Catherine & Audrey's Visit

A quick video to capture the fun we had during Cat & Audrey's visit. Audrey has just recently learned to "stomp" from a Sesame Street video she was watching, so she was showing off her new skills this evening!

It has been very quiet around here since they left, we are so sad!

Lately

At the park......

on the swings (this shot is hard to take with the camera!)

Playing in the huge sandbox at the park. I love this park- there is a pool right next to it that looks so inviting on hot summer days! Unfortunately tomorrow is the last day the pool will be open so Emma & I are going to try and take advantage of it.

And can it get any better? Right behind Emma and the fence is a lake, with ducks walking around. A favorite of Emma's.

We need to work on manners at the park. Here she is digging up the dirt and wiping it all over the bench seat.

My big girl.

She is getting so big. I am always surprised at how different she seems each day. And I love how I feel like we can really communicate now and I can understand what she wants. Most of the time she sounds like she is having a conversation with herself in her own language- but, here is a quick list of some words she actually IS saying now:

Ahhhhh (as in "this wet cloth is so refreshing on my face"), Binkie, Baby, Ball, Bye Bye, Baaaah (sheep), Bibby (bib), Cat & Meow, Doggie, Down, Daddy, Emma, Eat, Ewwwww, Froggie, Hot, Lap, Moo, Mmmmm & Yummy, Mommy, No, Oww (ouch), Oooooo (like, "how pretty"), Out, Teeth, Up, Uh-Oh

My favorite is "Ewwwww"...I think is a result of us spending so much time together! She walks around and any little string or fuzz she picks up off the floor she will either point to it or hand it to me and say 'ewwww".

We have been having a blast lately- she is so much fun and so happy (most of the time!). She really makes me & Felix laugh all the time and Felix & I love just sitting around and talking about all the cute things she did, it is so nice to share this with him!

This video is pretty quick and uneventful, (I was trying to catch her saying ewwww but missed it, so this is the best I could get). She quickly says "uh oh" in the beginning after she threw the ball in the bucket, then "ball", then "oooooooh". She is teething, so her shirt is soaked.

There are some things that she is doing at this age that I just don't want to forget:

Plays in her crib for up to an hour in the morning! Just throwing binkies overboard or banging toys together. This morning I saw her on the video monitor trying to suck on the tiny toy bottle that her small rubber duckie carries under his wing!

Knocks on the outside of the door when we get home and lets out a joyful shriek when she sees Matti run up.

Clings to my leg when I am preparing anything in the kitchen and says "eat" AND signs "eat" until I give her a sample.

Says "bye bye" when she wants to leave ANYWHERE (like when I brought her in the shower with me the other day....she hated the water spraying on her). But my favorite is when we are just hanging around the house and she picks up anything that resembles enough of a bag so she can hold it on her forearm or shoulder- and walk to the door saying "bye bye". SO CUTE!

Understands most of what I say to her; clean-up, get your baby, push the stroller, let's change your diaper, go 'noo noo' (to bed), take a tubby (bath), put on your shoes (this one is HER favorite...she RUNS to her shoes)- right up there with her other favorite: eat! She goes right over to her highchair saying "bibby". Lately when I talk to her I really think she understands everything I am saying. When did this happen? She is growing up too fast!!!

She goes right to sleep, sometimes even diving out of my arms and into the crib before we finish singing songs! As of now, she naps after lunch time for 2-3 hours, and then goes down around 7pm for bed and wakes up between 7 & 8. She just loves her crib and sleeping. Could it get any better???? I feel extremely lucky with her sleeping habits.

She helps me up off the floor. I don't need help, and sometimes don't even want to get up- but if she sees me lying there, she walks over and puts her hand under my shoulder to "help" me up (this is a significant improvement from her pulling on my hair to help me up)! Once I am up she gets the biggest smile on her face, so proud of herself.

She wants to sit in my lap on the floor in her playroom when we read books. She picks up her book, walks over to me saying 'lap' and makes herself comfortable......as in- slouches back against my chest and sticks one leg up over mine!

Gives hugs & kisses when asked, a favorite of ours. She even kisses Matti. Ewwwwww :)

Takes my powder or blush brush and wipes it on her face when I am getting ready in the morning.

