The Higgins Family: Embry: 49 Weeks

FYI this was a BUSY, FUN, long week.....meaning this is a LONG post with a TON of pictures!

Hart's Visit

Ruthie, Jon, Ford and Ernie all arrived Monday morning at 7:30 am! We are SOOOO glad Jon has a lot of business trips to Dallas and hopeful that Ruthie and her boys will keep tagging along when they can! We had a ball thrifting, relaxing, baby cuddling (and kissing from Embry), and the dad's did a lot of football watching!

Ford arrived even before E's morning nap!

Ford was quick to give his Aunt Cori some good smiles!

Proud to be rocking her cousin!

Ruthie's friend Maggie came for a visit! The babes loved her =)

Our babies and our baby daddies ;)
Embry always had to be smooching Ford....hah!

Sweeties!

Ruthie and I watched reality tv in mine and Jacob's room while the boys (Ford included) watched MNF!

Jacob on bottle duty. He gave Ford big props and realized that even back in Embry's bottle drinking days, she was a pill to give the bottle to! Go Ford!

I have kept out Embry's BELOVED playmat, mainly because she loved it so much her first five months of life and it brings back SO many memories to me. It was SO fun to see Ford go nuts over her playmat! The kitty that hangs from the mat lights up and plays music...Jacob and I called it her best friend. Ford loved it so much we sent it back to Austin with him! So glad to see it get put to good use again!

And here's a throwback picture for ya! Embry loving her playmat. She spent many, many hours chatting and smiling to her "best friend".

E ready to pounce on F =)

After some shopping we stopped by the Dallas Museum of Art for some playtime for Miss E

Making music at the DMA! Can't wait til Ford can join in with her!

Me and three of my favorite people!

Hard to see, but the Harts car pulling out of our driveway. My girls saying bye to their cousins!

Play Dates

I've mentioned a neighborhood friend who just had her fourth baby under four and a half years! We've had one of her little girls over to play before (2.5 yrs old) and this week we had another one of her little girls over (14 months old). It was a HIT! We've always gotten together with friends with little ones, but never so close in age with Embry and it was awesome. Hannah walks and while she was over Embry took EIGHT steps twice! Little Miss wants to keep up!

Cheerios buffet

Two girls at the toy basket!

Embry and Hannah

Jacob's Birthday

Thursday Jacob turned 28! We didn't get to celebrate how I hoped because Jacob had a very big hearing on Thursday afternoon, meaning he went to work early and couldn't go to lunch. He also worked late and then we were getting ready to fly out to San Fran early Friday morning. We ate a nice dinner at home Thursday night, but hopefully we'll go out to celebrate next weekend =)

Embry and I got Jacob a few little things... a few books, the Scrub Daddy (Shark Tank fans??? Jacob's tried to buy this once but it was sold out!), a framed photo of Embry, and personalized coffee mug! Jacob drinks coffee out of the SAME mug every morning. He loves this old Abbott Spine mug I got when the company I used to work for got bought out and got rid of all things Abbott. It's a really big, tall mug he loves. I've been wanting to try this idea out for a long time and finally found a plain white, large mug that I could personalize. All you do is use permanent marker on the mug and then bake it in the oven. Turned out great after a battle to get Embry's handprint....phew!

Embry crying real tears while I tried to trace her hand....

The final product =)

Photos from Home

Sunday sweetie

We love all of our grands!

Close up of her tooth, finally! Hahaha

I found a BOBA carrier (retails $125) at a thrift shop! Woo hoo!

Rosy cheeks and water after a long, hot walk!

Water table fun!

Trying a spoon for the first time....we don't quite have it down yet....

FaceTime with Mimi! I think she FINALLY gets it! She kept smooching Mimi through the phone!!!

Hi Uncle James!

Add a new food to the "love" list! Spinach ravioli!

Embry's September 11 outfit

My sweet, patriotic girl =)

Sweet crossed ankles in the car

Trying on fleece jammies to take on vacation...18 mo are still awfully big!

My favorite thrifted outfit of the month! Smocked Halloween outfit for $1.59

Wasn't sure if she was big enough for the car cart at the grocery store, but she was and she LOVEDDDDDDD it!

Two tired girls after a long (hot) walk!

She turned a corner with the whole milk Thursday, she LOVED it! (Didn't get any Fri-Sun...hoping she still likes it!)

I mean....does it get any cuter than ruffle socks and Mary Jane shoes? Trying on shoes for the wedding!

So Thursday afternoon I left E with my neighbor Lauren (Eliot's Mama) for the first time while I got a mani/pedi! First time I left her with non-family =) Lauren sent me this picture of Embry having a ball, shopping their house! When I got there to pick her up....she looked at me, smiled and went back to playing with Eliot....crushing Mama's heart! But made me so happy too!

