Find the beauty within.

Society makes woman think that they need to be skinny, pretty, tall, dress like this, don't do that. They even expect you to look like that after having a baby. And get back to your pre-baby body days. When in reality your body will never be the same. And THAT'S OKAY!!! Having a baby and becoming a mother is such a beautiful thing! I just realized this.

The other night as I was complaining to myself about how I look and was getting frustrated. I have stretch marks (that appeared AFTER I had Emery.. does that even happen?!), I have mom arms.., my hips are still wide, I still have a little "pouch", and parts of me I wont even mention. But later that night I read an article on the true beauty of having a baby and becoming a mom. It was SO true. My body shows signs of making, carrying, delivering and caring for another tiny HUMAN. If that isnt amazing, I dont know what is. So I made myself make a list of 5 things that I LOVE about my post-baby body.

 And here they are:

1. I got lucky and lost all my pregnancy weight a week after having Emery, and I currently weigh 17 pounds less than my pre-pregnancy weight. (I lost all my muscle that I had but at least I am lower than my goal weight and it makes me feel like I can tone up easier now... :) gives me hope!)

2. My stretch marks. They appeared after I gave birth. I love those little marks on my hips because they prove to me how amazing my body is. And that it carried a tiny HUMAN!!! (I had a huge belly too so I'm actually kind of surprised, but glad, that I didnt have more!)

3. My little pouch will make it easier to have more babies.. right? It wont have to stretch as much... hahaha

4. I am amazed that I can nurse my baby and keep her healthy. Last week I got the stomach flu.. it was awful, the only time I held Emery was when I fed her because I didnt want to get her sick. Well a few days later Caleb got the stomach flu.. and it was awful, but I made sure to nurse her lots and guess what... Emery never got sick. My  magical milk helped keep her well because she was getting my antibodies. How cool is that??

5. My flabby arms give Emery something to play with. hahah kidding, kind of. But I am just happy that my body was able to carry Emery and deliver her into this world. I am a mom now and will forever be and my body just shows that I am. 

Yes, you can work out and get your body looking great, and that is awesome! I need to be better at that. But we shouldnt judge people for not bouncing back fast, or for having stretch marks, or for whatever reason. Bodies after having a baby are kinda scary but what they represent and bring into this world are so beautiful. So it is worth it. I would gladly take my flabby body over everything because it gave me my sweet baby who I love more than anything.  All mothers are beautiful. Motherhood is beautiful and everything that goes along with it is beautiful. Just be YOU. YOU are beautiful. It is society who is ugly.

Be Merry

Its that time of year again. I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR! I love everything about it. I love the holidays and spending them with family. I love the snow. (until about February.. then its just annoying and I want it gone.) My favorite thing about the snow is staying inside. Haha! I love to snuggle up with lots of blankets. Watch movies. Drink hot chocolate. Sit and read by the fire. Bundle up in warm clothes. Sit inside and watch the snow fall. It really is so pretty! And I am so excited to spend these cold snowy days with my little love bug!

I love setting up for Christmas. We usually do the first of December but this year time has gotten away from us. We set up our tree like two weeks ago but didnt have lights for it. So for the past two weeks Caleb has been saying he'll bring some home from his parents.. well he kept forgetting. He finally brought some home last night and we decorated the tree today. SO FUN! I love life with a baby. Every thing is just so much more exciting and fun. Emery truly brings the magic of Christmas to life. 

Speaking of Christmas and this time of year, this year is different. Caleb is out of a job, he is working for his dad though which I am so thankful for, but it makes things really hard. We are living in my parents basement, again I am so thankful that we are able to with the situation we are in, but it makes things hard. I always seem to get a little more depressed around the winter time. Seasonal depression I guess. Its normal. But this year as I feel myself slipping away and having the stress of money and life I stopped for a second, looked at my beautiful baby and thought of everything that I am grateful for. There was SO much to be grateful for! We dont have a lot of money, things are tight, and with Christmas coming and having to buy everyone something it makes things really really stressful. But our families are so great and have been blessing us time and time again. Caleb's dad is paying him to work for him. My parents are letting us live in their basement and my mom gave us a bunch of things for Emery that we can give her for Christmas. We are blessed. We wont always be in this situation so we will just have to make do with what we have. I have already been given the greatest gift on earth. And that is being  a mom. I couldnt ask for more. I have a great husband who loves me, a beautiful daughter who brightens my days, and we come from amazing families. We have so much love that that is really all we need. We are SO blessed.We may not have a lot, but we have what is most important. And I am okay with that! 

