First Haircut

She was SOOOOOOO good! I was shocked. I actually was looking forward to holding her on my lap while she got her haircut, but they didn't even need me! When we walked in, Emma took off as if she owned the place, looking at all the cool toys and displays they had. Then she sat right in the chair and let the stylist spray water and cut her hair, as if she didn't even notice what was going on.

Our scraggly little gremlin before the haircut. She couldn't even see when her bangs were down in front of her face.



"my hands are stuck under this thing!"


"heeeeeeeeey! a little too rough back there lady!"

checking out her new shorter 'do in her own personal mirror

They have little tv's for every chair, and Emma was VERY interested in watching the movie. Whenever the stylist would get in front of her and block her view of the movie, she would move her head to try and see around her.

all done with a pretty bow!

At the end, they give her a certificate and a keepsake of her first hair. Then she put a card they gave her into a special machine..and out popped a toy! It was pretty cool... and she won a little rubber ducky dressed as a princess, so she was thrilled and sucked on it the whole ride home. What a good girl she was!!!!

Her New Favorite Facial Expression

Lazy Summer Days

Emma & I went to the beach with some friends on Tuesday and really had a great time. It was our first time out for a real beach day in New England. I think it was actually our first time in the ocean out here as well. Lots of waves, but a bit more chilly than we were used to!

Emma enjoyed multiple fistfulls of sand that afternoon. And watermelon.

She liked the water when I would hold her and go in- but didn't love jumping in the waves the way her friends did.

Here she is watching the waves in the ocean.....

Wait for it.........

RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back home enjoying time with the family. Felix was doing work and Emma kept trying to grab his pen and paper, until we gave her some of her own. She sat down right next to him and drew on her own pad of paper. So cute!

A Day At The Farm!

Today was such an amazing day- family fun at its finest!

Felix & Emma picking berries

Teaching Emma how to pick the good ones.....


"So, you're saying, I can pick these off the bush and eat them??"

".....sounds like a good deal to me- let's get some of these in our yard at home!!!!"

Emma was in absolute heaven! She kept picking them off the bush and eating them- she preferred the unripe ones, but was happy as could be yanking them off and sticking them in her mouth. She was even signing "more" when we walked away. I think she was confused as to why she was actually allowed to put these items in her mouth- as opposed to the rocks and dirt she usually tries to eat. She really truly enjoyed herself.

....notice in every picture, she has her mouth full!

And here is my dainty little man carrying his 2 baskets of blueberries


We were at Ward's Berry Farm which also has a petting zoo. Emma was more comfortable petting the animals than I was....probably because she is used to Matti, but thse sheep were very sweet with her and gave her kisses on her fingers as she was grabbing their face. They also had cows, and some very smelly chickens & ducks, another one of her favorites.


Petting the soft sheep. I was glad to see them there because just this morning when we were reading a book, I pointed to a picture of a sheep and asked what it says...and sure enough, she said "baaaaah".

Here is a short video and you can hear her squeal in delight at the end. she had so much fun today!

Before leaving we stopped at the farm store and bought some fresh tomatoes & basil....which I absolutely love- I wish my pillow smelled like fresh basil! And we even lucked out with a gigantic supersized canteloupe- for only $2!!!!

Our country home just isn't complete...

.........without a white picket fence!

Felix installed this white picket fence for Matti, to keep him nice and safe, and so we could finally take down the chicken wire fence that was up. It was a difficult task since the ground is so rocky and dips down....but he made it work! Good job my love!

Girls Lunch

Once a month or so my girlfriends from MIT & I get together for lunch- half of us have left working at MIT and so we are living all over the place now which makes it hard to get together as often as we used to.
This past Sunday we went to Melissa's new house and enjoyed a lovely BBQ in the backyard, with our own personal griller (thanks John!!)

Emma giving the sheep kisses

I had to strip her down before allowing her to dive into the chocolate cake......and it is a good thing I did!

Before breaking them.... (sorry Steph!) Emma took these sunglasses and was dressing up as...............

Sid the Science Kid's Grandma!!!!!

Playing outside for the most beautiful day of the year!


