So not only do I fill up my time being a DeLorenzo Photography photographer, designer, mother and wife....I also help my husband with his company StickersThatStick.com. They have developed a web-based app, which is totally fun and interactive that anyone can use to design custom iPhone cases and custom stickers at CaseApp.com, you can also get there by using StickerApp.com. Its like one of those determine your own ending books, you decide which link you use to get the same awesome products haha.

I have already created cases for my DeLorenzo Photography clients, as well as friends, family and obviously myself. The cases come in different colors and are extremely hard plastic. My toddler throws mine around and I have yet to have it crack, break or scratch. Its more durable then the three previous cases I had this year, brand shall remain nameless but has an aquatic animal as their first word. The apps also let you upload any photo or designs you have, add text and other awesome elements or you can design something from scratch using the template and art provided on the website.

If you head over to the StickerApp.com or CaseApp.com websites before Jan. 15 you can use the coupon code STS25 for a sweet deal on any of our products, check out more info below.

Above photo of my awesome little girl is courtesy Shane Izykowski.

Emelia's First Birthday & Second Easter

I can't believe I'm writing a blog about Emmy's first birthday! This past year seems like a blur, even though so much has happened and changed that the day she was born seems like 20 years ago. We celebrated the past year with Emmy, the most amazing thing to ever happen to us, by throwing her a birthday bash with family and friends, then Easter the following day. Party went well, was happy that so many people came to join us. Em was awesome, she braved through the onslaught of people and was passed around like a sack of potatoes, loving it most of the time. She was a bit more timid with her homeade sculpted ladybug, the theme of the party, smash cake that I made her. It was so cute, I almost didn't want her to destroy it. She played with the kids, rolled around in the grass, batted at balloons and babbled and laughed with everyone. She made it all the way to the end and then threw a fit because she was obviously exhausted. Mark ended up taking her for a ride and which point most people left and I started the cleaning up. Thankfully, some friends stayed behind to load all the party leftovers, supplies and PRESENTS into several cars and shifted all that mayhem to my house. Watching her open presents was so much fun, she really enjoyed it and played with everything. She received so many awesome gifts, she's one lucky little girl. Her birthday was a great day for her, but it was also a wonderful day for Mark and I. Not only were we celebrating Emmys first year, but also how much our lives have changed for the better, the purpose we both feel now, SURVIVING the last twelve months on little sleep and so much more that can't be put into words. We are so lucky to have such an amazing little girl and helpful and generous family. Thanks to everyone who has been a part of this past year with us.

Easter, the following day, was also a good day. Had some delicious brunch and dinner, got to put Emmy in two adorable outfits, gave her an easter basket and spent the whole day with family. Then we all crashed after such a busy weekend.

Some updated on Em's skills, she enjoys brushing her teeth, says all kinds of first words like chick, duck, mooooo, kitty, and of course mom and dad. She has been climbing on everything and anything and really kicks it up a notch at her Little Gym classes which we have been going to the past few weeks. We started her on regular milk, which she guzzles down. Still splashes Mark like a maniac in the bathtub and continuously tries to scale the walls of the shower. We have an appointment coming up for her next week, so I'll post her official stats after that. She weighs a ton now, thats all I know!

Check out her flickr photo page for all the pics! http://www.flickr.com/photos/emeliadelo/sets/72157629790044091/

11 months & 1 day

Yesterday was Emelia's 11 month birthday, one month away from one year. I can't believe it. I am in denial pretty much right now. Some developments have been that she is getting more and more vocal, starting to put together more sounds and associate them with different things. She can point out so many objects now I can't even list them all. The hair is FINALLY starting to really come in now. OH and she discovered the stairs yesterday for the first time and decided to climb right up them in one nonstop shot. She can stand now when she wants to until she loses interest and balance, usually at the same time. Its only a matter of time before she is running around the house shouting at the top of her lungs and indulging us all in conversations about life.

