Teeth: 12!! This was a big month for teeth. She now has four on the top, four on the bottom, and four of her molars. She did pretty well with the last three molars, but that first molar she cut last month was a booger! I do feel more comfortable with her eating pretty much anything now that she has back teeth to chew.
Clothes: She is wearing 12 and 18 month clothes, size 4 or 4 1/2 shoe, and size 4 diapers.
Sleep: She has been sleeping great at night!! As far as naps, we have been bouncing back and forth between 1 and 2 naps a day. She is ready to transition to one nap and we did this for a week or so, but then with all the Christmas activities, we switched back to two naps so she could last longer at night. With one nap she is ready for bed no later than 7pm, and with two naps over the week of Christmas she was still partying until 9pm most nights. Poor thing on Christmas morning slept in until 8:30am haha!! She had no desire to see what Santa had brought her... she was just exhausted from the days leading up to Christmas. Christmas day she took a nap in the car riding to my grandparents' house and then that afternoon she slept from 3pm until 6:30pm. We had to have a shortened late Christmas at my parents house because little girl was wiped out from the Christmas fun :)
Food: She LOVED all the holiday food and the many pick ups and desserts that were around. She is definitely a "grazer" so Christmas was just what she liked. She would take a few bites, play, visit around, and take a few more bites. We did lots of baking a home and she was my number one sampler. We made homemade M&M cookies one day and she had to eat one fresh out of the oven. Silly girl picked all the cookie off, left it on her high chair, and just ate the M&Ms. She will try most things we put in front of her, but she is getting a little more picky about veggies. Her favorites are fruits, breads, pastas, cheeses, cookies, snack foods, hamburger recipes, and smoothies.
Here is her schedule with 2 naps give or take 30 minutes.
7:00 Wake/Bottle
8:00 Breakfast
9:30 - 10:30 Nap
12:00 Lunch
2:00 - 3:30 Nap
3:30 Snack
6:00 Dinner
7:30 Bath/Stories/Bottle/Bedtime by 8ish (except during Christmas activities)
** The days she only took one nap, we did lunch around 11am, nap from 12-3pm, and bedtime routine beginning at 6:30.
Emersyn Loves: Visiting
all her family, playing with children, baby dolls, Mickey Mouse
Clubhouse, music and dancing, reading books, baby Jesus in our nativity, opening presents, M&Ms, touching the ornaments on the tree, saying "ho, ho, ho," visiting the library** The days she only took one nap, we did lunch around 11am, nap from 12-3pm, and bedtime routine beginning at 6:30.
Emersyn Dislikes: SANTA!!!, having her teeth brushed
Emersyn is Learning to: Mimic actions we make (especially hand motions or dances that go with songs), say new words, help clean up her toys, help with changing her diaper (she gives me the wipes, diaper, and tries to wipe herself), play the "mother" role with her babies (give them a bottle, paci, and change their diaper), climb on couches/chairs/etc.
Highlights from the Month:
-
Emersyn DOES NOT like Santa!! She does love to see pictures of Santa or
Santa decorations. She will even say "Ho, Ho, Ho" when she sees
anything Santa, but the real Santa is not for her.
- Our Christmas gift to each other as a family was to stay at The Christmas Inn in Pigeon Forge and go to Dollywood. We had a great time, but we also learned that Emersyn does not like Rudolph, anything Santa, or really anything dressed up for that matter.
- One of the funniest "Emmie stories" from this month happened on our trip to Pigeon Forge. She has found a deep love for cookies, and the hotel we were staying at gave out cookies each night in the lobby. Daniel had brought a few to our room and apparently left one of his laying on the night stand when he went to bed that night. The next morning when Emersyn woke up, Daniel put her beside me in the bed while he went to the restroom. I look over and she is propped up on the pillow beside me in her jammies eating a chocolate chip cookie in our bed at 7am!!!! It was the funniest sight and I HATE we didn't get a picture!!! I look over and there are smear marks of chocolate all over the white sheets. I guess she had been snacking on it for a while (I was still pretty asleep at this point).
- She knew EXACTLY what to do with presents this year!! She pulled that tissue paper out of gift bags like a champ, tore the wrapping paper, and gave the most adorable surprised faces when she saw the gifts for the first time.
