still standing!

Emily is still pretty sick and still has a fever- we've taken her to the dr. and they said everything looks good so it's probably just a cold virus-yuck! Now we all have it but hopefully we will be done being sick after we get thru this! We had to get out of the house today and get some fresh air so we took Emily up to the park and had a picnic. She was practicing her standing. I think she'd stand all day if she could! She loves it!

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their families and loved ones. We had an amazing Christmas and it wouldn't have been as amazing without our sweet Emily.

As the clock turned to midnight I was rocking Emily- she was sleeping but had woken up about 30 minutes before with a stuffy, runny nose. So, I got to spend the first few moments of Christmas with her and I was so grateful. To be Emily's mommy is the greatest thing in the world. I was rocking her again around 5am trying to help her breathe better because her lying flat wasn't very comfortable for her. She slept about another 30 minutes and we woke up for the day! As sick as she got overnight I would think she wouldn't be up for much on Christmas Day- boy were we wrong! She put on a smile and went on like nothing was bothering her. Except of course those times of the day when she would just get tired she'd look for me or her daddy and want to snuggle and sleep- which was totally fine with us (we love that part!). With a runny nose and a fever all day she still had the best First Christmas ever! She's probably getting a doctor trip tomorrow if she still has a fever but this is really only the first time she's been sick in her 8 months of life so we are grateful for that!

Here are some pictures of our Christmas- we had such a nice time with the family over at the house. Emily loved opening gifts and really liked eating the bows and the paper! As you can see- she enjoyed all her toys too! I think her favorite that she keeps playing with is that little play table Santa brought her. She can stand up at it and she loves to stand so she didn't do a whole lot of sitting today and no time practicing crawling- just standing pretty much. She loved everything she got though, with one exception...I think Elmo Live got to her after a while. We put it up in the closet for another day.
Emily spent Christmas with mommy, daddy, DooDah, Nana V., Grandma Clo, Aunt Marjie and Uncle Cory-we had such a wonderful day! Happy Birthday Jesus and Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Emily had such a full day Christmas Eve. We left the house around noon and didn't get back home until about 7:30p. It was so much fun though! First we went to Uncle Cory and Aunt Marjie's house for a soup and salad lunch with their friends from out of town. Emily got to play with Sophie while we were there! They had a real good time playing together and they are both such sweeties!

After we left Uncle Cory and Aunt Marjie's we headed over to the Vila's home where Emily got to say hi to her other friends, Nicholas, Sydney, Mallory, and Kayleigh. And of course Tony and Brenda! We did a gift exchange with Nick and Sydney and the kids were all so excited to see each other! We had a nice visit and Em even took a short nap while we were there!They had the yard decked out with lights and inflatable decorations. Em especially loved the inflatable Santa that Brenda and Tony "brought to life" She had quite the laugh!

Afterwards, we went to walk around Lake Ella and then when it got close to 6:00 we went to Dorothy B Oven Park to look at all the lights they had up! It was so beautiful. Emily had already had a long day but she really liked this! I think we will go there every Christmas Eve to see the lights! Em even managed to stay awake on the ride home so she could take a bath (her favorite thing)then she went to bed and had visions of sugar plums dancing in her head I'm sure of it!

picnic at the park!

Saturday we went to another park and took Emily we also met up with Doodah there! Emily went down the slide and got to swing- she is getting to be such a big girl.. this slide picture makes me realize just how much she's growing! She's hardly a baby anymore!

Emi and the outside Christmas lights

Right before bedtime tonight we took Em outside to see the lights on the outside of the house. What an excited little lady! She loved them! She stared at the lights from her daddy's shoulders and when he stood her up to look at the light trees she wanted to pick up leaves and pine straw. (probably to eat them)

squishy snausage face Emily

this is something totally new in the last day or so... precious and priceless!
and for your viewing pleasure.....

how much more proof do you need?

see for yourself....our daughter is truly SUCH a HAM for the camera. What a little goober! We love it!!

6 little ladies playing at the park

Today we had a big play date! Since it was the holidays Gabby's mom was off work and brought her and Carrie was in town and brought Phoenix to play! Emily, Quinn, Kaleigh, Cara, Gabby, and Phoenix all got along really well and shared all their food and toys very nicely. The moms had a real nice time too! And as usual, here in Florida it's about 80 degrees here in December. Just a bit warm!

8 months old!!

Do you notice this blanket is getting a bit smaller? Wait- that is Emily GROWING!

Our beautiful little lady is 8 months old today! How the time flies! She isn't crawling yet and we're not sure she's too interested in wanting to. She loves to stand up and hold onto things. Emily is such a happy baby and is always making somebody smile- including her parents 24/7. We feel so lucky to be her mommy and daddy! This year has flown by and we are excited for the holidays with Emily. It's such a fun age right now- she's so bubbly and full of personality. Emily has loved trying a bunch of new foods such as turkey, cauliflower, pasta, mangoes, and corn. So far the only two things still on her list of things she doesn't like is bananas and avacados.

