Emrey on the move...

Emrey is officially crawling and can't wait to be walking! One morning, about two weeks ago, Emrey stretched her typical scooting to a small crawl and by the end of the day, I couldn't keep up with her! Now, she is loving her mobility, racing out of her room, down the hall, chasing after Bailey and her favorite, experimenting with climbing up and down the small step at our landing. So far only a few bruises, but she's catching on pretty quick. I'm attaching a couple photos from two play dates she recently had with friends. One is with Emma, who is only 5 months older than Emrey. It's hard to believe, because she is walking, talking and knows her numbers and letters, AMAZING! She is very patient with Emrey and puts up with a lot of rough play from Emrey. Emrey is definitely in a violent mode right now, rather than playing with her toys, she prefers to chuck them out of the way, or bang them on the floor. She's not a whole lot better when it comes to her friends, but she definitely understands NO and is pretty good about responding to it (so far). I'm guessing this is probably a normal developmental stage, hoping she grows out of it soon. The second friend is Rowan. He is our neighbor and he and Emrey were born only three weeks apart, so he will be celebrating his first birthday very soon. It's hard to believe that Emrey is going to be one in almost a month! We are looking forward to celebrating in Boston when we go back home for Christmas. For now, here she is, on the move....

the infamous landing...

Climbing up on her dresser

Cruising along her crib


Sharing/stealing raisins from Emma

Working hard to get into Bailey's cage...

Crawling races...

Halloween...

Here are a few shots from this past weekend. Emrey was a trooper! We drug her to two parties and she did really well, with only one small melt down. We're really looking forward to next year, when she'll have much more comprehension of whats going on! She did not appreciate the hood part of her costume and was taking it off the entire night. Luckily, it actually cooled down slightly, so she we did not have a roasted frog by the end of the evening.

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Fall in Texas

It has been a while since I've written. Things have been busy around here. Both sets of grandparents were in town for Emrey's dedication, which was very special. This was a time when we dedicated Emrey, back to God and also dedicated ourselves as parents, to walk with God and be Godly examples for her. It was very special to have both her grandparents here, as well as her Texas grandparents (The Stoneman's). Ellis has been busy with his job, trying to meet a few deadlines, and working on a paper. He is hoping to finish the paper on time so that he can present it at a conference in Montana this spring! We're excited thinking about maybe getting to go skiing and check out Montana, but it creates a lot of pressure and extra work for Ellis, so we'll see. Here are a few pictures of Emrey helping us to pick out our pumpkins a couple weeks ago! She loved playing in the pumpkins, eating the straw and watching the other children running around. She is on the move these days, slowly starting to crawl and pull herself up on the couch, your legs, anything within arms reach! She is also copying phrases, such as "uh-oh"! Eating has become a chore, as she really isn't into baby food any more, and prefers to eat little finger foods! Needless to say, this makes for messy mealtimes and lots of extra time spent cleaning up. Still no teeth, but her gum ms are starting to look a bit more "pointed" which a friend of ours tells us is a good sign teeth are on the way!

Look at me!

I should really be sleeping...but wanted to get a few sweet pictures I got of Emrey tonight, receiving her first dance lesson. She is also showing off her new skill of standing up and holding onto her crib (almost) by herself. She still requires a bit of assistance. She is growing so fast, hard to believe it's almost been a year...

Dance Lessons...

Ballerina girl

Sisters

Well, it's been a while since I've written because we had my beautiful sister visiting from Boston! She was nice enough to make a cross country trip out of her vacation and visit Betsy in Ohio and then came down to see us here in Houston. Unfortunately, the weather was hot, muggy and overcast most of the time she was here, but we still had a blast. We explored the underground tunnels of Houston, finally showed Sarah "Kemah", and did a lot of reading with Emrey. I love my sisters so much and every time we get together, I realize how much I miss living near them, especially now that Emrey is on the scene. We continue to dream about living closer to each other, hopefully some day we can make that a reality. Here are some shots of Sarah and Emrey over the past week.

Cousins

Here are a few shots from our recent trip to Ohio that I promised I would get up. There are some really sweet ones of the girls together as well as with Josh at a fun little kiddy park that we took them to. Emrey had a blast watching all the commotion going on around her, as she is still happy as a clam to sit and watch all the action. She gladly added to the chaos with her shrill little scream whenever she felt necessary.

We got to be there for Anna's baby dedication!

With Nanna

And Pappo

Josh was very sweet and took care of Emrey on this ride.

Hungry Girls....

A common scene, trying to get all the hungry mouths fed!

Emrey LOVED this little doggy and laughed and laughed whenever it came around, I think she thought it was like a little Bailey!

Miss "Personality"

Well, it's been a while since I've written. At first, it was because I was waiting to get pictures from my sister (from our trip out to Ohio) so that I could post some really cute ones we got. But, then things just got busy....

Ellis and I celebrated our third anniversary! We've been outside a little more since things are starting to cool off, relatively speaking. Emrey had her first virus and was no fun to be around for a few days last week and we spent Labor day at home, hanging out with friends and eating great food the whole weekend.

Despite my not writing, little Emrey continues to plod along, developing her vocal cords and acquiring new skills daily. This week, I have been impressed as we watch her little personality emerge. She has developed a hatred for diaper changes and the wiping of her face after meals. She now arches her back, like she's in the circus when we go to do either. Other behaviors of note: she is imitating....and it's really cute. I've had a little cough the past couple days and she has begun imitating my cough and then looks up at me with a big smile, looking for a reaction (which she usually gets). She has also started signing the sign for milk. With one of her little, chubby hands, she will make the motion of milking a cow, while the other is clawing at my shirt! She loves to eat and is eating all sorts of little finger foods, cheese, bagel, mango, banana (a favorite), pasta etc...She has just about mastered getting the little chunks into her mouth, but needs some help with the slippery ones. She continues to be totally content sitting, while other kids crawl and run around her. She is showing some signs of reaching for objects, but still hasn't figured out she needs to put her arms out behind her when she's falling back :( This has made for many tearful screeches when she's playing by herself. She'll get it eventually.....

she loves reading books!