Attacked

Emma got a new puppet a few weeks ago from the KC crew when they were down to celebrate Brad's birthday. She was getting quite a kick out of it this past weekend. She slipped it onto her arm and then was walking around with it and even came over and "attacked" me, which made her absolutely crack up. She has developed the funniest laugh these days and gets tickled by everything and nothing. We wish that we had a video monitor at times so we could see what is cracking her up when she is supposed to be taking her nap or going to bed. In case you are wondering, yes, other than when we actually left the house this weekend, Emma was pretty much just in a diaper at home once we can corral her long enough to get the diaper on. In fact, as soon as she gets home from daycare these days, she quickly gets down to just a diaper too. I guess I can't blame her with the outside temperatures these days.

Emma did a 180

As I noted previously, when we took Emma to the neighborhood pool last weekend, I pretty much had to bribe her through the gate as she cried and cried when she first saw the pool. This past Saturday, Emma was invited to a pool party to celebrate her little buddy Collin's 18 month birthday. When we initially walked by the pool on the way to their aparment, she got really excited, which gave me hope. All the kids played a bit at the apartment, destroyed Collin's room (sorry for our part in that), and had a little cake before heading to the pool. We got to the pool, walked through the gate and it was all I could do to get into the pool fast enough for Emma. She didn't even need the beach ball that I bought her that morning to coax her in like I had done the previous weekend. She loved sitting in the water on the steps and playing and liked going out swimming and even practiced kicking a bit. Of course, now she has totally gone the opposite way and seems to have no fear. I am just glad to see my little water baby back and hope this continues. It was funny though because Collin's Grandma and other friends of Collin's Mom all had heard plenty of stories of Emma because Collin apparently "talks" about Emma all the time. I also swelled a bit when Collin or Libby's Mom (can't remember which but they both agreed) talked about how all the kids love Emma because she is so easy going and if somebody takes whatever she is playing with, she just goes and finds something else. I hope she will be that way when Junior is taking "her" stuff. Brad tried to take some 19 month photos yesterday and ended up mostly frustrated but here are a few of the better results.

19 Months Old

We are on the downward slope to 2 years old and those terrible 2's are rearing their ugly head from time to time. It seems like most of the time, the problem arises because Emma just can't communicate what she is feeling to us and in those cases, if we see it coming, we can usually head it off through distraction or reasoning with her. Other times, she is just so mad that you just have to let it ride. Don't get me wrong though, while we do have our fair share of tantrums, 99% of the time, Emma is still her happy, playful self.

It has been a big month for Emma. She got to take her second plane trip to Louisville for Danny and Melissa's wedding and finally got to meet Uncle Paul. She had fun playing with Ally and seeing Bo, Grandma Kristi, GG, and all her other family there. We hope that we don't have to wait another two years to see him again. We also got a visit from Papa & Grandma S., Uncle Dale, Aunt Michelle, Thomas, Garret, Aunt Lesa, Uncle Chris, and Madison to help celebrate Brad's birthday.

As you all know, she also had the chance to move up to the freshman class this week when a spot opened up. It has been a great first week in her new class filled with lots of art projects and other activities. The evidence of the artwork usually ends up on Emma's t-shirt and all I can say is Oxyclean is a miracle worker in our house. Each day we get a report that includes Emma's favorite activity of the day. This week that has included bubbles, playing with mini balls, going outside, silly races in the gym, and exercise. Emma has been doing great with sleeping on the cot and the naps are definitely longer than she would take in the crib in the nursery. This could be due to the fact that she is more exhausted. She has been a little bit more cranky in the evenings but I think that she is just a little more tired because she plays so hard. By the end of the day though, she usually heads over to the nursery for a little while so she can take a break and catch up with her old buddies.

We continue to hear new words. The fun this morning was getting her foot through one of the little rings on the table and then telling me "I'm stuck". Emma is really learning to love music and whenever we are playing in the living room, will open the cabinet and want the CD player turned on. She especially loves her CD's of Bible songs and toddler songs. She also likes to get sit on Brad's stomach and bounce up and down. Emma has also successfully gone peepee in the potty this week. I am not quite sure she knew what to make of it but she is starting to get interested at least in sitting on the potty. I would be so excited if we could get her close to being potty trained by the time Junior arrives but we're not pushing and she'll get it all figured out in her own time. Emma is definitely an adventure waiting to happen and we are looking forward to what she has in store over this next month.

Help? Who needs help? Not Emma!

After her first day in the freshman class...note the filth on the shirt and the battle wounds!

Weekend Photos

Here are a few photos from this past weekend. Okay, it might be picture overload. I did try to get some of Emma and Brad on Father's Day but it is hard to hit a moving target. Maybe now that she is with the big kids, she will learn to sit still a little longer (Fingers crossed!). We usually miss all the best faces too because she will do her "Cheese" as soon as she sees the camera, which is generally before you even get a chance to turn it on and aim.

