A Card from a Friend

I received a card from a very good friend a few weeks ago when I was going through a rough patch. I keep it posted at my desk and I read it almost every day.

I believe in you...
in your spirit,
your goodness,
in the way that you face each day
with a commitment
to your life
and the things
that really matter.
I believe in the decisions you make,
in the careful consideration
you give each challenge,
in the perseverance
you've shown
when others might have given up.
I believe that you possess
an extraordinary strength
and endless reserve of resilience-
even more than you realize.
You are a person of enormous courage,
someone truly special
in this world,
a rare and beautiful gift
to all of us...
And I hope you'll never forget
that I believe in you.


Thank you for that card. It is so special to me. I am so thankful to have you (and your Harry Potter wand) in my life.

More Emme Videos

Here are some videos that Kory took of Emily playing in his office:

Daddy - what is wrong with this STUPID door???




Oh...now I got it. What is in here?

Standing Up Video

Here is the video I was talking about - Emily is standing up all by herself for the FIRST time!!!

Double Digits!!

Emily is 10 months old today. Happy October! We can't believe it's almost Halloween already - where did the summer go?
Emme surprised us this weekend by pulling herself up to her knees and then to her feet!!!! I think we will have a walker by Christmas, but we'll see. She is always on the go.

She has been very sick the last week though. We are not sure what she had, but it was no fun for any of us. I missed 3 days of work and she was very sick. We took her to urgent care and to her regular doctor. It was not fun spending 3 hrs at the clinic trying to get a 10 month old to give a urine sample!! Especially one who wasn't peeing because she'd hardly eaten anything in 3 or 4 days. She did finally pee in the bag and they ran some tests, but everything came back fine. Which meant what she had was viral and had to work it's course. When her underarm temp was up to 100.8 on Fri, I was freaking out!!! Finally she woke up Sat morning with a smile - and I was so excited!! I had my baby back - sort of!!!! She is a bit needy right now - so I hope she is good for Chris tomorrow. Seems all she wants is mommy....constantly - and sometimes even mommy can't "fix" it. So I'm not sure if she's still a bit under the weather or if she is just feeling super attached.

We haven't taken any pics since the last time we uploaded, so here is the same link again for her 10 month pics: http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=483201224549798055/l=14955462/g=3242809/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

We do have a video or two that we want to post, but haven't had time to upload them, so I will try to do that this week sometime.

Happy Halloween!!
Teresa, Kory & Emme

Last Swimming Lesson

Emme had her last swim lesson on October 15th. I am just a little behind in updating it. She got her first "report card" and aced it with flying colors! yay!





Grandma Bonnie came to watch - in her sling and all! Here's a pic of Emme and Grandma before we left for the pool:

Grandma Bonnie had rotator cuff surgery about a month ago. Hurry up and recover Grandma :)

I love being a mommy!

I got to spend the last 5 full days with my daughter and I have to say I really do love being a mommy. I find it completely amazing that you can love this little person with every ounce of your being. Every day is an adventure and she is learning and growing and turning into this beautiful little girl - both inside and out.

I took off Thursday, Friday and Monday to visit with my family down in Illinois. My Grandma (Dad's mom) and my Aunt Carol (Dad's sister) flew in from South Carolina on Thursday and then Cori, Jeff and the girls flew in on Friday. We had such a nice time! On Saturday we celebrated my cousin Jeanna's wedding at a reception (they got married in Jamaica a few weeks ago)which was lots of fun - although a little chilly for the kiddos. Then on Sunday we went to Harms Farm (my aunt and uncle's place) and had lots of fun playing on the pumpkin train ride, the fun house, the petting zoo and even the jump house. Ok - so Emme couldn't do everything - but she got to watch her cousin Mikaiya have a blast!!

Other than that we just hung out with the fam and went to bed early! ha ha Three kids under the age of 3 were EXHAUSTING! But we had lots of fun. Everyone helped out with the kids and made it all seem easy.

Although I woke up this morning and got Emme out of her pack n play and noticed she stunk - but not like poops. It was dark in the basement (our sleeping quarters), so I brought her upstairs and turned the light on and she was covered in vomit. Ugh! I was like OH NO! Of course she was smiley as always, but stinky!!! I guess she must have gotten sick at some time during the night. I am so thankful she didn't choke or anything - although I had the monitor on her but I was still so worried. Today she seems a little cuddly and affectionate, but hasn't gotten sick again.

Here are some fun pics from the weekend:

The girls playing-

Emme, Mikaiya and Braenna - the 3 grandkids-

Aunt Cori playing with Mikaiya and Em-

Great Grandma Harms (Mom's mom) with some of her great grandkids-

Emme all bundled up at the wedding reception-

Great Grandma Walker (Dad's Mom) with Emme-

Aunt Carol (Dad's sister) baking cookies with Mikaiya-

Here is the entire photo link for Emme Month 10 - I will continue to upload this month and post her official 10 month blog closer to her birthday. We just have a lot of pics from this past weekend and I wanted to share them all - http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=483201224549798055/l=14955462/g=3242809/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Quick Update

Emily had her swim lessons again last night and I just wanted to update that she went under for the first time! yay! She did awesome. Daddy was there watching her for the first time (he can only stay for about 15 minutes before he has to leave for work) and the swim instructor asks us each week if we are ready - but she totally leaves it up to the parent. So I decided to do it especially so Daddy could see it! So what they have you do is she holds Emme and you stand in front of them. Then you blow in her face and she puts her under and then lets go -- she actually puts her pretty far down and then you take a step back and she actually swam to me!! It was so scary, but fun too. I could see her under the water and she had her eyes wide open and she was just kicking away to get to me. It was so cute. As soon as she came up she grabbed me and just looked at me like "what the hell was that?" ha ha It was funny. She didn't even cough or anything - what a good girl!!!!!