Emma Claire, the One-Year-Old

This month it's been all about our little birthday girl! I shared the pumpkin patch party details on last Wednesday, and I'm back with some one year pictures I took.

If you told me last October/November that in a year, I'd have a sweet, chill one-year-old, I probably would not have believed you. Emma's reflux and ear infections in her first months of life had her screaming through the night. Not that she wasn't sweet back then....but chill? Nope. Not even a little.

And yet here we are.

We've not only survived, but we're having fun.





Emma crawled for a quick minute (basically just the month of July), and after that, she started walking: that's right folks, walking at 10 months old. She doesn't run away from me when we go to playgrounds, kids museums, etc., which is a huge relief because I pictured myself literally chasing Aiden & Emma around once she learned to walk. She nurses like a champ (and here are 7 things us nursing moms should know!), and she ate all my strange homemade baby food combos, like quinoa-spinach-apple. Plus, she loved LIFE when I gave in and bought store-bought baby foods like I mentioned here!

She follows Aiden around, and he LOVES her. He is thrilled when he wakes up in the morning before her, and he'll sprint to her room when she finally makes noise, saying "GOOD MORNING BABY GIRL." She says brrrrrm when she plays with his trucks, and they constantly battle it out practice taking turns with Aiden's "fancy chair." I was so, so relieved when my in-laws got Emma her own "fancy chair," as seen in the pictures. Finally, they could each have their own and maybe this would cut down on the it's my turn! she's in my seat! that's mine! waaaaaaahs.

Her first word was to our dog: stay! replete with a finger point at the dog that doesn't listen (to anyone but Devin.) There's no wondering what she's thinking, either: if she wants more spaghetti shoveled onto her tray, she lets out a squawk. If Aiden even STARTS to take away her toy, she lets out a squawk. Effective communication at high decibels! Haha.

Related: 4 birthday party themes for your baby girl

To all of you who have friends with babies & toddlers, this post is for you: a how-to for being friends with a toddler mom (sarcasm included).
I am so, so thankful God gave her to us!