First Salon Haircut!

I took Emily for her first salon haircut this evening at Changes Hair Salon. She was not too keen on sitting in the big salon chair, but the promise of a sucker when we were all done made all her fears disappear. Check out the before and after pics!

Ok, the pics uploaded weird - the before is on the bottom and after is on the top.

Halloween Time!!

Last weekend we took our annual trip to Gallrein Farm to feed the goats, ride the pony and, of course, pick out our pumpkin. We also went trick-or-treating at the Louisville Zoo, which always lots of fun. Our little UK cheerleader even walked the whole way with only a minimal amount of whining. Two hours of walking and standing in lines resulted in one sour Twizzler, one pack of Fun Dip, one mini nestle, one mini 100 Grand, one miniscule mox of nerds, 2 two page coloring books and one child admission to the Monster truck rally. Not too bad of a haul for a two year old. But I am hoping that the actual night of trick-or-treating will result in a slightly better selection.

A New Hobby

Emily recently discovered the fun that can be had in playing dress-up with Lucy and Whitney. I guess girls are genetically wired for such activities because after she put on the Cinderella dress, she went and found a little broom to go with it. I just LOVE this age!

Terrible Two's...Here We Come!

Emily has officially arrived at the terrible two's stage. This weekend consisted of meltdowns over things like eating breakfast and picking up her toys. You know, those terrible things that mean Mommy's make you do. It literally took 20 minutes of screaming and crying and sitting in time out to convince her to pick up one piece of sidewalk chalk. Geez. I was so tempted to cave in, pick up the stupid chalk and be done with it. But, I stuck to my guns. And in a weird kind of way, I am pretty proud of that. So much so, I almost did a little victory dance. Almost.

It's been awhile!

Wow! I can't believe it has been so many months since I lasted posted! Life has been busy! We have had a wonderful summer with Emily. So many "firsts" this summer. Her first time in a backyard plastic pool, her first fireworks show, her first time coloring with sidealk chalk and her first picnic at the zoo. We have had such fun! Her second birthday has came and went but not without a party with family, and of course, plenty of gifts! She is really enjoying her Barbie four-wheeler - even though paranoid Mommy makes her wear a helmet everytime she is on it.
Her two year check up went as smooth as can be. She is progressing wonderfully and her Daddy and I don't forget our prayers of thanks for such a wonderful and healthy little girl. She is talking in complete sentences now and has an outrageous sense of humor. I know that we are just barely into the terrible twos stage, but she really hasn't had too many meltdowns. She has recently really gotten into TV and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is by far her favorite show! Kerry and I know it by heart...
We reached another milestone shortly after her second birthday, although it wasn't a very fun one. Pacie is now gone forever. It was rough going to a couple of days, but she has finally gotten used to it being gone. It actually went smoother than I thought it would since pacie was truly her best friend. Her pediatrician gave us some wonderful advice and told us to cut the end of the pacifier off. That way, she would still have it but would not get any pleasure from it. It really worked like a charm.
I really wish I was better at keeping up with this blog. But, I guess I don't want to take a minute away from living life with Emily to write about it!

Valentine's Day 2010

Emily celebrated her 2nd Valentine's Day by attending a Valentine's Tea Party on the Saturday before Valentine's Day, hosted by the Schrecks. It was so fun! It was really cute watching her interact with the other little girls (once she got over her initial fear that is). Bethanie really outdid herself with little "tea tables" set up for the little girls and all the sweets you could want! Not to mention all the crafts - Emily made a Valentine for her Daddy.

Valentine's morning we started the day with heart shaped pancakes and exchanged cards. Emily DID not want to give her cards away. I guess they were so pretty she wanted to keep them! That afternoon, she helped Mommy and Grandma Bonnie bake Valentine cookies and cupcakes - she really likes to eat the dough!

First Attempt at Viewing Christmas Lights

It has turned into a kind of tradition for our family to drive around the city and look at the lights people have put on their houses. We always look forward to this and were very excited to take Emily this year since she is now old enough to be semi-interested in them. So, Friday night was the night. We decided to go all out so first Kerry, Emily, Grandma Bonnie and I went to Shogun for dinner. Then we set out to see this lights. Kerry took us to a very expensive neighborhood off Hurstbourne Lane and we had a good time for about fifteen minutes. Emily started getting fussy, but we shrugged it off thinking it was getting close to her bed time. Then it happened. I heard this horrible gagging and retching noise coming from the backseat. A split second after that I heard Grandma Bonnie's laments of horror. I turned around just in time to see the horrible most horrible substance I have ever seen spewing from Emily's mouth. Then it happened again. Then again. Now, I can change dirty diapers all day long and never bat an eye, but I just cannot, I say CANNOT deal with vomit. Seeing it was bad enough, but once the smell hit. Let's just say I bore an uncanny resemblance to a sick dog hanging it's head out the car window. Needless to say, we made a beeline for home. Now, a nanosecond before the spewing began, Kerry had reached his hand back from the driver's seat to pat Emily's leg and attempt to comfort her. His hand was covered in the disgusting stuff. Thus, he had to drive the whole way home with one arm stretched into the backseat. Once we finally made it home, we different even try to take Emily out of her vomit covered carseat. We decided the best course of action was to unhook the seat from the car and carry the seat (with Emily still in it) into the bathroom. As Kerry hosed down the kid, I undertook the job of disassembling the carseat so the cloth part could be thrown in the washing machine - which I did with careless abandon. In restrospect, as I think about how long it took to reassemble that darn contraption, perhaps I should have paid a bit more attention to where all those straps and harnesses went. Once the smelly kid was bathed and all vomit-covered attire in the washing machine (accompanied by at least a half gallon of Gain detergent - I wasn't taking any chances on the smell returning), we covered the floor in her room with towels just in case there was another act to this drama and put our little puke machine to bed. I am very thankful to report that the vomit was a solidary incident. We may try again to go look at Christmas lights, but then again, we just may consider that tradition "fouled up" for this year.