I shouldnt have to stress over Christmas. It is supposed to be a joyful time of year. So instead of stressing over everything I am just going to take a step back and enjoy. I was thinking how I just wish that I could get everyone I loved something. And I realized that I can. I can give them service. I can give them my time. I can give them someone to listen to and count on. I can give them a good friend. It may sound all cheesy but society has changed people. Its all about what you want and what you get for Christmas, instead of what you can give. Memories with people you love are better than objects you get bored with anyway. I am going to strive to be happy this winter. I am so blessed to have Emery. She and Caleb definitely help me out during my darkest days. Life is great! There is so much to look forward to. These are our hard times but we will get out of them stronger and a closer family. I AM SO BLESSED. :)
 

tis the season.

We took the girls to get their pictures done last Saturday. It was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. But between mine and Kiley's camera we got a few good pictures! It was so much fun also. Their cute little personalities are coming out and it is so much fun watching them all interact together. 

Emery, Jamillie, Stella

I love this one. Ps.. I totally made the onesies. I thought it would be a fun simple little project.. took a lot longer than I had expected. HOLY CRAP. Good thing they look so cute in them.

Emery is such a cheeser. Jamillie was in chill mode. Stella was just content.

Here is a little of the craziness that went on. Emery kept turning around, Jamillie kept wanting to crawl away, Stella was just content with her toys though. :)

This face. I love it. Its her concentrating face and I love watching her play and learn!

She was too busy playing so no smiles for us. But she will suck on her bottom lip of course. hahaha she is too funny!

Happy babies! But for real, this is my favorite picture we took.

Emery was NOT having it. She was cold and hungry and obviously hated the cute little outfit we put them in.

Jamillie had enough so she was out. hahahahah!

After she was fed and placed on a warm blanket she did much better! :)

Probably not the "brightest" idea little E.. okay that was stupid. but really it scared me when she started eating them. But at least its a cute picture!

Cheeser butt!

Santa Baby

That face again... LOVE IT.

This was probably the best one we got of them in this outfit... After almost an hour of taking pictures they were done.

Their faces. This is also one of my favorites. HAHAHAHA

Yup, they were BEYOND done. Except Emery, now that she was fed and warm she was pretty content.. and obviously in her own little world.

Sucking on that lip again.

Happy girl with two little chompers! Also her little heart is fading and it makes me sad.

Crazy legs! She was always moving them. And her little eyes kill me.

She is already SO beautiful. I am terrified for her teenage years.

This was how she was like 90% of the time. Turned around. We were always turning her back around!Such a silly babe.

I am SO happy that we all live close to each other. It has been SO much fun watching the girls grow up together and it makes me happy to know that they will be life long friends! I love these three babes so much and cant wait to watch them grow through the years!

The party never stopped.

Friday the 29th, the day after Thanksgiving was pretty relaxing. I made Caleb stay home from work... when he's his own boss its okay once in a while right?? Usually he works six days a week and only takes Sundays off so it was so nice and fun spending a little extra time with him! :)
We also still hadn't found our car keys yet so I decided to stay home and clean the house until I find them and have Caleb help watch Emery. I did loads of laundry and straightened up and still never found them. My parents took us out to dinner for Caleb's birthday that night then we just relaxed the rest of the night and even went to bed early!

Saturday the 30th:
I did more cleaning and finally found our keys... on Caleb's night stand just sitting there in plain sight! I ran and got him and made him come and see where they were. I thought he had looked there so I never bothered and this whole time he had been the one blaming me that I was the one to lose them since I was the last to drive. But I had told him I thought that I gave them to him... and I was RIGHT! hahaha It was just a funny moment and we are both happy to finally have our car keys back. Also....

