Happy 1st Birthday!

For Emee's first birthday, we had a ladybug themed party. The invitations, her dress, the cake, the decorations - it was all ladybugs. It turned out so cute! In honor of our little lady, we decided to serve "little person food." This consisted of pigs in a blanket, mini pizzas, chicken nuggets, fruit and cheese kabobs, baby carrots and celery sticks, and PB&J's cut in the shape of a butterfly. We played a game entitled How Well Do You Know Emee Jo? Yep, we made it up ourselves. ;) Jason wrote up a bunch of questions about Emslee and we played to see who knew her the best. I honestly don't know who won, but we had fun playing.
Emslee was such a good sport. And she was spoiled rotten! I am going to have to figure out where to store all her new toys. It sure was fun to get together with everyone and to celebrate her first birthday. We were so grateful to everyone that came!


The Ladybug cake...Katie, these pics are for you. :)

Emee with her gigantic piece of birthday cake. She really didn't know what to do with it...


For her birthday, Emee got her very first baby doll. She's such a cute little lady! The very first thing she did was pick her up and give her a kiss. About a dozen kisses followed. Such a little mama already!

A few of her party decorations


Emee sure loved all the balloons that were all over the house for her celebration. She had a lot of fun chasing after them!
Happy First Birthday Emee Jo!

And this is what happens when Josh is in charge....

So I left Emslee with Josh for a mere five minutes, and this is what I found. Ah, those chocolate spots will be fun to get out of her onesie. ;)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Emee celebrated St. Patrick's day for the first time, being stuck in the Albuquerque airport while we waited two hours for our delayed flight. Good times! At least she looked cute though!

Our little Chubaca

So I've mentioned on here a couple times Emee's Chubaca noise, and I finally got it on video. A special thanks to Josh for helping me get her to do it. Enjoy!

Happy 36 years!

I just wanted to give a little shout out to my parents. They are celebrating their 36th wedding anniversary this week. It's amazing that two people can still love and cherish each other after 36 years as much as my parents do. They are the epitomy of a hard-working, selfless, strong, and loving couple. Love you Mom and Dad! Here's to another 36 years!

Emslee turns 11 months!

This her new way of smiling for the camera - it involves closing her eyes. So cute!

She was doing the "So Big" move with her arms. She loves it!


Our little girl is growing like a weed! At eleven months, Emslee loves to climb up the stairs as fast as she can, she loves playing with her dad, and she adores her mom's chocolate chip cookies. She always feels that she needs to be the center of attention, and if even for a brief moment she feels you're not focused on her she will let you know she is not pleased.
Emslee has started making this noise that sounds surprisingly a lot like Chubaca from Star Wars. It is absolutely hilarious to hear. And of course, when you laugh at her, she does it more and more. She loves to dance, babble on and on, undress herself (uh-oh), and explore the world around her.
Emee took her first faltering, uncertain step on the 28th of February. She's not up and running yet, but she's getting there. Sooner than I'm ready for, I'm sure.
Emslee's favorite part of the day is around 6:15. That's when she gets to see her daddy, and you should see her face light up! She is completely enraptured with him. She also has a gigantic crush on her Uncle Josh. He always makes her laugh. Sadly, she has started to cry every time he has to leave for work.
Emslee is finally sleeping for 7-8 hours at a time at night - Thank goodness! Her favorite food is macaroni and cheese. Her favorite toy is her camera. Oh how we love our little girl!

Emslee's First Oreo

Before I had kids, I had all these lofty expectations for myself. I swore I wouldn't give my child any processed, refined sugars until they were at least a year old. I swore my child would NEVER sleep in my bed, I swore that my child would never make a scene in a restaurant or other public place.....ahh, the naivety of the inexperienced mother.
I honestly did think it would be fairly easy not to give Emslee sugar for at least a year. I mean, she didn't even start eating solids regularly until she was 8 months old. I only had four months to go. Not that difficult, right? Yeah, right. Each and every time any of us had a cookie, or candy, or soda, or anything that I didn't want her to have, that was the only thing she wanted. I finally relented and gave her an Oreo. She loved it! (and I was just grateful Jason was the one holding her when I gave it to her.) I'm such a cheater. :)

Happy Valentine's Day

This past weekend was Emslee's first Valentine's Day. It was so much fun to celebrate with her. I made her a Valentine's dress (I know, I'm sewing - shocking.) And on Saturday, Jason surprised us both with roses. He gave me a dozen red roses, and gave Emee a dozen pink roses. It was so sweet! I just love him!
We had a fabulous Valentine's day. And Emslee's dress sure turned out cute, if I do say so myself. :)

And it begins...

Thus far in Emslee's life, I have felt extremely grateful that she was not a child that was into absolutely everything. Life was pretty calm - I didn't have to worry about her exploring every little thing she could get her hands on.
Until yesterday....
I was having a super stressful day, trying to get caught up on bills, housework, and preparing for my visiting teachers and then my family to come visit. I turned my attention away from Emee for what seemed like just a moment and...


