Como Zoo!

Today was Emilia's first trip to the Zoo! We decided to visit the Como Park Zoo since it is a great, manageable little zoo...just the perfect way to introduce our little one to the WILD WORLD OF ANIMALS! And, it is of course, right next to the Conservatory where Jeff and I got engaged :)

We planned our trip as a Meet Up and invited others families to join us for a picnic, followed by a little exploring of the zoo animals, a walk through the butterfly exhibit and ending with a ride on the carousel!

The weather was a little questionable in the morning, so only one other family ended up coming - Janelle and her daughter, Mila. Mila and Emilia are just a few days apart in age so they had a great time being strolled around by each other!

It was a great day full of fun firsts and good memories!

Emilia Hearts Fruit

Emilia is a GREAT eater! She loves pretty much everything we put in front of her. One of her favorite treats is when we let her have a full piece of fruit to herself! We just peel the skin off and hand it over. So far she has tried a peach, nectarine and a plum. It's messy but seeing how much she enjoys it makes it all worth it!

1st Birthday Party!

We had a party that sure was FUN!

Our Little Miss Emilia turned ONE!

Emilia's 1st Birthday Party was a success! We got to spend a fun afternoon with family and friends (big and small) and enjoyed hamburgers, baked beans, chips, corn, watermelon, ice cream cups and cupcakes! Yum! The festivities included party favors for the baby's and a slide show of pictures reflecting Emilia's First Year.

Cupcakes made with love especially for Emilia and hew very own birthday cake on top!

Such a sweet girl, sharing her cupcake with Mommy!

Emilia enjoyed all of the delicious food!

All the Babes and Babies!

We even got Emilia to wear her cute little birthday hat given to her by her Auntie Jill. We just put it on her head while distracting her with her "mower" and there is stayed for the rest of the day!

She opened presents outside on a blanket while everyone watched and was so excited about all the new toys, books and outfits she was given.

Special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for all of your help making it such a fun day!

Happy Father's Day to all the Daddy's that were at the party! Thanks for sharing your day with Emilia this year :) That extra frosting on the cupcake was just for you!

Happy 1st Birthday Emilia!

Dear Emilia,


You have brought so much joy to our life! We thank the Lord everyday for blessing us with such a healthy, beautiful, fun little girl.



Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Birthday Party at Cathy's

Today is a BIG day! It's Emilia's 1st Birthday Party at Cathy's! There is a Happy Birthday banner and cupcakes and a present and all kinds of fun stuff!

Here's a picture we snapped before heading out of the house this morning... If there were a bubble to say what Emilia is thinking, here's what it would say...

"Hey - It's my birthday party at Cathy's today! So, yeah, it's going to be pretty much all about me..."

12 Month Check Up

Here are the pictures and stats from Emilia’s 12 Month Appointment. She is a PEANUT!

Weight = 18 lbs, 6.5 ounces (15th percentile)
Length = 29 inches (50th percentile)
Head = 17 inches (30th percentile)

Emilia and Daddy wasted no time having fun waiting for the doctor in the exam room...

The doctor checked out Emilia and reported that she is a little behind on gross motor development – she is not pulling herself up yet or able to get herself into a sitting position. The doctor isn’t worried because what she looks for is for her to make progress and she’s doing that. She didn’t really roll consistently until late, so everything is pushed out now. I really feel like a big reason for her late rolling is due to her being the youngest at daycare and having kids constantly run to her with toys and entertainment if she even squawked while lying on her back. Who knows – I guess I don’t need to make excuses – she is still just perfect to me...she just won’t be running around the block anytime soon! Or she could surprise us all and just take off... We’ll see. The doctor said now is a good time to get off the bottle, so we’ll start that this weekend and next week. She said she only needs like 12-14 ounces of whole milk a day and that she won’t dehydrate herself. If she’s thirsty, she’ll drink from the cup. A little thirst will encourage her to take more from the cup. So – we will transition to that a week at a time, eliminating a bottle a week for 3 weeks.

She didn’t have her immunizations yesterday because they are strict about not giving them before they are 1. They can only be 3 days short of 1 year so we had to schedule another visit just for the shots. That will be on Friday, 6/20. They did take a little blood to run some tests. That was traumatic for everyone because they couldn’t find the vein in her little arm and they were just squeezing and poking her trying to get one. She was screaming and I was losing my patience watching them not get anywhere for what seemed like forever, but was probably 20 seconds. They tried to find the vein on her other arm, not poking her at least this time but still with the band tied around her upper arm, but they weren’t able to find it. I asked if we could just stop for a second so I could hold her and let her calm down. She laid her little head right on my shoulder, thankful for the break. Then they brought in another person to do the finger prick and squeezed the blood they needed out that way. She didn’t love that either, but they got what they needed and we were OUT of there!! Now she is going to know the doctor’s is not a good place!! Poor thing...

We are just happy to have a healthy baby and so excited to be celebrating her ONE YEAR BIRTHDAY this weekend!! Can you really believe it!!?!?

First Cup of MILK!

Emilia tried her first cup of WHOLE MILK today! It was fun to fill up her cup and see what she thought of this new creamy, cool beverage. I think once she figures out how the cup works, she'll really enjoy herself.

She is getting really good at using her sign language to ask for things like milk. We'll just have to teach her to start associating milk to be from her cup and not from her Mama :)

Frog Pool!

Emilia had Addie over today to break in her new Frog Pool! The girls weren't exactly sure what to think if it - it might have been a little chilly, despite the 10 huge bowls of hot water I carried out to warm it up. Either way, it was a great opportunity for some priceless pictures!