Thanksgiving Hotel

We had the most fabulous hotel room, thanks to Aunt Ann!! Emma and Daddy had fun with the chair, and Emma really enjoyed having two rooms to explore. Here's some video.

Thanksgiving!

Today I am Thankful For My...

Beautiful daughter
Supportive and loving husband
Wonderful family
Amazing "adopted" family and friends online
Challenging job
Inspiring clients and students
Secure home
Snuggly kitties
Delicious food
Warm clothes
God's Love!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving!

Our Fort

11 Months Old

Wow, where has the time gone? Is it possible that Emma will be a year old in 30 days? I can't really believe it. One year ago I was huge, enjoying the feeling of my baby girl growing inside of me and washing all her teeny-tiny clothing and today, I'm watching her walk around and talk to me, and putting her teeny-tiny clothing away in storage.

We weighed her naked this morning on the Wii, and she's a little over 19 1/2 pounds. She'll be 20 pounds by her one year mark, I'm sure. She's at or above 30 inches, and we went up to the next size car seat. Her old one is now in the basement crawl space, awaiting the next (if any) child.

She's walking with ease, doing some running, and very stable unless she's tired. She's eating more solids and her poo is more solid too. :) And she's "talking" more -- she's definitely said "Mommy" and "Dadda," "Kitty," and we've recently heard "Delilah" and "Hello." Daycare says that she'll say "All Done" and sign "all done" when she's finished eating. A few days ago she slept for 5 hours in a row at night without rousing -- hasn't done it since, but I expect we might once her first-year molars are through. She keeps working her back gums with her teethers, so likely anytime now.

Here's some pictures of Emma playing with the couch-cushion fort we built yesterday. Happy 11 months old, my baby girl!

Some Cool Things

First of all, Emma just absolutely *loves* her new blankie. Now that it's colder, we're using a lot more of her blankets. The blue one that Steph knitted is her blanket for daycare, the striped one that Grandma Miller crocheted is her bedtime blanket, and the new one that Grandma Maurine, Jen and Steph all made together is her new, favorite "I'm carrying it around and playing peek-a-book" blanket. I love that most of the blankets that we're using are hand-made. :) Awesome stuff!

Here's a video of her and her new blanket!






Second, I got a very neat email. Some of you know I've been serving on a Task Force for the American Psychological Association. It's a big deal, and initially I really couldn't do a good job because I was heavily pregnant and then had a newborn. But over the last few months I've really worked hard and done quite a few things that I felt contributed to the group. Yesterday evening I get an email from the current and upcoming President of APA and it reads something a bit like this....

"In consultation with APA President-Elect and the Project Team Chair, I selected you from an impressive list of nominees for the unique qualities you will bring to this task. "

The rest of the email describes the requirements of the position (e.g., 3-4 trips to DC in an 18-month period; it's a 3-year commitment, etc.). I've already said yes, it took about 2 minutes for me to think it through and run it by Joe. I know if we do get pregnant and have another baby that will throw a kink in those plans, but this is a HUGE career move for me. There are already several people in this group that are well-known and would be important people to know if I do eventually want to work on Capital Hill.

And hey -- if they think I have unique qualities, including the ability to add to the credibility of the group, who am I to tell them they're wrong! LOL.

Last, but not least, I'm SO proud of my baby girl. She's starting to talk up a storm, and is going through some sort of growth spurt where she's eating bigger and bigger meals. She's SO happy to see her Momma at the end of the day, and we're enjoying each other so much. I get the best cuddles and hugs right now. She looks to me for comfort and security. I just can't believe that she's almost a year old. Wow.

New Favorite Blankie

Thank you to Grandma Maurine, Jen and Steph for the *gorgeous* blanket! She already loves it so very much. I have a video to upload at some point soon.

Where's Emma?


Peek-a-boo!!

More Daddy Videos

Daddy's Videos

Here are a few videos Daddy took. He was trying to capture her new "grumble" that she does. She'll wander around, grumbling under her breath. It's absolutely adorable!

More 10-Month Videos

Here we have Emma, destroying a tower of blocks that Daddy built. :)




Emma having a good time with the leaves in the back yard (or rather, Daddy having fun putting leaves on Emma in the back yard).

Some 10 Month Pictures

This picture was taken this evening in our back yard, she had fun playing with the leaves.


And this was just the night before during play time in the basement -- I love the wild hair!

"Helping" Crochet

I'm trying to make Emma a sweater, and she was helping. :)

Scary Tiger