Emma's First Birthday

We celebrated Emma's first birthday a few weeks ago with two parties, one with Dave's family and one here at home with a few close friends.

Emma's first experience with cake was less than monumental. In fact, cake was the last thing she wanted and made it very clear to all of us to get that thing away from her. The candle and cake looked cool at first and even smiled for the camera, but within seconds you could tell she wanted no part of the celebration.

We tried again after her nap, this time with a smaller less frightening cake, but still, the cake thing didn't fly. So, we gave up and opened presents.

A week later and the day before her actual birthday we had some friends over and tried the cake thing again. Mom got creative, maybe a cake shaped like an ice cream cone would clear her mind of the traumatic cake experience from the week before.

Wrong.
Maybe next year.

Emma wants to say thanks to everyone who celebrated her birthday with her and for all the nice presents. She got books, clothes, puzzles and lots of fun new toys. Also a big thanks to the grandparents and aunts and uncles who sent a donation for her new car seat, her old one was getting a bit too tight and big girls deserve big bright yellow new car seats!


Since the momentous day she's decided that crawling is a thing of the past, cupboard opening is the next best thing to playing with phones and remote controls, Cooper's food is yummier than hers and drinking from a bottle is for babies.

She's now walking about 90% of the time, with periodic falls of course, climbing in cabinets to fetch containers and hidden toys, nabbing Cooper giblets when we're not looking and drinking solely from a sippy cup. Wow what a difference a few weeks makes in the life of a child.


Cooper is doing great as far as his leg is concerned. He's still not doing stairs, but he's getting around much better. Bad news is he still has to wear his lampshade, poor guy has a hot spot above his eye that he won't stop scratching. If he would only get healthy we'd take the plunge and get pet insurance.... dang dog keeps getting sick!!!!

Other big news is that we finally broke down and got a new car. It's a Dodge Durango which we lovingly call Big Red.
It's so nice not to have to cram into the Nissan with a 70lb dog, car seat and luggage for the weekend.... this one even has a DVD player which Emma is already a fan of. She gets in her seat and immediately looks up to it. Long car rides here we come!!!!

Well, it's a snow day here, almost 7 inches outside and I've decided I'm taking the day off. Emma, daddy and I are going to play in the snow after lunch so check back for some "little girl in puffy snowsuit" pictures!

ta ta!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Hi all. Long time, huh? I'm feeling less and less committed to this blog and I am starting to simultaneously feel guilty about it. There's always so much to tell about but until I find a few extra uninterrupted hours in my day I'll resort to guilt and move on.

So... what's new...hmmm.... Did we have a Christmas not too long ago? It sure doesn't seem like it! :) As I recall it was good times all around. We went to Michigan for a week, which was a much needed break from the rigmarole of day to day life here in VA. Emma and I flew direct from DCA and Dave met us there the following day after a 13 hour drive. Normally it takes 9.5. You can ask him why he wanted to drive, I still am baffled by it. :)

The first night Emma and I joined Lynn's family and went out to dinner for grandpas K's brithday. Grandpa loves his free bithday dinner at Finley's and goes every year. I was mostly excited since it has been years since I've been able to attend. My neice Kaitlin and cousin Molly had a blast with the sting cheese while Emma nibbled on some shredded cheese of her own.



We spent Christmas Eve with my mom at my brother's house and all had our pictures taken by Nicole Cottom of Art & Soul Photography. Nicole is amazing and I'm really looking forward to seeing the photos. Here's a sneak peek:

We hung out at Mike and Jen's after pictures and my dad, Lynn, sister Jenni and brother Andy came over to exchange gifts with Mike's family.

Nicholas and Emma packed in some quality time playing with cars....

And we played a little wii (I was sore for days!)

Christmas morning was spent at my family's house. Emma opened some presents and made quite the mess - she loved tearing the paper into tiny pieces.

She even got to do some pull-up on mommy and daddy's new toy...


She spent quality time with uncle Andy while mom made Beignets, a family tradition for Christmas morning.



Later that afternoon Lynn's family came over for dinner and more presents.

Emma was great with all the commotion and looked adorable in her Christmas dress.

SHe even got her first sip of beer...

The day after Christmas we had dinner with dad's side of the family. Aunt T tried for some Emma time but Emma wasn't having much of it.

On Saturday we went to my aunt Doreen's house for Christmas with my mom's side of the family. We had a nice dinner, opened presents and let the kids run around as we caught up.

We made the trek home on the following Monday only to turn around again and head down to Fredericksburg for yet another family Christmas, this time with Dave's fanily. The whole family gathered, opened presents and played Blokus for hours on end.