Eating a whole pear....haha

Long Weekend in San Francisco!

Friday morning we took off bright and early for a special wedding weekend for Michael and Jacob's cousin Nicole, outside San Francisco. Jacob's parent's, Grandma Gordon and Aunt Mary Jo all arrived in Cali the day before us but were there to pick us up at the airport.

Embry did awful on the flights there. We had a stop in Albuquerque and she didn't sleep at all on the first leg, despite it being her nap time. She took about a 35 minute nap on the second leg. She fights sleep SO badly when she's not in her crib. I'll say I'm 100% a believer in a schedule, respecting nap-times, etc. You will NOT find me skipping a nap, or having her nap on the go when we're home. BUT, that makes for her to expect to sleep in a crib, with her sound machine, lovey, etc. every single time.

Anyway, we made it to California and then got picked up by E-Pa and headed to our gorgeous hotel. Well a few wrong turns and 20 minutes of driving around in circles later, Embry had her first PROJECTILE vomit experience. I started bawling my eyes out and Jacob was pretty freaked himself. It was SO sad and Embry was so, so pitiful covered in puke. We cleaned her up on the side of the interstate and got back in the car. She seemed okay afterwards and once we got her cleaned up at the hotel and lunch in her, she was back to normal. We immediately put her down for nap and had to wake her up over two hours later for the rehearsal dinner.

Another speedbump we had was her going to bed so early and being on Pacific time... she was wanting bed to be at 4:30pm! She did really well at the Rehearsal Dinner though and we stayed until about 8:30pm. Despite going to bed very late Friday night, she was still up bright and early Saturday morning.

She was able to get a good nap Saturday morning, then the wedding started at 2:00pm. It was a wonderful Catholic service and I have to say the priest did one of the best wedding's I've been to. Told great stories and had a great message. Little Miss E made it through about 2 minutes before passing out on Daddy. After the wedding we returned back to the hotel to catch the shuttles up the mountain into a National Park. It was a gorgeous setting!

We had a ball at the wedding and even though Embry only slept 8 hours the night before and had a morning nap and a quick nap on Jacob at the ceremony, she was quite the trooper! Once the sun went down we changed her into her footie jammies since it was chilly (be jealous Texas family-the weather was DREAMY!). She was a hit on the dance floor doing line dances with Mommy and joined in on the father daughter dance with Daddy. Melt! She ended up falling asleep in the Ergo carrier on me about 8:30 pm and then we took the 9:00 pm shuttle back down the mountain to the hotel.

She was such a doll on the flights home! It's like she finally realized she didn't need to fight sleep and fell asleep in our arms on each flight. Yay! It was a long day of traveling and we were happy to get home, get a nice healthy meal in Embry's belly and sleep in our own beds. We had a fabulous trip and are so thankful we were able to go be a part of the Moser/Rogers wedding weekend!

Sharing Mommy's breakfast sandwich at the airport Friday morning

Big girl!

Still on the verge of walking! (Up to 8 steps in a row!)

Layover in Albuquerque....tired family!

Happy to be in E-Pa's rental car!

And post puking fiasco.... poor, sweet girl

Testing out our tub immediately after checking in.

Still not sure she's feeling great at this point.

Napping girl! So, so sweet

Rehearsal dinner!

Reading with Kiki at the Rehearsal Dinner!

Embry with the gorgeous bride!

Me, Nicole and Embry

These two aren't related are they? Sleepy at 6pm CST!

My little family =)

5:00 am romp through the Renaissance hotel!

Kiki met us for breakfast

Are these overalls the cutest or what?

I'll grab your coffee Ma!

Lunch at a local Indian restaurant

Heading off to the wedding!

Perfect from her head to her toes! A smocked dress, ruffle socks, mary janes, and the sweetest little face! Perfection!

Great Grandma Gordon and Great-Great Aunt Mary Jo! The hits of the reception!

E playing peekaboo in the car with Great Grandma!

Tuckered out from a long day!

On the shuttle up Mount Diablo to the most gorgeous reception venue!!!!!

My amazing in-laws

Sweet, sweet sisters! Aunt Mary Jo and Grandma Gordon!

GG and Aunt MJ with Nicole!

Enjoying the food at the wedding!

Kathleen and her two cousins: Deanna (mother of the bride) and Renea

The women of the family (minus the busy bride!)

Our little family =)

Jacob and his stunning cousin!

Checking out the ranch with E-Pa

My darn iPhone pictures don't do the view justice!

The sweetest Father/Daughter dance! Nicole's Dad surprised her and chose the song "I loved her first" for their dance. It was so emotional to see her reaction to the surprise song her dad picked out after he gave a sweet speech. Halfway through they invited all other dads and daughters to join. Melt!! Cue tears....