The one you have been waiting for!

7:10 p.m. Steve calls me into the living room...Emerson WALKS to me with a big grin on her face. For the next 30 minutes she is NON-STOP. It is amazing! So fast, not wobbly, racing all over the place. Discovering every room, turning, spinning, clapping, so proud of herself.

I was bawling and laughing at the same time. When she first walked to me, I was so emotional. Emerson was confused. She was looking at me with this expression like "Are you happy or sad?". It was sweet.

I tried so desperately to get pictures, but she is so fast! We literally had to drag her into the bathroom for bathtime. She was so sweaty and all hyped up.

I know that tonight is either going to be a great nights sleep from exhaustion or terrible because she will want to wake up and start doing her tricks! I am hoping it is the former and not the latter.

Ya'll, I am so exhilerated. This is seriously one of the most exciting things ever. I could not stop crying or laughing. It has been so anticipated, and so built up and it was well worth the wait.

I will put up pictures or video as soon as I have them!!!! Yippee...

And for those of you wanting to know, her stats from Monday's 18 month appt were 22 lbs (16%) and 32 inches (64%).

Happy 1/2 Birthday Emerson!

Emerson is 18 months old today. I cannot believe that tomorrow we will officially start the approach to her second birthday. Where does the time go?

For record keeping sake, here is what Emerson is up to at 18 months:

-Still not walking

-Not really talking- although she gets pretty cloes to "yes", "no", "tickle", "da da", "wiggle waggle" (as in the dogs tail).

-She loves to give hugs and kisses

-She has several different types of waves

-Likes to play matching games

-Loves her baby dolls

-Has basically given up her morning nap

-Loves to be tickled and to rough-house with daddy

-Likes to watch Sesame Street and Backyardigans

-Macaroni & Cheese is her favorite food

-She is just now fitting into 12-18 month clothing

-Loves her dog and cat

-Prefers mommy to daddy

-Is still terribly shy

-She has all of her molars

Emerson is so much fun and such a handful at the same time. This age is amazing to watch. You can almost see the gears in her head working as she learns something new. She is a typical toddler in that she makes me laugh and scream everyday.

We go in for her check-up on Monday. I will post her stats then.

Happy Birthday Jaylee!

What a weekend! Not only was I productive with N&M, but we also got to go to church, a birthday party, to visit friends who have a new baby AND we hung a new light fixture, sewed an outfit for Emerson and cleaned out a closet. It was great!

The birthday party was so fun because it was a chance for us to see other friends and their kids too. To celebrate Jaylee's 1st birthday, her parents threw a crawfish boil! It was so much fun. There were so many people there and almost everyone had young kids. It was absolutely hillarious because there were tikes everywhere.

Emerson really had fun because her best bud Hayden was there. They followed each other around everywhere and wanted to share most everything. This age is so precious to watch their interactions.

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For some unknown reason, Emerson was obsessed with my friend Meghann. She literally would not leave her side or her arms. She wanted nothing to do with me or Steve. She would only go somewhere if Meghann would take her. She would only eat if Meghann was there. She would only play with Meghann. She would only listen to Meghann...you get the point.

Here are some pictures from Jaylee's bday party:

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Birthday girl Jaylee

Emy and Hayden playing on the slide

Jaylee loved having a bunch of strangers sing Happy Birthday to her.

Hayden stealing Emy's oranges

Dragging Meghann around

Checking out the live crawfish: "Ooo look, those things are moving..."

Dragging Meghann around even more

This next photo was the highlight for me. I have known these two girls forever. We have been such close friends for the last 15 years. In highschool we were the best of friends- we shared so many memories laughing, crying, talking, doing nothing, typical girl stuff...Our friendship has survived seperate colleges, moves, careers, babies, losses, marriages and all the other little stuff. It is one of those friendships that even if you don't talk for a while, when you do talk again it is like you just pick up where you left off. I love these girls dearly.

It is so fun that we all have little girls of our own. Of course, we HAD to have a picture to document the happy occasion with our girls.

Amanda and Annabeth, Jennifer and Jaylee, Me and Emerson

Have a great week!

Easter

Easter is my favorite holiday. Obviously it is a fabulous holiday to celebrate, the most significant one in my mind- He is Risen! Hallelujah! But, the weather is always great, family is together and there is good food. Plus when you are a kid you get pretty new clothes and prizes from the Easter Bunny. I was so excited for Easter this year with Emerson. I could not wait to experience the whole thing with her...

