Meet little Claire

We have a new baby in the family as of Thursday May 10th! Claire Elise was born to Abby and Marty (Michael's brother) and she's so cute! All 6 lbs 12 oz and 19 1/2 inches of her. We went to visit them today. Emma - not so interested in the baby. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing.

Here's the new happy family:
 

Weird, that in less than 6 months this is what our family pictures will look like..you know, with our baby instead of theirs, obviously...
 

And here we are remembering what it's like to hold such a teeny tiny baby!
 
 

Among other things...

Obviously, I've been absent from the blog lately. Lots of good reasons for that, chief among them...

I'm pregnant!

 

I'm about 10 1/2 weeks along, baby due November 7, 2007. I've been really sick on top of the normal fatigue so (as many have noticed) I haven't been much for emailing latey...or scrapbooking, or cleaning, or laundry..or pretty much anything except taking care of Emma and laying on the couch. But, I'm slowly starting to feel better and life's returning to normal.

I took this picture of Emma in her "Big Sister" shirt I made her on March 2nd, just a couple days after we found out I was pregnant. This is how we told everyone. So cute, isn't it?!

A lot has been going on

And I know I need to do a really big update, but until I do, here are some pictures from the park yesterday. It was absolutely beautiful ou!

 
 

Earthquake!

We had an earthquake tonight! Crazy! It happened at 7:18 this evening. Emma and I were in the kitchen, Michael was upstairs when the whole house shook, the floor vibrated and it was loud! At first we didn't know what the heck it was, for a second I thought something hit the house. Then Michael said it was an earthquake and sure enough, it was. Our neighbor called to make sure we felt it and it wasn't just her house. I called my neighbor across the street as well. People were looking around outside. According to the news, it was a 3.6 magnitude and lasted about 5 seconds. It was the weirdest sensation though. I can only imagine what the big ones are like out in California. Since I don't have any pictures of the earthquake to share, how about some Emma pics? :)

Two nights ago we went to the fitness center so Emma could walk around the track. She just loves it. Although she gets sidetracked by whatever is going on inside the track in the gym and tends to try to walk in.

 
 
 

 


And for my scrapping friends, look what came today:


American Crafts goodness!

A few incidents

So last night I put Emma to bed and it took her a while to go to sleep. She was jumping and talking and would fuss a bit. She finally fell asleep and then around 9 she starts crying. It turns into a freak-out cry so Michael heads upstairs to check on him. I hear him open the door, then I hear "Is there a reason you left the light on?" Oops. No wonder she couldn't fall asleep. She probably either thought I just put her in there to play or I was gonig to come back in and get her since the light was left on. Poor thing. I felt awful. No idea why I didn't turn off the light.

Emma has a thing for bathrooms. She loves them. And she's discovered toilets. And sticking her hands in the water. And throwing things in the toilets. This afternoon, she threw my library book in there. I'm hoping it dries out so I don't have to buy a new one. The toilet was clean, in case you're wondering. :)

We've had some issues with eating. Mainly, she decided she didn't want to eat anything that wasn't some sort of bread/dough. She'll eat pizza, PB&J sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, pancakes, rolls, biscuits..you get the idea. She even quit eating fruit. This is what happened when I tried to get her to eat some chicken and veggies.

 
 

She finally ate some fruit yesterday and today. Still no on the veggies. It's kind of annoying, I'll have to say!


Here are a couple pictures of Emma from last week. Her "1" shirt is the last in a set. I'm going to frame all four pictures (3,6, 9 months and 1 year) eventually.
 

Michael's mom got her some hair clips. Too bad they don't really stay in. But they're cute. Hopefully one day she'll have enough hair to hold them!
 

1 year pictures

Thursday, me and my mom took Emma to get her 1 year pictures. I'll admit I was a bit nervous. Emma was fussy when we got there and was VERY wary of the photographer. Not really like her, at all. But eventually she warmed up and we got some really cute photos. These are two I chose:

 
 

She's walking all the time now. It's so awesome. She still crawls some, but she definitely walks more. It's the cutest thing. When she started walking on her birthday, she had to be coaxed with a toy. It's amazing in just over a week, she no longer needs coaxing, she'll just walk all over on her own. And she laughs! She thinks it's so fun and is so proud of herself. She's taken quite a few spills, of course. But nothing too bad yet. I'm waiting for the big cut/bruise though, I'm sure it'll happen!

