Sandi Mom

This Girl Has Her Own Way With Words

2012-01-20T21:06:00.002-05:00

Picking Shawn up from the Metro tonight
Me: All right, I'm just going to pull the car over there. This place is a distaster zone
Em: A disaster?
Me: yeah, I don't even know what's going on here
Em: Is a disaster zone a fancy way of saying not nice?

Before bedtime tonight
I'm kissing Emmeline's cheek
Em: Please lay down
Me: Ok, I was enjoying kissing you. You're so kissable!
Em: I'm also so snuggable! I'm your snuggle worm!
Me: My snuggle worm??!! I'm not sure I want a snuggle worm!
Em: But I'm not yucky!

Calling Meme the other day, the phone is ringing, but not going to VM
Me: Ok, Em, I think Meme will call us back later, or we can call her another time.
Em: No, I will wait, the phone is still purring.

He Really Loves to Dance

2012-01-17T18:25:00.002-05:00

6 Month Check In

2011-10-13T20:34:00.002-04:00

We had Jamie's 6 month check on Wednesday. Little guy is weighing in at 14 lbs 13 oz, which puts him in the 10th percentile! You'd never know it, the way he eats. He has been chowing down on everything (except avocados) we've put in front of him. Bananas, applesauce, pears, melon, sweet potatoes, acorn squash, butternut squash, you name it, he'll stuff it in. He tries to feed himself, poor thing. Doesn't work well.
He is definitely, officially crawling. Tonight, he got his knees up under him, and sort of tried to launch backward into a sitting up position. Didn't work. But, he's getting faster everyday, and I'm getting more nervous that Babies R Us doesn't carry enough gates for our house.
Two little teeth are trying their best to work their way through on the bottom, but no luck yet. Just lots of drool.
Basically, my little guy (or muffin man, or Buster, or small fry, if you ask Emmeline) is getting to be quite the baby. Not an infant anymore. I kinda like it!
Emmeline, for her part, is getting to be such a preschooler, along with the requisite imagination, that I can't keep up. She has a host of imaginary friends, and they all do such interesting things together. I can't even keep track of all the funny things she says.
Her absolute favorite, most loved pastime right now is watching The Sound of Music. I have no objections to this. Is there a more family friendly movie out there? Only bad people at the end, and only bad because we KNOW they're bad. They don't even actually do anything bad in the movie. Em can't quite grasp or pronounce Nazi, so she calls Herr Zeller a Nasty or a Naughty. HILARIOUS. She wants to see the "muppet" part with "old lou" (this is yodeling), and now asks me almost every day what some of my favorite things are and how I can solve a problem like Maria. She loves Captain "Bontrap" and Frau Maria. She's a little caught on the nuns though, calling them "ones" for the fist three viewings of the movie. We're obviously not Catholic. Luckily, because this movie is so long, we often watch it over a week. We watch 30 or 40 minutes at a time, so we really stretch it out. Luckily, I heard through the Christmas grapevine that a DVD version is coming, which is really fantastic since the copy I have is, yep, on VHS! I had to drag out the VCR and dust it off. Still chugging along though.

Here He Goes

2011-09-27T14:10:00.007-04:00

My camera (with its video function) is broken. My phone requires a memory card to take video. Shawn's camera, despite its many options, does not take video. My Flip was unavailable for comment. So, in order to prove that Jamie is (pseudo) crawling, I have taken some pictures, flip book style. I present for your review and entertainment, the following:

I know it might be hard to see, but he was going for the tag on the boppy. This only took him about a minute, and that was mostly cause he was pausing to listen to the camera click.

A Few Pictures

2011-09-20T21:27:00.005-04:00

I got my toes!

James saying A-looooooooha from Hawaii

Emmy and Jeffrey loving the fish

Love the Aquarium

Bless Us, Every One

2011-09-14T19:35:00.002-04:00

When we started saying grace before dinner with Emmeline, I wanted to keep it simple. To that end, we have always just said "Dear God, thank you for our food, and thank you for our family. Amen." I thought that was simple enough for a little toddler to grasp - to the point. Now that she's so very old, she likes to help me. Now, dinner goes more like this:
M: Dear God, thank you for our food
E: And our milk!
M: and our milk, and thank you
E: and our forks!
M: and our forks, and thank you for our family
E: and thank you for Jamie's blue elephant
M: yes, Lord, thank you for all the toys that we're able to give to our children. Amen.
E: You didn't say thank you for our dinner!
M: I did. You were too busy thanking God for everything else.

I like that she's so very thankful, but I'm also kind of hungry and would like to get to the eating part of our dinner. Bless her.

Moving and Shaking

2011-08-04T11:40:00.002-04:00

This is not a brag post. This is an I-Don't-Know-What-To-Do-With-This post. Emmeline, as we all remember, never crawled. I mean, I guess she did a bit around 18 months, long after she was walking. James, on the other hand, has been a bit more...shall we say, advanced in the physical arena. He's been rolling both from belly to back and back to belly for a while. Monday, he began scooting across the floor on his back. He will have a nasty bald spot on the back of his head. Today, he got his knees up under him and scooched forward. It was not a crawl, but it wasn't far from it. He did it three times this morning, and a few times yesterday. He will be 4 months next week. I could be wrong, but I'll put money on this guy crawling before 5 months. This is amazing to me. I never experienced this with Em, so it's all new. She did combat crawl a bit for a little while, but she hated it, and it never progressed. I am continually surprised by Jamie's physical strength and interest in moving. It is awesome!

That's What She Said

2011-07-26T10:01:00.006-04:00

Me: Jamie, you are the King of Blowing Bubbles, huh?
Emmeline: Why?
M: Because, hear him blowing all those bubbles? He's good at it.
E: Mommy, you're the King of Mommies!

Shawn: Emmeline, please get your jammies on. It's almost bedtime.
E: I am! Chill out!

Uncle Gary: Uh-oh, looks like you dropped your taco.
E: Actually, it's a tortilla.

E: Mommy, I'm not sure he (indicating Jamie) is the perfect Jamie for us.

E: (crying, in bed) I'm not dreaming very well!

E: Where's Daddy's little car?
M: Remember? Daddy drove himself to work today.
E: He drove hisself? I'm so proud of him!

No-Cry Sleep Solution - Preferably Neither of Us is Crying

2011-07-26T09:21:00.000-04:00

Things are chugging away here. After enduring a nasty heat wave, we're enjoying a day with a high of only 93! I think we're starting to settle into a new routine. Emmeline is doing much better with staying dry at night, and Shawn's been able to get to work on time more than not lately. That may not sound like much, but when you have two small people waking you up at night, and they are both still sleeping when the alarm goes off, it's very easy to turn it off and sleep until the wee ones get you back up. So far, Jamie is getting a nice nap routine. Up until this week, the score of Jamie vs. Mommy regarding naps has looked like this:
Jamie - 287
Mommy - 3
I don't know where I was when God was handing out Mommy-baby-soothing-skills, but wherever it was, it was not the right place. I am not sure why I am completely incapable of soothing an infant to sleep, but I really suck at it. I try rocking, humming, singing, patting, shushing, pacifier, tummy-sleeping, rubbing and every combination possible of those. Maybe Jamie is a tough nut to crack, maybe I just haven't hit his magic combo yet, but I leave every nap feeling defeated and incompetent. While my toddler wreaks havoc through the rest of the house. I have been yearning for the day Jamie is old enough to Cry It Out. Pediatrician said not till 4 months, and I honestly don't remember how old Em was when we started. However, this week has gone much better. More like this:
Jamie - 0
Mommy - 5
Those are good numbers. He has put himself to sleep, without tears, every nap and bedtime since yesterday morning. I consider this a victory. Who knows how long it will last, but I'm excited about it for now.

Trout Lake

2011-07-10T19:46:00.012-04:00

We have many awesome friends - Shaina and Craig are two of them. I met Shaina in Denver, at TMI. Her parents own a lake house just outside Adirondack National Park. We drove up there on Sunday and stayed till Friday. We swam, boated, kayake, fished, cooked, and inner tubed. What a great time with great friends! Emmeline was a bit wary at first since there were 4 dogs between the Fergusons and the Spielers. By Friday, she was just like old times - loving the dogs, especially Figgy, Mrs. Spieler's geriatric dachsund. Jamie had a tougher time. He's still kind of a homebody, and seems to REALLY like his bed best. But he did ok.

The view looking up the lake from the end of the deck. Bee-yoo-tiful.

Em had a little bit of a crush on Craig. Maybe it was because he read to her - every single time she asked.
Emmeline took this one of Jamie. It's kind of artsy, I think.

Camping with Daddy

2011-06-07T12:42:00.001-04:00

Baby Shawn, 2.0

2011-06-06T17:09:00.004-04:00

I was so excited when Jamie was born. He looked a lot like me. Now that he's lost that newborn look, he's looking more and more like his dad. Which isn't bad, I was just hoping I might get one kid to look like me, a little.

We have fallen in love with the Playseum in Bethesda. Awesome. Emmeline likes the dress up room, the animal room, the grocery store, the music area, and getting her nails painted (for $1!!). She and Shawn were sampling the wigs.

Pediatrician Update

2011-06-01T12:19:00.002-04:00

Today was Jamie's 6-8 week check (he's 7 weeks). My little peanut has grown from 7 lbs even to 10 lbs 13 oz! Chunker! Of course, I looked back at Emmy's baby book, and she weighed 11.2 at 7 weeks, so he's still behind...but not by much! He also grew 2 inches in these 7 weeks. I knew he was getting longer, but 2 inches is a lot. Jamie's in this weird middle size where most newborn size clothes are really too small, but the 0-3 month stuff is huge on him. He owns about 6 onesies that really fit. And when you vomit on minimum three outifts a day, this means we have enough clothes for two days at a time.
Emmeline is enjoying all the time we've been spending outside, up until this weekend when it got nasty. She and Shawn went camping over the long weekend, and she had an awesome time kayaking, and swimming in the lake. Alas, I don't have any pictures, but I'm sure I can wrangle some from Jessica.

6 Week Growth Spurt

2011-05-27T12:07:00.002-04:00

Growth spurts are a real pain. I managed to block out Emmeline's 6 weeker. Jamie's has been a trial. Moms-to-be: arrange for extra help this week, and be prepared to drink heavily. There is non stop eating, followed by serious fussiness and virtually no sleep. Jamie was an eating machine, sometimes eating every hour. He also gave up on napping for more than 15 minutes at a time. Of course, the trade off was that Tuesday night he was so tired he slept from 8 to 4 am. I think it's over now, he's been napping again, and we've gone back to eating every 2.5 or 3 hours. I can't wait to know how much weight he put on in this feeding frenzy.

5 weeks!

2011-05-16T10:19:00.003-04:00

Jamie will definitely be surpassing Em on physical milestones. He rolled over three times this morning! Safety disclaimers:

1 - This is the last time tummy time will take place on the couch, clearly.

2- I did not hop up to grab the camera to take this amazing footage. I had my media assistant (Emmeline) get it for me.