The weather was great on Saturday, so we did a little preliminary Easter egg hunt outdoors. Emerson totally "got" the game instantly. She went from one egg to the other, dropping them into her basket. She didn't realize right away that there were things inside the egg. Once she figured that out, it was even more fun to watch.

Sunday we went to church as a family and then came back to watch the rest of the Masters while Emerson napped. When she woke up we did round two off the egg hunt indoors since the weather was not the greatest. When she heard us say that we were going to find easter eggs again, she perked right up and was ready to go. She went all around the house gathering all the eggs and then ended at the "grand finale"- this was where she got her prizes from the Easter bunny. The most prized possession is her new babydoll stroller. She has not stopped pushing it around yet. In fact last night when it was time for her bath, she actually cried when we took her away from the stroller.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Look, I found one!

Family picture at church

Inspecting the eggs from the day before to make sure no treats were missed.

This is the best we could do of the three of us. Emerson was ready for her nap and wanted nothing to do with pictures.

Sitting down after the indoor egg hunt. She just opened this egg to find a marshmellow. This is the typical Emerson "Oooo" face she does when she is excited.

Pushing the new prized possession around. Notice it is loaded with ALL her Easter goodies at once.

400!

I just hit 400 sales yesterday! CRAZY!!!! I still cannot believe that I have been open for 7 months and already had 400 sales. In honor of the excitement, I am thinking about doing some sort of promotion in the shop...Any one have any ideas? Post them and let me know...

Emerson the Monkey

Emy woke up yesterday morning and decided it would be fun to climb over everything. Over and under the bars underneath the dining table, onto shelves, onto chairs and tables, into baby doll strollers...you get the point. I can't tell you how many hillarious positions I have literally had to rescue her from because she couldn't figure out how to get out of them.

Perfect example, I was on the laptop yesterday morning (with my back to her). I turned around and saw this.

Do you see how she even has her tongue stuck out at me...oh man, I am in trouble for the next 16 years.

So, she will climb and yet she won't walk? I don't get it...I thought fear had something to do with the not walking, but that can't be right if she is climbing.

These were before church on Sunday. She finally figured out how to get onto and ride her "car". She thinks she is a pretty big girl when she is "driving".

I was soooo bummed that I cut her head off in this precious picture:(

GAM update and SO much more!

Hi everyone, all 10 of you! Sorry I have been so bad about blogging lately. I have been SWAMPED with Noodles & Milk lately. It is a blessing and a curse. In fact, if you want to be praying for something, please pray for guidance with what to do "next" with the business.

N&M has really outgrown its current situation- ie: me sewing at naptime and at night. It has turned into a monster. I sew EVERY FREE SECOND. It is terrible. I never see Steve and I certainly don't have time to spend with Steve AND Emy together. Something has to change.


I love that the business has gotten so great. I love the prospect of growing it further. I just need help or better time management or something. Most of you are probably saying, "Just hire help"...well it is not that easy. Right now N&M is bringing in just enough for me, not what I would need to pay someone else. So, do I take the leap of faith and do it having the confidence that the money will come from somewhere?

Anyways, sorry that was a tangent that I was not prepared to get into....

Back to March's Goal. I wanted to make time to create some fun clothes for Emerson. Well, I did! I made her 3 outfits. The problem is that only one of them is blog worthy. The other two are okay, but with one I do not like the pattern I used- it needs a major re-adjustment before I use it again. With the other I am not that happy with the fabric choice that I made.


Anyways, here are pics of Emerson in her new dress yesterday. It was a little cool, so she wore it with pants. When it gets hot I will let the straps down a little to make it longer and she can wear it with bloomers.




Now, for April's goal. I am really torn here, but I think my goal this month is going to be to read a book or maybe two. Isn't that sad that I have to make that a goal? I have soooo many books that I want to read, and I just don't have time. I really want to read The Shack so that I can finally understand the buzz behind it. I also have several parenting books lined up that I want to get to. So, there you have it, April's goal is to read!

On to other things...Emerson has two new molars. They are finally all the way through! Praise the Lord for that. She is very proud of them. If you ask her to show you her teeth, she opens really wide. Cute.

Oh and for those of you who check the time stamps on these postings, Emerson is STILL ASLEEP! Praise the Lord.