Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends. Emily is doing great...growing, talking, and making us laugh ALOT!

We went for our annual xmas pictures and brought along a great book that Auntie Keira bought her for as a gift "The Spirit of Christmas". Its a wonderful story about the true meaning of xmas...the kids!

I can't wait for tomorrow morning when she wakes up and sees all the presents under the tree from Santa!

Resurrecting The Blog!!

Its been too long since my last post...When Emily is older, she might ask "Mom, what happened to 2010?" All I can say is, being a mom is BUSY! Being a busy mom and working outside the home is CRAZY! And being a busy mom, working outside the home and traveling for work?!?!? Well thats just insane. But excuses behind, I'm here to add a post for 2010 with all the wonderful things we did.

We finally had the chance for our family in Texas to meet Emily! We had a great trip and even with a 3-flight trip home due to the DC airport being shut down, Emily did fantastic.





Emily turned 1! We hosted our first birthday party and the weather was fantastic. Our new family room was the perfect extra space we needed for all our family and friends to gather at our house for the celebration. Emily took her first steps the very next day-just two days shy of her actual birthday.



My work trip to Paris turned into a wonderful family vacation to France! Shawn and Emily tagged along and had a great time exploring the city while mum worked. I had a day or 2 for fun too. Once again, our lil traveler did great on the plane and around the city...such an easy going kid!


Summer was filled with fun activities with family and friends. Auntie Keira and the cousins came up for a visit and boy did they have fun now that Emily is big enough to run and play with them. We also had fun at our annual Gove Family Reunion with all the extended family cousins and our first overnight in a tent (well, the tent part wasn't fun for me but....). Emily was the flower girl in Uncle Matt and Auntie Stef's wedding and she did great!


September came (and went!) but not without a week's staycation for our wedding anniversary. We took Emily to NYC for the first time and also went out to Cape Cod for an overnight trip. We had a great time.


I think that just about brings us up-to-date! Emily is walking and talking, running and climbing. She is full of wonder and exploring and learning the world every day. The weather is getting colder, the leaves are changing, and its time to prepare for the wonderful family holidays in November and December.

Emily's First Snow Storm

Today was the first snow storm of the winter and the first snow storm ever for Emily! We got all suited up in our snowsuit (thanks to aunt aud!), boots, hat, and mittens. Daddy and the dogs had fun jumping in the 17 inches of fresh snow. Thats ALOT for where we live! Once Daddy had cleared a nice path, Emily and I had to go out.



First we put on our snowpants...she didn't mind that so much and actually thought it was a little fun.


Then we added the coat...not so much fun after all she is thinking



I think she was in a bit of shock at first, just sort of stood there



Picture with Daddy!



We propped her up on the big snow wall lining the walkway.


Then she decided it actually wasn't fun at all! Maybe she'll like it the next time we go out :)

We have a CRAWLER!

Emily has been so close to crawling the last couple of weeks. On Thursday (12/3 - just shy of 9 mos old) she finally took that leap of faith and got up on both knees! That of course turned into a little hop forward and the rest is history :) She is still really slow and only goes a few hops forward until she goes back into a sitting position.

It is SO exciting to watch your baby meet these important milestones but every step forward reminds me how fast time goes by. She hasn't even been in the outside world as long as I was pregnant and yet we've seen her change and grow and become this little person in just 8/9 short months.

As I sit here updated our blog she is feeding herself her own bottle and chatting away...life is good

First Thanksgiving

We just celebrated Emily's first Thanksgiving! This is my favorite holiday and I was very excited to be sharing it with her this year. My big plan...nap the baby late so she makes it to a late afternoon nap so she can eat Turkey with us! Well, it worked but she was REALLY tired once I finally put her down at 3.








This girl is one silly baby! She loves to laugh!!







Then it was time for Daddy's favorite part of Thanksgiving...Cowboys Game! So Emily suited up in her cheerleading outfit to cheer on the team. She has recently learned how to clap which came in handy that day :)



We went up to New Hampshire to my aunt's house for the Gove Family Thanksgiving on Friday and spent the rest of the weekend practicing how to crawl. I know we're going to regret encouraging this so much but she's ALMOST THERE!!

Crawling is next on the list!

Wow, I just looked back and saw my last post was in June when Emily rolled over for the first time. I thought timing (although delayed) is perfect because I just took a video of her trying to crawl!

She is a busy girl these days and really ready to go. As with every milestone we are so excited to watch her master this new step, but it also comes with a little sadness that she isn't that little infant we brought home only 8 months ago. When people say it goes by fast - they mean it!

Red Rover, Red Rover, Let Emily ROLL OVER

I can't believe it, our little one rolled over yesterday. This last month (b/w 3-4 mos old) has been filled with lots of excitement. She seems to have changed from a little infant into a baby. In a way it feels like she just arrived yesterday - its only been 3 1/2 short months since we welcomed her to the family and yet I can't imagine life without her. For the first month or so she wasn't awake more than a few minutes to eat, get a change, and go back to sleep. Not enough time for me to really soak in all of her features. I remember looking at her feet last month and thinking....wow, what great feet! I never really looked at them during those early weeks. Times have changed! Not only is she awake for longer, but when she is awake its wonderfully interactive. She smiles and babbles at us and loves to have "conversations". She laughs at the dogs when they make all that noise (that I can't stand!). And she loves to examine my fingers - it could keep her busy for awhile just grasping each finger, one at a time, and really looking at it. In fact, I now realize why people buy all those infant playcenters and exersaucers and bouncies - she really only likes one activity for 15 mins and then needs something new!

Yesterday on her playmat she was really lifting her bottom and shifting it over her leg. SOOO close to rolling over. Of course that pesky arm kept getting in her way :) The first video is long and shows her trying...and trying...and trying to get all the way over. The second video starts as she is "stuck" up on her side and then how she figures out to move that arm and complete her rollover. Watch out world - Here comes Emily!