Emma's on her way to 3!

Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Third Birthday tickers

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Remind me someday

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My sweet Emma,
You're 21 months old TODAY.  That means the big 2 is just a few months away and I'm already feeling like I'm forgetting moments of your babyness that I promised myself I would remember forever.  While I have little snippets on camera that I can look back on, nothing compares to the real moments experienced with you.  Here are some things I don't want to forget...

- The first time I heard you sing yourself to sleep with "Jesus Loves Me" on our deep sea fishing trip earlier this year.
- How you say "Bless you" to yourself every time you sneeze (you also say it to us to when we sneeze, cough, or make any other noise besides speaking).
- When we say "I love you," you respond with "too" because you're a woman of few words and you know that we know what you mean.
- That the first book you asked me to read was "Brown Bear."  I couldn't understand what you were saying at first and then you pointed to the book and kept saying "bunbay" which I then interpreted to mean "Brown Bear."  Now you basically have it memorized.
- Every time I pick up my computer you ask to watch "Harry the Bunny" on Baby's First TV website (that's what grandpa lets you watch when you're at his house...such a treat), and you ask for Boos Poos, otherwise known as Blues Clues all.the.time.
- You love tomatoes and pick them off my plant when they're two days away from being perfect, but sit on your playhouse steps and eat it all with the seeds squirting everywhere.  I guess if your guilty pleasure is a tomato off the vine then we're okay.
- You still crawl in the dog crates and close yourself in when I'm not looking.
- The main reason you like having stuffed animals in your crib when you fall asleep is so you can play with the tags, and if I hand it to you the wrong way you say "tag" until I turn it around.
- You love music and the other night when your dad was playing his guitar you went to the living room and got your own instrument (don't know what it's called, but it's from Africa) and started playing along with him all on your own.
- You think most little things that you pick up are "buggies" including watermelon seeds.
- I've caught you at least four times (so far) with a mouth full of dirt.
- You can put your alphabet puzzle together with one hand tied behind your back.  We have not, in fact, tied your hand behind your back, but considering that you usually just use one hand to put it together anyways I'm pretty sure you could do it if the other one was tied behind you.
- Your friends in the church nursery say that you walk around the room like you own it, and you're always soooo happy to go play with the other kids.
- When I walk around our yard picking up dog poop you stop every three steps, point down and say poopy even if there's nothing there.
- There have been several times when you adamantly say something and we just don't understand.  You're obviously much smarter than we are because you will learn our language so quickly and we will never learn yours.
- Your version of tickling is walking up to us and just poking our leg or foot.  We don't tell you that it doesn't actually tickle because it's just so funny seeing you giggle and "tickle" us that we laugh out of sheer joy.  You just walk up and say "tickle" and start laughing hysterically.
- Sometimes when we pray before dinner we ask you to pray and you just say "Jesus."  That's the perfect prayer in my humble opinion.

Sweet girl, if you can't tell, there are so many things I don't want to forget and I'm sure so many things I already have forgotten.  I want to savor every second with you knowing how fleeting this time is, and even though each moment can't be etched in my memory forever I know that every experience we have is building on the one prior so the end result will be one amazing person with memories of your own and fun stories to tell.

Love you tons,
Mommy

Thursday, August 25, 2011

OC Fair 2012

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We have the distinct pleasure of living about five minutes away from our county fairgrounds, so we typically get the season pass and this year was no different.  What was different, however, was the awesome kids area that they put together for the first time this year.

The theme this year was Eat, Live, Grow, and there was a whole section where Emma got to practice being a farmer (startin' 'er young).










 Then, she took a lap on a tractor in her own tractor race (with a little help from dad).



Whaddayaknow...she got first place (good thing as she was the only competitor in a race we made up for her).


So, we had a ton of fun at the fair this year and even though we didn't get there as much as we would have liked (early bedtimes definitely derail the best laid fair plans), we can't wait for next year to see the new baby piggies, get the delicious grilled corn on the cob and the even more deeeelicious cinnamon rolls.  Hopefully we can get by for another year or two before Emma realizes there are rides at the fair (we'll just tell her that they're really scary and dangerous and fall apart all the time), but she already has a monster sized Scooby Doo from last year's fair and her new fave, a cute little stuffed piggy, from this year thanks to Papa so we're out of luck in convincing her that the prizes for the games come to life and eat little kids at night.  We'll just have to wait and see what she wins next year.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Recap of Aunt Becky's farewell

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Before my sister, Becky, left for Africa she organized a family farewell at my parent's ranch in the desert at the beginning of August.  My parents go out there more than Dan and I, but we try to go a few times a year.  This was Emma's second time, and she LOVED it.  

She started by introducing her piggy and bunny to the "ranch dog" (the stuffed animal that my mom got from the carpet company when she placed her order...random, right?).


They all seemed to get along just fine which made Emma happy.