EMERY TURNED 7 MONTHS OLD!!
She weighs 18lbs.
She says dada and mama only she doesn't know that shes saying that. She'll say dadada all day long when she's happy but when she's whiny and sad that's when she'll say mama. We'll see what her REAL first word is in no time I'm sure.
She talks alllll the time. Just baby gibberish but she loves to talk.
She pinches, hard.
She scratches.
She still loves bath time.
She will even take good naps sometimes! Woo!
She still grabs everything.
She likes playing with hair and earrings.
She plays with her own hair while I nurse her.
She is almost crawling. I know she wants to. She is so close to! But I'm okay with her not crawling just yet. :)
she'll climb on us now.
She likes to stand up.
She does this funny thing when she gets mad. She tenses her body up and grunts at us. Hahaha
She gives kisses now.
She giggles and laughs at like everything.
She loves to blow raspberries all day long, and spit them right in your face.
She also likes to spit when you give her food.
She is becoming such a little tease.. just like her daddy! I love her little personality! She is shy until she gets to know you then she is a crazy little goofball.

I am Thankful.

Thanksgiving:

We had a rushed crazy busy day. 

Emery woke up at 4:30 am and wouldn't let us put her back in her crib, when we tried she would cry and wake up. Caleb tried. I tried. She would just sleep in our arms. She finally let us put her down at around 6:30. I never set an alarm because Emery usually always wakes up between 7-8 every morning. We had two places to be on Thanksgiving so I didn't even worry about setting an alarm thinking I'd just get up and get ready when Emery woke up. Only Emery had other plans. Since she was up for a couple hours early in the morning she didn't end up waking up until ten! We were all tired so that was nice that she slept in but we were not going to make it to Caleb's families house early like we wanted. Oh well. Caleb had to run to the store to pick up stuff so we could make a dish but we couldn't find our keys anywhere. Good thing we live in my parents basement! (I don't say that too often hahahaha) we went and borrowed their car. 

We made it to Caleb's parents house by 1:30. We had to leave by 3:30 to head to Logan to my dads, so after we ate we had to hurry and celebrate Caleb's birthday with everyone then literally ran out the door while he was opening gifts. I hate feeling rushed. My anxiety was going through the roof and I felt bad we weren't able to stay and relax and talk to everyone. We made it to my dads by five for our second dinner. We ate then basically had to leave a couple hours later to get back home to get Emery in bed. It was so fun seeing everybody but I feel like we didn't get to really relax and talk to people because we were so rushed to get here and there. The day just went by too fast! I didn't really have a chance to think of all I'm thankful for. So here's my list:

I AM THANKFUL FOR...

A house to live in. Even though it's my parents basement.. At least we have somewhere to go every night and it's warm.

Clothes to wear. Even if they aren't the newest "style". 

Food to eat. Every day, every meal.

Clean water to drink. 

A car to get us places. Even though we only have one car, and it's an ugly old car, it's better than nothing.

Modern technology. 

Modern medicine when needed.

An education.

My health.

My friends. Especially the ones who make time for me.

 My many blessings, and trials for that matter. 

Seriously for ALL THAT I HAVE. I don't have much, but I still feel so blessed. 

But most of all I am thankful for my FAMILY

For Emery, for making me want to be a better person all around. For making me a mommy and for brightening my day every single day.

For Caleb, for being my rock, best friend and greatest husband for me. For accepting me as I am and loving me through my flaws and all.
For my Mom, for giving us a place to live and for helping out so much in our time of need. She is a great example for me to look up to.
For Caleb's Parents, for giving Caleb work so he can help support us. For loving me as their own and always being so willing to help us.
For my sister Kiley, she is one of my best friends. She is the best sister a girl can ask for. She is such a good mommy and I look up to her so much. I am so lucky she is my sister!
For all of my other siblings and their families, for my in-laws, and all of our extended family.
Family truly is the greatest gift. I am so blessed to have everyone of them in my life and I love them all!

I truly am so thankful for all that I have and for everyone in my life. 

 

Oh she was too cute! I love this little turkey butt!

Party time!

We've had a pretty busy week last week.

Wednesday the 27th was Caleb's 24th birthday:

He went to basketball in the morning, and according to him he played awesome! Which was a birthday present to himself he said.  Emery woke up early so when Caleb got home I was kinda being a grump. I hate when I'm grumpy! I just wanted to be happy and make his birthday special like it should be. But he told me to go back to bed for a little while. So I did... Only so that I would be in a good mood the rest of the day for him! He is too good for me. Once I was rested and up for the day we took his presents to him and then I made him breakfast. We got him a new phone a month ago and counted that as his present but I had to get him more so he had something to open. We got him new shoes which he desperately needed, a gift certificate for a massage which he needed too for all his hard work, and a remote control helicopter that my mom got and said I could give to him which ended up being a bust and didn't work.

