My baby is a genius!

Today she finally started signing 'more'. 'More' had been her first sign but then she wouldn't ever do it, unless it was for something she really really wanted. And I stress really. But she did it over and over today. As a matter of fact, when we were going to the kitchen for dinner I was saying "are you hungry" and I was signing 'hungry'. Well, she doesn't have hungry down yet, but she was signing 'more'. It was so cute! Also, I think she was trying to sign 'thirsty' at dinner too. My baby is a genius! She now knows... more, bath, thirst, all done, toy, fall down (or as we call it "bonk bonk")... and we're still working on... hungry, cat, want, and nap. We will add soon... dog, thank you, please, no touch. This is so much fun. I just love being able to communicate with my baby.

Stand up... stand up...

I let Emma sit in her crib with the crib rail down this afternoon to practice pulling up. She actually pulled up to standing! I couldn't believe it. What a big girl she is becoming. She still isn't crawling yet but she is a butt scooter. I think she is going to skip crawling all together and then just start walking. She probably won't be walking for several months though.

Bath time sign

We started a few weeks ago signing "bath". Emma signed it tonight, well tried anyways. She was rolling her hands instead of making a sign like washing her body. She is so smart!

Breakfast

Well, I finally did it. I fed Emma breakfast today. You say, "What are you talking about. You don't feed her breakfast?" Actually, I haven't. I nurse her in the morning, then she takes a morning nap, and then she gets up and we eat lunch together. She nurses again before her afternoon nap. Gets up, eats dinner, and then nurses one more time before bed. Well, being that I am going to have to start weaning her soon I need to start feeding her more. I have just been resistant b/c I hate getting up early. I bought myself some diet coke for the morning to help wake myself up, we don't do coffee. This morning I fed her rice cereal with peaches and some toast. She loved the toast. Today when I went grocery shopping I bought her some waffles and oatmeal to eat for breakfast. I think maybe we'll do waffles tomorrow. I bet she will love that.

Double signs.

My baby is so smart. Emma was in the bath tub holding one of her toys and trying to get to more toys. So I said and signed... Emma do you want "more" "toys". She actually signed "more"and then "toys". This is so much fun! I can't wait until she actually is speaking.

'Datch

It is so much fun seeing Emma try to pronounce words. Yesterday she was looking at my watch and I would say "watch", she would then say 'datch. It is so cute. Also, when she signs all done she says 'ahhdon. It is so cute. I just love this stage that she is in. I can't wait to hear "mama" and know she means it!

Reception

Emma thinks her step-cousin Nathan is soooo funny!

Four Generation of Women

Here I am with Emma, my mom, and my grandmother. My grandmother is young enough that someday I am sure we will do a five generation picture! Now that will be cool.

Wedding Day!

Emma did unbelievably good for the wedding. Before we walked down the aisle I handed her flower basket to her, the entire way down the aisle she went "ooohhhh". It was adorable. I held her during the wedding ceremony and she was spectacular. She made a few small little peeps, but nothing really loud. She basically just played with the flowers the whole time. I have such a GREAT baby. I am so lucky and fortunate. I was thinking that maybe since she is so good I should just have one kid. Hmmm, naaahhh, how about four kids. =) Everyone tells me that I should wait and decide on having four until after I have two kids. All I know is that I don't want three, I want either 2 or 4. Actually, Kevin and I have discussed having two kids of our own and then adopting two kids, maybe a sibling pair. Or fostering children to adopt. We really want to help a few children that are less fortunate and would benefit from loving parents. Who knows what God has in store for us.

Special Occasion

My mom is getting married this weekend, she had been with her beau for 7 years (it's about time!!). So Emma's maternal great grandparents have come down to visit for the week for the wedding. It is so cute to see them with her. They love her so much. I wish they lived closer so that she could get to know them growing up. I would have loved to lived closer to them growing up. What nick name do you call great grandparents? I called mine great-grandpa. My mom suggested Gigi for my grandma, but what about my grandpa, Gipi? hahahaha I think we will just use Papa, or how about G-papa. That would be easy. I am sure Emma will come up with something cute.

Whoopie, right teeth!

I was worried, there for a long time there was not sign of teeth on the right side. Now she is getting both her upper and lower right teeth. She has been grinding her teeth also. It is like scrapping your nails on a chalk board. A horrible sound. You would just have to hear it.

All better now

No more snot! Yeah! Hurray!

Sooo sick

Kevin and I have been so sick this week. Kevin stayed home sick this week and I called in sick for tomorrow. The good news is that Emma is better. It really helps not having to take care of three sick people.

