New House!

Well, it happened really quickly, and I realized that I haven't even told many people we had decided to try to buy a house in Charlotte.

We still haven't sold our house in Atlanta, but we looked into it and found out we were able to get pre-approved for a loan that wasn't contingent upon selling our house. With interest rates so low, we just felt like it didn't make sense not to take advantage of the market and buy now since we know we want to stay in this area. We also knew we could buy a house and have a mortgage payment that was less than our current rent.

We worked with the buyer's agent who helped us when we bought our first home almost 9 years ago. We knew the areas we loved, and had ruled out a lot of houses by driving through the neighborhoods because we wanted to make the search a little easier on Emily. The first day we went out, we looked at four houses and thought we found the one we wanted. The following weekend, we looked at it again and decided for sure. We made an offer, they counter offered, then we countered, and they came back with a price we agreed on, and it was done!

The house is just beautiful, and there isn't anything we don't love about it, but the kitchen might be my favorite part. It was a builder's model home and no one has ever lived in it.

It's actually right across the SC border, but about the same distance from everything as we are now, and a little closer to Emily's school, so it will shorten our commute by a few minutes.

We're supposed to close by the end of June!

Easter Bunny

We tried taking Emily to the mall yesterday to have her picture taken with the Easter Bunny, but she absolutely would not have it! She waved and pointed until we got right up to him, and then she got scared. She wouldn't let go of me, and when I sat her down by the bunny, she reached her arms up and started to cry--so the picture really just wouldn't have been worth it, but at least we tried. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure I blame her...that bunny was a little freaky looking.

So instead, we got her dressed up and took some pictures in the backyard as she was chasing bubbles. This was way better since everybody was happy the whole time.

Perfect Hips!

Monday afternoon was Emily's follow up appointment with Dr. Brighton, the orthopedic specialist. She enjoyed playing with the toys in the waiting room and running all over the office squealing until it was time for her to go in. Not surprisingly, the biggest challenge was getting her to stand still long enough for the x-ray!

The doctor said her hips look almost perfect! He said they will continue to improve as she grows, and he wants to see her back in 6 months for another follow up. Luckily, he had seen her walking on her own on the way to the x-ray room, because when he wanted her to walk in the exam room, she turned into a shy little girl who didn't want to show off.

We wonder now if the hip dysplasia would have resolved on its own if she had never worn the Pavlik harness--probably so, but better to be on the cautious side. That seems like such a lifetime ago now!

Early Easter

Although Easter is still several weeks away, our neighborhood had its annual Easter Egg Hunt today.

The weather was warm and sunny, so we walked down this afternoon, and Emily dove right in! They had crafts and snacks and temporary tattoos, but she was only interested in the eggs.

She didn't quite see the purpose of the basket we brought, but she did collect enough eggs to trade in for candy to give Mama and Daddy!

The Cow Says Moo...Milk!

We decided to wait until this weekend to let Emily try cow's milk since we were both going to be home. We mixed some milk with her bottle on Saturday morning, and she gulped it right down. All day long, we waited...expecting the worst---but mixed some milk with her formula each time she had a bottle, and she did great with it! No diarrhea and no fussiness at all.

So it looks like Emily can offically have dairy! We're thrilled, and we feel like this opens up a whole new world for her in the food department :). Now, giving up the bottle is going to be a little more difficult.

Ouch!

I picked Emily up from day care yesterday, and her teacher told me she had an uh-oh. One of her "friends" had bitten her thumb! I looked at Emily's right thumb, and there were definitely bite marks around her knuckle. It looked like she must have had her entire thumb in someone's mouth.

The teachers cleaned it, and I re-cleaned it when we got home, but it seems to be fine. We just hope this doesn't start happening often!

High Fives and Other Fun Games

One of Emily's cute new tricks over the past couple of weeks is high fiving with Mick. I really have to get a picture of it sometime!

She's a pro at peek-a-boo, and is great at pointing out our noses or mouths when we ask. I think she's trying hard to learn animal sounds--her Grandma Roper was here for the week this week, and they worked on meows, moos and quacks together.

She will imitate almost anything--she enjoys pretending to talk on the phone, and really likes filling and emptying containers now. Her grandma brought her a little fishing net and some floating toys for the bathtub (since she didn't have enough toys in there), and she fills the net over and over with as many sea creatures as she can squeeze in it!

Emily is turning into a very playful, spirited little girl so quickly!

Long Week!

This was a really long week for us. The company I work for has recently acquired a smaller company--we had employee meetings all week in different cities around the country, and I was asked to join our executive team on the corporate jet for the trip (I'm still trying to figure out how that happened!).

