Morning cuties...

Started off my day yesterday with this cute pic.  LOVE C's sweet blue eyes...and Tim did his first ever ponytail for Emmerson - what an awesome job Daddy!  I'm sure there's much more of that in his future ;)

10 months!

Our sweet girl turned 10 months old last weekend!  Where has the time gone?!  This last month has been a whirlwind of Tim and I working like crazy, a constant cough from little lady, house updates / renovations and not a lot of sleep.  Sounds fun, huh?!  ;)  Emmerson continues to grow and change each and every day.  She is SO into everything...cruising around on every piece of furniture she can (and getting some yucky bumps and bruises from trying to pull up on things not quite strong enough to hold her!)  She has stood alone for a few seconds at a time - but no steps or anything yet (unless she is walking behind a push toy, a chair - whatever she can use!)  She makes hilarious faces (see one of the pics below).  She is eating lots of table food now.  Cheese, diced apples, bananas, mandarin oranges.  Everything we have tried, she has liked!  So we'll see what comes next.  Speaking of eating - she has figured out she can throw her food now (awesome) and she can feed Jake - also a picture below.  She loves being outside, going for walks - and clearly loves the swing at the park - check out those fabulous expressions!  She still loves her baths.  And loves to empty (and fill) anything and everything in this house.  Toy boxes, drawers...you name it!  She is in the final baby room at school - and loves her teacher Misty.  Funniest thing about school - they couldn't figure out how to get her to sleep (NOT a shock considering we battle this as well).  They used the stroller once, but then they figured out that if they leave her in her seat at the table after lunch, she (because she is SO exhausted) will start to rock herself.  So they let her.  And she starts to nod off.  And then they pop her right into her crib - HILARIOUS!  Whatever works, right?!  She just isn't a great sleeper (just like her bro).  She is napping a lot better when she's at home, but still wakes up every night.  Lately it's been because of the coughing.  But sometimes I think she just wants to play or has separation anxiety or something.  She doesn't want to eat.  Who knows!  Once you think you've solved the mystery, it changes (sigh).  Just the life we lead right now... I can't believe she will be 1 soon.  That makes me so sad that this last year has flown by.  Speaking of flying by, Carter will be turning 4 soon.  How scary.  Love these little ones SO much, just wish they wouldn't grow up so quickly!!

Hilarious expression...

Jake LOVES dinner time...

Look at this chunkiness!  (And don't mind the side ponytail her teacher had given her that day!)

Bed head!

Loves those lips!

Brother's tools are so much cooler than her own toys!

I can't believe I caught this moment on camera...just melts my heart...

More brother toys - yep, those are nunchucks!

Family selfie!

PJ cuties!

Christmas at home!

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas this year - Emmerson's first!  The kiddos had a Christmas program at school the week before Christmas - this is where Santa made his grand appearance!  There were no tears...no one was scared or unsure...I was pretty surprised!  Later that week, Carter got a letter from Santa - that's right!  From the big man himself - sent all the way from the North Pole (there was even some reindeer food included for C to spread out on the lawn on Christmas Eve!)  Carter was SO excited about Santa coming on Christmas morning - in fact, he ran into our room to wake us and let us know that he came!  (This is not typical for C - he usually just waits in his room for us to come get him in the morning).  We opened tons of presents...and played and played and played some more...and spent lots of good quality time together as a family.  In fact, Tim had the ENTIRE week off of work - so we really took advantage!  We played at the park, played at home, practiced with C on riding his new Lightning McQueen bike, and we even went to the zoo!  A blessed holiday for sure...

So excited about his letter (please excuse the spaghetti all over his clothes & face, ha!)



Stockings full of goodies!

A couple of "big" presents from Santa for each kiddo.  Thank you Santa!

Opening lots and lots of presents...our house now officially looks like Toys R Us! 

Christmas in Houston!

We had a wonderful visit to Houston for Christmas this year!  We got to spent lots of time with Gigi, Pappy, Grandma, Uncle Scotty and Alex.  We opened tons of presents, hung out and played a lot AND made / decorated Christmas cookies for Santa! 

E opening her first Christmas present EVER!  What was so funny is that she was OBSESSED with the presents...the tree...everything.  And when it was time to actually open her gifts, she was very tentative.  I guess she figured she would hear yet another "no no" when she touched it, ha!

Caught this little girl standing up in her pack-n-play after a nap one day - uh oh, trouble! 

Oops!  Santa's cookies looked too yummy to resist!

Uncle Scotty has the magic touch...

9 months old...

Sweet Emmerson is now 9 months old!  And she is BUSY!  She is non-stop.  Crawling all over, pulling herself up - she has even been trying to walk behind one of her push toys.  Yikes!  The doctor says walking is coming soon - I hope she holds off for a little while longer ;)  The doc also said she is growing perfectly!  Little chunk is 24 pounds and 28 1/2 inches and I can't remember her head measurement (maybe 19 inches?) - but it was all in the 90+ percentile.  She is talking more...and really tries to imitate what you are saying.  It's super sweet.  She waves hi and bye ALL the time.  She is so friendly and happy - makes friends wherever we go!  (Although once she has attracted the attention of others, she quickly clings to Mommy and buries her head into my shoulder - but she sure loves strangers up until that point!)  She nods her head yes and no.  She also does the sign for "all done" when she is finished eating.  It's her interpretation of the sign - it's not exact, but it's super cute!  She has started eating more table food as of the last few weeks.  She loves puffs, yogurt melts, wagon wheels - and her favorite food right now is yogurt!  In fact, baby yogurt is about the only baby food I can get her to eat right now.  I guess the rest don't have a yummy enough taste.  I will be trying REAL foods soon - stay tuned to see if her reactions are as priceless as her big bro's!

And a side note...I just realized I never posted about Thanksgiving. Probably because while we were in Houston, we ended up at Urgent Care AND the ER because Emmerson was so sick :( But here were 2 cute pics from our visit.