The Jesse Tree

In response to the advent season, and in preparation for Christmas, this year we began doing The Jesse Tree as a family devotional.  Our church opened it's doors and gave us the opportunity to build a Jesse Tree earlier this fall.  I had heard great things about this devotional, so I really wanted to give it a try.

This devotional is done in response to Isaiah 11:1-2a:  "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.  The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him..."

This devotional walks you through the genealogy of Jesus.  From God and the creation of the world, to the patriarchs, to the prophets, to Jesus' parents, etc.  All 30 "leaves" (devotionals) pointed to Jesus.  It was a great way to remind us every day of "the the True Reason for the season."

We would have our devotionals in the morning.  Emma loved this family time and loved hearing about "the baby."  We used a children's Bible to help us go along the devotionals, and one of Emma's favorite things to do during this time was to find "the baby."  This picture shows her looking at "the baby", and the mama and the dada, and all the animals in the barn.

Christmas Day

We loved waking up in our home on Christmas Day.  It took Emma a little to catch onto opening gifts, but by the end of the day, she had become an expert, and would even snatch gifts away from others to open them -- oh oh!

We started off our morning reading the Christmas story and finishing our Jesse Tree (I will write a later post on this).  We then opened our stocking gifts.  Due on how expensive these puree-pouches are, and how quickly Emma can go through them, we never buy them.  Therefore, they were an immediate hit as soon as she opened them, and wanted to try one immediately.

Here she is opening her gift from mommy and daddy.  What can this be?????

A groceries cart!  What a great way to push her babies and milk around the house.

We then headed to the Morrises'.  It is Morris tradition to have all the kids sit at the steps right before coming down to open gifts.  I guess this is something that they learned to do while growing up -- anxiously awaiting for their parents to get all of their gifts sorted and ready to greet them downstairs. 

Here is Poppa helping EG open her stocking gifts.

 

After all the gifts were opened, some of Byron's extended family (cousins and aunts) came over for a family brunch.  Emma enjoyed playing with her second cousins, but also being held by her Aunt Re. 

After all the excitement was over, we had the great idea of taking her outside and play.  Of course, she got herself in the mud and made a big mess out of everything.  Good news was she got to take a bath in her Memma's kitchen sink, right next to where she was washing dishes.  Emma enjoyed getting ahold of the plastic cups and drink the dish water -- yuk!  

Christmas Eve

On the 24th, all three of us enjoyed a full day together as a little family.  After a slow start to our day, we headed out for coffee and doughnuts at Krispy Kreme (using free doughnut and coffee coupons given to us by friends), then headed out to Costco to sample all their food -- yum!

After an afternoon nap, we headed out to church.

Emma sure loves to use her legs to get around.  Look at that big smile!

After a chili dinner, we got Emma in her PJs and headed out the door to drive around town looking for Christmas lights. 

All in all, a wonderful day with the family!

Babies

One of Emma's favorite words to say these days is "babies."  She thinks anyone under the age of 7 is a baby.  It has been amazing for me to watch her develop such maternal instincts at such a young age.  She gets very distressed when she sees a child cry, and will gently go up to them and pat them (so sweet!).

Last Sunday a friend told me how when her daughter was crying in the nursery, Emma went up to her, gently patted her, and said:  "(gibrish gibrish -- something something) baby."  We think she was trying to tell her "it's okay, baby."

I have decided that Emma will not get her first doll until she becomes a big sister (whenever that may be...).  I want it so that when mommy comes home from the hospital with a baby, Emma does as well.

Until then, she enjoys the little dolls and stuffed animals we have around the house.

Here she is enjoying her two "mestizas."

 

Her new favorite place to play these days.  Not sure how she discovered that door.  We never open it.

 

These are her three faithful crib companions -- Monkey, Bunny, and The Other Bunny (yes, we are creative with names).

Once again, this mama bird sitting on her nest.

A few new words we've been hearing this week:  

"side" (for outside)

"sssssss" ("si" -- the word for "yes" in Spanish)

"flor" (for flower in Spanish, though I guess this can work for both languages)

"za" (for manZAna -- apple in Spanish)

"shirt"

 

Emma meets Santa

Though we don't do Santa at our home, we thought it'd be fun to take Emma to meet him this morning at Chick-fil-a.  We met some friends there for breakfast and enjoyed some time with each other, which is a luxury these days due to A's crazy resident schedule. 

Emma was very shy and would get very upset if we even attempted to sit her on Santa's lap, so this was the best we could do.

The daddies and their babies.

Emma can say one word in Maya (the native language from my hometown), and that is tuch (bellybutton).  She now enjoys pointing people's tuch, in particular, mommy and daddy's.  But today at breakfast we found Emma trying to find Thomas'.  (Notice her lips sticking out as she says it).

Ladies and gentlemen...

... we have a little walker in the house!

Though Emma's first steps were taken over one month ago, Emma is officially walking at 15.5 months of age.  Thought this day will never come.

Emma began walking with more confidence two days ago (Tuesday night) after bribing her with gummy vitamins.  This seemed to boost her confidence.  She then failed to walk all day yesterday, but then at night last night, this is what we got:

(notice Byron using his cell phone as bate.  Also notice how she says "phone").

 

 This is probably my favorite one.  Watch her pick up her ball (favorite toy) while holding daddy's cell phone.  Also notice how she repeats Byron and attempts to say "Christmas tree."  Also notice how she likes to stick her lips out.

Dryer

Wheeeeeeere is Emma girl??????

There she is!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, my child discovered how to climb into the drier all by herself today.  Couldn't resist photographing this moment!

knee walker

Here is the much promised video of Emma "knee walking."

