Randoms from this week

I decided to make quesadillas for Emma for the first time the other day.  She loves flour tortillas, cheese, so why not give them a try?  She of course loved them!  It was fun to suddenly notice this string of cheese falling from her mouth.  Thought it was worth a picture :)

She loves bread.  And she does not like me to cut it in little pieces, but instead give her a large piece (I normally hand her half a slice).  She will very quickly stuff it all in her mouth at once, then begin to grin at us.  I tried to capture that moment with this picture -- 

 

This following picture describes an odd moment that took place today.  After lunch, I took this rag to wipe her and her tray down.  I then put it in the same pile where I place the rest of our dirty rags and used cloth napkins.  She decided she wanted to go through that pile, selected that same rag from earlier (probably because it was bright green opposed to white like the rest), and put it on her neck (I guess the thought it was a necklace or something).  Next thing I know, she has crawled all the way to her room with it on.  Pulled out all of her toys and books and begins to squeal to get my attention.  I come in the room and here she is -- a big ol' mess, with a dirty rag over her shoulders and asking me to read her a book.  Silly girl!

Playing with balls

Emma's most recent favorite toy are these silly old balls that were mine when I was her age 27 years ago. She crawls around with them in her hands while pushing herself forwards with her elbows. Tried to capture a little bit of that in the following video. This video also shows how she likes to make noise with them. Enjoy! This second video is probably one of my favorite. She has somehow convinced herself that balls belong in people's mouths, so she'll do whatever it takes to stick one in. As I am typing this, she has come my way to do exactly that -- stick the blue ball in my mouth :) I spit it out, and right when I was about to click "publish" to his post, here she came again to stick it in.

Walk on the Canal

On this Sabbath, this day of rest, our friends Chris, Julie and Charlie (and dog Scout) joined us for a walk on the Canal. 

Both Emma and Charlie are the same age (only 6 weeks apart), but you can tell clear differences in their personalities.  Mostly a boy-girl difference.  While Emma is happy just cruising along in her seat...

... Charlie would much rather stand on his stroller.

Playing in crib

We put a video camera inside of Emma's room, not because we needed it, but because we were curious. She is (for the most part) over her cry-in-crib spells, and will normally play in it if she wishes not to sleep. I am okay with that. 

So here are two videos (both under a minute each) of Emma playing alone in her crib. Enjoy! 

12 months

We have come to the end of an era -- this is our last pictures with Johnny Bear.  We have taken a total of 13 pictures like this -- newborn through 12 months.  You can find all of those pictures under "Johnny Bear" on the bottom right of this page.

Emma had her 12 month check up yesterday and here are her numbers:

Weight:  21 lbs 6 oz -- 55%

Length:  29.5 in -- 50%

Head size:  18 1/8 in -- 70%

A few happenings:

*  Emma was weaned from breast milk completely last week.  She was on formula for a few days before switching completely to whole milk.  This has been a bit of a hassle since she is not too fond of it, but oh well.

*  She can sign for "milk", "more", "all done" and "bye bye" (she waved bye bye to Dr. Miller yesterday after her appointment.  I guess she was ready for him to leave the room, haha!).  We are working on "eat," "water," and "please."

*  Through the course of this past week, Emma has discovered temper tantrums.  Today she rolled around the floor screaming bloody murder because I had taken a bag filled with clothes away from her.  Needless to say, I am doing lots of praying and breathing during this time, making sure to stay calm and stick to my guns while at it.

Birthday videos

Emma's birthday

Here are a few pictures of Emma's 1st birthday party.  We took a few videos I hope to have time to upload over the next few days.

The table set up right before dinner time.

The two youngest Morrises -- Emma and Ames.

In just 6 more months, we'll be celebrating another 1 year old :)

Enjoying dinner.  Note the Cheerio necklaces I made for the ladies to wear at the party.

Cousin Levi and Emma both have August birthdays.  We'll be celebrating him in just a few days.

Getting some Uncle JoJo time.

McNeill was such a good helper to Emma.  They both opened presents together.

Needless to say, Emma was quite overwhelmed by all the attention.  Check out that Cheerio necklace and her face expression -- did she have a good time or what?

The two proud daddies with their babies.  I have a feeling those two will be good buds one day.  Only 6 months apart. 

And last but not least, the three Morris girls.

Emma was not put to bed until way past her bed time -- at about 9:15 pm.  But the excitement kept her up even longer.  For the following 45 mins or so after we put her down, we could still hear her playing and talking to her crib friends -- Bunny and Monkey.

A family of three

A year ago today, our family of two became a family of three.  

Happy birthday, Emma girl!

(Stay tuned for many pictures and videos from her party)

Sick baby girl

Last Thursday afternoon, Emma registered a 101.9 fever.  By Friday it peaked to 103.  Our very generous-with-his-time neighbor, who also is a pediatrician, came by that evening to take a look at her.  No signs of anything, so just gave her some medicine to treat her fever.  Told us to keep an eye out for her temperature, and if it continued to be high, to take her in to the office.

