SHE'S WALKING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, that's right! Emily has officially started walking on her own! We were in my parents' home and Emily was standing, playing with a toy. My Dad simply asked her to "walk to PaPa" and she did -- she took 5 steps to him as if she had been doing it for months! And now, she'll walk to anyone -- What a big girl!! :)

Trip to WI

I just have to say -- praise God! He is totally in control of everything and I don't know why I ever worry about anything!

With that said, let me tell you about the best trip to WI we have ever had! Nelson came home early on Friday so we were able to leave at 12:30 instead of 6:00. Emily fell asleep for her afternoon nap after we got out of Cleveland and she slept to the OH/IN border (that is a record for her -- over 2 hrs)! We stopped for a bathroom break and then got back in the car. Traffic was just zipping along so we kept driving for a few more hours and then stopped for dinner just outside of Chicago. We got to Chicago around 6:00 and we have never had such clear sailing! We never went below 62 mph -- can you believe it? And at 6pm in Chicago no less -- nothing but a miracle!! We stopped for another bathroom break just N of Madison and then Emily fell asleep again -- sleeping another 2 hrs until we got to my parents' home at 10:45pm. Nelson was right, we could do the whole trip in 1 day! Amazing!

I cannot tell you how much of an angel Emily was on this trip! She fussed a few times but once we gave her something new to do, she was fine. And she slept for 4 hrs -- can you believe it? For a child who NEVER sleeps in the far, this was quite the accomplishment and it definitely made the trip much smoother!

Thank you all who were praying for us and this trip -- your prayers were clearly heard! It's nice to be here and we're having a wonderful time!

Hope and pray that you all have a very, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! :)

Merry Christmas . . . A Little Early!

My Pretty Dress!

Aren't I simply adorable?! :)

Nelson's Latest Project

Here is Nelson's latest wood-working project -- we're quite pleased with it! A huge improvement over the petite college desk we had before!! :)

We're Pregnant . . . Again! :)

That's right! We're pregnant!!! We had our first ultrasound today to determine the due date and it is "officially" July 6th! The heartbeat was nice and strong (175 bpm) and you can even see the arm & leg buds in this picture! Well, you sort of can. The baby is actually upside down with it's feet in the air -- it's kind of dark and hard to tell. Woops! Anyway, we are just so excited and can't wait for next summer!! :)

And for those of you who are curious, we are going to find out if it is a boy or a girl. (You know me -- there is no way I could wait the whole 9 mos!) And we will be keeping the name a secret again -- there has to be a surprise for someone!! :)

Tickle Book

Emily has a book called Are you Ticklish? She absolutely LOVES this book and I thought you might like to see her tickling the pages! :) (Sorry about how dark this video is -- I didn't realize it until it was too late!)

And FYI, Emily had another PT appt yesterday and everything went well. Sarah has given us a few more exercises to do with her at home, so hopefully these will continue to help! :)

Christmas Decor

Emily was quite the helper yesterday when we were putting up all our decorations. She pulled on the lights, tried to take the ornaments off the tree, unpacked the box of Nelson's childhood ornaments (she only broke 2 of them)! Maybe she's not old enough to help out yet??? :} But she sure is cute! :)

A Fairy-Tale Ending :)

Nelson and I went out on a date last night -- a real date! Not just dinner but we went out to a movie too! It was really nice! We hadn't been out for dinner and a movie (our favorite date activity of all time) in probably 6 months! I share all of this because something funny happened at the theatre and I just have to tell you!

We saw "Enchanted", which I have to say was a bit more child-focused than most movies we attend but it was really cute and quite funny! (For those of you unfamiliar with this film, it is one of Disney's new movies that is about this animated fairy-tale couple who get cast into New York City by the prince's evil step-mother. It's a sort-of-compilation of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.) Anyway, when the movie finished, I leaned over and kissed Nelson. Unaware to us, there was a set of grandparents and their granddaughter a few rows ahead of us. Nelson and I were on our way out of the theatre when this grandmother stopped Nelson and thanked him, saying that her granddaughter turned around just as we were kissing and said, "Look, Grandma! It's just like the ending of the movie!" I thought this was just adorable and had to share it with the world -- or at least the small community of people who read my blog! :)