Building a snowman....

via pictures and no witty text as I'm out of wit (if I ever even had it).....
Grant, Ryan, Reese and our neighbors got to work...

 A tinge of attitude?

11 months!

I'm still here.  It's just that blogging has fallen low on the never ending list of things to do....first of which lately is chasing Emerson all through the house....if you blink, go to the bathroom, turn your head, etc...she is halfway up the stairs or climbing precariously onto any piece of furniture in her sight.  We only have one set of baby gates located at the top of the stairs - everywhere else in the house, baby gates don't work well - either structurally or keeping Ryan and Reese from using them as jumping bars in an obstacle course (thus creating more harm than originally intended to avoid). Anyway, a long winded excuse as to why blogging is pretty much left to once-a-month updates.

With that, Ms. Emerson --- can not stress enough how it is bat-sh*t crazy to me that she will be turning one in a few short weeks.  The girl is standing and cruising all over the place...I don't expect any walking in the near future (both Ryan and Reese took their first actual steps right at their first birthdays), she's still a little timid when going between pieces of furniture.  We'll see what the next few weeks bring.

 One of her favorite spots is the landing near the stairs.....that is, when she isn't trying to climb the stairs.  The girls are great babysitters - when she starts heading up both will start yelling "baby emergency, baby emergency".

 Sleeping is getting better - fist bump to all.  While she might cry out once during the night, we ignore it and she's back to sleep within 5 minutes.  So lately (and please don't let me be jinxing it) she's down around 7pm, up between 6-6:30am.  Morning naps are usually (and I say 'usually' b/c she still needs to work on this) decent (if we stay home, otherwise, she is cat napping in the car all day) - roughly 9am to anywhere between 10am and 11am.

Her favorite 'toys' are items she should not be allowed to play with.  Remotes, iPhones (but only actual, working ones, she shuns my old decoy of a phone), chapsticks, knives from the dishwasher, my hot coffee, iPads.  

 The girl is still eating pretty darn well despite my parents' attempts to win her over with pastries, cookies, nachos and sweets.  Evil I tell you, just evil.

The girl could stare out the window all day long.  But only if you hold her.  Which is fun for about 30 seconds and then your right arm goes numb.  

 The fangs are no more as the two top choppers have made an appearance....so long Dracula.

 As far as dislikes....if your name starts with 'baby' and ends with 'sitter' - she pretty much hates you.  These poor girls in our neighborhood having to contend with a screaming baby the few (and I mean few) times we have actually been able to make it out of the house.

 Surprisingly the Christmas tree has been of little interest.  Hence it is still upright.

 In a nutshell, the girl rocks.

Outtakes

Two posts in one day....stop the madness!

It was about 70 degrees Saturday....we took advantage and attempted to grab some Christmas card photos with the ladies.  A few outtakes for you:
Grant seems to forget that Emerson and hair are inseparable....she can't resist.  Poor Reese.

 I thought, how cute if all three could hold hands and look like they were walking together...Grant set it up and then quickly tried to get out of the shot...

 Ryan and Emerson cooperated but my little stinkpot Reese dropped her hand within .3 seconds and down went baby....

 Tire swing fun...

 Practicing with lighting....my vampires are always good for letting me know when we need to move the shot.

 And the grand finale....drum roll please..  No photo should would be complete without a little crack.

 We shall see what the final product turns out like....

10 months

A lover of jokes, being outside, eating, playing with her sisters, pulling hair, cruising around furniture, pulling things off tables, breaking one of mom's cute ceramic pumpkins, racing you to the bathroom and trying to get to the toilet first before you put the seat down, baths, playing in (yes, in) the dishwasher, and climbing stairs at breakneck speed and giving mom a heart attack.  Not a lover of sleeping (still!!!!) or allowing her front two upper teeth to come in (the girl is sporting some awesome fangs....she can pull it off though).

But despite the lack of sleep, she is still one of the happiest little nuggets you ever did meet.

iPhone recap

Who would think keeping an on-line baby book (aka - a blog) up to date would be so hard?  But, alas, it has been awhile with no posts.  Here is the randomness that has been life the last few weeks.

We got the Reesers school pics back - or shall I say the proof card.  This cheapo mom never orders any actual photos, I just crop and blow up the proofs.  How cute is she?  

 Ryan had fire safety week awhile back at school and she came home with some goodies.  She also then got out her notebook and quizzed me on the safety exits and smoke detectors in our home.   There is a lot of my father in that girl.

 Ryan, Emerson and I took a nice long walk up to the Farmer's Market.....before leaving the house, Ryan asked me if I would pick out something 'festive' for her to wear.

 This little sh*t (said lovingly) won't take a real bottle, but throw a little watered down OJ in there and the girl showed us what a little scammer she is.

 Nothing more sad than a sick babe.....Reese was out of commission last week for a day with a fever...or "feber" if you ask her.

 She's turning into quite the jokester....always playing around

 Laughing at Reese...

 We have hit that lovely window of time where Ryan and Reese are old enough to be good while out to eat in a restaurant and Emerson is just young enough to sit through a meal as well.   I know the clock is ticking though, so we enjoy it while we can.....

 Reese is used to napping, this is what happens when she doesn't...

 Sunday morning outing with dad....

 Grandma should buy stock in Goodwill.....she is a professional shopper there and always finds the cutest things for the ladies....monkey costume was no exception.

 Ryan is my little artist....she chalked up our entire porch last week

 I'm on a healthy eating mission....I'll save that for another 'fun' post someday but seriously after watching my mom battle cancer, reading the books below (and then some) and watching a handful of documentaries on Netflix, I can never, ever go back to buying factory farmed meat in the supermarket, crap processed foods, or drive my kids through McDonalds (or the like) ever again.

My point above is that I reached out to a friend-of-a-friend whom I know has completely overhauled her family's eating (brought about by cancer scares) and now has a helluva garden, complete with chickens --- so while the Stiff's aren't going all Old-MacDonald on you, I do want to start my own vegetable garden next spring.  Reese, Emerson and I got a nice little tour and some great tips yesterday.

 And while I save my big PSA for another post (cue the eye-rolling from some members of my family), I beg of my 4 followers to do a little research of their own and either omit or drastically cut down on meat and dairy and really, really rev up your vegetable intake for the sake of all the precious little babes like these two.....let alone yourselves.

Okay, I'll step down off my soap box now.  That's what you get when I don't post for awhile, all sorts of opinions.....