Car Seat Safety

2011-05-11T13:54:00.001-04:00

If you have car seat(s) in your car, check out this website: http://www.seatcheck.org/. There are locations in every state that will check the installation of your car seat. We had a small problem with Jamie's about two weeks ago (his seemed to be rolling to the sides a bit much when we'd take a corner particularly fast...or at all.) I made an appointment with our local place, and they checked both Em's and Jamie's. Both were technically installed correctly, but had way too much wiggle room. It is scary to think that although both Shawn and I had checked both seats to make sure they were in right, these officers were able to tighten them so much more. Jamie's was also at the wrong angle. I'm sure they both would have been fine had we been in an accident, but there's only one way to know for sure, and I'm glad we didn't have to find out. They were able to do both seats in less than 30 minutes, so it's not like it was a big hassle.

Emmeline "Green Thumb"

2011-05-09T11:13:00.002-04:00

We have started our garden! Emmeline loves to water her plants, and check to see how everything's growing. We have one planter with just herbs, one with just flowers, and one with veggies. To be honest, I don't even know what got planted, since Shawn did all of that. It will be a surprise for me!

What a Couple of Cuties!

2011-05-04T19:21:00.003-04:00

She really does love him, she's not trying to twist his head off.

Emmeline's a dog at Great Country Farms

Tummy Time

2011-04-30T16:05:00.001-04:00

How does a 2 week old contract pink eye? Don't know, but ours did it.

Speaking Poundage-wise...

2011-04-26T16:33:00.003-04:00

Jamie was exactly 7 pounds when he was born. Like all babies, he lost a little after he was born, getting down to 6lbs 4 oz (I think) at his lowest. I took him for his 2 week check today and he's up to a whopping 7 lbs 13 oz! Whoooo! He's gained a net 1.5 pounds. That equals a LOT of nursing. Luckily, Jamie mastered breastfeeding about as quickly as Emmeline did. It's certainly not easy, but once mom and baby get it, things turn around. He weighs less than his big sister did at this age, but he'll catch up eventually.

Just a Few Pictures

2011-04-16T14:27:00.004-04:00

Emmeline and Jamie in the hospital

I caught a gas smile. Priceless!

Enjoying the sunny weather (also helps with a touch of jaundice)

Welcome to the world, James Wesley!

2011-04-12T08:52:00.002-04:00

I won't get into the whole story right now, but we welcomed our little boy early Sunday morning. He was a boy in a hurry, and came after only 4 hours of labor, and 10 minutes of pushing. Jamie weighed 7 lbs even, and was 20 1/4 inches long. He looks nothing like his big sister, who is completely smitten with him!

39 Weeks

2011-04-05T16:31:00.003-04:00

Technically I'm 39 weeks tomorrow. But I had a doctor's appointment today, and they did a check - unexpected. Still 50% effaced, but nearly 2cm dilated now. I was only 2 cm when I checked into the hospital to have Emmeline. I'm really, really hoping I can do something with all of the very strong contractions I've been having, and get this baby born while Grandma Patsy is in town! Here's hoping... In case that doesn't happen, I did get to schedule my induction. April 21st will be the magic date if my body can't seem to get it together.

Ultrasound, Take 2

2011-03-25T16:35:00.002-04:00

Shawn and I had our last ultrasound this morning. Nothing too eventful, looks like baby is head down, very healthy, and we got to watch as s/he sucked his or her thumb. Too cute! The detail was so good we could even see the tongue moving around the thumb. The tech said baby is measuring a few days ahead, and weighs approximately 6 lbs, 13 ounces. Which is a great healthy weight, but I really hope I don't go all the way to 40 weeks, since babies at this point are putting on about an ounce a day! I still have three weeks to go till my due date, so at an ounce a day, we'd be looking at a hefty 8 pounder! I know that's not even that big, but bigger than Em was, so scary for me. Heartbeat was in the 140s, and all the organs we looked at were functioning and looking good. So now it's a waiting game. I continue to have contractions, and hope that they develop into something real, while the baby continues to grow and thumb its little nose at me, cozy and comfy.

A Little Mom Vent

2011-03-25T05:53:00.002-04:00

What do you do in those situations when another mom is interacting with your kid in a way that you disagree with? I don't mean a stranger disciplining my child...I think I know how I would handle that. We went to the play area at the mall this week, and Emmeline was having a great time following two older girls around the play area. I was completely exhausted, and told her when we got there that I would be sitting down. I told her if she needed help to come get me, but that I couldn't lift her onto the equipment. Not that I do that anyway; I think it's a safety hazard to put small children onto play equipment if they can't get on themselves. I never do that, not at school, not with my own kid. Anyway, there's a train at this particular play area, with two open carts, like coal carts. She wants in there in the worst way. Every time we go, she's after me to put her in. As soon as we got there, she goes straight to the cart, and looks at me from across the playground. I shake my head no. Ok, she moves on. Ten minutes later, I see the mom of Em's two new BFFs lifting her onto a little slide. Repeatedly. Then, the girls make their way to this coal carty thing. Yup, Other Mom lifts my kid into it. She wasn't doing anything wrong - she was being nice to someone else's kid. I couldn't be mad, but was thinking dammit! I told Em no, that she has to do it herself! And as an aside, she CAN. She's tall enough to get herself into this thing, she's just not adventurous enough to try something like that until she's positive she can do it. Which I LOVE...makes for far fewer injuries generally. So the point is, what could I/should I have done with this mom? As all this is going on, I'm also being chatted up by a mom with three kids, who as it turns out, is running for the state Senate. As soon as Candidate Mom left, I hauled my huge self up off the seat and went to talk to Em, letting her know we only had 5 minutes before we had to leave. Helpful Mom told me she thought my daughter was adorable. I was worried I was going to get judgement for letting my kid run all over the play area without helping her, but I think H.M. saw my incredible midsection and gave me a break. I said thanks, and we left pretty quickly after that. I think this lady was really nice, and I know I would be upset to think that I undermined another mom when I was trying to be kind. I don't know - moms can be so sensitive, and I didn't even know how to broach this with a woman I don't know, so I let it go.

Go Looking for Trouble....

2011-03-16T17:52:00.002-04:00

And it will find you. I've been having contractions since Monday morning, started at 10-15 minutes apart, got to 7, and today only 5 minutes apart. Not painful though. In any case, I am only just 36 weeks, so I called the doctor and moved my appointment to today. I am not dilated at all (which is sort of disappointing, considering the discomfort I've been in), but my doctor feels I need to take it easy until I hit 37 weeks, when they consider me "full term." So, effective tomorrow, I'm out of work until the end of next week. Woot. A little excitement to spice up this pregnancy.

Ice Cream Date

2011-03-14T13:37:00.001-04:00

Testing posting from my phone.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

35 Weeks

2011-03-07T20:38:00.002-05:00

Weeeee! I'm not complaining...this might sound complainy. Apparently pregnancy is boring. For me. I mean, I don't really want to be going to L&D early, or stressing about being on bedrest or anything, but. These doctor's appointments are completely boring. I measure on target, my BP is fine, on the low side, my weight gain is within the normal range. I am both desperately looking forward to having this baby, and thinking that the longer it stays in, the better. Not just for health, also for simplicity's sake. Dealing with one toddler is easier than one toddler and one newborn. Anyway, for now, baby is not making any moves that make me think it's coming anytime soon. I have a check on the 21st, they should do an internal, so I'll have numbers then, and then we have an ultrasound on the 25th. My doctor's office likes to do one at the end to check for the position of the baby, fluid levels, potential weight.
Maybe before this baby comes, I'll get some pictures of my big belly. Sorry guys.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

2011-01-27T12:20:00.005-05:00

We had Emmeline' s birthday party a few Saturdays ago. Sorry so late in posting. We had a few of our friends over, and the kids made pita pizzas, and frosted strawberry cupcakes and put sprinkles on them. Low key, and very fun. She had a great time, and the next night, her actual birthday, we had our family birthday dinner. Meme, Papa, Aunt Katie, John, Uncle Alex, Jenny, Aunt Tracy, and even Aunt Merissa all made it over for quiche and fruit salad. There were a disastrous number of presents, a beautiful cake made by Emmeline (funfetti with chocolate frosting), and loads of fun. Naturally those pictures are on the OTHER memory card, which I will have to locate.

For Emmeline's second birthday, I've been writing her a letter in my head for weeks, like I remember Erin did for Grace's 1st. There's probably too much to put into one letter, but I'll try:

Dear Emmy Bear,

You are amazing! You have learned so much, and teach me and Daddy so much. You are kind, and caring, and sympathetic. You love to give hugs and kisses, and love snuggling "on Mommy's belly." You seem to already love your sibling, who's not even here yet, often telling me all about what you will be sharing with "our baby." I love how loving you are! You are so smart, and so inquisitive - I love watching you learn something new. You ask questions all the time about everything. You seem to love words as much as I do, and love hearing new words. You have so many adult mannerisms, which are so precious and mark you out as obviously soaking up all of the things and ways Daddy and I are. I love when you tilt your head to the side, palms upturned, and crinkle your nose to explain that something is "prolly" all gone, or gross, or at Meme's house. You always say excuse me to get by me, and are very polite most of the time. You love bedtime, and ask for your jammies most nights. You make things so easy for me and Daddy! Except for eating...no matter how many wonderful, new and exotic foods Daddy and I offer you, and eat in front of you, nothing makes you happier than a "cheese sammich" and some fruit. Which is funny, because you love to cook all the great foods you don't like to eat. You run for your apron and your tower any time we mention cooking, and know what Boiling, Mixing, Whisking, Measuring, Pouring, and Baking all mean. You are such a special little girl, and I have loved every single minute of the last two years!

Love, Mommy

Ladybugs

2011-01-23T13:11:00.005-05:00

Emmeline has moved into her new room and is "so 'cited!" She loves all her ladybug stuff, most especially the ladybug lamp that Meme, Katie and John all worked so hard on. She loves to turn on the nightlight function all by herself. She is still working on climbing into the chair that Grandma Patsy got her for Christmas, but I think another inch or two and she'll have it. Thanks to all for all the birthday gifts that helped us put this together!

And yes, I'll post about Christmas and birthday next.

I Love Her Use of Words

2010-12-23T14:17:00.003-05:00

As Emmeline and I were driving home from Party City today, she was playing with the balloon she had received from "a nice man" and chatting with herself. I heard her mention something about a dog, and started paying attention. She said, "'Snot a dog. 'Sa balloon. On leash. I have leash on a balloon." I was cracking up at her language. Of course it's a leash. What else do you hold onto to keep your balloon from running away? A leash, naturally.
We're keeping an almost running commentary on the litany of things that Emmeline can do that babies can't. She reminded me today that "babies can't have a cup." Nevermind that I had been telling her that babies can't have cupcakes, cups are more important. She was completely thrown when my mom told her babies can't talk. "Can't use a words?" She was so shocked by this information that she brought it up again, several times. "Babies don't talk." No surprise that Ms. Verbal Skills is concerned about a whole person who can't even communicate. She likes to tell us too about the many things she's going to share with the baby when it comes to our house, "in a spring." She will share her ball and her dog, but according to Em, "babies can't go in Meme's car." Hmmm. Nor in Meme's lap, or all of Meme's house actually. We'll be working on that one.

Christmas card 2010

2010-12-16T21:55:00.001-05:00

Cranberry Frame Christmas

Turn your pictures into personalized Christmas cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Decorating the Tree/Dress-up

2010-12-06T18:36:00.005-05:00

My funny girl. She was SO excited to help trim the tree, she could hardly slow down enough to actually HELP. She had a tough time hanging the ornaments, but loved unpacking them, and talking about them. To pass the time, she tried on her dress ups.

