M.I.A.

Being the proud mommy of an active, mobile baby boy makes it hard to keep up on blogging! But I'm determined to! I just printed out a hardcover book of every blog post I've ever written and it is SO cool. It's like 150 pages and comes complete with a table of contents in the front. It will always be one of my most treasured possessions. ...SO after thumbing through every page and being very proud, I decided I have to make sure I continue to do it regularly!
To catch you up to speed on MY life now - basically I chill with my main man all day, have gotten really into fitness classes at the gym, and cap off my nights by watching Mad Men. I even wake up at 5:15 am to go to cycling class! If you know me, you know how revolutionary this is! haha. It's nice fitting it in before Jared even leaves to school for the day, because otherwise he comes home at night and I leave to the gym for a couple hours, and we end up not spending any time together.
It feels good because for the first time I'm not obsessed with shedding poundage, I just enjoy it. It makes me feel good, it's my social outlet, and I pretty much just want to feel fit. It's liberating having a mindset like that instead of obsessing over getting those 5 pounds to come off (Not that I don't want them to). If they happen to come off along the way, then bonus!
I've been trying lots of new recipes for dinner, and trying to bake less now that the holidays are over. I miss it already!
This past weekend we went up to Rexburg and got to spend time with the Ericksons. Scott and Kristen's family (Jareds sister) just moved back from Virginia, where they've been for a little over a year, so it was a ton of fun having them around again. We played Dance Central on Wii til we dropped (literally, it was about 12:50 am)! Emmett loved being "babysat" by Kayt and Ella all weekend! He also went on his first sled ride, which consisted of him being pulled about five feet, and making a concerned face as if he wasnt too sure about it.

Jareds just slavin away over the textbooks as usual, and keeping an eye out for internships this summer. I'm keeping my fingers crossed he finds a good one locally because I really don't want to move, and have been so looking forward to living down the street from the community pool, and walking there with friends and our babies!

That about catches you up to speed. You can expect to be hearing from me a lot more often now that the holiday season is officially over! PS Christmas post is coming soon!

9 Months (or ONE YEAR OLD!!!)

My little Emski hit his one year BIRTHday last week on January 12th (But for all intents and purposes I am still keeping track of his development at a 9 month old). I CANNOT believe it. There's no way that crazy, emotional, scary, wonderful dream of a day (or should i say few months) was a YEAR ago. Insane. I must have stepped into some time-space continuum or something.
I've always known Emmett was a miracle, but it was so cool when I took him for his year old well check yesterday. His pediatrician was blown away. He hadn't seen Emmett in a few months, and he kept saying, "This is Amazing."
I asked, "Do Preemie's not normally catch up so fast like this?"
And he answered emphatically, "No, quite honestly this is astounding. I've never seen anything like it before."
He kept chuckling with disbelief at the smart little chunker sitting in front of him and couldn't get over how his growth chart just skyrockets STRAIGHT up.
Emmett is indeed a miracle in every way, shape, and form and will always be considered to be my greatest gift in life.

Here's some things he's doing now:

• Has 4 teeth! The ones are top are the two vampire ones. lol. And on the bottom he has the middle two.
• Talking up a storm (Dada, Mama, Baba) and all other forms of babble and inflection. He loves to play mimic-ing games
• He's a "singer". He loves to do his babble in high pitched yowls that sound like he's yodeling
• Wearing 12 month clothes
• Sometimes sleeps through the night, sometimes wakes up around 6 for a few sips (still co-sleeping with us, but we're going to start transitioning him now)
• Rolls over in his sleep til he's up against me or Jared, then snuggles in.
• His new favorite game is for me to place his toy basket in front of him, and he entertains himself for  half an hour taking one toy out and a time. Then I fill it up again, and he grabs the basket and repeats.
• Loves bathtime
• Can hold himself standing for long periods of time when he holds onto something
• Still moving around mostly by pivoting, rolling, and army crawling. But starting to rock on hands and knees. I think he's going to start really crawling soon.
• Has decided baby food is beneath him. He turns his nose up and shakes his head no at it. He only wants finger foods or "big people" food now.
• Loves to be around other little kids and he really plays with them. It's so cute!
• Loves shopping in the shopping cart (but he's only allowed to with the cart cover) haha.

He's growing up so fast, and I'm so happy to be home with him and see every single little development in his personality and skills. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!

...And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care

I had so much fun designing Christmas stockings for our family this year! Sherri helped me make them over Thanksgiving break, and they turned out so cute. I wanted them to kind of have a retro theme, yet each have a little bit of our individual personalities. Here they are!

 All of the stockings are lined with the coordinating striped fabric of the toe on the inside

I love how huge they are! You can stuff DVDs, Books, all kinds of cool stuff in there!

I alternated them so they will hang green ,red, green, etc on the fireplace. I am already excited for when I get to make the next stocking! haha. (and no, it won't be coming anytime soon!)



8 months

Gotta get up to date!




Do babies get any cuter? NO!!