Then, we realized that this place isn't really baby proof and we're going to need to keep a close eye on our little one.  With a wood burning stove, sharp corners on tile, and big logs lying around it could have been a recipe for disaster, but considering that Emma was basically surrounded 24/7 by somebody it all worked out.

She took Papa on a ride in Big Foot, the 6-wheeler, and she most certainly did it in style.


And then we got Onyx, our third dog, named after the town where he's from.  Emma's just rollin' with her homey, but Onyx was a little unsure of the whole situation.  He's adjusting just fine now, but he is definitely a puppy.


Some other things we did at the ranch were: swim in the kiddie pool, Emma "drove" my dad's truck along the driveway while he threw weeds in the back, we went to the river and even though the water was freezing cold she had a great time splashing away, had great family time with my sister, and we slept, and slept, and slept.  Oh how I miss those long lazy naps.  I guess if I could sleep like that all the time I wouldn't get sleep deprived enough to really appreciate those times when they come along.

And, oh yeah, Emma pooped and peed all in her pack-n-play after taking her diaper off, then climbed out of said pack-n-play (because who would want to hang out in their own poop) to wind up sitting bare bottomed in our room all while I thought she was taking a nap...oh the joy.  At least she hasn't figured out how to climb out of her crib yet, but I'm sure that time is coming too.  

Sunday, August 21, 2011

A Saturday {Un}like any other

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Saturdays as a family are a very rare and special treat since Dan's normal work schedule is Tuesday-Saturday.  This gives him Mondays with Emma but leaves us only Sundays together as a full "party of three" day.  When I found out that he had the opportunity to have Saturday off due to a schedule change with the other supervisor I was so excited just to have a normal Saturday with him.  Initially we thought we'd do all sorts of "special" things, but what we really ended up with was the perfect blend of normal that made it so special.

Emma slept until 9a.m.-ish, which meant that we got to sleep until 9a.m.-ish.  Then, the day started with some perfect hang time in the kitchen while Dan made his coffee and Emma sat on the counter eating a banana.  It might be boring to some, but with church on Sunday mornings we don't actually get to just hang out on the one morning per week that we have together.  Then we headed outside for some of this...


And some of this...

And some of this...



When Emma went down for her nap we decided to tackle a few projects that had been on the back burner, so we relocated all of my gardening supplies to the opposite side of the yard, and Dan got to hanging our surfboard rack in the garage AND fixing a side gate that was a little bent out of shape (so lucky to have a handy Dandy).

And then we went to not one, but two birthday parties that afternoon.  Usually Emma and I fly the birthday circuit as a duo because Dan's at work, but this time he actually got to come with us.  He even experienced Emma's first pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and her first hit of a pinata.



After making it home we were all stuffed full with Mexican food and monkey cupcakes so we put Emma to bed a little early and Dan and I totally cleaned up the side of our house and went to bed feeling extremely productive (and a little sore).  

All in all it was a perfectly plain, ho-hum, nothing extraordinary kind of Saturday which made it all the more wonderful.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Emma the Pacivore

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Paci (pa-see) - noun-: short for pacifier; initially designed to satisfy a babies innate desire to suck; possible side effects include sleep, complete joy when paci is present, total and utter devastation including potential end-of-world situation when paci is absent or otherwise withheld.

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When Emma was born she wasn't super into the pacifier.  We didn't offer one for the first few weeks, and even after that we tried to meet whatever other needs she might have before resorting to it because we didn't want her or us to become dependent on it (ha ha).  Here she is, 20 1/2 months old and I know the day will come when we'll send her pacis off to the paci-fairy, but a this point we will only have two to send away.  Wanna know why?  Because I think my daughter is a hoarder.  Oh yes, at our high point we had about six pacis (give or take one or two).  Now we have one of those original pacis, have purchased three more since then of which we only have one new paci remaining.  Even our emergency paci (like, "break glass in case of emergency" paci) is MIA.

My theory is that Emma has a little hoard of pacis that she is keeping in case of her own emergency...such as when we send her other two away to the paci deprived children serviced by the paci-fairy.  Three separate times I have frantically searched her room, under her crib, her closet, her stack of stuffed animals, her diaper bag, only to turn around and see that she has one IN.HER.MOUTH!  Where are these pacis coming from (and subsequently disappearing back to).  I have thought several times about hot gluing a penny to the backside of all of them so that I can find them with our metal detector.  A paci-GPS may also be an option...potentially a higher initial cost, but I think many paci-dependent parents would put up development money for such an invention.

Two other times I knew that I knew that I knew (you know, those times that you just KNOW) that she had a paci in her mouth when I put her in her crib and I took her out of her crib without a paci in her mouth.  I searched the entire room only to find that the paci had landed on the top of the plug that is plugged into an electrical outlet between the bottom of her crib and the floor.  I mean, is she putting it there intentionally so I'll find another one and she always has a spare in arm's reach?