Here is an actual conversation we had today. She was sitting in my lap, at nap time, in that 10 minute window before I'm actually off, and we're able to go home.

Me: Emmeline, yuck. Please don't pick your nose.

E: Pickin nose gross?

M: Yes, gross.

E: Pickin nose gross?

M: Yeah.

E: (reaches up to pick my nose)

M: No, thank you. I don't like that.

E: Pick nose self?

Awesome.

Santa Claus!

2010-12-03T20:27:00.005-05:00

Another successful visit to the "real" Santa. Emmeline was a little nervous about this all week, but was much more interested when she got to see a few kids going into Santa's sleigh ahead of her. Once she figured out how the routine went, and that Santa wasn't scaring anyone else, she started asking me when it would be her turn. She practically elbowed the family ahead of us out of the way, telling me "Girl all done. Emmeline's turn. I want sit in Santa's lap." She climbed into his sleigh, list in hand, and was doing great, even sitting on his lap without trouble. Then, Santa asked her to look at him...she did and then LOST it. "Mommy hug!" I had to get in the sleigh too. Oh well. At some point, she'll be over this, and then it won't be long before she won't even want to go. Emmeline's list was only one item, a bed for her baby doll, but Santa promised a new baby doll and some storybooks too. I think that would be a lovely Christmas.

On the baby front, we had our 20 week ultrasound the Friday before Thanksgiving. It went well, everything is developing nicely, and the tech didn't slip up and tell us the sex. If I can get my hands on a scanner, I'll put some of the pictures up. Last time, I was attending Loyola, so was able to use their scanners. We're still a little bit last decade here at our house. This baby is WAY more active than I remember Emmeline being at this point. Emmeline's active times were morning and early afternoon. This baby sleeps in, and then parties hard all night. I don't remember Em kicking hard enough to wake me up, or prevent me sleeping, until much closer to the end. I'm only 21 weeks now, and have trouble sleeping most nights because this baby is rocking out. I really do enjoy feeling the kicks though, I had forgotten how great that part of pregnancy is. This is the golden time - not so big to be uncomfortable, and past all the first trimester crap. I'm pretty sure strangers can tell I'm pregnant, and not just lumpy. I love this second trimester. Even with Em, I didn't get big enough to be really truly uncomfortable until around 34/35 weeks. Which means I should be really truly uncomfortable just at our anniversary! Sorry Shawn.

19 Weeks

2010-11-16T17:26:00.005-05:00

We have been so busy this fall. Now that Pretentious Thanksgiving is wrapped up, I can try to be better about posting. Especially now that more interesting things are happening. Emmeline is growing and learning so much, that I have avoided posting because I don't even know how to sum it up. I would have to post every day for a month to share all the new things she's done. She's counting, she's got most of her colors, (just don't ASK her, everything's green), she has learned probably 50 new signs, and is past the parrot stage into saying things that she couldn't have heard, but must have come up with on her own. Her toileting is just about done, she has an accident about once every 10 days or less. She's trying so hard to jump, and loves to walk backwards. She can pour her own milk, can eat a container of yogurt without getting it all over her shirt, and can put on her own shoes, provided they are mary jane style. Emmeline LOVED Halloween and is still trying out Trick or Treat! hoping for candy.

As for me, I've made it to all my prenatal appointments, and they have all been as disappointing as I found them with Emmeline. At least this time, I was prepared for how BORING these appointments are. I had one yesterday, heartbeat is in the 150s, I'm measuring right for dates, and have put on about 6 pounds. The more exciting stuff happens elsewhere. I've been feeling this baby move since pretty early on, partly because I knew what to feel for, and because things are ...looser? Not sure what the right word is, but I felt this kiddo around 11 weeks. Today was the first baby hiccups. I forgot how adorable that is. And slightly annoying, as I was trying to take a nap during my limited napping time window. But still nice. We have our ultrasound on Friday. As with Em, we won't be finding out the sex, so don't even ask. However, I'm still always interested in what people think we'll be having. I'll try to get Shawn to take a belly picture tonight so you can decide whether I'm carrying low or high, or whatever other evidence it is people use to decide.

And, We're Back!

2010-09-14T19:40:00.003-04:00

Obviously, we've been busy this summer. So busy, I couldn't even post a new blog entry. Quick recap: Went to Denver in June for a conference for Shawn's work, got to see Shaina and Judi! Went to Raleigh in July to officiate/bridesmaid in Merissa and Luke's wedding. Went to St. John in August and hung out with the Blomases and Simpson/Lichliters. Emmeline's potty trained (95%). We've been enjoying our fruits and veggies from Great Country Farms, and the free U-Pick we get for being members. I lost my camera, which is also part of the reason I haven't posted. No memory card, no pictures. But then Shawn FOUND my camera! Weee! And, I'm pregnant.
So a pretty eventful summer. But now the weather is slightly chillier (I mean, after a summer of record breaking heat, 85 feels chilly). Fall is approaching, and with it, FOOTBALL! PUMPKINS! CIDER! LEAVES! and JACKETS! Yea yea yea yea yea! So, hopefully, pictures to follow of us doing all of those fun fall things. I'm not sure yet how I will post pictures of us jacketing or cidering, but I'll see what I can do.

Lame Update

2010-06-04T13:54:00.009-04:00

At some point, I'll have ten minutes so sit and write about all the funny and sweet things Em is doing lately, but for now, pics and captions will have to suffice:

Helping make dinner! Em loves her apron, she knows it means food is coming.

Signing help.

Emmeline loves to feed her baby, whose name is Ava. Ava is a 4 year old at our preschool who likes to share her breakfast with Em.

We took Em to the Botanic Garden a few weekends ago. Their children's garden is awesome! She loved watering the plants.

After the Botanic Garden, we went to a little family dinner at Jaleo. Delicious!

Emmeline tried so hard to get that ball when Andrew and Luke and Daddy were throwing it around. She never got discouraged though - she knew at least one of the three men she has wrapped around her finger would give in eventually.

Emmeline really really enjoyed her first corn on the cob at Gracie's house. My camera died as I took this picture, so it's not a great one, but I cannot emphasize enough how much she liked that corn.

Under-Where?

2010-05-18T21:44:00.002-04:00

Big things happening at our house... Emmeline started wearing underwear this weekend. She did so much better than I could have expected over the weekend, only having a few accidents. Today, day 4 in underwear, she was DRY ALL DAY!!! Granted, she was wet at nap, but since she turned 16 months on Sunday, I'm not going to hold it against her. She is a superstar.

Once Upon a Potty

2010-04-25T19:06:00.003-04:00

*For those who are perturbed by potty language, please choose another blog. I will try to keep it clean, but can't promise much.*

I have had high hopes for potty training Em since before she was born. I was going to use cloth diapers so that she would start out from the beginning knowing how a wet diaper feels. The "good" brand diapers absorb the moisture too quickly; children in crappy diapers or cloth tend to train earlier. When my cloth diapering dream ended in a rash of, well, rash, I tried to use the cheapest diapers possible. That went by the wayside until a few months ago - she kept pooping through them. Since her birthday, however, we have been using store brand diapers, and sitting Emmy on the potty after she wakes up, after nap, before bath and before bed. Back in February, she was using the potty pretty much everytime we sat her on it. We signed potty, we talked about wet and dry, we practiced washing hands, we read potty books. Things were going swimmingly.
Then she started walking. Once she figured out how to get up from the potty, that was what she wanted to spend her time doing. It has been several weeks since she would sit on the potty unless she was being entertained. I still made her sit at least before bath, since her peeing in the tub is not how I want to spend an evening, but rarely was anything happening.
I was getting a little frustrated; not that I wanted to force the issue, but she had been doing so well! I had been quietly buying training underwear anytime I saw it on sale. I had bought another potty so we could have one on both levels of the house.
About a week ago, I decided I know enough and have enough experience to give this a good try again, without pushing her or really frustrating myself. So, every afternoon, after nap, I put her in underwear. I let her walk around the house, and dragged the potty with us into every room. I analyzed every facial tic, and would have her sit on the potty whenever she looked like something was going on. She peed on herself a few times, and I just cleaned it up, and reminded her that her potty was close for next time. By Friday, she was telling me as she was peeing in her diaper or underwear! She's not really ready to be potty training for real, but I feel really good about where she is now. Last night, she told me in the tub that she had to poop. I got her out of the tub, and she did poop - right in the potty. Same thing this afternoon. She's definitely got an awareness now of what's going on, so if things continue like this, we may be done with diapers before the fall!!!
I'm really excited for this next step onto toddlerhood. Whooooohooo!

Catch Up

2010-04-14T19:37:00.007-04:00

I've been really bad about uploading pics. This one is Jeffrey having a BLAST in the tub, and Emmeline about to lost it. Great blackmail for high school though.

This is Emmeline finding her basket on Easter morning. I was sort of busy and only managed to get one of her in her Easter dress though, so I'll have to ask the Grandmas to help me out here.

Woot!

2010-03-31T13:36:00.003-04:00

Monday, Rebecca saw Emmeline for her weekly PT. That morning, Emmeline was taking three and four steps if prompted, between us. She wasn't happy about it, but would share things between me and Rebecca. This morning, I got to school, put her down in the middle of the playroom, and put my stuff away. When I came back, Emmeline was still standing where I put her. I walked closer to her, and she took 7 steps to me! The entire rest of the morning, she was walking everytime she could get up! To be fair, this first began this Saturday as a love affair with the bike (I mean, like dirt bike/ATV) that Grammy and Aunt Katie got for her. She took 6 steps to get to that gorgeous bike. But this morning was totally different. No external motivation for walking-just walking. It was awesome, and I think we may have rounded the corner. After this, I promise to stop blogging about Emmeline's physical progress and start writing about other stuff.

Happy St. Pat's

2010-03-23T14:28:00.005-04:00

What a difference a year makes, huh? Hardly even looks like the same kid.

Picture Catch Up

2010-03-16T14:29:00.004-04:00

Working very hard on fork and spoon- Yes, two fisted eater

Chocolate Lover's Festival...yes, confirmed, Emmeline is a chocolate lover

Enjoying the nice(r) weather, Em loves to climb the stairs at the playground!

Gimme 2 Steps, Gimme 2 Steps Mister

2010-03-16T14:16:00.002-04:00

And it begins. For months, in an effort to console us, people have been telling us that once Emmeline starts walking, we'll be wishing she would go back to being little. Wishing we could slow her down. Well, she's not really walking WALKING yet, but she took her first two steps toward self propulsion on Saturday night. I can't explain that there is no way Shawn and I will wish she would stop. We're very proud.

