Emerson is Eleven Months

Thursday, January 4, 2018

So, Emerson is actually closer to one year by now but who's counting, right? 

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We have been so busy traveling that I feel we haven't really had an open weekend since August. Yes, you read that right. August. I am so excited to be able to stay in town for the next few weekends, that's for sure! And, maybe we'll get a chance to take down our Christmas tree and decorations. But, I can't promise anything.

Emerson spent her first Christmas with us and it was truly so special to see the magic in her eyes. She is still too young to understand and appreciate the spirit of the holiday season, but she was just so happy to be around family (and eat fried turkey, Shealy's green beans and Ma's rolls). 

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet, but we had a great December and loved seeing Emerson emerge into a new stage and fun personality. 


I would say that the biggest thing that happened this month was that she finally starting cutting her first tooth! I actually noticed it the day she turned 11 months and noticed a second one coming through a few days later. You can still barely see them, but they are definitely starting to grow. 

She is walking with the help of a walker and is doing much better now than she was a few weeks ago. 

She still loves to clap, dance, wave and say "dada." 

She is STILL in size 2 diapers and 9 month clothes. She is just a petite little girl and I am okay with that. She is eating so well so I know she isn't missing out in that department. Although, I'm beginning to wonder if she's a vegetarian (joking) but seriously, every time I give her meat at home, she throws it on the ground. She'll eat all of her peas, blueberries, etc but the second I put chicken, fish sticks or steak in front of her, she doesn't want anything to do with it. It's strange because she eats all of this at school and has eaten it in the past at home. 

Speaking of food, we introduced whole milk this month. We are mixing breast milk with the whole milk so that she can easily transition to just whole milk since the taste is totally different. She drinks it out of a sippy cup and let's just say, we need some help here. She does so well with her bottles but just doesn't seem to have much interest in the cup. Any suggestions? 

I am beginning to wean myself from breastfeeding and pumping. My initial goal was to breast feed for 1 year and I can proudly so that I will meet that (if not go a little longer depending on how weaning goes.) I will write another post on this later but with going through mastitis turned into staph infection, I never thought I'd be able to say that I fought through it and would make my goal. I have a full freezer stash of milk and actually had to store some in a second freezer, so I am thankful that my supply has been plentiful. I will most likely just keep giving her the breast milk until I am out of it or just donate it. 

To recap this past month, we traveled a lot. Emerson met Santa for the first time (on two different occasions) and did great! She didn't really cry at all, so that's a plus.

We celebrated Christmas with family and had a blast watching her open presents and see the magic through her eyes. It was so special and I can't wait for the upcoming years when she understands it better.

We traveled to Richmond, VA to visit our friends Caroline, Reid and their sweet daughter, Lucie. Lu and E had the best time together and we can't wait to see them grow up together. Then, Andrew and I flew to New Orleans to watch our Tigers play against Alabama in the playoff game. It was a blast and although it was a short trip and didn't have the outcome we wanted, it was still worth every minute.

So, here are a few pictures since last month. 
























We will be celebrating Emerson's 1st birthday next weekend with family and friends and although it will be a smaller celebration at our home, we are so thrilled to be able to celebrate her and the past year that she has brought love and joy to our family. 

Emerson is Ten Months

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

I can't believe Thanksgiving is past us and Christmas is right around the corner. That can only mean one thing. Emerson is another month old and that one year is quickly creeping up on us. Can I be honest and just say that it completely stresses me out to think about trying to plan a birthday party right now? And, it completely breaks my heart to think that my baby is almost one year. And, I'm getting completely emotional and I'm just going to stop now. 



Emerson is starting to mimic us and it is hilarious. We'll stick our tongue out and she copies us and sticks her tongue back out. I know, not a great habit but she is starting to copy a lot of the things we do and it just makes me realize that stage might be upon us. Also, if you tell her to "clap," she claps. She is beginning to follow simple commands. 

She'll drop something and said "uhhh oh." On Thanksgiving Day, she dropped her sippy cup and my cousin picked it up and handed it back to her. I said "say thank you," and she said "thank you." I swear we all just stood there like "did she really just say that?" We were all kind of stunned. 

If we say "No," she just laughs and shakes her head side to side. She clearly knows what no means. 

She is still in size 2 diapers and 9 month clothing and weighs a whopping 17.5 pounds. We dropped 1/2 ounce of milk in her bottles since she's eating more food. I am still nursing her twice a day (morning and night) and I am probably going to start weaning around 1 year. My original goal was 1 year and I'm honestly shocked to say that I'm going to make it. I almost gave up on like week 2 but somehow pushed through all of the difficult times and can proudly say I'm happy I did. 

Speaking of food, she loves all of it. I can't think of anything that she has tried lately that she didn't like. She eats all of her snacks and lunch at school and sure did enjoy fried turkey and all of the sides for Thanksgiving. 

She has had two ear infections and the nasty stomach bug in the past month. I honestly don't think she ever fully recovered from the first ear infection and by the time we went back to follow up, the other ear became infected. The doctor switched up the antibiotics so I pray it knocks it out and that we aren't having a discussion about tubes anytime soon. 

We went and picked out our Christmas tree last night. She wasn't too impressed but once we get it decorated, I'm interested to see what she thinks of all the lights and ornaments. We are also about to find out if we need to guard the tree or not. I'm going to go ahead and say that we'll be ordering a gate from Amazon pretty soon. 

We took our family Christmas pictures two weeks ago and I can't wait to share those with y'all! I was super nervous to see how she was going to do, but I couldn't have been more proud. She was a little scared at first but completely rocked it and was totally cheesing by the end of it. 

Here are a few pictures from the past month.
















She is the sweetest little girl and is just always so happy. She will belly laugh when you laugh and it just brings me to tears. We have truly been blessed and couldn't imagine our lives without her.