The crib adventures

Many ask if Emma will be transitioning into a toddler bed in time for Little Paco (btw, this is NOT his name, just what he is going by right now) to inherit hers.  The answer is "no."  And this is why -- Emma looooooves her crib!  

*If Emma is disciplined, or if she even becomes upset over something, she asks to go to her crib:  "cuna, cuna."

*Emma will spend about 3 - 4 hours in her crib every afternoon.  Sometimes she'll sleep the entire time, but many times she'll sleep some, but then also "read" her books or play with her babies a good portion of it.

*She is very content in her crib -- we put her down at 7:30 pm every night (unless we are out late with her) but won't actually fall asleep until 8:30 pm or so.  The best part is, she is as happy as can be to be left alone in her crib at night to play.  When we put her down, she always asks for the usual suspects (babies, Bunny, pom, and sasa -- blanket), but has most recently begun to ask for books.  So we place books in her crib for her to read before bed time.

Emma reading in bed.

Emma reading in bed.

On a side note, I am now 37 weeks and 2 days pregnant.  Emma was born at 38 weeks 4 days.  I began having some symptoms today that reminded us of Emma's arrival 2 years ago, so Byron made me go to the hospital to get checked.  They strapped me up and hooked me to all sorts of machines and checked my fluids and both my and Little Paco's heart rate to see if I had gone into labor.  About one hour later, I was told I was not in labor -- phewww!

I do think a part of this story is worth recording, though -- 

When I told Byron this morning that I had begun having some symptoms, he got so nervous he strapped his heart rate monitor (the one he uses when he runs) to check his heart rate.  Poor guy, he was so nervous!

Puzzles

Watching her daddy

Emma loves her daddy!  Saturdays are probably her favorite day of her week because it means she gets to be around him all day long.  

Last Saturday, Byron mowed the lawn for us.  I woke up pretty exhausted (8 months pregnant in the middle of the summer, anyone?) and pretty much sat in front of the TV all morning.  I kept hearing rattling noise coming from the living room, and figured it was Emma messing around with toys or boxes or something.  When I finally got up to see what she was doing, I couldn't help by smile when I found this--

Emma was just standing at the window, trying hard to get the blinds out of her way, to see her daddy mow the lawn.  Sweet, sweet girl of mine!  Who knows how long she stood there admiring her daddy.

Little friend

My friend Kim, and her little son Benson, came over for lunch today.  I hadn't even told Emma who was coming, and surprised me by squealing his name when she saw him come in.  I am always amazed at children's ability to recognize and remember their little friends.

Emma and Benson reading to each other.

They were sweet playmates.  They did a great job sharing toys and squealing and having fun with each other.  Benson opened the play car door for Emma to come in (after his momma encouraged him to do so) and even gave her a kiss goodbye on the forehead (sshhhh... don't tell daddy). 

Morning breakfast

When describing Emma's eating habits, I would not quite describe her as "picky" as much as "inconsistent."  One day she'll eat a full serving of broccoli and act as if she can't get enough of it, and then next day she won't even touch it.  Breakfast is no exception.  I feel like we are continually changing our breakfast choices.  These days I've been making her some diced fruit and a heart-shaped pancake with peanut butter and pasas - raisins (I use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut the already pre-made pancake).  This was too cute of a plate to let it go unnoticed:

Fruit is still a favorite of hers, especially if it's in the shape of balls.  She likes to play with her food -- she'll line the food and call it a "choo-train."  We are about to finish our pancake batch this week.  I wonder what our next breakfast of choice will be for the next couple of days...

 

Oh-oh...

Emma loves her crib!  It's up there right along Bunny, pom and books.  It is not rare for her to wake up in the morning, have breakfast, and then ask to be put back into her crib to read books.  She will also ask to be put into the crib throughout the day as well, which comes in handy when I need to take a shower or work on dinner.

Well... yesterday, while taking a shower, she somehow managed to sneak this little bag and crayons in her crib.  When I came in to get here, I found this lovely work of art on her mattress --

Reading to Bunny

On Sunday morning, while Mommy and Daddy were getting ready for church, Emma found a way to take care of her own babies.  She carried Bunny's high chair all the way from the kitchen to her room, sat Bunny on it, and began to read to him.  This was too precious to overlook!

Bunny is a good listener.

34 weeks round 2

I am 34 weeks pregnant as of yesterday.  We had our third and last ultrasound today.  Little Paco is still very much a boy.  Sonographer estimates he weighs 5 lbs 6 oz.  She also said he has a lot of hair -- the most hair she has seen in a while.  Yikes! 

Everything looks great!  Based on the look of things, doctor believes I will go full term unless my water breaks before (like it did with Emma).

For record sake, I have gained 29 points.

Here is my 34 weeks picture when I was expecting Emma.

Cow Appreciation Day

It was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A today, which means you get to eat for free if you go dressed as a cow.  This year was our second year participating.

