Random backlog of photos....

The title says it all…….
We attempted to do a cousin photo while Barb and her crew were in town…two outtakes for you:

 We're missing quite a few people….these were my 'testing the lighting' shots.

 The girls and snow…..they'd stay out there all day if they could.

 Eating it.  Obviously.

 We did some photo shoots for the girls' Valentine day cards to their classmates...

 Emerson's comparison shot….. 2 days old vs. 1 year old.

 Ryan likes to work out with me….it's a hoot.  Ignore the house mess, this was quite obviously one of a 1,000 snow days thus far.

 Wrestling.

 These two are getting so much better at playing together.  It used to be more fighting than playing, but slowly we are getting to the point of more playing than clawing each other to death.  But don't worry, a good fight happens each and every day.

 Grandpa and his littlest peeps:  Emerson and Elizabeth

And done.  For now.  

Emerson is 1!

Granted this post is about a month late.....but I don't think she'll mind.  What gift do you give your precious baby on the day you celebrate her first year of life?  Well, you get her the only gift that ensures she will always be the baby...  Snip, snip, hint, hint.  Not sure Grant realized Jan. 3rd was of dual importance when he scheduled his little 'appointment'.   Anywho, we spent Emerson's 1st birthday staying far away from daddy so he could rest up (and milk it for all it's worth).  The girl did at least get a cupcake.

A week later, when Barbara, Christopher and the newest addition to the Britt grandchildren, Elizabeth were in town, we had a little gathering.  

The child is a hoot.  Funny, sweet, tempermental, playful.   Sleeping is back on track and kicks ass now.  She's still my little hippie - veggie loving, soy drinking, tofu eating, breast fed baby (still going strong but I promise I won't be nursing her when she's heading off to pre-school).  While not officially a walker, she has definitely taken her first steps.  She'll start off walking but usually goes down to a crawl to get wherever she needs to be as fast as possible.

 Does she not look 16?

This video was taken a few weeks ago but I'm lazy and You Tube and I weren't seeing eye to eye so I finally just got this published...

Christmas roundup

Obviously I'm having a hard time keeping this blog up to date.....I have to remind myself that this is merely an online baby book for the girls to look back and enjoy years from now.  So with that, I will not fret about being funny or having amazing photos to share but instead document the everyday events of these girls' lives.  

 Emerson is all over the place (crawling and cruising furniture that is....walking hasn't happened yet) so prior to our new baby gate purchase, putting her in a box was a nice reprieve from chasing her up the stairs.

 Christmas morning....we have about 4 photos.  What kind of terrible parents are we?????  We'll tell ourselves we were wanting to soak up the moment vs. hiding behind the camera.  Sure, that was it.  Ryan got a new 'closet' for all her American Girl stuff - she organized that puppy for quite sometime.

 Reesers got one of those new balance bikes - we'll see how it pans out vs a traditional bike with training wheels this spring.

 Emerson really lucked out...the girl got tissues and wrapping paper.

 Uncle Johnny and his bud at Grandma's house.

 Grandpa starting a new 'drink a Stella on Christmas' tradition.

 I canvased the ladies as a gift for my folks.....you know, to ensure our #1 spot in the inheritance line.

 Grant got me the gift of knowledge since I'm always complaining that this period of time in my life is dumbing me down....there was a time (long before kids) where I would head up to Panera, buy a coffee and the Wall Street Journal and read the entire damn thing before heading home.   I knew my sh*t.  Now I feel I know all about Mickey, Minnie, Barbie and Dora.  So, imagine my surprise and elation at seeing a paper out on the driveway a few weeks ago.  Between the iPad version and the actual paper, I'd say I read at least 50% of the paper each day......helping to keep with one of my many resolutions this year.   I can't guarantee I will retain any of the information I have just read, but gosh darn it, I feel better about myself doing it.  

 And speaking of Barbie, her dreamhouse made it's appearance courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa.  The girls love it and considering we had an extended holiday break because of snow days, this puppy camped out in the family room for about a week helping to make the lonnnnggg days a little more tolerable.

 Nothing is more fun than trying to hide and keep the 1,001 tiny Barbie pieces out of Emerson's mouth.

And, as I continue to segue right along....speaking of Emerson, the little lady turned 1.  Holy mackerel how did that happen.  It deserves it's own post so I will have to return with that.....stay tuned.

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.