PT Update

2010-03-01T20:12:00.003-05:00

Emmeline has had three whole dates with her new BFF, Miss Rebecca. Actually, Miss Rebecca might be my new BFF too. I'm not attributing Emmeline's incredible progress on her feet directly to Miss Rebecca, but I feel that she has played a part. At the end of January, Emmeline would not pull up on furniture, didn't want to support her own weight standing, cried if we stood her up, and refused to be on her belly on the floor. As of tonight, she CAN crawl (still doesn't like to, but physically is capable), will crawl up our entire flight of stairs without enticement, pulls up on anything she can, and can stand unassisted for about 10 seconds. She will walk if we hold her hands, and likes to walk with her baby doll stroller. The amazing changes that have taken place in the last 28 days probably don't seem amazing to parents whose children do these things on time - to me and Shawn, they are all marvels. I think she might actually walk before she hits puberty. Of course, she's technically still not even late for walking. But it kills me to watch children younger than her walking around blithely at the mall or church or school. She has worked SO hard at just pulling up. I still don't know how she got to be where she is; there are many different ideas floating around. My best theory is that she really didn't get the tummy time she should have because of her reflux, and her personality is very flexible. She isn't motivated by dangling toys out of her reach; she'll just choose a different toy then, thank you very much. She isn't very persistent in terms of physical effort. This of course means I have a pretty easy going kid - easily interested in something else after something verboten has been taken away - but it also means that we have to find some kind of motivation to get her moving. And that's the biggest difference I see now. She is moving for the sake of moving. She wants to try out pulling up on different things just to see if she can. She wants to climb the stairs, not because Mean Daddy is dangling Shelton just out of her reach, but because her brain is telling her to try it. If Miss Rebecca managed to change that, then she is definitely my new BFF.

Why? Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me?

2010-02-24T20:10:00.002-05:00

Another in the long list of secrets no one tells you, just waits for you to figure out on your own:
While your hormones allow you to hold on to your hair while you are pregnant, the hair immediately starts falling out after the baby is born. Yes, people told me that. What all of my mom friends and the books I read failed to tell me is that when your hair begins to grow back in, you can have matching hair with your infant. I have all of these ridiculous baby hairs sticking up on the crown of my head and by my bangs. Real cute. I can't put a little velcro bow in so strangers smile and tell me how cute I am. I have been secretly stealing Shawn's pomade.

Snow Days

2010-02-11T14:38:00.008-05:00

You've heard all about it. You've experienced it yourself. Snowpacalypse. Snoverkill. Here at my house. Emmeline has been taking it hard. I stayed home from work on Friday, and got off work at 12:30 on Thursday, so we've been home pretty much every minute since February 4 at 1. We did go to the grocery store, CVS, Home Depot. Not exciting. Emmeline has, in the last 7 days:

- helped bake banana muffins, brownies, and chocolate chip cookies

- tasted her first chocolate chip, banana muffin, and chocolate chip cookie (I drew the line at brownie)

- played hairdresser with both mommy and daddy

- chased Ruby around the basement

- watched her first TV (she has been present for TV watching, and even tuned in a little. This was the first time I turned on the TV trying to engage her in watching it.)

- lumped around the floor, begging to be picked up

- screamed to be put on the ground

- spent a LOT of time being walked around the house by Shawn or myself

- pulled up on anyone who walks by her

- learned how to come down the stairs...on her butt

- fingerpainted for the first time - naked, in the bathtub

- pooped in the toilet

- peed in the toilet

So, you know, it's been a busy couple of days for her. Shawn and I are likewise completely exhausted. I LOVE my daughter, I greatly enjoy the time I get to spend with her, but I am beat.

IFSP

2010-01-26T14:58:00.002-05:00

Introvert/Feeling/Sensitive/Person? No, I didn't have Emmeline take the MBTI.
Introspective First Summer Planner? Nope, not that either. (I made that up.)

This is something I have been meaning to blog about, but didn't quite know how to start. When you're embroiled in something, it's not easy to stop and explain it to others from the very beginning. So, Emmeline doesn't crawl. We know that. She commando crawled a little, before she figured out how to flip onto her behind. Since that fateful day, we have not been able to put her on her belly on the floor - she just gets up to her butt and does her cute butt scoot. For the uninitiated, she leans her weight on her left hand, behind her, while she uses her right foot to drag herself along the floor. She's become very adept at this, and it is her preferred method of locomotion. It works for her. However, she never got all that good time working her muscles (especially her leg muscles) while crawling around.
So, when we took her for her 9 month check up, Dr Martin asked about how she did pulling up or supporting her own weight when we stood her up. I told him she had no desire to do either of those things, and after he tested her out, he found I was right. He recommended I give it a month, and if she was still not supporting her weight on her legs, we would need to consider...other things. I don't remember what exactly, just that the pediatrician was telling me I had a month to get my kid to do something. Right. I felt that it was not a big deal that she wasn't pulling up at 9 months (I mean, some kids don't even crawl until 10 months, I really wasn't worried). I was slightly worried that she wasn't supporting her own weight, but she has run a little behind with all gross motor stuff.
Fast forward to December. Emmeline is now 10, almost 11 months. I realize that she is not going to work this out on her own. She is no closer to pulling up, and is downright scared if I stand her up, even leaning on something. Great. This is when I decide to call the pediatrician. He checks her out, and says he feels that her muscle tone is very low. He gives me a referral to the Early Intervention program here. They meet her, and after playing lots of games with her, chatting with me, and checking her out, decide that she is eligible for services through the county. The physical therapist we met with wrote a detailed, and somewhat depressing, IFSP - Individualized Family Service Plan. Which brings us pretty much up to date.
As of now, I'm just waiting for a call telling us who our physical therapist is, and when/where we will meet for our weekly PT date.
Of course, this all uncharted territory for us. I've worked with a few children with IFSPs before (this is the preschool equivalent of an IEP), but every one of those kids had serious special needs - autism or CP, things that aren't going to go away. This is different, in that it seems Em only needs a little push and practice before she'll catch up. The physical therapist who wrote up her IFSP said she thought Emmeline would easily meet the goals she set long before the goal date. We'll see, and I'll update things here with how the physical therapy is going.

Milepost: Toddler

2010-01-13T21:12:00.005-05:00

Emmeline has hit a bunch of milestones lately, although I may be making a mountain range out of molehills, since I get geeky about these things. (It's my job, and she's my kid.) My favorite so far is her newest sign - please. She signs please all day long, anytime there is anything she wants. I think she's signing it the way some kids sign more, like, yes that! But I count it as being polite.

She also went from the phase of "taking things out of things" into "putting things into things" while we were on our trip. Previously, if there was a container with anything in it, those things had to be taken out and flung aside. This included anything in my purse (awesome honey, let's put those tampons back in the purse now), any toy in a basket, all books in shelves, food in bowls/containers. Anything. Granted, this was a way to keep her busy, but a messy one. Then, as we packed up to come home from Buenos Aires, I noticed Em putting shampoo into Shawn's shoe. So, after we boarded the plane, we had about 45 minutes to kill before take off. I found an air sickness bag, and placed a pen top, lip gloss, hand cream, a shoe, and my Petco card into the bag. She spent almost the whole 45 minutes taking the items out, placing them in a neat pile, and replacing them in the bag. Then, Tuesday night, she saw the parmesan cheese shaker I had out from Gracie's visit, and just started putting the toothpicks in - she literally wasn't able to do this activity on Friday night. It took her a while to do all 8, but once she got it, she did the whole group 4 times! I was so impressed. Her fine motor skills kill me.

Of course, with all of this progress toward being a big girl comes the milestone I was really not looking forward to: the Tantrum. I don't mean you take something away from her, and she cries until you distract her with something new. I mean, the full on, screaming, looking at you to see your reaction, hysterical fit. Lucky me, we had one of those for dinner Tuesday night. She wanted nothing to do with the dinner I prepared for her. I ended up leaving the room and letting her cry for a few before I came back in. Hard, but not even close to letting her cry it out back in the day. It's a lot easier when I know that there is nothing I can do to make it better - she just has to get it out. In the end, she ate every bite of dinner and asked for more, please.

Emmeline is getting really excited about seeing other babies, including pictures of babies. She squeals, and grins. When we read one of her books with pictures of babies, she will touch her head if the baby is wearing a hat, or smile if the baby in the picture is smiling.

Physically, she's working really hard on standing. She can hold herself up now for a minute or so without getting tired. Although, I don't mean in the middle of the room - I mean propped on the table, or coffee table or something. I can't honestly tell if she sits down because her muscles are tired, or if it's because she wants to move. Whatever.

It's amazing to think that a year ago, I was weighing my options about being induced, or walking another 7 miles around Tyson's Corner as I strained to feel anything like a contraction. I also was completely convinced that Emmeline was going to be a boy. She's absolutely amazing, and has been from day one!

Travelin' Baby

2010-01-12T14:14:00.009-05:00

Saturday morning, we woke up, shuttled Emmeline off to a pediatrician's appointment, (which was a nightmare. Awful.) then finally got onto 95 to drive to JFK. Yes, we were flying out of JFK the day after Christmas, which meant we had to drive a fair distance to make it in time for our 10:30 departure. After a painful amount of rain and traffic, we arrived at JFK at 8:30, were hustled to the check in counter, and checked into our flight to beautiful Buenos Aires! This is a picture of what my poor girl looked like by the time we got her strapped into her seat on the plane:

Pretty painful, as was the flight. An 11 hour flight in which Em refused to stay in her car seat. So glad we paid for a seat for her on an international flight. Not like that was expensive or anything. Anyway, she slept some, as did Shawn, Merissa and I. We arrived in Argentina on Sunday morning, and were immediately greeted by how baby crazy the portenos are. We were allowed to skip the line at customs since we had a little baby with us. Strangers piched her cheeks, and told us in spanglish how beautiful she was. Asked how old she was, and what her name is. Luckily, I speak Spanish 101, (nothing higher) so I was able to answer their questions for the most part. Emmeline was a superstar down there - she waved, smiled, flirted and blew kisses to most of the strangers.

We were renting an apartment, so we took a cab (no car seat) from Ezeiza Aeropuerto to Recoleta, the neighborhood we would call home for the next week. The apartment was gorgeous, three bedroom, four bath. Wild. Lucky for us, the woman we were renting from spoke English fluently. She told us there was a grocery store around the corner, so we loaded Em into the backpack and hopped over there. We found that instead of a ten items or under line, they had a pregnant/with child ten years or under line! Awesome! We didn't actually see it until we were done, but I think this proves the extent to which the portenos are baby obsessed. Emmeline wasn't a huge fan of the canned peas and jamon y queso raviolis we gave her for lunch.

I won't do a blow by blow of the whole trip, but here are some highlights:

1) Visiting the Buenos Aires Zoo, and seeing indigenous South American animals

2) Numerous taxi rides with generally cranky cabbies who are 10 times as scary as any NYC cabbie

3) Visiting the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada (famous for many speeches from its balcony by such Argentines as Evita and Diego Maradona)

4) Eating our first alfajores...I don't know how these glorious confections aren't popular here. They are ridiculous - who can resist what is essentially a dulce de leche sandwich cookie coated in chocolate?

5) Riding the "fast ferry" to Uruguay in first class, where we got to ride a bus to a farm where we were the only four people who didn't belong on the farm. They fed us "beautiful" pork, flan, and homemade dulce de leche, along with 7 tons of other homemade food...and showed us their Guinness Book of World Record collections of pencils and keychains. I am not making this up. Swear to you. I also rode a horse. There is photographic evidence.

6) Emmeline taking many naps in our backpack, and also on padded benches at any cafe we could find.

