Emma....past and present

Since I started this blog so late into Emma's life, I wanted to go back and give a glimpse of her as she's grown up over the past 3 1/2 years. She sure has changed!!! It was neat to go back through these pictures and realize how much Collin looks like her!!! If it wasn't for the blue eyes and date on some of these pictures, I wouldn't know who I'm looking at!!! Emma's face was a little more round than Collin's is, but they're very similar!



This is newborn Emma before we left the hospital to take her home. She was so small and sweet. Actually, not too small. She was 8 lb. 2 oz., but her newborn clothes were still too big on her. She "swam" in the newborn size sleeper than we brought her home in! What a sweet little face!



This is Emma at about 2 weeks. I took a bunch of pictures of her in her Christmas outfit to make up some wallets for people in our be-lated Christmas cards. She was crying in a lot of them, but I still managed to get a few cute ones!

Emma at 5 weeks. We were at Aaron and Jody's house for Sunday dinner. She was a little spoiled being the first grandchild, great-grandchild, and niece!!

This is the first smile we caught on camera. Well, first real one that is! She was almost 7 weeks here and we were visiting all of my friends in Springfield, Missouri. This was Sunday morning before we went to visit my church down there!

Here's Emma at 2 1/2 months. Collin sure does look like her. Especially with her hand up by her mouth. He ALWAYS has his hands in his mouth!! Like I said before, her face is a little more round than his and there are other subtle differences, but they're definitely brother and sister!

Another 2 1/2 month old shot. We took a lot of pictures during this period because my grandparents were in Florida and missing out, so we sent a lot of pictures! This is another Collin look alike picture!

Almost 4 months old now! She sure grows fast in a post like this!! I should take a picture of Collin doing this pose and post it on here so you all can see really how much they do look alike!

5 months old eating Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Grimaldi's house. Well, we were all eating, not her. She would have loved to though!! She wasn't on baby food for very long!

6 months old, sleeping in Daddy's arms. Notice the bruises on her forehead??? Those are from pulling up on a chair....and then pulling the chair over on top of her. Guess she didn't know that you're too young to pull yourself up standing at 6 months!

We took these 9 month old pictures of Emma on my Grandpa's train track in his backyard. She loved to be outside, so it was a little difficult to get pictures of her actually sitting still. She kept running away....yep, I said running!!!

This is Emma's first birthday party. We actually celebrated a couple weeks early. I didn't want her birthday and Christmas to come for her all at once. That's something we've continued to do. In fact, I think this year we might have her party in November. December is crazy enough as it is and she wants a party with friends this year.

We flew to Florida to visit Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Boger when Emma was 14 months. She did great on the flight and LOVED spending time down there with them!! She really loved these rocks in their yard!

This is from Fourth of July in 2007. Emma was just over 18 months then. Hardly any hair still. I can't even tell you how long I was asked if she was a boy!!!

Fall of 2007 at Post Family Farm. Emma was 22 months here.....still not much hair, as you can see. She's always been as outgoing as she is now and LOVES to be outside!!!

Waiting in line to see Santa at 2 years old (December 2007). She wasn't this happy once she actually sat on his lap!!

Just Emma and I got the chance to go to Florida in 2008. Ryan wasn't able to get off of work. My parents were going to come with us, but our extended family was going through a rough time while we were down there, so they decided to spend this week with them instead. Emma was a little over 2 years old here. We went to a park with fountains and she just loved to get sprayed by them!

In May of 2008, Emma was in my good friend, Marian's, wedding. She was a flowergirl along with 2 other girls and 1 ringbearer. They all did a great job and were super cute!!! We were able to get a little something in that short hair of hers too and she looked adorable!

In August of 2008, we went with my parents to Michigan's Adventure. Emma sure loved it!! She's gonna be a rollercoaster rider for sure!! She rode every ride she was tall enough for....even the scrambler, tilt-a-whirl, and a roller coaster!!

On October 24, 2008, Emma's cousin, Analise, was born. She was so excited to have a baby cousin! It was good practice for when she would be a big sister. Analise sure loves Emma now and they'll be good friends as they grow up....even though they're almost 3 years apart! Emma was 2 years and 10 months when Analise was born.

For Emma's 3rd birthday, she had a Cinderella party. Cinderella herself even came to celebrate!!! A sweet girl from the youth group was willing to come dressed as Cinderella and Emma was literally speechless when she saw her!

On the morning Collin was born, we took Emma to the Children's Museum to spend some final alone time with her. It worked out nicely that the c-section wasn't scheduled until 3:30 pm so we could have this time. We were only a few blocks from the hospital too, so my mom met us for lunch and took her when we went in. She was planning to go back to the museum until Collin was born, but Emma was worried and just wanted to be at the hospital instead. She waited from 1:30-5:30 when we were out of surgery. We did see her a couple times before the surgery while they were prepping me. When we were in recovery, the nurses let Emma come in, so she was able to be the first person to see and hold Collin. It was special for her. I remember when Ryan brought her in, he showed her Collin laying in the warmer and she looked for a minute and then said, "Is that Collin?" Once we told her it was, she smiled and touched him and kissed him. It was very sweet and cute!

Another wedding, 1 year later. This time she was the only flowergirl though, with no ringbearer. She did GREAT by herself!! She walked right down the aisle, dropped her flowers nicely, and stood in front by the bridesmaids just like she was supposed to!!! We were so proud. This was on May 30, 2009. She was just about 3 1/2! By the way, look at all of that beautiful hair!!!!

This is the last and most recent picture. It was just taken on the Fourth of July of this year at the parade. Emma loves parades and always has. She's very good at getting candy!! There was a float with a girl dressed as Hannah Montana in the parade and when she saw it, she started shouting "Hannah Montana! Hannah Montana!!" Don't ask me how she knows who Hannah Montana is. One day she just started talking about her and singing her song, "The Best of Both Worlds." I have no idea when she saw her, but she obviously did. No big deal, I guess. There isn't really anything wrong with her. I even took her to see the Hannah Montana movie.....it was actually really cute.

Anyway, I guess that about sums up Emma's life until now. She's grown into a very sweet little girl and we're beyond blessed to have her and so very thankful to God for entrusting us to raise this precious and special child. I hope to get an update like this on Collin soon too, but this one took long enough for tonight!!! Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!!