After breakfast we got ready and went to a movie. I told him it was his day so we could go see any movie that he wanted, I know he wanted to see the new Thor or Enders game but we went and saw Catching Fire because he is great and knew that's what I have been wanting to see. I tried to tell him to choose a different movie but he wouldn't budge. The movie was so good though! We both really enjoyed it. It was also our first time leaving Emery while we went out since she was two months old. Now that she's getting out of her stranger danger phase it's a lot easier to leave her. We had a great time alone but I was so anxious the whole time and text my mom a few times and then after the movie the first thing I did was call and see how she was even though we were on our way home and would see her shortly. She was alive and well! Of course. Maybe one of these days I won't worry so much. Doubt it though. Later we went to dinner at Tepanyaki, which is also one of my favorite place to go... I think he just loves to please me, I don't know. We took Emery with us because we thought
it'd be fun for her to watch the cooks. We all had a great time! Dinner was good but the company was even better. :) Our cook guy was kind of a tease but our waitress was so cute with Emery! We went to the mall after and he bought me a couple things.. You would've guessed it was my birthday! Funny thing is, a few days before his birthday I told Caleb I was excited for my birthday coming up, he looked at me and said "you're birthday isn't for like six months..." I told him I get two birthdays, his and mine because when I married him what's his is now mine. He laughed. But really he made his birthday seem like mine. I kept trying to make it special for HIM but he is just so good to me! We went to his families house after for cake and ice cream. The cake wasn't made when we arrived and it was getting close to Emery's bedtime but it was still fun seeing his family. 

That takes us to the end of his birthday. It was a fun day and I hope I made Caleb feel as special as he is to me. I don't think I came close but I hope he had a good day because he truly deserved it. 

Fun with the birthday boy!

SURPRISE!

I threw Caleb a surprise Batman birthday party last night for his 24th birthday. I am so proud of myself for keeping a secret! It was hard. I almost brought it up to him several times but I am so happy that it turned out so well! And he had no idea :) It was so fun! His actual birthday is on the 27th, the day before Thanksgiving this year but I thought it would be fun to surprise him early.

 He deserved it! 

He is such a great husband to me.

 When I am being a butt he can always get me to laugh.

 He tells me I am beautiful all the time, even though most the time I argue with him about it. 

He does the dishes for me and vacuums and cleans without being asked. Or does it without complaining when I ask him to do something.

He gives me neck, back and foot massages all the time and never expects one in return.

He takes me on a date every week.

He simply makes me happy and feel so loved and lucky to have him.

He is the best daddy to Emery. 

He doesnt mind changing her diaper a lot when he is home.

He loves being a daddy and it shows, he never complains.

He is such a good example to me.

He is my rock.

I can go on and on forever. Seriously.

I am so glad that his party turned out so well! I couldn't have done it without my sister Kiley, for being so willing and helping out so much. She is so great! I couldn't ask for a better sister. I feel so loved knowing that people took time to come and celebrate Caleb. We don't really have many friends but it makes me happy knowing that the ones we do have are great ones. His best friend Landon helped out a lot too along with my best friend Lindsay and her cute family. I seriously feel so grateful to have these people in our lives! The party was a lot of fun and I couldn't be more pleased with myself for keeping a secret from him, especially for that long! I did already tell him what his birthday present was though... Oops. It was too hard keeping that many secrets.

The birthday boy! (I made him a bet that he had to wear that shirt in public for our date.... but really I just wanted him to wear it to his party hahahah!)

Kiley made this awesome cake!

There were a lot more pictures but it took too long to load.... so I'm just sticking with these ones for now. :)

Forever Love.

I want to apologize in advance. This post is very long and not very well written. It is messy and jumbled. But that's how it is in my head. 

I recently read a blog post that my step brother wrote about divorce. It was his experience with it and how it has affected him. It really got me thinking about my own experience with having divorced parents.

I want to start off saying that I absolutely LOVE and adore my mom. She is one of my best friends and I always wanted to be just like her when I grew up. She did an amazing job of raising 5 kids as a single mom. I also love my dad and am happy that he is apart of my life. My step mom is amazing and I couldnt ask for a better one. I feel SO blessed to have her apart of my life! My step dad is pretty great too! Growing up we didnt get along... but now that I have a family of my own we do a lot more. And I am thankful for him. I dont want anyone to get the wrong idea about this post. I am simply just going to write about MY personal thoughts and experience with it. I dont want to hurt any ones feelings or anything. That is not my intentions of writing this. I always have felt blessed that I get to have two moms and two dads! Broken at times.. but still blessed!