Emelia the Wagoneer

Last night, Emelia "helped" Mark build her new wagon. By help I mean, try to eat all the tools, rip the instructions, shake wagon vigorously and overall get in the way. She had fun doing it, so thats all that matters really. Afterward, I took her for a quick roll around the house which she loved. She is getting to be such a little kid, just the way she moves and looks at us now, she's no longer a little baby :( Sometimes she bats our hands away when we try to help her or hand her something as if she's saying " I can do it on my own, jeez" and she's turning into a little Diva too at dinner time. Emmy prefers to feed herself now, the problem is she doesn't actually get the right amount of food in her mouth as much as on top of her head, her clothes and the floor haha. She is becoming independent for an older infant haha. When its dressing time, she usually yanks all the drawers open and throws whatever she doesn't want to wear on the floor and tries to eat the one thing that she is wearing. I have been trying to show her how to calmly open and close the drawers since she has pinched her fingers more then once with her aggressive opening and closing style. She's learning new things everyday, she's a crazy cute little sponge. Can't wait until she starts talking, she's going to be a ripper.

Let's Get Some Shoes

Today we took Emmy to Stride Rite to get her some official walkin' shoes. We ended up leaving with two pair haha. Got her some sweet red velcro shoes for the next size up as well as some she can wear now. She's pretty stylin' and enjoyed getting measured and picking out the shoes she liked. Big girl :(

5 mins to blog

Imagine an out of shape marathon runner breathing as fast as he can through a mouth full of water.....thats Emmy right now. One of her past times are gritting her two teeth against her gums and breathing through a mouthful of spit as fast as she can haha.

This morning I am proud to say she has mastered her straw sippy cup. She enjoyed some carrot juice with breakfast. Picking it up and drinking whenever she had the whim to do so. Emmy turns ten months in 4 days, its absolutely CRAZY. Seems like she was just a little tiny ball of jello who slept all day and was awake all night. She is still awake little amounts of time at night haha. She is officially older longer then it took me to make her inside.

Included with her old age she has acquired a bit of a diva persona. She has learned to have temper tantrums and if we are helping her do something and she doesn't approve she will push you away so she can do it herself. It should be interesting to see how she develops once she starts talking more. Her vocal still consists of 99% mumbles but knows who Dad Da and MomMomMomMom are which is super cute in the morning.

Her diet has been grown leaps and bounds. Her food resume now includes bits of fish, noodles, pesto, basically small pieces of almost anything we make for dinner and LOTS of baby rice and yogurt snacks. We have been steering clear of raspberries for a while because I think it causes a butt rash for her right now.

Emelia doesn't know it yet but I have been brainstorming ideas for her first birthday. If it were up to mark it would be motocross themed complimented by a petting zoo. I am thinking more coordinating cupcakes and disposable tableware. I am excited though to see her dive into a giant confection in honor of one year of amazing existence!

Winter Update

Currently Emelia is enjoying a snack of puffs from her snack cup in the living room while I blog and Dad watches Supercross. We spent the morning taking a sunday drive through the Shawnee area because it snowed a decent amount and it was something to do. Emmy is weighing in at about 18 pounds now and measures 28.5" thats almost two inches in just over a month. The peanut has caught up and is on her way to bruiser. Some of her clothes are ruled out based solely on the fact that her big melon won't fit through the head opening any longer. Just about once a month now I go through the depressing process of packing up baby clothes that she grows out of. Emmy is quite the busy bee now a days, daily naps are about two per day max so most of the time is spent playing around. She reads through books now turning the page when prompted, her favorites are 5 Little Pumpkins and Hooray For Fish. There was a brief few days where she was sleeping through the night but that was quickly changed when a new round of teething plus a cold took over. Poor little miss has been battling a runny nose since New Years, this week she got some meds and I think she's kickin' it for good now. She is really starting to become super interactive, she waves, calls us Ma-Ma-Mom and Da-Da-Da almost every morning when we go into take her out of the crib. I taught her to high five which is hilarious and like I said she turns pages and recognizes the names of certain toys. She has now stopped snacking and is using her car seat as a jungle gym. She is quite a daredevil. Later today I plan to take her out to play in the snow and hopefully get some kind of family snow pic, we'll see how that goes since Emmy refuses to let me take a cool photo with my real camera of her.

