Emma's 1st Christmas

What a fabulous change in our Christmas celebrations - the addition of Emma. Although she is still too little to understand what is going on, it sure was heart-warming to see the day through the excitement of her little eyes. Everything is so new and wonderful to her. Tissue paper? Wonderful! Wrapping paper scraps? Wonderful! Hugs from mommy and daddy and everyone else? Wonderful!!

We started off holiday festivities with Uncle Spencer's 30th birthday. Dusty was sick, so Emma and I stopped by Grammy's house for a quick visit. Emma was very excited to see her new cousins and her Uncle Spencer. She is becoming such a ham. She loves to be the center of attention.

Emma - "Look! I have two new baby cousins!"

Emma - "Hey guys! Over here! It's Natalie and Audrey!"

Emma - "I'm sitting with my Uncle Spencer!!!!"

We started Christmas Eve with a mid-afternoon lunch at Grammy's house. Emma wore a precious little Christmas outfit her Papa Crane gave her - with "Santa Baby" on the bloomers. We enjoyed spending time with the two newest members of the family, as well as existing members!! Emma enjoyed her exer-saucer and attention from her Grammy AND Mamaw. Emma is growing and changing so much. She is more and more aware of her surroundings each day. She seems to be realizing that Natalie and Audrey are little people like her and wants to talk to them and touch them.

Mamaw with Audrey

Natalie snug as a bug.

Emma looking festively cute!

Check out those big beautiful eyes on Natalie.

After Grammys we went home for a little nap and then got ready for the candlelight service at Christ United. Dressed in our festive attire, we headed through the pouring rain to the service. Emma was especially talkative, so we decided to sit in the crying room. We were the first to arrive in the room and we got settled. A few minutes later, a cute little guy and his daddy arrived. He was around 10 months old and just learning to walk. He toddled around the room and when he discovered we were in the room, toddled over to us. The best part was the little noises he made! He sounded just like a little ewok from Star Wars. We couldn't help but to laugh. After awhile, he would make a little grunting sound, and then Em would make her screechy sounds. It seemed as if they were communicating! Next came Lauren's (a friend of Brittany's) little boy Ty. He is absolutely adorable! On this night he had a concerned look on his face. He kept studying Emma and the other little guy. Within a few moments, the three of the kiddos were "communicating". As parents, all of us could not help but to chuckle. Finally, the icing on the cake! A final little boy came in with his daddy and plopped down in front of Ty and his mommy. This little guy pulled himself up and stood by the chair for a few moments and began "talking" to Ty. Then he got down on the floor as if he was going to sit on his knees and began hopping. All around the room! Every time he hopped, he giggled. He giggled so much he got Ty giggling. It was the most wonderful sound ever! We tried to pay attention to the service, but it was very hard being surrounded by these adorable children!

We concluded the evening as a new little family, just the three of us, and dined at Carrabbas. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful evening.

Christmas morning, after Dusty waited excitedly for Emma and I to rise, we opened gifts at our house as a little family. Emma loved grabbing onto packages and pulling on paper. She taste tested most of her gifts, but that was about the extent of her excitement for the new toys. She did take a liking to a little frog stocking stuffer since it offered a yummy ring to chew on. Among the items we bought for our little darling were a moose named Mortimer (how could I pass that up!?), a glow worm, a cabbage patch doll (this year was their 25th anniversary, so I just had to get her one like I used to play with), and a fishy bowl with fun little fish to drop in and out.

Emma - Gifts for me!?

Mortimer sure is fun!

In the afternoon we got dressed up in more festive attire - this time Emma wore a special dress that my friend Rachael handed down. It is one that her daughter, Emmie, wore, and our friend Julie's daughter, Madeline, wore it before her. We headed over to Mom-mom and Pops for a yummy turkey dinner with Omi and Poppop and presents for Miss Em. We concluded the evening at the Crane household with dessert and a Chinese auction.

Presents from Mom-mom and Pops, how exciting!

Emma and her Pops.

Emma, Omi, and Poppop having some laughs.

We concluded our Christmas celebrations Friday night with some members of the Ooltewah Gang. We enjoyed a spaghetti dinner and WII Fit fun! Emma enjoyed getting to see her Aunties.

Emma and her Auntie Rel.

In all, it was a magical Christmas filled with wonderful memories of our baby girl, family, and friends. What better way to spend the holidays.

A UTC Kind of Christmas

We gathered with the UTC folks (sans Becca and Brent - we missed you) for Christmas Saturday night at Kristi and Nathan's beautifully decorated house. If you didn't know, Kristi is the next Martha Stewart!!