At this rate, we don't expect Emma to be walking on her feet anytime soon.  She has taken a number of steps on her own, and of course can walk very well using her walker, but nothing consistent enough.

On her doctor's appointment last week, I asked her doctor if he'd ever heard of a baby "knee walking."  He gave me a grin and said:  "you know, my granddaughter (only 3 weeks younger than Emma) is also a knee walker."  So no worries... She is just taking her time.  Enjoy!
 

Christmas decorating

We did our Christmas setup this past Saturday.  We chose our tree together and then went home to begin decorating the house and tree (I say begin, because we were not able finish until 10 pm later that night).

Having fun!  We put our Christmas tree skirt on our little girl.  So sweet!

Nest

This is not the most flattering picture of my little girl, but it does the job!  I think Emma thinks she is a bird or something, because every once in a while, if I loose sight of her, I'll find her in the laundry room sitting on the clothes basket, as if sitting on her eggs, minding her own business. 

A few new words we hear her say:  "bowl," "shoe," "chhhh" (for Cheeries), "moon," "chu chu" (for train), "Jo Jo" (for Uncle Joseph), and "beep beep" (as if imitating a car honking).  

Of course, English continues to be her language of choice, but she has added a new word to her Spanish: "po po" (in reference to a B.M.).  We are trying to teach her to tell us she has done number 2 as soon as it happens.

She had her 15-month doctor's appointment last Monday.  Here are her numbers:

Weight:  23 lbs 1 oz (52%)

Length:  31 in (60%)

Head size:  18.5 in (80%)

Mary comes to visit

We were blessed to have Mary and Laura visit and stay with us for one night last week.  They were visiting friends in Augusta after Thanksgiving, and of course, had to squeeze in some time to be with all our "mama friends."

Julia and Mary (with Laura).

Anna (with Thomas) and Rachel (with Louis).

I am selfishly hoping David and Mary will be transferred back to Augusta next year.  One can only wish... :) 

A few videos

 few videos we've taken over the past few weeks which I've failed to post on the blog.  

Emma is 15 months old today and still not walking.  She is very good at cruising around furniture or walking when using her walkers, but still not interested in walking on her own.  She is still a good "knee walker" (I'll post a video of this sometime), so until she realizes that knee walking is not the most efficient way of moving around, we won't be seeing a walker anytime soon.

This video was taken this morning at breakfast.  I love it because it reminds me that although most of her words continue to be in English, she understands Spanish very well.

At the table

These are just some random pictures I've taken of Emma during meal time.  This first one is of her indulging herself with dried strawberries.  This is a very special treat either her Memma or daddy buy her when they walk together to the Fresh Market.

This is not a great picture, but it shows her most resent facial expression.  When she seems to be thinking hard, or when she says "no-no," she sticks her lips out like this.

Eating peanut butter straight out of the jar.  She loved it!

 There was peanut butter everywhere!!!

 

This was taken last Friday night.  She had not taken a nap that day, and was not her sweet self by night time.  During dinner she refused to sit in her high chair.  So she sat on my lap to eat her chicken and vegetable soup.  She loved it!  My most favorite thing about this meal is how she enjoyed eating the carrots simply because they looked like "balls" (Emma loooooves balls).  

Daddy's helper

I woke up sick this Saturday morning, so Byron took over Emma-duties for me.  He had planned on racking the yard, and it was a beautiful day for it, so he took Emma out to have her "help him."

Emma did very well with him, and of course I couldn't resist taking pictures of such beautiful scene -- my two loves outside having a great time together.  Emma caught on pretty fast as to what was going on.  She would put things in the bucket for daddy, such as this stick --

We took her walker outside to allow her to explore the yard a little so she wouldn't hurt her knees (no, she is still not walking).

"Let me help you, daddy"

Emma even got her own yard bag to put the pine straw in.

Like father, like daughter.

Emma's vocabulary continues to expand.  Her latest words are:  "no no" (how fun for me!), "bae bae" (for baby -- mostly when she sees a picture of herself or her own reflection), "nai nai" (for night night), "nowe" (for nose -- loves to point out people's noses), "duck" and "cheese".  Sadly for me, most of her words continue to be in English.  But she does understand Spanish, she is just not verbalizing it yet.

She is also getting three molars in, which make for a fussy and tired little girl every day :'(

She loves books, balls, cars, airplanes, and balloons.

Pan de Muertos

My goal is to begin making something Mexican once a week -- a meal, a dessert, or celebrate a holiday.  This has been non-existent so far, but now that we have children, I realize that if I want them to know their Mexican roots, I need to be intentional in bringing it to them. 

In lieu of Day of the Dead, I thought it would be fun to make Day of Dead Bread.  Though one week late, I decided to make Pan de Muertos with Hot Chocolate Abuelita.  So good!  The bread does not look like it should, but it sure tasted wonderful!  I am excited for next year.  I think I know how to perfect it.

Fun at the park

Last Saturday was too beautiful a day to be spent indoors.  We went to a park and then out for dinner on a "family date."  We had a great time enjoying our little girl together.

Down the slide...

Happy to have made it down :)

Julie's babyshower

I helped host a baby shower for Julie and her coming baby girl today.  We had a great turn out, and 6 out of our 9 guests brought their babies.  It was a fun play date for them!

All of our guests minus Thomas, who was taking a nap.

Emma's good little buddy Charlie.  We tried to get them to hold hands, but it didn't go too well :)

All the kiddos minus Thomas -- TJ, Louis, Emma, Charlie, and Sam.

 Anna, Julie and me :)