Missing My Girls...

I've been gone at a conference in Anaheim, CA at Disneyland for the last five days. Although it is one of the happiest places on earth, it's been a rather bitter for me. This is the longest I've been away from Em since she's been with us and it's not easy...I miss my girls! I'm sitting in the airport making my second attempt at getting into Charlottesville after what they are calling "Snowmagenden." Hopefully this will be the time we get in, we're scheduled for the first flight in since this snow hit. After receiving a call from Mommy apparently the power has been out for over 12 hours now and the house is getting a bit cold, we may be at a hotel tonight if things don't start to warm up!

Looking forward to seeing my ladies!

Cuddling it up at Cuddlebugs!

Em started daycare a few weeks ago and attends 3 days a week while Mommy works. We are very happy to say that she LOVES going and playing with her new friends. The first day I couldn't get her coat off fast enough before she was off and exploring her new school. Below are some pictures of Em while at school. Thanks to Ms. Dorinda for sharing them with us!

Em coloring her first picture.





Em coloring with her new friends.



Em apparently has a New Year's Resolution to be more active.



This one is my favorite. This is typical Emmelyn.



Em loves sitting at the little picnic table.



Checking herself out in her mirror.



Practicing spelling some new words.

Party Time!

Since Emmelyn was turning 1 and having her first ever birthday party, we knew it was going to have to be a party to remember. Given that her birthday is right after Christmas, I decided to go with the Winter ONEderland theme. Snowflake decorations left over from the holidays are super cheap and when will we ever get to use the ONEderland theme again, right?

I found this super cool invite design on Etsy and was able to order the invites free using some free photo credits I had.



Here's a picture of Em enjoying one of her presents from us, her new super cool big girl chair.



This is Em's birthday cake for the adults attending the party.



Here's the cupcakes I made for the kiddies attending.



Here's Em pouting a little before blowing out her candle. I tried to put a party hat on her and she was having none of it.



Here's Em obviously enjoying her very own little birthday cake that I made for her.



Here's the aftermath after we took the cake from Em. She probably would have kept on eating it!



Em spent some time hanging out with her Pap and Gram D'Angelo during her party.

Here's Em showing off her cool cupcake shirt with her 1 birthday candle. Too bad we didn't get a better picture of the shirt.

Here's Em hanging out with Aunt Becky who came all othe way from Washington, DC to attend Em's birthday party and spend the whole weekend with her.

Here's Daddy living it up during the party clean-up.

All in all, the party was great. We had a house full of friends, family and adults and had a fun time catching up with everyone that we haven't seen in awhile. We hope we can have another fun party soon!

For more pictures from the party, click the Flickr box to the left of this post.

Happy Birthday to Emmelyn!

Dear Emmelyn,
Today you are one year old. It’s hard to believe that you have been with us for a whole year already. I know its cliché, but it sure has flown by! I don’t think anyone who has met you would doubt for a minute that you are the happiest baby I have ever met. You wake up every morning with a smile on your face and go to bed laughing every night. I can’t even keep track of the number of times a day you make me and your Daddy laugh. You certainly have an outgoing personality and are quite the comedian already.

We spend a lot of time together during the day while Daddy is at work. We like to go out shopping and try to meet Daddy for lunch at least once a week. I don’t think there has been one trip to town where someone didn’t make a comment about how beautiful, how cute, how funny or how happy you are. People are naturally drawn to you. I worry that this will go to your head in the future, but will do my best to teach you that beauty isn’t everything.

If speed-crawling were a sport, I think you would be the champion. You crawl as fast as you can all over the house and sometimes do laps just for fun. You can stand on your own and can even take a few steps, but still prefer to crawl and get where you are going quick. You are a daredevil already, climbing all over the furniture and your new chair. You’ve already learned to use your chair as a stepping stool to the big couch. You are constantly trying to dive headfirst off of the furniture and think that this is hilarious.

You are constantly on the move and definitely take after your father in this respect. You CANNOT sit still. Even if you are sitting, some part of your body is constantly moving. I knew we were in trouble when I was pregnant and you kicked me constantly. You wear me out each and every day, but I wouldn’t change you for the world.

Meal times with you are a delight. You eat almost anything we set in front of you, except, of course, milk from your sippy cup. This follows your long-standing refusal to use a bottle and may have you still breastfeeding at age 3. Let’s hope not! Your dinner last night consisted of a grilled cheese, pineapple, grapes, tangerines, black olives, fish and pickles. You eat like a champ and obviously take after me in your food preferences. You will eat olives or a pickle over anything else these days.

Last week you started part-time daycare. Upon dropping you off the first day, you immediately crawled away to play with your new friends. You complained when I picked you up to give you a kiss goodbye and went right back to exploring your new surroundings. You love going to visit your new friends and telling me about your day when I come to pick you up. Your ability to adjust to new surroundings so quickly tells me that you are going to love embarking on new experiences throughout your life and will do so with confidence. It makes me happy to know that I won’t ever have to worry about you.

