Walking and More Walking!

Well, this little guy is starting to become a walking machine!  Although he took his first steps to grandma on Christmas Eve, he still has favored crawling over walking this past month.  But as the weeks have gone on, Emmett has definitely gone from taking three to four steps comfortably to taking ten to fifteen steps comfortably.  It normally will happen when he is already standing next to a table or the couch or a chair and will then decided to go somewhere else.  Since he is already in a standing position, he will turn and just start walking to wherever it is that he wants to go.  We always get so excited whenever we see this!  However, last night, Emmett took it to a whole new level.  During the time that we were all in the kitchen while I was making dinner and then cleaning up after dinner, Emmett just started walking all over the place.  He barely crawled during the majority of the evening as he cruised all over from the kitchen to the family room and back again.  It was just the cutest thing to see this little guy walking in his little wobbly way all over the place.  We can't wait to see his progress in the weeks to come.  Before we know it, our little boy will be a walking machine and his crawling days will be a thing of the past.  Sniff.  It's all going to fast...

A Morning to Play in the Snow...

We were unsure how much snow we would actually get with all of the weather forecasts this past weekend of incoming snow.  The kids and I were thrilled to wake up to it snowing yesterday morning and about an inch already on the ground and were super bummed when school wasn't even delayed.  However, after it completed melted by yesterday afternoon, we were thrilled to wake up to another fresh batch of snow this morning and a 2-hour late schedule announced.  The kids had enough time to get bundled up after breakfast to head outside to play for about an hour before having to head off to school.  I managed to get outside in my pajamas and boots to take a few pictures of their fun in the snow.

Logan making the inaugural run down the slide.  Since he is the always the first one dressed in his snow clothes and out the door, he always gets to be the first one to clear off the snow on the slide.

Lia jumped at the opportunity to take some doll pictures in the snow to post on her AGD Instagram account.  She agreed to take some pictures of Ella's Wellie Wisher doll that Ella had dressed up in her snow clothes.  Ella was absolutely thrilled about this as you can see by the look on her face.

Lia taking another picture of Ella's doll sitting on her little sled.

Logan and Ella posing in front of the beautiful, snow-covered branches that are currently laying on our sport court after Ron did some major tree pruning over Christmas break.

Lia had to get some pictures of her Caroline doll dressed up as Elsa in the snow.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of her, too.

Ella heading up the playground to send her doll, Willa, down the slide.

Logan giving me a smile.

Ella getting ready to push her doll down the slide on her little doll sled.

Emmett's 1st Birthday!

We celebrated baby Emmett's first birthday last night with our little family of six, plus my parents.  We had originally scheduled to host his party today since Lia and Ron were supposed to be gone for 12 hours for Lia's first ski lesson of the season.  But after leaving at 6:40 in the morning to catch the ski bus in our town and then driving to four other towns to pick up kids, they finally got within 10 miles of the ski resort before turning around since the highway was closed due to snowy conditions and car accidents.  After being gone over six hours, they came home having accomplished nothing besides spending several hours in a ski bus with 65 other people.  Although this was a major bummer, I decided to make the most of it and made the last minute decision to switch Emmett's party to his actual birthday.  Luckily, my parents were free to join us and so I quickly wrapped his gifts, made his birthday cake, and prepared the dinner.  My parents came at 5 p.m. and we enjoyed a lovely evening together celebrating our baby's first year of life. Emmett seemed to have a good time and loved eating his first piece of cake with loads of frosting on top although he was more interested in the tissue paper and bows during the gift opening portion of the evening. I still can't believe that Emmett really is now one year old now, but I am so grateful that he is a part of our family!

Baby Emmett smiling while sitting in front of his birthday gifts.

The birthday cake I made for Emmett complete with a handmade cake topper.

The gang sitting at the dining room table at the beginning of dinner.

Emmett eating his birthday dinner.

Emmett posing with his siblings before the gift opening began.

A very happy Emmett sitting in his big sister's lap.

Ella asked if she could help open up all of Emmett's gifts.  Here she is opening up the first one--a new set of bath toys.

The birthday boy giving Lia a smile while sitting in my lap.

Ella opening up a new set of board books for Emmett.

Showing off Emmett's new book about narwhals--the animal that I had never heard of until a few years ago and now it is all the rage!

Ella showing off Emmett's new pajamas.

Looking at the adorable, wooden train set from grandma and grandpa.

For some reason, Emmett burst into tears while posing for this picture with his new shirt from grandma and grandpa.

Ella asked to play her own version of "Happy Birthday" on the piano after we finished opening gifts and Emmett decided to help her out with the bass section of the song. :-)

Singing "Happy Birthday" to baby Emmett.

Emmett getting ready to eat the first cupcake of his life.

Giving the frosting a try.

Thinking about taking another bite.

At the end of the party, the older kids went downstairs to play with Logan's trains under grandpa's supervision.

Logan working the train controls.

