August...the month of many firsts

This month of August has just completely flown by!  Our Emery is getting bigger by the day as is this belly of mine :)  Someone asked me if there was only one baby in there and someone else said I looked like I was about to pop....well, I still have 8 more weeks till he arrives!  Guess he may be bigger than Emery!

The many firsts of this month....
First #1:  Emery was a flower girl in her Aunt JuJu's and Mike's wedding.  We had the BEST weekend participating in all the festivities.  The girls got pedicures/manicures on Friday and we all enjoyed a yummy rehearsal dinner at Biaggi's, a local Italian place that Julia and Mike enjoy eating at in Champaign.

 The big day was full of hair appointments, make-up appointments, and hanging out before I DO!!                        

Here are a couple of pictures of the beautiful bride getting ready...

Emery LOVED dancing at the reception, and especially with her cousin Zachary!

On Sunday, Julia and Mike had out of town guests and the wedding party over for brunch.  It was such a great end to the fun weekend....just can't believe that they had so many people over to their house the day after their wedding, but it was perfect!  The first picture is the couple with Julia's childhood friend Sarah and her husband Mike.

First #2:  The weekend after we got back from Champaign, we started the thing I have been dreading...potty training!!  I started with Emery that Friday with panties that she picked out and a pink potty that she chose at Buy Buy Baby:)  We set a timer and every 20 minutes or so she was on the potty, earned stickers for her sticker chart, and eventually picked out a new baby doll at Target!  She has been doing so well!  We stayed around the house for several days....something very hard for me to do, but well worth it.  She's still in pull-ups (or special night panties as we like to call them) at some naps and at night.  We're not completely accident free and have had some stubbornness to overcome, but she's doing so much better than in the beginning.  SO glad we got this tackled before the baby arrives.

First #3:  About a week or two after potty training Emery got to move into her new room with her new big girl bed!  We'll be using her room downstairs for the nursery and wanted to make this transition well before the baby arrives.  I asked her if she liked her new room and her response was, "It's pretty!  It's pink!"  Travis painted the room a pale pink and even painted a twin daybed and my dad's childhood dresser a light grey....he did a really great job on it.  She just looks so tiny in that big bed.  Where did the time go?  Our baby is growing fast....becoming more independent, drinking from a regular cup, eating with an adult fork, going potty by herself.  Yet, she still loves to sit in our lap and read a book or be rocked in her rocking chair that I still have in her big girl bedroom....love those times of the day!  Here are some pics of her new room: (still waiting on some pretty pillows for the bed and a couple pictures for the wall)

First #4:  And finally, I took Emery on Wednesday to get her first haircut.  It really was just a trim because I was trying to get her crazy curls evened out!  It looks better and I'm happy the curls are still there!  Her favorite part was getting her nails painted pink and the lolly pop afterwards :)

Guess I need to post more often....that sure was a lot going on in one month!  No wonder our little girl has been testing the limits a lot lately.  That's a lot of change for anyone!  Maybe September will be less busy around here.....