11 Months

Ahh! Can you believe we're only a month away from a first birthday!? This time last year I was starting the longest month I've ever experienced. This year, I'm sure it'll be the fastest month I've experienced.

This month I've been a little sentimental. Holding her a little longer after she falls asleep, taking a few more pictures and indulging her with a millionth 'walk' around the house. Her little personality is exploding. She's unbelievably endearing and cracks us up constantly. She loves to play and dance to music. Her favorite activity is of course still 'walking' and she's getting stronger and has better balance (but still not trying to take steps on her own). She's all over the place with crawling and pulling herself up on things. Sometimes I'll catch her looking like a little chubby baby but she's so quickly turning from baby to little girl, right before our eyes.

As far as milestones go, this was a slow month. She did get her fifth, sixth and seventh teeth though. All in one week with her sixth and seventh in one day! Her eighth tooth is close but taking it's time popping through. She still weighs 20.4 pounds and is 29.5 inches long. She is also still wearing 12 and 18 month clothes and hasn't changed snaps on her diapers in awhile. She still occasionally uses the signs for all done and milk, but after the new wore off of those she cut way back. We're still working on more, please (basically using please for: I want) and diaper. Emerson is also into routines lately. After we change her diaper she waits for me to say 'all done' and then she gets up/I pick her up and we look at the things around the changing table. She switches the order up some but we have to visit her newborn pictures and say 'ba-by', her stuffed bear, bunny and lion, and then her stuffed Peter Rabbit. Then I say, 'where is _____' and she looks at whichever one I said. She cracks up after finding each one, which always cracks me up too. It's fun to see her understanding more of what we say.

Emerson still loves to 'give tastes' of everything and (so far) enjoys sharing everything (on her terms). If she sees you looking at her she'll almost always hold out whatever she's holding to give you a taste, wait for you to make the tasting noise and then take it back. She's also getting a little spunky and snatches things or throws them as quickly as she can, with a little look on her face that sort of says 'I own you'. She still loves to pound things and pick up anything possible with her pointer finger and thumb. She doesn't eat much, unless it's something new, but is getting really good at taking bites of things.... and then spitting them out.... She manages to swallow some of it though, as evidenced in her diapers. Some of the things that she has eaten more than once (and seems to enjoy) are: beets, asparagus, salmon, sweet potato, blueberries and onion (cooked and raw!). Emerson also takes her fermented cod liver oil like a champ! She loves the stuff even though it smells and tastes super fishy. I give it to her via medicine syringe and she always happily sits there and sucks it down. The rest of my offerings get tasted once or twice and then mashed, smeared and tossed. She also is at that stage where she puts every little speck from the floor into her mouth. How does she see all those things!? For now she's good about spitting them out (via raspberries) if I ask to see whatever it was, which is kind of rude but effective at keeping her from eating random things. She's started to do it without me asking and basically rats herself out.

Here's a clip of her 'dancing' and giving 'tastes'. This is kind of a good glimpse at her personality right now. Also a clip of her eating beets.. because she's cute :)

She's a busy, happy and sweet little girl. Loves to 'work' or play by my side, loves to 'dance' to music and loves it when daddy comes home. I've said it before but I'll say it again. I miss the tiny but I love seeing who she's turning into. She blesses our hearts abundantly!

And now for picture overload. This monthly picture thing is getting hard! She was even less impressed with my attempts at a smile than last month. I'll be surprised if I get her to sit for a picture at all next month! As much as I love looking back through them and seeing her expressions etc, I'm starting to be okay with the end of monthly pictures just because it's a challenge to get her to sit still in the chair!

Her newest thing.... ugh.... picking her nose.

Bribes.

Telling me something important and looking so old doing it.

Her other favorite thing lately.

HA! I don't know what's up with this face!?

She was not impressed with any of my noises. No smiles for mom (until I pulled out the cell phone front camera and then she could see the cute baby.. she'll always smile for the cute baby).

We've SO enjoyed the spring weather and all the extra time outside.

She likes to walk in the grass... and eat it. 

Sometimes I need a reminder that she's actually still pretty small. 

One of the few things that will keep her occupied independently for awhile. She loves taking toys in and out of the basket and she loves that little red bucket. She keeps trying to climb into the basket,
which should be interesting if she does. 

