a little about emery

not to be outdone - emery is growing by leaps and bounds too! she has 6 teeth now, the first two appeared right after the other on her 6 month birthday. she's now 10 months old, and is so, so close to walking. she has taken a few steps from mommy or daddy to the table, or ottoman, but only if there is something interesting there :) she says "uh-oh" if she drops something or falls down, and responds to you if you say woof-woof, or bye-bye... she waves, and reaches, and is 17 lbs! she adores her big sister, craning her neck to always keep an eye on what she's doing, and rewarding her silly behaviour with lots of big laughs. their newest 'trick' is squawking matches - great fun for mommy & daddy...

emery loves to eat anything and everything we're eating. she yells for us to share what we're eating or drinking, and will climb over any obstacle to get to an edible destination. she nurses like a gymnast- twisting her body all over the place, kicking her feet, arms wandering. her cloth bootie is now fitting 12-18 months or larger, and i can't wait for summer so she can show off her cute covers. she's loving the water right now, too - another reason we can't wait for warmer weather.

we just got our biggest snowfall yet this year last tuesday, and though it was half-gone the next day, we had time to go out and play in it. emery observed most of the wintry beauty from the comfort of my hip, but she also got a little sled ride, both solo and with avery.

she's making all kinds of funny faces and noises now too - trying to mimic everything we do. she's a fairly light sleeper, and doesn't like covers or blankets on her at all. she naps a little in her crib, but shares nighttime with us. we wouldn't have it any other way...

although she doesn't have any hair (still) she has beautiful blue eyes and a fabulous smile that catches peoples attention, even from across the room, and compels them to talk to her. she usually rewards them with a shy smile and then buries her head in my shoulder. sometimes she'll start a game of peek-a-boo with them, too.

i can't even describe how much i love this precious time with her. she is just...delightful.

she's a trip!

avery wasn't feeling good a couple weeks ago, so she had stayed up later and was snuggling with us as we were watching tv on the couch. the show we were watching had a pregnant momma who was sharing her worries about the delivery, and mentions how she's afraid to poop on the table... avery (whom we thought was sleeping) sits up, and with a completely disgusted face says "poop on the table?... (face changes to thoughtful)...i should do that!" hmm..that's definitely her father's side...

speaking of avery - she just turned 3! she thinks this means its time for her to go to school...everytime someone asked how old she was going to be, she'd respond with " i'm going to be three, and then i can go to school with my backpack, and leave the family at home!" she was the most excited for blowing out her candles on her birthday. we had a birthday party (that started out little, but did got bigger...that seems to always happen!) but my favorite moment of avery's birthday was that night. we were all snuggling in bed, and while peter played the guitar, we brought her a piece of cake and sang happy birthday a couple times, in english and russian, and she got to blow out the candles to her heart's content. her face just glowed as we serenaded her.

she's not even a toddler anymore - she carries on, even initiating, full conversations, and she comprehends so much. she's a wonderful little girl who loves her family and friends, loves to sing and use her imagination. yesterday we were playing out in the snow, and she had two mitten-fuls and was pretending they were her lunch. she often pretends she's a puppy named webster, and she loves being 'mama' to her baby doll. while her imagination reminds me of myself, there are many more qualities that link her to her daddy. she is always lining things up, and is fascinated with matching things. she talks in her sleep, is grumpy when she wakes up, and grumpy when she's hungry. she sweats alot at night, and everything has to have it's place, and stay there! she really likes drawing/painting/coloring and now stamping, thanks to a birthday gift from delaney and derek :)

for her birthday party, her friends delaney, derek, olivia, chloe, van, jack, and katie came. we filled the living room with balloons, but only the three oldest kids were brave enough to really play with them, due to the spontaneous bursting of several of the balloons...avery helped make her applesauce birthday cake, and i was very proud of my homemade pink sprinkles. we made our own egg-salad-smiley-face sandwiches, and snacked on fruit, popcorn and yogurt. i think everyone had a good time, and avery seemed to be thrilled to be surrounded by her besties. she kept responding to all the happy birthdays with a happy birthday back, but she definitely understood that it was her birthday. and though i thought she would, she hasn't asked about the next couple days being her birthday, too.

grandma and grandpa sent her some money for her birthday, and when asked what she wanted to do with it, she first said "save it for college", but then changed her answer to harmonica (?) i have no idea where that came from, but after about a week of searching, we finally found a "monica" for her today. she was so excited when she spotted it, the whole store noticed! she's been performing for us all day...

avery shea - three years old. :)

em's sleeping habits and av's photography skills...

she fell asleep like this :)

avery likes to take pictures - these are some she took on my camera.

her self-portrait