Monday, January 19, 2009

Here We Go!

Here we go, here we go,
Here we go, Steelers, here we go,
Pittsburgh’s going to the Super Bowl
Here we go!

Cheer the steelers, Black and the gold,
This town of Pittsburgh’s heart and soul,
Steeler Nation’s got the best fans
We're the five time Super Bowl champs!

Roethlisberger, will let the ball soar, here we go,
Cause he's got Washington, Holmes and Ward, here we go,
Moore, Heath, and Willie will make a touchdown
And if you get in their way, they’re gonna knock you around

Now the offense is ready to score, here We Go
And there’s one thing we know for sure, here We Go
If we don’t get it in the endzone,
We’ll get 3 points off of Jeff Reed's toe

We've got Farrior and Harrison, here We Go
Polamalu, Woodley, and Townsend, here We Go
The other team wont get any ground
'Cause the defense is gonna bring the steel curtain down

Here we go, here we go,
Here we go, Steelers, here we go,
Pittsburgh’s going to the Super Bowl
Here we go!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

We're gonna party like it's 2009!

Emily enjoyed an important rite of passage over the weekend - she celebrated her first birthday party with lots of close friends, both big and small.  In fact, there were seven little ones under the age of four at her party!  I saw a cool birthday cupcake recipe on another blog I read, and decided to try it out.  Here's a peak at the finished product!




Emily got to experience the purest form of sugar she's encountered yet, and as you can see from the pictures, she didn't really hesitate for very long.  Once we stopped trying to get her to wear her birthday hat (I know, what were we thinking?) she devoured that cupcake in less than five minutes!



Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us. The first year of Emily's life was filled with many challenges and accomplishments. Bring on year number two!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Twelve Months Old!

Emily,

Wow, what a year 2008 has been!  Your arrival at the beginning of last year changed so much about my life, and now I simply can't imagine what things were like without you here.  What in the world did I do with all of my time?!  And now, you are officially a whole year old! You have gone from a teeny, tiny helpless creature to a vibrant, energetic, bright eyed little girl.  You have gone from a brunette to a blond, and from a wriggling but stationary baby to a child that claps and dances and never, not for hardly a second, stays still.  Your dad and I look at friends who have recently had babies and can scarcely recall what it was like to hold someone so small.



In this most recent month you have learned a few new tricks: how to hug your new baby doll, how to stack blocks (and not just knock them down), how to say mama discriminately, and how to climb up and down stairs with amazing proficiency.  You are eating more and more adult foods like lasagna and pizza and spinach bars and pancakes.  You babble almost constantly, and some of your chatter really sounds like whole sentences.  I swear I've heard you say "all done", and "I do", and "this" multiple times.  And, maybe you really are.  Only you know for sure!  The other morning though, you were whining in your high chair after you finished your breakfast and I was doing dishes.  Finally, you stopped, and said "mama, ah don" and waved your hands in the air (the sign for all done)!  Progress.


You learned to throw temper tantrums this month and will throw a fit about random things that perturb you.  I think it's just a tiny bit funny (until you've done this for the tenth time in one day), which probably isn't the most "motherly" response.  But, I can't take you seriously!  You also definitely comprehend the word no, and if I say it in a non-scary voice, sometimes you even listen to me.  Of course, sometimes you also throw one of those tantrums, but you will generally stop doing the thing I don't want you to do (even if you don't like it).


But, Em, even when you're not on your best behavior, I still love you like crazy.  Some of my favorite memories from the past year are watching you learn to smile, crawl, and laugh, singing to you at night before putting you to sleep, having you learn to hug and cuddle me before you go down for naps, seeing your eyes light up when I walk into a room, watching the way your daddy looks at you, taking you for countless walks in the baby bjorn (my back may never be the same) and learning to love someone with so much of myself that I'll never be the same again.

I thank God for His precious gift and can't wait to see what the next year of your life holds!

Love,

Mommy