Silly girl

We're still working on 'gentle'. Poor flowers. I was dead heading, she was just killing.

Running errands on a windy afternoon. Silly girl LOVES the wind!

Cell phone shot during the photoshoot. Soo not into it.
11 months going on 2.

She will finally keep sunglasses on if we're out in the bright sun
(but takes them off the second we get inside)

Chilling with grandma

We went down to Walla Walla to visit my aunt and uncle while
they were staying. We had such a super lovely evening. I loved this
chair with her outfit. |I wish I'd had my big camera to take some pictures. 

Looooooooves doing this. 

We're pretty big fans of the selfie.. I know, I know. 

Reading her new book with Grandpa

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day we had the pleasure of my parents coming to visit us (which I think they did last year too but I didn't blog about it?). I've discussed how amazing my mom is before. Another thing that my mom is amazing with is moving. She rocks at helping me set up our new digs, especially the kitchen. We're moving in a week (a week. AGK.) so my mom and dad came for the weekend to start the process, my dad is going home for part of the week to work and coming back later to finish helping us move. My mom is staying for the week to help because she's amazing.

I'll preface the following excitement with a little disclaimer that although I think that it's a good idea to take a day and appreciate our moms (like I said, mine is amazing and totally deserves the recognition more than once a year), I really think that Mother's Day (and Father's Day etc) are kind of just greeting card holidays. Commercialism! Not that I'm trying to get out of getting a card/gift or that I don't want to bless my mom but I just think it's one more way we're exploited by marketing etc. So in my attempt to keep it in check, Blake doesn't have to get me a card and/or gift. However, I'm not opposed to using the 'holiday' to make a fun memory or have a fun experience together. Case in point - I've been looking for an excuse to have a tea party so what better excuse than Mother's Day!

We booked a high tea at a local tea store for my parents and us. The store is classic. Every square inch is filled with Victorian decor or tea paraphernalia. Emerson slept through the first part but when she woke up she sweetly sat on my lap until the end when she switched to Papa's lap. She was great! We decided to have a couple of extra pots of tea (we're tea junkies and the tea store owners know we're loyal regulars which I guess it has it's perks) and that was longer than our little 10 month old wanted to sit around. So Papa took her walking while we finished our last few sips cups. Ahh. It was perfect! I loved every second of it!

Enjoying her baby-sized tea spoon

They have a bunch of fun hats for tea parties (if you want them).. grandma couldn't resist.
Emerson wanted nothing to do with it though!

Our tray of goodies - and they were good!

We had our two favorite teas - Ginger Peach and Creamy Earl Gray (by Market Spice Tea, no other 'cramy earl gray' has compared to theirs.. trust me we've tried several). We also tried a new tea, a Strawberry Cream White tea, and we revisited Creamy Earl Gray :). Emerson loves to share my herbal tea at home, but since this was caffeinated she only got a sip, then we switched her to water. She sure loves drinking out of tea cups though :).

Ladies in Lavender

Oookay.. that title has almost nothing to do with this post except this post is about a girl's trip to the beach (ladies) and one of the awesome movies at the beach cabin is Ladies in Lavender. Okay, it's not actually awesome, but it is star studded and British so I liked it. Anyway. All that instead of just titling this post "Girls' beach trip'.

So Blake's cousin was getting married and the wedding was in California, (where they live). I was all excited about having Emerson's first plane trip and almost bought our tickets really early because we knew the date early. Thankfully I didn't because after getting the invitation we still needed to know which days we should be there to coordinate with family and what hotel etc. Well, one afternoon Blake was talking to his step dad about getting our tickets and he says something about it being a no kid wedding, didn't we know? Umm. No. We didn't! Weird thing was we just saw his cousin when they were up for a visit a month before and we talked about the wedding etc and they didn't say a thing about it being a no kid wedding. So I check the invite.. doesn't say anything.. then I check the wedding website... doesn't say anything. Geesh people! Communication! It wasn't really a big deal, we had a no kid wedding because we could only rent a certain number of chairs (so not including lap babies), but they apparently had to pay a ton per head (which I guess included lap babies?), so we obviously understood on several levels.. we just needed to know! I was so glad we hadn't booked our tickets already. We debated having Emerson and I go, but just hang back for the wedding events, but that didn't seem like much fun or make much sense. But when Blake's parents said they would share their hotel room and suddenly we went from the cost of two plane tickets and two nights a hotel to just one plane ticket.. we're cheap and we were like.. SOLD! Sorry Emerson, you'll have to have a first plane flight some other time! I thought about leaving Emerson with my parents and going with Blake but between the money and the breastfeeding.. it seemed like a no-brainer. I only have a hand pump, so it would have done a number on my supply and I was nervous that she'd wean herself (my mom went on a business trip with my dad when I was 9 months and apparently I wanted nothing to do with nursing when she got back!!! gasp). Totally not a risk I was willing to take!