She holds her hands out to the side with her palms up as if to say "I dont know". She does that a lot when I ask her where something is. This morning she ran into our bedroom saying "dada dada" and looked all over for him with her arms like that...so cute, but Felix was at work :(

Not a fan of me brushing her teeth. She usually buries her face in my shoulder but eventually lets me stick the toothbrush in enough so she can suck off the toothpaste. I sneak a few scrubs in and when I gave her the toothbrush for her to do herself.....she tried to stick it in MY MOUTH!

And last but not least, she still makes the "blowing your nose" sound anytime she sees a tissue or wad of paper. So everyday without fail, she walks into our bathroom and points to the toilet paper while making the sound as if she is blowing her nose. I tear off one piece for her and she either wipes her nose with it, wipes off furniture with it, crumples it up and sticks it in the garbage or our vanity cabinets, or...Matti steals it.

However. At this age, she has also started to show some "not so cute" things!!

She has hit me in the face a few times when I am holding her and she wants to get down. When I tell her "no, we don't hit" she sweetly lays her head on my shoulder and into my neck and it just melts my heart!!!!! But that probably isn't going to work long!

She pushes us away from things or points at us and says "NO!" if we are invading her territory. For example, before bed she will sit in the middle of her boppy pillow and watch Barney. If we rest our heads on the pillow she tries to pull it out from under us. I try to get her to lie down and share with us.

She went through a few days where she would not stay out of the dog bowl- either feeding Matti his food piece by piece, dropping it into the water, splashing water everywhere or just dropping the food all over the house in different places. It was a disaster. So, believe it or not, we actually tried Time-Out for the first time. I just had her sit in a corner next to the couch and I sat behind her so she couldn't run away (for 30 seconds). She would cry, but I didn't think she really understood what was going on. However..... after only 2 days of doing time out, she would go over to the bowl and stare at it and stomp her feet in front of it (but not touch it), and now...she has not even looked at that doggie bowl in the past 2 weeks!!!

She is just my adorable little chicken and I love her to pieces. Her belly laugh is contagious, her snuggles warm my heart, and her sweet happy personality really brightens my day. I am a lucky, lucky mom and am really enjoying this time with her!

My Little Fashionista

"Good afternoon Mommy! I decided I would rather nap in the nude."

Loving the new 'do

the hottest day of the year just isn't complete without my Uggs on!

I tried taking them off her TWICE and she kept putting them back on. At least I know they will keep her feet cozy in the winter- her feet were burning hot when I finally got her to switch to sandals!

"Tell Matti to give me back my stuffed kitty!"


I pulled ino the driveway and noticed our new friend chilling out on our front steps! ....We decided to hire him part-time as security to keep an eye on any mice trying to seek refuge.

Taking a step back...

Facebook is nice to help keep in touch with "friends" from the past. The kind you haven't spoken to in years, but if you were to bump into them you would say hi and catch up (or turn the corner and avoid eye contact......it all depends!). When I was visiting Florida I bumped into friend I was very close with in high school (we haven't spoken since graduation) and it was really nice to catch up and see where life has taken us.
That's why I like Facebook. I get to see what all my childhood "friends" are up to- what they ended up studying in school and who they are dating/married to. How cute their kids are and what their days are like. All the good stuff.

But recently, I've found out some bad news, and it really just puts me in a state of shock. A few months ago I found out that my college buddy who worked with me at GHFC, who introduced me to triathlons and spent many hours on long runs or bike rides with me.....was diagnosed with breast cancer. Breast Cancer! At 28 years old!!! She found out just days after completing her 4th marathon. She is doing well and now going through radiation- you just never think it could happen to you. It was a big, hard shock to see.

And today, I found out that my high school friend- the one who was always sitting near me in classes because our last names were at the beginning of the alphabet- the one who I would compare to see if I could beat her on our psychology test because she was such a genius- died of complications from surgery removing a benign brain tumor.
I am sitting here in shock. Absolutely shocked.

I wish I never had to hear of these horrific events. And all I can say is that it really really really puts things in perspective.

What's Your Name?

Listen carefully and she will say her name and point to herself the very first time I ask her. After that- she is too interested in the camera lense to repeat it again.

It's A Hard Knock Life!

