Happy Halloween!

For Halloween, Emma Kate dressed up as Minnie Mouse. I found a super cute costume that I just had to get for her and I figured she wouldn't be too bothered by it since it was just a dress and bloomers. I bought her a pink bow to match because I didn't think she would actually wear the headband with the ears longer than two seconds. I was wrong though! She wore the ears the entire night and looked SOOO cute! Halloween is my dad's birthday so he and my mom came and ate dinner and went trick or treating with us. The stores downtown in Cleveland all stayed open and had people outside passing out candy so there were lots of kids running around all dressed up. It was a very family friendly atmosphere and a great idea! We had more fun doing that than we would have going door to door. Delta State had a Trunk-or-Treat festival that night also and we went for a few minutes to see what it was like but it was mostly games for older kids to play. I think Drew and I had more fun than Emma Kate did overall! These types of things are getting more exciting the older she gets. We can't wait for Thanksgiving and especially Christmas. This year is going to be the best yet!

I can't ever seem to catch a picture of her smiling!

Cutest Minnie Mouse ever!

She had so much fun!

She is my heart!

Day to Day Life

Not a day goes by that Emma Kate doesn't do something hilarious! She has such a great personality. I have been amazed at how quickly she is learning new things. She keeps us busy and we are loving every second of it! She has discovered that she is tall enough to climb into things now. And by things, I mean anything she can fit her little body into! She loves to play in our kitchen cabinets on a daily basis. She gets the colander out of the cabinet and will put a couple of her small toys inside of it but then she gets her blanket and climbs into it and sits down. It is the funniest thing! I wish I knew what goes through her head! She has a little toy shopping cart filled with food that she pushes around the house and fills with random things (which leads to a lot of "lost" items I later find when I clean up her toys). A few days ago, she pushed it across the living room and then just climbed right in it on top of all of the toy food! Drew and I laughed so hard because we could not figure out why the idea to climb into a shopping cart would have even occurred to her! I filled up her pack-n-play with toy balls (makeshift ball pit) and she has LOVED it. If you ask her if she wants to get in her ball pit she runs over to it smiling and waits on you to come put her into it.
Slowly but surely she is getting to be more social with other people. I have taken her up to Mom's store a few times over the past month and she has too much fun running around "rearranging" things. We went this past Thursday since it was Clarksdale's downtown Christmas Open House and she ran and ran until she wore herself out. There was a sweet older woman in the store shopping and when she picked Emma Kate up, Mom and I both were expecting her to start crying. Emma Kate just let the woman carry her around and look at stuff and when she put her back down on the ground, Emma Kate reached back up wanting her to hold her again. It was definitely a big improvement in her reaction to new people!
When I took her to her doctor appointment for her 15 month check up in October, she weighed 19 pounds. I was sure she would weigh over 20 pounds, but even though she eats non-stop all day she is so active that she burns it all off! Based on her birth weight, she is gaining appropriately for her age and size according to the doctor even though she looks so tiny.
Speaking of Emma Kate's eating habits, she now can reach almost everything in the refrigerator. Everytime we open the door to get anything out, she runs as fast as she can over to it. She pulls out the pickle jar and brings it to one of us wanting us to open it for her. She would eat pickles all day long if I would let her. In an effort to help her gain weight, I've tried to feed her more filling food with more calories. I learned the hard way that I have to feed her vegetables and fruit and any other healthy food last (almost as a dessert) because she would choose those over any kind of pasta or meat or even unhealthy fattening foods that most children beg to eat. At least we will never have to worry about fighting with her to get her to eat healthy! :)
She has twelve teeth and is currently not cutting any new ones so we are enjoying a much needed break from the pains of teething. With the weather getting colder we have had to cut back on spending so much time outside and I have come to the conclusion that I will just have to bundle her up really good because she hates not spending the majority of her day outside!