- My favorite thing about Christmas with Emmie was how much she LOVED our nativity that sat on the shelf right beside her highchair. She learned how to say "Jesus" and she had to wave hello to baby Jesus every morning and blow him kisses. Talk about melting a mother's heart!!!
** Warning!! There are LOTS of Christmas pictures ahead. I'm sorry if they bore you, but it is a way for me to keep a "memory book" of our baby girl.
- Our Christmas gift to each other as a family was to stay at The Christmas Inn in Pigeon Forge and go to Dollywood. We had a great time, but we also learned that Emersyn does not like Rudolph, anything Santa, or really anything dressed up for that matter.
- One of the funniest "Emmie stories" from this month happened on our trip to Pigeon Forge. She has found a deep love for cookies, and the hotel we were staying at gave out cookies each night in the lobby. Daniel had brought a few to our room and apparently left one of his laying on the night stand when he went to bed that night. The next morning when Emersyn woke up, Daniel put her beside me in the bed while he went to the restroom. I look over and she is propped up on the pillow beside me in her jammies eating a chocolate chip cookie in our bed at 7am!!!! It was the funniest sight and I HATE we didn't get a picture!!! I look over and there are smear marks of chocolate all over the white sheets. I guess she had been snacking on it for a while (I was still pretty asleep at this point).
- She knew EXACTLY what to do with presents this year!! She pulled that tissue paper out of gift bags like a champ, tore the wrapping paper, and gave the most adorable surprised faces when she saw the gifts for the first time.
- My favorite thing about Christmas with Emmie was how much she LOVED our nativity that sat on the shelf right beside her highchair. She learned how to say "Jesus" and she had to wave hello to baby Jesus every morning and blow him kisses. Talk about melting a mother's heart!!!
** Warning!! There are LOTS of Christmas pictures ahead. I'm sorry if they bore you, but it is a way for me to keep a "memory book" of our baby girl.
Family Christmas Pictures
We had to keep Santa hid behind Emersyn until the last 5 minutes of our time because we knew she would not be fond of him :)
The "Emersyn expression"
This was her look after just turning around and spotting Santa standing behind her!!
"I know you're hiding back there, man in the big red suit!!"
A little too close Santa
Trying to keep her mind off of Santa to snap a few pictures ;)
Daniel snapped these two cute pictures as we were leaving our photo session.
Southern Christmas Show
My
mom (Mimi), Aunt Cindy (NeeNee), Emersyn and I went to the Southern
Christmas show in Charlotte and had a great girls day. Emersyn was a
trooper and did wonderful!! She enjoyed all the attention from the
women who stopped to talk to her and loved waving and blowing kisses to people we passed :)
Mystery Readers
We
were invited to my cousin's 4K class to be Mystery Readers. We brought
the book Rudolph to read along with some reindeer pudding treats to
share with the class.
Cousin Drew took a break from his 4th grade class to join the 4K fun :)
We had fun baking Christmas goodies together this month too!!!
Santa Visiting During our Library Story Time
Still not a fan...
Shopping with Mommy and Daddy
She loves to hold Daddy's empty Starbucks cups and TRY to get some of the last drops!!
Dickens of a Christmas in Spartanburg
We had dinner with Emersyn's friend Lilly, and then strolled downtown to see all the Christmas festivities.
Stopped to see the ice skaters
The lighting of the Christmas tree
Daniel's family met up with us
Nephew and sister in law
Being silly
Gran Gran and Papa
Niece Emma
Love my family!!!
We got to see Abigail for a bit
Love that sweet girl!!
Downtown Greenville for Christmas Parade
Daniel coaching Emersyn about where she will attend college
Too cold to take her out of the stroller!!
Watching the parade on the side of the street
Her favorite part of the parade were the bands!! She loves dancing :)
First Christmas Gathering with Gran Gran's Family
The girls
Grandchildren with Gran Gran (Daniel's mom)
Aunt Elizabeth, Emersyn, Grandma Shirley, and Lloyd
Trip to Pigeon Forge, TN
We
took a trip to Pigeon Forge the weekend before Christmas as our
Christmas gift to each other and Emersyn. We had lunch at the Apple
Barn when we arrived.
