Our first holiday season with Emma!!

Wow...on December 10th Emma will have been home for three months. I can't believe how fast the time is going...it sounds so cliche when I read that on other people's blogs. The old "the time seems to drag on before they come home, then it just flies by" is so. very. true. I knew it would be that way, that she would FINALLY get to come home, then before we would be able to get our feet underneath us again, it would be Christmas. And BAM here it is. Almost (like, literally in days) December. Our first Christmas as parents. Our first Christmas where we almost forgot to get each other something because we are so excited about what to get Emma. Our first Christmas that it is truly all about her. (Won't be the last one that is all about her....something tells me they will ALL be all about her from now on!) It is my parent's first Christmas as grandparents. One of my favorite things is watching my parents love on her. Even in the beginning, when things, well, sucked royally, I always loved to watch them get to know her, interact with her, and love on her. She ADORES them. It is very easy to see how much she adores them. And, she may not understand "parent" versus "grandparent" or the meanings, but she obviously knows they are special to her but are different from Javier and I.

I did a little "12 things about Emma at 12 months" blog a month or so ago. I can't believe how she is changing even in a month's time. She has 16 teeth now....all but 4 are here and ready for biting - food, toys, Mom's arm, whatever she can get them on. She gets teeth 4 at a time and they come in almost overnight. Painful, but fast at least. The Tylenol has been free-flowing in our household lately! She is officially walking also!! She can take 3-4 steps all on her own without holding on to us or furniture, and can walk for miles if she has a hand to hold!! She is so adorable when she walks. She has the biggest, happiest smile on her face and just laughs the whole time....she gets so excited sometimes she can't keep going. Her hair is growing in fast lately too, and I think a little trim is going to be in order for the back...she is sort of getting a "lady mullet". Business in the front, party in the back :) I'm sure the haircut will be less than fun for all involved parties.

We are cleaning out the last spare room of the house. It used to be the office/junk room/animal room. It is now completely empty, carpet stripped, and fresh slate tiles are waiting to be put down to match Emma's room. In a couple of weeks it will be the "play room" so that ALL the nice colorful plastic things that have descended upon our house will have a place to live, and Emma will have a place to play, unstructured, safe and all to herself. I'll post pics of before and after, if I can find any before.
Our computer and a desk is all that is left of our "office" and it now sits in the "sitting room" off the living room. Our life is so very different than it was 4 months ago. It is impossible to describe the way we have all changed but it is also almost impossible to remember life before Emma's grand entrance into our house. I can't WAIT for Christmas this year....what a year it has been!

This was us coming home about three months ago...





Wow.