Today Emily weighs 17lbs, 2oz and is 27 1/2 inches. Happy 8 month birthday beautiful!

mmmm... great articles mommy!

Em got a hold of my Parent's magazine and had a ball with it. Good thing I already read it! What a fun "toy" to play with! She's getting in good practice with ripping paper for Christmas!

dedicating Emily to the Lord

Sunday we dedicated Emily at our church. She was dedicated along with 3 other children and it was a very special day. She was all dressed up! Emily had family and friends at her dedication and her friend Gabby even came! Also, Josh and Justine who she likes very much! Emily was especially happy her Doodah was able to be there. He had a scary heart attack last Monday and thankfully the doctor saved his life and also said that he could go to Em's dedication. With Nana, Grandma Clo, Uncle Cory, Aunt Marjie and also others in attendance it was a really special day to remember!
Thank you very much to Aunt Jessica and Mrs. Lori for taking the pictures!

the lawn mower parade!

we went to the lawn mower parade today in our little town and check out these cute little parade-goers! Emily, with Cade and Brady- we didn't get much of a reaction out of any of the 3 kiddos but it was fun!

go ahead.. try to touch my sippy cup....

...I'm fast- and if you try to take my sippy away you might have 2 teeth marks on your fingers!

Em is very protective of her sippy cup. Whenever we give it to her she drops everything for it and always keeps her eye on it if she puts it down...so you better watch out! Her favorite thing to drink is ice water.

rubber ducky- you're the one...

...actually Emi is the one who makes bath time fun- and pretty wet!

oooh pretty lights!

okay Will is going to kill me for posting this video because he's talking in it and being all silly and cutesy with his girl-but I think it's too cute not to share! Em loves to ride on our shoulders and look at the lights and see herself in the mirror- here are the lights above the fireplace.

taking a stand

Emily loves to stand these past few days. Forget crawling, she doesn't want to have anything to do with that she likes standing a lot. She will only pull herself up if she's pulling up on our hands though not any stable object - we have to help her with that. She's not so wobbly anymore! She's growing so fast!

nice to meet you, Mr. Claus!

Emily went to visit Santa today. She wasn't sure what to think of him but he was alright with her. She just was checking him out and very curious about him. She kept staring at his beard. Anyways, we didn't have to even tell Santa that she was a very good girl this year. He already knew!

Decorating for Christmas!

We took down all the fall decorations today and out came the big red and green boxes with all the Christmas stuff in it! Emily LOVED the lights. She wasn't too sure about the rapping Christmas frog that mommy got for Christmas last year- it made her cry but everything else was pretty exciting for her. Lots of squeals and laughs! Here's a few pics of Emi while we were decorating. We watch the Polar Express movie every year while decorating so she watched part of it this year too! She was a bit more excited about the tv remote.

bad hair day

okay Em's hair is growing FAST! Mommy and Daddy have never seen Emi's hair quite like this! She had on a Santa hat today while we decorated for Christmas and when the hat came off the hair went STRAIGHT UP! I hope she's not too mad I snapped this picture- I'm sure it's only the first of many bad hair days in her life!

Emily's First Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We have so much to be thankful for and are so very blessed to be spending the holiday this year with our beautiful daughter, Emily. She had a big day today but with two naps and lots of love she had a great first Thanksgiving! Emily tried turkey for the first time today. That was her very first meat and I'm so proud she liked it, I mean LOVED it! (mommy cooked it) She had some at lunch time and some more at dinner! She also had a bite of corn casserole and mashed potatoes today and ate an entire half of a huge roll! What a big girl! After we cleaned up I got a picture or two of her in the turkey roasting pan (after it was cleaned) I figure this will be the only year she fits in it! Enjoy the picture collage! We had a fantastic Thanksgiving! Lots of love to everyone!

playdate at the park!

We had yet another fun playdate today! This time at the park! We met up with Quinn, Kayleigh, and their moms, and also a new friend, Cara, and her mom! It was pretty chilly when we started out but it turned out to be a nice day! The swings were fun too! Everyone got a turn and loved it!Em enjoying her swing time!

Quinn and Kaleigh playing telephone

our new friend Cara swinging on a swing for the first time! she loved it!

