Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween, Y'all !!!

The Devers hope you and yours have a happy and safe Halloween.

(Halloween pictures will be forthcoming but here are some pictures from last year to get you in the spirit.)

Emerson's a Rockstar

Just a quick note about Miss Priss this morning. Our little Emersomnia slept until 8:10 this morning. For those of you who know Emerson, you know she doesn't require a lot of sleep to function, so usually she is early to rise and has short naps. So this is a huge deal for the Devers to sleep past 7:00 am on a weekend. After the week Danny had at work (believe me, it was a bad one, especially last night) and the week I had with no sleep while he was gone....we must admit it was great to sleep until 8:10 am!!!!! Emerson, you are a Rockstar!!!! (I do realize by posting this I am probably jinxing myself for her afternoon nap or any future weekend sleeping until past 7:00 am!!!!)

AMEN!!

I wouldn't say Danny and I are VERY religious people….we both grew up going to church and we feel our values and morals reflect that. We don't attend church regularly, if at all, but we are looking for a church now, as we both feel it is an important aspect we want to introduce into Emerson's life and growth. With that being said, I do feel we have tried to introduce spirituality early….we have several books that we read to Emerson that incorporate an honest and pure message and we say "our" prayers with her every night. So normally the night time routine goes something like this…Mom or Dad will give Emerson a bath, then it is off to her bedroom to get in her PJ's while Dad usually tries to distract her with a toy or song and mom gets her ready for bed. Sometimes we blow dry her hair if it is still really wet, in which case we spend time sitting on mom's vanity and Emerson laughs and talks to herself in the mirror. Then it is off to Emerson's room again where Daddy tempts Emerson with her "Ba Ba," and she promptly perks up and starts saying over and over again in a high pitched toddler delight…"Ba Ba! Ba Ba!" (sometimes she will even whisper it back to you if you whisper it to her.) We then proceed to sit in her chair and give Emerson her night time bottle (this is the last bottle we are still trying to wean from her.) While she drinks her bottle I read her several night time stories (I say "I" because usually I am the one carrying out this part of the routine, although Dan jumps in from time to time, but he lets me have this time with her because he knows how much I enjoy it.) After we have finished the bottle, we turn the light off and Emerson flips herself over and snuggles into my shoulder in the burping position, this is the same position she has ended up in since she was an infant, most of it stemming from when she got burped after bottles, but now this is just snuggle time that I look forward to all day. Once she is situated, I start our prayers….

"Let's say our prayers Emerson," I usually whisper to her! Then I begin with our hodgepodge version of Now I Lay Me….

Now I lay me down to sleep

I pray the lord my soul to keep

May angels watch me through the night

Until I wake with mornings light!!

AMEN

So until last week, Emerson would then lay on my shoulder for another minute or so snuggling while I sang to her or rubbed her hair, and then I would get up, say "Nite, Nite," put her in her crib with Lovey Bear, that she would then proceed to strangle, and cover her up. Last week though I was surprised when Emerson, at the end of our prayers, promptly replied to my AMEN, with an AMEN of her own. What is this? A 15 month old can say AMEN. It was probably the cutest thing I have ever heard in my life…she was half asleep and it came from this little soft voice inside her like she was at peace (cheesy, I know!) but it seriously melted my heart and I fell more in love with her at that moment. So I finished the routine, told Danny about the AMEN and that was that…..

The next night I put Emerson in her high chair as I finished preparing her dinner…..I also usually get this responsibility because Danny isn't home from work yet, but don't worry, he usually gets to clean up the mess and load the dishwasher…I'll take my end of the bargain any day!!! So as I was bringing her food over to the highchair, Emerson clasped her hands together as if she was going to pray and then said clearly and with much enthusiasm, "AMEN." What is this new phenomenon? Where has she learned to say this and why is she, all of a sudden, doing it now? I didn't put two and two together until later that evening when I was telling Danny about the dinner Amen. We then decided that she must be learning it at school (she attends a Baptist daycare.) I confirmed on Friday with one of the teachers that all the children say their prayers before they eat lunch. We think she must have heard the word Amen before meals and then started associating it with meal time. Since, she was hearing the word a lot at school and nightly at bedtime prayers, we think she just learned to say it early….

Now AMEN is a daily word that Emerson loves to say for no apparent reason and sometimes out of the blue…..but we also now say it at the appropriate times as well…before dinner and before bed, and a toddler saying AMEN will tear at your heart strings every time!!!! AMEN!!

Moral of the story: It is never too early for AMEN!!!!

