15 months.. and 17 weeks

Emmett turned 15 months old on August 16th 2012.

• He has changed so much since he turned 12 months. It is hard to remember the days where he still wasn't crawling! He is extremely mobile now. Not walking yet - but very close! He will take 3 or 4 steps at times but no more than that. We continue to try to encourage him and expect he will be walking shortly.
• Emmett can say many words now including duck, dog, book, mama, dada, no, yeah, ni-night, uh-oh, more, go, good, etc.
• He points to different objects in books and although he doesn't always get it right he tries! We are continually surprised by how many objects he does recognize. He still loves books and chooses what book he would like us to read to him.
• Emmett enjoys pushing around his wagon, musical piano walker, or his haul 'n ride truck. He also likes to crawl around holding on to his Little People. He still likes to play with his activity cube and musical table. Emmett also enjoys crawling under things like the kitchen table, chairs, his height chair and his activity mat.
• We are currently in the process of dropping his morning nap. He has been fighting a cold this week so he did have two naps today. However, it took him until 9pm to go to sleep - even though we put him down at 8. He babbled to himself for about an hour.
• Emmett is still going to daycare at the inhome that we have been at since April. He seems to really do well there and has (for the most part) been staying healthy. No ear infections, YAY! He plays with his friends, eats good food, takes good naps, gets to go outside and generally has a great time there from what we can tell.
• He eats any and all foods. In particular I would say he still really loves vegetables, especially peas and carrots. We are working on using a spoon and fork with much practice time needed. We have switched him to a bigger sippy cup without handles to try to keep him from throwing it on the floor. After much searching, we have landed on a more advanced version of the sippy cup he was using previously.
• Some cute things Emmett is now doing that we enjoy include laying down on the floor with his head on a pillow pretending he is going "ni-night", taking a big drink of milk and then saying "AH!" while smiling at us and waiting for our reaction, and leaning in for kisses! In particular one morning last week Emmett snuggled into bed with Mama and Dada after waking up and leaned in for a kiss from Mama, then Dada.. Mama, then Dada etc. He's a little sweetie.
• Emmett has a pretty full mouth of teeth now. He has just recently gotten all 4 of his first molars. Also all four front teeth on the top and bottom are now in. So, he has a total of 12 teeth!

In other news..

We are busy with one other thing lately.. getting ready for Emmett to become a big brother!! He doesn't quite understand the concept yet but can point to Mama's belly when we ask him where the Baby is. We have been looking for childcare for the baby since Becky currently does not have room for the baby but we are hopeful something might open up after the birth. I am currently 17 weeks along and find out the baby's gender in 3 weeks. We're really looking forward to this exciting event and to getting ready for our second child!

Walkin' with my Wagon

One of Emmett favorite new past times is walking around the downstairs with his wagon.

Of course this activity is helping to prepare him for walking on his own. We are currently working on encouraging standing to play, expanding his cruising ability, walking one handed and encouraging him to stand on his own or take a step towards something when standing in front of a wall or piece of furniture. It is crazy because he is doing something new all the time! Pretty soon he will be walking. :)

Catching Up!

I need to catch up on pictures.. Here are some from May, June, & July!

Laura & Dan's wedding in May..

My forever friends.. what a beautiful bride and beautiful day!



 Ready to hit the pool!

First Haircut - June 22nd @ Great Clips

After the 5k Run on the 4th of July (not pictured, Richard)

Hanging with Megan and Drew after the parade. They are wearing the same shirt!

First bike ride with Daddy

That was fun!

Being silly at home!

Standing all on his own! Only for a few seconds..

Finally Crawling!

We have been meeting with a physical therapist to get Emmett some help in the crawling department. Our first official therapy session (after two meetings of an assessment and a review) was on Tuesday June 11th. Ironically, the night before - Monday the 10th - Emmett started crawling! So, at almost 13 months is the age he decided he was finally going to figure this out! He had been getting up on his knees for about 2 weeks prior and rocking forward and back. He is also able to pull up onto his knees now. It won't be long until he is pulling up to standing. The therapist had given us several things to work on including getting in and out of hands and knees, rocking forward and back on knees, playing near a stool our couch to encourage him to pull up, etc. It may have been helpful,, or this may have just been his time.. or maybe it was a combination of both. Luckily, this later development (I was assured by the physical therapist) is no indication of him necessarily being behind in any sense later in life. But as his mother I do feel relieved that he has made this progress. I am proud of my little man!

Now he is getting into EVERYTHING! Tonight when I was getting him ready for bed he started crawling and I waited to see where he would go.. straight for the top of our stairs (right outside his bedroom door) of course! I was right there blocking them - but now I know how his mind works. :) He will leave no stone unturned. If he sees a spot of black lint on the carpet he will crawl to it and put it in his mouth. I know what people mean now by saying that we were lucky he wasn't crawling yet.. but I am still glad that he has made this progress. I can tell that he is really impressed with himself as well - and much happier to play alone.

Here are two videos from the evening he learned to crawl. Grandma Pat just happened to be in town for a conference and was enticing him with a rubber ducky she got in her lunch at the conference that day.

Now - on to walking!

