Really hard to believe, but this day, last year, we were taking our maternity photos (and just in the nick of time, as Emerson came, very early, 10 days later. I realized that we never had the time to share these beautiful photos taken by Sara Goodman Photography. I felt absolutely beautiful in them, even though I was so large. (Thank you goes out to Kelly Taylor for doing my hair for the shoot since I am clueless when it comes to styling). We found this little hiding spot in the middle of a Queen Creek neighborhood to take the pictures in. I insisted on the pumpkins. Oh, an even though we are decked out in fall clothing and accessories, it was still over 90 degrees out in Arizona! Luckily you can't tell in the pictures that we were melting. I know that maternity photo shoots are a splurge, but I don't regret doing one at all. Being pregnant IS a special "occasion" (that lasts 9 months) and the first time being pregnant was filled with so much wonder and awe that I am glad I captured some of it.
This is my favorite one! I dreamed of doing it from the moment I knew we were expecting in the fall!
We hadn't revealed his name upon taking these, but had it picked out already. How appropriate that we had this prop from our wedding to use in the photo shoot!
As we pack up and prepare for Emerson's 3rd trip to Colorado tomorrow, I remember the last time we visited our favorite state and how much fun we had!
Summers in the mountains allow for an escape from the heat of Arizona summers. I already shared that we spent Emerson/ Kyle's first fathers day in the mountains. Even though Kyle couldn't be with the entire trip, Emerson and I got to visit with a lot of our friends and had a lot of play time.
Here are some pictures to help get pumped up for tomorrow!
Beautiful wildflowers. This trip will bring fall colors instead of summer flowers.
Gorgeous sunsets over snow-capped mountains.
Emerson loved the papasan!
Visiting our friend Lotus in Pueblo West during her t-ball game!
This is how I great daddy after I haven't seen him for 5 days.
All dressed up from grandma and grandpa Jensen's 40th anniversary dinner.
No matter what research I have done, and what resources I have read, nothing has really been able to accurately prepare me for the challenge that is converting Emerson to "people food".
This. Kid. Loves. Food.
Squash goodness...
Chik-Fil-A is the most kid-friendly place to get fast food!
I am so happy to sit in big-boy chairs!
I am eternally grateful that he hasn't had any obvious food aversions, allergies, or digestion issues. However, nothing is more nerve-wracking than trying to figure out "what to try next".
At first, we had some fun making baby food with our Beaba baby food maker. Vegetables were almost always perfectly pureed, but fruit was sometimes too watery. The trick was the thicken it up with some baby cereal.
Although I truly felt like the healthiest route was to be making food without preservatives and without additives, for full disclosure, if you are considering going this route, keep these things I learned in mind:
1. Preparation in a baby food maker is easy. Preparation to PUT food in a baby food maker, is not.
2. Gerber will not kill your child.
3. Baby foods will dye their containers, so I suggest using glass for longevity, even if they are a bigger up-front expense.
4. The 4-day rule is probably a good rule to follow (try 1 food for 4 days before introducing a new one).
5. Get ready for smelly poos.
I want to share this experience because it was one of the moments when I felt like this was much more than I was anticipating as far as work load is concerned. When making Emerson some peach puree, I learned just why we don't normally peel peaches. Peeling the peach, pitting it, and then cutting it, times 3, took about 45 minutes. That is a 45 minute prep time, 15 minutes to cook, and then, what did I have, 4 servings (about). 1 hour for barely 1 day's worth of baby food. And that was just the FRUIT. Once Emerson got started, we were doing 1 fruit and 1 vegetable per meal. Then, with 2 of those meals a day, adding up the time spent preparing anything beyond green beans (no cutting or pealing required), it became a sort of second job just making food. We managed this by tag-teaming the preparation and making food in large quantities on Sundays or one evening a week.
