Blessed

It's the night before the first official day of school (for students that is, I worked 2 days last week), and I can't sleep.

But as the last weekend of summer has come to an end, I'm feeling incredibly blessed... We have had such an amazing "first summer" with Emmy! We traveled, saw our family & friends lots, and just had fun together. Emmy has grown so quickly & it seems like she's changing weekly! She is an amazing little girl and I constantly find myself wondering what we did to deserve this incredible little being!?

This past weekend was a long one, and couldn't have gone more perfectly. It was nothing fancy, but I've always preferred the simple over the fancy. Friday night grandma & grandpa smith baby sat Emmy so mom & dad could have a date night. We were a little concerned that Emmy would give then a hard time since she had woken up "on the wrong side of the crib" from her afternoon nap, but she was great! She had fun with her grandma & grandpa and mommy & daddy enjoyed a nice long dinner at a new restaurant! Saturday brought some "alone time" for both of us; Dan as he ran & me as I got a pedi! This in turn gave each of us some alone time with Emmy as well. Late afternoon we went to a BBQ at our cousins' marina & were happy to celebrate not one but two expectant mothers! Dans cousins Nicole and Michelle, who are sisters, are both preggo & due a month apart! We weren't sure how long we would be able to stay at the BBQ before Emmy lost it, but she was a rock star! She ate in her bumbo chair, played toys on our picnic blanket & fell asleep on the car ride home. Sunday we were invited to a friends house for dinner, & again weren't sure how Emmy would do being away from home for dinner & bed times, but we had no reason to worry! She really enjoyed seeing her buddies Aly & Liam, and had fun playing with their toys. She borrowed Liam's high chair for dinner and his pack & play for bed time! This was only the second time we've put her to bed at someone else's house in a pack & play, and she did great! She slept for a few hours there, woke up when we moved her to the car seat, and went back to sleep when we got home!! Then today we decided to take it easy & stay close to home. We did go out for brunch, to one of our favorite restaurants for breakfast that we haven't been to since before we had Emmy! Despite a short wait to sit down, Emmy was great, eating her lunch & people watching while we ate! We spent the rest of the day at home "playing toys" and getting in some extra kisses!

In addition to being a trooper with all our activities this weekend, Emmy was very chatty! Her latest sound is "ya", and she loves it! Shes now combining different sounds when she babbles, and shes also playing around with her voice & discovering all the different sounds she can make! We never get tired of hearing her tell us stories! Emmy continues to pull herself up to stand on any & everything she can find! It's resulted in many falls & a few tears, but she's definitely getting stronger & braver! Once she's standing she likes to let go with one hand, and sometimes both hands!! It makes us nervous, but it's also amazing to watch her figuring it all out!

I know it's going to be hard to be away from her all day at work, but at the same time I think it will make me more appreciative of the time I do get with her. I also think she's really going to enjoy being around other kids at daycare on a regular basis. Once I know she's consistently having good days there I'll feel much better about the whole situation!

We didn't take many pictures this weekend, but here's a few:

Playing dress up in mommy's baby dress!

Practicing standing!

Brunch at Toast!

Waiting patiently for our table

zzzzzzz....