Emme At 12 Months

It's hard to imagine life without this little girl. She's such a ray of sunshine in our lives, and we look forward to picking her out of her crib every morning. We love watching her learn and explore and grow every day. It's amazing how much Emme understands when we speak to her, and how much she remembers. It's like there's a little human in there who's wheels are spinning, and not just a baby anymore.

{Kisses for the bunny}

I never ended up finishing my story about why I decided to stop breastfeeding Emmeline. The short of it is, that I just had a strong feeling that I needed to, I can't tell you why. I knew from what I was pumping at work that Emme wasn't drinking 24 oz of milk per day (the recommended minimum amount). But it wasn't as if she was hungry -- it's just that she wasn't drinking enough.

So when we stopped nursing and began with the bottle, we discovered she preferred around 18 or 19 oz a day. It took us a while to work her up to 24, and we did that by slowly decreasing her solids until she drank more, and then increasing the solids again while keeping the milk steady.

As I explained this to our pediatrician at Emme's 1 year appointment, she nodded her head and listened. When I finished, she looked up at me and told me to trust those instincts, because they are good. She wheeled her stool over by me and showed me Emme's growth chart, which had a dip at around 9 months, but then shot back up again at 12 months.

So moving to formula was the right thing for Emme at that time, and she's doing great because of it! Her weight percentile is up, her height is way up, and her head is bigger than ever. Sigh.

Height - 70%
Weight - 15%
Head - 95%


Emmeline's Favorite Things:

• Giving hugs
• Blowing kisses and giving hi-fives
• Dancing -- she swings her arms around like she's hula hooping -- it's adorable
• Falling and bruising her forehead (is she top-heavy or something? seriously. it's ridiculous.)
• Riding in carts or strollers at the store
• Climbing up and down the stairs, and climbing down off of couches and beds all by herself (see below)
• Feeding Chris and I bits of food while we feed her
• Brushing my hair when I brush hers in the morning
• Mom's ipod (it lights up and sings when she shakes it, which sounds a lot like her toys, doesn't it?)
• Talking on the phone
• Putting things inside other things, and then taking them out, and then doing it again
  

{"Okay, mom, this photo shoot is officially over!"}

I can't believe how big my baby is getting! Makes me sad sometimes. Time flies so fast, we're trying hard to enjoy every minute. We love you, Emmeline, and we're so glad you're in our family. Happy birthday!

HP7

I got some awesome Harry Potter 7 tickets (from our friend Sam), to go see the movie at 8PM the night before it opened! And they were awesome! And the movie was awesome! (Can you tell I'm a Harry Potter fan?)

I took my brother Stu, my brother Brent and his wife Melissa. Chris isn't much for Harry Potter movies, so he got to babysit. We had a great time and can't wait for the next movie!

Practice

We did some practicing before Emme's first birthday and party. I practiced making the bundt cakes that we were serving for dessert, and Emme practiced eating them. We wanted the real deal on her birthday to be exciting, you know? Lots of handfuls of cake & hair full of frosting, etc.

Turns out the dry runs went great and the real deal was a flop. Oh, well. We tried!

The Beard

Chris grew a beard this fall. He first shaved it into a mustache, and then shaved it off. Attractive, no?


Why did he grow a beard? Oh, I don't know. "Because I've never grown a real-live beard before."

Which is funny, because I distinctly remember him growing one last fall and saying that he wasn't going to shave until the baby was born. So this post is for us all to remember that he did, in fact, grow a real-live beard once -- so that when he tries to grow one again next fall, I can persuade him otherwise.

Emme's Favorite Things

1. Watching TV -- she's a bonafide couch potato if there's a cartoon on. (A definite bonding agent for dad and Emme on Saturday mornings!)

{She's got the stance down, and everything.}

2. Pushing Things -- the latest trick is taking off our socks and putting them in this car of the animal train.

Then we push them all around the house, as fast as we can go! (It's results in quite a few bruises when the car gives out and we crash.) We also push anything and everything else that is pushable, including boxes, toys, our high chair, kitchen stools, garbage cans, etc.


3. Touching Things -- We love to touch mom's favorite painting on the fireplace. It has a baby on it, and we love to point at babies. We also love to open cupboards, which has resulted in some babyproofing latches.


4. The CO2 Monitor -- for some reason this darned CO2 monitor is oh-so-intriguing. We can't walk down the hall without stopping to pull it out of its plug and throw it on the ground, and then keep walking.

{Oh, and we won't let mom zip us back up after the morning diaper change because for some reason we prefer the Superman-cape-look. Go figure.}

5. Walking -- did I mention Emme is walking? I need to plug in the video camera and upload some proof. Stay tuned. :)

Cold

I got Emme up from her nap one day and she was a little cold. So we put on an extra layer, and I laid her down in the family room with her blanky to watch Mickey Mouse for a few minutes while I got dinner ready.

It was so cold that she didn't move an inch from that warm spot -- just stayed that way until dad came home from work. He walked in the door and laughed because it was so cute.


(And yes, that is a booger sucker that she's sucking on. Gross, I know -- but try telling her that!)

Ingrid Michaelson Concert

It's about time Michelley and I went to another concert, right? Just before Halloween, Michelle and I saw Ingrid Michaelson at In The Venue. To keep things positive, I'll talk about the concert first, and the venue last. :)

The Concert:
Guggenheim Grotto opened the show for Ingrid Michaelson. They were decent enough that I just might buy some of their music on iTunes. However, the show started late (see below), and then they played for over an hour. Hello -- you're openers! Keep it short & sweet so we can enjoy the main dish, please!


Michelley and I had a lovely view from the balcony.


When Ingrid Michaelson finally came out, the crowd went wild, of course. She was lively and witty and full of energy. Her voice is amazing and smooth. She played the guitar and the piano, and had two female backup singers to help fill the vocals on the favorite songs. It was amazing.


She had interesting stories and commentary in between numbers, and she kept everything super clean, which I loved.



My favorite number of the night was a song in which she used a loop on three of her microphones. She began singing a melody into one microphone, pressed a button with her toe, and moved to the next microphone. While the first melody repeated itself, she began singing a second over the top, and so on. It was one of the most amazing vocal performances I've ever heard. I wish you all could have been there!



The crowd.


Ingrid doing the splits. Seriously, that woman is hilarious.


I took a few videos, but this finale has got to be my favorite, because it shows her spunky personality. (Here is the original version of the song, for reference.) Can't wait to see her again in concert some day!

The Venue:
In The Venue has got to be the worst concert venue I've ever been to. It appears as though they purchased a warehouse, painted it all black, ushered twice as many people inside as should logically fit, and called it a concert. Aside from the fact that it took over an hour just to get everyone inside the venue (can we not figure out how to streamline this process, people?), and the concert started late as a result, there were tarps holding the roof closed in places. Towards the end of the concert Michelley and I actually got snowed on as it began to snow outside. Wonderful.

All in all, the night was redeemed by Ingrid Michaelson's performance, but in the future I will skip concerts held at this venue...unless of course they happen to be Brandi Carlile. (I'd follow her anywhere!)