Nonstop Nine {Months}

Oh Emmalee Caroline,

You are a NONSTOP nine month old!  You are just all over the place and always on the go...and I love every minute! 

I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that you are nine months old!  It seems like jsut yesterday we were painting your bedroom and putting the crib together; and today I'm chasing after you all over the house!    You care crawling like crazy, and you pull up on everything.  If you hold on to something, you can walk anywhere! 

You are still such a great, easy baby!  Momma wakes you up around 6:30 in the mornings then you go to Miss Donna's while Momma and Daddy go to work.  Then Momma picks you up around 4:30, we come home and play, then we have some dinner.  You LOVE to eat!  Then you have a bath - and you love your baths!  You would play for an hour if I let you.  After your bath, you usually have a bottle and go to bed around 8:00.  You still sleep through the night, although sometimes you wake up and want your pacifier. 

You have four bottles a day and have 3 servings of solids a day.  Your favorite snacks are mum-mums, yogurt, apples and bananas.  You have 2 teeth and can eat some table food:  cherios, bread, carrotts, bananas, and you have even tried some black beans.  You still wear a size 3 diaper.  Most of your clothes are 6-9 months, although some of your pants have to be 9-12 months since you are so tall! 

Some of your favorite things are playing; your pink blanet; your pink bunny; your pacifier; going on walks outside; your bath; the remote control; momma or daddy's cell phone; and you love punching buttons on the computer.  You can say "Momma", Dada", "Nonna" and "Hi".  I think you know what the word "bottle" means because you get very excited whenever you hear it! 

Your daddy and I are so in love with you and you can always bring a smile to our faces.  These nine months have been incredible and I love watching the new things you can do.  I have no doubt that these next nine months will be just as fantastic as the first!

I love you,

Momma

First Family Christmas

I realized the other day that I n ever posted any pictures of our first family pictures.  It was defeinitely a memorable time and one of the funnest Christmases I can remember.  I absolutely loved starting our own family traditions. 

We started on Chrismtas Eve by making some cookies for Santa. 

Grandbob and Nana came to the Christmas Eve service with us. 

After the service, we had dinner and put Emmlaee to bed.  Sometime in the middle of the night Santa Claus came to our house!

Emmalee was so excited and immediately wanted to play, although her favorite "toy" from Santa was a few new pacifiers!

We had  a big delicious Christmas breakfast and Emmalee played until she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore.  As soon as she woke up from her morning nap, we headed over to Aunt Cookie's House for Christmas with my family.  Em got lots of great toys and had so much fun.



We had such a GREAT first Christmas with family!

SISTERS!



Granda and Grandad



Dear Readers...

I, Ashley Williams, do solemnly swear that  I WILL blog this week.

Ready...Set...Lose 40 pounds!

That's right - my mission for 2012 is to lose 40 lbs!!!

So goodbye fatty foods...

and

Hello Weight Watchers!

Before I got pregnanty with Emmalee, I spent 6 months losing 35 lbs.  Then I gained 42 during my pregnancy, and now I'm 20 from my prepregnancy weight (I was about 10 away but then the holidays hit!).

I'm lucky though because my co-worker whom I share an office with, Jessica, just had a baby and wants to lose 40 as well.  So we are doing this together, and the great news is that we have a company gym in our office that is free to use.  So everyday at 2, we plan on walking for at elast 30-40 minutes, then of course using the Weight Watcher's Points Plus System. 

So recently I was reading a recent issue of "Parents" magazine and it discussed New Years Resolutions.  One of the things it said was not to set goals that span a year because those goals are the ones that we are most likely to fail at.  It said to set goals in a more acheivable fasion - such as a goal for each month or one for each quarter of the year.  So I have decided to apply this theory to weight loss.  My first goal is to lose 15 lbs by Emmalee's first birthday - April 15th.  

So today is officially day 1!!  Let's see how I do my first week, which is always the hardest! 

I'm a fool...for Scrapbooking!

On New Years Day Mom, Sister and I sat around and scrapbooked...ALL day long!  It was glorious!  So since this week has been a "slow" week, I have been working like crazy on Emmalee's scrapbook. 

Digital Kit(s):  Sweet Petite by MLE Card

Digital Kit(s):  Some Like it Hot by Zoe Pearn;

  

Digital Kit(s): Mia's Room by Shabby Miss Jen; Burst Into Spring by Julie Bullock

Digital Kit(s): Taking Chances by Wild Dandelions

Digital Kit(s):  Express Yourself from Shabby Princess

Digital Kit(s): Calliope
 

Digital Kit(s): Autumn Blanket by Summertime Designs; Damask and Dots by Shabby Princess Designs; and Fancy Pants by Traci Reed

Digital Kit(s): Cupcake by Designs by Krista

Digital Kit(s): Angel Mother by Summertime Designs; Blooming Heart by Wild Dandelions; Color Me Wild by Julie Bullock

Digital Kit(s): Slice of Life - Collaboration Kit by Scrap Orchard; Color Burst by Jennifer Fox Designs

 Digital Kit(s): Brush by Jessica Sprague; Learning to Love Myself by Melissa Bennett;

Working on the page of when she turned 1 month old reminded me of how glad I am that I blog a monthly "letter" to her.  I literally just copied her blog letter onto her scrapbook page with the pictures - its perfect.

