HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMALINE!

Well, it's offical, my baby is ONE!

We've had quite a busy beginning to the week, so today I plan to keep as low key as possible. The girls and I had a wonderful time visiting my family but there is so much that needs to be done before we leave on our big trip that I had to get home. It's hard for me to believe that in about one week we will be leaving town!

But I'm not going to think about any of that today. Today I'm going to spend snuggling and cuddling with my little girl and thinking about how happy I am that she is my daughter.

She has grown and changed so much and she is exploring and learning new things everyday. She now has two words that she uses: mama and ball. Emmaline is SO close to walking on her own. Just this past Sunday for the first time she was walking behind a push toy with no problems. She even was able to steer and turn it. Every day I can see in her eyes where she is just thinking about trying to take that first step on her own. I keep waiting to catch it, and I have a feeling that I won't be waiting much longer. She's also started hugging any doll that she finds and pats it on the back. It's SO sweet! Matt also started playing this game with her where he asks her for a kiss and then after she kisses him he says, "Yay! Emmaline loves me!" and when she says that she will clap her hands.

Tonight we will have a low key party for her. I'm planning on making chocolate chip cookies and then we'll have ice cream too. Then all the grandparents and our family will get on the computer and do a video chat so they can see her open all her presents. I'll try to post some pictures later of her first tastes of cookies and ice cream!