eleven months.

baby girl.  on friday, you hit the eleven month mark, which means we are mere weeks away from your first birthday.  i remember last year at this time, your dad and i would walk the field with the dogs as the days were just starting to get nice and we could not contain ourselves over how anxious we were to meet you.  would you be a girl or a boy?  what would you be like?  who would you look like?  how would we be as parents?  of course, the answers to all these questions are still in development, but i think i can speak for us all when i say knowing you the past eleven months has been better than my wildest imagination could have dreamed up.

this month your speech has really taken off.  you jabber constantly and say several words with intention now, as well as lots of jibberish.  mama, dada, etta, dog, pippa, book, pool, banana, i know, turtle (only at the zoo, but i'm counting it), baby, wawa (i believe this is water, but you've only come out with it a few times, so i'm not sure yet).  you stick your tongue out and make fish faces now, too, which is hilarious.  you are really interested in teeth and facial features, and you can point out your nose when asked.  you're becoming only very slightly less obsessed with putting every single thing into your mouth.  you are a little demon in your walker - you can maneuver that thing all over the place.  you love to hold our hands and walk all over the house and yard.  you are super affectionate these days and will cuddle in to our necks and give kisses which basically means you smear your open mouth on my face.  i love it.

you are still a rock star sleeper, which makes me a little nervous for when you start school (in two weeks!) because they will slowly transition you to one nap.  for now, you're still doing two naps of around two hours a piece, and sleeping 11-12 hours at night.  it is quite amazing, although in my neuroses i wonder if it's TOO much sleep for your age....in any case, you are not one to dabble.  when you are awake, you are fully alert and all over the place.  when you are asleep, you crash out.  the same with eating - when you're hungry, you ravage food like an adult (seriously, how does someone your size consume the amount you do?); when you're not hungry, your mouth is like a clamp.  speaking of food, you've recently been really in to anything seasoned with cumin (i made some lentils in the crock pot that you loved, as well as carrots with cumin).  you tried shrimp for the first time and gobbled it right up.  you eat cucumbers and extra sharp cheddar cheese.  fruit is still your favorite thing, but you're quite fond of pretty much everything you've tasted and i love how curious and excited you are to try anything.

you're trying hard to figure out several things these days: stacking rings on a pole, nesting cups, and the idea of in and out.  you get frustrated when you don't get something right away (i wonder where you get that from....) and will either fuss about it or throw it aside.  i'm hoping to be able to teach you patience and perseverance and the virtue in the learning process.  you still favor your mama over anyone else, which i secretly relish since i know it will be a blip in the grand scheme of your life.  you can get super upset when i leave the room or head out for work, but you calm down easily with just a little re-direction (and if you're interested in something really cool, you hardly even notice when i say goodbye).

you still have only 4 teeth, but i am thinking we might see another one soon.  i haven't weighed you in a while, but i think you are probably close to if not right at 20 pounds.  i'm still nursing you, and even though i know i'll likely wean you (and you'll likely wean yourself) around the one year mark, the thought of ending it breaks my heart into a million pieces.  you only nurse in the morning and at night, and i pump only once a day now, but i have loved that special time with just you and me.  i'm sure i'll write a long post about it at some point when i'm feeling even more nostalgic.

you love your books and your animals.  you hugged pippa today and i thought your dad and i might pass out from the sweetness.  i don't know if you'll be walking by your birthday, but you sure do love to stand up and cruise.  you bounce and dance and laugh and squeal and hop and explore and clap and bring an unfathomable amount of joy to our lives.

i love you so much, little rabbit.

the zoo!

last weekend, justin's dad (grandpa browne) came to visit.  i had bought a groupon to the austin zoo several months ago, but given that it has been a million degrees for as long as i can remember, we hadn't made it yet, so we thought it would be a fun outing to take advantage of the lovely fall weather (yes, a high of 90 is fall here).  we started the morning at trudy's for brunch, then jb and his dad hit the natural gardener (this amazing outdoor/gardening place) while i hung in the car playing words with friends and relishing how cute ek is when she's sleeping.