So long story short just plainly stated in full length.. We decided us girls would head to the beach. Girl's trip! It was a blast! We were blessed with fabulous weather on Friday for our drive to take Blake to the airport and then to the beach.

Saying goodbye at the airport.

I can't get enough of the GREEN!!

The forecast was pure rain so we stopped at the cabin to quickly off load and then went straight to the beach. We helped Emerson walk on the sand (only to find out later that her leather soft sole shoes were soaking up the water!) and she loved it (but when doesn't she love 'walking'). I couldn't believe she kept the sunglasses on!

Grandma ROCKS!

It rained like crazy that night and the next day off and on and even hailed for awhile, all of which sounded like pure magic while we were warm and dry in the cabin. My cousin (a.k.a. Auntie Macey) joined us on Saturday. We did a puzzle started and got 1/3 of the way through a puzzle, ate ice cream and chocolate and went antiquing.. all the lovely beach usuals (except the coffee shop because they were closed on Sunday when we tried to go). It was pure beach fun like only a rainy Washington beach can be.

Awesome toys: Measuring spoons and popcorn tin turned birdseed tin.

Someone is cooking in the kitchen with Dina.

Rockin with Grandma in her giant hat!

This look right here (as scary as it is) is TOTALLY me as a baby.
It's like this picture is from 30 years ago. 

We had great weather again for the drive home. After the traditional beach cabin picture of course.

You can't plan this kind of coordination.

So gorgeous!!!

*SIGH* This green beauty will have to hold me through for awhile. Loved it!

Easter

This was a fun holiday! Emerson was at a great age for enjoying a family gathering and opening gifts (which we all recognize is not the point of the holiday, I know, but she doesn't get much out of church yet). I'll warn you now.. this is an excuse to post a bunch of photos of my favorite faces!

There ended up being some tension because this holiday started to turn into Christmas with trying to go see every family group.. but fortunately for our my sanity and for the sake of time (we did have a 4 hour drive after dinner) we narrowed it down to just my parents and Blake's mom and step dad. Of course it would have been nice to see his dad and some of our grandparents too, but it is only one day after all and that day is supposed to be about celebrating the sacrifice and power in Christ's resurrection!

First thing in the morning, helping grandpa with his gift
(the box is obviously the gift if you can't tell..
I mean what else would anyone want?)

One of her favorites

It was fun to see her interested in everything. So much change since Christmas.

Oooh. I get to rip this paper!

This is fun!

And this yellow stuff is amazing too!!

Not sure which is better, ripping or the yellow stuff.

Here, you guys try it! (this is where she waits for us to make the 'tasting' noise and then she smiles)

Her own phone!

There was a lot of this...

Checking out her first Bible.

The mother load. 

A sweet book of prayers (and more fun grass, pink this time)

Cute Easter dress (and grass)

She pulled most of the grass out onto the floor, then when she stood at the coffee table it stuck to her feet :)

Her all time favorite pastime.. with some grass in her toes ;)

Ready for dinner! We forgot her cloth highchair so we tied her in with a blanket!

Entertaining herself with the Peter Rabbit spoon I used as a baby. 

Yes mom?

The traditional table shot

Grandma and Grandpa (or Papa maybe)

My family, just missing my little brother

Aunt Sandy and Uncle Rodney

Uncle Jared and Aunt Theresa (and cousin Elizabeth in the bump!!)

It was a delightful day with family and a delicious meal (the ham divine!). Even the cop who gave Blake a speeding ticket on the way home was very pleasant! (Ahehheh)

**I should clarify that both awesome baskets were compliments of awesome grandmas! No credit here!**

Mommahood Thoughts Part 2

I had anticipated getting one of these posts done at six months too.. and that really sums up my personal aspirations now that I'm mom. Great intentions but....