The good news, however, was that the pureed baby food stage was short lived- we moved onto roasted veggies and steamed fruits soon after, because Emerson quickly realized that he wanted independence during feeding, and stopped cooperating when being spoon fed.
Now, feeding time is still a chore. We cut the foods up in tiny pieces, because he doesn't chew much, and we prepare more food than I believe any 1-year-old could consume in a single setting. He has never turned down food, however, sometimes in recent feedings he is actually slowing down enough that we can recognize that he is full. A good sign is him trying to crawl out of his chair or spitting his food back onto his tray. He also starts to play with the food in his fingers and letting it fall onto his lap. With all the extra work each meal time requires, it is still entertaining to watch as Emerson gets super excited for his next bite, and how he likes to talk to himself when eating because he is just so happy. He squeals in glee!
I will say that our best friends are Happy Baby puffs and Happy Yogi bites. While we prepare his meals, we can keep him occupied with these and he is really good at picking them up himself and staying content, even if not patient.
Also, we have learned recently that even if we feed him a full meal, if we eat after him and he is still with us, he wants more food, too. So we have already learned the purpose of and value of family meal time.
Things have progressed well in the feeding world, and now we feel comfortable taking Emerson to restaurants and ordering him food. Most places have at least some chicken or turkey for kids. We have ordered salads with extra chicken to give to him, noodles without sauce, and plenty of different types of seasonings to expose him to multiple flavors.
And, oh yea, one more note on feedings, today Emerson ate his first inedible object, part of his mobile. He is tall enough to reach it when standing in bed. We should have known something was up when we put him in bed and he was pleasantly quiet for awhile. When he cried a bit later and I checked on him, part of the mobile was on the floor with a bead bitten off...
We'll see how that one turns out tomorrow, I hope... :)
Today's post is in honor of the reason for Blueberry's existence, our marriage.
Happy 2nd Anniversary to my wonderful, fun, and forever young husband.
I know that this past year has been full of trials that have put our marriage to the test, but we continue to make it through the hard moments and I know for a FACT that I would not have without you!
Hard to think that these past two September 29ths were SO different than this current one!
September 29, 2012 I was at my skinniest! I had no gray hairs, nearly flawless skin, and slept an average of 7-8 hours a night on a regular basis. We were in beautiful Colorado surrounded by fall color. I enjoyed peach bellinis and Colorado brews the entire day.
In Vail, Colorado
September 29, 2013 I was at my largest (with a good reason). I could barely enjoy a sip of champagne to celebrate with you in Sedona, but MAN did I enjoy the food! We had no idea that day what 17-days later would bring to us, and Blueberry was only a "plan".
In Sedona for our 1st Anniversary!
September 29, 2014. Here we are. Our son is nearly a year old, I have a lot of grays hairs, and my weight, well, lets just say that I am somewhere in the middle of the last 2 years. I hope we have many, many more fun memories to make and anniversaries to share. But for now, let's just stick with 1 Blueberry. :)
So, life has been hectic, crazy, and so much fun as Emerson learns more and more each day.
Right now, he is eating like he is a 2-year-old. He likes everything you put on his tray. He loves to feed himself. He eats meat, veggies, cheese, and fruit. He likes to drink his water but usually chokes.
Emerson loves being in the water still. He is never upset, no matter what happens. If he swallows a bunch of water, then he just coughs and smiles. He is getting better at holding onto the side of the pool and letting himself fall in face-first from a seated position on the edge.
He stands and holds onto the couch, fence, or anything that is easy for him and at his height. He isn't quite brave enough to walk along the edge of the furniture, but he will walk if we hold his hands.
He has started climbing as well. He can climb stairs and has climbed into and out of the bathtub.
Last, he is as talkative as ever. He sings to himself, has entire conversations with me while we drive to work in the morning, and always makes his frustration verbally known if we aren't restocking his food fast enough during meal times. I swear that in Target, when he dropped a box on the floor, that he repeated "Uh oh" after me, and that when he is really wanting something, he whines for "mamamama".