Chillin'!

Stroller, not just for babies anymore!
Hugs for Dada!

Homemade Ice Cream!


" Peek Boo!"
New Jammies!

Short Stories

We got Emma down to the neighborhood pool on Saturday. At first she would not even go through the gate. As soon as she saw the pool, she started crying so Brad took her to swing and I went and sat down on a chair by the pool. Eventually I was able to get Emma to come in the gate by enticing her with a drink of water. Once she got in, I got in the pool, which she still had no interest in. Thankfully there was a beach ball that somebody had left behind on the pool deck so she and I played with the ball a bit and after a while, she got close enough that I grabbed her and we were both in the water. We "swam" around for a bit and then she got out and we repeated the play with ball, get pulled into water. After she got out the second time, after playing with the ball a little more, she wanted to get in herself so hopefully things are turning around as far as the pool goes. Time will tell but I really want to get her used to the water. She has also been invited to a pool party next weekend so hopefully that won't go terribly awry.

Yesterday morning, Brad was getting ready for church and as she always does, Emma went into the closet and got Brad his shoes. Not sure which shoes she got him because I didn't ask but she is always very helpful at getting everybody a pair of shoes whether they are appropriate or not. After she grabbed his shoes, Emma went back into the closet and rummaged through his pile and came up with his belt, which is exactly what he needed. It shouldn't but it still does amaze me at how observant she is.

Finally, naptime this weekend was an adventure. Both Saturday and Sunday, after we put Emma down, she pretty much played in her crib for an hour before knocking off. I missed most of it yesterday while I was at the grocery store but Brad said that it would go quiet and then all the sudden she would yell out "Hi". After she finally fell asleep yesterday, I went back to check on her only to find her laid out in her crib wearing only her diaper. It was all I could do to get the door shut before I started laughing hysterically. I guess part of the fun during that hour was in taking off her clothes. She also must have tried to remove her diaper as evidenced by the big wet spot when she woke up from her nap. Today is Emma's first day with the 2 year old age group. Hopefully she'll enjoy being one of the big kids as much as we think she will.

Officially One of the Big Kids

After I made the post yesterday about Emma being ready to move up to the next room and how August couldn't come soon enough, we got some exciting news. When we picked Emma up from daycare yesterday, we were told that there was an opening in the transition room since one of the kids there was leaving and would we be interested in moving Emma into his spot? Would we be interested? ABSOLUTELY! They must have known we would be so agreeable because she already had a cubby assigned to her. So as of Monday morning, Emma will be moving up to the transition room officially. I am sure that Libby, Ella and Collin will miss her but they'll be there with her come August. We are so excited that she is going to have the chance to be with the big kids full time and get to learn and do so much more. Of course, Brad is a little sad too because it means his little girl is growing up but this is a great opportunity for Emma and she is so ready for it. I am also hoping that this means that we can start working on getting rid of the pacifier.

28 Weeks

Glucose test? Check. Rhogam shot? Check. Two more things to cross off the pregnancy check-list as I transition into the third trimester. How did that happen already? The ticker on the side of the blog puts Junior's arrival at only 85 days from today (hopefully a few less and not a few more). Yesterday was just labs with the glucose test and the Rhogam shot. Hopefully I won't be hearing from the doctor's office today, which would mean that my glucose level was fine. I am not too concerned that I will be getting a call. I guess we had better get on the ball though in terms of getting Junior's room painted. Thankfully there isn't a ton that needs to be accomplished prior to Junior's arrival. When we ask Emma where the baby is, she will lift up my shirt and point to my belly saying "baby". Of course, she still has no idea how Junior's arrival will impact her existence but she'll adjust. It is just hard to realize that we only have a short time left to enjoy just Emma. I guess we better make the most of it!

After I got done being poked and prodded yesterday, I picked up Emma and we did a little shopping at the mall. We (I) got sucked in by Gymboree as I do whenever I go to the mall, which thankfully isn't often. They just have the cutest things and the best prices on the clearance racks. The highlight of our shopping for Emma though was when we split a chocolate chip cookie and some lemonade. Her face was a chocolaty, gooey mess but she loved it and was signing for more after we finished. I think that she drank the lion's share of the lemonade.

Emma has not had the greatest of weeks at daycare primarily at naptime and decided to skip one altogether on Wednesday. On Tuesday, after being patted and rocked for 30 minutes, Ms. Andi had to give up and stuck Emma in a swing where she proceeded to basically tell the other kids in the nursery to go take a nap, yelling "nigh nigh" at them. Twice this week she has slept on a cot in the transition room, which resulted in almost 2 hour naps both days. That is so much better than the 1-1:15 that she normally takes in the nursery, which makes for a happy Emma and a happy Mom and Dad. It seems like she is just really ready to be out of the nursery and up in the big kid room full time. For Emma's sake, we hope that August and her move to the transition room get here very soon.