Oh sorry, I didn't finish that sentence. Ya, I don't finish a lot of things :).

Busy Doing What. I don't know what we do all day sometimes, but I know that most days I consider it a job well done if I've got dinner, dishes and some laundry done, in addition to snuggles, naps (usually just for her) ;) and some kind of learning (which hopefully means reading a book or two and often includes sitting by me while I make dinner).

Looking Forward, Looking Back, Loving Now. It's a constant balancing act with my emotions. I love, love, love everyday life, every new thing, every old thing, every everything is cute (okay, I'm sure there are some unsavory moments in there too). My point is I love the right now. I also look forward to the next things like talking, tea parties and dress up etc. I look at her sometimes and think about all her potential. When she's babbling in the car seat I think about how soon she'll be telling stories and making up songs back there. I also long to capture and enjoy the now moments because they pass so quickly. I probably waste some of the right now moments by trying too hard to make a memory for later. Sometimes I think, what did I do with her and my time 'back when she was little', but it doesn't take long to remember the naps together, the big girl baths and the everyday moments with her by my side. I wax nostalgic about how little she was and how soundly she slept and how cute such and such outfit was etc. I find I'm constantly moving between missing the littler, loving the moment and looking forward to the future. I try not to dwell on how big she's getting or how much I miss the early months or how fast time is going etc. I catch myself saying, I can't wait until she _____ and on the next breath I tell her I'll wait, take her time, you're growing so fast. I remind myself, the point is to grow her up into an adult and enjoy it along the way.

Tired. I wasn't as tired as I expected with a newborn, and then she was a great sleeper... until she wasn't so great. I don't think it was even the interrupted sleep that was effecting me. It's more that I don't get quality sleep most nights. I think I'm going to chalk this up to nutritional deficiency. There were/are so many days I don't eat enough and yet I'm producing enough milk to grow her from 7 lbs to 20 and counting. I think that my fatigue had to do with depletion. I feel like I could put out a public service announcement on the amazing benefits of absorbable magnesium. Since I've been getting more of that (through my skin) I've slept so much better and wake up more rested. All that to say, I finally feel like I can tackle one more thing, run an errand or two and maybe even make that coffee date I'd been talking about. Although I'm a homebody by nature and I don't mind spending six days in a row at home, I felt like I should be able to have it together enough to do play dates, make a friend dinner or not feel exhausted at the thought of grocery shopping. Between better sleep and longer naps, I'm finally feeling a little more productive.

SLEEP. Now I'm talking about her sleep. I could and probably will write an entire post about sleep but for now I'll say that I had no idea that sleep would be the hardest thing about parenting in the first year (so far). I was partly surprised because I expected to have frequent night wakings through the first full year but then she slept through the night for the first 4-5 months and then she stopped. Besides night sleep there's naps. Both sleep situations provide ample opportunity to over-think and wonder what should be done differently, what worked and how I'm screwing her up forever. Swaddle, sleep prop, noise, no noise, movement, no movement, stand on head etc. All the possibilities and variables that in the end... really seem to change nothing. Anyway. I was surprised at how much thought I've put into sleep so far.

Working for a Paycheck. It was just before she was six months that I took a call to fill in at a skilled nursing facility that I used to work at and since then I've worked off and on. At most I worked 4 days straight and at the least I've worked only two hours to help with overload. For awhile it was once or twice a week and lately it's been about every other week. It's been great and (guilt) I don't miss her as much as I thought. Sometimes that's because she comes with me and my trustworthy boss watches her at work (I think that's only been three times). The other times she's either been home with Blake or (most often) with our friends/neighbors. She loves our neighbors and their four daughters (and kind of their son) so it helps that I know she's having a blast. I love seeing her when I come home, but I was surprised that I could actually concentrate on work and not think just of her. However, the guilt that comes when I hear she didn't take a nap, didn't eat, etc. I feel so badly when her routine is screwed up which effects her in different ways. If I hadn't been selfish and worked then she'd wouldn't have had to pay the (albeit small) price. I was also surprised at how quickly that part of my brain turned back on and it was fun to remember that I used to be good at something else ;). I recognized that I'll only be able to get away with this for a few years before I'll have to check my knowledge and skills to make sure I'm still current on things (because you can't actually do continuing ed in every area). Oh, and the paycheck.. ya... man do I miss that! Not enough to give up my SAHM job, but it is nice!