His last photo shoot was a total riot. Here are the pictures we were able to narrow it down to!
Posing Pretty
I love my new freedom of movement
I am kind of a trouble maker sometimes, but I'm cute!
I confess that this is not THIS month's milestone, but 2 months ago Emerson was the lucky traveler once more and got to visit the beautiful Caribbean island of St. Maarten. Half Dutch and half French, we happened to be there during the "down season", which gave us a lot of freedom on the island, and also during the World Cup, which gave us a reason to care about soccer.
There were SO many things we did while on the island, and again many of which others looked at us as if crazy while doing with a baby. Emerson also got to experience a number of firsts while on this voyage.
We started off with a long airplane trip once more, this time through Miami and then into international waters.
Emerson was a little more energetic at this age, so we were glad to have 4 hours in Miami to let him crawl around. However, the meanie American Airlines employee in Phoenix made us check our stroller through to the island, so we had no stroller and had to carry him around (until we just gave in a bought a smart cart). Luckily on the way home the St. Maarten travel agent was nicer and we got to keep it for the return trip.
So happy to play- thank you Aunt Shannon for the blanket!
Daddy is happy at the Irish Pub!
Our makeshift stroller
Sunset over the wing as we fly over the Atlantic
Upon arriving on the island, where we were to stay at Grandmom Davis' timeshare The Flamingo Beach Resort, we found out that the rest of the family got caught in Phoenix due to hurricane shut downs of other airports, so we were lucky to have family friends there for us on the 4th of July!
Emerson spent his first 4th in a foreign country, where there were no fireworks, which greatly saddened his patriotic and pyromaniac mother, but we still grilled and you really couldn't complain as we were staying right on a private beach in a bay.
Emerson's 1st 4th of July outfit!
The "horrible" view that wasn't fireworks
Emerson's first time in the Atlantic!
Yep, that is a shark hat. Too cute.
A patriotic family.
Swimming with daddy!
Other adventures included traveling to yet another country, Anguilla, and seeing the most perfect and secluded white sand beaches ever. (And perhaps drinking the strongest Rum Punches ever). We got a private pirate ship tour in St. Maarten. Mom and dad got to Scuba dive while grandmom and friends watched Emerson. The cousins and aunt and uncle Keiren, Aidan, Brett, and Anji got a lot of baby time! We ate great food, especially on the French side, and mostly sea food, and we relaxed a lot in the water. Emerson seemed to really enjoy the ocean and slept really well the entire trip.
A true "beach bum" playing in sand
Do you want to snorkel?
No, just nap on the beach in my cabana
Getting on the pirate ship in my pirate onesie!
Cups keep me happy while we sail.
As does chewing on rib bones- so yummy!
Up on the prow with the family! So windy and so fun!
May have had a few too many rum punches.
Mom found her an anchor! No surprise...
Oriental Beach Bar lounging
Waiting for my cousins to swim with the dolphins on Anguilla. Auntie tied me in the chair
A private beach on Anguilla where dad found his own "lounge chair"
And so did mom!
Swimming with the cousins and daddy!
And I had to try eating sand at least once while we waited for the planes to land at sunset beach.
Oh, and one time I took a little nap myself, and when I woke up I couldn't find Emerson or Kyle in the water where they had been. I frantically looked around until all of a sudden, there they were, on the floating raft WAY off shore. Awesome.
Emerson "swam" out there on daddy's chest. Good thing Kyle is such a good swimmer and trained lifeguard.
I will say it is certainly easier to have family on vacation to help out, as Kyle and I even got a date night, and to have a condo with a kitchen and American electric outlets.
Goodbye island life!
Overall, thank you to everyone who made it such a wonderful and relaxing vacation. I even got to finish Fault in Our Stars, only the 2nd book I got to read for pleasure since Emerson was born. And we returned to school tanner, more relaxed, and feeling like our summer was fulfilling.
