22 Months Old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tap, tap, is this thing on????.....

Presenting...

On March 22, my once-itty-bitty turned 22 months old!!  In less than 2 short months, she'll be TWO YEARS OLD!!!  I can't even believe my own ears when I say that!

All About Emily:

• Weighing in at approx. 30 pounds, and standing somewhere between 33.5-34 inches (she's too wiggly to measure!), Emily is growing wonderfully!!
• Wearing Size 6 diapers, Size 6 shoes, and mostly Size 18-24 months clothing, though she has a few outfits that are 2T and a pair of pajamas that are 3T!!!  Her hair is getting so long, and is a beautiful golden blonde with curls at the end!

• Emily loves: stealing the hand towel from the rod and smirking while I'm washing my hands, standing on her stool, cleaning the countertops with her sponge, helping with vacuuming/sweeping, reading in her "houf" (castle), her Nursery Rhymes book during mealtimes, dancing around to music, singing "The Wheels on the Bus", going to the park, and coloring with "pens" (markers/crayons/anything that writes)!!!  She also recently got a table & chairs set which she enjoys sitting at like a big girl.  :)

  

    

• She's slowly but surely starting to eat more foods, which makes this mama very happy!
• Emily is starting to use 2-word phrases, she's getting pretty good at brushing her teeth, and is suddenly obsessed with Mommy's ponytail and brushing my hair.  She also occasionally tries to blow her nose, but hasn't quite gotten the hang of that yet.

• New this month, Emily says "houf" (house) and "mouf" (mouse/mouth), "fash" (fast) and "so" (slow), and knows most of her body parts.
• Alas, her feet are no longer biscuit-shaped.  But they're still adorable.  And she loves standing on top of our feet, for some reason:

• Emily has started imitating us more and more, and has definitely entered the world of pretend play.  She wraps up her Elmo doll in a blanket and rocks him to sleep, and also decided to utilize Mommy's accessories one day, which had us giggling:

• Emily & Daddy have been taking swim lessons, and she has gotten so skilled and brave in the water!!!  She can hold her breath when dunked under, kick her legs and arms, and she LOVES the mat exercises they do.  She was a bit hesitant of the mat at first, but since she's got the hang of it, she is obsessed!

  

• Guess who attended her first rock concert???  The Fuzzy Lemons were performing in town, and we scored some tickets!  It was adorable, and so fun for the kids!

• She's finally realized that she's tall enough and strong enough to climb out of her crib, and she's started doing just that.  The day after she turned 22 months old, out she climbed, in a matter of minutes, with barely a peep at 2am.  I had just laid her back in her crib, fast asleep, and by the time I got into bed, she was awake and calling for us.  I turned to Shep to ask him to go get her before she climbed out, and before he even lifted his head from his pillow, I heard a swishing sound (which were her pajamas brushing against the crib railing), she pushed our door open and sauntered into our room.  All in a few minutes it was game. over.
• This little lady is into everything, and keeps us busy all the time!!!

Here are a few more pics of the little lady at 22 months old.  The first one is an adorable photo of Emily, wearing the coat I wore when I was her age!  She looks regal, if I do say so myself!  And the coat isn't too shabby either, considering it's over twenty okay, fine, thirty years old!  ;)

20 Months

Dear Emily,

You are smart, silly, beautiful, opinionated, curious, sweet, cuddly and can be very naughty. You LOVE: Elmo & Abby, Owls, Birdies, "Pens" (a.k.a. coloring), "Wheels on the Bus" (about 100 times a day...), the color blue, reading, jumping, galloping, running around like the Tasmanian Devil, art projects, magnets, counting to 2, climbing up steps, going down slides, dancing, "babies" (any other child), pretending to sleep (but not actually sleeping), saying "shhhhh" when anyone has their eyes closed, shouting"no!!", pressing buttons, turning lights on and off, brushing your teeth and splashing in the bath. You dislike getting dressed, sitting still, blowing your nose, getting your diaper changed, and wearing hats and gloves. You are a pro with a spoon and fork, and you're eating more foods all the time! Current favorites are pasta, chicken, hummus, bread, butternut squash, string beans, cucumbers, cantaloupe, apples, oranges, watermelon and cheese. You use so many words and we love hearing your little voice. The temper tantrums are not super fun, but we couldn't be more proud of you and we love you soooooooo much!

Happy 20 Months, Emily!  xoxo

Love you so much,
~ Mommy & Daddy

Happy Halloween!

chowing down on pumpkin pancakes, stealing candy, and generally enjoying the spookyness!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe day!  Shep and I tried our hand at lion taming, and let's just say..... the lion won!!  ROAR!!!!!!  At least I managed to get ONE photo with her head on.  ;)

Shep impressed us with his amazing carving skills this year.... a silly pumpkin face AND an owl!!  Emily loooooooooves owls..... one of her favorite animals, and she recognized it in the pumpkin carving right away!  Smart lady.  :)

Last weekend there was a kids' party and trick-or-treating in our apartment building.  Emily did some arts & crafts and then helped me hand out candy, until she decided to throw it all on the ground, which she found HILARIOUS!!!!