So, when the time comes that we send our pacis away in a few months (I say "our" because they are as much for me as they are for Emma), I won't be surprised if we go through a couple rounds as Emma clears out her stash.

If only she just weaned herself off of them, it would be soooo much easier.

Friday, August 12, 2011

And there she goes again

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I had to make sure I got this up before next week when my favorite (and only, but that's irrelevant) sister leaves the country for almost an entire year.  I don't know when she'll have internet where she's going, but she left this morning for Chicago for the week for prep before she leaves so hopefully she can catch this on her phone, but I wanted to put it up for everybody (i.e. the 3 people who follow the blog who don't even know her) to see.

Here's our attempt at a family pic from last night.  It was just a touch past Emma's bedtime.



My awesome sister, Becky, is a missionary and has gone overseas for a year in the past, but this time she's heading to a place where we can't even tell people because of the danger to Christians.  It's a heavily populated Islamic country where being vocally non-Muslim means potentially putting your life at risk.  Of course, her team is being safe and is prepared with emergency evac procedures and contacts and such, but still.

She's been watching Emma for one day a week basically since I started back at work after E was born, and I can only hope some of Becky's courage and boldness have rubbed off on my little one.  I certainly hope that Emma grows up with her aunt's sense of adventure, but most importantly her heart for God.

Sometimes I think that if it were up to me, I would just lock Emma up in her room until it was time for her to marry whoever we choose, have lots of babies (via immaculate conception, of course), and grow old and happy on a porch somewhere far away from any danger.  I mean, our kids are our heart just walking around outside of our body, so the safer the better.  Then, I look at my sister, and I hope that Emma grows up to be just like her...independent (to say the least), compassionate, adventurous, bold, courageous, beautiful, generous, and someone who puts God's will ahead of her own desires only to find that God's will is her desire.

Becky- if you actually are reading this I hope that your travels are safe and without complication, I pray that God allows miracles to happen through you and because of you, and that lives would be changed for eternity because of God's compassion and grace that is lived out through you.  While I know that we'll see you on Skype (and know that I'm just working out the kinks of the whole babysitting-via-skype situation...just when she's sleeping, right?), it's just not the same.  You already know the things that you'll miss by not being here, but we'll miss you too and I'm grateful that you're willing to make those sacrifices to follow where you know God has led.  You're the person I wish I could have grown up to be, so I'll just live vicariously through Emma who still has a chance.

You may be just the inspiration I need to update this blog more frequently.




Love you sister!!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Okay, seriously!!

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Where have I been since my last post in JUNE??  Ugh, where to start.  We've been without internet since we moved in April except for one square foot where we pick up the wifi from our neighbors (who happen to be my parents).  So, I've been keeping my time online to what's absolutely necessary while sitting backwards on the couch with my computer in our bay window in that one square foot where I can sometimes pick up a signal, or what I can pick up on my phone.  The blog didn't fall into either of those categories.  Now I'm sitting comfortably in our recliner watching So You Think You Can Dance with a five-bar wifi connection and happy as a clam.

Since it's been a while, I'll start where I left off.  First there was the Fourth of July.  We had so much fun with various friends and family lighting fireworks on our street in front of our house like we've done every year since I was little (on the same street, just in front of the house next door now that we live right next to the house where I grew up).  Emma was definitely more into the fireworks this year than she was last year.



She also had fun on her new tricycle in the dress that I made for her for our celebration.  Don't get too excited though.  It's just two bandanas sewn together.  They're already hemmed so it was easy peasy lemon squeezy.  I cut some off the top to make it shorter while still leaving the bottom hem in tact and used the extra fabric as straps, then I used this awesome elastic thread around my bobbin and sewed 12ish rows to make it all elasticky on the top.  


Emma had some fun finger painting (and maybe a little tongue painting?).  I figured I'd forget trying to find a smock (aka. one of Dan's t-shirts) and just let her paint right before bath time.  It worked out and that newspaper will be worth some money someday.



We also got some photos (like 2,000) scanned using a couple Groupons so now we have electronic record of all sorts of things including our wedding since digital wasn't quite the fad it is today.  I might need to do some color adjustment, but here's a picture from our wedding {sigh}.  As I look back at all the wedding pictures I notice everything I'd do differently if my wedding were today, but the one thing that wouldn't change is the guy.

And here are some pictures of Dan and I when we were about Emma's age so you can decide who she looks more like.  Thoughts?  Realistically I should probably put up pics of some other family members too because there are resemblances to all of us. Now that the pics are scanned I have some seriously awesome blackmail material, but since my family all has copies of the same photo disc I need to harness my power and pull out the big guns only when absolutely necessary. The day will come but it's not today.




Now that I'm reconnected hopefully I'll be able to get on here more frequently.  No guarantees though (I'm under-promising with the hopes to over-deliver).