She's one!

Today Emma is one. Wow. A year ago today I was in the hospital and I was probably sleeping thanks to the epidural. And if I was awake, then I was thirsty and wanting a Dr. Pepper and VERY hungry! At 10:44 pm she was born via C-section - about time! ha ha!

Last night we went to CiCi's for a little pre-birthday/Valentine's Day pizza. I could've picked any restaurant I wanted, and yes, I picked the pizza buffet. :)

 
 
 

Today, we took lunch to Michael at school. Emma was a little fussy at times since she didn't take her morning nap. Apparantly, she knows it's her birthday and was too excited to sleep. We haven't been there since she started walking (either with her walker or on her own) and the desks were perfect for her to walk with. She walked from desk to desk with ease and really seemed to enjoy herself.





She played with her new Elmo bath toy! (Thanks Stef, Bryan and Julia!) We all watched like it was the most exciting thing ever, ha ha! She just kept knocking it down over and over again.



Here Emma is with Maggie (thanks for the adorable dress, Mags!)


And with Kelli

We had a party!

Saturday was Emma's first birthday party and it was so fun! We had an Elmo party - Elmo plates and napkins, cake, balloons, hats. Lots of Elmo. Emma seemed to enjoy here cake. She didn't go crazy with it, she actually seemed quite serious about it. But Michael got a big smile out of her when she was done. :)










Everyone was so generous, she got so many fun gifts. Lots of cute clothes, her first puzzle, a piggy bank toy, books, a Weeble castle and a bounce/jumping Zebra. I know I've forgotton some things, but you get the idea. :)

kisses

Emma's finally started giving kisses. I was so excited yesterday when I'd say "Emma, give me a kiss" and I'd pucked my lips and she'd respond by leaning forward, open-mouthed, of course, and meet my face. So I did it again:

Emma, give me a kiss.

*kiss*

Emma, give me a kiss.

*kiss*

Then I thought, hmmm..does she really know what I'm saying?

Emma, give me an elephant.

*kiss*

Emma, who loves you?

*kiss*

Yep. She had no clue what I was saying, but hey, she knows how to give kisses, regardless!

So much for that New Year's Resolution!

I had good intentions, I swear! But, alas, I'm still behind on the blog. Oh well! I'll make up for it with super cute pictures of Emma!

Michael's parents got Emma a sled for her birthday. With all the snow we've been having, they brought it over on Saturday as an early present. As this first picture proves, you don't need snow to have fun in a sled. I pulled her through the house in it to try it out and then left her in it to see what she'd do. She just sat there. Waiting. So Grandma put some toys in with her and she started to play. She stayed without a fuss until I took her out for lunch.




After lunch, we all went outside to try the sled in actual snow. Emma loved it! Of course, it tipped over about 30 seconds into it but she didn't seem to mind. Our yard goes slightly uphill, just the perfect amount to pull Emma down. We finally brought her in because it was so cold, she didn't seem to mind though.






What else has been going on? Baseball started for Michael - practice in the morning. Hard to believe it's that time already. He goes to Florida for Spring Break with the baseball team in just over two months. Emma and I might go, haven't decided yet.
My friend Marie came over Saturday for a night of scrapping - so much fun! Emma turned 11 months old - only 3 more weeks until her 1st birthday. I'm trying to decide between Elmo and Baby Einstein for her party. I'm leaning towards Elmo. I'll give a better update on what she's doing in a few days. No really, I will!

I promise to update more regularly!

I resolve to post more than once a month in 2007! Honest!

Emma will be 11 months old Monday and she is such a little stinker. Seriously. Lately she likes to blow raspberries with a mouthful of baby food. What a mess! She's eating so much better. Tonight she had pancakes and loved them. She's also eating fruit (from the fruit cups), yogurt, pizza, rigatoni and meatsauce, hamburger, fries, fish, bread/rolls. Notice the lack of vegetables on that list. Oh well. Hopefully soon she'll eat some veggies, we'll see. She loves to jump in her crib and has started to not nap in the mornings. Thankfully, it's not all the time, I'm not ready for her to give up her morning nap! She grinds her teeth all the time -very annoying. She's clapping normally now, although her special little clap was very cute! She loves walking with her walker, we took her to the fitness center and she did almost a complete lap around the track. She was tired afterwards, that's for sure!