Christmas Part 2

2010-01-10T08:38:00.004-05:00

Christmas morning continued on, with lots of baby Tylenol, cuddles, and whining. Emmy soldiered on, through family pictures, and a trip to my parents' house. She opened more presents at Grammy and Gramps' house, and took a nap. That afternoon, the whole family (Patsy, Merissa, Luke, Grandpa Tom, Kathy, Rich, Katie, Alex, Grandma Eileen) came to our house for Christmas dinner. My mom had prepped all the food, and we just used my oven to heat it up. The great part was that since we had ALL of these people at our house, everyone got a turn to hold Em, and try to keep her happy. They also got to help us take pictures and mirrors off our walls, since we were going to have our house painted. Emmeline's fever finally broke at 7, just in time to have a few bites of the dinner she had previously pooh-poohed, and head to bed. By that point, I had already called the on duty nurse with our pediatrician, to see if I should take her to an Urgent Care center. I don't care what the pediatrician says, a "teething" fever should not be 103. She said no, just keep her hydrated, but luckily we were through it just an hour or two later.
Christmas dinner wrapped up around 7:30, and Merissa, Luke, Shawn and I flew around the house moving stuff off the kitchen counter, stripping the bathrooms of personal items, and un-trimming the Christmas tree.
Thus ended our first Christmas at our house. It was exactly what I thought it would be - family, fun, with a touch of frenzy.

Christmas, Part 1

2010-01-09T06:56:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted in a while because there's so much to post! I've decided I'll just have to break it up, so here's the first part of Chrismas:

Patsy, Luke and Merissa were all here for Christmas, which was wonderful! On Christmas Eve, Patsy, Merissa and I went to get pedicures and left Em with the boys. The pedicures were an adventure...but when we got back to the house, Shawn mentioned that Emmeline wasn't acting herself, and that he thought her teeth were bothering her, so he'd given her some Tylenol. She was acting kind of whiny, so I picked her up, and could immediately tell she was burning up. Thermometer read 102 axaillary. Awesome. It was 3:30 on Christmas Eve - we were all getting ready for church and dinner with my whole family. Great. We dressed her up, and prepared for a rough evening, packing the thermometer and baby tylenol in the bag; I didn't want to stay home and skip church if she just had a teething fever, and we were going to hold her in our laps anyway, not take her to the nursery.

Church was great, she just sat in our laps and languished. Got to dinner, more of the same, but more whining, because she didn't like what we were feeding her. Also, 4 hours had passed, so we dosed her up again. She didn't sleep very well all night, and was still fevery Chrismas morning, but played along pretty well so long as we kept to the four hour dosing of Tylenol. She opened lots of presents, and really enjoyed all of the babies, books, clothes, and toys she got.

My Big Girl

2009-12-19T10:45:00.002-05:00

As a preschool teacher, I came into motherhood with certain prejudices. I feel that independence is an important goal, one that I will work hard to help my child achieve as early as possible. I know not every parent feels that way, since I have actually had children come into my class at 18 months having never (no, not ever) fed themselves. Or been told no. But that's an aside. Both from the way I was raised, and from everything I've learned through the Montessori training, young children WANT to be independent, they want to try to do things themselves. If they can't quite do it, that's ok, I'm here to help, but my experience has been that most children (especially under 3) really love to try to accomplish something "myself." The kid in my class who FINALLY puts his own shoes on is so very proud that he did it. One of my kids' constant refrains is "I didi!" (I did it!) The motto in our class is "Help me to help myself." Coming from that angle, I sometimes have to put up with a little extra mess or plan a little extra time to allow Emmeline to really try to help herself. Since she's not quite to the point of say, dressing herself yet, the main time we get to practice these skills is meals. We started with the open cup back when she started solid foods. I would say by about 7, maybe 8, months, she had that down. She now drinks out of a big girl cup, the tupperware bell cups just like I had when I was little! Em has always done pretty well with a fork, provided I load it up for her. But I was stuck on spoons. I am ashamed to admit that I was still feeding her yogurt, applesauce, and oatmeal, because I was absolutely not prepared for the mess that I was sure would ensue if I let her go with a spoon. Yesterday I made her some baby muesli, and as I stirred it I realized it was pretty thick. I thought, hey, she's 11 months old now, surely I can give this spoon thing a try...and we were at school, so someone else would have to clean up the mess, right?! She did so beautifully, she ate the whole bowl, and would hand me the spoon to reload after every bite. By the end of the bowl, she was trying to scoop it up herself. Last night at dinner, I decided to try letting her feed herself the sausage with the fork. Previously, if I had ten minutes to sit and help, I would load up the fork, but most nights, I left a fork on the table and went on my merry way, happy to have her preoccupied with dinner while I did the dishes or got Shawn's and my dinner ready. Well, not only did she use the fork for every bite, including peas, but she tried valiantly to poke the sausage with the fork. It never left her hand the whole meal. I'm really proud of her! She's just getting older and bigger in front of me.

Need a Little Christmas Spirit?

2009-12-12T16:25:00.002-05:00

I have the answer for you: It doesn't involve baking, cleaning, wrapping, shopping, singing, dressing up, praying, or even leaving your computer chair. (Although you are welcome to do any one or all of those things too!) One of my all time favorite blogs is hosting a fund raiser for 14 different charities, one each day for two weeks. They have invited everyone to donate $1 every day to help people who need help. Friday's charity of choice was charity:water, an organization that drills wells in third world countries. Today's group is St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Who knows who will benefit tomorrow? The writers at CakeWrecks are choosing the charities based on user comments. There were several requests for the ASCPA, the Human Rights Campaign, and Operation Smile. I know $1 a day is not going to break the bank for anyone, especially for only two weeks. Cake Wrecks has a readership of about 80,000. Can you imagine donating $80,000 to Heifer International? Awesome. If you don't agree with supporting some of these charities, then give double to one you do like. If you don't want to donate to any charities, at least you'll get a hearty laugh out of seeing some dubious cake decorating over at their blog. (Who can resist a cake that says "Leave Blank" ?) Merry, merry Christmas!

Santa Claus!

2009-12-05T12:37:00.003-05:00

Emmeline got to visit Santa Claus last night - and she did really well! She was a little hesitant about sitting on his lap, but didn't cry or anything. However, when he asked me to turn her around so she could see him, she wasn't having any part of it.

The coolest part of all this is that this is the SAME Santa my brother and sister and I went to when we were little, and my uncle went to see him too! I think he looks pretty good for being this old (he's been "Santa" for 63 years!!!)...He is really the TRUE Santa. In trying to explain to Shawn how awesome this guy is, I realized myself how what can be just another holiday hassle for parents can shape a little kid's life. He always gave us little cards with a picture of the Nativity and a Bible verse on the back, would lecture us about making sure that our grades and homework came first, and explicitly stated at every year's "press conference" that he would absolutely not be bringing anyone toy guns, swords or other weapons. Parents with children under 2, who obviously don't have lists, get to skip to the head of the line for the pictures - which, by the way, are not something you get charged for. You can bring your camera, and take your own pictures, or his "head elf" will take them for you. This year, since Emmeline has no list, he provided me with one, and told me to pick out a gift to give my daughter. On the list?

Patience, Kindness, Wisdom, Respect, Consideration, Committment, Willingness and Time. A Santa with ethics, not just some guy a mall hires. He's been at Merrifield Garden Center since the 70s, and our family has been going since then. We've skipped the few years since Alex was too old and before Em came along, but I am so excited to have this part of Christmas back!

A Few Seasonal Pics

2009-12-03T20:27:00.006-05:00

I'm not sure how exactly she managed to suck some of the mint out of this thing, but she must have, because she was awfully reluctant to give it up. Here I thought I was giving her an innocent prop to keep her hands busy.

I'm sorry - what do you mean I'm not supposed to chew on ornaments?

Oh Mom, you are HILARIOUS when you make quacking noises...do you realize how dumb you look? Whoo, you kill me.

So Many New Things

2009-11-11T20:48:00.003-05:00

9 months seems to be Emmeline's month! This girl has covered a lot of ground since turning 9 months old. She mastered all kinds of new things this weekend. She started clapping this weekend, giving high fives, barely blowing kisses, has begun imitating almost any sound she hears, and added a few new words to her repertoire. Cutest among them is "Uh-oh," which she has been dropping into the conversation whenever something falls, or a loud noise is heard, or sometimes apropos of nothing. This is accompanied by raised eyebrows, and sometimes an index finger pointing at the offending item. She thinks it's hilarious to fake laugh when adults are laughing about something. Tonight, she started dropping things from her high chair purposely and watching for our reaction. We had our first for-real tantrum this weekend too, when Shawn took her cup away (since she was playing with toys instead of drinking). She clenched her hands, and shook and growled. Yikes.

She's moving ALL OVER the place, on her butt. Em has also started standing, provided someone assists her in the pulling up process. I sort of put her hands on a table or ottoman or edge of a chair, and she stands there for a while before trying to let go of said prop. Pretty awesome. Fine motor wise, she's very into putting things into other things - balls into tubes, little people into bowls, napkin rings onto paper towel stand. At school, her teachers showed her the lesson with the parmesan cheese shaker...and as soon as I have that all set up here, I'll get video/pictures up of that. She is such a big girl all the sudden.

Lastly, if anyone has seen the movie Team America, I'm slightly afraid that we have a terrorist on our hands...If you haven't, check this out- You will hear Emmeline's newest word or phrase used many times. :)

My Review of Bearington Baby - Wee Lamby Snuggler

2009-11-04T17:46:00.001-05:00

Originally submitted at BabySakes.com

Your baby will love to snuggle with this soft Bearington Baby Wee Lamby snuggler. Made from the softest creamy fabric with a lamb head and feet, it is the perfect size for baby. Measures 9.

Love this little lamby!

By Sandi from Fairfax, VA on 11/4/2009

Pros: Easy To Clean, Cuddly, Durable, Portable

Best Uses: Infants

Describe Yourself: First Time Parent, Child Care Professional

My 9 month old little girl LOVES her little lamb - she cuddles with it to fall asleep, and her face lights up when she sees him. I love that it's not so big; I can easily stuff it into my purse, out of her sight. She's been in love with her lamb since May, when she got him.

(legalese)

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-02T19:36:00.002-05:00

From our little flower!

Who is blossoming beautifully. Our big girl has decided against crawling; the butt scoot is SO much cooler. And she's pretty adept at it. She also flatly refuses to stand up, pull up, or in any way demonstrate an interest in what could one day lead to walking. Which is not a huge deal, just unusual. She's making up for her lack of physical prowess in the language department. I know, with a dad like Shawn, how could she not have A LOT to say? She says daddy, mama, night night, hi, izz?, more and water. I know it sounds unbelievable, because she's only 9 months, but I am truly not hallucinating this. Others have heard her say these words. The only one that is slightly questionable is water; she doesn't say "wah-ter", she says na-na. But, she only says it when she is thirsty, and pointing at her cup. So, although it's not WATER, it means water. I give her half credit. I'm going to try to get some video up of her chatter. It's really pretty sweet.

Mealtime at Our House

2009-10-11T13:48:00.003-04:00

I give you, the thirstiest girl in the world.

Jet Setter

2009-10-05T20:33:00.004-04:00

We took Emmeline on her first ever plane ride on Friday...and held our breath for 4 hours, as we waited for her to lose it. She acted like she flew every day. No big deal. Never even fussed on our way to Denver. Ear pressure? What's that? Altitude sickness? Nah. Not even when we left Denver and drove another 3500 feet in elevation to Winter Park, CO for our friend's wedding. She was a little weirded out about our hotel room, although honestly, so was I. It was nice, it just smelled awful. She really enjoyed the backpack we got, taking a hike with Shawn through the gorgeous Rocky Mountains. Truly, I think if Shawn ever convinces me to move away from NoVa, it will be to move to Denver. Judge for yourself, this was the "altar" where Craig and Shaina got married...could it possibly get more beautiful?

