Emma Elaine: 1 Years Old!

How on earth did this happen?! Wasn't I just giving birth yesterday?? I've always heard time goes by so much faster when you have a babe, and isn't that the truth. I wonder why that is...

Anyways, little Emma is a year old. I remember after Emma was born I couldn't comprehend that she was ours. I've heard of mom's talk about different kinds of love once their babies are born, and I think I had the slow and creeping in love with Emma. I remember thinking, "Why don't I have this overwhelming love for Emma?" She just grew on me, that's all ;) It took awhile for me to get used to having a baby, that's for sure.

Emma made me a mom. Ever since she was born, her needs have come before mine. First thing I do when I get home is take off her coat and make sure she's all settled in before taking care of myself. I also have come to realize there is a point where your needs as a mom need to come first too. I need to take care of myself as well so I can take care of Emma better. I know if I have too little sleep I need to wake up Joel to be with Emma so I can sleep more and be a better momma when I wake up ;) I get really crabby when I'm low on sleep, haha.

Emma really has made our life complete. She is so sweet, I can't say it enough. I couldn't comprehend how much joy I could have, but also sadness, heartache, and tiredness. I could go on and on about how much I love and adore her, but I simply can't put words into how much love I have for this tiny human we call ours. 

Emma is growing rapidly. Haha can I say it that way? ;) Her coordination is improving daily. A few days ago she would move around furniture and sit down to go to the next, now she is figuring out she is steady enough to take a step or two in between furniture. 

Emma was interested in walking a few weeks ago and she was sooo steady! I for sure thought she would be walking by her birthday at the rate she was going. That little stink won't walk for us now though! #sotypical. I know it will come eventually, and I am actually ok with her not walking yet! Gives me more time to baby proof the rest of the house!

Soooo biiiiig!!!

Emma has gotten super good at remembering and pointing to people, especially farmor, farfar, grandma and grandpa Bateman! I'll say, "Emma, where's grandma??" when we're facetiming and she'll point to the phone, wave hi, and blow a kiss. 

As I watch Emma moving around our apartment and exploring, it always amazes me how this little person could learn so much being so little.

Emma absolutely loves it when Joel comes home from work! He plays rough with her and she LOVES playing with Joel. Whenever she hears the door open when he comes home from work she scoots as fast as she can to be with him! My heart basically melts every time... espeically when she claps her hands when we say "Yay!!" like you can see in this video:

Concerning sleep... Emma is doing quite well. She goes to bed between 7 and 8, and usually wakes up between 6 and 7. She used to wake up in the morning between 7 and 8 when I was still nursing her a lot through the night, then we were both getting frustrated because my milk was not coming in as fast. Which was not fun every hour during the night ;) a few weeks ago I finally had enough and slowly stopped nursing at night and I think we were both very ready for that. Since then, Emma has been only waking up once a night but puts herself back to sleep! Which she couldn't do a few weeks ago, so I am happy about that! There has only been one night where she has slept straight from 7:30-7 and I was beyond happy! I have no idea what happened or what I did to help her sleep that good, but she should definitely sleep like that more often ;)

All in all we have such a good baby, and we feel so blessed to call her ours. Happy birthday Emma! We love you!!!!

This is how we both felt at the end of her photoshoot ;)