It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

...no, it's Emma! Emma flew for the first time this week. We flew home to see my parents (Mimi & Papa) and spend some time with them since our trip for the funeral was so short and we couldn't bring Emma on that trip. We also came to attend/host a shower for my cousin Emily and her fiance Neal.

I was a little worried about the plane ride since it was Emma's first time and I had to do it by myself. Considering I woke her up at 5:00 and she had to be in my lap the whole time, she did a great job. Of course we had delays and a layover, but we made it! My arms were physically soar the next morning because I had to hold her constantly and run through the Atlanta airport with her. It was a long day but much better than the alternative which was driving 8 hours by myself with her. Thankfully my parents let me have some of their frequent flyer miles.

Here is a picture of her during the first flight...she fell right to sleep once we were in the air.


Here she is during our layover. She sat in a chair like a big girl because the airport carpet floor disgusted me.


Now that you have to pay for any baggage you check ($23 for one bag and $32 more for the next one...EACH WAY!), Josh bought us one huge suitcase so that I could put all of our stuff into one. It is the biggest suitcase I have ever owned...think of the shoes I can put in this thing!


Here is my nephew, Jay, with Emma on their couch:


Here is the happy couple, Emily & Neal, on the tandum bike they got as a shower gift from her parents. It used to be our grandparents' bike and then her parents' bike and now her dad has refurbished it for them. So cute!


Here I am with both my cousins, Emily & Nick:


And it just so happened to be Emily's birthday the same night as the party so of course my mom had to make her a cake. It was delicious!


At the end of the night, Emma came down to make an appearance and she had the whole room captivated. She put on a show of her serious face, the muscles and just being herself. She had a good time and so did we:


As a fun and exciting surprise, Emma started walking tonight!! She's so cute. She is still very cautious but she is really doing it now. She takes her time to get her balance and then takes off. When she gets to where she is going, she has her proud smile on that shows all of her teeth. I got a little video of it and I'll post it later on this week.

Changes

Changes are everywhere. Because of her Gumby arms and her curiosity, Josh had to take down the Emma Camera and move it out of her reach. She used to just poke at it, but after a little while, she would grab it and tug. She had the cord one time and I seriously thought she was pulling it out of the wall. I ran upstairs and found her with the biggest smile on her face. It was pretty cute, but not safe, so Josh put it up in the corner of the ceiling. Not only do we not have to worry about her getting her hands on it but we also have a view of the whole room now. Here she is last night after we put her down for the night.


He also mounted the television in her room on the wall so that it wasn't on the little table. She never really messed with it, but I know it was only a matter of time and now she has more room to play. It makes the room feel so much bigger.

She was very curious the other day after Mother Goose. She was really working hard on figuring out how to move all of these pieces. You can see the wheels in her head turning. She didn't move on to the next toy until she had sufficiently moved all the pieces that she wanted to.


On Monday we gave Emma some Brussels sprouts and she really loved them. It was her second time to have them so we knew she'd like them. Surprisingly, Josh and I liked them too. In trying to make sure she gets a wide palette of food, I guess we are broadening our own! Anyway, once she had filled up, she started throwing them off her tray like she always does. But this time one stuck to the wall. I'm sure it is the first of many food items to stick to our wall, but this was the first.

The War on Pillows still continues, but now once they're on the floor, she wants to lay down on them. It's so sweet. It makes me think we should put a pillow in her crib now, but she moves around SO much that I don't think there is any point. Other moms out there - when did you start putting a pillow in your baby's crib? I couldn't quite get a shot of her putting her head down because when she saw me, she perked up and wanted to come over to me.




This is just a cute one I got of her clapping. They were counting on Mickey Mouse and once they got to the end, she clapped. She loves her numbers!!


The last new thing she started doing was yesterday. I made her grits for breakfast and she did her normal "mmmmm" noise but then afterward she smacked her lips. I am not sure if it was because she discovered she could smack or because it felt good on her teething gums, but she smacked her lips ALL day long. Maybe the grits were just THAT good that she thought about them all day. haha

It's good to know that some things never change though. Here is a video of her laughing at Josh falling over. That laugh gets me every time!

We're Back

Josh and I got home from Charleston today. We left early this morning because we both missed Emma so much! It was the first time that both of us have been away from her over night...and this was TWO nights. Thankfully we knew she was in great hands with Jaime and John so we had no worries. My only worry was that she would be spoiled rotten. Jaime held her all day on Wednesday and then after that if Emma even whimpered, she'd pick her up. This is going to be hard to get her accustomed to us again. Emma had a fantastic time and we can't thank Jaime and John enough. I have no pictures or any updates from the past few days, so if you want to see what happened, you can go to Jaime's blog and read all about it.

The visitation and funeral for my grandfather were both really good. There were lots of good friends at both and we can't thank everybody enough for coming out to say goodbye and support the family. The Mayor of Charleston gave a wonderful eulogy that allowed me to hear about some of the things that Papa did before I was even born. He was truly an amazing, honorable and inspiring person and I am grateful that I can call him my grandfather. I'm so glad I was able to go and I am thankful that Josh came with me. He had to work some while we were there and I told him he didn't need to come, but of course, he insisted. What a great husband!

Thank you to everyone for the prayers and thoughts!

My Funny Valentine

For Valentine's Day this year, Josh and I got to go out to eat all by ourselves because Emma's JD and Honey came to spend Valentine's Day with her. She had a great time spending some extra time with them.

