Emery {11 Months}

Our little sweetheart is almost ONE!!! It just doesn't seem possible... Everyone told me it would happen fast and I knew it would, but seriously, I just can't believe it.

It is pretty much impossible to get her to sit still for pictures now. We have approximately half a second before she takes off crawling toward something...usually the camera!

She truly is just our little bundle of joy. She is so much fun and really happy most of the time. I'm not sure if I should even dare to say this, but she's getting a little easier, too. I used to stress out any time we would go anywhere, but it really seems to be getting a little bit easier. {She'll probably make me eat those words next time we go somewhere...}

Emery was especially interested in her onesie sticker while we were taking these pictures. It was pretty much destroyed by the time we were done. She was *determined* to get that thing off!

One Month Update

Two Month Update
Three Month Update
Four Month Update
Five Month Update
Six Month Update
Seven Month Update
Eight Month Update
Nine Month Update
Ten Month Update

Here's what's been going on with Emery the last month.

- Our next appointment is a few days after her first birthday, but she had a little cold and ear infection this month, so we had to visit this month. She weighs 20 pounds and 8 ounces. They didn't measure her, but it really doesn't seem like she's grown much in length this month. I can't really tell in her clothes.

- All of her clothes are 6-12 months and 9-12 months. Some of the 6-12 month things are getting a little small, though. All of her pajamas are 12 months and she's still wearing a size 3 diaper.

- Emery is still on about the same schedule as last month. On typical days, she takes two naps and has about 2-1/2-3 hours of awake time between naps. The longest stretch of awake time is before bedtime and that's usually about 4-4-1/2 hours. As usual, her sleep is so unpredictable. Most naps are an hour or a little longer, but she had a few much shorter ones this month and some much longer! She even took a three hour nap one day! {I really wish I knew ahead of time when that was going to happen!} She usually gets up for the day between 6:30-7:00, but one day this month she slept until 8:30!! She goes to bed each night between 7:00-7:30. If we wait too long to go get her in the morning or after a nap, she'll throw her paci and her bunny out of her crib and start hollering for us. I can usually tell when she's done that because it's a different kind of holler. :)

- She had her first real sickness this month. She woke up one morning with a cough and some congestion and it didn't go away after doing everything our pediatrician recommended. So...we went to the doctor and she had an ear infection in one ear. Let me tell you, this sickness stuff was no joke. She absolutely *hated* having her nose suctioned and wiped off and she *refused* to take her medicine!! We were finally able to get it in her when we put it in her bottles, but we felt like it made her really cranky. Naps were awful for a while because she was coughing so much. But, we're finally done with the amoxicillin and she's pretty much back to her normal happy self!

- Being sick definitely messed with her appetite. There were several days that I would seriously dread feeding her because she was so fussy! There was definitely some fork throwing involved...from her, not me. ;) I think she's back to normal now, though. She's still taking 4 bottles a day {I'm getting seriously nervous about phasing them out...she's just not a fan of the sippy cup!} and eating three meals a day. She's still eating flavored oatmeal cereal for breakfast and usually some fresh fruit, too. For lunch and dinner, she usually has baby food and some fresh fruit along with some little bites of whatever we're eating. I've started giving her a sippy cup of water at each meal and she's doing a little better with it. She barely drinks anything at all and drops it on the floor nonstop, but she'll pick it up several times herself and take a little tiny sip. A few new things she's had this month are Ritz crackers, potato soup, beets, chicken salad, baked ziti, mandarin oranges, blueberries, cherries, peaches, bread, cheese, guacamole, quesadilla, strawberries, rice, and chicken. She's liked most of it, but if she doesn't like something, she sticks her tongue out of her mouth over and over again until she gets it all out. It's pretty hilarious! Her favorites definitely seem to be strawberries and cheese. She will eat cheese even if she refuses everything else!!

- Sometimes if Emery has already eaten, Daniel and I will eat in the living room and let her play on the floor. As soon as she sees us sit down with a plate, she is all over us wanting little bites of what we have. It's so weird because sometimes she's really apprehensive to try things when we're at the table and she's in her high chair, but she'll try almost anything when we're sitting in the living room.

Wanting to share Mommy's breakfast! :)

- Emery has four teeth now! Two on the bottom and two on the top. She loves it when we brush her teeth!

This was on one of her grumpy days...but it's the only picture I have where her top teeth show!

- She's super fast at crawling and is exploring everywhere! When she crawls on the hardwood floors, her hands make the cutest little pitter patter sound. Sometimes she gets going so fast that she loses traction and her legs and arms go straight out. It's pretty funny to watch!

- Her feet and neck are *super* ticklish and we can always get her to give us some belly laughs if we tickle her!

- She's started climbing up in our laps if we're sitting on the floor with her. We *love* it so much!! Of course, she doesn't stay long, but it's still super sweet.

