11 months!

Emily is 11 months old today! How did that happen? We have SO enjoyed watching her grow and develop over these past 11 months. What a blessing! Emily is a busy girl these days. She has been walking for a little over 2 weeks, so she is keeping us on our toes. She now has 8 teeth and the doctor confirmed last week (when I took her in for a fever...diagnosis-teething!) that she is getting her premolars as well. She weighs about 18 lbs, 9 oz and is growing beautifully. She still loves nursing, but is eating any and all solid foods that we give her...she loves guacamole, sloppy joes, green beans, bananas, enchiladas, turkey, macaroni and cheese, pears, and well, the list could go on. Emily loves water (pool pictures to come later today), especially bath time. She is a happy, talkative girl...giggling and babbling almost all day long. She brings so much laughter to our family on a daily basis. She is also our little social butterfly and loves playing with other kids/adults. She loves going on our evening walks, especially when daddy carries her in the Ergo...she gets so excited when he starts to put it on and if we don't put her in quick enough she starts to get mad. ha. Her little personality is definitely starting to blossom more and more.

We thank God every day for our little girl and the joy and blessing she is in our life!

I still don't like stray dogs

I am still chuckling about our early morning walk today, so I thought I would share the happenings with you, the world of blog! Emily and I have been doing our daily walk in the mornings to beat the heat (highs in the mid-90's every day is no fun for walking). So, today we ventured out on our walk, enjoying a somewhat cool breeze and greeting the other runners/walkers as we made our way through the streets. We were a couple blocks from home when I spotted a stray dog, German Shepherd to be exact. If you know me well enough, you know that I DO NOT like stray dogs. I've had enough encounters with "bad" ones over the years that I just don't trust them anymore. So, here I am pushing Emily in the stroller, thinking about how I can defend her and get us to safety in the event this dog does not like us. It was so bad I was actually looking at people's houses to see which ones had the best porch to barricade ourselves on, etc. HAHA...you can laugh, it is funny! The dog is continuing to make its way toward us as I continue walking, quietly talking to Ems, trying to keep myself calm and hoping she doesn't squeal and totally set the dog off. Another runner is starting to come down the street and I start feeling better about having someone around to help me out when all the sudden the dog turns and starts barking at the runner. It continued to bark at the runner until he was away from us. It almost seemed like the dog was protecting us...surely, not. We keep walking and the dog is now following us (worst feeling!) when another lady comes out of her house to get in her car and the dog starts barking at her until she got in her car. Did I mention the dog never barked at us?? I was then convinced this sweet dog was actually trying to protect Emily and me (or at least that is what I am going to gather from the experience). Our guard dog left his post when another furry friend (aka cat) was spotted in a nearby yard.

Fun times...

I know several weeks have passed since Memorial Day weekend, but I'm taking the "better late than never" approach to this blog post! We packed SO much into one weekend and returned to a busy schedule here at home, so time just has not allowed for me to sit down, organize pictures, upload, and gather my thoughts. However, another holiday is quickly approaching and I figured I should at least have this post done before the next one. So, here goes.

When we first moved to Wilmore two years ago, a sweet couple, Dan and Stephanie Bellinger, showed up on our doorstep with strawberry shortcake to welcome us to KY. Through that initial conversation we learned that Dan, Steph, and I all were at IWU at the same time. Small world (although, I guess big enough that we didn't know each other during our time there...haha). Anyways, we became good friends with the Bellinger's during our first year in Seminary. Dan graduated in 2009, so their time here ended as they took a church in New Carlisle, IN. We miss them so much, but we are grateful that we can continue our friendship even with many miles in between. We have been planning a visit to their new home for quite some time now and we finally had the opportunity to go in between the end of one semester and start of another. Our good friends, the Bevils (you know them from many other posts, I'm sure), took a road trip with us for a fun-filled holiday weekend. In the three short days we were there, we managed to visit New Carlisle, visit South Bend and the campus of Notre Dame (beautiful), grill out (oh yeah!), spend a day at New Buffalo Beach on Lake Michigan, and spend a day in Chicago. We had so much fun and Emily was a trooper.
Thanks again, Dan and Steph, for such a great time! We miss you!

We stopped at the College Football Hall of Fame and Viktor was quite proud of his Buckeyes!

Outside the Hall of Fame.

Emily discovered her shadow.

The whole gang. Dan, Steph, Bevil, Missy, me, Ems, and Viktor.

Outside the South Bend Chocolate Factory. Emily with her manny.

Getting ready for church with Aunt Steph.

Beach Bums.

We didn't take our swimsuits because we didn't think it would be warm enough in Michigan at this time of year. It was SO HOT on the day we went to the beach. However, the water was still freezing!

Emily did not like the freezing cold water...I don't blame her!

Pals.

The Ban family even drove in from Crown Point to spend the day with us. Emily had a lot of fun playing in the sand with the kids.

Ems enjoyed riding on daddy's back in downtown Chicago.

Bevil was on stroller duty...though Emily preferred her Ergo.

The whole crew in the bean.

Dinner at Gino's East.

Steph made sure we left Emily's mark. It said, "Emily was here and danced the night away."

And, no trip to Chicago would be complete without some sort of drama. Turns out the van got a flat tire while we were out touring the city. We put the spare tire on to drive home to New Carlisle, but within 3 blocks of driving it blew out, too. Somehow the guys rigged something so we could drive home on the flat tire (going 55 on the Toll Road and stopping every so often to fill it up). We had a few good laughs, that's for sure.

Happy Father's Day!

I am in love with this daddy-daughter duo! These two are quite the pair and I love watching their relationship blossom. I thank God every day for such a loving and nurturing husband to me and father to Emily.

World Cup

So, last night before Viktor left for work, he asked if I could dress Emily in red, white, and blue today so she would be ready to cheer on the USA as they played England. He had planned to wear his England jersey and they were going to watch the game together (I had planned some "mommy" time away in Lexington for the afternoon). My mom just sent a really cute outfit for the 4th of July, which I thought would be perfect for Emily's first USA game in the World Cup. Well, apparently she didn't want to cheer for the US. I had her outfit on for less than 2 hours before she peed all over it while I was changing her diaper (she NEVER does this!). haha. I proceeded to put on another red and white polka dotted outfit since Viktor hadn't even been up yet to see her first cute outfit. I put Emily down for her afternoon nap and left for a couple hours...with a planned stop to Target! As Emily and daddy were home watching the US-England game, I found this shirt (pictured above) for $7...and I just HAD to get it (early Father's Day present for daddy). I was so excited! Now they are matching buddies--and they are both SO proud! After church tonight, Viktor had Emily on her shoulders as we were walking out to the car and she was raising both arms, pointing up, and grinning from ear to ear...as if she knew she was the coolest kid on the block to be able to match her daddy. Precious moments!

And, she's off....

Can you tell Emily is concentrating really hard in this picture?!? She started to take a few steps on her own about a week ago and now she is practicing her new skill all the time. She can take about 6-8 steps on her own before she either loses her balance or gets bored with going so slow and she plops down to crawl. I haven't gotten her on video yet because she thinks the video camera is her toy and immediately stops walking to crawl quickly over to play. HA! She is growing up so fast!