Sunday night, I flew to Philadelphia to meet up with the rest of the team, and we left early Monday morning to fly to Los Angeles, then Dallas, Charlotte and Philadelphia. The nice thing was that I did get to come home in the middle of the week for one night, so it broke up the trip a little. It was definitely a different experience to be traveling with the Presidents of our company, and was tough going back to airport security on the way home!

Doggies

I mentioned recently that one of Emily’s frequently-used words is “doggie,” and I think it’s because she’s so crazy about Gracie and Bella.

Bella is such a love hog that she’ll pretty much allow anything—Emily grabs her ears, her tail, her face, or anything else she can get her little hands on—and Bella just wags her tail and licks!

Gracie is still a little hesitant to jump right into the action, but she’s getting much braver. On Sunday, she was being very patient until Emily lost her balance and fell. I was in the middle of taking a couple of pictures of them, and just happened to catch this one as Gracie panicked.

Check out the ears in midair!

Big Girl Seat

We actually bought Emily's convertible carseat a couple of months ago after doing some research into which one we felt was best, but we waited until the week of her birthday to make the transition.

She had really outgrown the infant seat, but technically could still use it because she is still under 22 lbs.

A far cry from that little peanut we brought home from the hospital!

Her legs are long enough that she really had to scrunch them up when we put the convertible seat in the rear-facing position, so even though the recommendation is to leave a child rear-facing as long as possible, we went ahead and switched her.

She does seem a lot happier and more content facing forward--I have a little clip on mirror so I can see her well, and she likes to play peek-a-boo in the mirror when she thinks I'm looking at her.

Day of Doctors

All of our family left on Sunday, so on Monday, we had some time together to play with Emily's new birthday toys, and to squeeze in a couple of doctor visits.

First up was the dentist! I have read a lot about when to schedule the first dentist appointment, and since Emily has had teeth for about 6 months now, we felt like this was the right time. I did some research and found a pediatric dentist near us who had good reviews, and I liked the way her practice was designed to cater to children. She said Emily's little pearly whites were perfect, and her gums were swollen where more teeth are starting to break through. Emily left with two new toothbrushes--one that has a wide, triangular shaped handle that prevents the toothbrush from going down her throat if she were to fall while using it (since she likes to walk around while doing everything). Emily is usually pretty good about letting me brush her teeth though--she still tries to chew on the toothbrush a little, and does better when we sit on the floor in front of the mirror so she can watch herself. We've gotten into a better routine with brushing in the morning before we leave for school, and brushing at night before bed. We'll continue to go back every 6 months for checkups.

Later this afternoon, she had her 12 month checkup. She weighs 20.8 lbs (40th percentile), is 30 inches tall (75th percentile) and her head circumference is 17 3/4 (55th percentile). We decided to switch doctors after her last checkup (we didn't switch practices, just chose a different doctor in the practice). Dr. Downing had seen Emily twice--once when she was having the 10-day bout with diarrhea, and again with an ear infection, and we both really liked her. Emily seemed very comfortable; Dr. Downing was great with her, and really made a big deal over how happy and beautiful Emily was (always nice to hear!). There were things about the other doctor we just weren't happy with, and this visit was different. She said Emily was a perfect little girl, and her development was terrific. Emily, of course, showed off all of her tricks--she pranced around the exam room in her diaper, waved and blew kisses at the nurse, clapped her hands and was the model patient :).

Dr. Downing wants us to try whole milk now--she said that almost always, when babies have dairy allergies, they'll grow out of them. So she said to try it, and if she had a bad reaction, to wait 6 weeks or so and try it again. We decided to wait until the weekend to try it, just so we're able to stay with her and see exactly how she does with it. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Three shots this time--Hepatitis A, MMR (Measles, Mumps & Rubella), and PCV13, which protects against 13 types of pneumococcal bacteria. She cried for a minute, but calmed down quickly. We're always glad when that part is over! She'll go back again at 15 months.

12 Months Old: What's Happening

There's certainly a lot that's happened this month! Emily has decided she's completely finished with crawling, or any mode of transportation other than walking, for that matter. She's very confident and steady on her feet, and pops right back up if she happens to fall.

Her other motor skills are moving right along too. She's much more precise when she's pushing buttons on her toys or picking things up now--she can place toys or blocks in a container or take them out when you ask her to, and has really taken an interest in things like flowers and leaves.

Now that she's mastered walking, she's also been working on language a lot this month. Aside from da-da, which I guess you could argue wasn't a real first word (but we're counting it), she now says doggie when Gracie or Bella are around, and she says num-num (her version of yum-yum) when she's hungry. She says num-num a lot! She seems to say ma-ma when she's upset or very sleepy and wants to be cuddled, which is fine by me. I love that snuggle time with her.

