A Fun Day Filled with Challenges!

Today was so much fun, but it had its moments! Emma is definitely finding her "voice" as she gets closer to her first birthday. She hates having you hold her hand! She doesn't want anyone leading her anywhere--she wants to run the show! The weather was lovely, and I was hoping to get her picture taken at Kmart. They have an Olan Mills studio. She was looking all cute in her skirt and top with the cupcakes. Just as we were finally ready to leave, she tripped and sat in the dogs' water dish. *sigh* Water was everywhere, she was soaked, and she kept slipping and falling in the water. The trip to Kmart was fairly uneventful, thank goodness, but she wasn't able to get her picture taken today. It'll get done, but we won't have anything for her party. I decided to make a "quick" trip to the grocery store, knowing that she was in need of food and a nap. Silly me! Needless to say, we went to the store farther away from us, so she could get a cat nap in the car. Shopping was fine. She had a granola bar in the checkout line. Home for lunch and unloading groceries before heading to a birthday party. All was fine until she decided to throw her sippy cup on the floor. I really did almost cry over the spilled milk. *sigh* As I got everything in the car for the party, I realized I STILL hadn't eaten today!

On a bright note, the party was great fun! I got to eat something too! The weather was perfect. Emma could run and play with the kids, which she loved--until we had to go home. Her temper is truly showing these days! Home for a quick nap, bath, dinner, playtime, and bed. Mike has been working for 21 days straight. He's exhausted. On days like today, though, I feel like a marathon runner. A very out of shape marathon runner at that!

Guess I better switch the laundry, so I can get to bed! She'll be ready to go, and I have to be ready for her! Love her to pieces!

Birthday Number 1 is Right Around the Corner!

Emma's first birthday is fast approaching. I still can't believe we have her in our lives, and I'm amazed at how fast a year can fly! I remember how slowly time seemed to go when we were waiting during our IVF treatments and when we were first waiting to be chosen as an adoptive family. Now that we have our little girl, I want to freeze time, so I don't forget a thing! Funny how your perception changes!

We've been thinking about her birthday party for months now. Ok, I'VE been thinking about her party for months! I think that's a mommy thing! I went back and forth on what to plan. The initial desire was to have a huge bash--invite everyone and their brother! Decorations! Food! Cake! Presents! Our house is small. We would need another place. It might not be warm enough to have it outside. The thoughts went on and on. The more I planned in my head, however, the more I realized that Emma might get lost in the process. I want her to enjoy her day, not be overwhelmed by it. I want her to be in a familiar place. I want her to be able to take a nap if she gets tired. I know that downsizing is going to be disappointing for many family members who want to share in the joy of her first birthday. This was very difficult for me. I love to be surrounded by friends and family, and I want to show off my beautiful baby girl to everyone who loves her as much as I do! Everyone shared in the journey; they want to share in the celebration too. I hope that our beloved friends and family will understand. I know it will be a special day, and I hope she will have a great time.

Emma survived her first real cold and slight ear infection. Meds and an inhaler got her on the mend very quickly. It looks like she might have the start of an eye infection now, so we'll visit Grammy at the eye doctor's office tomorrow afternoon! Emma is an absolute hoot! She giggles like crazy and cracks herself up all the time! She loves playing with the dogs, and I think they secretly like it too! She loves to run up and throw herself on top of us when we lay on the floor, and she gets a kick out of trying to tickle our feet. Her understanding of language is just amazing, and she learns new things every day!

A lot has happened in a year. I reflect on it often--where were we a year ago? Counting down the days to delivery. My birthday is next week. That was the day we found out the day Emma would be born. So much has changed, and I am so thankful every day for the sacrifice her birth mother made. It was a rough trip, but the destination has been more than worthwhile!

Walking Already?