We thought she was cured from the fever by Sunday, but Monday it peaked again, but this time it read 104.2.  My first day of graduated class would have started that afternoon, but the mama bear in me trumped and took her to the doctor instead :)  

After lots of crying, throwing up, a catheter, and two hours at the doctor's office later, the verdict?  Kidney infection.  She is on antibiotics (which is a two man job to give) and has lost her appetite.

But in the meantime, mommy and daddy get to snuggle with a little girl.  Lucky us!

Very thankful for pom and Bunny.

 

Videos of an almost one year old

A few recent videos.

First video (1 min) -- before we took the video she was spinning in circles trying to catch the dog tucked in her pants.  By the time we busted out the camera, she became distracted by her toys.  Fun video, none the less.

Second video (17 sec) -- Emma signs for milk.  Yes, when she wants milk she asks for it.  She is that smart!  She also now signs "all done" and "bye bye."

Crazy hair

Attic

Emma being mesmerized by the attic.

Homesick

I became very homesick last Saturday.

You see, Mexico won soccer's gold medal against Brazil.  First time E.V.E.R.  It's hard to portray what this win means to Mexicans.  To my American friends -- think Super Bowl and 4th of July fused together.  Think of people yelling "goooooooooooooolllll" all across the nation.  Think people (literally) flooding the streets after winning.  Think of the most patriotic thing you've ever experienced and times it by two.  Get the idea?

Cheap food even cheaper

I love being in the kitchen.  I love being able to stretch a buck by being efficient in it.  So I've compiled a list of things I have learned to make, instead of purchase, over the past few years. 

-  Beans.  According to Melissa D'Arabian, you can make your own beans using dried beans, soaking them, cooking them, then separating them into four ziplock bags and freezing them, making them the equivalent to four cans of beans for only 25% of the canned value (that is, 75% off).  (Watch her video here).  Huge savings on an already chap ingredient.  I normally make 2 lbs at a time, giving me the equivalent of 8 cans of beans for only $2. 
-  Sandwich bread.  This one took some time to learn and get the hang of, but now that I have, I love it!  Again, an already inexpensive ingredient can be made even cheaper once you do it yourself.  I make two loaves at a time, slice them, keep half of a loaf out, then freeze the rest.  I take half a loaf at a time.
-  Chicken stock.  When chicken is on sale (like 99 cents a pound), I buy several pounds and season them with salt and pepper and dump them all in the crock pot and let them cook away.  I then let them cool and shred them.  Place them in ziplock bags and freeze them.  This way I don't have to deal with raw chicken each time I want to put chicken in a casserole dish.  Anyway, all that to say is that by the end of that process, you are left with lots of yummy chicken juices at the bottom of the pot.  Just add some water, toss some carrots, celery sticks and the chicken bones and simmer away overnight.  You'll have wonderful chicken stock waiting for you in the morning.
-  Cream of chicken.   I wrote a post on this once.  Granted, it's not as creamy and salty as the canned ones, but work just as well.  (Probably much healthier as well).
-  Ice cream.  Yes, that's right, ice cream!  Though I will say this -- making your own ice cream comes out more expensive than buying it.  By the time you buy the whole cream and whatever other ingredient that will go into it, you are looking at spending at least $5 by the time you are finished (my strawberry ice cream I made the other day cost $7).  But it is sooooooooo good!
-  Baby food.  This is a no brainer.  You may as well be throwing your money away by buying baby food.  And no fancy appliances needed here, just a good blender and some ice trays.  Also, making your own baby food is much healthier.
-  Granola.  You can read my post and recipe for this here.   I love to always have this on hand to toss over my oatmeal, cold cereal, or blend in a smoothie.  Makes for a great gift as well.
-  Pancakes/waffles.  It takes an additional 15 seconds to make your pancakes/waffles from scratch than to buy the boxed mix.  I am not kidding!  There are countless recipes for this online, so have fun finding one you like :)

On the radar:  I'd like to begin making my own yogurt.

What do you make instead of buy?

Bath time!

It's official, Emma's first word is: "bath time!"  It sounds more like:  "aaiiittt aaaiiiimmm."

Very few things get her as excited as hearing her daddy say:  "baaaaath tiiiiiiime!!!  bath time for a little giiiiirl!"  She loves splishing and splashing in the bath tub, crawling from one side to the other, and playing with her letters.  Tonight we even got to squeeze some spelling lessons into this time.

Frozen yogurt

What a sweet blessing to be married to a man who adores both his wife and daughter -- "my dos princesas," he says. 

On a daddy-daughter date this afternoon.  Enjoying a frozen yogurt together (Emma only got fruit toppings, don't worry :p).

Randoms

We finally got our camera lens replaced (yeah!), but haven't been taking many pictures lately.  So here are a few random ones I've taken this past week:

Emma seems to enjoy being in her room by herself, as long as she can empty her changing station and throw all of her books out.

In the kitchen.  She loves being near her mama with just a few toys, rather than in the play room with tons of toys.