One of those mornings...

Dear Life,

It's been "one of those mornings" if you know what I mean. Miss E woke up on the semi-crabby, don't set me down, I don't know what I want or need side of things... but came around after we got a fresh diaper on and some food in her tummy. We did some playing and cuddling and book reading and at about 9:30 I decided it was nap time so she'd wake up in plenty of time to get to church by 11:00. She talked and babbled for awhile... and then her tune turned sour and got louder and louder... causing me to question the state of her diaper. Sure enough, she had a messy diaper... I changed it, cuddled her back up, gave her some kisses and love, and layed her back down for a nap. A very long ten minutes of hollaring later she gave in and went to sleep. At 10:15. So here I sit... completely ready for church, knowing full well that if I want to make it to church on time I'll have to wake my cranky-in-need-of-sleep babe up in 15 minutes.

It's just not going to happen.

So if she wakes up in time, great! We'll go to church. And if not... great! She'll have a nice long nap and wake up refreshed and ready for the rest of the day. Jordan is in Bismarck for a golf tournament this weekend, so he and I plan to listen to a sermon together tonight when he gets home tonight anyway. Definitely not a substitute for being at church... but in a pinch it will do.

I am cherishing the cuddles and playing and time together with E in a whole new way now that I'm gone in the mornings five days a week. I couldn't have even imagined how much I'd miss that sweet child of mine in four hours a day. And she is usually napping at least an hour of that time, maybe more! But I do miss her. And I also feel this little bit of release... the opportunity to give Jordan that time with his daughter and Emberly time with her dad... to use the education and learning and language that I studied... even in hopes that it will help me better teach my own children someday... and even to simply have adult conversations. So far, it feels like a good fit. Exhausting in a different way? Definitely. But still good.

Can I just say for one moment that I am still practicing how to choke out the words "one-year-old" in reference to my sweet child? She will be ONE. On Friday. Less than a week away. And she walks and communicates and has a sense of humor and loves to be outside and plays with toys all by herself. It is the strangest thing in the whole wide world to me. She has grown up before my very own eyes and I can hardly understand it. Strange.

Well... I'm off to finish a few dishes...

Molly

changes

Change #1 - I went back to work today after a perfect and glorious maternity leave of one week short of one year. It is bittersweet. I'm excited to be back at work doing something I really like... but I am also leaving the little one I love behind. I am comforted, however, by the fact that she gets to be home with her "da-da-da" and I just know they have all kinds of fun together. I am also loving the fact that I'm home by noon each day. Today the day flew by... and although I love mommy-land, sometimes I fear bedtime will never come!

Change #2 - Emberly is walking. Walking! I cannot even believe I'm saying that. In typical Emberly fashion, she doesn't usually attempt something until she's sure she'll master it... or so it seems. She didn't roll over until she was 8-ish months old... and once she did she started rolling and crawling and standing in the same week! Well... last Monday the 13th, she couldn't walk and hadn't even attempted one unassisted step. She didn't really even want us to hold onto her hands and walk with her (although she walked along the walls and cupboards and couch and such by herself.) We took her one-year pictures that day and she wouldn't even stand up in the yard unassisted. On Tuesday she started taking 5-10 unassisted steps on her own, and by Wednesday she was walking wherever she wanted to go, standing up in the middle of the floor when she fell down and going all over the place. Now she doesn't just walk... she full out speeds. We keep saying this... but this time I mean it... Our lives will never be the same!

It feels like there are other big changes in life right now too... but they're the kind of changes that don't have words... you know? :)

So I'm off to bed to get some rest before a full day of meetings tomorrow.

Molly

11 Things for 11 Months

Eleven things for Eleven Months

1. E is super curious. She manages to sit still just a little bit longer to really investigate something, read a story (or maybe two), or even have a momentary cuddle.

2. She signs "eat," "milk," "more," "shoes," "all done," and "baby." She also loves to show us how strong she is...

3. She understands a lot of what we say. She'll take something out of a bin and put it back in upon request, she'll feed herself food, feed someone else food, "give us love" (aka a hug), blow us a kiss, smell the flowers, point to the fan and light in every room, and probably a million other things we don't give her credit for...

4. She understands "no no" and often arches her back, throws her head back, and lets us know that she would really like to do it anyway!

5. She gets from place to place (or even room to room) by walking along the walls and other objects to help her along the way. She'll get down to crawl if there isn't anything to walk along side of.

6. She says "hi" to anything with two eyes. Babies. Children. Adults. Puppies. Insects. Birds. She thinks she's the official greeter at the grocery store, target, and along the bike path. She also thinks everyone is there just to see her and say hello.

7. She says "dada," "doggie," "duck," "tick-tock" (like the clock), "ah-done," "hi," "uh-oh," and all kinds of other gibberish. Her first words are all used correctly in context, except "uh-oh" also means "all done."

8. She is eating quite a bit more table food, but still eats some baby food if she's hungry enough and if we don't offer her anything else she finds interesting. :) Her favorites are buttered toast, frozen peas, bites of cheese, blueberries, grapes, and bits of bananas.

9. She loves all things outside. Crabbiness is instantly fixed the minute we walk out the door and she would spend hours crawling in the grass, listening to our chimes, looking for airplanes, and watching the birdies.

10. She says "oooo!" with the sweetest inflection of curiosity every time she sees something that peeks her interest. It seems to also communicate, "bring that here mom, I want to touch it and put it in my mouth!"

11. When people tell you that it goes soooo fast... they are not kidding. I am not sure how I ended up with an eleven month old. I can't even choke out the words "one-year-old" yet... I will not do it!    

Happy 3 Year Anniversary to us!

Dear Life,

Yesterday marked our wedding anniversary of three years, the one year anniversary of this blog, and 11 months of Emberly's life. Phew! It was a big day!

Emberly spent the day (and night!) with Grandma Margo (and Grandpa Juice once he got home from work). It was her first ever sleepover without mom and dad. I wasn't sure I would be able to enjoy myself... wondering how Miss Emberly was doing away from home... but I most definitely did. Jordan and I ate out (twice!) and got a massage in the afternoon, took a nap, did some picking up and putting away (is that lame?) watched a movie, played some Bananagrams, and just had an all around grand day. I picked Emberly up at 1:00 this afternoon and just laid her down for a nap a few minutes ago. Grandma must have played her out, because she fell asleep without a fight. :)

Now I am enjoying our delightfully clean house, the quiet of a sleeping baby, and searching into all things Blurb Books thanks to a recommendation from a friend's blog.

No other big news...

Sincerely Yours,
Molly