My parents divorced when I was about a year old so I have no memory of them being together. To me that was just "normal" to have split up parents, spending every other weekend at my dads. When I was young I never really liked to go to my dads house. Mainly because a lot of the times we went there I would end up in tears. And my dad hated crying. He would tell us "stop crying or else I'll give you something to cry about". So I always had to hide it if I would cry. One of the reasons I would cry is because my older brother Tanner and older sister Kiley would always tell me that I was adopted whenever we'd go to my dads. They told me that my name used to be Amber (I now hate that name...) I was the only one with blonde hair and blue eyes so sometimes I actually thought that maybe I WAS adopted. I always thought I had a twin out there too so in my little head and when I was silly enough to believe them I thought that maybe my "mom" didnt want to have twins so she gave one up. Me. BUT that is not true. I am not adopted. My name was not Amber. And my siblings were just being meanie heads. Anyway, our typical weekends with my dad (that I remember anyway) would consist of going to the dollar store after he picked us up and letting us pick out a toy or a treat. Then we would go back to his little duplex and hang out. We were always doing fun things. I remember him taking us roller skating, bowling, or out to eat. But sometimes it wasnt always fun. My oldest brother Trevor lived with my dad and they didnt always get along very well. A few times I remember going to my dads for the weekend and they would get in huge fights. Physical fights. It always scared me so bad! My dad would always end up calling the police. One of the times I was real little. I think it was around my birthday because I remember taking my new little doll that I had just gotten to my dads. When they started fighting and it got bad Kiley took us into the back bedroom. The cops came and we all had to talk to them. They gave me a little teddy bear but that didnt help me not be afraid. Another time was after my dad remarried and they got in one of their huge fights. My stepsister Angela, that is the same age as me, and I were watching a movie when it started. This one was the scariest yet. The cops came. We had to testify again. I was used to it. Which is kind of sad for a little kid to have to be used to.
Growing up I was always afraid of my dad. He wasn't abusive or anything. He had a temper but that was about it. I knew he loved us. I felt loved. I was just scared of him. I was scared of a lot of people actually.  I was a really shy kid. I never even said one word to my kindergarten teacher all year. When I was five to the age of eight things happened to me that no child should ever have to go through. I wont give details, and I am actually embarrassed just writing this, but because of what happened to me it helped shape who and how I was and now am today. I think that was a major part of why I was afraid of him. I was afraid to be myself. I wish that I wasn't that way. I would make my little brother ask my dad for things, like a Popsicle or whatever, just because I was too afraid to ask. 

I was 100% a mommys girl. I was a home body. I got homesick really easy. When I was 6 my mom married a man. I dont remember much about him, only that he was tall, had a big nose and wore glasses. They were only married a year and then divorced. We then moved to Kaysville when I was 8. And she married my now stepdad, Mike, when I was 9. Its crazy to think that he has been apart of my life longer than he hasnt.. Anyway, none of my siblings liked him much either. We used to call him our "Evil Stepdad" (sorry Mike! haha) Living with him was hard. He liked discipline, my mom was more soft and loving and let things slide a lot. He never really took on the father figure role for us. And since we didnt live with my dad he never was around to punish us either. So it was all on my mom.

As a teenager I was very rebellious. No one knows half the things I've done. And I'm not about to say anything either. hahaha But I am thankful for my mom. I put her through so much. Sorry mom. But she always would tell me "There isnt anything that you can do that will make me stop loving you." And she has lived by that and has showed me first hand. I have come home with multiple piercings, belly button ring, and even a tattoo! And she loved me through it all. Even when I was a total brat to her. But it was exactly what I needed of her. We are now so close! I feel bad for all that I put her through. I just had a lot of growing up to do. I needed to find myself. Caleb has been a huge impact in my life and has helped me grow into the person I am today.

