Emerson- 11 Months

Emerson is now 11 months and by far month 10 was one of the biggest in her development. This past month she got 6 out of her 10 teeth, took her first step, learned to wave bye-bye, motion "so big", give kisses, claps her hands and is talking a lot more. She is growing up so quickly in front of us all. I get sad to think she will be turning one in less than a month.
It is funny the differences between Emerson as a baby and Rilyn as a baby. Emerson is much more of a ham, she smiles at everyone and will belly laugh at practically anything we do. Every morning when Rilyn wakes up, Emerson grins from ear to ear at first sight of her! Now, on the other hand, Emmy isn't as good as a traveler as Rilyn was. Emerson can not sit still and she isn't good at entertaining herself as Rilyn was/is. It will be fun to continue to watch Emerson grow and develop and compare the two girls. They still do look extremely similar, although we see many differences as well. Here are some attempts at getting a picture of all Emerson's teeth. Also, as you can see now, not only does Emerson take all the tupperwear out, but she likes to crawl into the cabinet. She is definitely the reason why child proofing your home is a must!

End Of Summer Trip To CA

Being in California is always so enjoyable for me, from the great weather, friends and our families to help with the kids. We are always so busy and unfortunately our trip goes by too quickly. This trip home was filled with lots of trip to the park, walks with friends, the county fair (which included Rilyn's first pony ride), swimming in the pool, visiting family, playing with the doggies and several trips with Gramps to McDonald's. It's hard to be back again in the AZ heat, still over 100 and isn't it almost fall?? Luckily, we head off to Colorado next weekend for one more break from the heat.

Emmy and Great Grandma Mary.

Our little "big" girl learned how to climb up Nana's stairs within days, now we just need to teach her how to climb back down.

Nana and her partner in crime, these two were practically inseparable. I know my Mom had to take a couple days to re coop and rest after our visit.

I think Grandpa got into the pool with the kids almost everyday while we were there, even after long days at work and little begging on Rilyn's part.

1st Day of Preschool!

First off, we have been MIA for over 3 weeks now, and I have to say it was great! I was tired of the AZ heat and needed to get home to CA where I had help with the girls. I packed up the truck and drove by myself to CA, all 12 hours (without stopping, which translated into 2 FULL days) with the girls. Because the trip out there was so long and miserable I had to make it worth it by staying for so long!
We are now back in the heat and excited that Dada is done with his season. We returned Tuesday and Rilyn started her first day of preschool on Wednesday. She is such a big girl, it is crazy! She was so excited the morning of her first day, but definitely was taking everything in when we first arrived. It took her only about 5 minutes before turning to me and saying "Okay, bye." I got the not so subtle hint and made my way out knowing she was in good hands. She had a great day, enjoyed every minute of it and is so excited to go back again tomorrow. The teacher told me that Rilyn is little Miss Congeniality, making friends with every child in the class, this definitely does not surprise me. I was so proud of her and know that this will be great for her.

On our way to school!

At her table, with her two friends Brady and Cierra. The teacher asked the kids to take their crayons out of the back of their chairs and Rilyn was concerned that the little girl next to her didn't know what to do.
She proceeded to take the initiative and help show her where her crayons were.

It was too cute watching Rilyn help this little girl, I was so proud!!

By the way, I want to wish Christina a Happy Belated Birtday, I am so sorry I missed it! :(

It Finally Happened.....

Emerson finally discovered the ONE cabinet that doesn't have a child lock on it. I always only keep tupperwear in this one, but was thankful she hadn't found this cabinet sooner. Everyday now Emerson pulls everything out and spreads it across the floor.

Also, I finally caught on to Emerson's sneaky trick of pretending she is done eating while sitting in her highchair, while throwing the cheerios onto the floor. As soon as she is out and back down onto the floor, she goes crazy trying to eat every piece that she dropped, like I hadn't fed her or something. She is showing me that she likes to be in control of where she eats her snack!

