13 Months Old on September 16

Vocal is the word for this month. It is so neat to see how Emily communicates in her own way these days. She loves it when you mimic whatever sound she's making back to her.

She is on the verge of taking her first steps by herself. She can side step along the front of the couch with no help and can walk holding on to anyone's finger in her hand, but she has not ventured out on her own yet.

She has 2 bottom teeth, 2 coming in on the top left and right and finally one of her 2 front teeth are coming in.

Also, we have discovered BBQ sauce. When I first started giving Emily solid meat she would only take 1 or 2 bites and then set it aside, but ever since we started adding a couple drops of BBQ sauce from our good friend Leann Bailey from Oklahoma, she devours any type of meat we give her. She must have some Southern roots in her.

1st Birthday Party

"My oh my, I can't believe it's already been a whole year since I entered this world, and what a year it has been. I'm all dressed up for my birthday party with my family."

"Here's who showed up for my party minus Pappy because he had to work unfortunately."

"Hmmm, something tells me this cake looks a little different than anything I've eaten so far."
"Here's Mommy's attempt to get me interested in the cake....not the best method."

"I don't think I like this stuff on my hands, but hey, my bib looks really cool." "Yum, now these puffs are something I recognize, thanks Grammy" "Here's the cake the adults got to eat."

"Thank you so much everyone for my presents."

"Poppaw's sharing his words of wisdom."

"Mommaw and I are singing the Happy Birthday song."

"After the party all the First Daughters in the Groff family posed for a picture." "Aunt Kristen was nice enough to share her PB&J with me and boy was it yummy." "I had such a great birthday....I think I'll just take it easy and enjoy sitting here on my front porch."

1 Year

This time last year I was lying in a hospital bed for the first time in my life holding our precious daughter in my arms wondering what her future would be like. It's already been a year and it's so neat to watch her grow and form her own personality. She is like her Mommy is some regard because you can usually read her emotions just by the look on her face. Not only does she look like her Daddy, but she got his thrill of adventure and love for the outdoors. We are truly blessed!

(Thank you to Aunt Randa and Mommaw for her birthday outfit) Wha choo talkin' bout Gommy? Grammy Groff kept winking at Emily tonight and out of the blue she tried to start winking herself. I definitely missed the best pictures of the face, but here's one attempt.

The Bottle

After many weeks of working with Emily she decided she could hold the bottle. Our good friends the Travis' came over for dinner one night this past week and wouldn't you know it Andi puts Emily's hands on the bottle and she held it like a pro.

Camping in Kentucky

This was our first family camping trip. On Friday, July 27th the Groff's, Marshall's and Clay's packed up all the gear and hit the road. With three stops it took about 6 hours to get to Corbin, KY. This was a mini family reunion to see our cousins that came up from North Carolina. We had such a good time visiting that we decided we would get together at another location again next year. Below are some pictures of the campsite, fun at the pool at our cousins hotel and Cumberland Falls.

First trip to the zoo

Aunt Randa and Mommaw took Emily and Jack to the zoo last Friday. I heard that Emily did very well and actually enjoyed the animals. Here she is admiring the smell of the goats. She thinks "hmm, I recognize that smell from somewhere".

11 Months Old

Active is definitely the word for this month. Emily has ventured into a whole new world since she started crawling. As with most babies who learn to crawl, she is into everything. It is so neat to see her discover new things as she moves about. My very gracious In-Laws came to spend time with Charlie and Emily while I was away at our church Acteens camp for girls this past week in Kansas City, MO. During that time Emily discovered the very interesting noise that door stops make when pulled and released.

Here's our active little blessing. Notice the red knees in some of the pictures which are from crawling prior to her photo op.

Whale Spout

I just learned what a "whale spout" was today. Emily has the perfect hair for placing right on top of her head like Pebbles from the show The Flintstones so Aunt Randa took the opportunity to put it up today. Aren't these great smiles. I'm so thankful Emily gets to spend quality time playing with her cousin each day.

10 Months Old

Persistence is the word for this month. Emily has really tried to get her arms and legs to work at the same time to crawl, but just when we think she's going to move her legs, she collapses and ends up flat on her stomach and then rolls to one side. We're convinced she's going to figure it out one day when no one is looking.

It was so beautiful outside today so I decided to take her picture in the sun. Emily is the perfect foreground for our new siding.

Fun with a Friend

A couple of weeks ago Emily had the opportunity to spend some time with her friends Kara and Patty Schmidjell and Linda Meadows (Patty's Mom). She had fun visiting and on one of the days Patty was attempting to take some snap shots of the girls. The photo shoot turned into a laughable moment because as Patty was trying to arrange the girls in a good sitting position, Kara kept slouching. Emily's first attempt to get Kara to sit up straight came with an arm across her chest. After Patty composed herself from laughing so hard, she tried again to take another picture. Again, Emily tried to get Kara to sit up straight, however, this time she used her rather long leg draped across Kara's body. Finally she was able to get "the" shot. Thank you Patty for capturing this moment on film.