Smile for the Camera!!!! (Emerson's First Photo Session Montage)

As many of you may have read in a previous post, Emerson had her first official professional photo session back in July. (A lot different than mommies faux sessions) Amber Byrd was kind enough to meet us very early one morning at the Carolina Inn for a morning full of picture taking. I must say, 1 1/2 hours, 4 outfits, and 300- some pictures later, we ended up with some great shots we will cherish forever. I have put the best of the best pictures together for you to see in a little montage.....Enjoy!! Click this link for the High Quality version of the montage: http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewshow.html?fl=3047871&alb=0

Click this link for the YouTube version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWffea9tMZc

or just watch it here.....(quality is fair) Turn your sound up

Check out Amber Byrd Photography for yourself:

http://www.amberbyrdphotography.com/

Finally….an update!!!

Hello all and welcome back to the Dever Dish…I realize I have been out of commission for awhile; so I wanted to get you up to speed on the happenings of the Devers. Miss Priss is exactly 15 months old today, can you believe it??? I'm just not quite sure where the time has gone. The last time we left you, we had just celebrated Emerson's 1^st birthday with her big birthday bash. I hope you all enjoyed the slideshow of the great pictures that our friend Amber Byrd took of the celebration. If you haven't seen it, I posted the link for you at the bottom of the post.

July ended up being a crazy month for us, as we had tons of things going on. The week after Emerson's birthday party was her 12 month wellness appointment… and it was a tough one. Those of you who have kids know that seeing your child get shots for the first time is pretty awful and most of us moms shed a few tears. Usually the administering of shots gets easier, at least on the parents….well, my friends, no one prepares you for the 12 month appointment. Emerson was pitiful and I again, like I did the first time with her shots; shed a few tears with her. Usually kids will hold their breath and turn red and then finally let out this god awful cry but for some reason this time, Emerson went right into screaming and then, for the first time ever, she sobbed uncontrollably and continued to do it until we were outside of the doctor's office. Poor little girl, I felt horrible for her. The bad news is the nurse mentioned she might remember this experience (because apparently she has a memory now) and that the next appointment to the doctor for shots might not be as easy (like this visit was easy, Sheesh) !!! The good news is Emerson is a growing 12 month old and in perfectly good health.

Danny left that same day after the appointment and traveled pretty much every week for the rest of July going to New Mexico, Jacksonville, Minnesota, and Philadelphia. I too was also busy at work preparing for a huge conference that would start the first week in August. I actually had a blast planning it, as I got to work with a new co-worker and had a great budget to work with (wink, wink)!!! The weekend after Emerson's party we had another photo shoot with our friend Amber to capture Emerson at a year old. We ventured to the Carolina Inn early the morning of July 19^th to take some indoor and outdoor pictures of Emerson along with Danny and me in a few of them. I must say, Emerson did pretty well for her first time being "professionally" photographed. It took her a few minutes but she soon warmed up to Ms. Amber and by the end of the shoot, they were best buds…of course, if you know Amber, you could understand why. She is so full of life and truly loves every second that she is taking pictures, and she was great with Emerson. So after an hour and half of picture taking and 4 outfit changes…Amber got some great pictures. That slideshow will be posted soon for all of you to see, but I thought I would post a sneak peak for you……

We were also visited by the Wisconsin Devers in July. (A couple of years ago when the Dever families were all spread out we started referring to ourselves by state; Danny and I were the NC Devers, his mom and dad were the Florida Devers, and his brother's family were the Wisconsin Devers. I guess that is going to change now that two sets of Devers and a single Dever live in NC) Corey, our nephew was coming to orientation for Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte and they came over for the weekend to visit. Corey was accepted early admission and will finish his senior year of high school there. We are all very excited that we will soon have a professional chef in the family. You know I'm excited, 'cause a fabulous party always needs fabulous food!!!

The last event for us in July (well really first of August) was a trip with our dear friends and neighbors to a concert. This was our first concert in, well, years…. so we were super excited to get away for the evening and enjoy some good 'ole country music. We headed out that evening with Dale and Amy (god bless her, cause it was HOT and she was very pregnant) to see Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift. I forgot how much I love going to concerts…so my new goal is to go to at least one concert a season now. We had great seats for the show and would have had an even better parking spot if Dale hadn't driven… (Gotcha!!! J) Anyways, it was tons of fun and I can't wait to do it again…. Here is a picture from the event taken with my cell phone (sorry the quality is horrible)!

So as you can see July was pretty busy for us but I still managed to take TONS (sorry!) of pictures of our little cutie…you will see that her convertible car was a huge hit and she has had tons of fun playing in it (there are times, we can't get her out of it….is it okay to bribe a one-year old?) There are also pictures of Emerson and her first experience with water as a recreational activity, her first trip to a playground, and more just clowning around. As always, I have put captions on most of them for you; so you know what is going on….there are a lot of pictures this time, though, so I didn't put a caption on all of them. Below the picture link is the link to Emerson's birthday slideshow.

We hope everyone is well and the 13-14 month update will be sent soon!! Until then…

Emerson – 12 to 13 months pictures http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=l05z5pu.1idawbfq&x=0&y=hw5l37&localeid=en_US

Birthday Slideshow http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewalbum.html?bm=168809