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Our little monkey

Emma is now 13 months and going places! The other day Emma was sitting in her high chair and Jerrod was in the kitchen doing dishes. When Jerrod turned around, Emma was on top of the dining room table. She had gotten out of her seat and crawled up onto the table. Time to tighten and use the high chair belt!

She won't let me carry her upstairs anymore, she insists on crawling up herself. She is actually quite good at it. Now, all we have to do is teach her how to get downstairs, which I think is going to be harder.

She has a drawer in the kitchen and a drawer in the bathroom that is hers and she can put anything in it that she wants to. It's really cool because she knows which drawer is hers and she doesn't open any of the other drawers. She mostly takes everything out and then leaves the stuff on the floor for mom or dad to come by and put back into the drawer :)

I think she comprehends more than we give her credit for. The other day we asked her if she could dance and she started dancing. We had no idea that she knew that word! We have started to teach her sign language, "more" and "all done" are the two main ones that she can do. So cute!

Her favorite food right now is toast. I can't seem to get her to eat any other "real" food except for mac & cheese, spaghetti, toast, and pizza. So we're still on baby food for all the veggies. And she HATES any kind of potatoe, even french fries!

Happy Birthday, Emma!

Emma is a year old! We were at BYIC national conference on her birthday. We had cupcakes and EVERYBODY sang to her. How cool was that! We had her birthday swim party at the Ramada the Sunday after her birthday. Grandma and Grandpa Crum, Grandma Furlong, Grandpa Furlong, Aunt Louisa, Uncle John, Emma’s cousins: Rachel, Rebekah, and Sarah, her friends Brittany and Jennifer, and of course Mom and Dad were all there. She got several really cool presents. Mom made her a birthday cake, it was a carrot cake with cream cheese icing. She really wasn’t feeling well, she was actually sick to her stomach, never the less, she loved the cake. She grabbed it with both fists and was just shoveling it in. It was actually the only thing she liked eating that day.

Baptism

On Sunday, the Lighthouse had a baptism service. It was so nice, it was at a park, there was a waterfall and a really peaceful creek that everyone was baptized in. 11 baptized! Praise God! It was extra special to us because one of our youth, Brittany Campbell was baptized. She's been a special part of our lives this past year. I (April) have been able to meet with her every week and mentor her. I didn't realize how much of an impact this had until her testimony was read while she was being baptized. It really touched me how much God had used me for her to grow in Christ. I cried. Congratulations Brittany!

Swimming again!

April's family came up this weekend. Rachel went to camp last week and Sarah and Rebekah went to camp this week so they were up for the weekend to pick up and drop off them. They got a hotel room and we got to go swimming again. Emma loved it this time and I think she remembered it, not near as scared this time. It was still cold, but she didn't seem to mind too much. I think it also helped to have her cousins in the water playing with her.

Emma's 11 months old!

This month went fast!! I don't even think we took many pictures at all this month. Emma is up and moving around really well now. She can walk pretty well back and forth in the living room without holding onto anything. She's really enjoying summer and the great outdoors. We try to take her outside as much as possible, she loves picking the grass. Now that she has shoes that she can walk in, going outside is even easier. This week Emma swam in a big swimming pool for the first time. It was a bit on the cold side, so it took her a while to get used to it. She was on the brink of tears for quite awhile until she decided that it might actually be fun. Then she splashed and played and had lots of fun! Maybe next time, she'll remember how much fun it was and won't be as scared. Emma is almost completely weened off of the pacifier. She only uses it for her morning naps, she doesn't need it any other time. She's also completely drinking from a sippy cup now, no more bottles! She's getting to be such a "big girl"!

New Shoes

Emma got new walking shoes this past weekend. We went to Stride Rite to get them. The lady that worked there was really nice. Emma really liked her. She sized Emma's foot, she was right on the 4 line with a wide foot. So, we ended up getting her a 4 1/2 wide so they will last a little longer. Emma loves to walk outside in her new shoes and she walks great in them.

**picture coming soon

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Daddy's day to all you Dad's and Dad's to be! April's family came up and we all celebrated it together. It rained, so we didn't get to enjoy outside much, but it was still a good time.

The park

We went to the park this last Sunday. Emma got to swing on the swing set. She had sooo much fun! She didn't stop laughing. Mommy and Emma also got to go down the bumpy slide. Emma would squeal with delight when we went over the bump. It was so much fun!

