Happy Thanksgiving!

Since this was our first Thanksgiving, we decided to take the trip back to Grams and Pop's house.  Aunt Reagan, Papaw, and Aunt Doris (whom hadn't seen Emerson since he was born) completed the crew this year.  We missed Aunt Lane, Uncle Robert, and Ellington but we knew they were having fun in Brownsville with the Connerley clan.  We played around the house and then had a wonderful, delicious lunch that Emerson even enjoyed some of.  Afterwards, we did our what we're thankful for lists and since we can't remember it at the moment, we'll get it from Grams later and post it below.  Emerson was so excited that he did NOT want to take a nap.  He finally decided he was tired and slept a couple hours while Daddy went over to Papaws house with Aunt Doris and (later) Pop to try to clean out a few things.  Mommy and Emerson dropped by after waking from nap time to see how things were going.  After a little while, we came back to Grams and Pop's house to enjoy the tree and Christmas music which Grams and Aunt Reagan were working on.  Emerson even slept most of the way home.  

piano lessons with daddy

Walking and music, two of my favorite things

Meeting Great Great Aunt Doris...again  :)

On our tip toes watching it rain

Thanks Grams

Thanks Grams!  I love my drum you brought me from Burkina Faso.  It's awesome. 

Playing on a Friday morning

Either Emerson's telling us he needs a bath or his dirty clothes basket is too hard to resist playing in.

Lunch at the park

On Monday the weather was so nice that we decided to eat lunch at the park.  We went to Freedom Ridge Park here close to the house instead of our usual Friendship Park so we could actually get down and play on the ground.  Eating lunch wasn't as much fun as playing! 

Finishing our lunch with a little puff snack since we wouldn't eat much else

I push it Mommy

I come back now

I tired.  Ready to go home now.

What it took to finish breakfast

Apparently, Emerson gets bored while eating.  Today I finally broke down and turned the tv on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  It got him to finish though!

Sorry Emerson...

...But I had to use this.  One of my friends (Amy James) posted this on Facebook and I had to post it here for posterity. 

Do you want to have kids? Stop whatever you're doing right now & go to sleep. Sleep until you wake up & think, "I'd be ok never really sleeping again." Congrats, you are now ready to have a baby.

We love you Emerson but Mommy and Daddy also LOVE sleep, especially sleeping in on Saturdays.  You however have not learned the fine art of sleeping in yet.  You will one day, we know.  But for now, we love you but we miss our old friend.  You'll understand one day.  : 

 

11 Months

11 Months.  So close to a year.  Where has the time gone?   
You did not want to sit still for your pictures this month!  You are constantly on the move.  You're cruising all around!  Even walls aren't immune to you.  It's funny to see you pull yourself up at a wall and just walk along it.  We just keep waiting for you to take those first steps by yourself.  Standing up at then pushing your LeapFrog table around is a new favorite pastime.  You also like to stand up and push your toy basket around the living room.  Mommy and Daddy walk around with you and you just think it's the coolest thing ever to walk around the house.  You have gotten in the habit of crawling all over the house too.  One minute you'll be in your room, the next you're in the office.  Then, before we know it you're in our bedroom playing with the spring doorstop.
Anything you can get your hands on is a toy.  The records and the old cameras on our bookshelves are just too tempting for you.  We have to constantly watch you since you'll sneak into the office, crawl under the desk, and start flipping the switch on the surge protector.  You just love that light and the fact that you can turn it on and off.
Speaking of sneaking around...you love to sit beside a wall or something and look around it.  You like peekaboo in various forms, but you love to do this, especially with Daddy.  You'll hid somewhere then look around the corner at him and just smile and laugh.
You've got six teeth now; four in the top and two on the bottom.  You still love baby food and while you'll eat some finger foods, you're really not into eating too much off Mommy and Daddy's plates yet.  You're not quite sure about some of the textures we think.  You did steal a grape and start to eat it though.  An apple too.  You didn't make it too far before it lost your attention though.
You use a sippy cup on a limited basis.  We've had to buy you a straw cup.  You like it much better.
You're taking one nap a day and have been for a while now.  But we think you've forgotten how to sleep through the night!  You love to be rocked to sleep.  (Yes, Mommy is a bad Mommy and rocks you when she shouldn't.)  You've gotten to where you will fall back asleep on your own again, but at least once a night, you just can't do it.
Last but not least, you're talking!!  You can say mama, dada, baby, tickle, and we think we might have heard ball a couple times.  Yes, you can say tickle.  It's so cute too, especially right after you wake up and we're playing in your room before breakfast.  You'll be just playing with your toys and say tickle, tickle, tickle.  You'll even try to tickle Mommy and Daddy when you say it sometimes.  Yes, that right Emerson, we're teaching you the important words.  Who cares about food, or drink, or bath, or diaper, or even play.  Tickle is the most important thing you should know!  Mommy does think you've said (and signed) ball before.  You just haven't done it again lately.
You're very social in your kindermusik classes.  You love Ms Robin and Ms Mandy, but you've also gotten to where you'll go up to the other mothers (and grandmother) too.  Janae, Corland, and Samuel are your buddies.  But you'll play with the other girls too.
...And to close, the rest of the "good" shots we got before you decided you were completely 100% done...

      

Welcome home!

We missed you Grams!

Ciao to Sign & Sing

Today was our last Kindermusik Sign & Sing Session A class.  We had so much fun with Ms Robin!  One of our friends had to go to Georgia today, but everyone else was there.  Learning is never more fun than it is in our classes!  Today we got a few of our favorites out and refreshed our memories on the main signs we learned.  The turtle ball pit and bubble maker are huge hits.  We've got new songs and even some signs we can use in our Village class.  There's also a few we can teach our favorite nursery workers on Sunday.  Today was also delivery day for the can goods we collected, but Emerson decided he'd rather take a much needed nap.  Ms Robin is such a wonderful person and it is easy to see why she teaches at what she's turned into a top Kindermusik Maestro studio.  She may think that God blessed her, but we know that all the kids (and parents) that she's worked with through the years are truly blessed to know her.

Ms Robin, Tatum, Samuel, and Emerson cooking

Balls are fun, but Tatum didn't know about those boys!

Look at what I have!!

Bubbles!!

Bubble makers make everything better

Tatum and Emerson going after the balls

Got it Ms Robin!

I want to play with the balls again...

...we do too!