when we got to the zoo, emme woke up and we plopped her in her stroller, where she remained for not very long because there was just so much to see.  the austin zoo is a sanctuary zoo, which means all the animals there have been surrendered or rescued.  it's so unfathomable to me that people think they should have these wild animals - the zookeeper we met told us a story about a trucker who bought a tiger cub at a truck stop because "he thought it would be cool to ride around with a tiger, until the tiger started eating his truck".  anyway, i'm so glad there's a place for these sweet animals to live when humans invade their natural habitats and ruin their instincts.  it's really amazing - you don't see giraffes and hyenas and gorillas like you might at a big fancy zoo, but you stand less than 10 feet away from pretty much every animal they've got.  there are probably 10 big, gorgeous tigers; lions; a black bear; an 18 month-old kangaroo joey; big, old turtles; a pack of wolf hybrids; tons of monkeys, and more.  the best part is that the zoo is super manageable - it takes about an hour or two to navigate the whole thing, but you can spend as much or as little time anywhere as you want.  there's also a big petting area with goats, llamas, deer, and sheep (including the blind baa baa black sheep i'm feeding in the picture below).

anyway...emme was mesmerized by the sights and sounds and smells.  she did lots of pointing and squealing, and she even said turtle like 5 times.  we finished up the adventure with a picnic lunch for emmeline on the benches.  she was interested in her grandpa's sno-cone, but contented herself with broccoli, avocado, turkey, and clementine.

please pray.

dear friends, family, whomever,

i'm not even sure who reads this blog, but i feel the need to put something out in the universe.  our close friends' baby who was born on friday has a heart defect and will be undergoing surgery soon.  i don't know any details other than that, but i want to ask that if you read this, you pray for june.  she is a strong little bug, as are her parents, but i can only imagine how terrified they are right now.  thanks. 

tasty treat.

this morning, emme was crawling around while jb and i got breakfasts and lunches together.  i picked her up to put her in her high chair for her strawberries and other goodies, and while i was holding her to get the high chair ready, she started spit-drooling on the floor (she doesn't spit up anymore, so this was super weird).  it took a minute before i looked directly at her and noticed her crunching on something.  i reached into her mouth and discovered a dog food pellet, thankfully with no real bites taken out of it.  any time she is on the floor in the main room, she heads in the direction of the dogs' food, so i guess it was only a matter of time.  hilarious.  i think she enjoyed her strawberries even more after that....

warming the house.

last saturday, we threw a little housewarming party.  there was hardly any notice (i think i sent out an invite on facebook about 10 days before...woops), but we figured 2 months just about exhausted the statute of limitations on when a house is considered ripe for a housewarming party.  if we'd waited until the house felt "ready" for a party, i am thinking emme would be nearing first grade, so we just had to make it happen.  

justin smoked two 15 pound (or so) briskets, and we made potato salad, mac n cheese, queso, baked beans, and bread pudding (i think that's everything...).  then mike brought over a pulled pork that he'd smoked as well as some delicious pork stew that was amazing.  we never really lack for food 'round these parts....

this was the first big party we've had with emme on the move, and there were babies and kiddos EVERYWHERE.  it was awesome.  you kind of don't realize how many kids there are until you see them en masse like that, and then it's like a wild daycare.  i love it.  i always wanted to have a massive family with tons of kids running around, but since that's not exactly how things turned out, it's really amazing to have friends that feel like family who we can play with.  

anyway...there were lots of people and lots of food, so we didn't do the best job of taking pictures (well, i never do a very good job of snapping pics, but justin had his hands full at this endeavor, so we don't have his usual on-point documentation of this event - he only got a few the first few minutes of the shindig).  but there are a few.  in any case, we really appreciated everyone showing up and spending the afternoon with us.  we look forward to many more parties and great memories in the new casa.  

car nap.

dear emme,

we stopped at the natural gardener on the way to the zoo for the first time and you fell asleep on the way. i'm sitting next to you while the others look around so you can get a little bit more of a nap in. you're snoring just a little bit because you're getting over a cold and it's basically making me wig out over the cuteness. you're wearing a tutu which is pretty ridiculous but I couldn't resist it. I could stare at your eyelashes and the little curls at the nape of your neck all the days of my life. I am so thankful for every slow moment that I get to know you and look at you and sneak in some kisses of those sweet little baby toes.