So, at any rate, Emmeline behaved beautifully on both of our flights, LOVED getting to meet so many new people (and a few dogs), and had a great time hanging out in the backseat of the rental with Cassie (THANKS for all your help!) Along the way, she also mastered a fun new skill - waving. She has a whole new way to begin interactions with strangers now, and she had so many opportunities to practice while at a wedding, in an airport, and on a plane. It was very disappointing to wave, and wave, and smile with big eyes at the man across the airplane aisle, only to have him ignore her every time. He was asleep, after all. She'll get it some day...

A Little Crawling, Sort Of

2009-09-27T20:10:00.002-04:00

FINALLY...it posted.

A Little Military Action, Here, In My Kitchen!

2009-09-22T17:46:00.005-04:00

WHOOOOO! My baby is not a total lump. This morning, she actually ARMY CRAWLED to me! She was playing ever so nicely on the floor, and when I finished getting everything ready so we could go, I asked her if she was ready. She mae her way over to me, talking the whole time! It was so nice not to have her typical response: "WHINE, WHINE, WHINE." (read: pick me up, slave)

Four Beach Babies, OBX (too cute, no?)

Does This Qualify as a Life Event?

2009-09-04T14:25:00.003-04:00

I finally did it. I have joined the legions of stay at home moms. SAHM. "Do you work?" I'm not sure how to answer that... for a paycheck? No. But, yes, I work.
Anyway, this new thing won't start until after Halloween. I gave my boss my notice today, but I gave them 8 weeks. I have a strong sense of guilt. I feel like I'm abandoning the kids in my class and their parents, so I wanted to give my boss a good long time to find a good replacement. I have two kids starting toileting in the next month, so I can't abandon them to some quack off the street. I know they'll all be just fine, but I still worry.
I worry a lot. About everything. What if I get bored? I'm used to working with lots of kids with various things going on, not just one kid. What if I end up with a spoiled rotten, Mommy's-girl who won't go to strangers and cries unless I hold her? What if I go crazy, having no me time? What if Shawn loses his job? What if I lose all sense of my identity? What if I worry about things so much I don't just enjoy my daughter, which is why I'm doing this in the first place?
I'm sure it will all work out in the long run.

This Girl...is impatient

2009-08-17T18:27:00.002-04:00

And that's being kind. You can clearly hear her grunting and growling. If we don't get the food in her mouth fast enough, we hear about it. Luckily, she can feed herself finger food, like Cheerios and cut up fruit. In fact, she won't let us feed her if it's something she can do. I think she may have developed a little bit of a 'tude.

2009-08-09T10:46:00.007-04:00

Our big girl is getting...well, big. She still looks like a chub, but in fact is quite skinny. You wouldn't know it by watching her eat, though.

She's starting to eat some finger food, like the salmon (cat food?) at left. She does great with Cheerios, and we tried bananas this morning. Hilarious. No worry about choking, she made sure to pulverize the bananas first by pounding the plate. Reminded me of some kind of comedy routine you'd see Peter Sellers doing, pouding the food to make sure it's dead on the plate. She has lots of adventures lately, going to the Baltimore aquarium with Grandma Patsy when she was in town, and enduring new windows being installed. Very loud. The aquarium wasn't as cool as I thought it would be - she didn't really care about the fish too much. She did enjoy Grandma Patsy being here, and showed off appropriately. (Emmy and Daddy at Phillips' Crab House in B-more)

Back to Basics

2009-08-05T20:19:00.002-04:00

Now that Em is sitting up, it is time for new toys! She loves the ring stacker, and also enjoyed a pot and spoon I gave her on Monday night.

Splash Time...Oh, Nevermind.

2009-07-15T20:26:00.005-04:00

As you might be able to tell from the pictures, our church had a little water night for the kids. The flyer said "birth to twelve," so we lathered Emmy up in sunscreen, and put her mermaid swimsuit on. The little wading pool was not happening, (I think the water was too cold!) but she did enjoy sitting in my lap loving on her duck. Emmeline also got to taste her first ever watermelon. She definitely liked it until I snatched it away from her because she was able to gum off a chunk large enough to choke on. Which she promptly did.

She also got to have her first meal in a restaurant on Sunday night - I don't count nursing while I eat. We went to Tequila Grande in Vienna, and she sat in her big girl high chair and ate broccoli and cereal. Once she had that experience, there's no holding her back. She got to eat out again on Monday for Uncle Alex's birthday dinner. Having a big girl dinner with Grammy, Grampy, Uncle Alex, Aunt Katie, Blake and Sebastian was SO exciting.

Truly, though, it is this picture that captures the weekend, and her attitude generally. This was taken at Wegman's; she's so cool. So casual. So grown up. My silly monkey and her baby doll.

A Bris!

2009-07-06T20:21:00.003-04:00

We attended our first ever bris this weekend, of little Jeffrey Schneibolk! He made it through just fine, as you can see below: Mercifully, Emmeline napped through it, so we didn't have two screaming infants. I'm not sure how psyched I am to attend another one, however.

After the bris, we went to lunch with Grandpa Tom. Emmeline loved sharing his salad - Grandpa kindly donated a slice or two of avocado to the "Keep Emmeline Entertained While In Public" fund. It was lovely. We didn't do anything too exciting for the Fourth, since babies like to go to sleep well before fireworks begin. We all had a nice dinner over at the Blomases before the fatigue hit.

In other news, our hungry hungry hippo is eating like a champ! She's had so many foods, and so far really likes....eating, mostly. She doesn't care too much for peaches, but has decided that everything else is a go. We're going to start going a little further afield, with pearled barley and millet in the next few weeks (both have lots of protein, a surprise to me). She's sitting up so well we put her in the grocery cart tonight. Although, by sitting up, I mean propped. Not solo. That is not in her repertoire just yet.

Next weekend, we have water night at church - I'll be sure to post pictures!

Our Weekend

2009-06-28T14:10:00.005-04:00

Emmeline has had a pretty packed weekend. (Don't they all seem to be?) We got our weekend off to an early start since Shawn left work at 4! Shawn and I spent Friday night moving lumber that idiot lumber delivery men had left ON OUR STREET, not in our backyard, as requested. By the way, when I say "Shawn and I," I mean Shawn, Andrew and our neighbor Mike. I tried to help, but honestly, they were very heavy pieces of wood. Saturday morning, Shawn, Andrew and Dave began building our deck!!!! YEA!!! She also met Dave's dog, Pibber. Turns out, Emmy LOVES doggy kisses. She was laughing and laughing when Pibber kissed her.

After Em's morning nap, we headed over to Erin and Gracie's house. Then we went swimming with them. Man, funny how much more Emmeline enjoyed swimming when Daddy wasn't dunking her in the pool. She had a great time, thanks in no small part to Grace's benevolent sharing of a very chewy dolphin. We came back, took another nap, and then headed to the Blomases for a patio warming party. She dined on broccoli, and then went to bed.

This morning, we went to church, where she enjoyed the nursery. It's amazing how much more Shawn and I are able to enjoy church now that we're not shushing her, bouncing her, and walking her throughout the service. And, she gets to move and talk as much as she wants, which is how it should be.

In the most important news, our good friends Craig and Jessica welcomed their first baby boy on this weekend! Weighing in at 7 lbs 13 oz, Jeffrey Andrew Schneibolk was born Friday night. Shawn and I are going up to Maryland this afternoon to meet him and give our love to the newly expanded Schneibolk family. Emmeline will be hanging out with some great girls from our church.

5 Months Old???

2009-06-17T19:41:00.002-04:00

In reflecting on my daughter today, I decided to do a 5 month old update, a la Erin. I'm so impressed by all the skills Emmeline has developed in the last few months. She's really growing up. Rolling from her belly to back is old hat - she's been doing that for a few months. It's been in the last month that she mastered rolling back to belly. And that's where she prefers to be now. Unlike the early days, she prefers to spend her time on her belly, so she can watch people (and cats and rabbits), and grasp at things easier. She loves to grasp onto anything, including but not limited to my hair, my keys, any toys that might be close, and the sleeve of my shirt as I carry her anywhere. What she does not care to grasp is the expensive musina toy lent to us by Erin - you see, she can't bring those toys down to her mouth. In Emmeline's world, something is only worth grabbing hold of if it then makes its way to her mouth. I know babies explore the world orally. I work with babies. This is not new information. THIS KID IS EXCESSIVELY ORALLY FIXATED. Even her teachers at school have commented on how oral she is. It's not just me. Given this oral fixation, I feel that we introduced food at a good time. So far, she has sampled egg yolk, broccoli, avocado, green beans, mango, peaches and sweet potato. She's starting carrots tomorrow. Em has no problem letting you know if she doesn't like something or if she's done eating. She just turns her head and purses her lips. Very clear communication. She's also clear about when she is excited: her new movement is to flap her arms and grin. Of course, I can't help but crack up, she looks so ridiculous. It's quite endearing. She's been holding her own bottle, although I don't know how long she's been able to do that, since she only gets about one bottle a week. We discovered this when Shawn put her to bed solo the other night. I'm sure that's not hugely ahead of developmental expectations, it was just a surprise since she doesn't have a lot of bottles. Bedtime itself is a whole other experience now too. Our bedtime routine is so wonderful. Quick bath, pjs, eat, read two books, lights out, and Shawn and I leave the room. She cries about one night out of ten, and then for less than two minutes. Most nights we either hear nothing, or a little baby chatter then silence. Glorious. Tonight was the first night she rolled herself in bed, so despite being put to bed on her back, I guess from now on, my big girl can choose to sleep on her belly if she likes. (I can only sleep on my belly, I certainly can't blame her)

Long story short, I think if I blink, she'll be graduating high school. She's like a real baby now, not my little defenseless newborn anymore. She has an attitude, can be a little drama queen, and knows how to bat her eyelashes to get what she wants. How did this happen?

Raleigh!

2009-06-16T17:19:00.003-04:00

She's thinking...peaches? Are you people nuts? These are awful!

Clearly a little worried about this whole "swimming" business. Still cute in a bathing suit though. Since that's what matters and all.

Road Trip!

2009-06-15T21:57:00.003-04:00

We took our first ever road trip with Emmeline this past weekend. We drove down to Raleigh to visit Merissa and Luke. It was a packed weekend, with a trip to the Farmer's Market, a dip in the pool, new food, and waaaaay too much time in her carseat. Em liked the Farmer's Market about as much as she likes the one here. She was absolutely not a fan of the pool. This may have been because her bathing suit was too small. This may have been because it wasn't incredibly hot outside. This may have been because Shawn thought it was necessary to dunk her in the water. In any case, she did not like the pool too much. Unfortunately, she also didn't care for the peaches we made for her either. She did love watching Clemson, Merissa and Luke's cat. And she did love cuddling with Luke and Merissa who were hoping I might accidentally leave her behind. She pretty much hated being in her carseat for 6 hours on Sunday, driving back. Pictures will follow.

Some Extra Pics

2009-05-25T15:44:00.005-04:00

Emmeline and Grandma Patsy

Shawn and Emmy before graduation

Emmeline LOVES to chew on Erika!

Em and her Daddy at Jessica's baby shower

I Think I Could Win an Award...