She loved swimming at our hotel!
We stayed at The Inn at Christmas Place and LOVED it!! I am sure we will be back in the future.
On Saturday evening at the hotel, Santa came out with his banjo and sang Christmas carols. All the kids and many adults were dressed in their Christmas jammies. After the singing, the hotel staff served milk and cookies. (Too bad we had to be so far away from Santa with Emersyn... definitely planning to come back once she likes Santa.)
Abigail and her family were in Pigeon Forge too while we were there. We met up one afternoon for apple treats.
Our hotel at night
Loved how the manger scene was at the main entrance
Sitting in Santa's chair
The clock chimed on the hour and when Santa or Rudolph were coming,
the boy and girl came out. Rudolph came to eat breakfast with us...
but there is not picture because Emersyn was scared of him too!!
We went to Dollywood Sunday night and all day Monday. This was during the parade on Sunday evening.
Exploring Santa's workshop!
Checking the mailbox
This was THE ONLY time she did not cry when she saw Santa.
So we thought she deserved a candy cane :)
Riding the train at Dollywood
She loved "driving" the car with her daddy
Christmas at Aunt Jessie's
Getting ready at our house before leaving for Jessie's.
The great great nieces and nephew
Sitting with Emma
Daniel and Jessie
Emersyn knew exactly what to do with the presents :)
She wanted to help everyone else open their presents
Christmas Eve
Emersyn crawled up in the chair to see all the presents on Christmas Eve morning
At our home about to leave for our family gatherings
Christmas Eve lunch was spent at MamaDoris and PaPa's home (my maternal grandparents). Emmie with her GiGi.
Giving MiMi kisses
She loves the little kids table at MamaDoris and PaPa's house.
Eating lunch with her baby
With my parents and brother
We thought my cousin Luke and brother Clay looked great together in their Christmas colors!!
Christmas Oreo
PaPa Painter always shares a Christmas sermon with our family before opening presents
Emmie sitting in cousin Ben's lap listening to PaPa
Then she has to crawl up in MamaDoris' lap for a bit
Riding on her new car from Uncle Eddis and Aunt NeeNee
Present time!
Playing with Uncle Clay
For Christmas Eve dinner, we went to Daniel's parents home. Playing with the toy from Aunt Elizabeth and Matt.
Emma loved the bookbag we gave her!
This was the first Christmas without Daniel's Pop Pop. Daniel's dad opening PopPop's framed flag from us.
Addison loved her bookbag too!
All the McDowell grandchildren
Papa, Gran Gran, and the grandkids
Matt with Emersyn
Christmas Eve at our home... waiting on Santa
Stockings are filled
And
Santa has visited!! He brought her a rocking horse, snow suit, snow
boots, Leap Frog learning toys and videos, children's Bible, and two
smocked outfits.
Emersyn waking up on Christmas morning. She slept until 8:30am!!! Tired girl :)
She was scared of the horse at first because his mouth moved to sing and talk, but she loves it now!!
She wanted to put her boots on!!
Uncle Clay came to see what all she got
New Minnie Mouse sippy cup in her stocking
GOLDFISH!!!!
Needless to say, her favorite thing from Santa was her goldfish!
Papa and Gran Gran came to see what Santa brought too!
Showing Gran Gran her toys
Daniel's dad brought him a special present that morning... his PopPop's 1952 Clemson ring.
Merry Christmas!!!
Brother and sister
Christmas day lunch we went to Momom and Papa Jones' house (my paternal grandparents).
Emersyn with her Aunt Sarah
She LOVED her cousin Drew's dog
That evening we had Christmas at my parents' house.
Opening presents from Mimi and Pappy (Papa, Poppy, who knows his name :)
Helping Clay open his presents
Looking at her picnic table from Mimi and Pappy
And
then... she made it to her stocking where she found FOOD!!! We should
have just wrapped up lots of groceries for this girl because food was
her favorite present haha!
She found a pear in her stocking and sat down and ate the WHOLE thing, peeling and all!
**We had a wonderful Christmas with Miss Emmie this year!! She had a ball and made it so much fun. She is one blessed little girl to have so many family members that love her!!
