1 YEAR!!!

Emmy!! Today is your birthday! This time one year ago, we were welcoming you into our lives. I have such good memories of our first minutes together. My pesky blood pressure would not come down, but you were perfect, so we got to lay on the bed together in the dark and quiet. I will never, ever forget the time we got to spend together, just the two of us.



Emily, at one year:

*You are back to your happy, cheerful self. We finally discovered FOUR teeth are getting ready to pop through on the top. This would explain why you were not feeling your best for a while. I am so happy to see you back to being hilarious.

*Your "daddy dimple" is even more pronounced. You have one dimple, just like Big Dan, and I cannot get enough of it. I've seen it a lot lately, because you have been smiling and laughing all the time!

*You are walking between things more and more. If you think anyone is paying attention you will immediately drop to the ground and crawl! When Daddy and I try to put you between us to walk, you just won't do it anymore! I think you are a little shy!!

*Aunt Katy taught you to hold your own bottle! You still prefer for me to hold it when I am feeding you, but a few times we have been out at bottle time and you laid in your stroller and drank your bottle. This is a fantastic development. Although, we are probably not far from bidding a fond farewell to the old bottles...

*You can drink from your straw sippy cups like a champ. You would drink juice all day long if I would let you. We have to keep our eyes on you because you will swipe any and all drinks in your path.

*Just in the last few days you have started really trying to say some new words. Friday night on the way home from Aunt Katy's we stopped at the toy store. From the toy store to our house you said, "Bye-bye" the whole way home! You can also say, "cookie" as in Cookie Monster. I'm sure it won't be long until you are asking for an actual cookie!! You also say ba-ba (for bottle), mama, and dada. And "juice" - you have that one down pat! You are trying to say just about anything I prompt you to say.

*You have fully transitioned to a regular, big girl paci!! Somehow you just decided you were fine with it. You switch back and forth between any and all pacis. I'm planning to stealthily remove all remaining soothies.

*You LOVE to look at books. A lot. You haven't quite figured out how to crawl while holding a book and it is ticking you off! I keep trying to tell you that walking would solve this problem. =) You love to sit in my lap and look at books-particularly ones with Elmo in them. You can, at times, get a little aggressive in your page turning. Clearly, I don't read quickly enough for you!

Emily, you literally learn something new every single day. I am amazed at the things you know how to do. When I think back to your early days, I never would have guessed how joyful you would be! I am praying for you, sweet one, that you will always know how much your Daddy and I love you. I am praying you always know how God feels about you-He delights in you, thinks you are beautiful, and loves you more than you can imagine.

Happy Birthday, love!!!