Christmas 2010

We had a nice, quiet, and white Christmas! Apparently the last time it snowed in Atlanta on Christmas Day was in the year 1882. Wow, that was a few years ago! We got up and had breakfast first. I needed my coffee and Emma needed to eat. We fixed fried chicken with jezebel sauce and biscuits. My grandmother had the tradition of making fried chicken on Christmas morning so we wanted to do that too. After breakfast, we took Emma Kate into the den to see what Santa had left for her. We had all her unwrapped gifts there with her stocking. She seemed a bit overwhelmed by all that new stuff just sitting there but she soon warmed up to it and started exploring. The chair was something that both her grandmothers bought for her. She just LOVES that chair. I think she feels like a big girl sitting in her chair. After Emma Kate’s morning nap, she opened some of her presents with our help. Opening presents was an all day activity for Emma. Everyone was so generous to her. Here some pictures from our holiday!

Emma Kate in her dress that Stephanie, Brian and Sylvie gave to her. We went to a Christmas party so this was the perfect thing for her to wear. Of course, she was the hit of the party.

Christmas Eve posing for the camera.

Emma's Christmas loot.

Not sure what to think of all the stuff!

She LOVES her new chair

Looking at the stocking that my mom, Carolyn knit for her. We each have the same stocking that my mom has made for us. We treasure them!

Emma loves her pillow dog.

Opening presents.

Outside in the snow with daddy. She was not sure what to think of those white things falling from the sky.

Our house with the snow fall before it got too dark.

Still snowing. I had no idea that the snow flakes would show up like this in the photo.

We hope that you all had a wonderful holiday! It is still hard for me to believe that we actually have Emma Kate as part of our family some days. We are so happy that she is and we look forward to many more holidays with her.

That's it for now. We will everyone a Happy New Year!!!

One drum, one shoe, one spoon and one baby girl!

Well, here are some videos I have taken recently of Emma Kate.

Playing the drums with daddy!

Trying to put on her shoe-

it is really cute when she tries to pick up her foot with her hand and put in in her shoe.

Here is a video of Emma Kate using a spoon to feed herself some mashed potatoes. She was pretty proud of herself!


We are just about ready for Christmas around here. We are expected to get some snow so I am glad that we will not be traveling. We can just stay inside, keep warm and watch the snow. Merry Christmas to you all!! We love you and look forward to seeing you soon.

Kathy, Cal and Emma Kate

Fun in December

Well, I have not posted in a while so I thought I better get my act together and post something. We have been busy getting ready for Christmas and trying to stay warm. We are having an unusually cold December here in Atlanta. BRRRRR! We have not been out and about too much because of the weather. We did venture out to the Midtown area one Sunday. It was a cold day and Emma Kate needed to bundle up. The warmest coat we have for her was actually a birthday gift from Brian, Stephanie and Sylvie! It is a light brown color and has little ears on the hood so Emma Kate looked like a little bear. We went to some shops that were set up in vacant buildings in Midtown for about 4 days. It was called Pop Up Midtown. We also went to lunch at Gordon Biersch. It was yummy. Here are a couple of pictures of Emma Kate in her coat.

We went to see Santa in our little town. I had a friend, Joan, that was the photographer the night we went. I was curious at how Emma Kate would respond to Santa. Joan told me that this Santa is in a much more relaxed atmosphere than at the malls and they won't hurry us through. Emma Kate surprises me almost everyday. She was not as frightened of Santa as I thought she would be. We got her up from her afternoon nap, fed her dinner, got her dressed in her pretty dress and went off to meet Santa. Here are some pictures from the night.

Meeting Santa!

Trying to get away from Santa.

Curious about Santa.

Thinking about crying.

Crying.

Rescued by mommy!

We have ventured out a few times in the cold just to get out of the house. We went to Babies R Us one cold windy day. It is amazing that Emma Kate was in the wind for a short amount of time ( and I did have her bundled up) but that amount of time was enough to chap her cheeks into a bright red. While inside the store shopping, she was being silly with a bib we found.

Well, that is about it for now. I will post at least one more post this year. I can't believe that this Christmas we will have our little Emma Kate with us. When Calvin and I started this process in December of 2005, we said to each other, next Christmas we will have our little girl with us when we celebrate Christmas. If we only knew at the time how untrue that statement would be! The wait was really difficult on us as we saw month after month and year after year pass us by without Emma Kate. Someone told me that once our wait was finally over, we would forget about how long the wait was. Part of that is very true! I have forgotten how difficult it was to say goodbye to each month and year knowing we were still so far away from Emma and to try to carry on with our day to day life. Another part of me does not really want to forget that part of our journey. The end result of becoming a family with Emma Kate was worth every second of our wait but the time we spent waiting and anticipating our life as a family made the end result with her so much sweeter to me. I am not sure it that makes sense to anyone but it does in my mind.

Emma Kate continues to grow and learn each day. She is so close to walking on her own. She will stand without support for longer periods of times and loves to walk with one hand held. She is feeding herself some each meal which she loves. She is also becoming fairly helpful with getting dressed and undressed. She will help take her pants off and raises her legs to help with putting pants and shoes on. She will now put her hands into her sleeve holes which is great for getting dressed and putting on her coat. She is still not saying too much more than babbling. It will be so fun to see what her first official word is. She has said mama and dada. She anticipates what will happen next on her routine. She picks out her books to read at bedtime. She loves to give kisses and hugs. She is working on blowing kisses.

As we approach the holiday season, we want to wish you all a Merry Christmas! We cherish and love all our family and friends and thank you for your continued love and support!