Happy 2nd Birthday!

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

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

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

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Decorating the Tree/Dress-up

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!

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

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.