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Happy Birthday Emily!!

2012-05-10T10:12:00.000-04:00

How can it be?? Little miss is TWO!!!

We had a wonderful party for her last weekend, and seriously we have never seen her have such a good time and be so happy. She just wandered around and enjoyed all the attention she was showered with. It was an exhausting day for mama and daddy, but 100% worth every second!

The theme this year was "Fish". Emily loves "shish" as she calls them!

Designed and printed the invites (took a design I saw online and traced it, so it's not completely original)

Made the applique for the shirt and sewed the skirt for her outfit

Minimal decor, just blue streamers and balloons to mimic an "ocean" feel

Printed and cut out "fish" birthday banner

Her present from mom and dad: Water table!

Checking out all the parts

Snacks included chips, candy, goldfish crackers (of course!)

And Swedish Fish!

She has a unique way of opening gifts...

Another internet find - fish cupcakes! Was a lengthy process, but they looked cute!

Emily's seal of approval...

31 weeks!

2012-04-24T13:56:00.000-04:00

So yep, slacked again. Seems to be a common theme with me and this blog. But I always return eventually.

So last we left I was 25 weeks and just feeling dandy for the most part.

So now here we are 31 weeks and feeling.....eh.....hanging in there. With the third trimester comes along my old pal from first tri: exhaustion. And this time he's brought some friends: heartburn, discomfort, and some other friends that haven't been so pleasant.

But again, in the grand scheme - things are going along quite well and all these are just the normal qualms of a healthy pregnancy.

So here is a survey and a few photos from the last month. I missed a week or two here and there, but ah well, I don't look that much different from week to week!

How far along? 31 weeks 2 days

How big is Baby? 19 inches, 3.9 lbs - size of a head of lettuce

Total weight gain/loss: Probably about 20 ish lbs?

Maternity clothes? Yep yep yep

Sleep: Wedging pillows in awkward places is the name of the game!

Best moment this week: Nursery progress! Jim has been working his butt off to tear down the nasty old wallpaper that had been in the house since we bought it. It's proving to be a difficult job, but I'm glad we are getting a move on.

Movement: Lots of kicks, active little man in there!

Food cravings: Still just want nothing but ice cream, cookies, cupcakes, candy etc.....

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In

What I am looking forward to: Getting everything organized and ready - still feel like we are a bit unprepared!

Milestones: Passed Glucose test, into 3rd tri, hospital bags packed!

Coming soon: Emily update - she deserves her own post!

24 and 25 - Just crusin' on through!

2012-03-14T16:03:00.000-04:00

Seriously. Can time just slow down just a little bit? It's already MID-MARCH?? Where did February go, where did the beginning of March go? My BABY is turning TWO in TWO months!!! And then a month later I'm having ANOTHER baby? What?!?

Okay, but really. I feel like we have so many things to do and time is just not allowing this to happen. Nursery still needs to be majorly overhauled. As in wallpaper removed, painted, furniture re-assembled and all that nonsense. Then I need to organize and assemble all the "stuff" bouncer, carseat, swing, etc. Wash all the clothes, and blah blah blah.

It'll all get done. Even if it means we are just bookin' it at the last minute. It's just so different this time since Emily consumes our every waking minute! And seriously, that is no joke. She is an all consuming being for sure (and we love her dearly)!

So here I am, getting bigger.....and with getting bigger starts to come the slight discomforts of pregnancy. Heartburn, getting comfortable in bed to sleep, not being able to lift things very well (ahem....near 30 pound child). We are nearing the end of the ever so comfy second trimester and into the somewhat dreaded 3rd trimester. Where one starts to perfect the duck waddle and can't stand for too long, can't sit for too long, can't move for too long, yet can't be still for too long. Fun times!

But all in all, this pregnancy has been a breeze - as was the first one. So I shall try to make my complaints to a minimum since I really don't have much to complain about!

How far along? 25 weeks 3 days

How big is Baby? 9.2 inches, 2 lbs - size of an eggplant

Total weight gain/loss: Haven't checked in a while.

Maternity clothes? Yep yep yep

Sleep: Getting a little more challenging....but still have yet to add more pillows. Soon.....

Best moment this week: Actually can breathe today! The whole household has been sick all week.

Movement: Lots of kicks, love them!

Food cravings: I could just eat and eat and eat sugar until my head explodes

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In

What I am looking forward to: Hoping to pass my glucose test I take in a few weeks.

Milestones: Passed "V-day". Next milestone will be 3rd Trimester!!

Weekly updates and such!

2012-03-01T15:23:00.000-05:00

Well today has been a busy and exciting day! First things first, I am now the proud aunt to my first nephew! My sister in law had her second baby today and everyone is doing well. The little man is 7lbs 15 oz and we are looking forward to going to visit this evening!