Here are a couple recent pictures:
this was taken last night about 10:30 pm. She was supposed to be sleeping. She woke up crying, then decided she didn't want to sleep, rather she wanted to jump. So jump she did. Eventually, she fell back asleep. Notice the binky in the mouth and lamb blanket in her hand. Those are necessary for proper jumping form. :)


This was after Michael's game Thursday. I took her walker so she could walk all over the gym floor. She was loving it!


Just a cute picture I took the other night when she was playing with her lego blocks. Michael got these for her for Christmas and she loves them. She's getting really good at stacking them, and she loves to put them in her mouth as well.

Merry Christmas!

I can't believe Christmas is in just a few days. And I can't believe I haven't posted since December 4th. Oops! Michael's out of school for the next two weeks - really looking forward to him being home. I, the lucky one, have bronchitis. But I'm already feeling better. I lost my voice earlier this week. I don't think Michael minded all that much. ;) I haven't wrapped any presents yet! Eek! Have to start that tonight.

Emma is now 10 months old. She's so big! I'm finally putting shoes on her, which for some reason make her seem even bigger. We got her the cutest pair of Ugg-like boots! It's been quite the battle though to get her to wear them. At first she'd ball up her feet so the shoes whouldn't go on. She's getting used to them though. On the 15th (the day she turned 10 months old) she got her Christmas picture taken. I love it. Again, she looks so big sitting in the chair. Notice the lovely bruise on her forehead? Nice, isn't it. I swear, sometimes I think she's really a boy. She is always getting bruises from running in to things, falling. She's always climbing, moving, walking. Doesn't sit still! She's got two teeth on the bottom and one has broken through in the top. We think the other front top tooth is coming through but it's hard to tell because she hates us to touch her mouth.



Today, we went to see Santa. Yeah. Emma didn't like him. Not at all. The instant I sat her on his lap she freaked out. Big fat tears. So I picked her up and we calmed her down. We let a few people go in front of us then we tried again. This time it was a family picture. I had Michael sit down then I told the photographer to be ready and to take it as soon as I sat down. I think I sat, literally, for no more than 10 seconds, if that. As soon as I saw the camera flash, I said "That's good!" and jumped up. Everyone in line laughed. :) As you can see by Emma's face, she was getting ready to wail! (You can click on the picture to make it bigger.)


She's walking now. Loves to walk with her push toy. She's starting to get the hang of turning when she runs into something. There's something so funny about watching her walk - she doesn't bend her legs and she takes these giant steps.


Michael's birthday was earlier this month. We had our family over to celebrate. We went to the Christmas concert at our church then came back to our house for DQ ice cream cake. Yum. (Again, no idea why the picture is sideways!)



We can't keep her off the stairs. If we put up the gate, she just stands there holding on to it. And she's fast! And is you come up bedhind her to get her down, she squeals and climbs faster - she totally thinks it's a game! Especially when Michael does it.


These are just a couple funny pictures. She has a basket of toys in the kitchen she plays with when I'm in there. This red pan is from her pots and pan set. Very cute. Plays music. Anyway, not sure exactly what she's doing with the pan, but it's funny!
Her other favorite kitchen toy is a wooden spoon. Looooves the wooden spoon. She's starting to bang the spoon on the pot like a drum. And she will crawl with toys in the hand. Like the lid to the pot - she holds it by the handle and crawls so it makes a nice loud bang every other step.




Emma is a jumper. I've mentioned this before with the Jumperoo. But now it's her crib. She loves to hold on to the rail and jump and jump and jump. Every morning, after naps, before naps if she doesn't want to go to sleep. She jumps.


We're heading to my Mom's Christmas Eve after church. We'll have a quiet day Christmas day with just the three of us. And then Tuesday Michael's family will be over. I'm really looking forward to Emma's first Christmas. I'm excited to start some new traditions. I got her some pajamas to give her Christmas Eve, I plan on giving her new PJs every year. We're going to read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas Christmas Eve and then the story of Jesus' birth on Christmas morning. And I think next year we'll make a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas day. Oh, and I picked up a Santa hat so I can take a picture of her every year in it.

That's all I can think of now. Merry Christmas and God bless!