First Valentine's Day gift from Daddy!

- She's still not walking, but she pulls up on everything and easily cruises around while she's holding onto things. She really likes to pull up on my leg while I'm getting ready in the bathroom or cooking in the kitchen. :) She's stood unsupported for just a few seconds a couple of times. {I'm NOT ready!!} She also uses her elephant bouncer/walker and has walked behind it for a little bit. She still *loves* bouncing on that elephant!

- Bath time is still something she loves and we've just started giving her baths in the big tub now. She loves the extra room to move around and play with her toys. She likes her bath toys, but she always wants to play with a wash cloth and holds onto it the whole time.

- When she's concentrating on something, she sticks her tongue out. It's pretty cute now, but I hope she outgrows that habit by the time she goes to school. ;)

- She's scared of things that make loud noises. She doesn't like when I vacuum or use the mixer and she used to always cry. She seems to be getting a little more used to it now. The oven timer beeping seems to scare her, too. The first time she really noticed it, she looked at me with this terrified look and crawled straight to me. <3

- Emery has started to cry a little bit when we hand her over to the ladies in our church nursery. It never lasts long, but it sure is hard to walk away from her when she's crying!

- She pretty much always has to have something in her hands to look at or play with...especially during diaper changes! We've also started giving her a spoon or little toy to hold while we feed her because she gets restless and tries to grab at everything!

- Something she just started in the last week or so is putting one or both of her arms above her head. So cute! :)

- She's pretty good and copying things we do...especially blowing raspberries. One of our recent trips to Publix was spent blowing raspberries back and forth to each other. People probably thought I was nuts, but I just love her little laughs and giggles! Daniel and I were both sick at some point this past month and every time she heard us blow our noses, she would blow a raspberry. It was hilarious!

- It really seems to fascinate her when I swiffer the floors. She'll follow me around the whole time I'm sweeping.

- It's amazing how much of what we say she understands! Just a few of the things she almost always responds to are: "Can you shake it?" "Can you take a drink of water?" "Will you eat it?" "Can you go get Wubby/Violet/the ball, etc...?" "Can you wave/clap?" "Can you kick your legs?" I'm working on teaching her to show where her nose is and how to blow kisses. {Can't wait for that one!}

- She is starting to get attached to the little bunny we put in her crib when she sleeps. She loves to play with it and sometimes she'll grab it before I pick her up out of her crib.

Holding on to her little bunny <3

- I don't think there are really any new words she's saying. She says "dada" a LOT and she can say "mama" but she doesn't say it nearly as often. It's so cute when she does it because somehow she ends up sticking out her tongue and "mama" turns into "blah blah". She says "uh" a lot for "uh-oh" but rarely says the "oh". Sometimes it's "uh-uh", but usually just "uh". I think she *might* say "buh" for book, but I'm really not sure.

- She *loves* playing with packages of baby wipes. I keep some in the kitchen to clean off her face and hands after she eats and she'll play with them for 15-20 minutes. She'll get it open and then just pull out all of the wipes. I put them back in, close it, and she does it again. It's actually pretty helpful while I'm cooking dinner because she stays in one spot. :)

- She's obsessed with my phone and if I ever leave it within her reach, she will find it immediately! She gets really smiley when I'm talking to Daniel and have him on speaker. She also laughs and gets excited when I use the voice commands to google something. For some reason, she seems to like the little beep sounds it makes.

- Sometimes we're in the living room and she'll decide she wants to crawl around the house exploring. If we want her to come back to us, all we have to do is make one of her toys make noise and she usually turns around and comes right back!

- She *loves* her Violet puppy and smiles so big every time Violet talks or sings. Emery will start clapping and dancing {bouncing up and down} as soon as music starts. She also claps whenever I do "Pat-a-cake" with her. "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" seems like it might be her new favorite song. One day I was looking for a new song to play for her since she loves music, and I found this one on YouTube. She watched the whole thing and danced and clapped the whole time! I love to watch her!!

- She really plays with all of her toys, but her favorite thing to play with are these stacking cups. I remember going back and forth several months ago on whether or not to buy them {Why? They were $3!}, and I'm so glad I did. They're usually the first thing she gets out of her toy basket each day. Her favorite thing is to bang two of them together, but she also likes it when we stack them up. She'll take each cup off one at a time. I feel like I can teach her a lot with them...colors, big/small, put in/take out, etc...

- She really has always been a pretty happy baby, but I really feel like she's getting even happier. These last couple of weeks, she's just been so smiley. She'll just be playing away giggling at who knows what and then she'll just turn and look at us with the biggest, sweetest smile {and the most precious little crinkled nose}. We love our little angel more than we could possible ever describe and are just so thankful that God blessed us with her 11 months ago. Now...we're going to soak in every second of this last month before we have a ONE year old!!