The Zoo

Lots has been going on and while I thought I'd be doing a much better job at blogging, I still stink. Emma will be 16 months tomorrow. Crazy! She's talking ALL the time. She doesn't shut up. Her favorite words are Doggy, Daddy, Mommy, Baseball and Hi. She just started saying Hello (sounds like Hi-Yo), Pizza (sort of sounds like it, but we know that's what she means), Yeah and Bye. She can also say Baby, Ball, Pool (her own version) and other words that I can't think of right now. She's obsessed with her shoes, loves to put them on and take them off. and she's a rotten little thing. When she knows she shouldn't do something she'll either look at us to make sure we're watching and do it or will gleefully run around with an evil (but cute) little smile on her face.

Today, she got her first full-contact bloody nose. This is how it happened. She took one of her cups and put it up to the fridge, trying to get water out of the water/ice dispenser. I gave her a little bit. Then I had the bright idea to give her one of the Tupperware sippy cups, the ones that AREN'T spill proof. She was doing fine at first, then she discovered that if she turned it upside down and shook all the water would come out. Oh, did she love that. I told her no, got up to take it from her when she decided to get away. And promptly slipped and fell in the water. Face first. Landing on the sippy cup. Right on the nose. Lots of blood. Lots of screaming. Lots of tissues. I finally got it to stop but every so often for the next hour a little bit of blood would seep out. She did get a little cut above her lip but she's now fine.

Tuesdsay, Emma visited the zoo for the first time. We went with Mom, Tara, Rachel and Rachel's friend Alexa. Michael has basketball camp this week and our newphew Michael has been attending it, so it's been a busy week.

The first animal Emma saw was an elephant.
 

She really wasn't all that interested in any particular animal until we saw the sea lions. Then she got really excited, she didn't want to leave them.
 

I thought she'd be in to this a little more, but she lasted about 30 seconds. Then all she wanted to do was climb the stairs.
 

And this is what she did whenever we let her out of the stroller - Run! Seriously, the girl doesn't know how to walk. She either isn't moving or she's running.
 

In baby #2 news, I'm 19 weeks along and we're finding out if Emma will have a little brother or sister on Monday. I can't wait!

Check out my Slide Show!

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.