love,

mom.

bath time with camo.

i know i've mentioned alison and her daughter cameron on here a few times, but we are horrible about taking pictures when the girls are together, so this is the first time i've had visual representation to share.  last week, cameron's nanny was out for thursday and friday, so alison "borrowed" our nanny and brought camo over for two fun-filled days.  the week before, we had an afternoon/evening of swimming and dinnertime.  the girls are just 13 days apart and alison and i shared our pregnancies from when she was 8 weeks and i was just over 5 weeks, so they really do go way WAY back.  they are not quite at the developmental stage where they play intentionally with each other, but they are very good at side-by-side play and are more engaged every time they get together.  interaction is also inevitable with girls this curious, and they are excellent at taking keys and other toys out of each others' hands.  they have very different styles of getting whatever random item they want (and of getting from here to there), but it's a world of entertainment to watch the two of them get in to various things.  for example, we had a mini-picnic after work on the front porch on friday and cameron was eating mulch from our plants while emme preferred to eat only cheerios that had been spilled on to the ground.  we also took turns sliding alison's keys across the tile floor and watching them "race" to get them.  cameron crawls up on all fours when she's on carpet, but on tile she does this sliding ninja crawl that is SO fast and hilarious. 

anyway, it is so fun to have a close friend have a little girl that's the same age as mine - makes all the experiences that much more fun since we get to share them.  i really hope these two maintain their bond for many years to come. 

on the night of swimming, when everything was winding down, we decided to plop both girls in the tub so we could stretch out our time together a little bit more.  justin snapped some pictures so we finally have some documentation of these little monkeys.  sorry for the naked baby photos, but i mean, c'mon.  pure cuteness, right? 

Emmeline's 9 month video

here are some shots from the week ekb turned 9 months old. the big 1 year celebration is just around the corner!

jack-jack.

emme's hair is getting long.  yesterday, sitting on the porch after work, i took advantage of the humidity to do some styling.  i think it makes her look like jack-jack from the incredibles.  side note: i love that movie. 

some updates.

i have been pretty neglectful of the blog lately.  i’ve posted, but the postings haven’t felt comprehensive or complete – they’ve really just been an exercise in getting it checked off my to-do list.  which is not the point of this, at all (even though there are certain documentary-type things that just have to be done…that doesn’t mean i need to strip the fun out of it).  anyway, this may be rather boring for some folks, but please bear with me as i share a few updates…

the nanny situation:

there was one super crazy week where things were all kinds of up in the air and i am pretty sure i developed eleventy billion stomach ulcers just thinking about it all, but we found a short-term nanny on a website our friend dp let us access through his subscription (sittercity.com).  i posted a very candid ad saying we needed something short-term and on short notice and we couldn’t afford to pay $20/hr (or really even close to that).  even though it was a long shot, we got some hits.  one girl, s, was very on the ball, so we had her come for an interview.  we liked her a lot – i especially liked that she talked to emme like a person and included her in the conversation.  she also miraculously has another nanny job set up for november, so she was looking for something short-term to fill the gap.  i’m a big believer in things aligning, so we did a trial day with her and her first full week was last week!  even though she is not mary poppins, i am amazed at how much more relaxed i am now that the previous nanny is out of the picture.  i was so stressed thinking about her taking the bus for hours every day (s has her own car and lives relatively close, whew), and wondering how much she would be on the internet ignoring ek.  we went to happy hour with vincent and his parents last week, and we all agreed it was amazing how we didn’t even realize how much we were internalizing that stress.  i imagine having emme in school will bring different challenges, but i am so excited for that new routine and the structure it will give to our family. 