She was actually posing in this picture- came right over to me to lie down, and waited for the camera to take the picture! Then she got up and ran away through the grass.


Learning to use a spoon eating her applesauce in the mall. She insisted on eating this all by herself and would push my hand away when I would try to help her.

New Haircut......

I have been wearing my hair in a ponytail everyday, so I decided it was time to just chop it off. This style definitely has the potential to make me look like a mushroom head- so I tried a few different accessories to see how they looked. Hopefully I will be able to keep it looking nice & stylish. So many options!

Down.....


Clip up high.....


Clip down low.....


Pulled back...


Heaband......

I'm sure it will be only a matter of weeks before I am back to my old habits and have it up in a pony.... wish me luck!

DI-O-SGUSTING!

Matti Watkins, our 18lb Bichon Frise....

...killed a baby bunny and brought it into the house last night!!!!
Felix & I were talking in the living room and Matti came running inside and was chewing on something- I couldn't see what he had, I just heard crunching. Figuring it was a leaf or twig I just ignored it.
A few minutes later, Felix was in our bedroom and I was reading a magazine...and I hear Matti in Emma's playroom chewing his new toy...more crunching. So I got up to look again and see what he had...and I saw enough to know it was an animal.
I STARTED SCREAMING! I ran on my tippy toes across the house into our bedroom as I was yelling "FELIX FELIX FELIX FELIX" at an obnoxiously high pitched sound. I then jumped on the bed so Matti couldn't get to me.
Felix couldn't even identify the mangled animal, but swept it up and threw it outside.
Meanwhile, I was looking at Matti in our bedroom and noticed he had blood all over his face and neck. And in this moment (as Felix was threatening to get rid of Matti), I did what any loving mother would do- put on rubber gloves and gave my little baby a bath.

This afternoon, Felix went out and examined the murder scene....and found the fur.....and a foot....safe to say it was indeed, a baby bunny. And then-hopping out and about, we saw the mommy desperately trying to find her missing baby. We can never look at our innocent little Matti the same again.

New Toys and Fun!

My grandparents, Emma's Mamare & Saba- got her a new table & chairs for her birthday. The very same one her cousins have! She loves it- she keeps walking over to it and asks me to help her sit down.

I know there is a picture of me at this age with the same facial expression.

She has also started taking the sink out of her Dora kitchen and walking around the house with it.

Check out her new shiny shoes- thanks Bubbe & Grandaddy....

we decided to keep them...glitter and all!

This afternoon Emma & I went to play at a birthday party for a friend who was turning 2! It was a perfect day outside and we had a lot of fun- here Emma is dancing to the music.

One.

How big is Emma?? SOOOO Big!

One year old. A year. 52 weeks. Only 12 short months!!!
I cannot believe I am the mother to a one year old. I feel like I am still in college!!! I feel like I am waiting for reality to hit that I am not just 'playing house'! This perfect little girl is actually ours- and will be ours for the rest of our lives!

Emma has been an absolute dream child. She is such a happy girl- I was expecting this to be a lot harder than it was! Her first year was a breeze, I think we were very lucky parents. I can remember only 2 nights when she was an infant where she was just crying and there was nothing we could do but hold her and try to make her happier.

Now that she walks- she is getting to be so much more independent! She goes in her playroom and plays by herself. Just this morning she walked in there and it was a bit too quiet, we peeked on her, and she was just sitting there reading a book!

She LOVES the phone (as every child does I think). She has affectionately nicknamed it "boppppp". I don't know why. When she hears a phone ring, she puts her hand up to her ear as if she was talking on it. And if she sees our phones or hears us on one, the whining and grabbing is at full force.

I am such a proud mommy, I love these days with her. Every day she does something new, funny, sweet, smart- surprising me all the time. Tonight, she took the keys from Felix on the couch- walked across the house to the back door and tried to stick it in the doorknob. I couldn't believe it when I saw it! How did she know to do that??? It is such a little thing- but I was so proud of her.

She is a ham! I'll have to catch more pictures of her cuteness- but she does things because she KNOWS she is cute. She will open her mouth and give a big smile and just wait until we smile back. She plays peek-a-boo in the car... she will turn her head towards the window and then quickly turn it back towards me and say "boo" and laugh!