In other news, I took Emily to a "Mother's Morning Out" program today. We just went for a "visit" so to speak and checked out the place. It is at a nearby church and is run by an older woman who has been doing this kind of program for about 30 years.

It had it's pros and cons for sure. Pros: Emily had fun playing with the other kids and got along with the teacher. Cons: There is only the one lady watching all the children. Today there were 5, at max she says she has 8. It seemed to get chaotic at times and it was hard for her to watch everyone at once. I am not familiar with typical daycare/preschool standards, so I don't know if this is particularly common or not, but it made me a touch nervous. However, it is only a 2 1/2 hour time frame, so in all actuality it isn't so bad. Another pro was that all the moms I met seemed very happy with the program and had been attending regularly (of course they wouldn't be there if they didn't like it, but still it's always nice to hear good things!)

Emily NEEDS something like this desperately. Just me leaving for the bathroom ensued a semi-epic meltdown complete with the heart wrenching "mama mama" cries you could hear all the way down the hall. We are going to go again next week and I will try to leave a couple times and see if she will settle down.

In other Emily news.....not too much going on with the little bugger. She is a little firecracker for sure. She is always trying to push our buttons and push the limits on what she can or cannot do. We have started within the last couple months attempting "time outs." Those are....interesting. She just screams and screams and we have to hold her down for the 2 min allotment at this time. Eventually we will have to "super nanny" her to get her to sit down and stay seated. But she gets so darn worked up, it's almost a lost cause at this point. She'll get it eventually.

So here we are 23 weeks......

How far along? 23 weeks 4 days

How big is Baby? 8.5 inches, 1.5 lbs - size of an ear of corn

Total weight gain/loss: Still probably around 10 lbs

Maternity clothes? Yep yep yep

Sleep: Still sleeping well, belly starting to get in the way sometimes

Best moment this week: New nephew born today!

Movement: Trying to find out a pattern of when little man kicks most. Seems to be late afternoon and sometimes right before bed.

Food cravings: Sweets.....I am a sugar-a-holic!

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In

What I am looking forward to: 24 weeks - "V-day" Although a baby born this early is definitely not anything to e excited about, I'm at least happy to know that he would have a fighting chance from this point out.

Milestones: Boring pregnancy so far....that is a GREAT milestone!!

Even though it's blurry, I love this pic. I need to figure out how to get my autofocus on my camera to work better.....I know what the problem is in this one, but it's hard when I'm doing things on the fly by myself!

21 weeks AND 22 weeks

2012-02-21T12:19:00.000-05:00

Slacked a bit and missed my weekly update last week! Not much has changed between now and 21 weeks anyways, except for a jazzy new haircut (yay)!

We are just gonna get right to it!

How far along? 22 weeks 2 days

How big is Baby? 8 inches, 1.2 lbs - size of a papaya

Total weight gain/loss: Still hovering around 174 on my home scale. I started out around 164 right before I got pregnant. So about 10 lbs. Less according to the doctors office since they didn't actually weigh me until like 8 or so weeks along.

Maternity clothes? Yep yep yep

Sleep: Still sleeping well, belly starting to get in the way sometimes, but overall not too bad yet.

Best moment this week: Yesterday - mom-in-law took me out for some wonderful shopping for little boy clothes. We came back with a boatload of onesies and pj's. So exciting!! We also got a cute St. Patty's day dress for Emily. Can't wait to get her into that in a few weeks!

Movement: Feeling kicks daily now! Love that movement, and the little hiccups!

Food cravings: Nope - last weekend I had a hankering for an Orange julius. Hubby went to the store and got me ingredients to make my own - they were pretty awesome. And I still got stuff left to make more!

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In

What I am looking forward to: Well, non MY pregnancy related - I am looking forward to my new nephew to be born in the next couple days!! Sister in law is having mild contractions and could go any day!! Very exciting!

Milestones: Still sleeping well and overall feeling pretty good! I'll take that as a milestone!

Pictures from this week and last week!

I liked two from this week, so posted both.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-15T14:53:00.000-05:00

So I am just gonna say it.....I have the best husband in the world! Don't try to argue it, it's true! ;)

This Valentine's day for me was actual a 10 day Valentine adventure! On February 1st I woke up to a little note that prefaced the fun to come.....

A little back story first:

During our trip to Disney World last October we ran into Perry the platypus from the show "Phineas and Ferb" EVERYWHERE. It seemed like every other person (even family groups) were wearing this shirt:

or had one of these kick ass Perry plushies that makes a cool "chattering" sound when you hit his paw:

So, anywho, we were intrigued and caught a few episodes of the cartoon show while we chilled in our hotel room one night. It's a cute kids show. Well, Perry happens to be a super secret agent "Agent P". So there's that. After we got home from our trip we happened to run into the Disney Store near our house and saw Perry there! We took it as a sign and snatched him up, because frankly, he is pretty cool.

