Exploring utensils!

Emily has been using baby spoons to help her eat for a while now.  By using, I mean experimenting.  She's still figuring out which end is the one to use and how to get food on the spoon but she's making progress!  Emily's getting pretty good at using the spoon to eat yogurt and applesauce though!

Lately she's become interested in forks.  And not some silly baby forks, real forks.  We're letting her explore and she's beginning to figure out how they work as well!  I can't believe how much she's growing up and so quickly!

Hope you are staying warm!
The Harrisons

One year photos

Thanks to Lee Vang of Jubilee pictures for taking such lovely pictures to document Emily's transition from baby to toddler and from counting her age in months to years!

Another holiday season in the books

This was probably definitely the best holiday season we've ever had!  We did the normal family activities but they were extra special with Emily there to join in this year.  She was around last year, but only 3 weeks old so she didn't do much.

On December 23rd we were able to spend some time with the O'Leary's.  Thanks to Bruce and Michelle for arranging such a nice gathering!

Our Christmas celebration continued at home on Christmas Eve morning.  Patrick, Emily and I opened our gifts to one another.  We all must have been very good last year because we all got lots of great gifts!

We headed over to grandma and grandpa Harrison's house later on Christmas Eve for dinner and gifts.  We always have a wonderful time celebrating with everyone and this year was no exception!

Christmas morning came and off to grandma and grandpa Mulforts we went!  We spent Christmas morning and early afternoon opening gifts, enjoying breakfast and lounging around.  Christmas morning is still as magical as it was when I was a kid.  I can't wait for Emily to get a little older and really enjoy the holidays.  She wasn't too into gift opening but this year but did love all the attention!

New Years eve came and thanks to Tracey we were able to go to our friend Tricia's house to celebrate without taking Em with.  I think everyone had a much more relaxing, fun evening that way.  Thanks Tracey!!

Cheers to a great 2012 and to an even better 2013!
The Harrisons

Successful Santa visit!!

Last year Emily was only a few weeks old when she met Santa and was very sleepy. It worked out well!!

Sleepy baby

But this year Emily is one, capable of running away and is not shy about showing how she really feels about things. So Patrick and I were braced for the worst when we headed out to meet Santa again this year. We got there 30 minutes before Santa and were third in line. When Santa was ready we brought Emily to him and she immediately held on to me a little tighter. Luckily Santa was a jolly old soul (it was the beginning of his shift so I'm sure that helped!) and made Emily smile before she hopped on his lap. She was definitely nervous and fussy but no all out scream like we thought was going to happen!

Emily's nervous face

We're all geared up for Christmas and three days of family fun!
Wishing you all a happy holiday.
The Harrisons

One year stats

Emily's one year appointment revealed that she is growing as expected at 25 pounds and 31 inches.  She's topping the charts and growing steadily.  Patrick also celebrated his birthday this weekend with lots of family dinners.  Lastly, we had our first Christmas celebration with the Harrisons in Brainerd.  All in all, a good start to the month and with only 4 more days of school until winter break, we are looking forward to seeing baby William and celebrating Christmas!

Patrick and his "old as dirt" cake!

Our toddler!

The Harrisons

Emily's first birthday!

We now have a one year old and she's a toddler.  Emily has made the transition to walker, she now walks 90% of the time!  It's a whole new world.  On Sunday we had Emily's first birthday party with family and one of Emily's friends, Abby (and her parents Stefanie and Josh : ) ).

We started by decorating the house a little

Emily's "smash cake"

When Emily's guests arrived she was actually sleeping.  When we finally woke her up - 30 minutes after her party started - she was surprised by the crowd here to see her and was a little clingy.

Once she warmed up, however, she was all about showing off her walking skills.

After a bite to eat we started opening gifts.  She got a little distracted, but she made it through the pile!  She got a lot of cute clothes, fun toys and great books.  We're so lucky to have such generous friends and family.

We ended the party with cake.  Emily spent some time investigating her Bubble Guppy themed cake and didn't seem too interested at first but once she had a spoon she dug right in!

Thanks again for all of the birthday wishes.  Everyone made Emily's day so special and we're lucky to have you all in our lives.

Cool new hat from daddy

"Bye everyone!"

We're now looking forward to Patrick's birthday and Christmas.  Emily slept through her first Santa visit last year...I wonder how she'll react this year!

The Harrisons

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

With Thanksgiving behind us it's time to decorate the house for Christmas!  We don't do too much but just putting the tree up and hanging the stockings are enough to get me in the holiday spirit.  So far Emily has had little curiosity about the tree which we are grateful for but only time will tell if the tree will stay standing and in tact for the entire season!

The Harrisons