the house situation:

the first six weekends in our new house consisted of the following: 1 – friends from Atlanta and boston visiting; 2 – hesterly move-in crew visiting (and helping!); 3 – emme has fever of 105; 4 – me and emme travel to lafayette to pick up mom; 5 – dad and gram visit and pick up mom; 6 – erin and derek’s baby shower was at our house.  so, it’s been a little frenetic.  but, between multiple visits from my parents and learning how to work in fits and starts, i think we’re feeling more and more settled every day.    my natural tendency is towards using large chunks of time to complete large projects all at once, but that is just not possible with a small human and the pace of life right now.  we are getting better, and the house is starting to feel like home.  emme has so much space to crawl and explore and she loves that.  pippa is in the biggest area she’s ever been in and she’s living it up, exerting her dominion over all of us.  the dogs do their wrasslin’ in the front living room and love everything, even though i think they miss their field.  and justin and i are really enjoying that our stuff has a place to go and we have room and opportunities to pursue our hobbies (haven’t had a lot of time for those hobbies just yet, but the possibility is there!).  anyway.  we have some pictures hung, the kitchen and emme’s room painted, and most rooms are furnished at a functional level.  what we get to do going forward is really put our own spin on all of it.  we hope to landscape and refinish some furniture and sew some curtains and paint some more and add shelves and personal touches here and there.  it should be a blast and i’ll post pics soon. 

the job situation:

this is a very different place than my last place.  during the insanity that comprised august, there were several occasions that i wondered what in the world i had been thinking, but i am starting to feel a lot better about it.  learning windows has been mildly challenging, but it’s not so bad.  the people here are nice.  there is a TON of career development and opportunity for me to learn and do new things, and that is really exciting.  is this job as ostensibly hip as my last one?  no.  but it’s a great job.  i am carving out a niche, just as i knew i would eventually do.  i probably won’t be here forever, but i will make the most of the time i am here, and i plan to enjoy it as much as anyone. 

the social situation: 

a random category that i haven’t written much about, but i feel like i’m maybe kinda sorta emerging from my cave.  it’s hard to be the kind of friend i want to be, and this is an area i want to really keep focusing on in the coming months.  two very close friends had babies in early august, and i have only met one of them (and that was only this past week!).  there is just no excuse for that, except all the excuses i’ve made.  ha.  anyway…we went to happy hour last friday, we’re having some friends over for dinner, and we’ve done a few other activities intermittently.  we’re also planning a housewarming party at some point, so that will be a great opportunity to see everyone.  i get so lazy and selfish of my free time sometimes that i forget how much i really like people and hanging out.  i am also so intense about emme’s sleep schedule, so there’s another opportunity for growth there….

the health situation:

when i turned 30 (30!), i vowed that i would start taking better care of myself.  i don’t know why this is SO hard for me, but it is.  i would prefer to do almost anything over all those little routine self-maintenance things like exfoliating and moisturizing and blow-drying my hair.  all of that just feels self-indulgent to me, even though i know in my heart that it is super important.  i also vowed that justin and i would exercise more and eat more healthily and generally start leading a more healthful lifestyle – for our own benefits, but also to get into the habit of setting a positive example for miss e.  i’m sorry to report there have been no earth-shattering changes at our house.  but i think we are making some baby steps.  last week, we saw our first sub-100 degree temps in over three months, so we took emme and the pups for a walk every single evening.  it was bliss.  of course, we’re back in the 100s this week, so we haven’t made it out, but my iphone tells me we’ll see a mini cool front this weekend, so hopefully we can get back to it.  i’ve also been planning our meals every night, so at least one meal each day is healthy and nutritious.  baby steps, i say!  for me, it’s really all about establishing a routine that i can count on, so i know what i’m doing.  i’m not a girl who does well with a loss of control…

so, if you persevered and read this whole thing,  i think that’s all the major status updates.  this is a really great time – my favorite time of year.  i’m obsessed with combing pinterest for ideas for emme’s halloween costume.  football is taking over our house.  the weather seems like it might someday feel less horrendous.  we have holiday excitement to plan for and anticipate.  emme is turning 1 in a month and a half (this is both amazing and heartbreaking).  we have so much to be grateful for. 