2009-05-23T11:08:00.008-04:00

for crunchiest hippie mom. I've already told my mom a slightly different version of this story. I will highlight the "Things White People Like" for you, in green. (appropriate, no?) A few weekends ago, I decided to take Emmeline with me to the Farmer's Market. I went to get her dressed, and put her in her cloth diaper. I made sure she had her Barack Obama onesie on - it's so cute! I packed her up, and loaded her carseat into my Honda Civic Hybrid. We drove to the Farmer's Market in Vienna. I put her into her Baby Bjorn carrier, and quickly picked out some organic produce. She started getting upset, so we drove home and I put her down for her morning nap. While she slept, I steamed the veggies and made some baby food for her. As my mom pointed out, the only thing missing was my Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte. So this weekend, Shawn and I thought we would make a repeat performance, with Starbucks. I swear, we don't set out to be like this. I guess we balanced it out by forgetting our reusable canvas grocery bag. We had to use a plastic one.
Honestly, I LOVE making her food! It takes no time at all, and is significantly cheaper than the jarred stuff, especially if I wanted to get her organic food. I can make small or large batches, then I freeze it. I have ready for her broccoli, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, pears and zucchini. That way, when she's ready for new tastes, I have some ready. And, the ice cube trays I use to freeze individual servings are about 1 oz each, so I know how much she's eating. Of course, I have to plug the machine my mom got for me: The Beaba babycook. It steams and purees in one piece. VERY easy. I'll post more pics as I take some.

Gustatory Delight

2009-05-21T18:39:00.004-04:00

Emmeline has had her first taste of food...and is now addicted! She's an eater. You can't tell that from her faces, but she really has loved eating, and tried to "help" feed herself. So, egg yolk + breastmilk is good apparently, in case anyone was wondering. Next stop: Veggies!

Emmeline Found Thumbthing She Likes

2009-05-15T22:01:00.002-04:00

I had really hoped for a few weeks that we were clear of the pacifier AND the thumb. I was wrong. The thumb has made it's appearance, and it is NOT leaving anytime soon. So far, she really only goes for it when she is in bed, or is very tired. VERY tired. Like tonight. We have a lot of family in town for Shawn's graduation, so she has had a few long days. Luckily, Emmeline has fallen in love with her Grandma Patsy! She also has met Aunt Pam, Uncle Charles, and Cousin Carl. Today Emmeline got to have a ladies' lunch date with Grandma Patsy, Aunt Pam, Anita, Toni and Mommy. Then she hung out with Grandma Patsy, Toni and Anita while I went to get a pedicure. Tomorrow, we will all venture downtown for a little tourism before a barbecue, and then hit the National Mall Sunday morning for Shawn's graduation ceremony. I'm hoping she makes it through the weekend not TOTALLY spoiled.

Crunchy, Hippie, Granola Momma

2009-04-28T20:03:00.005-04:00

Emmeline in her very bulky cloth diaper.

I promise I'm not trying to win any awards. Or prove anything. I committed to using cloth diapers before Emmeline was born. Maybe I've been brainwashed by the Montessori world, or maybe by shows like 20/20 and Dateline. The idea of Emmeline's dirty diapers sitting in a landfill somewhere for 70 years while her poop runs into the groundwater horrifies me. However, it's absurdly difficult to fit cloth diapers on a newborn. And the cloth diapers I had here were all-in-ones, which are so bulky, that virtually no pants fit over them. My memories of the diapers provided by the ONLY diaper service around here were of a similarly large bulk. I was beginning to despair of ever getting her in cloth only to come across a bag of fitted diapers loaned to me by Erin. Grace had long since outgrown them, and I had borrowed them, then promptly forgot about them. Well, they fit beautifully! We've been trying them out in the evenings and weekends, and I LOVE them. I have just ordered enough online to cover her butt for a while. This does mean more laundry for me, and there's an argument to be made that I'm doing an equal amount of damage to the environment by using so much water....but I'll do it. It's not like a day goes by without me doing two loads of laundry anyway. And I will continue to use disposables, just much less frequently. I have to plug these diapers, because I think they're so great: Kissaluvs fitted diapers. They have 2 rows of snaps so you can use one size for a long time (between 10 and 25 pounds!). I ordered two different kinds of covers, so I'll see which kind work better. I'm pulling for the cheaper ones.

In developmental news, Em is trying SO HARD to roll from her back to her belly. She can get up on one side, and then hangs out there for a while before giving up. She's grasping at everything, chewing on anything she can get, and has lots of new noises.

Here is Emmeline, shocked at accidentally chewing on Daddy's finger. Ew.

See? Onto her side, but not quite all the way over. Someday.

She Cracks Me Up

2009-04-20T10:27:00.002-04:00

School Days, School Days...

2009-04-15T18:11:00.002-04:00

First things first:

Emmeline in her Easter finery. We had a great time with family, and at church. Please note the adorable shoes.

Now, onto more pressing matters. I am back at work, which means little miss is at school with me. Of course, I was dreading this: I know my baby best, and her schedule, her needs etc. I know the Nido teacher is good, and it's not that I don't trust her, just trust myself more. Also, I was worried about the pacifier thing: no pacifiers at school, and she's been falling asleep with one for a while. I have seen babies come into the Nido for 5 years now, and many of them have a really tough time with the transition.

Naturally, my fears were unfounded. Emmeline has done so well these past few days. She is staying awake longer, and has begun to put herself to sleep, sans pacifier, in the space of 5 minutes. Of course, she may have begun to do those things at home with me anyway. But I really think that the help of an objective third person has made this easier. I know babies cry, and I don't even mind my baby crying, but I do like to minimize it.

Hopefully things continue like this, at least for a little while as I get used to being back at work!

We've Got the Sniffles...

2009-04-08T11:23:00.004-04:00

My poor little girl has her first cold. Somehow, she contracted it BEFORE starting school. Shawn and I can hear her on the monitor at night making beautiful music with her nose. That is, when we're not in her room snorking out her nose with that awesome blue bulb. Man, she LOVES that. I can't imagine being woken up by an inability to breathe only to have someone shove something plastic into my nose and forcibly drag snot out. What a way to spend an evening! Through it all though, she keeps smiling and playing. She hasn't acted sick at all, just coughing and sneezing and wheezing her day away. Of course, when I added the injustice of a few vaccinations to her day, she did hit the roof. And I don't blame her.

But I titled this post "We've" got the sniffles. No, Shawn and I are not sick. But I go back to work on Friday, and Em phases into the Nido tomorrow. WAAAAAAA!!! I am looking forward to being with my crazy little toddlers again, and I can't wait to have someone objective helping me out with Emmeline's napping issues, but I am shocked by how sad I am to think that somebody else will get to see all those post nap smiles, and hear her babbling all day. This is what (according to my research) 56% of mothers have to do. I know. Get over it. I will, but for now I'm shedding a little tear for the impossibly stupid laws that only allow a woman 12 weeks to take care of her infant before returning to work. As if 12 weeks could possibly be enough. Canadian mothers get 6 months, and most European moms get 1 year. And there are actually PACs here that claim that America is more family friendly than Europe. Get real.

There's Just Something About Babies in Hats

2009-03-31T15:09:00.002-04:00

In a Pooh bear outfit her cousin sent her: Going for a walk on this beautiful day:

A Little Better, Maybe?

2009-03-30T12:32:00.003-04:00

It seems we may have straightened Emmy's napping out a little. She's done very well the last four days, taking at least one big nap every day, and going down easier. She's also started putting herself to sleep at night in her big girl bed. Shawn and I tell her goodnight and leave, and she does the rest. Very exciting. Now, if we could help her stop rolling out of bed at 1:30 a.m.....

Insomniacs, Unite!

2009-03-27T17:27:00.004-04:00

Sleep is kind of becoming a big issue at our house. I don't sleep at night, and my daughter doesn't sleep during the day. While I was pregnant, I prayed every day that this child would not inherit my sleeping habits. I prayed that the baby would sleep like Shawn. Well done, Sandi: Shawn can't nap. Is physically incapable of sleeping if the sun is out. Well, not in the morning, the guy can sleep in. Apparently, I failed to take that into account. So Emmeline doesn't like to nap. She'll fall asleep no problem, it's the STAYING asleep that is tough for her. Then there's me. I can sleep until she wakes me...then I'm up, my mind racing. Thinking of idiotic things like the lyrics to a theme song, or the name of someone in my high school French class. Things that clearly don't matter. Grrrr....

(Pic is after the farmer's market on Saturday)

In other news, the time has come to speak of other things. Of ships, and shoes and sealing wax, and cabbages and MY BABY MOVING INTO HER OWN ROOM! It is bittersweet, but she must move on. She is moving into her big girl bed full time starting tonight. I wanted her to be transitioned before I go back to work, and thanks to a kick in the pants from Erin, tonight's the night.

Roly Poly Emmy!

2009-03-23T18:35:00.003-04:00

Emmy rolled over this evening, from her tummy to her back! Shawn was with her, and said she did it like she'd been rolling over for weeks. No big deal. I'll see if I can get video of this amazing feat of strength.

Funny Girl

2009-03-17T14:39:00.002-04:00

This is a short video of Emmeline's MANY stories. She will talk to anyone who will listen - including the walls, mirrors, pictures of butterflies and her butterfly mobile. We've also been experimenting with cause and effect this week - much to my amusement. She will get so excited that she'll accidentally kick one of the butterflies on the mobile, sending it spinning. Then her eyebrows will go up, and she'll watch it intently, trying to figure out what happened. I've also given her her little silver rattle, and she turns her head trying to figure out where the sound is coming from. I think it's all pretty funny. Coming soon: rolling over? I think it's way too early, but she sure is trying hard!

Busy All The Time

2009-03-12T10:17:00.002-04:00

I feel like every time I post here, I talk about how busy we are. But, we really do a lot! Last weekend, we went for a hike at Sky Meadow State Park. Emmeline slept through it, but seemed to like the baby bjorn carrier we busted out for the occasion. After that, we went to Naked Mountain winery, where she continued sleeping. Sunday, Emmeline and I went to the National Zoo with Erin, Ryan, Grace, Connie, Jelani, and Aliana. It was a beautiful day, and somehow, Emmeline stayed awake for the whole visit! (She fit in a few catnaps as we strolled.) She was alert and loved the company if nothing else.

She had another pediatrician appointment last week - Over 11 pounds! She also got some vaccinations, but on the whole, did better than the last round.

We're currently working on independent napping. While Emmeline is a pretty good sleeper, and has no problem napping in her bed, the putting herself to sleep portion of the nap is a little rocky. Gee, I wonder where she got that trait? Shawn and I are working hard on this, although I'm not sure I have the skill set to pass on, so we'll see how it goes. Any tips are welcome. We want Emmeline's transition to school next month to go as smoothly as possible. To that end, maybe we can teach Miss Susan all the silly songs Shawn makes up for Em, such as the amazing hit "Love My Baby." The words aren't silly so much as the voice that is used.

6 Weeks!

2009-03-01T19:13:00.004-05:00

The time has flown by, and Emmy is already 6 weeks old! She has been so many places, and met so many people, I can't believe she's only 6 weeks. Last weekend, she met her first dogs, and could really have cared less. (It helped that Humphrey and Roxie were very nice, and that I was feeding her at the time) She has gone out to several meals, attended church, checked out Eastern Market, and had her first bottle, and subsequently, her first babysitter. She was incredibly well behaved for all of these events. Of course, in keeping with the way things have gone, strangers LOVE to tell me that she is entirely too young to be out of the house. Possibly too young to even be out of the womb in this big scary, germy world. Sorry strangers, but it is NOT too cold to have a little one outside - if she is appropriately dressed! Infants in Alaska and Sweden go outside every day. They live to tell the tale.

