No longer homeless

As of this past Wednesday afternoon, we are officially homeowners once again! We have been busy preparing the house for move-in day, which is tomorrow. There has been plenty of activity, with painters, appliance deliveries, and a few last minute fixes from the builder (small things like repouring part of the concrete driveway - !). We are looking forward to Sunday evening, when we can sit down, take a deep breath, and finally feel like we are home.

Emma has been dealing with a cold for the last two weeks, but we are hoping it's on its way out. She went to the doctor for her 2nd flu shot yesterday, and her ears and lungs were clear. She hasn't gained any weight in the past month, which shocks me considering how much she has been eating lately! That tells you how active she is these days.

I have been convinced that I have heard her say a few words over the last few weeks, even though some people think I'm just hearing things. Yesterday, Miss Sarah backed me up. Emma was standing near Laila's shoes, and she said "shoes" several times while looking at them. Well, actually it was more like "shusss....shusss" but it was definitely referring to Laila's shoes. We'll have to see if the trend continues. Regardless of whether she is saying words, she has been babbling like crazy lately!

Pictures next time, I promise...

Turkey Day

After two days in a row of Thanksgiving meals, we are sufficiently stuffed. We spent Thursday at Grandma & Grandpa Korey's house, where Emma played with Alex, chased the dog, and had Great Uncle Tom teach her how to take golf balls out of the huge baskets full at G & G's house. (I'm sure Grandma & Grandpa will thank him for that after the next time we are there, when she will surely take out at least a hundred and roll them all around on the floor!)

Friday brought a second meal, this time with the Hill side of the family. We somehow managed to fit 20 people in Grandma & Grandpa H's house, and with 4 meats and 11 desserts, we all ate more than our fill!

Emma wasn't crazy about the turkey, but she was way into the cranberries. We may have to bring them out again at Christmas time, so that she can have another helping.

On the house front, we have our final walkthrough and closing this coming Wednesday, and we should be all moved in by next Saturday afternoon. It's so nice to think about this long journey finally nearing completion!

I'm ready for my close-up

Well, today's 12-month photography session went alot better than the 6-month one(s). We got some really great shots, and bought more than we had planned, as usual. At this studio, if you order enough pictures, you get a CD of every shot the photographer took. The ones posted here are shots we did not buy in print, but I thought it would be fun to share some of the ones from the CD that might not otherwise be seen.

Emma didn't want to take her thumb out of her mouth towards the end, as they were running behind and we were nearing her afternoon nap time. But she was a trooper and hung in till the end.

Not much in the way of exciting news this week, which is okay. We could use a week without any major excitement once in awhile! Emma continues to eat like a horse, and has finally come around to liking bananas. I figured she would eventually. Blueberries, goldfish crackers, and cheese are all still high on the favorite foods list as well.

We're getting ready to see lots of family next week over the Thanksgiving holiday. For those of you that are traveling out of town, be safe!

We finally have a yard!

What a busy weekend we have had! Saturday's errands included the usual trip out to the new house. The only major thing left is the refrigerator. Since last week, they have installed all of the carpeting, finished the railing, and done all of the landscaping for the 5 houses in a row on our side of the street. Click here* for all of the pictures we took on Saturday.

*link now fixed

Today was Alex's baptism ceremony. We went to Uncle Mike & Aunt Heather's church for the service, and then back to their house for lunch and a little celebration. It was a very nice ceremony, and we got to spend some enjoyable time with family and friends.

Hi, kitty!

Sometimes it's unbelievable how much goes on in just a few days. No huge developments to post about, but lots of little ones!

First of all, the picture above is Emma checking out Ralph the cat. (You can barely see him just to the right of Emma's right hand.) She gets so excited when she sees animals! I wish I had video of this moment because she was standing at the window, just babbling away like she was having a conversation with the kitty. We visited Grandma & Grandpa K over the weekend, and she was equally excited to see Fred, their dog. I think she could have spent hours on end chasing the poor guy!

She's not walking yet, but she is cruising along on just about anything within reach. If you can get her standing and focused on something else, sometimes you can let go and she will stand for a few seconds all by herself. Dr. Dewling may not have been wrong after all when she predicted that Emma would be walking by Thanksgiving.

Over the past few days, our picky eater has turned into a bottomless pit! I think she has eaten more in the last 3 days than she did in the entire month of October! I think switching from formula to milk increased her appetite because it's not as filling. She seems to be a fruit and veggie girl lately, although she is crazy about plain Goldfish crackers too. She gets a kick out of eating with a fork. She hasn't mastered the skill of spearing the food with the fork, but she knows how to eat the food off of it.

The new house is almost ready. Our final walk-though is scheduled for 2 weeks from today. As of last weekend, the only big things missing were the carpeting, one of the railings, and the refrigerator. It also looked like they were getting ready to lay the sod sometime soon.

This weekend we will be celebrating Alex's baptism. We can't believe how quickly time flies. He is already over 6 months old!

Trick or treat

Emma went trick-or-treating for the first time last night. There weren't many houses giving out candy on our street (four, including Grandma & Grandpa H), so it didn't take very long. But it was just enough to give Emma a taste of what she can look forward to in the coming years. She seemed to enjoy being dressed up in her cow costume.

Click here to see more Halloween pictures.