Here are a few pictures of our Valentine in her cute dress that they bought for her:




All of the Valentines...roses for me from Josh, footprint hearts for Daddy from Emma, the ladybug box (with chocolate covered animal crackers inside) for Emma from Jaime, ladybug card and dress from JD & Honey and a ladybug card from Nana. There were two slices of chocolate chip cookie cake with hearts on them...but they were eaten before I could get a picture!


At our playgroup last week, Emma made the Valentine for Josh. It's her footprints although all the other kids did their hand prints. I just know Emma too well to go down that road! She hates to have her hands messed with and she doesn't like for her hands to be dirty. Therefore, this exercise just spelled disaster if I didn't go with her feet versus the hands. I think it turned out pretty cute:



She also found her first piano to play at the playgroup. She loved it, of course!


And here she is playing her first duet with her buddy, Eli:



They all made valentine's for each other and made cute bags to keep them in. Here is the lineup:


Emma and Daddy curled up before bed:


I'll leave you with this picture...I just thought it was so cute. The tv is off and she just set her chin on the table and starred right at it:

A Tribute

Emma's great-grandfather, Johnny, passed away this morning around 2:00 am. We all know he is in heaven now and we look forward to seeing him there one day. I love you, Papa, and I'll miss you!

No Business like SNOW Business

It has been snowing ALL day! I took Emma out this morning when it started to flurry and let her feel it on her face and she couldn't quit smiling. We waited until Josh got home this afternoon before we really got out in it.

Here is a video of Emma sledding:


Here she is taking a walk in the snow:


Here's the family



We went over to play in the snow with our neighbors. Here is their little boy mowing the lawn...Josh took a picture just as the lawn mower took a dive:


Here are Josh and Emma heading back to our house:


And here I am with Emma:


It was a very fun afternoon!

Out & About

This week at Mother Goose story time Emma was a little more adventurous...

She took off on her own to check out the books before the class began:


Then as Simon the monkey came around to sing, she loved it as usual. It makes her feel so special when he comes and sings to her:



Dancing with the bean bags:


Needed a snack break in between stories...apparently the singing and the dancing makes her hungry:


And she's off:


This particular story was intriguing I guess, because here she is listening intently. Also notice she is still holding the wrapper from her snack two pictures back. She still loves paper or anything that resembles paper. She held it nearly the entire time.


Once class was over, she was off again...she had so much fun with this chair:


We tried to get a group shot of the kids but as you can tell, it didn't go very well. Eli and Lillian are looking at Colton (who I couldn't even get in the shot), Emma was doing her best to crawl towards me, and Parker was watching Emma. We did what we could:


We did manage a group shot of all of us though...


After a very busy morning, Emma fell asleep on the way home. Of course it was raining all day hence the raincoat...but isn't it a really cute raincoat?! I realize now that she has double polka dots on when she was in the raincoat. What can I say...I love polka dots!


Today we went and met the group for Martina's birthday. We went to Chappy's where the kids ate free. Emma ate 6 pickles (the discs not the spears), some hamburger, some of my chicken and fries, and then finished it off with some of this birthday cake:


And here is Martina, the birthday girl, (left) with Melissa and her little girl, Lillian:


Group shot at lunch...minus Parker because our waitress cut him out:


On the way home we stopped by Jaime's for a visit. I have no pictures because we were all too busy chasing her dog, Lexi, around and having fun hearing Emma laugh hysterically at her. It was a short visit, but it was fun!

Pickles & Progress

This weekend Emma not only rediscovered her love for olives but also realized that she's been missing out on pickles. She had her first bite of one and it was almost as if you could hear a symphony playing in the background...love at first bite! This further proves her love for any food that is green.

She is also teething again. I'm not sure if it would be considered 'again' or 'still' but there are teeth coming through. She'll have a full set soon. All the better to make that toothy grin of hers.

We can add Miss Independent to the list of words to describe her. I was trying to read her a book last night and I was turning the pages. She looked at me, pushed my hand away, and while she was still looking at me, she turned the pages one by one. I think it was her way of saying to me, "SEE, I am a big girl and I can do this by myself...even with my eyes averted from the book!" Here is a picture of her after she took the entire book from me:


Then today I was trying to help her turn her grocery cart around and again she pushed away my hand and proceeded to do her own thing. I knew she would grow up and not need me eventually, but I wasn't aware it would happen at 13 months old! I wasn't prepared for this!

And then she crawled up into her chair and had her milk:


And then as she was crawling out of her chair, I said, "Emma, let me see your serious face." End result=hilarious:


She started going to Mother's Day Out last week. She just goes one day a week for a few hours in the morning but it has been nice for her to interact more with children her age and for me to be able to run some quick errands without my shadow with me. After her first day, her report was the following:
*Happy all day long
*Ate really well
*Clearly a very independent and bright little girl
Duh, tell us something we don't know, right?! haha I'm really glad she is liking the classroom setting and enjoying the other kids.

Currently we have Mother's Day out one morning, Mother Goose storytime one day and then our playgroup one day. I was afraid with all the kid interaction again that Emma might start to get sick and the ear infections would kick into gear again. I am happy to report that she is not sick at all and if anything, it's ME that is sick. I guess I need to boost my immune system if I'm going to be around all these children because I have the sniffles right now. I'm just thankful that Emma gets Josh's immune system!