The last couple of weeks have been really fun with Emory. She's starting to interact on a whole new level. She's clapping, having babble conversations, communicating in our own special sign language, and generally just fun. She held the ear of her hat up for about thirty minutes as a way of saying, "Get this thing off me."

Below, she's having fun with all of the presents we've been getting. If they arrive unwrapped, they are fair game and she can play with them. She's mostly into the cardboard boxes and the wrapping paper, but one day she'll notice all of the cool stuff she's getting.

She actually has an ear infection and a cold, and has had some bad fevers, so I've been up alot at night with her. My dreams have gotten crazy again- like they are when you're pregnant and not sleeping well. And last night I dreamt that I was finishing up a stint as a river guide, but not with rafts- with tubes. Very dangerous. :) I also hung out with Demi Lavato (sp?) from the Disney Channel- which I don't watch. If any of my psudo-Freudian counselor friends want to analyze that for me they are welcome to.

Belly Laugh

Is there anything better than a baby laughing so hard she gets tears in her eyes? I don't think so. I'm so glad that theater degree is paying off. This is really the tail end of the laughter, too. She was hysterical. In case you're wondering what I am doing to make her laugh- it's not hard- I'm hitting myself in the face with a large envelope. :)

The Nice List

We went into to downtown Denver to see Santa today. Somebody, I won't name names, had a major poopy diaper and Mrs. Claus said the North Pole couldn't accommodate our changing needs. But once it was handled we went to meet Santa. He looked a little nervous when he saw a baby and as we handed her over he said, "Take it quick!" But she didn't cry or pull his beard once. In the end we all made it on the nice list.

On a side note, the location for the picture is the exact spot where Brent proposed three years ago. Ahhhh, memories. :)

Decorating the Tree

We're spending Christmas at home this year....home being Colorado. I think that we've been here long enough that it should count. We're starting our own family traditions, and keeping some from each of our families. Mom and I used to go get a Christmas tree from the tree farm with the Petrus right after Thanksgiving. We didn't do the tree farm this year, but we pretended in Home Depot. We found a great tree and Emory helped decorate. Mostly, she just mouthed the garland strand. Oh! And she started crawling. :)

Rocking and Rolling

So Emory thinks she's about to crawl. She rocks back and forth in this position right now. She eventually gets frustrated with not knowing how to move her arms, plops down and rolls to her destination. But she's frighteningly close. We've been recovering from travels and both have a little bug, but had to get out yesterday so we walked around the block just before the first snow of the year landed in our backyard.
Emory's about to outgrow her cute little towel so we're trying to capture the image while we can.
This picture is from the wedding trip. Jason and Amy Pierce had Peyton a few months after Emory was born. This was their first play date. We hope there are many more to come!

Georgia trip

Justin and Caroline Hipps got married in Rome, GA last weekend. We went for the wedding and stayed the first night in Atlanta with Dana's family (one of Brent's sisters). Brent's parents came up as well, and babysat Emory while we got a "date night". Dana was a great hostess despite the fact that her fourth baby is due in two weeks!

Micah is my buddy. I had a great time snuggling with he, Coley, and Parker and creating stories about "Captain Ummm" and the pirates.

Bring Your Baby To Work Day

Brent's company has a Halloween trick or treating day at the office. Families are encouraged to visit and there's a contest at the end of the day with a quilt as a prize....no, we didn't win. So bummed.

So we dressed Emory up and I brought her up so we could show her off. We made the rounds on his office floor and then she spent some time helping him work.

1) Check the durability of Daddy's badge and the comfort of his chair.
2) Have a talk with Daddy on the long term projections of important oil wells.
3) Crunch numbers.
4) Thoroughly investigate the tastiness of the spreadsheets. Mission accomplished.

Personal Pumpkin Patch

Emory was a watermelon for Halloween, no wait- a ladybug, nooooo, a strawberry. That's kind of how the discussion went each time someone saw her. I think she was a watermelon. We went trick or treating at the Highland Square area by our house. My neighbor, Pete, grows huge pumpkins in his backyard. Rather than trying to pack Emory up and take her out of the city to a pumpkin patch we borrowed out his pumpkins and made our own patch.

I started Emory in this little pumpkin hat, but she looked a little like a baby hoodlum so we gave up on that.

Emory 7 months

Hey All,

Thank you to Ashley who sent a text saying, "Um it's been a month since you updated the blog....I'm just sayin'." We've been busy, like everyone. Dad came and went twice. We kept his other child, Rocky the Mini- Schnauzer, for a week. Emory fell in love with him, and was pretty confused when he left. We've had some fun trips while the weather was mild. I went with my friend, Heather, hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. We saw some beautiful Aspens. You can see glimpses in these pictures. Brent and I also took Emory to Evergreen, which is only 45 minutes away. This is a picture of the lake there. The last picture is from Emory's first Young Life skit. For anyone who knows YL you know the drill....someone is starting an important speech only to get interrupted by some crazy guy who makes you stand up, clap, and do something awkward. Well, her face says it all. She was intrigued.

Fall has begun

Last weekend Brent, Emory, and I "Collected Loot for the Cure". We planned on running the 5K, but Brent's knee was injured so we walked around the pavilion getting the swag instead. We like participating either way. :)

My neighbor gave Emory these sunglasses and I'm amazed that she seems to like wearing them. She prefers eating them.

Somehow we seem to have lost two cameras in 6 months, so we don't have pictures of Brent's parents' visit. We do have a camera phone picture of the swing they fixed up for Emory.

The picture with Brent is from a day trip to Breckenridge last weekend. We went and saw the last of the Aspen tree colors and enjoyed the mountains. Aunt Leesa was right, I don't know who has a cuter smile here.

And the blanket picture is from September 1st. I woke up and fall was here. We went for a walk with a friend, and it was so cold that I had to bundle Emory with all the blankets I could find. She seemed to love it, and I think she looks like one of those Anne Geddes babies here.

The Adopted Aunts and Uncle...

Since I'm an only child I've been really blessed by the people God has given me as siblings. They've been right beside me for my biggest life experiences thus far, and are now awesome adopted aunts and uncles. Aunt Ashley is quickly filling up Emory's library to make sure that she is a smart girl. Aunt Catherine gave Emory her first important uniform...a UT cheerleader outfit. Sooooooo darling with the matching pom poms.



Emory got to play with Uncle Trey and Aunt Elicia this trip, and obviously had so much fun with them. And my Dad came over from Austin. She got to see him two weeks in a row and it was so great to see her start to recognize him. She's actually pretty fascinated with him- of course he's a pretty fascinating guy.

Needless to say, she is so loved and I LOVE that!

Labor Day at Canyon Lake

Emory and I had a wonderful Labor Day weekend at Canyon Lake with the Waggeners. It was truly a vacation- great company, great views, and built in babysitting. :)

Pat, aka "Big Momma" and Bill, aka "Papa Bill"gave Emory all the attention a baby could want. Brent had to stay behind on this one...poor guy.