and now...a change in poop

After a failed Thanksgiving attempt to feed Emma rice cereal, we tried twice more during the weekend. The second time, she was ready - ready to block that cereal. Sitting in her bumbo seat, she quickly grabbed her bib, successfully blocking her mouth from the incoming spoon. She then proceeded to cry, thus ending attempt number two on the feeding. I have approached the feeding with mixed emotions, excitement for Emma and her milestone and sadness that it's all flying by too quickly. Dusty reassured me that Emma was just helping me take it slow!

Emma has shown all the signs of being ready to start eating "solids". She can hold her head up well, is over four months, and LOVES to watch us eat. She is so interested in food and drinks. When I hold her during a meal, she watches the food go from the plate to my mouth with such interest. She loves to reach out and touch drinks. She tried to drink out of my water bottle the other day.

Since she has such an interest in food, we decided to make attempt number three during our dinner. We thought she may show more interest. We were correct! The feeding started out slowly, with the bib being much more tasty - and entertaining - than the cereal. She finally started letting me get some in her mouth. By the end, she would whine if I didn't get the spoon to her quick enough! She would open her mouth wide to let the cereal in! She especially loved mixing the cereal bites with bites of finger in between. Yummy yummy!!

My little girl is growing up so quickly. I love you Em.

(and for those of you reading - Dusty titled this post - surprise surprise)

Emma's 1st Turkey Day

We celebrated Emma's first Thanksgiving today! We have so much to be thankful for, as we do every year, but this year even more. We're so blessed to have our little Emma. Life has changed so much since her arrival, and it's absolutely wonderful. I can't remember it any other way. I'm so thankful for my little girl and my husband. It's such a joy to have a little family of our own.

The day started early. Our friends Jimmy and Brittany invited us to run/walk in the Turkey Trot. We bundled up and headed to Lee Hwy where the race started. Emma and I walked the 5k while Daddy ran the 8k. We saw a few interesting sites and ran into family. The day turned out beautiful, with the sun shining brightly.

After the race, we went to breakfast with the Moncriefs and Brittany's family and started the Thanksgiving day feasting.

Next stop was home for some feasting for Em and then to Grammy's for Thanksgiving dinner. What a wonderful afternoon. We were able to enjoy the weather outside on the front porch. Emma especially enjoyed her nap with Grammy.

Finally, the biggest event of the day, Emma feasted on her own Thanksgiving meal. She had her first taste of "real" food today - rice cereal. She wasn't sure what to make of it. Her first face was priceless - smacking her lips like, wait a minute, what is this!? She debated it for a little bit, and then twice leaned into the spoon. After a little munching, Emma decided it wasn't as great as it was cracked up to be. We'll try again tomorrow!

Getting Ready for the Holidays

"Merry Christmas to you too..."

This weekend we attempted to take pictures for our Christmas card. We put up the tree, decorated the house, and put pretty clothes on. Brittany came over to do a photo session with our ever-so-smiley Miss Emma. If only it were that easy. The house was lovely, the family so pretty, Brittany so wonderful, and Emma so grumpy! We're not sure if she really cares for the camera. Oh well!! We still had fun! Here's some unprofessional photography from the Crane-Cam.

See Brittany, she really was happy before you got there!

Four Months!

Well Miss Em, four months old today! It has been a very busy and very hard month. Like all the others, this month has flown by! I went back to work this month, which has been the hardest thing I have ever done. When I feed you in the morning, I don't want to put you back in the crib! I wish I could just take you with me every day! Leaving you will never get easier, but we will make it through! You have had a great time, though, with your daddy! You guys have so much fun playing all day!

You have learned new things this month. You have started playing with toys, or just about anything, that we put in front of you. You love your little aquarium playmat with the fishies that hang down and love it when daddy adds new toys to it! You also love playing with your little crab. Everything you grab instantly goes to your mouth for a taste test!

You have been trying out new shapes with your mouth - the latest is that you have found out you have lips. You have been making faces sucking in your lips, looking like a little old lady without teeth. We've tried to take a picture, but you stop as soon as we get the camera out!

You laughed, really laughed, this month. We were playing on the floor one day, and I kept saying "Hey Kiddo" and you just got a huge kick out of it. Your laugh is so cute, with a little giggle in it! You've done it a few times since the first laugh, and every time you do, your daddy and I act silly over and over again, just to make you laugh again!

You took your first overnight trip this month, going to Knoxville with mommy and daddy. You did so well in the hotel. You'll be a good little traveler.

