Ready or not, here we go....

Ready or not, here we go...we have officially moved into the stage that I both love and hate at the same time--Emily can completely pull herself up to standing. She started doing it about 3 days ago. She had been pulling up on her knees for sometime now, but now she's totally up. It only took her a day to really master it and get up quickly.

I love this stage because it's so fun to see them exploring the world, and it's fun to see what they want to reach and grab for now that they are capable of it. I hate it because now she is standing, and soon walking, which both in the beginning can be dangerous as they fall a lot, and bump into things, etc. I don't consider myself an overly-nervous mother as a whole, but I do get nervous at this stage because I'm always worried they'll hurt themselves. But it is what it is. I am more relaxed than I was with Ashley, probably because I've been through this once already, partially because we have carpets in the rooms we spend most time in (although we do have hard tile in kitchen, and hardwoods at/on stairs, etc), and partly because Emily has always been pretty sturdy and graceful if she does fall.

Here is a perfect scenario of why I freak out at this stage....Emily, my dear child, is OBSESSED with putting dangerous objects into her mouth. Far more than Ashley did, and we were just with her cousin Alyssa for a few days, and she wasn't nearly as bad even though she's doing the same physical activities. It's as though she has radar for danger and goes right for it. Haha....Anyway, so one morning Ashley was still in bed (Emily likes to get up early), and I was having my morning coffee while Emily played nearby. We were getting ready to leave for our trip to NY and had our luggage bags out, and Emily was having a fun time playing with them. Well, she managed to pull off the tag and string and proceeded to try to eat it (choking hazard). So, I quickly set my coffee down on our table runner in the middle of the coffee table to grab the choking hazard from out of her mouth, and in the 30 seconds I took to go into the kitchen to throw it out, Emily had crawled over to the coffee table, reached up and pulled the table runner, and the hot coffee, all over herself. I came in just in time to see it, but not enough time to react.
THANK YOU GOD, she was ok. She could have been seriously burned! Luckily I take my coffee light with lots of creamer (which cools it down), and luckily I had been drinking it for a few minutes so it wasn't piping hot, and thankfully God watched over her and kept her safe. I immediately took her PJs off of her. She had a red mark but no burns. I will never leave my coffee anywhere in reach, even for a second after that! But just one of the many hazards that she can now get into.
I guess this stage is just a reminder to myself that I am not God--I cannot be everywhere, and protect her from everything at every moment, and I hate that, but I am humbled by it. Gotta let go and leg God as the saying goes.

Here's to the adventure ahead...