yourself, we would all be much happier. You LOVE being on the couch, but that's probably because you love to get my cup which is usually on the table beside the couch. You think it is so neat to drink out of mommy's "big" cup, and it's a good thing there is always water in it because it always gets spilled.

You can now say say ball, all done/all gone (you say the same thing for both and you use your hands), cow, and either no-no or Nana - I can't tell which it is. If you want to go somewhere you will get your jacket from your room and bring it to me or daddy. You are aware of when you wet your diaper too - you will look down at it and try to pull it off. When I am changing your diaper you sometimes get away from me and you have peed on the floor a few times. You know when you are peeing because you will squat and look down at it and then run away as soon as you are done. I have had to shampoo the carpet a lot lately, but I am glad that you know what is going on down there. Hopefully it will help when you start learning to use the potty!

Right now, your eating habits are not the best. You hate to sit still for anything and you just will not sit in your highchair to eat a meal. You eat a little bit and then you want to get down. Usually you just eat a little bit of everything all day long, plus you still nurse 4 or 5 times every day. You love to do it still and it is the first thing that you want to do when you wake up in the morning. I am proud of us that we breastfed for a whole year, and although I am not looking forward to you weaning (whenever you are ready), I can't wait to not be tied down by it anymore.

And plus, there are the 6 teeth that you have now. You got your sixth tooth on February fourth (I think!) and even though you rarely ever bite me, when you do, you bite hard. You look so funny with teeth in your mouth. They almost look like they don't belong in there because teeth are for big girls, and when I look at you I don't always see you as a big girl. You're still just a little baby to me! When you first got your teeth, you didn't mind me brushing them, but now you won't let me anywhere near them. You are extremely independent and you want to brush them yourself, so I let you hold the toothbrush in your mouth and I hold your hand and brush as quickly as I can. You can really be difficult sometimes!

But sometimes you are the easiest baby in the world. You can play by yourself while I do things around the house and you are fine with that. You still go to sleep on your own at night and at nap time (even though last week you would NOT go to sleep without being rocked. I don't know what was up with that, but I kind of miss it now) and you sleep for about 10 straight hours at night. Some days you take two hour-long naps, and some days you take one long, two - three hour nap. And some days, we take naps together.

One of your favorite things to do now is go riding - on the golf cart, in daddy's truck when we go look at the cows, and in your wagon and car that you got for your birthday. We keep your car inside and you will just go sit in it and look at me and daddy, asking us with your eyes if we will push you around the house. We do this a lot. You also love to listen to music on You tube. Daddy started this around Christmastime when you wanted to hear Jingle Bells over and over and over. Your favorite songs are Five Little Monkeys, Rain Rain Go Away and If You're Happy And You Know It. When those songs are on you clap your hands and swing your arms and bounce up and down - you just get so excited!

What else happened in February? You got sick (and so did Daddy & I) with a stomach virus. You didn't let it slow you down, though! Then....

We went to Grandmama's house......

 

....and you found a paci to suck on, even though you haven't had one in months!

 

You played tug-of-war with Daddy. 

I finally started learning how to properly use my camera and I took tons of pictures of you. 

You celebrated your first Valentine's Day. 

We went to the park. 

You finally let me get a picture of your teeth. 

You drove the golf cart. 

You wore the dress that I made you. 

You got into everything.  

Then you got into everything at Nana's house.

You stuck out your tongue.....

...and made me smile.

You had your very first birthday party. 

You were beautiful.....

 

.....and mischievous.....

.....and unsure.

 

You smelled the flowers.

 

And you were loved. Oh, how much you were loved.

My baby girl, you will always, always be my baby girl. I hope that we have many more years together, you and I. I love you more than you can ever know. 

Love, Mommy

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