Emmett's Birthday Party

Happy Birthday to Emmett!
We had a small celebration for his birthday. We stuck with an owl theme since Emmett still hasn't expressed any strong desire towards a theme of his own choosing. I made the cupcakes below with Aunt Katrina's and Grandma Pat's assistance.

We had a simple lunch of sandwiches, salads, etc. We were sure to include Emmett's favorite - pasta salad on the menu!

Rustin and I put together two small projects in preparation for the party. We hung his monthly owl photos in order on the mantle. We also put together a little slideshow of our baby boy's first year.

Not so sure about this hat Mom...

Enjoying his cake.. The poor guy was already SO tired by this point because of all of the excitement! It's tough turning 1 year old. He had a few bites of his cupcake. Not much of a fan. I would guess it is probably because I don't offer him things like cake, candy, etc.

Emmett received many gifts. One that he seems to enjoy so far is the "Haul 'n Ride" we got him. Ideally he would scoot around on it using his feet. So far we push him around on it. He could also walk behind it or use it to haul things around. We are hoping he will get a lot of use out of it in the future. :) I think he will. He likes to push the buttons to make it honk, etc.

After a long day of fun Emmett went down for a nap at 1:00pm and slept for 2+ hours. He's a good little sleeper... and a good little boy too! If you ask him if he is a good boy he will nod his head yes! It was wonderful to be surrounded by our close family. We missed Grandpa Nelson because he was at home fighting a cold! Next year he might be up for seeing more friends. Maybe we can even go to a park! :) We'll see..

Mother's Day

This is the note I received on my first Mother's day...

To Mommy:

On a day that is special and just for you, I wanted to let you know just how much I love you and how glad I am that you're my Mommy.
Not every Mommy took the time and effort to pump and feed me the milk that is best for me.
Not every Mommy was as patient and gentle taking me to the doctor time and time again for my many ear infections.
Not every Mommy had the foresight and compassion to pull me out of daycare and put me in a better situation.
Not every Mommy has the skill to make food as yummy as you do, and feed it to me to fill my belly.
Not every Mommy is as funny as you, and knows just what to do to make me smile and laugh.
Not every Mommy cares enough to make sure I am meeting all my developmental goals (I'll crawl & walk someday - I promise!).
Not every Mommy is as creative and crafty as you when it comes to making special "owl things" for me.
Not just any Mommy does ALL the wonderful things you do for me... and I'm glad you're mine!

PS - Dad thinks you're pretty cool too!

Love,
Emmett


What a wonderful husband I have. :)

I had a lovely day spent with my own Mother (and father husband and son) picking out (present from Rustin) and planting flowers in our yard. It was great to spend some quality time together.

Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers - 1 week late. :)

1 Year Old!

Our little boy is 1 year old. 1 year ago today we had been home with our new bundle of joy for 24 hours. I can hardly believe it. Mostly I cannot believe the amount of freedom I have with a 1 year old vs the amount of time and attention a newborn child requires. It is truly amazing. And I love my Big Boy! :)

• Emmett is quite mobile these days but still not truly "crawling". We actually had a specialist come to review his development and since he is delayed we will be working with a physical therapist to try to help him along. She gave us several exercises to work on. We are helping Emmett get on his knees and then rocking him forward and back; putting him on his knees to play near a stool or table to encourage him to pull up, and continuing to walk while holding his hands (which is his favorite thing!). She is confident he'll get moving at some point and be just fine. What a relief!
• Emmett now points at things. Tonight we asked him - Where's Mommy? and he pointed at me! It is so exciting to see that he is starting to express his understanding of things.
• While reading stories (one of his favorite things) Emmett likes to turn the pages on the books.
• At our one year appointment Emmett weighed in at 22 pounds 13oz (52nd percentile) and was 33 3/4" long (79th percentile).
• Emmett had a small and fun birthday party last weekend. All of the excitement really tired him out!
• I am extremely happy to report that the ENT has cleared our little guy. Rustin and I could not believe it when he said that the fluid behind his eardrums was going away and that he could tell a significant improvement from his prior visit. We do not have a follow-up even scheduled! I'd like to think it is because we removed him from daycare..
• He has been loving his new in-home daycare. Becky treats him really well and he enjoys playing with the kids and having outside time just about every day. It is great and we are lucky to have found this opportunity.
• We have some new teeth! Emmett has his 4 top teeth. They all appeared within the last month. Teething seems to be a little easier now than it was when he was a wee thing. A little tylenol and some loving is all he needs! :)
• Emmett's favorite game is peek-a-boo! He loves to play it with his hands, a towel, clothes, toys.. you name it! It's a lot of fun. He also likes to throw things. Anything he gets his hands on he typically throws it.. over and over.
• He also knows how to drink from his sippy cup now. However, I still hold it for him quite a bit because he tends to hit it on his tray and throw it a lot.. but overall he is doing a great job learning to use his sippy cup. He can also drink from his sippy cup with the straw and drink from a regular cup with help.

It is safe to say our first year with Emmett has been a success (he's still alive)! There have been many things we have learned. Most of all we have loved the heck out of this little creature we created. :) It has truly been amazing and it leaves me wondering what all lies ahead for us. The journey of parenthood is so fun and I wouldn't change it for the world. Makes me want to have another one.... someday. :)