As seen on...

When Marin turned one,  I sent in to have her picture on the news for their first birthdays, segment.  Now, they keep a rolling record of them online and put them on pinterest.  Check her out.

http://pinterest.com/nbcchicago/1st-birthdays/
http://www.nbcchicago.com/on-air/as-seen-on/2012-First-Birthdays-137477803.html

A song for Emilie...

My Dear Emilie Mae,

One day while I was sitting with only you in the quiet of your dark room, this little made up song just spilled out.  You've grown quite fond of it, and we sing it every night. 

You are my starshine;
You are my moonbeam.
You are my baby girl;
I love you, love you!

Marin sings this to you as well, and it is possibly the sweetest thing on the planet when she does.  

Happy First Birthday to my joyful little baby girl. 
You are my starshine and moonbeam.  And I love you more than you will possibly ever know. 

Emilie Mae- Tweleve Months Old!!!

12 Months Stats: 

20 lbs. 7 oz.

29 inches long

Here we are; Emilie is one!  Boy did this year fly by!  Our house is busy and full of smiles!  Here are some things that our big girl is up to!

* Emilie is just full of smiles and boy do they ever light up a room.  We are absolutely obsessed with her big, bright smiles!


* Emilie loves to sing songs, dance and clap her hands.  She loves patty cake and peek-a-boo.

* She's walking all over while holding on to our fingers or the furniture.  I swear she could about walk a mile while holding onto the tip of my finger.  But she's just not quite sure enough to let go.

* Emilie sleeps well, but boy oh boy is she a picky eater.

* We have to go see the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor this week.  We're on our fourth ear infection and our pediatrician just wanted to have the ENT take a closer look.  I'm hoping that we don't need tubes, but I'm not holding my breath.

* She is a climber!  Up the stairs and down the stairs.  She climbs anything she can get her legs on.  And boy is she strong!

* Emilie says "Mama" "Dada" and "Hiyyeeee".  We joke that she a miniature valley girl, "Like hiyyyee!"

* Emilie has SIX teeth.  For those of you keeping score, Marin had zip, zilch until the day of her first birthday.  Six seems like a whole mouth full to us.  

* She is a cuddle bug.  Emilie loves to lean in and give huge open mouth kisses!

* Emilie LOVES Marin and Norah.  They are her very favorite!  She loves to pet Norah's head and ears, and she absolutely lights up around her sister.  Emilie thinks everything Marin does is hysterical.  Often times, in the car, they hold hands in their carseats.  

* We're excited for summer- Emilie loves to splash in the water, and I'm sure she'll love the pool!

Emilie is a smiley little giggly buddle of absolute joy!  Happy Birthday Baby Girl!  We love you so much!!

Enjoying her week!

Here are some ways Emilie has been enjoying her First Birthday Week!

Opening a present from Jake and Katy!

This is cool!  Thanks Uncle Jake and Aunt Katy!

Taking walks!

Lots of big smiles!

Morning snuggles with Marin!

Lots of ice cream! Marin loves to share her cone.

Ice Cream lips

Emilie's First Birthday Week!

I'm supposed to be the girl with the toddler and the new baby.  How is it even possible that "baby" will be one year old on Monday?!  It is crazy.

I love that little stinker so much.  And I can't believe she's getting so big.  Emilie, this week is all yours.  And okay, since your party isn't until next weekend, you can have next week, too.  We'll be eating lots of peas (Emilie's favorite), taking lots of walks in the stroller, and swinging on every swing in town.  I'll play peek-a-boo all day just to hear her crack up, and I'll stop at nothing to see my Emmie Cakes smile. 

Marin sings "Happy Birthday to Emilie" everyday, and tells strangers at the park, "Know what?! My baby sister is growing up!  She's almost one!"  We are all infinitely proud of you, Emilie.  And we can't wait to celebrate YOU!  (And okay, our survival of the first year as well.)

To life! To your life!  Happy Birthday Week!

Movin' Out!

Well, construction is underway.  Actually, at this point it's more like destruction, but the project has begun and it only gets better from here!  I can't wait to shop for toilets!

Here's where we begin...

Our contractors have already figured out how to speak my language.  Last night we had a meeting with them, and they brought t-shirts with their logo on them for both of the girls.  Adorable.

For Jason, the worst part of today was that they had to take apart a portion of his deck.  They are going to build most of it back, but in order to dig the foundation for the new mudroom, laundry room and back staircase, they need to remove a chunk of it.  Daggers literally through his heart- although I think it helps that he doesn't have to be the one to put it all back together. 

We move in with my parents this weekend (Happy Mother's Day, Mom!).  Marin is a bit concerned that her new room at Grandma and Grandpa's house (they they have spent weeks refinishing for her) isn't pink, but I think we just about have her sold on the floral bedspread with pink in it.

We're really excited about the project, and I of course, have every detail decorated already in my mind.  I'm anxious to share the construction progress!  Giant hole is dug on Monday, and then there really is only forward progress!  We're joking that for Emilie's birthday, we built her a house.   

Shot through the heart!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

Jake and Katy came to visit last weekend and we all hit up the zoo on Sunday.  The girls both had a great time with, as Marin refers to them, "my uncles".  

We totally killed the zoo, too.  We were there when it opened and stayed nearly until it closed.  We saw the dolphin show, touched the sting rays, Marin painted her face, and of course- we rode the Carousel- Marin's favorite. 

The animals were SUPER active that day!  It was a fabulous trip to the zoo.  We saw two grizzly bears playing together by wrestling in the water- they did this for about 20 minutes.  We saw black bears tearing into their food.  We saw Polar Bears up super close to the glass walking around, and we saw a male Lion and a Leopard right by the glass as well.  Emilie LOVED the giraffes.  She kept pointing at them and smiling and waving. 

Jake was hilarious as always and the four adults had a great time spending time together as well.  Jas cracked a classic joke after the otters about liking "the otter one" that made me fall in love with his goofy self all over again.

It was a great day!!