When I was in Junior High I always wanted to be a Daddys Girl. But I felt that I was being robbed of having a dad. Dont get me wrong. My dad was great. He is the most supportive guy ever. He made it to all of my everything, dance competitions, soccer games, church activities that were daddy daughter things. He made it to all of my siblings things too. After we moved to Kaysville, he was an hour away in Logan but that never held him back. Like I said, he was great. But since I never really lived with him I didnt feel very close with him. I knew I'd always have his support in what ever I wanted to do in life but I wanted more.  I did have a hard time going to my dads in Jr high and High school. None of my friends had divorced parents so I didn't want to have to leave for the weekend and miss out on what they were doing.

My dad remarried when I was ten to the most wonderful woman ever. I am so glad that he found her! I feel like I was able to get closer to my dad and his new wife, Anita, after they got married because she had a daughter my age and we quickly became the best of friends. It was so much fun going to my dads after that! I would look forward to going. We later grew apart after I got married and it makes me sad.

Both of my combined families are wonderful! I am so happy that they are all apart of my life. My own siblings are all pretty close and I love it. I am closer to some of my step siblings more than others but I do love them all. That being said, its kind of crazy whenever we get together for family things. Sometimes I just wish that there werent so many of us so that we could all be a close knit family. But that will never happen... we just continue to grow with all these cute babies coming into the family! I love it. I really do. Its just hard now to please everyone. We have three families to see, plus our own little family now. Its hard splitting up all the holidays and traveling so much. It makes me so happy to see that Tanner and Kiley have found such great spouses to make and spend their lives with. They are great examples to me.

It makes me so grateful for what I have with Caleb. Caleb's parents are amazing. They raised him to treat his wife, which I am lucky enough to be, with respect and like a queen. I have never seen another couple more in love. And I know that their love is a forever kind of love. The kind of love that I want. That is the kind of love that I know I will have with Caleb. I am so thankful that his parents are such a good example for us and that we can learn from my parents. I don't ever want to get a divorce. Sometimes I struggle with things and just jump to that option when we are going through a hard trial, but that is not the answer and I need to work on that! I struggle with letting Caleb in. Its hard for me because I never had a good example of a mother and father parenting before. It was always just my mom. I never really saw much affection it was always more contention in the home. I now know it takes two when you are married. Two to love, two to raise the kids, two to be there for each other. I want to be a good example of forever love to my own kids. Emery is already becoming a little daddy's girl and I love it. It melts my heart.

This is not how I thought this post would turn out. I thought I'd say it all differently but I guess this is how it came out! I apologize again for it being a crazy jumbled mess of a post!

S I X months and counting!

I can’t believe that I have been a mom for 6 (almost 7!) months now! Its true… a mother’s love is unconditional.  I cant even begin to describe my love for Emery. It’s a love that I have never felt before. My mom would always tell me “you’ll understand once you have kids” and OH MY HECK! I totally understand now. I just thought my mom worried too much. But now here I am a total overprotective momma who probably worries too much. I cant help it! Having a kid is exactly like having your heart walk around on the outside. Their joy is your joy. Their pain is your pain. I just want to keep Emery safe forever! Especially in this crazy world we live in now a days. But she will have to learn things for herself.. so for now I guess I’ll just live in the present and enjoy watching her grow! (even though I just want her to stay my little baby forever.) :)

So much has changed in just 6 (almost 7!) months! It seriously is so crazy how fast time goes by and how much they change and grow! Its cruel actually. Time needs to slow down. She learns new things every day. I LOVE watching her grow and learn. I seriously just stare at her most of the day…. I cant help myself. Especially whenever Caleb is home and playing with her… he is so cute with her! I could watch them for hours. Oh wait… I already do. For reals. 

I'll try to keep it short as I give an update about the past 6 (almost 7!) months, but I cant promise that will happen. I'm a mom now. And moms just loooove talking about their kids. Especially me. I am officially obsessed. AHHH I just love her. I smile every time I think about her. Seriously every night after she goes to bed Caleb and I will be talking and one of us will bring up Emery and it always makes me want to go grab her out of bed just to play with her and snuggle her! But Caleb always tells me that it probably wouldnt be a good idea... which he is right. No one wants a cranky baby anyway, so I let her sleep. 

Newborn Emery

She is our sunshine. From the beginning she has always been such a good eater and sleeper. Except for naps.. even as a newborn she has never really liked to nap. BUT she always went to bed good and slept good, so I guess we'll take it! She now goes to bed between 7-8 every night and goes down soooo easy. But she still would rather stay awake almost all day then take naps. Even as a brand new newborn she has always been very alert. She takes everything in.  She has never taken a binky... or bottle. Sometimes I wish she had.. but oh well.