Feburary 1st I embarked on a super secret mission that lasted for 10 days. It was supposed to go to about 13 or 14 (Valentine's day) but some plans were foiled and some improv had to be done!

I will take you on a photographic journey of the events:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

So each day was filled with goodies and surprises for me and Emily aka "Agent A" and Agent E". Along with the treats was a message on what all the goods were supposed to be used for (investigating, disguises, training manual). It was so fun to wake up every morning and go on a little search for Perry since I didn't know where he would be next!

Day 10 mentioned that a secret package was to be delivered! Apparently "Agent J's" arch nemesis UPS decided to make an early delivery, haha. So what was in the box?????

A brand new shiny....

Pear pink Nintendo 3DS! Jim has had his 3DS for a bit now and kept asking me if I was going to get one too. I currently had a regular Nintendo DS Lite (also pink....also a Valentine's day present a couple years ago!) and wasn't sure I was ready to make the upgrade.

It's been a ton of fun and I have a few games on order that should arrive soon. There are a few games that me and Jim can play together as well, so that's also a lot of fun!

Tell me that's just not the most creative, sweet, Valentine's surprise ever! Yes, we are complete dorks, and that's totally okay by me!

As for Valentine's day (last night), we had carry out Mediterranean food with heart shaped pita bread and then spent the evening playing 3DS games with each other. Couldn't of asked for a more relaxing and fun Valentine's day!!

XO

Adventures in photographing Emily....

2012-02-10T12:29:00.000-05:00

So this week we came upon Emily's 21 month "birthday". As you can see on the right, I have actively taken a monthly shot of the little bugger since birth! How long will I keep up with it? Who knows! But soon, I'm thinking the paper sign is going to have to be a thing of the past and we will just have to plug in her month via photoshop. Why you ask? Let's take a photo journey....

Oh goody! She's sitting in the chair. But darn, no sign!

And she's already on the move

Doin' some of this....

And some of that...

Okay, back seated...but still haven't got the sign ready.

Even a little smile!

Okay sign is ready, let's try again!

Come on Em, sit down (she's playing with the bad printout I printed first.)

Almost!

This is as good as it got...not looking at camera, sour puss face.

Okay, now she's looking, but still no good.

So.....with the power of photoshop, I combined two of the above images (sign alone on chair, and the one of her smiling) and did this, haha.

You'd probably be none the wiser if I didn't just tell you!

And here are a few other pics from the past week or two just for fun!

Cute outfit from Auntie Kellie!

Fun crown from Grandma!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Half Way....wait, what?!?

2012-02-07T14:47:00.000-05:00

How did that happen? If we are being technical....I could be LESS than half way at this point since I did have Emily a week early and you are considered full term a few weeks before your due date.

Pure craziness.

Things are chugging along. I don't have the time to worry about every ache and pain this time around, so the paranoia is less apparent. That's what made the time drag last time around. Plus I am in second tri, which has the reputation of just sailing. Once I'm in third tri again, and start turning into a house, I'm sure things will slow down again.

We still have to get the nursery together. We cleaned it out the other weekend since it had turned into a "catch all" room for all our unused furniture. So now comes the oh so lovely task of removing the hideous rainbow and unicorn wallpaper. I'll have to snap a picture of that before we take it down. Blech!

Today is Emily's 21 month "birthday". She's growing too fast too. Hope I can snap a chair picture in the next day or two. She is making it next to impossible since she never....sits....still. But we will figure something out!

Survey:

How far along? 20 weeks 3 days

How big is Baby? 7 inches, 11 oz, size of a banana

Total weight gain/loss: Still haven't weighed myself. I have an doc appointment tomorrow, so they will for sure!

Maternity clothes? Yep yep yep

Sleep: Just dandy!

Best moment this week: Steadily feeling more movement!

Movement: A few kicks here and there, this is my favorite part!

Food cravings: Could still go for some egg rolls actually.....also Taco Bell sounds good right now.

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In

What I am looking forward to: Looking forward to 24 weeks...."Viability" day.

Milestones: Half way there!

Wearing Red for Heart Awareness!

2012-02-03T17:15:00.000-05:00

So one of my "e-friends" dealt with a incredibly scary ordeal when she gave birth to her first son last year. They discovered (after she literally died and was brought back to life again) that she had PPCM which is defined as:

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a form of dilated cardiomyopathy that is defined as deterioration in cardiac function presenting typically between the last month of pregnancy and up to five months postpartum. More info at: http://www.amothersheart.org/about_ppcm.htm.