We spent New Years Eve trying not to fall asleep as we waited for the clock to strike 12. The kids had a blast though.

Now for the not so fun part of this post. Not only did I fall down our stairs just before Thanksgiving with Emma in tow, but that fall caused a little tear in my hubby's rotator cuff when he carried me to the couch. (I'm really not that heavy, he had injured it a few years ago, the "carry" just did him in). We met with Dr. Branch, Dave's orthopedic surgeon, a few weeks ago and confirmed that Dave will have to have surgery. Our next home purchase is likely to be a runner for our overly-slippery stairs.

To make matters worse, we met with Dr. Brehm at SouthPaws and learned that Cooper needs surgery too. His fall down the stairs a few months ago caused a tear in his cruciate, or ACL. We're opting for a procedure called a TPLO where they essentially splice his bone and rebuild his knee so that the ACL is no longer needed. It's pretty intrusive, but after long thought and contemplation we've determined it's the best thing to do. Coop goes in for surgery tomorrow morning at 7am. I've been emotional about it all day. Our poor dog has been through so much this year and it saddens me to think what he's going to have to go through. We're expecting nearly 8 weeks of isolation and recovery. We're now trying to figure out how we're going to get him up the stiars, especailly since Dave's surgery will likely be in a matter of weeks from now. I'm trying to stay upbeat, but it seems like whenever we get ahead we're faced with trying times like these. Please pray for our family, that we make it through these next few very tough weeks with our heads up.

Well, I can't end on a sad note so let me leave you with this... amidst all that's going on here Emma decided it's time to start walking. She took three steps last night and before we know it will be running circles around us. I am so proud of my little girl - she's so independent and the sweetest little muffin you'll ever meet.

wow!

I cant believe it's been a month since I posted! Man, sorry!


Things are great here. Emma is now the proud owner of 4 teeth - two on the top and two on the bottom. Her grin is just about the cutest thing ever. And, those new teethies make it easy to chew things like steak, chicken, strawberries, and much much more! Her all time favorite is cheese!


Em is also standing on her own now. She's very proud of herself and likes to practice whenever possible. She's mastered army crawling, and boy is she speedy, but still working on the hands and knees part. I think it has a lot to do with our slippery hard wood floors.


Coop is doing better, well, sort of. Now he's limping and has one of three problems. He's either torn his ACL, has displasia or a tear in his ACL. Good times. We've been told to keep him still and not allow his to climb stairs. If you know Coop you know that it's like holding down a 500 lb gorilla with your pinky. IMPOSSIBLE!!!! We're resting him by not playing catch and running so hopefully that'll do the trick.


A few weeks ago we applied to be on TLC's Home Made Simple. We had three interviews including one here in our home, but found out yesterday that our stinkin' house is too small to hold a crew. Apparently it's more disfunctional that we thought. Oh well, after watching a few episodes we are okay with the decision :)
Speaking of tv shows... remember about two years ago Dave and I were filmed to be on HGTV's I Want That? The show was cancelled one episode before ours was to air. Well, a week ago I got a call from a client that said "I saw you on TV Saturday!". Darnit if Fine Living didn't pick up the show and air our episode!!!! Good news is, it's going to air again on Monday December 15th at 5:30 pm on Fine Living. Catch it if you can - and pray with me that we don't look and act like bafoons!!! Here's a link to the network info: here

Last week, as we were getting ready to leave for the long weekend I had a little mishap. I was carrying Emma in my right arm and luggage in my left and fell down the stairs. Fortunately Emma is okay, but my right hip isn't so hot. I have a bruise the size of Texas on my butt and boy does it hurt. I now know that socks, baby and stairs to NOT mix.


Over Thanksgiving Barbara, Katie, BethAnne, Emma and I went to the Festival of Trees in Frederickburg. It was Emma's first tree experience... she was awe struck! I cannot wait until she sees a real tree in person - and can't wait for wrapping paper!!!


ta ta for now! Love to all!

Halloween Fun

Emma's first Halloween was spent tagging along with the neighborhood kids up and down Bellefonte and staying up WAY TOO LATE at Miss Becky and Mr. John's house. Three hours past her bedtime she was still a peach though. Mom and dad didn't dress up this year, but Emma went as a penguin, a costume Aunt Su made. A little big, but adorable nonetheless. Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!

I like hay

We took Emma to the pumpkin patch today. It seems that hay is much more entertaining than mom and dad or any big round orange thing. What's a little protein in our diet, huh?

Oh, and check out the jeans, I'd wear them if they came in my size!