Beginning Shrimp Classes at the YMCA

Swimming class has been SO MUCH fun!! The first class that we were in, they wanted to do an underwater pass with Emily...where the instructor would take Emily and pass her to us by quickly putting her head first into the water and then lifting her out as she passed her to us. Emily was pretty much in shock. As soon as her head came out of the water, she blinked a bunch of times and then just started to cry. Luckily we brought her binky with us...such the lifesaver. Other than the "head under the water" passes, Emily loves swimming classes. As soon as we walk towards the pool, she starts kicking right away. It took us about five classes to get used to the under water pass and not cry.
This has been so much fun!!! I love all of the fun songs we sing as she learns to kick and paddle in the water. She loves it when she gets to sit on the edge of the pool and we sing songs like "Humpty Dumpty" or "I'm a Little Teapot" before the hop on in the pool. LOVE IT!!!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was a lot of fun. It was so beautiful outside, Craig and I decided to put Emily in the Bjorn and go for a walk to Mandalin Cafe. I have always wanted to try it out. The food was good, the weather was perfect, and we just had a great time together.

6 Month Pictures

6 Month Celebration

For Emily's 6 month celebration, family came over for some pizza and yummy cupcakes. NO...Emily did not eat the cupcake in front of her, instead she got to eat her first "sweet potatoes"...and she LOVED them!!

5 Months Old

Green Beans...Her First Vegetables

Mmm...Green Beans. This is one of those lessons where I have to teach Emily to do as I say, not as I do. I hate vegetables and I have always wondered how I would be able enforce my children eating them...when I don't. Well, "I'm the mom!" I love that I get to say that now.
With all joking aside, Emily actually loves all of her vegetables AND fruit. She hasn't shown any signs of being a picky eater yet.

A Visit With Santa

Emily's First Christmas

Emily's first Christmas. I was surprised at how much she was into it...granted, I know she had no idea what was going on, but she sure had fun with her packages. Everything from the boxes to the wrapping paper to the gifts inside...went straight into her mouth.

We had a lot of fun with family. Christmas Eve, Craig's family came over to celebrate as Craig cooked one heck of a feast. Once the house was empty, and Emily was in bed...Craig and I staged the Christmas tree to look like Santa had visited the house. Christmas morning, Emily woke up to all of the Christmas presents under the tree (Yea, it was more for Craig and I's sake...but still a lot of fun).
After opening our gifts, we all got dressed and ready to head over to my parent's house. Emily's cousins are always so excited to hang out with her. All of the Grandkids sat around Grandpa as he read the Christmas Story to them. Justin even got to hold Emily during the story...which he was so excited about. Afterwards, the kids opened up more gifts and then we enjoyed one of mom's delicious feasts.

SO MUCH FUN!!

Emily's Dedication

Emily Jolene was dedicated at Life Center on November 29th, 2009. We felt so blessed to have our family come and participate in this event. First of all...let's talk about the outfit...TOO CUTE!!! When I saw this outfit at Children's Place, I couldn't resist...the hat was just too adorable. When Pastor Dean held Emily up to the congregation, you could hear the "ooh's" and "aah's".
When holding Emily, Pastor reminded the congregation about Emily's story...how she shouldn't even be here according to our doctors. It didn't take long before I started to tear up. Dedicating my baby girl was something that I never got a chance to dream of. For four years, I was just consumed with the thoughts of becoming pregnant. As I was standing on the stage, reaching my hand out to my daughter as Pastor prayed over, I was just overwhelmed. I was so thankful for her life and for who she is going to become. I know that God has GREAT plans for her life and I can't wait to watch them unfold as she grows.

Halloween

Emily's first Halloween. We took a trip to the pumpkin patch, but as soon as we got out of the car...she made it very clear that she was not happy. We tried to get some cute pictures, but unfortunately we were only able to get one good one before she needed her binky. Towards the end, she was so unhappy that we left without even picking out a pumpkin. Oops!!
Isn't her Halloween costume the cutest?!? For Emily's first Halloween, she was dressed up a Tinkerbell. ADORABLE!! It even came with a wand/rattle. I love being a mom...and I love having a daughter!!

TUMMY TIME

From day one, Emily showed great neck strength...so she was thrilled to start "tummy time". I used the boppy to help her out...like all babies, she could only take a few minutes of it before she got frustrated and would start to whine until Mommy came to the rescue.

First Month Celebration

This was Emily's "One Month Celebration". Our families came over and we had some delicious pizza as Emily was handed around for everyone to hold and love on. I love this picture with her cousins. Justin held up bunny ears, and Connor (not understanding the bunny ears) held up three fingers, because Justin was holding up two. Boy...I just love those two.

11 Days Old

My beautiful daughter at 11 days old. Thank you Jessica for taking amazing pictures.