10 Months Old

Double digit months! Our sweet girl is growing and exploring her world more than ever these days and between all the crawling and cruising, it's hard to keep up! This weekend has been really busy. Sweet girl is a popular one and she went to 2 First Birthday Parties on Saturday (her true 10 month birthday and then we were at the Pumpkin Patch this afternoon. Needless to say she is a girl on the go and we love that she has been so adaptable to our busy lifestyle.

A couple pictures from celebrating at our friend Harper's party.

And of course some Pumpkin Patch Pictures.

With all that being said Em is such a good baby. She loves crawling, climbing the stairs (thanks Daddy), cruising around all the furniture, looking out the windows, clapping, waving, blowing kisses, giving headbutts (once again thanks to her Daddy), giving high-5's, eating...the list could go on. She weighs roughly 20 pounds, is still wearing size 3 diapers and fits best in 12 month clothing. I have a feeling that the knees in a lot of her clothes are going to be really worn. The girl loves to crawl and she can move; I'm definitely thanking myself for being a head of the game and putting up those baby gates a couple months a go. Sweet girl is still breastfeeding 5 times a day and eating 3 meals. As I said before she loves to eat. Some of her favorites are cheese, grapes, carrots, beef stew and chicken pot pie. I have been so impressed with her eating and hope that she grows to enjoy food as much as we do. Her favorite restaurants are Panera Bread, where so devours the Macaroni and Cheese, and Cracker Barrel, where she enjoys a good sweet potato and Chicken 'n' Dumplings! Nugget still is not the biggest fan of getting her diaper changed or changing clothes, but she is starting to enjoy her swim lessons again. As for sleep, we have been struggling a bit and have had a few long nights and surprisingly I feel more tired now that I did when I was up feeding her multiple times a night as a newborn. I'm thinking she is teething again, she still only has two teeth, so hopefully this is a just a hiccup in the sleep department and she will be back to her good sleeping habits again soon!

Here's our lone 10 month picture. We were so busy running around that we didn't snap a picture on her true birthday and Nugget was too busy watching football to sit still this evening before bed, so bed head and a Redskins sweatshirt is what we got!

Luda Family Vacation - Disney World

"Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age and dreams are forever." 

-Walt Disney

About two weeks ago we boarded a plan and went down to Florida for our first Luda Family Vacation! We had just been to Florida last summer, but since I was pregnant I did not have the pleasure of experiencing some of the attractions, particularly those at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Needless to say I was super excited to be heading back and even more excited for Emerson to have such a fun experience so early in life. I know, I know, she won't remember a thing, but you know who will, us! We'll remember how she looked with wide eyes at everything around her; how excited she got when riding on a flying fish, elephant and magic carpet; how she waved at everyone as if she was in her very own parade.

We loved every minute of our family vacation and are so excited to continue experiencing the world through the eyes of our daughter. She makes everything more exciting and I am so thankful for all the joy she brings to not only our lives, but to the lives of those around her. 

Here are a few of my favorite Luda Family Vacation 2014 moments:

And lastly, my thoughts on travelling with a baby. We opted to fly, BEST DECISION EVER. We typically drive to Florida, but after getting there so quickly this go around I doubt we will ever pack into the car and drive the 12+ hours it takes to get to Florida, well at least I hope not! Flying with Em was such a smooth experience. I was a little stressed on our first flight, shocker, but everything was great all things considered. We decided to pack everything in carry-on bags, which was fine because a diaper bag doesn't count as a carry-on and we were able to gate check her stroller and car seat, but in hindsight, we should have just checked a bag. There was no reason to lug extra bags through the airport if we didn't need to, so lesson learned. Once we were through security, I put her in her woven wrap and she stayed in it for most of the flights; on our return flight she actually slept the entire time! She was such a good girl.

At the parks, which were actually very baby-friendly, we tried not to worry so much about her schedule. We knew that she was going to have later nights and that things would not be her norm. We had her stroller and I always had my wrap handy in case she wanted to be carried or held for nap. Most days she still got her two normal naps, sometimes 3 short ones, and she ate her meals like normal. Her favorite park for food was definitely Epcot, ours too, and I think the fact that we have always tried to give her what we are eating really helped with that. Also, both Disney and Epcot had Baby Care areas where I was able to nurse her in a quiet room with rocking chairs and change her in an area that wasn't a bathroom. It was really nice and definitely gave me one more reason to LOVE Disney, not that it was needed! 