I decided to be a little better prepared this year, so I had bought Emma's cow outfit months in advance when Halloween costumes were on clearance at Kroger ($5) last November.  I also went ahead and got our own cow outfits ready in advance -- got some Goodwill white shirts and used fabric glue to paste some black spots.  They will be good to go every year from here on out.

Our little cow excited to be heading over to CFA for supper with mommy and daddy.

 We had a great time!  Though Byron is always reluctant to dress-up as a cow, a free meal is always welcome.  

Emma was the cutest little cow tonight :)  Of course, we are biased, but many others agreed.  Though she was afraid of the cow, every time she lost sight of him she would get worried and begin asking/looking for him.

 

Emma was afraid of the cow.

We ran into our friends the Lacocks and their two little ones.  Glad to have been able to share a fun evening with them!

 

The daddys and their girls.

The cutest cow ever!

Looking forward to next year when we'll have two little cows to attend Cow Appreciation Day with.

Here and there...

It's been a busy couple of days lately, and picture-taking (as well as blog-posting) has not been at the top of my priority list.  But there are a few pictures I've taken that are worth sharing (and recording).

First off, this is a picture of my little girl playing with her Dora sticker book.  I have started a little business on eBay selling items I find at Goodwill.  We go there several times a week, many times with Emma at my side, and the way I keep her busy while I look around is by taking her to the children's book section and have her choose a few books to "read" while mommy browses the store.  All that to say, we found this Dora book for 99 cents.  Based on the look on her face in this picture, I would say it was worth every penny and more!

This child looooooves buckles.  So it's no surprise to find her buckling herself into a high chair.  (This chair was on the floor waiting to be put away after we had some guests over for dinner last week).

 

And lastly, the latest and greatest item in our household as of last night -- an "I Spy" blanket!  

I had seen a picture of this in a friend's blog and loved the idea of it!  I thought about buying it, but when I searched the Internet for it, they were running well over $100+ each.  My dear friend's mom is a "Quilt Queen," so I asked her if she could make one herself and I pay for it.  Well... a couple of weeks later we got it in the mail.  A gift for Emma from her Tia Martha.  THANK YOU THANK YOU!  

She has learned a lot through it already (words such as "soldado" and how it marches, angel, etc.).  Of course, her most favorite picture is the fish!  No surprise there :)

Happy girl pointing at one of the fish in her blanket.

Merry Mary

Merry Mary was in town this past week.  We were happy to have her visit with us for the day.  We had a couple of friends over for lunch (no pictures, of course... too much chaos with children going insane at the time).  We did enjoy some alone time with her and baby Laura.  

Mary appropriately refers to this car as the "sin wagon" since it really brings out the worst in children.  Laura could not get enough of the car, and would try to pull Emma out, crying and squealing while at it.  Emma did amazingly well, though, but I believe this was so ONLY because Laura is younger than her and she thinks she is her mommy and must take care of her (otherwise she would have gone completely insane as well).  We had to eventually put the car away and out of sight.  Life went much better after that :)

Next time we see each other, we'll both have little boys in our arms, in addition to our girl toddlers.  Can't wait!

 

Dinner Cruise

Last Monday we had a "Dinner Cruise" with a couple Morrises.  Uncle JoJo is "sitting" a friend's boat indefinitely, and thus we get to enjoy the benefits of it.  Memma had chicken fingers, tuna salad, deviled eggs, fruit and cinnamon rolls for dessert.  

We rode on the Savannah River for almost three hours.  It made it for a late summer night for Emma, but it was well worth it.  She woke up the next day talking about the boat, her cousins, and the water.

Lovely Lisa

Lovely Lisa, my dear college friend who lives in Arkansas, came to visit us last week for a couple of days.  Last time I'd seen her was exactly two years ago when we were expecting Emma.  We had a great time living life together -- she accompanied Emma and I to kindermusik one day, then helped with the yard sale on Saturday.  She also ran errands with me, went to a couple's party with Byron and I, went to the Kroc to work out and swim, and had a movie night.  Didn't take any good pictures, only this last one at the airport when we dropped her off.  

Yard Sale

We hosted a seven-family yard sale last weekend at our home.  We had a couple of boxes of stuff we'd accumulated through the months, but not enough to make it into a good sale.  So we invited a few friends to join us.  We all made enough money each to make us happy.  But most importantly, we had a lot of fun watching our "trash" get taken away while enjoying each others' company.

Elizabeth & Margaret -- two of Byron's cousins set up their own shop.

The rest of us, minus Melissa who was probably feeding her two-month baby at the time of the picture.

Is it time to potty train?

Emma's good friend Julia and her parents are moving to Atlanta.  Julia's mom delivered an extra potty this morning she had no use for.  I placed it in the living room while I prepared lunch, wondering what I should do with it until I began potty training Emma in a few months after her brother was born.

Well, as soon as lunch was over, Emma headed to the potty and began messing around with it.  I then thought it would be cool to put it in the bathroom next to mommy and daddy's potty and have her play with it.  Before I knew it, my child was removing her shorts and diaper off.  She then proceeded to sit on her potty for the following 45 minutes or so. 