This year is extra special with the arrival of our little ones and the celebration of their first Christmas. We celebrated with fabulous Manicotti. Kristi and I hear it was wonderful, but we're on restricted diets for our little one's allergies. We did get to enjoy some spaghetti and salad, though. We finally engaged in a cookie swap. We have been talking about doing one of these literally for years. We have decided this was our first annual. We also had a little fun with an ornament swap.

The most fun of the night came with the children's group picture. Trying to sit four little wiggly kiddos on a leather couch came with much effort (and many laughs). Wish we had also had the video camera out. We've decided Ada and Emma will be the trouble makers of the group. Ada is the only "mobile" child right now, so she kept wanting to crawl away. Emma wanted to wiggle down to her back and at times just wanted to cry (we later found in one of the pictures that the crying was due to a love tap from Ada). Owen and Nolan just sat so patiently the entire time, taking everything in and being so photogenic. All the babies are just too cute. We hope to make this picture an annual thing as well, watching these kiddos grow and adding to the group as more little ones arrive!

Dusty and I are so thankful for our friendships with the "UTC Group" and feel so blessed to be able to share in these wonderful memories with each of them. Here are some pictures from the night. (I don't have a group one - will one of you lovelies please send me one!? Thank you!)

Proud daddies - Kevin, Dusty, and Nathan with Owen, Emma, and Nolan

Emma, "Ooh, look! It's Owen. I love Owen." Owen, "Ewww, Emma has cooties."

Auntie Jess with her cuties.

Here's one of the group picture attempts. I think this one is hilarious because Ada's about to get on the move, Emma looks a bit flustered with Ada, and Nolan is getting smushed between Emma and Owen. We did have them in order of age, but as you can see in the next picture, they got moved around a bit.

Emma, 5 months; Ada, 10 months; Nolan, 4 months; Owen 3 months

(I'm framing this one!)

The two good little boys, just hanging out.

Nolan checking out his viewmaster ornament from the swap.

Partying was just too much for Em.

The Best Kind of Time Share

So this year being a busy year of home remodeling and babies, Dusty and I decided to take my parents up on their offer and bunk with them for a few days in our favorite place, Sanibel Island. This would be our first trip to Sanibel as parents with our dearest Emma.

Upon arrival, Dusty and my parents unloaded our packed to the hills car while Emma and I headed upstairs to settle in. Dusty immediately went for a run while me, my mom, my dad, and Emma hit Jerry's for some necessities. After Dusty came back from his run, we went to one of our island favorites, Island Cow for some dinner and live music. The nights have always seemed to end quickly on Sanibel, but this year it felt even faster with a wee one.

DAY ONE:

On our first full day on the island, we took Emma to our favorite breakfast locale, Lighthouse Cafe. It was a little chilly and cloudy, so we didn't get to walk. After nap time, we took a quick stroll on the beach - Em's first time ever! We put her in the front carrier and topped her off with sunglasses and a hat. She was adorable! She seemed to enjoy the breeze and got tickled when daddy put some sand in between her toes! We decided to do a little shopping in the afternoon and headed to the outlet shops. As usual, Emma made out the best, with a bunch of cute outfits from Carter's. We just can't help ourselves when it comes to adorable clothes for our adorable baby! The night ended with dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger and two rounds of Aggrevation with the parentals while Emma snoozed. So much fun! Wish we had more than just a few days here!

DAY TWO:

We started the morning off with a quick stroll to Lighthouse Cafe. Yes, we eat there most mornings while in Sanibel. It was a little chilly, but a nice half-mile walk. After breakfast, Emma took a little nap and then off for some shopping with Mom-Mom. The real excitement came in the afternoon. We took Emma out to the beach and let her wiggle her toes in the sand. She loved it! She was so excited to put her little toesies in the sand! We got a few pictures and then decided to go for a walk towards the lighthouse. Dusty and I have been coming to Sanibel together for eight years. We have walked these beaches hundreds of times. As we walked, we thought about the many stages of our lives we've experienced as we strolled these beaches. We used to walk hand in hand talking about our future, engagement, college, jobs. Those walks and chats turned into discussions about marriage and careers and then about children. Now here we were, our first time walking as parents, hand in hand with our Emma in tow. How wonderful. Emma loved the walk. She kept her head towards the waves the entire time. I think she found the sound comforting. She stayed awake for the first "leg" of the walk and once we turned around, she took a snooze.

