Cinderella Lives!

In case there was any doubt -- Emma is our little princess.

Apparently, to reinforce this concept, Santa brought her a box of princess dress-up clothes:
Like all princess attire, these clothes are VERY pretty, rather flashy, and a little bit scratchy. And though each dress has a matching crown, Emma has only one favorite -- and it came from a Young Women's activity that Alyssa and Darcie attended in November!

Brandon tells me we're spoiling her. We don't start out with that intention.... it's just kind of a by-product of having a baby later in life. Especially when you've already gotten rid of so much of the childhood paraphernalia that the older kids used.
She is snuggling on my lap as I write this, wrapped in a homemade quilt, with messy hair and probably a full diaper. And as flashy as those Cinderella moments are -- it's the real moments like this one that mean the most. Her comment when I went to set her down was, "Go see Momma? Ok!"

I will treasure these moments while they still last.

P.S. We got a kick out of her late last night: we were sitting around the dining table, when we saw a tiny hand reach up onto the peninsula counter..... and snag an oatmeal cookie right off the rack, without so much as asking. What a funny kid!!