Time to earn your keep around here!

Pooped from all that mopping!

Emma & I had fun today. We started off early this morning at a free mommy & me trial class. It was good, it was actually an hour and fifteen minutes long- which is the longest class I've seen for her age- and most expensive ($26/class!!!!!!!!!). The class started with playtime with toys, then a few songs, then snack & storytime, then Emma's favorite..."marching band" where she got to pick her maraca out of a pile and march around in a circle, followed by parachute time and bubbles. She was good, but she cried a few times (and gave me that face where she scrunches down her eyebrows) when it was time to put away toys she still wanted to play with. Slightly embarrassing, but she signed "more" so I was quickly beaming with pride!

We came home, had lunch and napped. Then played in the backyard for about an hour- I put her in a small blow up pool and she just had a blast playing with a little toy water can, and the kicker was when I set her new slide up so she would slide right into the water. It was great until the bees wanted to come over and see what all the commotion was about......so we went inside.

....and THIS is why we only have spaghetti & sauce topless and on 'tubby' days!

Speaking of tubby.....new milestone for today- Emma had her very first bath without using the bath seat (not the infant seat..the little chair thingy)! In the past when we have tried it she was way too squirmy and major head injuries were highly likely, but she now listens to me when I say "sit on your tushie"....so I thought I would give it another shot, and it worked wonders! She still pulls the knobs off the spout and tries to dump her squirty toys between the tub and the wall (love those clawfoot tubs), but all in all I think it went well! I also think all the swimming this summer has helped her become more comfortable in the open tub water, and she was nice and relaxed when I had her lie down in the water to rinse her hair off. Yeay for easy bathtime!!!!!!!! I've been waiting a long time for this day to come!!!

We Love Summer!!!!

We are taking advantage of the warm weather and took Emma to the pond behind our house (more like around the corner....since we would have to walk through lots of trees and other people's yards if we went behind our house).

Other brave swimmers told me there were some fish a bit deeper... so we stayed close to the shallow end.

Loves splashing in the water.

Getting ready to eat sand.

I got her a new slide to play with in the backyard. It is kind of hard for her to climb up the stairs right now but she likes going "weeeeeee" down the slide.

We also filled her baby pool with sand, so she now has her very own sandbox to play in (or eat)!

Best Buds

This is why Matti & Emma are such good friends!

She got the bowl (strainer) down herself and was dropping goldfish in one by one for him. I only caught the very end on video.

Our little monkey

Emma has been climbing on and into everything lately.

The Bumbo seat is tricky....once ya get in....you can't get out!

Having a little trouble settling into the Elmo chair

Plop!

Apparently the dog bed seemed to be a comfy spot. (notice the torn up paper towels on the floor. poor matti, willing to do anything for attention these days!)

Careful Emma- this bin is on wheels!

ahhhhh...time to relax, this climbing stuff is hard work!

I came out of the bathroom to find her STANDING on this blue chair. Luckily, she was waiting for me to help her get down.

Playing dress-up

new gate......and we have shutters! WOOHOO!!!

We wanted to get rid of the metal link gate that we used across the deck to keep Matti on his side of the yard. Felix & I wandered around Lowes lumber section to see if we could figure out what to make, and Felix found this "deck" section- and figured out how to turn it into a gate for us. What a guy!!! And it looks good- as if it were really meant to be part of the deck! (excuse the tools and scraps sitting on the deck.... we don't have many storage solutions yet...)

Another item checked off the list!

We found these shutters stored in the barn behind our house- don't know why the original owners took them off, but we were more than happy to refurbish them and put them back up. We are missing a few that we will have to replace, but for now, I love pulling up the driveway to see our newly beautified home!

Naked Windows...

Shuttered Windows!

Front of the house

Back of the house

Emma loved walking around outside as her Daddy was putting up the shutters. Especially since there were puddles she could stomp in on the driveway. She looks so grown up in these pictures.

Another One Bites The Dust!

I hate intruders. And this one was huge. Saw this guy flying around this afternoon and promptly sprayed him dead.

I just don't get it. Felix was home for a week straight, and no bugs. The first day he goes back to a full day of work- the Darth Vader of all bees comes in.

So I left him for Felix to pick up when he got home.