A little bit at a time

So, so much has happened since the last time I blogged - what a busy Christmas season we've had!  I may have to break everything up into smaller bits.  I'll start with Emma's visit to see Santa.  She waited in line like a champ:

Once we got to actually see Santa, Emma wasn't too sure about him...but he was the BEST Santa!  We got some really great shots of her and Santa.  She really looked like a big girl, and it made me a little sad.

In fact, Emma has done a lot of things over the break that have made me just a little bit sad yet VERY excited at the same time.  Emma is now drinking out of a sippy cup without me having to cut a bigger hole or anything.  It's a very specific type of cup, but I went ahead and stocked up on them.  She now says "cute" when we ask her if she's cute.  She has started a few new sounds (doe-doe-doe-doe and doo-doo-doo-doo-doo, which I'm sure will be repeated in a very inopportune place).  Emma likes creamed spinach.  Thank goodness, a vegetable other than green beans.  When Lola barks, Emma occasionally holds up her pointer finger, shakes her head, and says (calmly), "No."  The best is when she does this with a completely serious look on her face like she absolutely means business.

Ok, that's enough bragging for now.  Our baby girl got only her second haircut ever!  My mom is great about trimming her bangs, and we've been letting the rest of her hair grow out.  I finally decided it was time for a haircut because the straight hair on the top of her head was covering up the stunningly gorgeous ringlets at the bottom of her hair.  What was that I said about no more bragging?  These ringlets couldn't be more perfect than if I had curled them with a large-barreled curling iron.  Things didn't start out so well, but she was making faces at herself in the mirror by the end.  I'm so thankful my mom was there, wearing all black and covered in blonde hair, to hold Emma while I took pictures.