She was a perfectly healthy woman going about her business with NO idea something like this could happen! And well, either did I!! I don't think a lot of people are aware of this disease, and frankly not enough time and effort seems to be put into a lot of diseases besides ::ahem:: breast cancer. And well, let's not even get started at that whole debacle going on right now!

She even made the local news! Check out the video!

I had no idea "Wear Red Day" even existed until said friend mentioned something on her facebook page. So, me and Em did our part today and wore our red! She also sells Pampered Chef products so I'll happily give her a plug for that. Check her out here!

You can find out more about "Wear Red Day" and the "American Heart Association" here!

We only have one heart, we best take good care of it!!

19 weeks

2012-01-31T13:20:00.001-05:00

Time for our weekly survey!

How far along? 19 weeks 2 day

How big is Baby? 6.5 inches, 10 oz, size of a mango

Total weight gain/loss: Haven't weighed in recently

Maternity clothes? Of course....you will notice all my pictures I am wearing the same collection of striped shirts. Those are the only ones that fit right!

Sleep: Better now that we have the humidifier going all night.

Best moment this week: Friday's ultrasound!

Movement: Starting to feel little hiccups! So cute ;)

Food cravings: Nothing major lately. I really wanted a chocolate shake yesterday - which hubby got for me on his way home. It was AH-MAZING!

Gender: Boy!!! Can't believe we are having a boy!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In

What I am looking forward to: Picking out some boy clothes!

Milestones: Happy, healthy ultrasound report last Friday!

Just playing around

It's a BOY!

2012-01-30T19:41:00.001-05:00

So last Friday we got the exciting and wonderful news that we are having a healthy baby boy! I kind of had a feeling it was a boy, but the news still brought me to tears in excitement and shock! A little boy....

It's just a strange feeling to be carrying a boy since I am so used to girl this and girl that and how to handle a girl being that I have Emily. A boy is a whole new ball game here! Rough and tumble, dirt and worms, and all that stuff. No more bows and tutus, rainbows and ribbons!

I went through the massive tons of clothes we had from Emily (about 4 bins worth) and sorted about a bin of blankets, towels and onesies and will be suitable for a little boy. The rest is going into our garage sale planned for May. It will be sad to part from the little frilly outfits, but it will be exciting to replace them with the blues and browns for my son!

I am so looking forward to the future with my husband and children. I couldn't feel more blessed right now!

First foot print!

Profile

Long leg

Hand by his face

"Foto" Friday

2012-01-27T14:12:00.000-05:00

Scenes from the 18 week "photo shoot."

Little bugger got in the chair and said "cheese" as I was setting up the camera.

She then just plopped down to read a book.

Here mom, read it to me!

"Rawr." Playing with finger puppets.

I finally bribed her with crackers to sit down with so I could snap one of just me.

Have a good weekend everyone!

My dearest Emily

2012-01-25T20:09:00.001-05:00

My goodness. This girl has grown leaps and bounds since I've last posted about her. I mean, it's been close to a year! She is now a crazy, wild, fun-loving, almost 21 month old!! She's a running, climbing, talking, smiling, laughing bundle of energy. Definitely likes to keep me on my toes!

She has just recently entered a bit of a word "explosion" so to speak. She tries to repeat a lot of words after us and seems like everyday she adds a new word to her vocabulary. As hard as I try, she won't say "Please" very often, but will half the time say "Thank You" unprompted (the other half, we prompt her and she will say it). It's a start! Some of her favorite words are ball, cat (her first), cars, cake and seahorse (although it comes out sounding like "see-see"). She also likes to point at me and say "mama," which of course I adore!

We've officially ditched the crib and high chair. We transitioned her onto a queen sized mattress sometime in November. We figured we would be using the crib for baby #2, and she was getting close to climbing out (lifting her leg up in attempts to climb out). We decided to just give it a try and if it didn't go well we could always put her back in the crib.

Well for the first month the little bugger mainly slept on the floor:

She was particularly fond of squishing up against the baby gate at her door. I'm guessing because it felt like she was in the crib. Eventually one day she figured out she could lay in the much more comfortable bed, and she's been doing great since! She typically likes to wander and play around 30-60 before bed, and for now that's okay. Eventually when we get her into an actual bed, I will have to work on getting her to stay in the bed for the night.

As for the high chair, it wasn't completely my decision and I'm still not 100% sold on the idea. She absolutely loves to climb into the regular chair and will half the time sit and eat a meal. The other half of the time (like for tonight's dinner), she just wants to continually climb in and out of the chair during the whole meal. Drives me crazy! I would like to figure out how to keep her there so that when we go out to eat somewhere she will sit and eat and behave! For now, she still goes in a high chair when we are out.

Potty training has been in the front of our minds for a little while. We know she is still a little young, but figured it wouldn't hurt to at least have a potty for her to check out. She loves to sit on it.

