Emily Grace is One

Happy Birthday to our fiery little red-head!!!

She really enjoyed her birthday cupcake.

Emily is growing up so fast! She's almost walking on her own. She takes a few steps and then chickens out and sits down and then just crawls. Her favorite thing to do is grab Mommy or Daddy's finger and pull us around the house while she walks.

She used to be so quiet and passive but lately she's been letting a little more of that inner red-head out and is a fiesty little thing. She is still sweet as could be and so super cuddly but she'll let you know if something is not to her liking. She jabbers all the time and loves to tell us stories. She says "Mama" "Dada" "Up" "nana" (banana) and I think she says "Milk" too. She likes to scream; not like crying screaming, just "listen to how loud I can scream" scream. And she always gives us the biggest, proudest smile after she lets it out. Our house is not very quiet anymore because Kylie likes to play that game too :)

Kylie is still her bestest friend. She loves playing with Mommy and Daddy, but no one can make her laugh as hard as Kylie can. Whenever Em gets sad, we ask Kylie to make her laugh. All she has to do is growl at her and Emily immediately starts laughing (even mid-cry). She especially loves dancing with her big sister. That's her favorite.

She's an awesome sleeper. We say our family prayers at 8pm, read a story together, then give her hugs and kisses, put her in her crib and she goes to sleep (Who knew it could be that easy?!) and she'll stay asleep until 7:30-8 the next morning. And she gives the best big hugs around my neck everytime I pick her up out of bed. It's as if she's saying, "I missed you, Mommy!"

She's lactose intolerant. She can only drink soy milk (and she drinks a-lot of it) but she still loves cheese and yogurt too. And I'm pretty sure she inherited my sweet tooth because she loves nilla wafers and sweet fruits.

She has 12 teeth. 12! I didn't know 1-year-olds could have that many teeth (and I think 2 more are on their way this week). Speaking of... she also really likes corn on the cob :) She get's really really excited and cleans of the entire cob whenever we have it for dinner.

She has lots of nicknames, including: Em, Em Grace, Emmie Grace, Emmie, Gracie, Emmers, Gracers, Lou Lou, Sissy, and Boo. 

Like I mentioned before, she loves to cuddle. If you lay down on the ground, she will crawl over and cuddle up onto your chest with a big smile on her face. She especially loves to cuddle with Mommy but is really starting to warm up to Daddy too . I always rub it in Daddy's face that she loves me more :)

She is so wonderful and makes us smile everyday. I'm so glad she came to our little family just one short year ago. Happy Birthday, Emmie Grace! We love you!!!