Here's what my little man has been up to:

• 21 pounds 1/2 an ounce, 28 in long
• Army crawling, pivoting, rolling, scootching, basically working his way to wherever he wants to go (which is EVERYWHERE)

• Can sit unassisted now, but still can't push himself up to sitting on his own

• Says Da da, Dad, Ba ba ba, and just barely starting to say Ma. I think he is figuring out the meaning behind Da and Ma too!
• Feeds himself finger foods and LOVES it. He eats Yogurt Melts, Baby Mum Mum crackers, Gerber Puffs, Maple Crunchies, and Apple Wheels. His favorite are the Yogurt drops I think. Keeps himself entertained for half hours at a time doing it!
• Up to eating solid foods 2-3 times a day with snacks in between
• Loves to sit on Dad's shoulders and pull his hair like reins. haha



"Giddyup Dad!"

• Still has this one wake up at 5:30 everyday where he needs a couple sips of his bottle to get back to sleep. We're working on that. haha
• Investigates everything, especially Electronic things that Mom and Dad love i.e. Cell phones, remotes, laptop, xbox controller, camera, keys, and things that are "off limits" - cable cords, battery cord to computer, air vents, plastic bags, wrappers, price tags, etc etc etc

This is his "inspection face" We see this one a lot. LOL



just getting a little gaming on

• Also has an obsession with this mini tape measurer
• Officially has become a good little car rider! wahoo!
• Wearing 12 mo Clothes
• Has decided sleeping in bed with Mom and Dad is the only way to go
• Still obsessed with his morning TV shows. We're talking addict

• Can't wait for Christmas in a matter of days! (okay, so maybe thats me excited to give him all his presents!)

Gobble Gobble Gobble

Since we're only 10 days away from Christmas, I figure I better get my Thanksgiving post in! We have been so busy this past month with Emmett growing and changing every single day. We've also been decorating, Christmas shopping, mailing out our cards (comment with your address if you haven't got one!!), and just enjoying the season in general! It is SUCH a wonderful time of year. It really is magical - beautiful, peaceful, and everybody really is nicer to each other and more charitable. I love it.

...For Thanksgiving we got to journey back up to Rexburg and visit the Ericksons. We had such a fun weekend! The drive was a little bit scary and had me clenching my fists in stress, but we traveled safely thank goodness! As always, Emmett was the star of the day in his cute little Thanksgiving outfit Grandma Roe sent him.

Love that little Turkey butt!

Hanging out with Grandpa Erickson

Jareds sister Emily has a baby (Julia) that is Emmett's exact age (they were due very same day) so it's always fun to get those two together. 

Grandma Erickson with Julia and Emmett

Giving each other the close-up inspection. They were quite fascinated with each other.

We had a delicious dinner, played games, enjoyed each others company, did some Black Friday shopping, and Sherri helped me make Jared, Emmett, and I's Christmas stockings! They are SOO cute that they deserve their own post! So that will be coming.

Notice Emmett (bottom left) joined us for dinner in his bumbo. He doesn't do well with being left out. haha

We ventured out into the snow and fed (or should I say got attacked?) the ducks/wild geese. Emmett wasn't quite sure what to think. One of the little psychos even bit my finger in its frantic fight for the bread crumb. haha.

This time of the year really makes you count all of the wonderful blessings in your life. I am so grateful to have Emmett, who I love more than anything in the world, an incredible husband, and the most amazing family I could ever ask for. I am grateful for the gospel, and the Savior's presence in my life each and every single day.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

Wednesday Confessional

#8 - I really, really wish my body would just return to it's pre-pregnancy form [without so much work]

This is all I have to say about it.

Dear Former Physique,

Where have you gone? I was hoping for a sooner return, but alas, you are taking a longer vacation than I thought. I miss our old days at the gym enduring grueling workouts, our shoppings trips [where you looked so great in most everything you tried on], and your ability to eat a few treats now and then without sacrificing too much. 
Your temporary replacement is not living up to expectations. It is fickle, deciding to randomly just add back on the 5 pounds that I worked so hard to lose. I have been eating healthy [besides the occassional treat too good to pass up], working out [so my schedule might be a little erratic the past couple months], and still it refuses to accept the memo. It will not surrender. I find my myself catching a sideways glance of my body in the mirror occassionally, stomach relaxed, and am caught off guard at the pooch I thought I had taken care of! I don't want to look pregnant anymore! Even though the replacement may fit in your old clothes, it doesn't come CLOSE to looking as good in them as you did. It is a foreign body being shoved into them, and they were stretched and worn to a different shape.
Will you ever return? Will your nice flat abs ever decide they want to come home again? I would throw them quite the welcome party! Please let me know of your decision asap. And  whatever you do...don't say no.

Thanks,
Me

Do any of you Moms out there ever feel like this still??

Say Cheese!

We finally had our FIRST family pictures taken a couple weekends ago! It was also Emmett's first professional pictures. We got some really great ones, I am so happy it was worth all that hard work!

This is my favorite (LOVE the little mans smile! He looks so grown up! haha)

Here's a few more shots with the dark background

And an outfit change...

A few shots of my chub a' lub



and last, but certainly not least...

Family Photo Shoot = SUCCESS!  :-)