She also loves to do strange things like this with it:

Yeah, so we aren't going to be pushing the subject or anything. Especially with a new baby on the way. We will probably have a "naked weekend" at some point to get her familiar with how to use the potty and all that jazz, but as for taking off the diaper and never looking back....not quite at that point yet.

Overall Emily is an amazing, thriving, healthy little girl! She continually amazes us every day as well as makes us laugh. She can be a little terror at times, but she is always just the light of our lives!

Being Silly:

Happy Girl:

Sweet face:

Not always a happy camper:

PS. Check out the updated sidebar with the monthly pics! Still managing to do them, however it's getting harder and harder to keep her sitting still!

Welcome Back!

2012-01-23T21:06:00.000-05:00

Well holy smokes, I actually muddled my way through updating the design a bit (still not quite where I want it, but it's a start!) and am trying so hard to find the time to get back into the blogging world again. For my few followers, I'm sure most of you already are aware that hubby and I are expecting baby #2! Little bundle due in June! I was so diligent about updating weekly with Emily's pregnancy, I desperately feel the need to do the same! I am already sooo behind, but that's okay I can still summarize the first trimester pretty easily!

This time around I was quite nauseous a lot. Never really officially got sick (except for one time), but felt like I could at any moment. It was not a pleasant feeling to say the least. But as long as I kept food in my stomach, chewed some gum and ate handfuls of Sour Patch Kids, I seemed to feel better.

The exhaustion is what is killing me! I am just so so tired. It has gotten better now that I'm in second tri, but it's still debilitating at times! The days I don't get naps in while Emily naps I feel like a zombie! Which I am not that lucky and don't take naps every day.....so I am a zombie like half the week!

We found out the exciting news during our, let's call it "interesting", trip to Disney World in October. I was already "late" before we left and had taken a few tests that were negative. I decided to pack a couple with me just in case. Well, the 3rd day we were there still nothing happened so I pulled out a test and that little pink line just popped up right away! I was pretty much in disbelief! I handed the test to my husband and he said "what does this mean....are you??" It wasn't as clever as my announcement the first time around, but it was just as emotional and exciting!

So here I am now about 18 weeks along (almost half way, eek!). I haven't snapped a weekly pic for this week yet, but here is last weeks:

Here is the latest ultrasound that we had around 12 weeks I think....

We have the "Big Ultrasound" coming this week, so we will hopefully have nothing but good news to share that baby is happy and healthy! And also we will get a sneak peek and see what baby's packin'!

So let's continuing the tradition of the weekly survey!

How far along? 18 weeks 1 day

How big is Baby? 6 inches, .5lb, size of a mango

Total weight gain/loss: Up about 2-3 lbs

Maternity clothes? Oh my gosh, I was in maternity clothes by like 8 weeks! Whole new ball game this time around!

Stretch marks? Not even a valid question anymore...I will be sporting my battle scars for life ;)

Sleep: My house is like a desert at night, so sleep hasn't been the greatest!

Best moment this week: We used the doppler last night to hear the heartbeat. That was fun!

Movement: Been getting little "flutters" for the last couple weeks. They are starting to get more apparent these days.

Food cravings: Oh my, the cravings have been a bit bonkers this time. It started with Sour Patch Kids, then on to Pickles (went through 3 jars), then moved on to egg rolls (ate 12 of them within two weeks and finally was satisfied). Currently, nothing in particular.

Gender: Find out this week!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In....it never really popped out the first time.

What I am looking forward to: Starting the new nursery!

Milestones: Almost half way!

So I still need to do an update on my darling Emily! I figure she deserves her own post. Plus that will give me something else to talk about tomorrow!

Fun with Shutterfly!

2011-11-09T13:20:00.000-05:00

Okay, maybe this is shameless, but as I see it, it's a good kick in the bum to get back into the blogosphere.

I have been offered up a great deal for some www.shutterfly.com holiday cards just by blogging about it! And even better, I have some freebie codes I can give away to 3 interested readers! But more on that later.

So the holidays are coming up already and it's time to start thinking about Christmas cards! Well Shutterfly has a great selection and tons of layouts to choose from. Check them out here:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

They come in different shapes and sizes as well which you can see for yourself here:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

And they also offer some great photo books which would be ideal for a holiday present!! I always like to make photobooks for the grandparents!

http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books

So I am definitely looking forward to ordering up my holiday cards from Shutterfly this year! I have heard nothing but rave reviews from friends and finally get to see for myself this year.

Anyone want some free cards? I have 3 codes for 25 FREE cards! First three people to comment and they are yours!

Stay tuned....major overhaul definitely happening soon! I mean it this time!!!