This past week we had our good friend Sean Green in town, and fortunately it worked out for him to stay a couple nights with us. We had such a great time catching up with him and reminiscing on all the wonderful memories we have together. The first day he took a shower I noticed one of our floor mats was in the bathroom that wasn't there before. He confessed that he figured our towels in the bathroom were decorative and therefore grabbed a towel out of our linen closet before showering. As many of you know, Sean is like 6'6 I think and the fact that he had actually grabbed a small floor mat is hilarious. He said by the time he got out of the shower to dry off it was too late, so he used the mat to pat dry. The thought of such a big guy using such a small floor mat to dry off cracked me up! By the way, our towels are not decorative :). Thanks for the laughs Sean! We still wish you and the kids were there too Christina.

In To Everything.....

Lately we have been keeping a close eye on Emerson. Ever since she is mobile she is in to everything. I can barely keep up with her when she is crawling, she is so fast! It doesn't take long for her to make a mess....

I found her climbing up into the bookshelf, after she moved her toys off of it, to get to the wires that are behind it.

I love this picture because it's like she knows she's been caught!

One of the only ways I can get anything done these days is by putting her into something that has straps. She gets pretty comfortable in her swing these days.Another thing I find funny is that Rilyn always is in our bed by the early morning, most of the time I am already up with Emerson. Every time I go into our room though I find it amusing that no matter what, Jeff and Rilyn are on the edge of our king size bed. He always complains that he is falling off the bed, and I just remind him that it won't always be like this that his little girl likes being cuddled up right next to him :).

It's Not Halloween Yet, Is It?

The other day Rilyn was playing in her room and then I realized it had gotten pretty quiet. I called and asked her what she was doing and she told me it was a surprise. Lately, most of her surprises these days aren't the good kind, but I figured I would wait and see. Just then she ran out in Emerson's caterpillar bunting costume from last Halloween and said "Surprise!". I thought it was hilarious. I was surprised she actually got the costume on herself. She had a great time crawling around on the floor like a caterpillar, until she decided she was too hot being one. Kids, they always seem to keep us entertained! My little caterpillar and Duckie, of course!

Emerson watching her Sissy entertain her as well.

I am assuming this is normal, but lately Rilyn is all over Emerson, mostly in a "loving" way, giving hugs and kisses. Unfortunately, she is too rough most the time, squeezing too hard or running straight into her when she goes in for a hug. Emerson is definitely taking much more of a beating than Rilyn ever did. She has definitely learned quickly to become one tough little cookie. Notice in this picture how Emerson is thinking....okay, okay, easy.......

Then in this next picture Emerson's face is priceless, she is all scrunched up, preparing herself for Rilyn's "love".
My little Boo-Boo.

The Adventure Of Our Friend Duckie

I have to start by saying this situation was inevitable, I am just surprised it didn't happen sooner. For all those who have ever been around my daughter you know how her best friend is her Duckie. He goes practically everywhere with us and sleeps with her every night. There has been many times I have told myself that I should keep a back-up Duckie in case of emergencies, but of course, never took the time to order one. Well, it finally happened, Duckie became lost and Rilyn was panicking. Our house was turned upside down, and no Duckie was to be found. I had to think quick, so I grabbed the computer (thank you internet shopping) and told Rilyn to come look. On the screen I had pulled up the site that sells the blankies and had Duckie in our shopping cart, but to Rilyn all she realized is that she could see Duckie on the screen. I told her that he wanted to go on a vacation, but would fly home since she missed him so much. I then grabbed my Southwest Visa, which has the airplane on the card and told Rilyn that Duckie was going to fly home on that plane in a couple days. She totally bought it, THANK GOD!! For the next couple days she would ask if Duckie was getting back yet and I was so thankful that it only took 3 days to ship and arrive. The "Big Day" was so exciting, when the UPS guys rang the bell Rilyn knew right away it was Duckie! She open the packaging and pulled Duckie #2 out, but noticed he looked a little different (clean and new). I mentioned how he was well rested and had taken a bath and that seemed to be enough reason to fall in love again with her friend. Now, within hours I hear a squeal in our bedroom and then Rilyn comes running out yelling "my Duckie, my Duckie" and I see she is holding her old Duckie. Isn't this always how things happen? As soon as the new Duckie arrived, she found her old Duckie after 4 days of him missing! I quickly placed the new Duckie away and was surprised when Rilyn didn't mention anything about there being two Duckies. Crisis adverted! Life is normal again......for now :) Duckie #1 and Duckie #2, pretty obvious the difference between them.

The ultimate hiding spot, Duckie was stuffed in the side pocket of Emerson's swing.

A love reunited.