Behind. Always Behind. I'm definitely one of those moms who embraces the idea that they're only little for a little while so the dishes can wait (although dishes usually do get done, sometimes thanks to Blake's help). That means dusting waits, toilets wait, the projects wait and (as you've noticed) the blog waits. If I work more than once in a week or if we're gone for a weekend (or longer) or if we're just really busy it takes me three times as long to catch back up (case in point: my suitcase from a week long visit to grandparents took me two weeks to unpack.). I used to stay up late and get caught up, but when I got more and more tired I had to start going to sleep with Emerson and Blake. Now, I'm just behind. Maybe with the trend of longer naps I'll eventually get caught up. Just in time to have another baby probably. Kidding. That's not on the horizon yet.

Clothes. It's no surprise that I get attached to her clothes. It isn't very rational but nonetheless I do. I'm kind of a nerd about them too. Certain outfits that I love I line dry, so they won't shrink and might fit longer. I'm super sensitive to scents so I only use homemade detergent etc. I am surprised that I get attached to her pajamas. I'm not one of those people that ever really had an obsession with footie pajamas. I actually like non-footie pajamas better on her because her feet sweat so much. I'm a little picky about all cotton pj's because of that. There are a few pjs that I always gravitate to and some that I shy away from but when I'm packaging her clothes I always longingly nuzzle the pajamas in addition to a few other favorites.

Diapers. I still love cloth diapers. It's interesting that before introducing solids her poop started to change texture and smell as her teeth emerged. It didn't even take solids before I started spraying out her diapers. She also started pooping less often, even before solids, so that makes diaper changing easier anyway. I also have favorite diapers and others that I just use just because I have to. I don't mind folding and stuffing diapers, but (see the note on being behind) I don't always get them done before we slowly use them and wash them. I.e., sometimes the laundry basket becomes the diaper basket but I love it when I make time to get them all stuffed and put away. I still wish I had more white diapers, but I've come to appreciate a few of the colored ones too.

Toys. I've said before that the best toys aren't toys at all. I've started using a two basket toy system (loosely) where I keep half of her toys in each and only use one basket for several weeks. Otherwise she gets used to all of them and wants none of them. I hardly ever pack toys for outings anymore because she just chucks them as soon as something (a non-toy usually) comes along. She's just as happy (or happier) with a chapstick tube, purse strap or my keys as she is with any of her toys. I'm really hoping she doesn't get a ton of toys for her birthday because she burns through them so fast, they add up quickly and really there's enough learning to be had from life that we don't need toys to teach her things. There are days that she doesn't play with a single toy. That said, we do have some favorites and I'm a fan of classic toys that can grow with her and I know that she'll be more interested in toys later as she plays with them differently.
Another frustrating aspect of toys is that so many of them are plastic, under the guise of being 'safer' but I hate that everything think of giving babies is always plastic. We have some great wood toys.. but they're usually painted with who knows what. While she's in the chew/suck/chuck stage I don't give her some of even the wood toys, but I know she'll enjoy them later when she can actually build a block tower instead of chew on a block etc.

A current favorite. She loves pulling herself up and walking around it.

Books. As much as I think toys are hit or miss... I think you can't have enough books. We've been reading together since before she could see that far (although I confess, I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be). We don't have specific routines other than we read her Bible before bedtime. I sometimes wonder what she really got out of books when she was so little, and even what she gets out of them now when she hardly sits still long enough to get through three pages. Yet, I persist. And I always will. Whether it seems like she's getting any more out of them than just me talking to her, I know they're important and truly it's just as much about my enjoyment of the process as it is her enrichment. She is finally getting more interested in books in general (as opposed to the few favorites she's had) and she definitely pays more attention to the connection between words I'm saying and where I'm pointing. She just started really getting a kick out of hearing animal noises and she really loves books that have cut outs for her to play with or turn pages from.

Instead of just pulling them out of the basket, she also looks at them for a bit now. Sorry for the phone picture.

Well there you have it. Some mammahood updates. Overall, I'm so overwhelmed by how much I love and cherish her. I'm so thankful for every day that we get to hang out together and I'm so blessed by her sweet smile and happy disposition. This truly is my favorite job yet.