Next on the agenda is figuring out her first birthday and what kind of baby friendly vacation we are going to try to do this year…...

Emmy is faster then a geriatric with a walker!

Emelia got wayyyy too much for Christmas from everyone, which we are thankful for. She has been ripping around with a bunch of walking devices she was gifted. One resembles a walker and another resembles a shopping cart haha. I have been putting her through extensive training on the shopping cart-like one for our future escapades.

We had such a nice first Christmas with her and she seemed to enjoy it too. Emmy was very interactive while opening presents and seemed to be extra chipper for the most part. Her play area now looks like a daycare for 300 kids haha. Most of the xmas pictures are on her Flickr Photo Page Here. I posted a video below of her tearing it up with her radio flyer walker. We have an appointment next week for some shots and stats, check back for that!

Emelia went to the doctor yesterday to rule out an ear infection from the end of her cold she has been dealing with. While we were there, she weighed in at 16lbs and measured 26 inches long! Can't believe how much she has grown from that little 4 pound peanut we brought home. She is a bruiser now and is constantly running on beast mode. Amongst other new things she likes doing like crawling, climbing and feeding herself, screaming and yelling at the top of her lungs for fun is one of them. She is currently sitting in her johnny jump up on her tippy toes, yelling so loud, that my ear drums are thumping. Every once in a while she strings together some ma and da sounds but hasn't officially acknowledged us as with anything verbally recognizable yet.

She has been pulling herself up on everything from her toys, to the couch, to my leg. Thankfully she is starting to learn how to let herself back down without bellyflopping backwards on the floor. She is racking up a nice number of bumps on her big melon head from all her acrobatics. We had to lower her crib and pack n plays about two weeks ago since she enjoys standing in them now and screaming for us. Nighttime is also starting to become even more complicated because she puts on a production like we are closing her into a jail cell and stands in her crib clutching the rails and calling for us like she has been sentenced to Life in Crib. There still hasn't been a night that she has slept through and gets up a couple times each night. If we are lucky we will get a 5 hr interval.

We decorated for Christmas and she really likes looking at the stuff and grabbing at the lights. I have a little tree to put in her room yet, but need to find some time to do that and finish packing up all the clothes that don't fit and replacing them with some 9month stuff.

Her hair is FINALLY starting to come in and I'm hoping i will be able to put a barrette in it by her first birthday haha. I am thinking she is going to have hair like me, lightish and wavy. If so that will be about the only thing she has from me it seems. She is Mark through and through.

Being able to work from home and having her Grandmas watch her so close is so awesome. I get to see her so much more and she is really the greatest thing. So much work, but so much fun and my favorite thing right now is that she wants hugs ALL the time ahha. I am probably creating a "hold me" monster but who could say no haha.

Emmy is not a Vegetarian any longer...

Oh man, so busy lately. I hardly have time to update this. Emmy's last checkup was about two weeks ago and she is doing well. She last tipped the scale at 15lbs, so I am assuming she is almost 16 by now. Her latest adventures include crawling which she started last week, pulling up a little bit on things, and she had her first meat tonight. Dinner was lightly pureed chicken soup with veggies. Its official she is no longer a veg head. Of course she didn't like it at first but after a little bit of coaxing with alternating spoonfuls of blueberry yogurt, I got her onboard with the protein. Her new best friend is Elmo and its obvious the love she has for him/her when he/she shows up on the TV for her morning Sesame Street viewing. Right now she is looking like a cirque du soleil acrobat, swinging and jumping around in the johnny jump up. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and her first Turkey dinner with family. Who knows maybe she will even have a tooth at the rate she was teething.