Y'all, I love scrapbooking - especially digital scrapping.  There is something so great (at least to me) about the idea of being something to leave something behind for my children to always have and always remember - something made just for them by their mom.  I love all the actions and "cool" things you can do to your photos to make them "pop"; I love all the papers, and elements, and cute alphas.  I'm really falling in love with templates right now - they are just so great and easy to use...especially when you have a lot of pictures - you just pop 'em right in without having to make sure they are perfectly sized and lined up.  And, of course I love looking at other people's work.  I could spend hours in online galleries just browsing through pages and getting great ideas for my next project.  Oh - I could literally go on and on about how much I love this.  

I am so excited that we have nothing going on this weekend - so I plan on spending most of my weekend on the floor playing with a sweet little ray of sunshine, and scrapbooking her baby book some more!  In my opinion, that is PERFECT weekend!  So, if you're a scrapper, PLEASE let me a comment and a link to your page or gallery - I want to see your incredible pages too!!!!

11 in '11

I still can't believe that 2011 is gone - its crazy how much your life can change in a year.  Our lives changed DRASTICALLY and with change comes learning new things and new lessons.  I learned a lot this year, so here are the top 11 lessons learned (or remembered) in 2011.

11)  I am not as young as I used to be.

  ( I turned 30, remember)

10)  The love my life, is still the love of my life and I still love him more each and every day.

9)  Life goes by quickly, so its ok to stand still, breathe it all in, and cherish every minute.

8)  God puts very specific people in our lives for very specific reasons

7)  I absolutely love it when friends turn into family. 

A dear, dear friend of mine recently stenciled this saying on her living room wall and I love the truth in it..."Here's to the nights that turn into mornings, and the friends that turn into family."

6)  Great childcare really is priceless!

5)  God will always provide - even when you wonder how.

4)  The solid rock you call a "husband" turly can turn to a sentamental mush when he sees his baby for the first time.

3)  I am so blessed and so undeserving.

2)  Being a momma really is the most amazing journey I have ever been on.

And the number one things I learned this year:

1)  GOD IS STILL IN THE BUSINESS OF WORKING MIRACLES! 

Exciting Eight {Months}

Oh Emmalee, you are 8 months old and what an exciting 8 months it has been!!!!  You constantly keep us on our toes!  You are crawling all over the place and you pull up on everything.  I think daredevil might be a future career path for you.  If momma or daddy holds your hands then you can walk around.  You also like to hold on to coffee table and walk around it.

You weight almost exactly 17 lbs and wear 6-9 month clothes, a few 9-12 if it is a one-piece with feet because you are so tall.  You wear a size 3 diaper and size 2 shoes.  You eat 4 6-oz bottles a day with a solid for lunch and dinner.  You really like mashed bananas, mum-mum's and bread.  At Thanksgiving you even ate some sweet potatoes and you liked them a lot!  You are definitely part momma because you have a big sweet tooth!  You still sleep like a champ.  You go to sleep around 8:00 each night and sleep until 6 or 6:30 each morning.  Sometimes  you wake up in the middle of the night, but I just give you your pacifier and blankie and you're back to sleep.  You still don't fuss much, although you are becoming a momma's girl more and more each day.  You are definitely more vocal than you used to be - if something is happening that you don't like then you are quick to let us know!

You still love your bath, love your toys and, of course, your blankie is still your favorite thing.  You love playing with "big" kids (like your cousins) and love being outside.  You like Dax and Kai - you like to pet them and love of them, but Dax sometimes knocks you down because he is so big.  But you're still buddies!  Your best friend is Aubree at Ms. Donna's.  You love to "talk" and play together.  Ms. Donna sure does love you and loves keeping you while momma and daddy go to work.

Momma and Daddy sure do love you!  You make our lives so much fun.  You make smiles and laughter fill our home.  We are so blessed to have you and can't believe how lucky we are to have such a special miracle like you.

Happy 8 months, baby girl!

I love you,
Momma

What the Holidays are All About

It seems like I don't have a moment to do anything but work and get ready for Christmas right now.  I'm busy scrapbooking for albums that are being given as gifts, cleaning my house, wrapping presents, planning menus, grocery chopping, holiday parties, etc.  I feel like I have no time to blog, let alone do the things I find to be so much fun like reading blogs and blogstocking! 

But I will tell you this, there is one thing that is making this year more special than any before...

This little doll!

New Tricks

I know, I know - I'm a horrible mom because I hadn't done Emmalee's 8 month post yet, but things have been so crazy around our house and I have daughter who is getting into EVERYTHING!  But I love seeing her grow and learn new things.  We're crawling all over the place, she pulls up on anything she can get her hands on, and now she has a new trick! 

Emmalee's daddy taught her a new trick this weekend - she wanted to show it off for you!!!

Christmas Card Carousel

So Christmas cards are one of my FAVORITE things!  I love designing them, sending them, receiving them - everything about them!  The only problem with designing Christmas cards for others is that you sometimes procrastinate on your own - ask my dear friend Tricia Nae!  But this year our cards was one of the very first I designed so that I could get it out early! 

I am one who likes to imply significant meaning in the wording of their cards.  Since it is Emmalee's first Christmas, I wanted something about a "first Christmas" incorporated into the card.  So I reference "THE first Chrismtas" in my card and it got me thinking about that first Christmas...can you imagine what it might have been like?  Can you hear the angels singing?  Can you smell the livestock that were traveling witht he shepherd to meet a sweet baby?  Do you hear the soft lullaby a mother sings to her Savior child?  It gives me goosebumps just thinking about what it would have been like. 

So it is my prayer for you that Christmas 2011 will be filled with the wonder of that First Christmas for you and your family, today and for many Christmases to come!



"May the wonder of that first Christmas and the joy of His abundant blessings fill your heart today and always."


2010 Christmas Card