em bop turns one

happy birthday

to you

happy birthday

to you

happy birthday

dear emory

happy birthday

to

you 

.......................................................................................................................................................

emory,

i havent written you a note in awhile, but i really want to tell you all about how much you mean to us, and how much you have added to our rapidly growing little family.

 

your brother is S.M.I.T.T.E.N with you.  he picks you up and hugs you so hard you cry and runs into your room when you wake up from your nap and makes sure you dont play with any toy smaller than a tennis ball {his rule, not ours} and talks to you in a high pitched soft coo and calls you things like "precious baby girly" and "em bop a teeny reeny" and "baby girliest" {i swear he didnt hear any of those from me ;)} and wants you to have your very own super hero cape {like he does} so you can be his "super princess emory" and so he can save you.  he somehow figures out a way to save you without your cape, and you usually arent really excited about it bc it means he has physically removed you from whatever it is you were happily doing.  he is an excellent big brother and i honestly never have to worry about you when you are with him.  i routinely leave you in the playroom and you two will play and play and play with each other...just as long as you dont touch his train tracks on his train table {note: all small chokable toys were removed from playroom a long time ago}.  and i trust him in this bc, as i said, he has a self-imposed "no toy smaller than a tennis ball" rule in his head and he ENFORCES it.  we call him our little police man, but more on big brother later.

your favorite noise is your daddy coming in the side door.  you hear the door close and keys jingle and you are grunting and babbling and crawling at lightning speed through the kitchen to meet him.  he has to pick up both you and bennett for hugs every day bc you will NOT allow him to hold just bennett, even when bennett beats you to him.  you insist on immediate attention. 

i learned at your birthday party that you also will NOT allow momma to hold other babies.  ive never seen you "aggressive" but there might have been a few stiff arms thrown at baby friends of yours when they crawled into my lap.  i didnt have to deal with this when you were born bc bennett thought you were great.  i have a feeling you will think baby brother is not that great.

you enjoy stacking objects, nesting objects, opening and closing things {DOORS} and digging through my purse and makeup bag {that i leave on the floor so you CAN play with it.  you dont know how to unscrew anything...yet}.

your first word was puppy...or "puh puh" but recently you have been saying "hi!" when you first see someone and the puppy is now "stee stee", we guess you are trying to say steele.  you say all sorts of other sounds and consonants and are constantly "talking", and will repeat/try to say things we say like "bottle" and "eat" and "dada".  you only say the sound "ma ma" when you are crying and want someone to pick you up or when you are really REALLY tired.  otherwise you just give me blank stares when i ask you to say my name.

your one year appointment is yet to be had, but you finally fit in 12 mo size bubbles/one pieces.  you can still wear 9 mo dresses.  your knee wrinkles are slowly fading away, despite our attempts to fatten you up and add to the rolls.
you want to walk and love walkers and running holding onto our fingers.

you scrunch up your nose and breathe out of it fast when you are being "sneaky" as we say.
you are very snugly and give us hugs on command.
you are quite the "diva" as we titled you, mainly bc you know what you want and you want it WHEN YOU WANT IT.
but you are very easy and as long as someones holding you or paying you attention you will go anywhere and do anything with us with little to no fuss.
'cept you dont like long trips in your car seat.

you are addicted to your pink blankies, you have three.  your brother had around ten different types of blankies and never showed preference.  we never gave you one blankie over the other but apparently you are NOT color blind and ARE a girl bc you look strangely at the blue, green or yellow blankies and throw them down.  the pink ones, however, you carry around like your own little papoose...thrown over your shoulder, on your back, in your tight fist, or even lion-cub like in your MOUTH.  

speaking of mouths youve been eating table food since six months and, even though ive tried, you will not touch baby food of any kind.  therefore the only vegetable you will let past your lips has been broccoli in a casserole and most recently mushrooms, carrots, and celery in a crock pot recipe.  thats it.  but you are a very...healthy...eater like your brother aka you love food.
as of today you are on sippy cups with whole milk and happy as can be. your last bottle with solid formula was the night of your birthday, just like your brother, and its been sippy cups with formula-milk mixture until today before your nap.

you also love me.
and i love you.
boys and girls are so different and while the love is not more or less, the love honestly is a little different, at least for me.
bennett stole my heart when he was born.
but you have my soul.
i honestly feel like we just "get" each other...ive always known exactly what you wanted or needed when you cried, unlike your brother.  we actually joke together, if thats even possible at this age, and youve always acted like you understand what im telling you. 
you are more dependent on me and your daddy than bennett was at this age, but thats probably bc you know nothing different.


your little feisty spirit is exactly what God knew you needed, being thrown right slap in the middle between two brothers.
you make your daddy smile his biggest smiles and
you make your momma cry her biggest blessed cries

those big blue eyes stare at mine when i hold you and i know there are a lot of things you have tucked away to teach me one day.

 

you are one.

you are amazing

love

momma