My good friend Kare Elmore took her newborn pictures of her. I LOVE these pictures and was so happy that she captured them for me. I will always treasure them. She was only THREE days old when we took them. So fresh! (This is only half of them...)

She was so alert like the whole time!

She was actually awake during this... but she looks like shes sleeping. and it makes me want to snuggle the newborn her....

i love her feet. so much.

she was born with quite a bit of hair and I loved it!... then it all fell out. (but its finally starting to come in!)

I took the rest of these pictures... duhh..

Oh I miss this tiny baby!

the first smile I caught on camera.... its a gassy smile, but still.

I loved (and miss) snuggling her. I seriously sat the majority of my days in my rocking chair holding her.

that doesnt even look like her... but I love how she was just looking at me. hahaha

sweet chunkarooo

She loved just chillin in her tub

 Emery at 1 month old:

11lbs. Gained 3 lbs in the first month. What can I say... she loves to eat. Just like her momma :)

She was the queen of blowouts. This was the first time she pooped all over me, definitely wasnt the last!

Once she started smiling she never stopped. haha

This was in park city when she was almost 2 months old.. she looks so little!

this is how we would get her to sleep. This way or thrown over our shoulder.

I love this picture of them!

Emery at 2 months old:
13lbs. Started holding her head up. Started smiling and cooing a lot :)

she was always pulling faces. and she was super chunky. hahaha

In her blessing dress. I wore that same dress when I was blessed!

at Jamillie's blessing. (emery was really only a month old..)

We have fun with her.

Emery at 3 months old:
14.4lbs. Started to grab things and play. Her little personality was really starting to come out! She started a "stranger danger" phase.

He seriously wore this mustache to dinner. Emerys expression shows exactly how I felt about it too... hahaha

She was supposed to be napping but she was just talking and playing... and then she saw me.

She fights naps. But eventually she'll just fall asleep from exhaustion.

Cousins! They were all born within 5 weeks of each other! SO FUN. Jamillie, Stella, and Emery.

She started sitting up right before she turned 4 months old.. 

Emery at 4 months old:
16.2lbs. She started sitting all by herself. We got to hear her belly laugh for the first time. SO CUTE. She laughed at Luxi, she thinks she is the most hilarious thing ever. It is too funny! Refuses to roll over... was just content laying there instead. 

Caleb's turn to be pooped on!

I miss my hair. I chopped it all off! WHYYYYYY?!! :(

Emery at 5 months old:
17lbs. She has now rolled over... except not in front of us. She is a belly sleeper, so a few times I went to get her she would be on her back! We finally got to see her do her little trick weeks later. Silly baby. 
She started teething and her first tooth poked through! She still loves to grab things, laugh at luxi, caleb and I, talk, squeal and snort. 

She has never taken a binky.. but she does suck on her bottom lip. a lot.

Luxi loves the boppy. 

Emery at 6 months old:
18lbs. She likes apples, bananas, carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, and potatoes. Doesn't like squash, avocado, or tomatoes. She gags and her hold body shivers when we give them to her. haha! I just make her food and feed her off of my plate usually. She started getting up on her hands and knees and rocking. Rolls over a lot now. Has 2 teeth that have cut through. Grabs EVERYTHING in sight. Talks a lot. She is such a happy baby it is so fun to see! She is coming out of her "stranger danger" phase.

Bottoms up! I love how she sticks her little bum in the air when she sleeps. :) but I hate how she loves to move to that corner and stick her face by the mesh bumper.

She loves bath time.

I bought that hat for a buck. SO worth it. She is too stinkin cute.

I apologize for how crazy this post was. Its hard trying to get down everything that happened over the last 6 months! There were just sooo many pictures to choose from and I didnt want to add a bazillion.. even though I kind of did. But now that I am caught up it wont be this hectic in the future!.. hopefully. It was so fun to go back and look at all the pictures and reminisce. She is growing up so beautifully! (and fast! ugh) I am so proud to be her mommy. She makes me want to be a better person. She has changed my life forever and I am so grateful for her! She is such a blessing in mine and Caleb's life. Besides marrying Caleb and starting our lives together, she is the best thing to ever happen to me! Life is just so much more fun with a baby in the house, especially around the holidays. :)