XOXO

Life remains busy

2011-06-09T12:18:00.000-04:00

I have once again failed to update in a timely matter! Emily is keeping me on my toes, however the camera has collected a bit of dust! We are due for another photo shoot soon as she has just approached 13 months!

I thought I was going to be done with the monthly shots at 1 year, but I have been encouraged by many to keep them going. However, gone are the days I can plop her on the chair and step 10 feet backwards to snap a few photos. This girl is too quick and on the move to leave her perched on a chair as she will gladly tumble head first off of it the second you step away! Daddy is going to have to assist me this weekend to keep the tradition going.

In other Emily news, we have two new teeth that have arrived! I thought they were never coming! She got her first four so suddenly between December and January and then nadda! She has been a drool factory for the last few months so I just knew they were coming. There are more on their way I'm sure. She has had a few rough patches, but overall has taken teething like a champ. It's gotta be pure torture - bones poking through your gums and all :::shiver:::. Poor girl!

In Andrea news I am in the midst of training for a half marathon! This coming September I will be running the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in Philadelphia. I have been meaning to dedicate an entire post to this and to the cause I am running for. But we are still working on the logistics and so it just hasn't been the right time! I would like to set up another "page" on the blog as well dedicated to my training and journey.

Which leads me to another update. I NEED to update the blog design again! My little Emily up there is only 2 months old.......I think it's time to get a new theme going! Anyone out there got any thoughts for a new theme? Would love to hear it!

My New Pajamas!

2011-05-24T11:08:00.000-04:00

I am a stickler for anything kitty related. Love my two kitties an love finding cute clothes for Emily with kitties on them! So I was in love with these new PJ's and snagged them right up for my little lady.

Trying to take photos of Emily is always a challenge....

Aren't I cute in my new pajamas?

Hey Mom, whatcha got there?

I wanna play, what is that thing?

What? Why can't I play with the camera?

Please? I really want to smudge up the lens mom!

Gimme Gimme!

I want it!

Waaaa, I can't LIVE if if you won't let me play with it!

I can't take it anymore!

I hate you mom!

OH, MR. BUNZ! Can you believe what mom did?!?

You understand me don't ya Mr. Bunz?

Sigh, Everything will be okay I guess....

She ALWAYS is intrigued when I pull out the camera, but in all actuality it was nearing nap time so she was extra fussy. Gotta love pictures of a fussy baby though (I know I love a good "crying" picture, can't help but giggle at the drama.)

We went upstairs for a rest after this. :)

Spring is Here!

2011-05-20T10:38:00.001-04:00

So even though the weather here is unpredictable and down right junky at times (welcome to Michigan), it's a beautiful thing when the leaves start sprouting and the flowers start blooming....

Mom's day!

2011-05-10T19:54:00.002-04:00

Well, after a whirlwind of a Saturday, Sunday came upon us quick and it was Mother's Day! Technically this was my second mother's day. However, last year I was in a daze and was overcome with the daunting reality that we were bringing a teeny tiny infant baby to our home for the first time! It was a great way to celebrate the holiday of course, but I didn't really feel like a "mom" quite yet. I felt like an under experienced girl that somehow was allowed to take a baby home with her as was supposed to know what to do with it!

My what a difference a year can make. I am a mom. I feel like a mom. I care for my child 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is the hardest, yet most rewarding job I've ever had the privilege to have and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

So it was my day. Mom's day.

Emily (aka daddy) got me the most wonderful card and beautiful diamond earrings. Jim then went out and got me a breakfast of champions - McDonalds as per my request - large caramel iced coffee, a sausage and egg mcmuffin with no cheese, and one of the greasiest hash browns on the planet.

It was perfect.

We then headed downtown to our annual Detroit Athletic Club brunch with the Choate and Jeffery family. It was delicious as always. The rest of the day was ours! We had seen all of the family the day before at the birthday party, so we passed out our cards and said our best wishes then.

Then we did something crazy.

A family friend of Jim's is an aspiring musician. He had recently released an album with a band - Ando & the Jolly Barrels, but alas, priorities shifted and the band split. Ando decided to continue on his own. He doesn't live around here anymore, but apparently got a gig at a bar near the campus of Michigan State University. Jim's parents told us about it and we thought it would be fun to go. They then offered to watch the little muchkin for us.....overnight....since we would out late.

Our first full night without Emily. Cue tears.

Yeah, I got a little teary walking to the car. But they called us a few times and let us know when she fell asleep and that all was a okay.

Anyways, back to Ando. I didn't mentioned what type of music he plays......

Death Polka.

Yep, you heard me. It's quite the niche, eh?

We went, he rocked out, we bought some t-shirts, we went home and crashed. All in all in was a great time, and a once in a lifetime experience to see!

Feel free to check out his website at: www.deathpolka.com.

Good times had by all!