Uh oh... we're sick

Kevin and I woke up this morning not feeling well! We're trying to take care of our sick baby and were both sick! Uggg. Help.

Doctor

I had Kevin take Emma to the doctor today. She is so congested that she can't even breathe while she is eating. I feel so bad for her. I hate it when she is sick. I wish she didn't ever have to get sick. Luckily, the doctor we take her to is a pediatrician I work with. It was so nice. She called me to let me know that she is doing ok. She gave Kevin a medicine to help with her congestion. I hope it helps.

Runny Nose

Emma has a runny nose today. I hope that she isn't getting sick.

All done

We have been teaching Emma sign language. It is sooo cute. Emma signs "all done" when she is done eating! Our baby is so smart. So far we have taught her - more, all done, toy, and hungry. Hungry is a hard one to do, that will probably take a while for her to do. She does "all done" and "toy" really well. She is stubborn about "more" she will only do it for something she really really wants. We're going to start doing -thirsty, cat, bath, and I love you. I can't wait for that last one. This is so much fun to have my 11 mo old to communicate with me.

MOPS

I go to a group called MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers). It is held at my church and they have people watch the kids while the mom's get together and do a craft, eat breakfast, and listen to a speaker about some interesting topic. Well, today's craft was learning how to knit. I was going to knit Emma a scarf, but then Kevin pointed out that I was going to make something to "tie" around our daughters neck. Then I decided on a hat, well my hat started getting smaller and smaller, so I decided on booties. I think they turned out pretty well, and they fit!!

Cookie Monster!

Emma is such a great eater, is that a word, eater? For the last few months she eats anything and she feeds herself. She loves ravioli and bananas. She will even eat asparagus and lima beans. So far there is nothing she won't eat. Although I hear that might change when she becomes a toddler and realizes she has "the power" to not eat. We'll see. She drinks from her sippy cup all by herself too. It is so amazing. I think she may be allergic to pineapple though. So I have held back giving her anything with that. Otherwise it's been fair game. It really helps save time now that she can feed herself. I can give her food and make dinner for Kevin and I. I can't believe my baby is growing up! Whaaaaa.

X-mas!

Being that I have to work all weekend we are going to celebrate Christmas on Friday. Emma is not going to know the difference anyways. It was so much fun. We had dinner here at our new house. I actually cooked everything myself. This is the first time I have ever done a big meal. I rocked! Well, the only flaw was that I was a total over achiever and I had dinner way earlier than it was suppose to be done, so everything was mostly cooked and nobody was here to eat it. So, I called everyone and they came over. I made the best sweet potato casserole. Then we opened presents. I didn't think that I could possibly have fun watching an 8 mo old open presents. It was so cute. She would pull off the bow and play with it. I would take it away, she would complain, and then we would get her to pull off the wrapping paper! It was so much fun.

Perfect Baby

Our First Family Pictures.

Ho. Ho. Ho.

Is this not the cutest Santa picture ever?

New house.

We have been in the new house for a week now. It is so surreal still. I actually drove to the old house the other day, ooops. We are replacing light fixtures and all sorts of stuff. We were planning on having a party, but I don't think we are going to be ready in time. Emma seems to be adjusting ok. We set up her room pretty quickly. She is the easiest baby, doesn't seem to mind much. I love her so much.

Teefers

Emma is getting her upper three teeth all at the same time now. She has her lower three teeth, the middle two and the left tooth, which is how the top teeth are coming in. It is weird, she has her left front teeth but no signs of her right teeth. I hope she had teeth on her right side. I feel so bad for her, she is miserable now, she doesn't want me near them to brush them or anything. Thank God for Oragel, although she hates it. At least there coming in several at a time, makes the process quicker I think. I would hate to drag it out with one tooth at a time.

Moving Day

We hired movers to move all the furniture. We will officially be living in the new house tonight! Weird!! So weird.

Thanks to God for my baby

Emma's first Thanksgiving. We had dinner over at my step-grandmother's house. We gave Emma turkey, she gobbled it up (pun intended)! I think this is my favorite holiday. I look forward to spending holidays with my children, watching them grow and enjoy traditions.

Packin'

Packing, packing, packing.... here we go a packing. My husband and I have been moving stuff over to the new house gradually. It is so convenient to be only two doors down. It is so weird going over to the new house, I can't imagine us living there. Really surreal. Emma has been so good with all this. She really is the best baby in the entire world.

Closing

We closed on our new house today, the construction crew is going to start tomorrow. We are having some walls built, wood floors installed, and painting. This is SO exciting.

SOLD

Our house is sold, we close at the end of the month. Better start packing. Boy this is going to be stressful with the baby. Ahhh! At least she is not moble yet. Thank God for that.