**picture coming soon

A couple of steps

The last couple of days Emma has been trying to walk by herself. She can take about 3 or 4 steps before she falls, lunges, or just gets down because it's taking too long to get there. Each step is so calculated and thought out. It is so cool to see her trying to walk!

This picture has nothing to do with her walking, but it sure is cute!

Happy Memorial Day!

We've been waiting on the warm weather to arrive and it went way overboard! This weekend was sweltering hot! I think it got up to around 95 degrees. Despite the heat, Emma got to go outside and play for the first time. She loves the grass! She just kept picking it and playing with it. Farmer Jerrod and Grandma got the garden mostly planted. It looks great! We're hopefully going to have yummy veggies in a couple of months. We finished up the weekend by having a picnic out by the garden on our new picnic table.

Kisses and Hugs

Emma is very good at giving kisses and hugs now. She makes a Hmmmm sound and kisses you on the cheek. It is very sweet. She even kisses her stuffed animals. Here's a picture of her kissing her big stuffed dog.

Emma's 10 months old!

Wow, this month went quick! Emma can stand up now for about 30 seconds (she's standing all by herself in this picture). She gets so excited and then falls on her bottom, if she didn't get so excited she could probably stand for longer. This month Emma aquired two more top teeth, so a total of 6 teeth and more coming in soon. She started eating lumpy food (stage 3). At first she thought the texture was weird and would make funny faces, but now she likes it. She got her first "black eye" (more red than black) She added another word to her vocabulary: book. More like buh, but we know what she means. She loves her books! Emma is at such a fun age!

Hello, who's there??

Grandma taught Emma how to talk on the telephone, now everything is a telephone. She picks up pretty much anything and says "Hello" (Really its Aeaaah) But she is especially partial to remote controls.

Emma and Grandma

Emma and Grandma Furlong, she absolutely loves her Grandma!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mother's and Mother's-to-be! Emma and Jerrod gave me a lovely card and beautiful flowers. We were also surprised with a phone call from Nichole Merrill telling us that she is FINALLY be a mother-to-be. Congratulations Andy and Nichole, we are SO EXCITED for you guys!

Emma, already our “little helper”

Emma was so cute this morning! I (April) was pulling her laundry out of the dryer and placing it in her basket. She was playing in the laundry room while I was doing this. She crawled over to the dryer and pulled herself up and started to pull out her clothes and hand them to me one at a time. She was an awesome helper! I loved it because I didn’t have to bend over and get the clothes out! I said “Thank You” every time she handed me a piece of clothing. When she would stop, I would say “I need more please” and she would continue to hand me items of clothing until they were all out of the dryer. So cute!

Welcome Home Grandma!

Grandma Furlong moved to Indiana this last weekend. It was such a long trip for her from Sarasota. We’ve (Jerrod, April, and April’s family) been working very hard the last couple of months on finishing the basement so she can her own space. We’ve done EVERYTHING ourselves. We’ll be experts on any home improvement project when we are finished. Unfortunately, we did not get it done in time for her arrival, but it is very close to being finished. We are really excited to have Jerrod’s mom living with us. It will be so awesome for Emma to grow up with Grandma close! A big thank you to April’s parents and family. We could not have done it without you guys! Also a big thank you to Brittany, our babysitter, she watched Emma several nights a week so we could work on the basement.

Happy Birthday Tiffiny!

Happy Birthday to our good friend Tiffiny. She's down in Mississippi cooking for the hurricane relief volunteers. We hope you had a terrific birthday! We miss you!

Emma’s 9 months old!

Emma turned 9 months old on the 18th. I think this 9 months went a lot quicker than the 9 months of pregnancy! Emma is at such a fun age, we have so much fun with her.
She’s now crawling on her hands and knees exclusively. She’s a pro at pulling herself up on the furniture and cruising around. She even has tried to stand by herself a couple of times and is successful for a couple of seconds until she lands on her bottom. Emma’s now saying Da, Da, Da, Da and Ma, Ma, Ma, Ma and Nuh, Nuh, Nuh, Nuh (only when she’s unhappy). And she has 4 teeth (2 bottom and 2 top)! They came in one right after another. Her favorite toys now are the remote control, her shoes, and the window blinds. Why do we even buy this girl real toys??!! Discipline has started, as she gets into things she’s not suppose to. She knows what the word No means, and is pretty good about obeying us.