Etsy

Oh how I love thee. If you have never gone to Etsy, you are seriously missing out. It has been my obsession for a little over a year now. I have made MANY purchases on this site and have LOVED every single one of them. If you are looking for a handmade unique gift, this is your playground. Here are some of my favorite sellers.

For cards I like Mommiesink. I purchased Emily's Birthday invitations and some gift tags from her more recently. I would have used her for our Christmas cards, if I didn't get them for free from Shutterfly. She was so easy to work with and her designs are unique and adorable. Her turnaround is also super quick.

I purchased one of Emily's Christmas gifts from Pamperedandposh. Dana was amazing. She went out of her way to special order me a lunchbox to match the backpack I liked for Emily's gift. It wasn't a product line she was currently carrying, but because she was so AWESOME, she ordered it for me, rush shipped it and sent it out with in a day of receiving her it herself, monogrammed with Emily's name, all before she went on vacation, just to make sure I was happy. She rocks I tell you. If you are looking for a custom lunch box or backpack for a child in your life, check her out. I will post pictures of the final product when it gets here.

I purchased a few Christmas gifts this year from JannyGirl. She is another seller that will go out of her way to help you and make sure you are happy. Even better her scarves are amazing. Her infinity scarf is to die for. I was so tempted to keep it for myself. :) They are super soft and have a simple girly touch.


Check out the adorable bracelet I bought our niece Olivia for her baptism. It is seriously the sweetest thing I have ever seen. I have been eyeing one for Emily too. :) This is from SophiesCloset.


Earlier this year I got a super cute Kindle cover from ElizabethDavidDesign. She makes I-pad covers and other e-reader covers too. It did take a couple weeks to get here because they are all custom made, but it was definitely worth it. I get tons of compliments on it.


I also purchased some of the decorations from Emily's playroom on Etsy. It is like the Ebay of handmade items. All the sellers I have purchased from have all been super helpful and friendly. I just figured I would share some of my great finds with you! These are just a few of the things I love!

Christmas card and family photos

We decided to do a combined photo shoot of Emily's first year pictures and photos for our holiday card. We found an awesome photographer on a recommendation from a friend and got the pictures back today. Here is our super cute card. Remember when I talked about getting 50 free cards from Shutterfly here, well I ordered them today. About a week too late. Oops. And of course I didn't pick a single one that I posted as an option, because our pictures turned out so cute, I couldn't just put one picture on there! They should get here on the 20th, so we are really cutting it close this year. Meh, it's the thought that counts, right?


Here is a slide show of all the pictures Kim Jackson took. If you are looking for an awesome photographer here locally, you should check her out. She came to our house and we had a great time with her. She was VERY easy to work with and offers digital packages. WHICH.I.LOVE!!! PS, there are 46 pictures, so grab some popcorn and settle in. :)And yes, I covered my babies naked booty, because I don't know what kind of creepers are out there. It's a really cute butt though, so if you really want to see it email me. :)

New Words

Emily now says Pizza when prompted thanks to Rich and Rebecca. She also started saying "Oh" when she falls. Sounds a lot like Homer Simpson says Doh. And she say Ow to everything. It cracks me up.

More pictures

Taking pictures of Emily in a posed position these days, is like pulling teeth. Points to the right side bar---> That is seriously as good as it gets. She will however shoot you a smile now and then while she is busing playing around the house. Here are some pictures from her last set of monthly onsie pictures. I can't say I am sad that these are over. It became a pain at the end. Good thing I love this child. ;)

 

 

 

 

Santa...Not so much

 

One year stats

Emily had her one year check up today and I figured I would write up a quick blog before I forgot everything. She had to get 4 shots today. :( Poor little girl. She would have had more, but she needed her second dose of the flu vaccine, so the doctor pushed some off to give Emily a little break. She did pretty good. She was very happy that Daddy could come to the appointment and give her some snuggles afterward. No one can save the day like her Daddy. That being said this is what she is up too.

*She is completely off bottles. Every book I have read and most pedi's recommend ditching the bottle at a year. We actually did it a little early, and it was all Em's idea. She slowly just stopped drinking her bottle at night and drinking more milk out of a sippy at dinner, to the point where she would only drink an oz maybe and then she was crawling out of our arms to go to bed. It was never a problem weaning her off the bottle. Now we just lay her down and she is out for the night.

*She drinks 12-16oz of whole milk a day

*She no longer needs her paci for naps at daycare. At home though we are having trouble breaking it a bit. She sleeps forever with it at home, so we may delay taking it away for a bit since it is only at night.

*She weighs 19lbs and is 27 1/4 inches long. She is a little peanut. 10-20% for weight and 25% for height. The doctor is not concerned at all.

*She can sign more and please. And she now blows kisses. WHICH.I.LOVE. They are also teaching her thank you, all done, milk, and water at school and when she moves to the 1 year old room in January they learn even more. I think it is great that she is learning to communicate in so many different ways.

*She points at EVERYTHING.

*She says Dada, Daddy, Dog, Doggy, Mama, Mommy, ball, Jesse, baby, "EIEIEIEI" instead of EIEIO, hi and bye bye on occasion. Tonight she started yelling DOW!!and pointing to her Baby Einstein Old McDonald DVD case, which has cow on the cover. These are all words that she uses correctly. She also says Abby, but it really sounds like "babbyabbyabby" and Nonny (this is what my mom wants to be called,) she says it, but not to her yet.

*She runs everywhere

*Still sleeps great at night and is down to one nap a day, which is anywhere from 1 1/2 hours-3.

*Loves snuggling with a blanket and lamby.

*Blueberries and string cheese are still her favorite foods. She is not big on veggies, but we are working on hiding them in things she does like.

*She is learning to climb on things and also to cautiously climb down (i.e off the couch)

*Her attention span is getting a little longer and she will sit and listen to about half a book at a time without getting bored. She loves to carry her books around and point out all the dogs to us. Surprisingly she has a ton of books with dogs in them. Ha!

*She loves when people clap and loves being the center of attention.

She seems to change everyday before our eyes. She is so much fun to play with these days. We play hide and seek and chase. It can keep her laughing for hours!

It's time for some cake!

Warning:This is a long video, but I think it's pretty cute. At least the beginning. I love the look on her face when everyone is singing to her. And the clapping is sheer sweetness. :)

Happy Birthday Emily!

I finally got around to uploading some pictures from Emily's party. Here they are! Enjoy!

The sweetest picture ever!It was really hard to narrow it down. I may just have to put a slide show of all the pictures. In the end, we had a really fun time. Emily loved having all her friends over, and I loved the craziness of kids everywhere. It was a perfect day, for a sweet angel!