my joy.

when i realized that i hadn't posted on our family blog since september, i just about died.  if you knew how much i love to write and share stories about our growing littles, you would know why i am so horrified.  i have completely slacked.  but i AM going to turn this corner.

so let's just pretend i have been consistently blogging for the past four months and we are well acquainted with all that has been going on in the braisted home.

moving right along.

my little emi is three.  (and yes, someday, i will post pictures from her third birthday--which happened two months ago.  ugh.)  she has changed so much over the course of the last two months that she is hardly recognizable.  she still sports her golden locks and sassy brown eyes but she has changed into this little person.  

she dances at the first inkling that music is going to play.  she has moves and motions and "hips that don't lie."  seriously, we are going to have to chain her to her seat when she gets older.  she can shake it like a real latina.

the last year with her has been a little rough.  she is bossy and independent, mouthy and defiant.  what was adorable as a nine month old, was not adorable as a two year old.  i promise.  but she has really come into her own over the last couple of months.  don't get me wrong, she still has her "moments" but she definitely has decided that being obedient and polite is a better route than punishment and disappointment.

i have really enjoyed her.  i've had flashes of the future of her and i, the best of friends, chatting about life over coffee.  i mean, we have to survive teenage-hood first, but i can see it nonetheless.

she cuddles at a moments' notice.  hugs with abandon.  swoons over princesses as they are kissed by their prince.  coddles a crying baby doll and soothes them with a song.  she is all girl with a hint of tomboy.  just like her mama.

i don't know what the third year will bring but i am doing my darndest to hold tight to these precious moments with her.  it feels like we just brought her home from the hospital and here she is dressing up in gowns and pearls.  

oh my little emi.  you are my joy.