Emmey's birthday party - a week later

Since Emmey wasn't feeling well on his actual birthday, we had to post-pone his party until his fever had broken and he was eating again. He wasn't feeling 100% better, but there was only so long that his older brothers were going to let me hold off before they cried mutiny and declared Emmett permanently scarred because his first birthday party was the week after his actual birthday.

And since we have taken Owen off all chocolate, we had to change our tradition of making baby's first cake a butter cake with chocolate frosting to blondies. They aren't nearly as messy for little fingers, which cuts out all the great face-covered-in-frosting shots that are manditory for a firts birthday, but they are delicious all the same! We felt a little bad for the bear candle we used - he got quite melted. (you can click on the picture to get a close up of the gruesome sight of the tortured bear candle) I had been teaching Emmey to blow out pretend candles in preparation for his birthday, but once we put fire on top of the candle, he just wanted to watch it. So the poor little bear melted all the way down to his ears!

Happy birthday, Emmy! We are so glad you are part of our family!

He is now 1 year old! He weighs about 18 1/2 pounds and is 27" tall. He doesn't say a whole lot yet, but loves saying "mama", "daddy", and his most used saying is "uh-oh". When he wants to be tickled he counts to three by saying "uh-n, too-oo, th-eeeee" and on three we are supposed to tickle him or he will tickle us. He signs "more", "all done", "hot", and "eat". He has 5 teeth, and one that is so close to popping through but refuses to commit. His hair is really long now (according to daddy), and he should probably have a hair cut, but mommy can't do it - he gets these great big curls in his hair when he gets wet or sleeps, and it is adorable...daddy doesn't agree though and is threatening to buzz Emmey's head if we don't keep his hair brushed. (But I think he's all talk!)

He is an excellent dancer and loves listening to music - he will usually wave his hand and conduct the music during family home evening, drives in the car, or pretty much anytime he hears music. When we are in the car and he is sleepy, he will sing himself to sleep...which sounds alot like a Nepalese meditation chant of some sort, but it gets the job done, so we all let him chant away.

His favorite things still include his brothers and sister (Owen is his favorite playmate, Garrett is the one he goes to for a good tickle, and Tig is his 2nd mommy), bath time, playing outside, sledding in the snow, reading books, dancing, laughing at anything, giving hugs and kisses, playing with other babies, his BYU blankie, silkie material, and pulling all the dvd's off the shelf where mommy has them alphabetized - he loves to pull some off, then come to find me to tell me what he did. But with a grin like this, you can't say upset for long! What a fun, loving, wonderful, peace-bringing, smile-inducing, love-bearing little guy he is!