Emma :: 12 months old

Emma James,

How in the world am I writing this post? One year old. You are 12 months sweet girl! This has been such a fun, joyful, and full year and we can't imagine our lives without you in it. You have such a sweet personality and light up the room with your huge eyes and smile.

This has been a huge month for you. You started walking! You will take many steps on your own. You aren't full time walking yet, but I really think you will be in a week or so. You will walk and when you fall down, you will crawl to pull up and walk again. You also talk. So much already. Since Hudson was a late talker this has been a huge surprise to me. You will try to repeat words we say constantly. You say "uh oh" all the time. You also say mama, dada, and yum. You tried to say birthday today and it was so cute. You hold up one finger when we ask you how old you are. You already communicate so much!

You still hate bows. This photo shoot took less than 2 minutes and you were distracted by the paci clip you were playing with so I was able to get a few pictures with a bow in your hair. I usually don't even bother with a bow.

You are still nursing one time a day. You have completely weaned yourself to this point. You nurse in the morning for less than a minute when you wake up. Because of this, we started giving you whole milk a few weeks ago. At first you did not like it at all. In fact you would take a sip and spit it out. Instead of just not drinking it because you didn't like it you would continue to sip it and spit it out. For a few days I blended it with a banana to sweeten it up and that helped. Now, you love milk. And as for that final nursing time in the mornings...I'm letting you decide when you are done. I've been either nursing and/or pregnant for over 3 years now and as ready as I am to not share my body with another baby I'm also letting you decide on this one.

You are still very much a mama's girl. You love being held and cuddling which I of course love. Hudson never was much of a cuddler and still isn't. You need to be held when you wake up. I love it so much. 

You love toys like your brother! You will play in the sunroom with trucks, blocks, balls, and Legos (this was pre-birthday and pre-lots of girl toys!) and be so content. You have also figured out how to stack several blocks and when you get 3 or 4 blocks you will say, "towa" which is how Hudson says tower. Oh, so I guess that's another word you are already saying. :) You love to push Hudson's cars around the house and your favorite toys that you got for your birthday are your push toy, baby stroller, dollhouse, and teddy bear. 

You love Oliver. You will roll around on the floor wrestling him and laugh so hard. He is so good and gentle with you and Hudson. You also love Oliver's water bowl and dog food. Ugh!

Emma James, we love you SO SO SO MUCH. Our hearts are so full and we are beyond blessed. We thank God every single day for you. Thank you for a wonderful, funny, challenging, exhausting, and beautiful year. 

Love,

Mommy

::12 month stats::

weight: will update after 12 month check up tomorrow

height: will update after 12 month check up tomorrow

eating: 3 meals a day and a few snacks

clothing: 6-12 months, 12 months, 6-9 months...you're all over the place!

diaper: size 3