Happy Birthday Essie!!!!

I can't believe our sweet little girl is one today!!

Here's a little flashback to one year ago: The Most Beautiful Baby in the World!

This has been a wild year for us. Just in case anyone out there is contemplating a new baby and a major restaurant renovation at the same time, I don't recommend it! ;-)

Our local library has story time for kids 1 and older every other Wednesday. Today was Essie's first time attending! There were 3 other kids there; she had a great time. We sang songs, played little 'drums,' and made a pretty Valentine with finger paints!






Monday night, we had dinner in Columbus. One of the servers brought Essie a balloon. She has never seen or played with one before, but she LOVES it! She even picked up on the word right away. It comes out "boon." Last night, we were playing with her boon before bed, so I put it on top of her dresser. She spotted it as soon as she woke up this morning, pointed and kept repeating, "boon, boon, boon, boon." It was too cute!!

Swings and Giggles!

One day last week, the temperature was in the 40s. Essie and I took Ginger for a walk to the park down the street so Essie could swing. She has so much fun on the swings - giggling almost the entire time! I captured some of it on video. I make no promises as to the quality of the video! I had a glare from the sun on my screen so I really couldn't see, and was apparently standing too close to the swing because she kicked the camera at one point! :-) Hopefully, the sound came through. I love the her giggles!!

**Edit - so I can't get the video to upload. I'll try again later!!!!

Snow Day!

It's not often that Nick gets a snow day, but today is one of those days! It is so nice to have a little extra family time ~ even though he isn't in the house (he's outside attempting to dig us out!), I love just having him around here! Essie loves it, too!

Every morning when I go into her room, she starts singing about 'da-da.' It's the sweetest sound, always like a song. I only wish 'ma-ma' came out the same way. If she's saying my name, it is part of a whine because she isn't happy about something!

As Nick was cleaning off the walkway to our front door, Essie was watching him, calling his name, the whole time.

First Words!

Essie has been talking up a storm lately. Most of it is just babbling, but some words are coming out. She knows a lot more than she can say. I can ask her where a certain toy is and she will look at it; sometimes she will go get it. She can point to my nose, and touch my hair when I ask her to. The other day, I asked her where Uncle Eric's eye was, and she poked him in it! I thought it was hilarious; he wasn't laughing so much.....

Essie's favorite word today was 'Da-Da.' Of course, Nick loved it! Officially, we have decided her first word is 'yay.' It's the only one she will say consistently....and she is so proud of herself! She always claps as she is saying it! What else is she saying? Ma-Ma, Da-Da, Dog (though she says Dog-Dog), Kitty (comes out 'T'), Hello (only into the phone, though!), and of course, 'NO.' I try really hard not to use that word unless I really have to!! A couple times, she has even said, 'Ma-Maw.'

We can't believe how time has begun to fly....in only 5 weeks our baby will be a year old!!!!!

Delayed Christmas....

We ended up with only a small celebration Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. None of us felt great, so we stayed home and had a few people come to us. Nick's dad and step-mom came over Christmas Eve to stay with Essie so Nick and I could go to church. No matter how sick you feel, there's just something about going to church for Christmas Eve services!! Friday morning, I took Essie to the Dr. since she just couldn't kick the cold. After a few days of antibiotics, she is doing much better. Mommy is recovering a lot more slowly, but I'm getting there!

What else has been going on with Essie? She has another tooth - we have 5 now. I'm a little sad she isn't walking yet. I know, I shouldn't wish for that so quickly. But she is 22 pounds now and getting too heavy to carry everywhere!! She cruises along the furniture like a pro and will take a few steps forward with assistance. Not too much longer! Essie loves to say 'Yay' and clap her hands. She isn't regularly using any words, but she understands quite a few when I talk to her. Over the past couple of weeks, she has gotten so used to me rubbing Vick's baby rub on her that if I get the jar out, she takes her hand and rubs it across her chest. Very cute!!

The Sunday before Christmas, we went to Essie's Great Grandma's house. Essie had fun crawling around on the floor while pushing a box and ripping the tags off other peoples gifts :)


Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Benj came over Christmas night for dinner and to exchange gifts. For some reason, Essie didn't mind having a bow on her head all night....though I can't get her to keep bows in her hair or keep a hat on when we go outside!


It was getting pretty close to naptime here....someone wasn't very happy!


Essie playing with the toy Daddy bought her!


It's a tradition for Daddy to make breakfast on Christmas morning. This year, Essie kept him company in the kitchen!


Our big family celebration was the Sunday after Christmas. Essie was feeling much better then and had fun unwrapping her presents!


Every time we go to the store, we stop in the toy department and play with Elmo. My parents surprised all of us by getting Essie her very own Elmo Live! I think the adults have as much fun playing with it as she does!!


Sunday night, we went to my Aunts house. This was the group we should have had come to us....the back of our van was full when we left!! I love this piano....my grandparents actually bought it for me when I was a toddler. Then, my brother played with it, then my two cousins. My aunt kept it all this time(my youngest cousin is 14), cleaned it up, painted it, and gave it to Essie for Christmas! She loves to play tunes for mommy during the day!


This is probably my favorite of all Essie's gifts. Of course, we didn't get a picture of her seeing it for the first time because my camera battery died! This rocking horse cost $5 at a garage sale! My grandpa did a fabulous job restoring it for Essie for Christmas!!! She doesn't quite have the hang of rocking on it yet, but she will!

Merry Christmas!!

We are so excited for Essie's first Christmas....and hoping we get to celebrate it. She has not been feeling well lately. She caught a cold a couple weeks ago. About the time she was improving, mommy caught it. Monday, I think she had a touch of a stomach flu; today she has her cough back again. And, last night, Daddy came home from work sick. I did say I wished we could spend Christmas at home, but this was not what I had in mind!

Please pray for healing for our family! Lord willing, I'll have some great pictures to post in the next couple of days!

Merry Christmas to all!!!!!

Essie met Santa today!!!

So, we haven't decided how we're going to approach the whole Santa Claus thing with our children. But, how could we not take Essie to meet him for the first time and, of course, take a picture? She was so cute - she went right to Santa and sat on his lap, then kept looking from him to me and back again. She had a very inquisitive expression on her face while she was watching him. We tried everything to get her to smile for the picture....no such luck!



I really am going to attempt more frequent posts....probably not until after Christmas though. I'm sure I'll have TONS of pics of Essie's first Christmas!! This has been a busy month! Of course, Nick has a lot going on at the restaurant. Then, we decided to have a mostly homemade Christmas (meaning mommy is making many of the gifts...). Then Essie caught a cold and gave it to mommy. Needless to say, the remaining days until Christmas will be spent finishing the gifts!

I'm hoping Nick can help me finish our Christmas cards tonight so we can have them in the mail tomorrow!!