Still here!!

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the blog lately. Things are very busy around here!! Emmie is just as sweet and precious as ever! She is still not walking completely, she will take a few steps and will stand by herself FOREVER, but just won't walk!! LOL
She is saying several words like baby, ball, ALL her cousins names (Ellie, Abram and Eli), she calls the dogs, Sylvi and Valley, and she says Thank You and Love You!! She is still so sweet and is just the most easy going baby I have ever been around!! She has done so much better with her ear tubes, no infections since she has had them. She is still battling a persistent cough for the last 2 months, which is now believed to have been/be pertussis or whooping cough!! She is being tested today for that and I am 100% sure that is what she has had for the last 2 months! Anyway, long story short, thankfully she didn't get hospitalized with it, as most babies her age, it can be fatal. If you want to know what it is, just read up on it and ALL the symptoms are EXACTLY what she has been going through for weeks now!! The media clips of what it sounds like, sounds EXACTLY like her!! It has been scary at times, hearing her coughing, can't breathe and throwing up with the coughing fits, but she is slowly getting better. Otherwise she is a healthy, happy baby!

We took her pictures yesterday at the airport in the airplane I am training in for our company Christmas cards so I thought I would post a few pictures.







And here she is giving her now-famous "cheese Smile" as I affectionately refer to it!! She will smile SOOOOO big when she is being silly and funny. It is so cute!!

Emmie's Birthday Parties

Here are some cute pictures of Emmie's little Birthday get-together we had at the Dream Park this weekend.

And here are the pictures from her Birthday Party at Tiny Tots. She has had a great Birthday WEEK!! :)

Emmie's First Year

Yesterday was Emmie's Birthday and we had a wonderful day. We didn't do anything spectacular, just enjoyed being with my sweet girl!! I managed to put together a slide show of her over the year and thought I would share it with you all.

She started out at 17 inches, 4 lbs. 2 oz and is now 28.5 inches and 17 lbs. 3 oz!!
She is so close to walking and stands by herself all the time. I am waiting for her to take off at any moment. She babbles all the time, has all 4 front teeth on top and her 2 middle bottom teeth. She is the most easy going, loveable, smiley baby I have ever been around. Even all the daycare workers and every other parent that sees her says she is such a happy baby ALL the time. Trust me, I KNOW I am blessed with her sweet personality and love on her every second I get!

She had a rough start in this world, but has made it this first year perfectly healthy overall and I am so thankful to have her in our lives. My life hasn't been the same since she got here and I wouldn't have it any other way!! Hope you all enjoy the pictures!!

Updates

I haven't posted in a while and wanted to give everyone some quick updates on everything that has been going on around here.

Let's see, first, Emmie turns ONE in just a few days and I can't even believe it!! I remember waiting in the hospital for my test results to see if I could go home or not and then, in walks the anesthesiologist with the scheduled C-Section time...CRAZY how fast it has gone by!! Anyway, I will post her "Birthday Tribute" closer to her birthday!!

Second, Paul opened the Restaurant last week and we did Great this weekend!! Sunday was literally people waiting for tables to be able to sit!! That's what we needed and hoped for and now we are just going to advertise and continue to grow!! I want to thank everyone for all the support we have gotten with this endeavour, it is something Paul has wanted to do for a while and I am so glad I could be the one to actually support him in making this happen. He deserves this and has truly earned it and I am so happy we got it open.

Emmie has surgery tomorrow to have tubes put in her ears. She has had an ear infection in her right ear for 3 weeks now and had a double infection in the middle of that time frame!! She has had 3 ear infections since moving home and 9 overall in her short year of life! So, we are very optimistic this will be a HUGE improvement with her not being so susceptible to getting them. So, I am very nervous about the actual surgery and her reaction/recovery from it. I have heard mixed reviews on how other children have done great and others have had a harder time recovering. Let's hope she does great!! I will post an update on that after tomorrow.

And lastly, I have started my flying lessons and am SUPER excited to be working on obtaining my Private Pilot's License!! I have to complete 40 hours of flight time, 10-15 solo flight time, a 2 hour flight test with the FAA, a written test and a medical exam. So, I now have 1 hour of logged flight time!! LOL I have a long way to go, but I am planning on 1-2 times per week and hope to be finished and able to fly by the end of the year!! Yesterday Abram said it was his "turn" to go flying with me...meaning he and Eli have been arguing over who gets to go up first with me! They are really excited to go flying and everyday ask "Can you take us flying yet". I keep trying to tell them it will be a little while before I can take them, but they haven't really understood that part, all they care about is me taking them flying!! So, as soon as I get my license, I will be flying around all over, I'm sure!!

I think that sums up most of our last few weeks. I will be posting Emmie's ONE year pictures soon and her birthday celebration fairly soon. Hope you al have a great Labor Day Weekend!!

Happy, Happy Baby!!

So, the other night Emmie and I were just hanging out playing and I took some random pictures just because she was so happy and content to play all by herself. She thought she was such a big girl to go into her toy box and get her toys out without any help. She was being too cute to resist!! Anyway, she has gotten to where she is teething like crazy and has a mouth FULL of teeth (7 to be exact!!) and getting new ones everyday. I call her my little puppy because she just tries to rip apart anything and everything she can get in her mouth!! She has a nice, brand new set of stacking blocks which are going to have to be replaced beacuse she has chewed so much on them and tore the paper off, I have had to throw away 2 of them! I know the pictures are horribly blurry, but they were taken with my Blackberry AND she is constantly on the move, but here she is with her sweet little smile...






Notice the little speck in her mouth...that's paper!! LOL

First Beach Trip!!

I am sorry I haven't posted in quite a while. I have been very busy at work, getting adjusted and settled into our home and life here. It has been a busy last few weeks, but we are all loving life back home!! I FINALLY got to take Emmie to the beach this past Saturday and she absolutely loved it! She is definitely going to be like her momma and be a beach bum! Anyway, Shonna, Caroline, Emmie and I went to Destin Saturday and got a few hours in before the storms started coming in. We had so much fun and I can't wait to go back! Emmie didn't even hesitate when we went to the water, she started kicking and laughing and playing instantly!!
You will have to excuse the quality of the pictures, I had forgotten my camera and took these with my Blackberry.



Here she is playing with Caroline's floaties (which she "eyed" the whole time Caroline wore them)...


And then she saw something sticking to her hand she thought was QUITE interesting...


So....what should she do with it??!!


OF COURSE, TASTE IT


And then she laughed and showed me...



And tried it AGAIN!!....LOL


Emmie and Caroline had fun playing together. Caroline was such a sweet girl, showing Emmie how to play in the sand.





It was a GREAT day spending time with Shonna and Caroline. When we got back we let Emmie and C play for a little while and they played dress up in their little ballerina outfits...TOO CUTE!!




Some pictures Shonna took with her camera