Emily is Walking!

Emily has been standing on her own for a few weeks and has taken a step here and there but today she walked several steps all afternoon. I've been trying to get her on video but of course when she sees the camera she comes crawling to me. But tonight I finally got her walking to the kitchen! I can't believe our baby girl is starting to walk.

This time a year ago I took this picture of her at 6 weeks old. I can't believe this was a year ago:

Why I Want a Pantry

Here are the top 3 reasons why I want a food pantry:

1

2

3

And if someone offers you a granola bar at our house don't eat one! Emily loves to shake them up and use them as rattles : )

Playing the Piano

Joe's mom is in town this week to stay with Joe's nephew Chaz while John is out of town on business so we had them over for dinner. Chaz plays the piano by picking out songs from hearing them so he played on our piano tonight. Emily enjoyed helping him!

Emily also enjoyed spending time with her Grandmama. She even took a couple of steps for her! She has been taking a step here and there over the last couple of weeks and tonight she did several times. She just doesn't do it enough for me to catch her on camera.

Smile for the camera

Emily definitely knows what the camera is for now. Today when I got it out to take a picture of her in an outfit that some friends gave her, she looked straight up at me and just smiled waiting for me to take the picture. It was hilarious! Emily is heading to the gym now to go for her workout : )

Emily watching Bud

Emily loves to watch Bud from the window when he's outside. As you can see Bud is howling in the background because he wants me to let him back in. He doesn't realize it, but it allows me to get a couple of things done while she is entertained watching him on the other side of the glass. Hey . . . sometimes you've got to take advantage of the opportunity!!!

13 Months Old

Emily is 13 months old today!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Emily is wearing red today in honor of Valentine's Day! The dress below is the second dress I have smocked for her. My whole family had a part in this dress. My sister cut it out and got it ready for me to smock, I smocked it, and then my mom finished putting the dress together. She will wear it for her 1 year portraits. I still haven't made an appointment for that yet because I'm waiting for her to start walking before I get the pictures taken.

Why I Work and What I Do

I found the below saying in a HallMark store one time and made my own little poster to put up at work. I found it today cleaning out a drawer on my desk at home. I love it! It's the only reason that I work. The Dilbert cartoon below that speaks volumes to me since I work for a software company. It's pretty funny. Enjoy!

If you are having trouble reading it here's what it says:
1. We still have too many software faults. We'll miss our ship date.
2. Move the list of faults to the "Future Development column" and ship it.
3. 90% of this job is figuring out what to call stuff.

Learning from a Pro

Our dog Bud has always enjoyed digging tissues out of the trash and tearing it up into little tiny pieces. It seems that he has taught Emily this little trick. She has enjoyed digging the tissues out of her trash can and tearing them up. I found her this morning having a great time. Bud got in on the action too and helped her tear up some of it.
I love this picture! It's like Bud is Emily's bodyguard and trying to scare the cameras away from the scene of the crime : )

Crazy Girl!

Emily was wired today. She was into everything. I was on the phone and noticed that she had gotten quiet. I found her in the bathroom with her hand in the toilet. Crazy child! Here's a picture I took of her today.
Joe got home late last night so she didn't get to see him yesterday. She got his picture off of the refrigerator and said "Dad-dy" over and over. She was very excited when he got home tonight. She has added more books that she likes to read and brought this one to Joe when he got home:

Favorite Book

Until recently Emily mainly liked to just pull all of her books off of the book shelf in her room and make a mess. I would try to look at some of the books with her and she would just crawl off and start playing with something else. But the last few weeks she has been drawn to one particular book called "Bright Baby Animals". She will go find it and come to me and I'll put her in my lap and we'll look at it together. It's just different pages of animals but apparently that is now her book of choice. I guess she is taking after me in my love of animals!! It has been fun to watch her go get the book and drag it over to me and attempt to get in my lap while she is holding the book. She enjoys flipping the pages after I've told her what each animal is. Fun times!!