We really had a fantastic time and hope that we are able to take her back time and time again! 

First post-pregnancy 1/2 Marathon - "Run, Mommy, Run!"

Just over a week and a half ago, I completed my first half marathon since giving birth to our Nugget. Just before we found out we were pregnant, I had ran my "fastest" (I'm not kidding myself, there is nothing fast about my running...yet!) 1/2 marathon and I really felt like I was heading in the direction of my goal, finishing a 1/2 marathon in under 2 hours. Of course being pregnant, I didn't train for any races, but I did continue to run throughout my pregnancy and I wouldn't change that decision for anything. I've said it before and I'll say it again, staying active was the best decision I made and really think it played a huge part in me enjoying pregnancy and having a natural, unmediated birth. Anyways, 6 weeks after having Em, I started back running. I took it slow, one because I was nervous and two because we had a rough winter, but I tried my best to be consistent and get out and run at least 3 times a week. With that being said, I didn't put nearly as much distance in as I should have, the furthest I ran prior to the big 13.1 was 6 miles, but I still felt good on race day and when I crossed the finish it never felt better. I loved running for me, but I loved running for my Hubs and Em who watched and cheered for me the whole way. They even brought tears to my emotional Mommy eyes, when I saw them at mile 7! I love running, I may not be the best, but it's something that I can do for me and it's something that I can do to show my little family that I want to take care of myself for them!

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith..."
Hebrews 12:1-2

At this time in my life I feel like I have a lot of races going. The race to be the best follower of Christ, the best wife to Shawn, the best Mom to Em. Finding a healthy balance isn't always easy and sometimes I flat out fail, BUT I'm thankful for God's grace during those failures, and for Shawn's and Em's, and for the energy to get back out there. Failure is hard, but in our failures sometimes come our biggest victories. 

Finishing the 13.1 of the Diva 1/2 was a huge victory for me and I'm thankful for those that supported me along the way. Here are a few pictures of race day!

9 months in, 9 months out!

Well here we are, Em has been outside of my tummy as long as she was inside by tummy. When I think about that I am reminded of the miracle of life. Of all the detail that God puts into making us. From the hairs on our heads, to the shape of our nose (lets pray Em gets mine), to the sound of our laugh, God creates each of us; special and unique.

This past month so much has changed in terms of Em's development and uniqueness. She went from trying to crawl to making her way all over the house in what seemed like overnight. She pulled up on the couch just a 2 weeks after that and is starting to take "steps" if we hold onto her hands. Needless to say this girl is on the move and so active. Maybe she will be a "runner" like her Mommy.

Em loves feeding herself finger foods and her new favorite food by far is CHEESE. The girl would eat a whole block if we let her. We've also had homemade macaroni and cheese and she loves it! She also loves banana, carrots and of course the infamous puffs. We decided to give her them to get her into feeding herself and now she is hooked. If we pull them she gets so excited, so we definitely have to limit them. Something that is really important to me, don't ask me why, is that she develop a love of all food, especially the healthy stuff, so we are always trying to give her vegetable and protein first before giving the fruits. We'll see how effective this is as she develops more of an opinion. Em loves bath time, taking naps with Mommy, playing with her toys (especially the books and puzzles which are so tasty), going for runs/walks, swinging, waving, giving kisses and using her favorite word which is still, Da-Da! She is learning to love getting her diaper changed, putting on her clothes after bath time and swim class. 

She went to the doctor today for her 9 month check up and everything is looking great! She had her Hemoglobin checked and it was perfect, yay! She weighed in at 19 pounds and was 28 1/2 inches long. She is still wearing size 3 diapers and fits best in 9-12 month clothing. She takes 2 naps a day, eats 3 meals a day, nurses 5 times a day and sleeps 12 hours at night...most of the time. ;)

Here are a few pictures of our girl. Taking her picture is getting much more difficult since she is all over the place, but she's adorable as always...at least we think so!

As I said, she loves giving big, sloppy kisses!

Happy Thursday.

Ash