12 Months and Counting...

It's hard to believe that it's time to post Emmett's "12 Months and Counting" post!  It has all gone by just too darn fast.  Regardless, this is always one of my favorite posts to do for each of our kiddos.  It is simply amazing to see how much our babies change in their first year of life.  They go from a hardly moving one-month-old baby to a crawling, standing, and almost walking, 12-month machine.  So, without further adieu, here is a 12 month blow-by-blow of our sweet baby Emmett!

One month

Two months

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months

Seven months

Eight months

Nine months

Ten months

Eleven months

12 Months

Logan's First Basketball Game

Logan's second year of basketball began at the beginning of December with practices twice a week.  Just like last year, he was put on a team with all 2nd grade boys from his school with three wonderful coaches.  Logan has absolutely loved being on this team with so many of his friends and has loved going to all of his practices.  Today marked his first game and Ella, Emmett, and I went to cheer him on while Ron and Lia were gone for day #1 of her ski school that never ended up happening due to the pass being closed for extensive snow fall fall and car accidents, but that's a post for another time.  The three of us cheered for Logan from the sidelines as he played his little heart out.  He actually got to be on the court a significant amount of time although he didn't get to handle the ball as much as I would have hoped.  I think he is just a little rusty or his age group is starting to be really aggressive or it's a combination of the two.  Regardless, I hope that Logan will improve with the season and get the chance to dribble, pass, and shoot the ball more than he did today.  Luckily, Logan was oblivious to all of this and was just thrilled by the fact that his team won AND that his after-game snack included a Gatorade bottle and three treats!  Oh, to be so content with such little things...

Logan chasing down the ball.

Logan guarding his player wearing a matching, orange belt.

Grabbing the ball.

Logan dribbling down the court.

Logan heading toward the basket.

It's hard to tell due to all of the players in front of him, but this is a picture of the one shot Logan tried to make during the game.  

Chasing the ball back down the court.

Watching a teammate make a shot.

1 Year Old Today!

Well, I can't believe it.  It actually happened.  Baby Emmett turned one year old today!  Ahhhh!  I know I have said it before, but it is all going way too fast.  The past six months of his life have just flown by.  I honestly feel like we just started school again in the fall.  I have a sinking hunch that Emmett's entire life is going to fly by this fast.  As a result, I am grateful for these moments when I am required to sit down and reflect on the past month of his life. Emmett has continued to grow and progress a lot this past month.  The biggest news is that he started walking.  He took his first steps to grandma on Christmas Eve and we managed to get some of it on video.  It was so cute and such a fun Christmas treat for all of us.  Since then, Emmett continues to take steps several times a day usually between pieces of furniture or between two people.  He definitely still prefers crawling as his main mode of transportation, but can take up to 10 to 15 steps if he is focused and on a roll. Emmett also started pointing to the pictures on the wall of our stairwell.  Ron has been stopping to point out who is who on our gallery wall every time the two of them walk down the stairs for quite some time now.  Although I have never really done this with Emmett, he suddenly pointed to them with his little index finger the other week while we were walking down the stairs.  It totally surprised me!  He will now point at the pictures every time we walk down together--even when I forget to stop.  Emmett also started waving "bye bye" when we were up at Priest Lake together after Christmas.  I picked him up to leave the family room and said goodbye to a bunch of people who were hanging out in the room.  Emmett heard me say 'goodbye' and started waving to everyone all on his own.  Once again, I was so surprised!  He now will wave all the time whenever we say 'goodbye.'  Emmett also started dancing to music and will often times sway back in forth or shake his head when he hears music playing.  It's so cute!  

Emmett continues to be an eating machine and eats every table food that is put on his high chair tray.  We now joke that he eats more on a daily basis than his 5 and 1/2 year old sister!  He continues to take a morning and afternoon nap every day and sleeps between 10 to 11 hours at night.  After the worst sleeping since he was a newborn during our four nights at Priest Lake, I decided that I was DONE nursing him for comfort in the middle of the night.  After we got home, I sent Ron to the basement and have been in the process of trying to sleep train Emmett for the past 1.5 weeks.  I have never picked him up from his crib since I started on the night of January 2nd.  About half of the time when Emmett wakes up crying in the night, he will let me me lay him back down, plug in his pacifier, put his blankets back on him, and turn on the music without a fuss.  However, the rest of the time, he burst into tears when I leave the bedroom.  Most of the time he only cries for 5 to 20 minutes before falling back to sleep.  Luckily, he has only cried for over an hour two different times.  Both of these times, I have gone back in (one time at an hour and another time at an hour and 15 minutes) to get him situated again with his pacifier and blanket and then have rubbed his chest and spoken to him quietly for a few minutes.  He then has let me leave both of these times without making a peep which has been a massive relief for both of us.  I truly hope that we are through the worst of it and that Emmett will be sleeping better in the weeks to come...

Our cute one-year-old giving me a cheeky grin as he crawls off his monthly milestone blanket.

The birthday boy giving me a darling smile while playing with the birthday bows!