After all my worry about her taking a bottle, she proved me wrong and acted like it was something she does every day. Shawn really enjoyed getting to feed her, and now we know she has no food hang ups. This also allowed to me to relax about leaving her with my mom last night for Shawn's and my first date! We went to an amazing Belgian restaurant and had a really good time. The whole night was kind of a grandma gift - Grandma Patsy had gotten us a gift certificate, and Grammy did the babysitting. Thanks to both grandmas!

We finally got a chair for Emmeline, to help with the alleged reflux. She LOVES it, and will sit in and talk to me while I fold laundry or...any number of other activities. (This glorious chair allows me to shower freely, while she sits on the bathroom floor, chattering away.) Em has also started to really love working on her movement mat, watching the butterfly mobile so generously loaned to us by Miss Susan, Em's future teacher. She kicks her legs, and waves her arms, and tells all kinds of tales to the butterflies.

Invest in a Wet Nurse, Seriously.

2009-02-21T03:23:00.002-05:00

The good Lord has blessed me with a beautiful little girl who loves to sleep. She goes to bed sometime around 10 pm, and generally sleeps for 4-5 hours. When she wakes up, all she wants to do is eat, and go back to sleep. Which she does without protest. In case of spit up or the hiccups, the Lord in his wisdom has also blessed me with a husband who has volunteered to be back up - if she has trouble falling back asleep, or needs a little holding, he takes over after the eating part of our night is finished. I realize how incredibly lucky I am to have these two elements contributing to what should be incredible sleep with a newborn. What I seem to be lacking is either a) the money to have hired a wet nurse to wake up with my darling girl in the night or b) the ability to put MYSELF back to sleep when she's so clearly taken care of. Every night, she falls asleep within minutes of waking up (seriously, I'm talking within 15 minutes), and I lay awake. Tonight, I've almost managed to make it to her next feeding. I've tried counting things, I've tried getting out of bed, I've changed positions, Shawn has rubbed my back. The only thing I haven't tried, and I'm getting really close, is my own pacifier.

The Reason for Having Kids

2009-02-17T19:54:00.003-05:00

The moment parents look forward to, that tells them this has all been worth it, has happened. Well, the first one. I think hearing Mommy for the first time will be one of those moments too. Em smiled at me, not at gas today. How do I know this is the case? I tested it. I left, telling her I'd be right back. 4 times in the course of the day, when I came back after a minute and said hi, and smiled at her, she smiled back! Whoooo! I guess the jury's still out on whether or not she loves Daddy, but I've been confirmed. I'll also see if I can get a short video of her newest trick. She either loves or is terrified of a horsey/tractor noise. You know, when you blow air out through your lips? Grandma Patsy found out that she reacts quite strongly to that noise. It's incredibly cute.

Baptism

2009-02-15T18:33:00.005-05:00

Emmeline was baptized today, and was SO well behaved! She slept for most of the service, and woke up only when Pastor Dave sprinkled the water on her. She had a great time at the party we had afterward at our house.

On Thursday, Em got to meet Grandma Patsy! She was a little cranky at first, since she was ready to nap, but has warmed up to Grandma. They have been having a great visit all weekend. At 4 weeks, Emmeline is holding her head up beautifully and loves to watch people. She is talking and talking, especially to the picture of the butterfly above her changing table. She tells him all her woes, and the good stories too.

Pediatrician Update

2009-01-30T15:33:00.003-05:00

Emmeline had her 2 week check up today; she weighs 8 lbs 7 oz, meaning she's averaging 1 oz a day. Pretty good. She also had her first vaccination, since we opted to wait on the Hep B they normally give in the hospital. I managed to make it through without crying, but barely. Em was another story. Very unhappy baby. We also went and visited CA, where she got to meet all her future teachers. Then we had lunch with Connie. A very busy day, and now my poor girl is worn out. Not too tired to give me reproachful looks though.

Emmeline on her Movement Mat

2009-01-25T16:52:00.003-05:00

Sorry there's no sound...

Weight Issues

2009-01-23T16:12:00.002-05:00

Quick post before we give Miss Em another bath: Pediatrician was concerned about her weight loss (she lost 9 ounces from her birth weight), so he asked us to come back in on Thursday for another weight check. In two days, she gained 10 ounces! She was above her birth weight for the appointment, so the nurse practitioner told us whatever we're doing, to keep doing it.
On my end of things, this has been the best diet I've ever been on - one week out, I have exactly four pounds to go till I'm at my pre baby weight!!!! I don't know what I'm doing right, but this definitely exceeds my expectations, so I am VERY happy. I've worn regular jeans, with a button and fly and everything since Wednesday. Yea!

A Busy Day!

2009-01-20T17:06:00.004-05:00

Miss Emmeline had her first bath this morning. It was only slightly stressful, she actually seemed to really enjoy it at first. She didn't get too upset until she was mostly wet. All in all, it wasn't too traumatic, and we all survived. After that, we got all ready for the big inauguration, with Emmy being the only one dressed for the occasion. She was very calm and watched some of the pre-inaugural stuff, but then fell asleep. Shawn felt she wan't showing the appropriate respect for the gravity of the situation, but we let her sleep anyway. As soon as the inauguration was over, we had to run to the pediatrician appointment. She's doing great, and we like our pediatrician a lot. We all went to the grocery store after the doctor's office, and she slept through her first trip out running errands. It was a VERY busy day, and she is now passed out, likely down for the count.

Shawn and I want to thank everyone who has stopped by, called, texted or sent us well wishes in anyway - we really appreciate everything, and are SO grateful for this huge support network we have!

Happy Birthday Emmeline Clare!!!

2009-01-18T14:26:00.002-05:00

After having contractions since about 6 pm on Thursday (which was my due date), we headed into the hospital at 6 in the morning on Friday. Several hours later, which was mostly a haze, I got an epidural and the rest of the day was smooth sailing. After pushing for very close to three hours, our little girl came into the world at 9:11 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and is 21 inches long. She has a lot of beautiful dark hair and looks very much like her daddy. So far she is a fantastic eater and a pretty laid back lady. We'll post more as we get into the swing of things.

Update

2009-01-14T19:05:00.003-05:00

Doctor's appointment today was disappointing, as they all seem to be lately. I'm now a whopping 1.5 cm dilated, and might be in "early labor." I got the order to schedule a non stress test and a biophysical profile before the induction next Friday. Truly, I'm hoping I won't make it that far. I keep saying that, but I've been having some pretty strong contractions (the kind that make me stop what I'm doing) for more than 24 hours now. They just won't get regular. Let me apologize in advance for not calling anyone, or replying to emails or voicemails. At this point, I'm so tired and frustrated that I don't really want to talk to anyone. Even Shawn is pushing my buttons, and I REALLY like him. So, don't take it personally if you don't hear from me until the baby is born. I promise I still love you all.

You Know You Are...

2009-01-07T22:00:00.002-05:00

In honor of a hysterical list I just read, I decided to post my very own:

You Know You Are 9 (+) Months Pregnant When:

-You sometimes sit on the toilet for ten minutes at a time, because it would be a waste to leave the bathroom...you'll be back in a few anyway.
-You debate buying ANOTHER bottle of Tums, deluding yourself into thinking that the baby will be here before the current bottle is gone.
-You only wear shoes that slip on. Yes, they're probably tacky.
-Virtually no clothes really fit anymore.
-You struggle mightily against slapping anyone who has a witty comment upon seeing you, such as "Gee, you're still here? I didn't think I'd see you today!"
-You yearn for the sight of blood on the toilet paper - you'd have to be admitted to L & D then!
-Everytime you wake to pee in the night, you find yourself hoping that you wake up in a puddle.
-You knock things over with your belly.
-Your friends and family keep staring at you when they think you're not looking. What exactly do they think they're going to see that I won't already know about?
-You almost dread the phone ringing. No, I STILL haven't had the baby.
-You see all the mess, and still don't even have the energy to CARE, let alone clean.
-You've washed all the baby's clothes/sheets/blankets more than once, and put them nicely in the drawers.
-You dream of being woken up by crying instead of a "full" bladder.
-The doctor asks if you're experiencing any swelling, and you say no, only to realize that you haven't worn your wedding rings in weeks. Oh, that counts as swelling? Thought it was normal.
-You go to the mall to walk. Not to shop, to walk.
-Your husband is suddenly VERY concerned with every sigh, sniffle or sound you make.
-Anything that falls to the floor is condemned to stay there unless a) someone else retrieves it for you or b) it's vital to your existence, e.g., a Rolaid.
-You spend hours debating with your husband whether or not you really have dropped.
-You skim all the pregnancy books you have finished reading to see if you missed some vital clue about going into labor.
-You spend a large amount of time debating which natural induction method sounds most appealing today.
-You have pep talks with your unborn baby about how "today is THE day!" (And, like any child, they choose not to listen to mommy.)
-You think a night in which you only peed 5 times is awesome!
-You spend alternate periods of time blowing your nose frantically, and pinching it in hopes to stop the sinus pressure.
-You have memorized the number for the OB office.
-You legitimately think your boobs can't possibly get any bigger - and are WRONG!
-You are simultaneously praying for the induction and praying that you don't make it that far.
-You get unreasonably excited when a virtual stranger tells you that she is going to stick her gloved hand into your body.

False Alarm

2009-01-05T17:11:00.002-05:00

Woot. After having contractions half the night, and leaking what I thought might be amniotic fluid, I prepared Shawn for a potential evening at Virginia Hospital Center - to get checked out. I really didn't think this was the real deal. I continued having contractions all day, that got stronger, but not any more regular. I spent my whole lunch break on the treadmill, and listening to Shawn and Connie tell me that I needed to call the doctor. To make them feel better, I obliged. The doctor said to please come in, either in the next 30 minutes, or go to L&D if I couldn't be at the office in time. I hustled out of work, thinking that maybe this was more serious than I thought, even though I explained to the doctor that I wasn't sure it was fluid at all, and that the contractions weren't regular at all. Sho 'nuff, the tests came back negative for amniotic fluid, and my contractions are pretty much nothing. I'm 1 cm dilated. And somewhat disappointed. I really didn't think I was going to have a baby tonight, but I was really hoping that I would be farther along for the amount and intensity of contractions I've been having. I plan to continue drinking my herbal tea (for "toning your uterus), and Shawn and I have a big night of mall walking ahead of us. For those who pray, help me out here. I'm not in complete misery yet, but I am definitely ready to be done with this.

Preggo Brain Strikes Again

2008-12-30T18:33:00.003-05:00

Following is one of our favorite recipes for a lazy evening:
One box of saffron rice, cooked according to directions. In a separate pan, heat a can of black beans with garlic, chili powder, cumin and green onions if you have them. Once the beans are warm, serve on top of the saffron rice. I like mine with sour cream, Shawn likes his with salsa verde. What neither of us like is this dinner made with CLOVES instead of CHILI POWDER!!!!! Hello! How stupid do you have to be to grab the cloves (which admittedly resemble chili powder in coloring at least) instead of chili powder????? I swear.