We'll be working on weaning her off the bottle over the next few weeks, and she seems to be getting ready for it. Her appetite has increased, and there aren't many foods she doesn't like. Eggplant is a favorite now, and she still loves broccoli and most other veggies. While we still can't get her to eat bananas at home, she eats them at school. She does love applesauce, strawberries and seems to like oranges.

Emily of course had her first birthday party this month, and it was a nice long weekend with her family from both sides. She loved spending time with the world's greatest aunts!

She enjoyed her uncles too, but I don't seem to have gotten any pictures!

This has been a busy, eventful month. Emily is growing up so quickly, and we love watching her every step of the way.

Long Birthday Weekend

Since Emily's birthday fell on Saturday, we planned a long weekend with her--she stayed out of school on Friday and Monday, and all of our family was here by Friday. It was a gorgeous day outside, so we grilled out for lunch, and everyone had a chance to enjoy the fresh air.

We even thought about moving our birthday celebration to Friday because of the weather!

Both sets of Emily's grandparents were here on Friday, so they she had them all together for the first time, and loved all the attention.

By Saturday, it was rainy and much cooler, but since all of our plans were inside, it worked out okay.

I think the balloons were her favorite part of the day. We probably could have just given her a few balloons and she would have been perfectly content! Her Grandma Jackson had this sweet little dress made for her--but it was so chilly on Saturday that we had to add some layers.

I made some non-dairy birthday cupcakes for her to go along with our ladybug theme.

She was a little tentative at first with the icing,

but it didn't take her long to dive right in.

She surprised everyone by eating some chicken and broccoli after her birthday cupcake. Once she noticed the balloons on the back of her chair, the eating was all over though.

She had a much better time opening presents than she did at Christmas--she really got into tearing the paper.

She's so excited about her wagon! It's a little big to stay inside the house, but we can hardly wait to get outside to take it for a spin. There's even an extra seat for a friend (or for one of her cousins, who all three had a chance to try it out with her this weekend).

Her new car is just narrow enough to speed through our house with no problem, which is nice, since it's been raining nonstop since Saturday!

She even had a princess crown to wear! It stayed on just barely long enough for a couple of pictures.

Emily had a great birthday weekend--so unbelievable to think it's already been a year!

Swinging

We bought Emily a swing for the backyard as part of her birthday present, but have had it for about a month and didn't want to wait to put it up because the weather has been so nice. Mick built a frame for it, and got the swing up today. She loves it!

It was so sunny outside that Emily actually kept her hat on for once!

This is Why...

In case you're wondering why Emily never wears bows or flowers, it certainly isn't because they don't look adorable on her.

One reason is that her hair isn't quite long enough yet, but this is the real reason.

And she's so pleased with herself when she hands the bow back to me--she laughs hysterically!

Not Done Yet!

Emily decided she isn't quite finished playing with some of her infant toys. She spent quite a bit of time in this bouncy seat when she was just a few months old, and has recently rediscovered it.

Of course, she's way too big for this now, but it was funny watching her climb in this morning.

She loves when it makes ocean noises when she touches the fish or the seahorse.

Little Leprechaun

I found this cute little St. Patty's Day shirt for Emily, and she wore pink shoes to look a little more girly.

I can't wait until her hair is long enough to put a bow in--she always wears pants to school because it's just not a dress environment--and sometimes I feel like she just needs a little more touch of princess :).

Mini-Getaway

I had to be in Myrtle Beach for a meeting on Monday, so Mick decided to take the the day off, and we went down to the beach Sunday afternoon. We had forgotten about the time change, so we left a little later than we planned, but still got there in enough time to have lunch and walk along the beach and the boardwalk.

The weather was a little chilly, and the water was freezing, so Emily spent some time in the sand, but not in the ocean. She loved it, and entertained everyone on the beach, running back and forth between Mick and me.

We were a little surprised that she kept trying to eat the sand, even after she realized how gritty it was!

Being Silly

Emily loves to eat, and she's now even able to feed herself some with a spoon. Tonight, she was being especially silly, and ended up with more mashed potatoes on her head than in her tummy.

She is a constant source of entertainment!

Blowing Kisses

Every morning when I drop Emily off at day care, I always give her extra hugs and kisses (to last all day!), and then I blow her kisses and wave bye-bye to her as I'm leaving her classroom. She's always one of the first ones there, and really enjoys Ms. Cathy, the teacher who's there in the mornings. She is a floater who works in several of the classrooms, but is always the one Emily stays with until her regular teachers come in (usually the first 15-30 minutes of the day).

This morning, Emily blew kisses back to me as I was leaving! It was so sweet that I had to go back for more snuggles with her. She is such a morning person, and is all smiles when she gets to her class--knowing how happy she is makes it a little easier to take her in each day...but today, it was especially tough to leave her!