Sweet Girl

WARNING: NO PICTURES IN THIS POST, but plenty to come this week!

Well I know this is going to be a busy week for blog posts, but I thought I'd add this before it got overshadowed by Halloween/1st birthday posts.  Emma is doing so many new things lately.  Definitely gaining her independence and is aware of everything around her.  Many of the new things are stuff that Billy and I have been helping her with; learning the words for new things, walking between Daddy and Mommy.  But one of the most touching things we can't quite understand where she learned, but we love it. 

One day we went to go pick her up from nursery at church and there was an older little girl who was upset in the same room with Emma.  When we got there, the workers told us that Emma was trying to comfort the older girl by bringing her toys when she would cry.  Billy and I were mush pots on the way out to the car.  How could this only child already know about comforting and sharing with others when so much of her time is spent solo with Mommy?  I thought maybe it was just a one time thing, but I've seen her want to share many things with us since... toys, puffs, her stuffed animals, even her sacred nibby (our word of pacifier). 

Now don't get us wrong, we aren't naive that this is how it will always be... but still just makes us proud parents to see our little girl developing a sweetness all by herself.  We feel so blessed to be the parents of this little one.  Our cup runneth over. 

Austin comes to Austin

We just got back from a 10 day trip to Austin.  The timing worked out perfectly, as Billy had a business trip to FL and he met us down there for the end of the trip.  Surprisingly, this trip ended up being way busier than we expected, but so much fun. 

We got to visit with my Dad and Patty.  Most of you know, my Dad is going thru Chemo to fight Stage 1 Hodgkin's Lymphoma and we hadn't seen him since his treatments had started.  He's really doing great just needs a few more naps on the weekends.  If you didn't know him, you wouldn't think anything is going on.  He's still excercising, working and keeping up with all his commitments.  It was fun to meet him for lunch and get to visit with Patty during the day.  Patty was also a huge help watching Emma so that I could be at the hospital as much as possible with Meredith.

My sister and brother-in-law (back from Afghanistan for 17 days) welcomed Austin John Welch into the world on October 12th.  He is a healthy 20.75", 7lbs 12 oz baby boy who is so calm.  Seriously... he didn't even cry during a shot or his circumcision.  All the medical students were amazed.  It is such an exciting time for their family and I was so happy to be a witness to the amazing life change that has/is happening for Ryan and Meredith.  And of course, I think my nephew is the cutest baby on the block these days.  And it was also a good reminder of how far Emma has come since those newborn days.  Before Austin arrived, I still considered Emma 'small'... ha!  Not so small at all actually.

Emma loved seeing her new cousin and was constantly pointing at him and wanting to touch his head. It will be fun to see them running around after each other in another year or so.  Emma also had a huge development week in Austin, physically and mentally, so it was fun for my family to witness all those new things.  She also seemed to improve in her separation anxiety issue too.  She went down for naps/bedtime great for someone else and didn't fuss when noticing that Momma wasn't around.  It really is a true blessing of how flexible she is.  I definitely don't take it for granted. She did miss out on seeing Daddy for 7 days but they picked up both where they left off seamlessly.  Of course, Billy didn't want to let her go.  Sweet Daddy.  

It was another great trip and we also love seeing more of our family.  Probably the next time we see them, Emma will be walking and Austin will be a little wiggle worm.