And without further ado, my great mom's day present:

Just bein' artsy fartsy

Emily's First Birthday

2011-05-07T21:45:00.000-04:00

What a whirlwind of a week! I've pretty much exhausted myself this week preparing for this day. And well, it went GREAT! The day was perfect. Beautiful weather, lots of family and friends, good food, and one happy little girl! I am definitely more of a "a picture is worth 1000 words" kind of girl, so I will let the photos tell the day!

Outfit was made by me. "Applique" onesie and a colorful tulle tutu:

This hat was a gift from a good family friend. It looks so adorable!

Here is all the party decor. I made the Poms and the birthday banner:

The cake....oh the cake. Yes, I made that cake. I had taken cake decorating classes....oh lets see, 4 years ago!!! And let me tell you, this was hard work. Trying to get this thing decorated while watching over a roaming toddler - definitely a challenge! But it turned out great!

Emily's personal "smash" cake. Also decorated by me. Just a simple little diddy:

Friends and family gather for the fun!

My awesome Uncle Chuck manned the camera while Emily stuffed her face with cake. He did an AWESOME job! He also took the last three "candids" on the montage above:

A great family shot:

Love the messy cake hand!

Emily's best bud Super Mario was helping her eat the cake:

Lastly the gifts....Miss Emily was getting pretty tired by then. We got lots of nice things:

We had a great day. Emily did so well. She interacted great with everyone, enjoyed her cake and everyone had a wonderful time. The weather was gorgeous out today and I just couldn't of asked for a better turnout. I can't believe my little girl is now a TODDLER! She is just changing right before our eyes and we are so wonderfully blessed!

The Lent Experience

2011-04-29T14:47:00.000-04:00

So this year for Lent (40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday) I decided to give up my most favorite thing ever - sugar. I LOVE sweets. Love love love. Can't get enough...seriously. It's almost like a problem, lol! So it was the perfect thing to sacrifice for me. It would be challenging and little did I know it would be very rewarding!

So it's started out badly. I ended up eating cake like the first weekend. Okay, not the end of the world of course. Just stop, try again. A another week goes by, slipped again. And again. And again. Yes, I had a lot of slip ups. Majority of the time on weekends or at get togethers with family and friends. It's one thing when I am at home with nothing in the house, no temptation, more willpower. But out of my comfort zone, surrounded by others, yeah, definitely hard.

But you know what? It's okay. I tried. I failed. I tried again. And overall I would say I succeeded. Over the course of this forty days something a couple things happened.

1. I lost 10 pounds. TEN pounds....by doing nothing! Just NOT eating sweets. No sugar in the coffee, no quick trips to the mall to get a smoothie, or ice cream cone through the McDonald's drive-thru. Didn't have to lift a finger and 10 pounds of apparently "sugar weight" came tumbling off. Awesome!

2. I am now determined to make this a lifestyle change. Very limited amounts of sweets for me. A teaspoon at MOST of sugar in the coffee is fine now....especially after drinking it with NONE for that long. I never really got used to it, but I can now enjoy it with a lot less. No more drive through ice creams, smoothies, iced coffees, etc during the week. We can have some fun, get a fun drink or dessert on the weekend. It's all amount moderation right?

So it was a tough but great experience this year. And probably the first time I actually made it through the whole season really putting the effort and thinking about it everyday. Usually in years past I would easily just forget about it or not do anything at all.

So what will it be next year???

Just watching the time go by....

2011-04-27T14:24:00.002-04:00

Well the little lady turned 11 months.....almost a MONTH ago!!! Once again, I'm becoming a professional at slacking on this blog. Ah well, better late than never!

Here is her 11 month "couch" shot! Can't believe I actually kept up with it every month. The pics aren't great, but it shows a nice progression.

This girl just won't smile for the camera!!

It's getting harder and harder to get these pictures taken. You try getting a near 1 year old who is constantly on the move to sit down in one spot and NOT eat the piece of paper that sits next to her. It's stressful!

So little miss is officially a WALKER! She was taking a few steps as of the last post, but now she is doing more walking than she is crawling. And just today she managed to push herself up to standing from the ground! I don't think she realized what she was doing and probably won't do it again for another week or so, but she can do it! And she'll figure it out soon enough and be running around this place like crazy in no time!

Birthday planning is officially in OVERDRIVE! I have a week and half left to get everything together. Things are coming together smoothly though. I have some decorations made, all the plates/napkins/cups. I am making her cake which is craziness but I'm excited. I'm planning a two tiered fondant decorated cake for the cakes and a smaller "smash" cake for Emily to dig into. I have made all the fondant so that is out of way. Will be prepping more things as we get closer. A friend of mine is supposed to come by next Friday to help me put it together. Should be fun.

