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.

Getting Bigger Everyday!

Emily is just growing by leaps and bounds! She was 27lbs at her 15 month check-up. This time was the first time she has shown any anxiety at being at the doctor. I guess she remembered that those shots hurt!! We just celebrated Thanksgiving and are looking forward to a great Christmas. Emily was very excited to put up the tree (instead of "hanging" ornaments, she just shoved them in the tree). We are very excited that she will be somewhat old enough to enjoy Christmas this year. I have a feeling that Santa is going to be very generous to her this year. :)

Emily's vocabulary is growing more everyday, too. She far she can say Mommy, Daddy, eye, ear, nose, mouth, Punk, bye-bye, dog, kitty, eat, juice, please, Joe (pronounced Jew), Jim, Grandma, Papaw and, unfortunately, the "s" word. I am not very proud of that last one and have realized that Mommy and Daddy really need to be weary of what we are saying and make sure we are setting a good example for our sponge.

She is still not showing much interest in TV. If she is sleepy she will lay in Mommy or Daddy's lap and watch whatever we are watching, but that is as far as her interest goes. Her "eye" teeth are finally making some progress and I believe they will be completely through any day now (if they are not already). We officially said goodbye to the ba-ba on 11/23/09. It was kind of sad for Mommy, but Emily hasn't seemed to miss it. Saying bye-bye to the pacie, however, will be a completely different story!

All in all, Emily is growing into a beautiful little girl. While I am a bit said to not have my little baby anymore, I am even more excited to who she will grow into. I'm sure it will be a wild ride with lots of ups and downs!

Whew...Almost 14 months!!

Wow! I have been seriously neglecting my baby blog duties!! Somehow, the more mobile Emily becomes, the less time I have to do anything but chase her! It has been so long I don't really know where to begin....

Emily seems to have bypassed the walking stage and jumped right into running. She is never still and is constantly investigating something. She is very inquisitive and has to know how everything works. Unfortunately, she does not seem to have much patience if her "investigations" don't go as planned. This tendency was recently displayed in the form of flinging herself backwards onto the floor. Strangely, my Mom said this reminded her of me....so I guess it is official. Em has inherited my temper. I guess when she starts throwing things in fits of rage, I will know she is truly my daughter!

We finally have said goodbye to formula - Yippee!!!! Emily will now drink whole milk. However, the princess does demand that it be nuked for exactly one minute and be in a BOTTLE. Yes, a bottle. As hard as I have tried to convince her it tastes the same in a cup, she will only drink her milk from bottle. Oh, well. I say as long as the bottle goes bye-bye before preschool, who cares???

Our once ravenous little eater has turned into quite a Ms. Picky. If it doesn't look like a piece of cheese or a vienna sausage, chances of her eating it are pretty slim. I have seriously been entertaining the idea of just hosing all her meals down in Cheez-Whiz.

I am constantly surpised with some new word that Emily has learned. So far, her vocabulary consists of (but is not limited to :) Mama, Dada, Punk, juice, hot, ball, bug, and butterfly. She also knows where her eyes, ears, nose, mouth, toes and hair are. She is trying to wink but so far only accomplished a very exaggerated blink. I have discovered, however, that is always up for a rousing game of "Where is Thumbkin". The "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" is another favorite.

Since Halloween is just around the corner, we took Emily to Gallrein Farm for her first pumpkin picking experience where she enjoyed getting her new little farmer's boots very muddy! We also took her to the Louisville Zoo for her first trick-or-treating. I don't think she had a clue what was going on, but "Dada" and I had a ball showing off our little butterfly!

Well, I guess that is about all the recent news....I am going to put a concientious effort towards updating this blog more often!!!