The wobbles and other cute stuff

Here is a quick little video of Miss E's walking skills. She is still pretty wobbly and it's just adorable.




Next up is a picture showing one of Emily's favorite things to do. Whenever she finds a bag with handles or a purse, she loves to put it on her arm and walk around. She gets excited and yells all the while- a lot of times she even walks to the door like she is ready to go out shopping or something. I think she is going to be a purse lover just like her mommy! This is Aunt Lydia's purse and I think it is just a little bit too big for her, don't you? I was surprised that she didn't try to get into it at all, she was just interested in carrying it around. (Please don't judge the flooring too much, this is the same stuff that my parents have had since the 70's and I know my mom would LOVE to get rid of it if she could! haha)


And lastly, I would like to submit this video as evidence that a little girl with lots of hair is not always fun (for her mommy at least, she seems to be enjoying it)

Baby Steals

I am not sure if everyone has heard of this website, but Baby Steals is like a treasure trove! Every weekday they have a different "steal". It is some baby related item that is usually at least 50% or more off the regular price.
I have only gotten one of the steals, but have been so tempted on others and have missed out on a lot too. They only have a certain number of the item available, and sometimes they sell out in minutes!
Every day at 11 am you have to race thousands of other mommies to see what the day's steal is and if it's a good one, hopefully you will be one of the lucky few who gets to purchase it!
I'm waiting for a cute style of robeeze to come back around, but you have to be super fast for those! "See" you at babysteals tomorrow!

The Zoo

Saturday, Emily and I met Grandpa at the Zoo. We got there right after it opened, and I definitely recommend getting there at this time, as it is so much less crowded and you can get better views of the animals. Not to mention it hasn't got as hot yet in the morning!

Other than the ride up, during which E absolutely screamed for the last 40 minutes (and probably would have continued indefinitely since she only stopped when we got parked) the day was great and Emily really got a lot out of the experience. She might not necessarily remember that she went to the zoo, but she had a good time in the moment!

We decided to only do one "side" of the zoo, which is broken into 2 areas- Africa and North America. The animals that we saw included zebras, giraffes, ostriches, elephants, red river hog, lions, chimps, gorillas, baboons, some type of monkey, flamingos and a scarlet ibis. Now there were a few other animals that were out, but they were either too far away for E to notice (the hippos and antelope) or just not really interesting enough to catch her attention (poison frogs and some other reptiles)

Her reactions to seeing each and every animal was pretty much the same- sometimes it would take her a while to realize that there was an animal we were pointing to, but as soon as she did, she just started squealing! She would also kick her legs (if she was being held) or pull herself up in the stroller.


She even waved at most of them :)


Here is the video I took of the gorillas, you can hear her squealing in the background. That was pretty toned down, because it was a minute or two after she had spotted them for the first time.






If you want to see pics of the actual animals and more of Emily, all the photos taken are on her photo website
www.swansonbaby.shutterfly.com
but here is a nice one to leave you with!


We also got a year-long family membership so we can see the rest of the animals and Daddy can come too!

Big News

We officially have a walker, and stay tuned for a review and pictures from our trip to the zoo!

Better watch what you say!

It might not be long before we have to start spelling things to each other that E shouldn't hear!

Last night she was playing in the kitchen and got a plastic bottle with Spike's treats in it. She was having a good time shaking it like a little maraca. Then I said "That's the kitty's food" and a minute later she had crawled over to his dish and was trying to shake some treats out of the top into it!
I swear she has never seen us feed him out of that container- poor bugger doesn't really get treats very often, haha.

I know she understands common things we say to her, like "do you want to read a book", "do you want to walk" and of course "where's the kitty!?", but I guess it was a little surprising to see her comprehend and act on something like that.

In other news... E has been wanting to play outside in the evenings after we get home from daycare. This playing generally entails me holding her hands while she walks all over the place and picks up sticks or investigates flowers and those oak pollen things.
Of course there is also playing with the dandelions!

Photos are already up

I was presently surprised to get find an email from Christy this morning saying that the pictures were ready to be viewed!
There are some cute ones, but as evidenced by one of the "action" shots, E was actually not in one of her best moods the morning of her photo shoot, so there aren't as many and variety as I was envisioning. Oh well, I am sure that I will spend more than enough money on just what is there!

So without further ado, here is how you can check out Christy's work:
www.christyjohnson.com , click on clients and enter the password, emily0409.
The gallery will be up for 2 weeks and for any family that wishes to purchase pictures, you are free to interact directly with Christy (email is on her site) and remember that she is offering us 50% off her print prices!
I hope you enjoy- let me know which ones you like best!

She's still a big girl!

E had her one year pediatrician visit on Thursday. She got all the recommended vaccinations and so far no adverse effects from that, although the Dr said that about 10% get a rash and fever approximately 10 days after the shot- so we still have that to look forward to...

The doctor said she looked great (other than a slight ear infection which she is taking antibiotics for) and we started giving her milk the day after the appointment. Right now it is half formula/half milk in her bottles, and she has taken straight milk out of her sippy just fine. I am not concerned at all about the transition to all milk- it's the dropping of bottles that I'm kind of wary of.

The doctor said- Oh it's simple- you just take all the bottles away and use sippy cups! ha! I tried dropping one yesterday by pushing her second bottle to about 2:00 (when she would normally be getting up from a nap at daycare) but 12:30 and 1:00 rolled around and she was NOT having it. A major fit ensued. I thought it was probably the bottle that had her so upset, but I was worried she wasn't feeling well or something, so I went ahead and made the bottle early. That did the trick though.

I guess technically I was a success yesterday, because she did only have 3 bottles rather than her usual 4, but I am worried that her being that needy of a bottle will disrupt nap time at daycare. Plus it is forshadowing a problem with getting completely get rid of them- yikes.

I got the idea last night- stupid or brilliant, we will see- to replace the nipple on the bottle with a sippy cup lid (yes, they are interchangeable b/c we have avent brand for both) to see if that will be enough to gradually get her tired of the bottle. Wish us luck!

Oh, and I almost forgot to update her stats (the whole reason for the post title!)
25 lbs 5 oz
30.5 in
don't remember the head circumference but it is about 89% while height and weight are about 92%.

Just a little sneak peek

We met Christy for a photo session again this weekend and she has put up a couple of pictures on her blog. Now I just have to wait another two weeks for the rest!
Enjoy! http://christyjohnson.com/blog/?p=226

Happy Birthday Emily!

One year... so cliche but so true, it really does fly by. After the LONGEST day in history on the day she was born, this year has been so short.

Her party was on the 4th (Saturday) and despite some issues, she seemed to have a blast!

So many different people to walk her around the house. TWO fingers is a must, she gets mad when you only offer her one...

She got great presents!



And had an awesome cake (If I do say so myself :-p )

Happy Birthday to our sweet n' sassy little girl!

Yakkety Yak!

E is in love with talking on the phone already. Her daddy and I just can't wait for the time to come when she spends her whole evening on the phone with girlfriends after spending all day with them at school... hmmm how do I know this?

At this age though, anything can be a phone. Your hand, a plastic bottle, even a graham cracker!