You're a growing girl, about 15 lbs and 24 inches long. You're full of smiles and such a lovable little girl. We love you!

Run Daddy Run!

Dusty ran in his first half-marathon this morning. Emma and I were there to cheer him on!! He ran the 13.1 miles in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 5 seconds! Yippee!!!! We were so proud of our Daddy!!

The morning started very early, which confused Miss Em. She usually goes back to bed after her 5:30ish feeding, but we were keeping her up! We bundled her up in her new borrowed snuggly that goes over the carrier (Thank you Rachael!) and went our merry way. We had never experienced a half-marathon before - the atmosphere was great, very inspiring. So many people turned out for the race, runners and spectators alike. Em and I got ourselves a spot right along the opening stretch to cheer Daddy on! Then after he passed, we ran over to the next spot to give him one last hooray! There were busses that drive around so that you can go to different spectator locations, but I wasn't about to attempt that with Emma and all her stuff. So we went and wasted a bit of time, shopped at K-mart (kind of scary in Ft O) and then fed. We then went back to the start/finish line to await Daddy's arrival. It was such an incredible feeling, watching people cross the finish line and accomplish something great. You could tell it made them all feel really good about themselves. We looked and looked for our Daddy coming down the hill and finally, there he was! It was such a wonderful moment seeing him cross the finish line and accomplish his goal. I'm so proud of you , Dusty.

Daddy and his biggest fan

Heading to the Starting line and feeling great

Snug as a Bug

And they're off!

Here comes Daddy! Yay for Daddy!

There he goes! See you in 13.1 miles!

Still looking good after a half mile!

Dusty's in the blue right under the start/finish banner!

It's amazing that just over a year ago, Dusty was not a runner. He became inspired to run in the Race for the Cure in honor of his mother's battle with breast cancer. He trained for it, and met his goals. He then set his next goal for a half marathon, this morning he accomplished his goal. He is now officially a runner, he says. Check out his new blog here.
Next on the list is a full marathon for his 26th birthday. Twenty-six miles for twenty-six years he says. We'll be there to cheer him on.

Too Cute for Words

(and, no I didn't pose her!)

A Day Full of Visits

The weekend before last, we took a quick trip up to Nashville to visit my cousin, Kait who was in town from Massachusetts. She hadn't met Emma yet, and we hadn't seen her since our wedding almost four years ago! We met for lunch, which was too short, but still so nice to see her! Emma loved meeting her cousin Kait. Emma got to meet her Aunt Mare and Uncle Glenn a few weeks ago too and just loved them as well!!! Wish we lived closer to our family.

After seeing Kait, we sped over for a quick visit with Auntie Jess and Uncle Antonio. Then over to see Kenny, Yolanda, Kenny, and Kamden (who hadn't met Emma yet either).

When we got home, we had another visit - an old friend from high school - Brianne. She and I used to live through the woods from each other growing up and shared in lots of fun times together. She was in town from Washington state for a wedding and stopped by for a visit. It had been years since we'd seen each other. Both of us are now married and have children. It was so nice to catch up on what was going on in our lives and how things had been the past few years!

Frighteningly Cute

The UTC gang gathered Saturday evening for a little Halloween festivities. We had another addition, this time Owen, the final of the four UTC babies born this year. The Whitakers also joined us from Nashville as well as Auntie Rel! We had a great night of food and fun as usual, but the dynamics were a bit different! I am not sure that everyone was in the same room at any given time. All the babies are on such different schedules. One would be feeding one time, another one napping the next!

The kiddos were adorably cute in their little costumes. We had a little contest: Scariest, Funniest, Cutest Baby, and Best All Around. The winners were: Nolan for the Scariest - he had on a little outfit with a ghost that said "So Cute It's Scary"; Emma for the Funiest - she had on a lobster outfit; Ada was the Cutest Baby - she was a little bumble bee; and Owen was Best all Around - he had two costumes - Michael Phelps - too cute and a Tiger - even cuter.

The little ones had fun interacting with each other. Ada is the most social so far, seeing that she is the eldest of the group. She's also mobile - which is so much fun to watch. She's crawling everywhere and even starting to stand and walk! Go Ada! I wish I had my video camera handy, Emma and Nolan were having a little "chat". Then Emma decided to show him her new squeal - Nolan just furrowed his little eyebrows and looked at her like - who is this girl!? Owen fit right into the mix, showing off his playtime skills such as rolling over!

Here are some pics from the weekend and from the night. What fun it is to dress up our little defenseless kiddies!