I have her birthday outfit as well. Onesie with her name on it (also made by me) with a colorful tutu (again made by me). Looking forward to getting lots of fun pictures of the birthday girl!

Stay tuned! Coming up next:

The Lent Experience

Running For Lillian

Operation: Sippy Cup, First Steps and more!

2011-04-05T10:29:00.000-04:00

So this little lady is rapidly growing right before are very eyes! Almost 11 months old! We've decided it's time to attempt to ditch the bottle and transition right to the sippy cup. She has been very good for the last couple months taking water from the cup, but as soon as I put formula in it, she just scrunches her face and looks at me like "what the heck is this ma?"

So today starts "Operation: Sippy Cup." Cutting out the bottles. Attempting "cold turkey" today just to see how it goes. So far, it's okay. She took 4 oz of her normal 8 oz serving this morning. She had a nice heaping helping of yogurt for breakfast, so she is getting a good dose of dairy and nutrients from other sources. I will try again this afternoon with another 4 oz serving which is what she normally takes. By evening, I will try another 8 oz before/with dinner. If she doesn't drink much of that, I will consider putting the rest in the bottle to have her finish it up.

I sometimes complain that this girl is somewhat emotionally "high maintenance" (very needy and clingy at times.) But when it comes to the basics of what usually mom's complain about, she is a breeze! She has slept through the night since about 2-3 months, dropped the pacifier at 4 months, dropped the bedtime/naptime bottle around 8-9 months, doesn't need to be rocked/held to go to sleep. Frankly, it's been pretty great! I'll take the crazy mood swings and separation anxiety over not sleeping through the night any day!

In other news, missy miss has been taking her "first steps" for the last couple weeks now. She is so cute! She gets all excited and will take 2-3 steps before she ends up lunging into you. Jim and I will prop her up and have her go back and forth in between us. She thinks its a fun game and is getting better and better every time! Here is a quick video I shot yesterday:

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Another trick she has learned is not one I am very fond of.....chewing on the crib. I went in to get her from a nap a couple weeks ago and saw this:

nom nom nom

Not good!!! So I rushed out to the fabric store and bought materials to make some guard rail covers. I haven't taken any pictures of them yet, but when I do - I will be sure to post them.

Here are a few more pictures of the crazy faced rugrat:

And here is one of Emily and daddy playing their favorite game....Rocket Baby! Jim flys her around the house making rocket ship noises. We have got to take a video one of these days because when he sets her down, she gets all upset and starts making the rocket ship sounds because she wants daddy to do it again! Too cute!

She swims!

2011-03-31T10:41:00.000-04:00

So last month we started swimming lessons with Emily. Being that she never seemed that interested in bath time, I wasn't sure how she would take to the water quite honestly. Well, she loved it!

It's a bit chaotic really and we just end up wandering around in circles with the babies playing with rubber ducks, try getting them to kick their feet and scoop their arms in the water. I don't expect Emily to get much of that, but just getting her into the water and used it is a good thing.

This summer there will be ample opportunity to swim - in our subdivision pool, out at the cottage lake, and up north when we go out on my dad's boat. I want to make sure she is comfortable in the water and such. Jim and I have been taking turns taking her in the pool and it's been a lot of fun!

Splashing and having fun!

Awww :)

Loves that duck

Just after getting dunked!

The Story of Mr. Bunz, Mr. Bunz II and Mr. Bunz III

2011-03-18T15:17:00.000-04:00

So....

I told you all about Emily's bunny: here.

Quick recap: We had a small pink bunny from Pottery Barn that she destroyed by sucking it's ears constantly. I ran across a great knitting pattern of a bunny and knit one up. She loved it!

Somehow, we coined the name "Mr. Bunz" and it just kind of stuck. It's silly but cute. Well, all was doing well until Mr. Bunz fell to the same demise as PB bunny:

Notice the yucky discolored ears....they were worse. I've washed like 1,000 times!

So, I hurriedly cast on my needles "Mr. Bunz II":

Mr. Bunz II is currently napping with Emily - so here he is in action with Grandma and Grandpa!

And directly after he was finished, onward with "Mr. Bunz III":

So, now we have three pink bunnies. Luckily she loves all three the same and doesn't notice there slight differences. Mr. Bunz has been placed into retirement. He will only be used in emergency situations! Mr. Bunz II and III are in a constant rotation between Emily's crib and the washing machine. And well, they are both already slightly stained. I can't win!! I mean, she literally sleeps with the ears in her mouth all.night.long.

What am I to do? Up next - green bunnies since I'm out of the pink stuff now.....

Here are a few more pictures of my crazy little girl:

Loves Mr. Bunz III and her ball pit!

Two for toofers!

Love that smile

Happy girl wearing the outfit Auntie Ann got for her!