Emma loves visitors

This weekend we enjoyed the company of Allison and family. It was a great motivator for me to get the house cleaned up (which I could always use) but more importantly it was an opportunity to spend time with family. We're so grateful to have a home big enough to host them and grateful they were able to make the trip safely.

Emma loved getting to play with some of her cousins and I wish I had gotten pictures and video of them together because of how cute they were but I didn't keep my phone on me. Emma was particularly grateful for her sweet cousin Malia who helped her walk around the house. Emma could walk with assistance almost endlessly and mommy tires all too quickly, in her opinion.

Even though Bry, Emma and I were at various stages of being sick we were so happy to have time with family and look forward to the next opportunity to see family.

Growing teeth is a real pain

Emma seems to like growing in a lot of teeth at once which is fine with me. Currently her bottom first molars are both just starting to poke through. I'm beginning to notice her upper canines, lower canines and lower lateral incisors starting to come up too. It will be interesting to see how far they've come in in the month.

Birthday cake

This is belated but better late than never. We gave Emma birthday cake the Saturday after her birthday (the 9th) while my parents were here. The frosting freaked her out. Ha.

After we fed her some of it with a fork she was happy. 

My baby is one?

It's weird to think I was in the hospital a year ago and that Emma was TINY and so brand new. She has certainly changed a LOT and while it feels weird to say she's a year old it feels as though she's been with us for longer than that.

Since about Christmas she has started taking a couple steps between furniture here and there but is choosing to be safe and doesn't try walking on her own yet. She's fairly stable on her feet and I think she'll be a pretty good walker when she gets up the courage to try it. I'm not in any hurry for her to, though. I like her crawling and rolling on the floor.

Her favorite foods list includes many previously mentioned ones and some new ones: salmon, apples, macaroni and cheese, broccoli, tuna pasta, peanut butter on bread, and potatoes (any kind).

She both learned and unlearned how to say "happy" last month, she has said "aunty" several times, she has said "thank you" twice after I have handed her something she liked (it may have been more like "lank you" or something but I'm positive she said it, once one day and again the next - earlier this week), This month Emma has been practicing her monkey sounds (ee-ee, oo-oo, ah-ah) which is adorable. She has also retained "yeah" and "hi" although she doesn't use them very often.

I only managed to get pictures of her today while she was in her high chair for lunch so here they are! I should have more to post in the next few days. Emma's a funny baby.

Emma's First Christmas

For Emma's first Christmas we gladly had a couple visitors, Mark and Roxanne, come stay with us for a few days. Emma loved the extra admirers after she got warmed up. Christmas morning we talked, then had breakfast followed by unwrapping most gifts..We took a break while Emma napped so she wouldn't miss out on us opening things. Mostly we relaxed and enjoyed having company and Bry not having to work on Christmas day.  

Nearly all of these are gifts that were sent to us. We're lucky.
Also, having Emma this year meant a lot more things under our tree.

This was a decoration at our ward Christmas party that they let us take home after.  

Stockings strung up.

I think Emma's face about summed up how she felt (tired).

Emma thought some toys looked good enough to taste.

For dinner we decided to have salmon since it's on of Emma's favorite foods. 

She loved it.

Poor tired baby.

This was taken the day after Christmas, I think, but it could be taken any day.
Her big mouth is great.