 

Yesterday we brought Em into my office for some costume fun, and today we attended a costume parade and contest in town!  Since little miss lion wouldn't keep her costume head on, we didn't participate, but we had fun watching!

TRICK OR TREAT!!!!!  Happy Halloween!

13 Months Young

This kid is growing like a weed!

All About Emily:

• Wearing mostly 12 months clothes and 12 months footie pjs; still wearing size 4 diapers.
• Current stats (as of 6/1/15):  weighs 22 lbs 15 oz, 30 inches long, 45.5 cm head.
• 7 teeth!!!!!!!
• Eating 3 meals a day, plus some snacks.  Emily loooooves her purees, but we're working on introducing more solid foods.  Research shows it takes most toddlers at least 10-15 exposures to a new food before they accept it, so we just keep on keepin' on!  Unfortunately, we discovered that Em might be allergic to peanuts, because she broke out in hives after eating some PB&J.  :(   Currently, she eats mostly fruits, and especially likes:  grapes, apples, bananas & blueberries.  This month Emily tried hummus (which she liked) and pierogies (which she didn't -- is this my kid????) for the first time! 

• Outgrew her infant carseat and has a new "big girl" convertible carseat!
• Graduated out of the infant room at daycare and is now with the "waddlers", ages 12-18 months.
• Started clapping, and did it several times throughout the day, on 6/15 while we were home together, but for some reason she'd only clap when she went and sat on the floor in the corner of the kitchen next to the trash can!  Crazy baby  :)

• Started saying "la la la la".
• Starting to assert independence and has thrown her first temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way!  Mainly, she doesn't like getting into her stroller and our prior methods of "coercement" are no longer working very well.  :)
• Loves running around non-stop, giggling adorably at her own silliness, and playing peek-a-boo tag with Daddy!
• LOVES dancing, and now she even spins around while she's dancing!  In another week or so, her moves will far surpass Shep's on the dance floor.  ;)
• Knows how to make hand gestures when I sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider"!
• We celebrated Emily's first birthday in a big way this month, which was sooooo fun and memorable.  She got to meet several new people at her party, including cousins Scarlett, Stacey & Robert!
• Something so unbelievable happened this month that I would question it if I didn't witness it with my own eyes.  Emily FELL ASLEEP in her high chair while she was eating!!

She also fell asleep on her own a few times IN HER CRIB!!!  Wowzers, call a press conference because this is remarkable!

• Loves talking to Daddy on the phone...

• Finished up her first semester of swim classes with Daddy!

• Visited Florida for the first time this month (2nd plane trip, but the 1st time with a layover!) where she finally met her other great grandma and cousins April, Jenna, Deanna & Jesse.  She also got to see the beach for the first time and although she was hesitant at first, she quickly decided she LOVED it so much she ate the sand!  Lots of memories from Emily's first trip to the Emerald Coast, including her first toga party & first pinata! 

In other news, I'm a Mommy Ninja.  No, seriously.  We were in CVS waiting on line for something when you-know-who decided to fling her sippy cup out of the stroller.  My hands were full, so I just nonchalantly caught the cup with my legs.  Wha????  Really!!!  #nobigdeal

Here are some of my favorite photos from this month.  I know I'm biased, but I honestly don't think she could get any cuter!

And this is my MOST favorite...... Emily's first "class" photo!  I could just eat her up.

Happy 13 Month Birthday, Emily!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I hope your second year has lots of fun in store for you!

Emily's Birthday Party

This post is 3 months late, but I'm still working on getting back in the saddle, so we're not going to dwell on that...  ;)

In honor of Emily's first birthday, we hosted a super fun pastel rainbow-themed party for our little lady.  We invited all of our extended family members, close friends, and some of Emily's baby buddies too.  :)  It was a great celebration!!!

Here's a glimpse of her invitation, which I purchased on Etsy and printed at a local print shop.

I made great use of Emily's monthly photos for the back!

The party was at a restaurant overlooking the water.  It was a sunny, clear June day so we enjoyed the beautiful views with yummy foods!

My cousin, who is Emily's godmother, made the birthday cake and matching mini cupcakes.  They were as delicious as they were beautiful!

 
To keep the many kids {and adults who are young at heart!} entertained, there was a balloon artist, a magician and a musician.  Sooooo many fun things going on!  The balloon artist was beyond talented, creating jet packs out of latex, and the magician was funny as well as daring, cracking jokes while tossing knives in the air - gulp!  The musician is a woman I met through my local mom's group, and as I expected all the kiddies loved her melodic voice and ukulele!

Emily was gifted with SOOOO many beautiful and special items.  She has some VERY generous friends and family!

We had candy favors for adults {starbursts and kisses} and some fun goody bags for the kids {a mix of mini board books, bath toys, candy, temporary tattoos, coloring books, pencils and silly straws depending on the age} as a token of appreciation for helping Emily celebrate her big day.

The three of us had such a great time...

. . . and Emily was the belle of the ball!!!

We'll always remember her first year -- lots of firsts, lots of memories -- ending with an exciting first birthday spent at the zoo, and an awesome party to celebrate our little girl!


*** All photographs are courtesy of Shep's incredibly talented photographer cousin, Robert at  http://fyimages.com ***