10 months.

my sweet little bug.  you turned 10 months old on wednesday, but i'm only getting around to writing now.  the weeks are flying by faster than ever and 10 months feels sooooo big, perhaps because it's double-digits now.  you got sick for the second time in your life last week - you woke up with a fever last friday and when i took you to the doctor saturday, she said you had hand foot and mouth.  kk thought that was the grossest-sounding disease name of all time, and i must say i'm not crazy about it either.  we insisted on calling it hoof and mouth the whole weekend.  but, i guess you got it from one of the kiddos that was here for the shower the week before?  that's all i can think of since you haven't been around many kids at all, and it's usually something you would get at daycare.  in any case, your fever was short-lived, but you were in pain.  you never got the bo-bo's (we mustn't call them sores...) on your hands or feet, but the doc said she saw them in your mouth (you stubborn thing would not open your mouth to let me see).  i'm guessing they were the reason you would cry out in pain if i missed an acetaminophen dose, and you didn't eat much for a couple of days.  you also didn't sleep through the night for about a week, but you seem to be moving back in the right direction, thankfully.

anyway...even with the sickness you have been all over the place.  you dance non-stop so we've taken to inventing songs about everything.  there is a lot of singing in this house.  you "share" your food with us, which is adorable.  you call etta "tetta" and talk to pippa and the dogs frequently.  you lay your head on us or one of the pets in a very sweet way that just about breaks my heart every time.  you say mama, dada, dog, tetta, puh (i am pretty sure this means pool, as you say it when you're pointing and looking directly at the pool), no (according to the new nanny, though i haven't heard it yet), and various iterations of other words we think you might be trying to say, but you aren't quite there yet.  you have stood independently a few times, but you sit or squat down immediately when you realize you're standing.  you've started cruising a little bit but still prefer crawling as your primary mode of transportation.  you are obsessed with cats - when i read you any book that has cats or pictures of cats in it (particularly goodnight moon), you point to them and squeal.  in goodnight moon, you look for the place on the rug that the kittens play on most pages and you look at me as if to ask "where did they go?" on the pages they're absent.  i love that.

you're gaining weight more slowly and only weighed 18 lbs 9 oz when you were at the doc last saturday. i think that's an appropriate gain, but you are still so busy all the time and you lose your appetite when you're sick, so that may be part of it.  you're still a great eater and have started signing "more" when you eat.  you haven't quite gotten the closed-hand part down, but that requires a lot of dexterity and you are very deliberate when asking for more of something.  you still have just the four front teeth.  you also love to turn a light switch on and off.  when kk was taking care of you for that week in august, she would hang out with you on the porch every afternoon to wait for me to come home from work.  you and i have started waiting for daddy (especially now that the weather is finally kind of cooling off), and the nanny brings you to the porch to wait for me too.  this is probably everyone's favorite part of the day, and you're starting to make a name for yourself in the neighborhood as you wave at everyone that walks or drives by.

i could talk about every tiny little thing that you do for days, scooter.  justin and i started making a list of all your nicknames today, and this is what we have so far: scooter, pooter, bunny, bug, bean/the bean, rabbit, monkey, pete, m'a quitte', poot magoot, vladmir, skee-do, skeeter, sweet pea.  i'm sure there are more, but those are the most popular right now.  anyway.  we love you so much, sweet child.  you enrich our lives daily and we cannot believe you'll be one in less than two months.

as is evidenced by the pics below, you aren't big on keeping still.  you also still love to put everything in your mouth.  you're a trip, little bug.

Mike and Kim got hitched! (in April)

our friends mike and kim got hitched and i'm slowly getting around to doing some fun stuff with the video i took. the wedding ceremony was held on the beach in negril on top of soft white sand. most sand is soft, but this sand was particularly soft. fancy sand even. mike found this awesome little place called Idle Awhile that was just perfect for our group. everyone had their own rooms with patio (most complete with hammock). everyone would connect down on the beach or at the bar and, generally, try to stay idle awhile. it was an amazing week and we can't wait to go back. i know i'm pushing for mike to do his 5 year anniversary in negril - and get the team back together for a reunion tour.

Mike & Kim's Wedding Highlights - Negril Jamaica from Justin Taylor Browne on Vimeo.