Em is for Mangoes

Tonight we tried mangoes with Emily tonight. She LOVED them! We have been introducing finger foods to her- she loves her arrowroot cookies, her puffs she likes to pick up and sometimes put in her mouth, and if I cook a sweet potato or acorn squash and cut it up she will pick those up and put them in her mouth. She's getting really good at holding and picking up tiny things with her fingers. Tonight I tried that with mangoes to see if she would eat them fresh. I didn't cook them but they are pretty soft so I figured she'd do fine with small pieces. She did GREAT. Although they were kind of slippery so she wanted me to feed her the pieces with a spoon. I didn't take any pictures (SHOCKER) but I got this one today that I LOVE.

all dressed up for church!

I had to do a photo shoot this morning after I got Em dressed. I put tights on her for the first time and she just was so in love with her dress and tights- she thought they were real pretty! As you can see from the pictures she was super happy and she was hamming it up for the camera! That's my girl!

our Sleeping Beauty

it's a little chilly..

....but Emi LOVES to be outside!

not a good morning for momma

Well this morning Emily got her first bump on the head :( I didn't think anything of it she cried for 2 seconds and then I had her laughing. One of her favorite books smacked her in the head (with the help of momma) I was putting it on the shelf as she tried to grab it back down and it fell and hit her on the head. About five minutes later I saw it kinda bruising so I put some ice on it. (Way to go mom!) I know this won't be the only time she gets hurt but the first time is ALWAYS the worst. I feel HORRIBLE. I'm glad she feels okay though!

Emi's first fire

It got down to about 25 degrees last night here so we decided to build a fire- the first one of the season. Emily loves looking at candles so I knew she'd love the fire. Sure enough- she LOVED it!

she figured out on and off switches!

Yes she has- Emily has a toy in her crib that she can kick or press and it will make noise. Well mommy and daddy usually just have it turned to it talking and not loud music - the other morning we woke up quite early to hear it on continuous play and then I went in and found Emily turning the switch by herself after her nap! uh oh! what's next?!

Emi has new glasses!

Emily had an eye doctor appointment last Thursday and he suggested we get her glasses to wear. She is slightly far sighted. She may not have to wear them for too long but for now she is enjoying them and doing really well with them on. We first tried them on today after she woke up from her nap and we read her a book. She loves looking at all the words. It's like a few things are brand new to her. She was very happy to see better. So from here on out you will probably see Emily wearing her glasses! We think she looks great in them, very sophisticated!

playing at the park!

After Aunt Rhianna's birthday lunch today mommy and daddy took Emily to the park to swing and play. She had so much fun. Usually daddy just takes her there to play with Gabby and her daddy every other Monday but mommy has never seen her swing and play at the park. She loved it! She had so much fun playing!

Happy Birthday Aunt Rhianna!

Today was "Aunt" Rhianna's birthday so we had a lunch date. Rhianna is Gabby's mom who is one of Emily's good friends. We also went to lunch with Auntie Jessica and Gabby's daddy, Brent, and of course Emily's daddy. Happy 30th Aunt Rhianna!

7 months old!!

Emily is 7 months old today! She is growing so fast! She got her first two teeth this month and her hair has grown a lot more too! Emily went on her first airplane ride this month as well and did terriffic! She's a professional sitter-upper now and wants to be on the move very soon. She loves to laugh and smile all the time and she continues to be a wonderful sleeper (12 hours a night). We're excited to see what this months changes will be! Happy 7 months sweetie pie!Em weighs 16lbs, 3oz and is 26 1/2 inches long

Happy Birthday Grandma Clo!

We celebrated Grandma Clo's birthday today and had a lot of fun! Em signed her birthday card and we baked her a cake! We love you Grandma Clo! Happy Birthday!

what a nice day for a play date

Emi's two good friends came over today- Kaleigh and Quinn. They have been having play dates since the girls were teeny tiny. It was a nice day out today, kind of cool and overcast. A perfect Florida fall day and so we let the girls play outside. Emily and Kaleigh were loving eating the leaves and pine straw. I don't understand how she will eat that stuff but not like certain foods. Anyhow. Quinn and Kaleigh are almost walking and they are both crawling really well. Em likes to watch them whenever she doesn't have her mouth full of leaves. mmm..yum. Another fun play day!

these leaves and pine straw are just delicious-Quinn you should try it!

Emi's two teeth tooth brush

Emi doesn't quite get the concept of brushing teeth yet of course; even though we do brush her two teeth with a little finger brush (she loves it) Well I brush her hair too and I think she just loves the feeling of bristles on her gums and teeth. So I guess this is the beginning of good dental health. Right?! It certainly doesn't seem to be a bad thing.

mmm..mmmm...MMMM!

Emily was eating her yogurt this afternoon and like always she makes her mmm mm sounds after every bite. I think she learned it from listening to us. I just think it's hilarious though. She does this at every meal. It's her way of saying "mmmm that was good.. more please"

and here is a picture of her eating a baby cookie/biscuit- she loves them! You can see her bottom two teeth in these pictures below!