That's right! She found my makeup! Look closely. It is all over her! You can't even see all the spots on the carpet. It was EVERYWHERE! The best part was that Emee just started laughing and smiling. What a kid!

Her latest trick

Emslee has officially started crawling up the stairs. Scary! She's not perfect at it yet, but she's getting there. This photo was taken the other night when my family came to visit. We had to show her off, of course! She got so excited going up the stairs, I thought she might hyperventilate. She loves learning new things.

Happy 10 months!

I can't believe my little girl is already ten months old! I know, I say that every time I post. She's just grown up so fast, it's hard to believe it sometimes!
At ten months, Emslee is almost a stand-up comedian. She loves to make people laugh, and will do anything to get a reaction. She walks, albeit tentatively, while holding onto furniture and whatever else she can get a hold of. One of her favorite things to do is crawl over to mommy and pull herself up while holding onto my pant leg. However adorable this is, it can become frustrating when I'm trying to get things done. Emee loves to crawl, and is a speed demon! She gets excited every time we get in the car to "go find da-da," loves to eat at the table with the grown-ups, and loves to tease. Every time Jason attempts to change her diaper, she tries to run away and laughs the entire time. She also does this totally cute little thing with her mouth and fingers that sounds like a slobbery motorboat. She has now started trying to do the same thing on other peoples' mouths. It's hilarious!
Her favorite toy is, surprisingly, mama's makeup. She loves to play with it, chew on it, and make messes with it. I learned very quickly to keep it out of reach!
We sure love our little girl, and love watching her grow! Happy 10 months, Emslee!

Emslee's Christmas Dress

This year for Christmas I wanted to sew a dress for Emee. I, as most of you know, am simply not very good at sewing. I'm not very domesticated at all, but I am trying. I bought the pattern, fabric, buttons, and everything else necessary. Then I enlisted the help of my mom, who is an excellent seamstress. She helped me get Emslee's dress sewn and it turned out so pretty, if I do say so myself. Emee especially loved it, because she got to play with the flowers attached to the ribbon at the bottom.

The holidays

I know, I'm behind. I like to blame it on a sweet little girl that cries all night and whines all day. I thought for sure she had an ear infection so I took her to her pediatrician. But nope, she's perfectly healthy. So I guess she's crabby for no reason at all. Purrr-fect.

We had such a great time over the holidays. We got to spend a lot of time with family and friends. Katie and her crew drove up from New Mexico. I have missed them so much! We spent hours and hours playing games, visiting, and baking. Jason, Emslee and I spent as much time as possible during the break in Preston because I "needed" to see my sister. (That is a need, right?) Below are a few snapshots of our holidays. We had so much fun!

Katie and Sevannah, all festive in red.

Emee and Mommy.

The beautiful angels in our nativity on Christmas Eve. Oh and we can't forget the little wise man who tried to sneak his head in at the last second.

Emslee, styling in her new pj's made with love by Grammie Jo.

Grandpa Dave with Emee...she's trying to decide if he's a bad guy or a good guy...

Christmas morning. As you can tell, Jason was pretty tired. ;-)

Aunt Sarah holding Emslee. We were so glad they were able to come for Christmas this year!

Trevin had tigers on his new pajama pants, so he had his mom make a shirt to match. So cute!

Now that is how you open a present!

9 months old!

Emslee turned 9 months old on December 21st, which just happened to be the day we took her to see Santa. She, of course, had no idea why she was sitting on some strange old man's lap, but was such a good sport anyway! At nine months Emslee crawls all over the place, and explores everything she can find. She loves to clap her hands and squeal in delight. She laughs all the time, and now has 6 beautiful pearly white teeth, which she absolutely HATES for me to clean. She says Mama and Dada constantly, and Aunt Karyn is working hard on getting her to say Kare-Kare. All in good time, I'm sure. Emslee still loves her bathtime, the sound of crinkling paper, being tickled, and talking on the phone. I can't believe how grown up my little girl is! I love you Emee Jo!

I should be sleeping.

It is 2:24 am and I am still awake. Just for the record, yes I am crazy. I had a lot of holiday baking and treat-making to do, and it seems that the only quiet time I have to myself is during the wee hours of the morning. So as I sit and wait for the blessed sound of the oven timer, I blog.
Tonight I am feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of raising my daughter, and hopefully the other children who will join my family. There are so many things I want her to learn, so many experiences I want her to have, and I fear that 18 years will pass in the literal blink of an eye. How will I ever teach her everything she needs to know in order to face the big bad world with confidence and ease? How will I help her glean knowledge from my own experiences? I want so badly to do right by her. I hope that when she becomes a mother (many, many years down the road), she will be able to appreciate the efforts I made on her behalf and realize I had the best of intentions. I hope she can look back on her childhood with the fondest of memories, and the reassurance that her mother loves her. And hopefully I will be able to look back on her childhood with the reassurance that I taught her everything she needs to know and prepared her in the best possible way. That is my hope tonight, as I sit in my quiet, empty kitchen, waiting for the sound of the oven timer.

Chocolate Waffles, anyone?

