Emily: 1 Year

It's time for another Emily update. This time it's the big one. Saturday she had her first birthday. My baby is beginning to be replaced with an adorable little toddler and I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm excited because it means we have a lot to look forward to. But, I will surely miss my little baby. She doesn't lay in my arms like she use to. She'd rather be on the move or playing. And she's definitely not as little as she use to be! So what has changed this past month? The biggest thing is she took her first steps the day after Christmas. She can only take 3 steps at a time because she gets so excited and falls forward. I know it won't be long before she's running through the house. She's learned to climb too. That one scares me. Especially when she climbs onto her chair and then rocks while sitting backwards. Needless to say, there has been some recent baby proofing! Just recently, pointing has really taken off. She points at everything now and waits to be told what it is. She learned how to say "tree" this way; she was always pointing at the Christmas tree. She's also learned the work "chick". She just adores our baby chicks. She will speed crawl to me and climb onto my lap whenever I have the brooder open. She is still toothless but that has yet to stop her when it comes to solids.

Saturday we had a little party for our birthday girl. It was mainly just family; the perfect size for a little 1 year old. She got her first gift before the party: a little people doll house. While she played, I decorated her cakes; her smash cake and the cake for everyone else. Also, before the party I reminisced on facebook about her birth day. Through out the day I made "one year ago" status updates ending with: 

"One year ago at 1:18 pm I delivered our third baby in our home, in our room, on our bed. As I lowered myself beside my brand new baby we just stared at each other. I was the first to announce “It’s a girl!”. I scooped her up and found a place to lay with her. Heather was the first to see her but I was the first to touch her. She was a nursing pro, and nursed and nursed and nursed. Emily and I then rested there, taking each other in while we waited for Bettie to arrive. Emily's birth was not what I expected but who could expect a 5 hour 18 minute labor followed by a baby arriving before the midwife. Happy birthday sweet Em!"

Her whole birth story can be found here: Emily's Birth Story 

Come cake time, Em did not want anything to do with it! 

She did get to get messy with dinner though!

And finally, I look back on how our little grew over this past year.

I had all these printed and made it into a banner for the party.

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Emily: 11 Months

11 months; yikes! We'll be celebrating Emily's first birthday here soon! Em has done a lot of growing again this month. She has mastered pulling up and is cruising now. My favorite is when she's standing and hears some music. She starts bouncing. Maybe she'll be a dancer too. We're still working on baby signing and she has learned another sign. She can now sign "more". It's not perfect because she tends to do it fast but she gets the message across. She has picked up a new word too. Her word for nursing is "na-na".

A couple extra pictures from this month:

And a little comparison I put together a couple weeks ago; Sean and Emily:  

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Emily: 10 Months (Bonus Video!)

Another month has come and gone. Emily is 10 months old today. She had her "9 month" check up about a week and a half ago and weighed in at 16lbs 8oz (10th percentile) and 28in (50th percentile). Size isn't the only way I can tell my little baby's growing up; I can't help but notice the everyday changes. She's oh so close to pulling up. She actually had both knees off the ground yesterday but failed to straighten her feet. So close! But I'm ok with her taking her time!! She still does her funny crawl but it's changed a little. She now does it with only one hand, leaving the other free to carry things. I jokingly say it looks like a monkey crawl.

If it's easier, you can view the above video here.

Socially, she's grown up a lot! She has learned her first sign. I knew she knew what she was doing when she handed me the boppy and signed "milk" when I asked her if she wanted to nurse. She also truly believes that everyone understands her baby babble. She loves to have conversations. And my favorite thing that has grown is her empathy. No one can cry without her getting concerned and without her trying to hug them. It doesn't matter if they are hurt, sad or in timeout. She crawls to them, leans in with a concerned look and then wraps her arms around them. It's the sweetest thing I've ever seen!

Left: The proper way to eat cheerios; dump them on the floor and throw the bowl behind you. 

Right: Em making a phone call "ra-row" = "hello"

Her sleep is also changing. She still sleeps wonderfully at night. Naps are what are changing. They were getting really bad until I realized she wanted to sleep in the bedroom alone instead of in the living room like she had been. I always have little babies sleep in the living room because not only do they seem to sleep better with noise but it also allows me to constantly watch them (call me paranoid!). She's still in transition so there are still some bad nap days but then there are some really really good naps. Lastly, solids. She really enjoys her solids now that she has more of a variety  She's been introduced to sauces and spices and loves it; especially spaghetti and chili (just the meat, sauces and rice. no beans yet).

 

Snoozing away *swoon*

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First Day of School 2012 (And a Peek into Our Setup)

Today was the kids' first day of school. I'm not sure who was more excited; the kids or I. I feel much more prepared this year than I did last year. The day started with a small photo shoot:

Today went very well. I noted a couple of things to change around, like doing more planning for Maddy's lessons. Playing it mostly by ear worked really well with Sean but now that I'm teaching 2 kids at once, I think I need to change that. Mostly, I just need some activities set aside for her for when she gets done with her activity and is looking for more and I'm helping Sean with something. Today we had calender time, literature (Aesop's Fables - both), writing (journals - both), reading (word families - Sean), math (coins - Sean, number match 1-10 - Maddy), and geography (passport for our world traveling unit - Sean). Emily's sign says "no school for me" but today she did get introduced to baby sign language. She's starting to wave and trying to communicate so I figured it's the best time to start.

Pictures from today:

1 & 2: Journals ...Maddy just draws

3: Break to check out the newly emerged butterflies  4: Number match

And lastly, our set up:

Left is our calender. That and reading is done in the living room. We do most of everything else in the kitchen. The pictures at the bottom: 1: All set up for today. 2: A close up; the little cubby works great for things we need on hand. Next to it is our counting school days chart (to help Maddy with numbers). And next to that is my hand made filing chart (a lovely Pinterest find!) that holds papers for the week. 3: Our storage is a trophy case in the kitchen. The note cards on the side are a visual of the subjects we've covered during the day.  

How was everyone else's first day? 

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