DAY THREE:

We took it easy on our final day on the island. My favorite part of the day was a stroll I took with Emma on the beach while Dusty was out for a run. Emma kept looking left to right, left to right. She's so very aware of her surroundings. She'd look at the water and the waves, and then up to condos lining the beach. Too cute. In the late afternoon, we dressed Emma in her little bathing suit and hat and went out for some playtime and picture time in the sand. She loves the sand in her toes! She does not love cold water! Dusty stood her at the edge of the water and let the little waves roll up to her, but the water was a bit cold. What a wonderful trip! Thank you mom-mom and pops for letting us crash your vacation!

Some things never change...on both the drive to Sanibel and the drive home, Dusty and I played our favorite road trip past-time, the Alphabet Game. Of course he beat me more times than I can count. It's because my eyes are so bad (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). We also had our typical "What would you do if you won the lottery" conversation. It's always a fun one to have when we're cruising down the road. The changes in our road trip were quite comical - the music we cruised to was quite different than the normal. Most of the time we listed to Baby Einstein Holiday Music. Our favorites were the quirky Dreidel song and Jingle Bells! We also had many more stops. Stops for poopy diapers, stops for bottles, stops to play Chinese Fire Drill, but it was all so wonderful.

Here's some more pictures from the trip:

Emma reading her Sunny Day - planning her activities for the trip!

Emma and Pops comparing their thinning hair.

Emma ready for her first Christmas.

Emma, "What!? We're going to the beach!?!"

The Girls are Here!!

Spencer and Alicia's twins, lovingly referred to as "The Girls" arrived early on December 9. Audrey Lynn was first, weighing just under 5lbs. Natalie Rose came about thirty minutes later, weighing just over 5lbs. Both are absolutely gorgeous - like little baby dolls. It is crazy to think that in a few years we will hardly be able to see an age difference in the girls and Emma. Right now, Emma is ginormous compared to the girls!! How exciting that they will get to grow up together. I just know they will be great friends!

Audrey Lynn

Natalie Rose

Five Months...Already?

Emma Grace! You are five months old today! Where is the time going? Every time I look at you, I stare in amazement at how much you've changed since you first entered this world. I keep thinking you just can't get any more cute than you are, and every day you become cuter and cuter! You seem to change by the minute - learning and growing constantly.

This month you've had many milestones. You started eating rice cereal. You did not care for the bland stuff at first, but now you just think it is yummy goodness. I cannot get the spoon to your mouth quick enough without you reaching forward towards the bowl and spoon or grunting in impatience. When we go grocery shopping this week, we are going to buy you some new foods to try out since you are doing so well. I just know you are going to love it!

You started rolling over from your tummy to back this month. The first time you did it for us you acted so nonchalant, as if you had been rolling over your entire life. Your daddy and I were cheering for you and you just looked as us like, yeah, I rolled over, big deal.

Last month you started reaching out and playing with your toys. You have continued that this month with even more force! You love to reach down and grab toys out of your basket or off the floor. You are especially intrigued by coke cans, water bottles, and orange juice on the table. You love to reach out and grab those cold objects! My favorite is your interest in mommy and daddy's faces. I just love leaning over to kiss you on the forehead and you reach out and grab my cheeks and just smile!! It's like this cute little hello game we play! You also love to grab hair, necklaces, earrings, anything you can get your little mitts on. No more earrings or necklaces for me for awhile!

You celebrated your first Thanksgiving. We started a new tradition of walking in the Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning and celebrated a milestone for you in the evening - solid foods.

You took your first big trip to Sanibel. You loved the beach. We loved all the time we got to spend with you!

You had held on to your hair for the first four months of your life, but now it is getting a little sparse. You have lost most of your cute hair that stood up on top of your head. Now what is left combs over. You have little bald spots around your head, but you're still absolutely adorable! You have little hairs growing back in that look blonde, so we'll see.

You are getting stronger and stronger. You think you are older than you really are and love to stand up. You can hold your own weight, but are still a little wobbly. You love it when daddy helps you pull up to a sitting position and then standing.

Your cousins arrived this month, actually on the day you turned five months. You all are a bit little for playing together right now, but I'm sure there are many fun days ahead for you girls.

You are such a smiley, happy baby. You are so much fun to be around. This month, we've been able to catch your gorgeous, open mouthed smile on camera multiple times. You warm our hearts every time you flash us a smile.

Emma, as I have written in all my monthly posts, time is flying by and you're growing so quickly. I cannot believe that five short months ago you entered our lives. It seems as though you've always been a part of our family. I thank God for you daily.