I am such a ditz! I can't even believe it, because I am a fairly intelligent individual...yet, ditzy. Odd. My best friend Mel came to visit over her Thanksgiving break and stayed the night. The next morning I got up and made waffles for everybody. Yum! I continued to get ready for the day, and while I was doing my hair I wondered why it smelled so much like waffles still. I brushed it off and continued what I was doing. When I finally went back into the kitchen, I noticed the waffle iron was still plugged in. I opened it and found the last waffle I had put in, cooked to a CRISP! I tried convincing Jason it was a chocolate waffle and that he should eat it, but he just wouldn't fall for it. So I decided to take a picture so that I could commemorate my feather-headedness.

Aaaaaa! Karyn and Emee were attacking me! I just love the look on Emee's face in this one...

Oh my...

Emslee has become quite the little pro at eating solids. Within the last couple of days, she has started this new little trick that involves blowing raspberries as soon as I have put a spoonful of food in her mouth. This, of course, results in carrots, or sweet potatoes, etc. all over me, her, and my kitchen. It's so cute when she does it, I just can't even get mad at her. So instead, I busted out the camera. Sooo funny! I caught her right in the middle of one of her little tricks.

8 month birthday...Yes, I'm slow.

I am way behind on my posts, so I am making a super valiant effort to get caught up today. Emslee turned 8 months old on November 21st. Just for the record, I did take these pics on that day...I'm just now getting them posted. :)

Emslee is officially mobile! She crawls EVERYWHERE and is into EVERYTHING. She is the most curious baby I have ever seen. She loves to discover. She says "Mom" and "Dad" and she understands the words bath, diaper, no, and tummy. She loves to giggle and is constantly smiling and showing off her two (soon to be four) front teeth. She loves making people laugh, splashing in water, "getting" daddy, and playing with her aunt Kare-Kare. She also loves making this hilarious clicking sound with her tongue. She does it all the time - it is so adorable! One of her other favorite things to do is say "blah blah blah" while you are talking to her. She already has an attitude! Oh great, we're in for it!

Another surgery...

For those of you that have asked about what happened, here's the whole story:
About a week and a half ago, Jason was having a rough night. He could feel his heart pounding hard and fast and he was really tired and winded. Karyn tried to take his pulse and was unable to get an accurate read. It was obvious something was wrong.
Jason has a cool device called a CareLink that enables him to transmit via a phone line to his cardiologists' office. We hooked him up to his CareLink and transmitted. The next day he got a phone call from one of his doctors, who told him that the generator in his pacemaker was dying. No big deal, right?
We went to see his doctor and were informed that not only was his generator was in fact dying, but also that his atrial flutter had come back. And with a bit of a vengeance. He had one episode that lasted 31 hours. Ugh. We had really been hoping we were past all this.
While we were talking with his doctor, we brought up the possibility of replacing Jason's leads when they replaced his pacemaker. His leads were recalled in October 2007 due to a significant risk of fracture, which could lead to erratic, inappropriate shocks, heart attack, or even death. (Lovely, huh?) His doctor informed us there were also risks associated with removing the leads. Apparently that could also possibly lead to death. He told us it was Jason's choice whether the leads were left in place or extracted. Talk about stuck between a rock and a hard place...
Jason and I did a LOT of research about his leads. Since they were first manufactured in 2004, there have been 13 deaths related to the malfunction and fracture of these specific leads. There were hundreds of horror stories from people all over the US who had these leads. However, there were also horror stories from people who had had the leads extracted. Doing so could cause a major blood vessel to rupture, or even damage to the heart muscle itself.
After much deliberation and a beautiful blessing from my dad, Jason chose to have the leads extracted. He and I both felt confident in his surgeon's abilities to remove the leads without causing unnecessary damage.
So on Thursday I took Jason to IMC and he was wheeled away to have his "little" procedure.
After a mere two hours he was in recovery. Everything had gone well! I was so relieved to hear there had been no complications. Turns out that the leads he had in there were on the brink of fracture, and they were misreading by a huge margin. I guess we made the right decision after all!
On Friday Jason came home (and not a moment too soon.) He is recovering well, although he is in a lot of pain. We are so grateful for the prayers and faith of so many. It couldn't have gone better!
Now we just need to cross our fingers that the atrial flutter will magically disappear on its own. Hey, a girl can hope right?

HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!!

Emslee's first Halloween was so much fun! She got her adorable costume from my sweet Aunt Candy, and I know I may be a little biased but I think she's the cutest giraffe I've ever seen!
We took her trick or treating to my parents' house and Jason's parents' house. We also took her up to the nursing home in Preston to visit my surrogate grandma, Alice. She was so excited that we came to visit! She kept commenting on what a cute baby Emee is. What can I say? Even at 93, our little Alice still tells it like it is. :)
Emslee got a tootsie pop from her pseudo trick-or-treating, and my mom was dying to let her suck on it. I, of course, was not nearly as enthusiastic. We let her suck on it with the wrapper on (I know, I'm a mean mom), and then once it was dripping with slober I threw it away. I'm sure she'll have plenty of candy in years to come to make up for it! What a fun day!