I have not educated myself on potty training, so I had no idea what to do.  After what seemed to be a long time, nothing was happening, but she refused to get off the potty.  I then recalled a picture I have from when I was being potty trained -- I had a bottle of juice.  Emma never drinks juice, so I thought this would be an easy way to get fluids in her system and hopefully hurry the potty-process up.  She was delighted with her watered-down grape juice.

 We eventually brought in reinforcements -- Bunny, books, music, etc.  Here she is "reading" through her Toddlerobics book she loves and can more or less repeat certain parts of it.

She did eventually go potty, of which she was very proud of.  All this just in time for nap time.  As soon as she woke from her nap, she asked to go potty again.  She sat on her potty a total of 4 different times today.  She only did potty in it that first time.  I can safely say we sat on that toilet for well over 2 hours today.

On a separate note, but related to "milestones" worth recording, here are a few we want to be able to remember:

-  Mommy and Daddy apparently smooch a lot, because Emma, out of nowhere, will take two animal cracker fish, have them face each other at the mouth, and make kissing sounds.  We did not teach her this.

-  She knows what "dos" (two) represents.  Randomly, she will take two things and say:  "dos peces," "dos beans," "dos sticks," "dos hot dogs," etc.

Happy Father's Day!

We got back from Savannah in time to pick Emma up and bring her back home to enjoy some Father's Day celebration.  Emma and I gave Daddy the book Bringing Up Boys by Dr. James Dobson (I gave him Bringing Up Girls by same author two years ago when expecting Emma for Father's Day).

Emma made her cards for Daddy at the Kroc earlier that week.

But if you were to ask Byron what his favorite part of his day was, he would tell you it was watching Emma enjoy her little gift we brought her from Savannah -- a tin Dora lunch box that had fish on it.  (And yes, I have a double jointed arm -- it's creepy).

 

We also gave her a Savannah map, of which she was thrilled over (Dora carries a map in her backpack).

Anniversary in Savannah

We spent our six year anniversary in Savannah over the weekend.  Emma enjoyed her time with Memma and Poppa while Mommy and Daddy enjoyed some time alone with each other.  It was a great weekend, and would be happy to return there any time.

At the riverwalk. 

Can't tell from the picture, but this bar's logo was a Saint Bernard with a keg.  This one's for you, Mom!

On Saturday night, we treated ourselves BIG time by enjoying dinner at one of the most expensive places we will ever go out to eat -- Ruth's Chris.  This has been one of Byron's dream restaurants to go to, and finally got to enjoy their famous steak.  We forgot to take a picture of our steak dinner, so our dessert picture will have to do.

On Sunday morning, for the second time that weekend, we went out for coffee.  Byron and I have been studying through the book of Exodus together, so instead of going to church, we had our Bible Study over a cup of coffee.  What I loved about this shop was their Horchata Latte -- that's right -- Horchata Latte!  Why haven't the Mexicans come up with this delicacy?

Picture at Ellis Square with our hotel in the background.

In the car on our way to Savannah on Friday, we tried to recall everything we've done over the past six years on our anniversary.  So for memory sake, I am recording them now:

1st anniversary:  Trip to Cancun 

2nd anniversary:  Dinner at Trotters (in Merida)

3rd anniversary:  Boston Cream Pie at Boston's Restaurant

4th anniversary:  Apart -- I was in Merida and Byron was in the States.  

5th anniversary:  Tattooed Moose in Charleston, SC (later that fall we went to Charleston and Hilton Head with the Kelleys)

6th anniversary:  Savannah, GA

Books

Few things bring me as much joy as watching my little girl enjoy her books.  Coming from a line of teachers, reading was always an important part of our upbringing.  The desire to pass that along to our children is strong, for which Byron and I have tried to be very purposeful in instilling this with Emma.

I am not as good as I would like to be at this, but I try to set a certain amount of time each day to sit and read to Emma.  It finally took flight about 2 months ago when all of the sudden Emma could not be read to enough.  We started going to the public library about once a week, during which I let her choose some books, fill up our bag, read a few there if we are not in a hurry, check out some for myself (I normally have them waiting for me on hold), check them out and head out.

Emma enjoys coming home and flipping through them on her own.  After our library visit this week, while I was busy in the kitchen getting ready for supper, I began wondering where Emma had gone.  I looked into the living room to find my child content with her Bunny and Pom, comfortably sitting on the sofa, "reading" through her selection.  

National Doughnut Day

Yesterday was National Doughnut Day, which doesn't mean much at all other than you get a free Krispy Kreme doughnut that day.  I've claimed my free doughnut three out of the four years we've been living in Augusta.

This year I decided to be social and ask my neighbor friend and her newborn baby to join us (no picture of them -- sorry :(  we were too busy chatting). 

Emma was a little hesitant at first about the doughnut, but as soon as she took her first bite into that fresh, warm pastry, there was no turning back.  (ps -- notice the foam shape she is holding in her right hand while she eats with the other hand).