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. 

11-month baby Emma

Bry and I have been able to get Emma to take a step here and there on her own. She's much more comfortable walking when holding onto at least one of our fingers or grabbing onto our pant leg which is a new trick. She is getting steadier every day and we expect she'll be walking on her own at least a little before her first birthday. I expect she'll be happier when she can walk on her own since she gets frustrated if I won't take her walking around when she wants to and gets frustrated when I stop after I have walked her around because she never wants to stop even when her legs are giving out.
(Excuse the poor lighting in these photos.)

Emma has become more picky about which foods she likes to eat but she generally seems to like any non-pureed foods to which we introduce her. Some of her favorite foods include creamy peanut butter (her pediatrician gave the okay for PB at her last appointment and Emma hasn't had any issues with it) on wheat bread (or other breads), melted cheese on wheat bread, salmon, and egg. She still likes pureed sweet potatoes, carrots and squash, and most fruits except banana (which we recently discovered she does like fresh). When Bry and I eat with her around she often stares at the food and at us with this face that says "I have a mouth. I know how to eat stuff. Share. With. Me. NOW" and will get upset if we don't share. Oftentimes, since Bry isn't home by the time Emma is having her dinner and Emma gets upset if we eat without sharing everything, Bry and I end up eating after we put Emma down for the night which means a lot of late dinners.

She is still sleeping great for the most part and does okay when her schedule gets a little off due to things that come up. At night she usually sleeps about 11 hours and during the day takes 2 naps that total about 3 hours. She's very active when she's awake and has gotten into the wonderful habit (that babies commonly do) of picking up tiny random things off the ground and trying to eat them making me feel like I need to vacuum every 3 hours (which I don't).

Emma is generally good at "telling"/showing us what she wants and is often determined in where she wants to go and what she wants to do. She enjoys getting out of the house (as does her mom) especially if it involves going somewhere with people who will adore her and talk to her. She is usually not happy if they try to pick her up, though, but she may be willing to steal their fingers to help her with walking.

We are very excited to share our first Christmas with her. It's a little odd for Bry and I to realize that I was super pregnant last Christmas and now that sweet baby we were anticipating is here with us and has grown so much.

Also, she still loves books. =)

They taste good...

Family photos

This past Saturday we decided to take some family photos. The lighting didn't work out very well for about half of them and Emma isn't really smiling in any of them but here are some of them anyway.

 

You can see me holding the clicker in some of these. haha.