Well, Miss Emma is on the move--more so than ever before! She is finally figuring out the walking thing, much to our delight and dismay! She's so cute! She toddles around with her hands above her head. Her Uncle Chris calls them her Crab Hands because she walks around opening and closing her hands like a crab claw. She's not completely sure of herself, but she's trying it a lot more than she was last week! Eventually she'll get faster, so we're already looking for an extra long baby gate to keep her out of the kitchen area. We have such a small house that we haven't really had to block her from anything yet, but I'd like to have the kitchen area out of her reach. She's just too fast!

Time Flies!

Well, I have decided that I'm really bad at keeping a blog. I can only seem to do it on a monthly basis. I'm sure it has nothing to do with our very active 9 month old! Boy is she a busy girl! She is constantly on the go, and is learning so much every day! I have loved our 2 weeks together over the Christmas break, and I am kind of dreading going back to school. I know it'll be good to get into a routine again, but I hated how little I got to see her during the week. Things were always so busy, and it was hard for me to find a nice balance of wife, mom, and teacher. Once school gets going again I'll have to think about testing and conferences. I know it's life, and I am incredibly thankful for my job. It's the next best thing to being a stay-at-home mom I think. It's just tough sometimes.

On the bright side, we had a wonderful Christmas with Emma! She was a riot! She has started doing lots of new things. New facial expressions, mouth noises, and games. She's really getting into playing peek-a-boo, and we had great fun with that! I can't believe she's 9 months already! I made a DVD of a bunch of her videos for family members for Christmas. It was amazing to see how fast she has changed and all the stuff she can do now.  She is so close to walking! She walks all over if she has our fingers. Sometimes she'll take a couple steps if she's only holding one finger, but then she realizes what she's doing and looks for the other one. She holds onto furniture and walks around, which is fun to see, but scary too! I don't think I'm ready for her to be THAT mobile! The crawling has kept me busy enough! LOL! I have a feeling she'll take her first steps before she turns 1, but we'll see!

She got tons of fun new toys and lovely clothes from friends, family, and Santa. We were able to see her birth family, which was really nice. The holidays were tough for her birth mom, but I think spending time together helped us all. We are so lucky, and we love Emma so much. I really hope the birth mom knows that and sees that and believes she made the right choice.

Let's see... I think that's mostly it for now. I'll just list a few of her favorite things....just for the heck of it. :)

Favorite Toy: Anything she's not supposed to have!
Favorite Show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (and don't worry...she sees it once in a very great while. It calms her down in a split second when she's really having a fit though!)
Favorite Snuggle Item: Definitely her taggy blanket made by my Aunt Tami. She loves to play with the silky tags.
Favorite Song: Still Mary Had a Little Lamb I think, but she really likes most music. She'll bounce to pretty much anything!
Favorite Food: Any baby food and her bottle, but she has tried bread, lasagna noodles, and a few other grown-up foods, which she has really liked.
Favorite Things to Drive Crazy: The dogs! Hahaha! They don't like that she's really mobile now, and she knows it!

Words she's saying: She has been saying "Mama" and "Dada" for a while now, but she also starting saying "Up" occasionally when she wants to be picked up. Pretty cool!

Can you tell we love her to pieces? :)

The Holiday Season = Craziness!

Life around here has sure gotten even crazier! Emma is growing like a weed, and she is ALL over the place! She crawls faster every day, which has gotten us all into some pretty big pickles! She has discovered the dog dishes (and has dumped the water on more than one occasion), the cupboards, and the tops of the tables. She pulls herself up super fast and is quick to pull things off the end table, coffee table, etc... We are learning to be faster, but she still beats us more times than we care to admit!

Her adoption was finalized on November 8th! It was such a happy day, and we had lots of friends and family there to help us celebrate! The judge was great, and we were able to get lots of pictures. They even gave us a video on CD of the hearing. That will be a wonderful way to show Emma just how much we all love her!

Emma loved her first Thanksgiving, and we loved sharing it with our family. She got her first taste of real mashed potatoes, squash, and applesauce salad. I don't think she was a huge fan of any of them, but at least she tried them!

Life is crazy, busy, and wonderful! I can't wait for Christmas and her first experience at opening presents! I'm sure she'll love the bows and wrapping paper more than the actual gift, but it will be fun for everyone!