I could go on and on with the letter because, to us, you are the greatest little person that ever was. Your father and I wake up each day happier because you are with us (even if it is 6:30 AM). We couldn’t imagine a day without you in our lives and love you more than you will ever know. Our goal in life is for you to know how much you are loved and we will never tire of finding new ways to show you!

Happy 1st Birthday Goose!



Love,
Mommy

One

I sat down to write this post and the first question I asked myself was "How on earth do you take the most incredible year of your life and sum it up in a blog post?" The answer is, you don't. It's absolutely impossible for me to express how lucky we are, so instead, I'll say "thanks."

Thanks to Em's Mommy for allowing her body to become a human pin cushion for a couple of years in order to prepare it to house the miracle that is our daughter. You smiled the entire time, even through the extremely difficult and trying times. You laughed at my jokes realizing that they were there only to mask the pain we were both dealing with, but we did it....you did it, and for that I am forever grateful.

Thanks to our families for their unconditional support. Without all of you there is no way that we could of done this or gotten through the first of many years with our little miracle. We understand at times what we were doing was a tough pill to swallow, but you smiled, gave us a hug and reminded us you would be along for the ride every step of the way. You came to our aid when we needed you to be there and have become a shining example of what we want our daughter to be. You will help continue to mold her and be an extremely important part of her life. If there is only one lesson that I took from my parents (don't worry Mom and Dad, I took several away) it is that family is top priority. Now that we have started our own, that means more now than it ever has and I thank you for teaching us that.

And of course, thanks to the most important piece of this puzzle, Emmelyn. I have said it a million times, you, my dear, have no idea how many people worked to get you here. You're everything we hoped you would be and so much more. People say I'm crazy, but I swear it and will believe it to the day I die, the second you were born you had an awkward smile on your face. No kidding, you literally came out smiling! I think you knew something that none of us did. You defied logic when God gave you to us, and we will never forget that...ever. You make every day a complete joy and brighten the lives of everyone you meet. You amaze us on a daily basis, you make us laugh, you make us love deeper and you bring us closer together. Thanks for coming into our lives and making us a "family."

Happy 1st Birthday Silly Goose! We Love You!!

Friends

Em had a play date this weekend with one of her best friends Mila. The girls haven't seen each other in a while so it was great to see them get reacquainted, and it didn't take very long until they were back into the swing of things!

Thanks to Mila's Daddy Zak, Mila's Mommy Ariel, and MQ for the great company, great food and all of the wonderful pictures!

Happy New Year!

May the New Year bring you blessings as great
as ours were in 2009!

Em's Very Merry Christmas

We can hardly believe that it is Emmelyn's first Christmas already! One day it feels like we have had her with us forever and other days it seems like the first day all over again. Em has had a pretty exciting Christmas and I'm almost embarrassed by the number of toys and gifts she has received this year. Of course, Em loves every one and has been busy skipping naps and playing for 2 days now.

Em was lucky enough to have her Grandma and Grandpa S. come to visit at the beginning to December and enjoyed Christmas with them during their visit. Great-Grandpa D., Great-Grandma D., Grandpa D., Grandma D. and Uncle Mike all came to spend Christmas Eve with us and to help celebrate Em's first Christmas.

Here is Em enjoying her brand new rocking horse made just for her by Great-Grandpa D.



We decided to do our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and allowed Em to open one gift that night before bed. Here is Em hanging out with Grandpa D. before dinner.



Enjoying her first Christmas dinner which tasted strangely just like her first Thanksgiving dinner...hmmmmm.



Em opening her first Christmas present from Uncle Mike.

Em helping Uncle Mike put together her Laugh and Learn playhouse before going to bed to wait for Santa to arrive.

Christmas morning finally arrived and we moved the playgate and let Em loose on the presents, most of which were for her, of course.

Here's Em posing with all of her presents before opening them.

Em was a little dazed and confused by all of the excitement.

After all of the excitement, Em was ready for a quick nap before lunch. Here she is cuddling with Great-Grandma D., Great-Grandpa D. and Grandma D.

After her nap, Em said goodbye to her grandparents who had to head home and spent the rest of the afternoon playing with all of her brand new toys. We are all very happy that we have the rest of the weekend to relax, play and enjoy each other's company!

Merry Christmas...

and Happy New Year!

Teeth Hurt!

So Em has four teeth across the top coming in all at the same time. All of them have broken through, but it seems to be a pretty painful process. But, she's been a trooper through the entire thing, not complaining too much, just the occasional cuddle with Mommy or Daddy usually gets her by. But the drooling is like you turned on the faucet! Here she is at the end of a long and rough day trying to sooth some discomfort, and the drool is pouring...

But it's hard for her not to smile for the camera, even if things aren't going her way...

She's tougher than me, that's for sure!