She seems to retain everything these days. And copies everything! And she is just such a sweetheart- if she is playing something with Daddy-like giving high five- she will come over to me so I have a turn as well- then back to Daddy and so forth.

She dances when she hears any music (even a cell phone ringing with a song tune). Sometimes we don't even hear the music ourselves until she starts dancing! And she has the best laugh- which is good because she is very ticklish, so we get to hear her giggle quite often! I can't even wash her arms in the tub without her giggling...forget about putting suntan lotion on her neck!

She will also surprise us with words she spits out now. She went to touch Felix's computer and actually said "noooooo" as she let her hand just hover above the keyboard. She points to birds and says "bird", and I am pretty sure she tried to say "giraffe" while watching Einstein animals video.

Emma is hilarious in this video- it is like she didn't even know I was holding her. We thought Felix was taking a picture but the camera was on video by mistake. Watch Emma's face- it is hard to see if it is small, but she is looking at the camera and then moves just her eyes to see me, realizes its me and then turns her whole head and smiles.

Happy 4th and Happy Birthday!

Happy 4th of July! And Happy Birthday Felix!!!
We started off the day by ME making eggs benedict, a special breakfast for Felix's birthday (actually, it is my favorite breakfast, but he said he didn't mind if I made it for his "special bday breakfast")- first time I ever poached an egg...but they turned out pretty good!
We then left the house by 10am to head for Newport. It was such a nice day out, and we got there early enough so we didn't have to deal with too much of a crowd.

Felix had the idea that we should take a boat tour around the island- it was so much fun, and Emma enjoyed herself the entire 1.5 hours! The water got quite choppy towards the end of the ride but she didn't even seem to notice.

Loving the waves

Our patriotic family portrait!

....SURPRISE! I got Felix a hammock for his birthday and he absolutely loves it! He set it up right away and took a nap this afternoon. I actually had the gift waiting for him in Emma's room so he would see it when he got her from her crib this morning. I am so happy he liked it...see for

yourself!

He was nice enough to let me have a turn for a few minutes....

Felix has already set the rules for the hammock.... and so we have to bring it inside whenever we are not using it. I have to admit, it is very relaxing lying on it beneath all the trees. Emma & I brought out a blanket and joined him for a bit this evening- I hope we get lots of use out of it. Maybe I can even convince him to camp out in the backyard one night.

Happy Birthday!
p.s.- I am typing this on my NEW LAPTOP that Felix got me for MY birthday!!! Thank you, my love...it is the best gift ever!!

Sad to Leave, Excited to Arrive

While it was sad to leave FL and have to say goodbye, we were excited to be reunited with Felix upon our return home! The plane ride went very well, Emma behaved perfectly. How could she not- when the nice ladies sitting next to us kept feeding her! She also entertained the lady sitting behind us by popping up over the seat to give her cute little smile.

Emma must have been completely exhausted from all the fun in FL- on the way to the airport she fell asleep, and STAYED asleep as I carried her into her stroller and through the airport (that has NEVER happened before!)


She was very excited to get home and try out her new big girl carseat- especially since she can now watch movies in the car! We put a movie in for her for the first time on Thursday while driving to the pediatrician.....and now.... as soon as she gets in the car she points to the screen for us to turn it on for her. We are glad she likes it- certainly will help during long car rides!

Walking around the house with my backpack on. She has been very into picking up bags and putting them over her shoulder since we got home.

Oh why couldn't we pack the Florida sun and bring it with us????

Our first day back and we had torrential downpours- ALL DAY!

Apparently we missed the non-stop rain that MA was experiencing while we were away, so I guess we can't really complain!

Beauty and the Beach!

Our last few days in FL were so much fun. We celebrated my birthday, my sisters birthday, and an early one for my mom on Sunday by going to the beach and spending the day together. It was perfect weather and the little kids had an absolute blast.

Mamare & Saba brought over watermelon from a farm stand that was delicious. Emma has been eating watermelon ever since.

Saba enjoying pushing all of the kids in Costco

Emma is learning early: "fashion over comfort"- armed with a curler in her hair and mascara in her hand.