15 months old

At Emma's appointment last week she weighed in at 24 lbs (75th percentile), measured at 31 inches tall (65th percentile) and measured inches around her head (97th percentile!!). She continues to be a big girl. She is a very happy walker, continues to eat well and is growing more teeth! Her bottom first molars have made good progress and her top first molars are coming in. Her second bottom lateral incisor doesn't seem to want to make it's appearance anytime soon so she's got just three bottom front teeth.

Her latest tricks involving oral comprehension include being able to point to "mommy's nose", being able to pat her belly when asked "where's your belly?" and grabbing her toes if they're mentioned. She can blow kisses enthusiastically when asked to and sometimes does it spontaneously. She understands where to go if we ask "do you want water?", "are you hungry?", "do you want to go upstairs?", and "do you want a cracker?" Sometimes she gets "are you ready to go?" and heads for the garage. Typically she will obey when I ask her to "look at mommy" or "come here". 

When Bry gets home from work she likes to be in on our conversations and sometimes tries to talk over us or get one or the other's attention to remind us that she's there too. She loves to have her motions mimicked to show we're paying attention. 

Emma's favorite words to say include: "da-DEE," "happy," "apple," "mom." She can say "bubbles" sometimes along with other words and a whole lot of gibberish. =)

Her brain is definitely making more and more connections between things and she's figuring out a lot. It is a lot of fun to see her learn and do new things. 

Crazy curls. 

Emma is our sweet angel. 

I love Aiden's imagination

Here is a short gem from his time here Easter weekend:

Mom (my mom): Are you a nut?
Aiden: No, I'm inside a nut.

Long gem, because kids have the best imaginations:
Background-- Aiden was talking about the house being full of water and how we were on "boats", aka couches and such. Later in the day the water apparently froze over.
Aiden, informatively: "The sharks are frozen. (pause) Be careful not to run into statues."

Adult (I can't remember which of us): "Why would we run into statues?"

Aiden: "Because you don't know where you're going."

Bry: "Why wouldn't you know where you were going?"
Aiden: "Because you get lost and you didn't bring a map."
Bry: "Well, wouldn't you see the statues?"
Aiden: "No because you have a map on front of your face so you don't see it."

(Yes, so now you do have a map.)

I don't remember how exactly after that but the story transformed into you holding up a map while walking backwards in your sleep... what? It just cracked me up. That boy.

Extended Easter weekend - 2-week-late post

My mom, sister, and sister's kids came for a visit over Easter weekend. They arrived late Thursday night and headed back Tuesday afternoon. It was a fast few days but I loved the time we got to spend together. Bry took time off of work the Monday and Tuesday they were here so he could join us on our adventures and have some time to relax; he hadn't taken paid time off since our trip to Hawaii last July so it was a much overdue break.

We spent most of the visit chatting and letting the cousins play together - Emma was much more interactive than the last time they saw her [in October]. Becca and her kids got to see our house for the first time and I was so happy we could have all of them (and my mom) stay with us.

Playing together the morning after they arrived.

Emma was not a big fan of Landon's kisses but it sure was sweet.

Emma shared Costco frozen yogurt with me.

On Easter day the boys (Aiden and Landon) helped show Emma how to hunt for Easter eggs (sort of - sometimes they said "here Emma! I found your Easter eggs" and put them in her basket for her) and she started to get it towards the end.

She was a binky baby for the Easter egg hunt because she was due for a nap and very tired. 

They all looked super cute in their matching Easter outfits from Ah-ma.

On Monday (day after Easter) we went to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium which I hadn't ever been to before and it was pretty great. It sort of felt like a smaller zoo while still having some impressive habitats and animals and a carousel. I loved that it was a zoo AND aquarium because we got to see a wider range of animal life which was really cool. I just love zoos. Sadly I forgot to bring my camera but here are a few pictures I took on my phone.

Emma thought these were pretty cool even if her face doesn't show it.

Three tigers. There was a fourth in a different habitat.

Saying "hi" to Ah-ma across the table while we stopped for a snack.
Wearing her super cute sweater from Sean and Renata.

I can hardly wait to see them all again. Just look at this cute face.

My baby is 14 months old!

Emma is a walking pro these days and loves it. 

She still likes most foods and has more recently discovered a liking for green beans, grapes and toasted oats (Cheerios). Mostly she likes fruit and ground beef and bread but she'll eat most things.

Emma now hates diaper changes. 

She still loves baths. 

I feel like this is my favorite age because of how fun and sweet she is most of the time. Her most used word/sound is probably"oohh!" (said in a high pitch) which I love every time. It's adorable. She does a lot of babbling that is also adorable. 

Lately she has started understanding how to put things together rather than just taking them apart; she can put a lid on tupperware or puzzle pieces on the board - though not in the right place. 

Behold the many faces of Emma (most of which you've seen before but now she's older):

Loves her Pooh bear.

Still has those serious brows.

I don't want my picture taken, mom!

Cool! A lens cap. I have never seen anything like it before!

I love when she makes this face.

Cute outfit credit goes to Becca. :)
I don't remember what this face was about.

Cheeser.
You can see the bottom first molars if you look closely.

Close up.

Who knew peeling paper off a box was so interesting?

Still loves books!

Love the curls. :) Her hair is getting so long!

Still a binky baby (when getting ready for bed).

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.