Little Shark, Little Shark. Emmeline is 1!!!!!!

One year ago, on a rainy day in May, Emmeline started her journey into the world. My labor was very long, which is usually unusual for me. After all, my last labor had lasted 39 minutes from the first indication of anything and consisted of roughly 8 contractions. This time was different. I went in to see my midwife for my 39 week appointment and found out I was 6 cm dilated. I had gone on my daily 3 mile walk that morning and felt light contractions throughout, which continued the entire day. Membrane stripping and cohosh didn't really kick it into high gear. I just kept having easy contractions. Over the next 15 hours my cervix effaced fully and the baby's head descended as far as it could while I stayed 6 cm dilated. It turns out I had an amniotic sac of steel. It was bulging out and effectively stalling any more cervical dilation.  It actually bent my midwife's hook when she tried to break my water.  She was successful on the second try and 20 minutes later, Emmeline Adelle Pitts, aka Little Shark, Lemon, or Lemon Lime, swam up out of a seriously awesome birthing tub and greeted her grateful parents. We'll never forget our surprise at her copious amounts of sun kissed looking hair.  Fast forward 12 months.
Despite one terrifying trip to the E.R. and numerous unplanned "trips" down the stairs, Emmeline has made it to her first birthday! Hooray! We are so in love with this little girl.  In just 12 months, she has gone from an adorable newborn lump baby to a talking, eating, singing, playing, walking rascal.  Emmeline loves belonging to a big family.  Who wouldn't like being hugged, kissed, and adored by multiple people throughout the day? 
Here is an update about the most important aspects of Emmeline's life:

Sleeping- Sleeping is for babies. Emmeline is a baby.  Emmeline needs to sleep.  She doesn't quite grasp this simple yet profoundly true logic, but she is doing okay in the sleep department.  She sleeps from about 9-7 and takes one to two naps every day.  Sometimes she goes down like a lamb to the slaughter and other times she goes down like a cat taking a bath.

Eating- Food, glorious food! This baby can eat! Emmeline loves just about everything we put in front of her. She has never had the "pleasure" of eating from a jar of baby food or drinking from a bottle, but always gets to eat whatever we are eating.  When she was six months old, there was a new recommendation for feeding babies, overturning the "rules" that had been in place for about 25 years. The new rules- Babies can eat just about everything once they turn 6 months old, including nuts, as long as allergies do not run in the family.  Well, they don't run in my family, so this little kiddo has been eating everything except for honey for the last 6 months.  If you ask her if she wants ice cream, she gets a silly excited grin on her face.  She is really looking forward to smearing cake all over her face tonight.

Playing- Is there anything better in life than having your job description include "play all day"?  I doubt it.  Emmeline is doing well at her job and will continue in her current assignment for a few more years.  Some of her favorite activities are 1) getting in the way of whatever the big kids are playing with 2)unloading the ziploc bags 3)crawling a few feet up the slide and getting pushed down by whichever older sibling comes down next and 4) playing the piano and dancing

Talking- This little girl is a jibber jabber maniac! Emmeline is all about making noise and being heard.  The screams that come out of her body are shocking. They just don't sound like something that should come out of such a little person.  When she isn't screeching, she likes to used civilized forms of communication.  Her current vocabulary includes- Mommy, MahMaw( Grandma), Daddy, up, baby, yah( yes), nigh nigh, bye, and hi.  She has said a few words one time, like Reuben, Clara, Audrey, and redonkulous.  Okay, she didn't say redonkulous. 

Walking- It was bound to happen.  I knew it would happen.  And, it did, in fact, really truly, no kidding, actually happen.  Emmeline can walk. She took her first steps a couple of weeks ago and she is practicing constantly.  She loves to stand up in the middle of the floor with nothing to hold onto and then take a couple of steps before sitting back down.  She has a much greater walking ability than she realizes, so will only take a few steps unassisted, but she loves to just stand around.  Emmeline digs her little toes down into the floor to try and maintain her balance.  It's really adorable!

We have loved watching Emmeline learn all these new things over the last year.  She is pure joy. We love her from the tips of her soft wavy hair to the bottoms of her tickly toes.  We love her scrunchy happy nose and her giggly gapped toothy smile.  We love the feel of her, small and warm, cuddling in for some love or comfort.  We love the sparkle of happiness in her eyes when one of us picks her up.  We love her ambitious spirit and the way she fits into our family as the Pitts family caboose.  Happy Birthday Emmeline!

Emmeline greatly enjoyed her birthday. She spoke a new word,"out", had her first ring pop, and took one hour to eat her cake and ice cream. Her homemade caterpillar cake wasn't fancy, but it was sooo tasty. smothered in real whipped cream.