Got Milk?

Today I started giving Emma some whole milk. I mixed one ounce of whole milk to three ounces of breast milk. Hopefully she will tolerate it well. My mom said that I had a horrible allergy to milk as a baby. I will gradually add milk to get her use to it. I have a lot of breast milk left so the process can go slow. We'll see.

Gramma Signs

While I was at work today my mom came over to spend time with Emma. Mom told me that Emma signed to her "more" ,"drink". Mom was so tickled that she knew what she wanted. She said she felt like she was having a conversation with her. I wish I had been home to see it because Emma is so stubborn about doing "drink".

Weaning

We are officially starting to wean, although technically we have started the weaning process a long time ago because I am only nursing her in the morning and at night. By officially I mean that we are planning to start the stopping process. Next week I am planning on dropping the night time feeding and then eventually stop all together. I think it is more traumatizing on me than on her. Although the other day we were sitting in the rocking chair and she patted my chest and then did the "more" sign, which for her means I want to either eat or drink something. Well, it was right after her nap and since my milk is drying up if I would have nursed her then I wouldn't have been able to feed her before bed, so we went down to the kitchen and got her sippy cup of milk. She drank a few ounces of it then she patted me again, pulled down my shirt, put her mouth to my breast bone, and did the "more" sign. I then attempted to give her the sippy cup again, but she nodded "no" and did the "more" sign. It cracked me up. I guess it is time to wean when she is telling me she wants to nurse. Hopefully this process will be easy for her, I am sure it will be more difficult for me.

It's official!

Crawling has begun. She finally started crawling across the living room. It's so cute. I can see her concentrating so hard on getting all her limbs and muscles to work the way she wants them to. I will have to say, she is a little lazy though. I put her across the living room to get her to come to me and she stopped at her toys wanting to take a break. Still even now that she knows how to crawl if I put all her toys by her she will just sit and play. She is still catching up on her sleep from traveling and do all this extra working out! I am so glad that she is finally crawling, I was a smidgen worried that she was never going to be mobile, especially since she is now one.

Papa & Hi

Emma said "papa" tonight for Steve. It was so cute, whether or not she was actually saying it to him or just repeating what "gramma" was saying who knows. Also, she says "Hi". She says it at all random times and sometimes at appropriate times so it is so hard to say if she really knows what she is saying or just repeating what we are saying. Does this count as "words"? Or does she have to actually look at Steve and say "papa" while holding out her hands. Or say "Hi" when we first arrive while she is waving her hand. Don't know, I'll ask the Pediatrician if this counts. It is awfully fun though.

Crawling?

Emma made four little crawls! She is so close. I can see it in her eyes, she really really wants to move. This is more fun than I thought it would be. My baby is growing up! Waaahhaaaa.

Cruise

Well, being on a cruise with a one year old is completely different than going on a cruise for our honeymoon. Hmmm, maybe not the best idea. We are having a great time but I feel guilty that Emma is totally off on her schedule. I look forward to getting back on schedule, but I will be sad to get home. Well, off to the pool. =)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Emma's ONE years old! I can't believe my baby is a whole year now! She had chocolate cake for her birthday and she loved it. She was upset when it was all gone. The cake was all over, it was so cute.

Packing...packing...packing

Well, we are being brave and taking Emma on a one week cruise. We leave tomorrow, Friday, to drive to Galveston. We are staying the night in a hotel and then boarding the cruise on Sat. Wish us luck. I hope Emma doesn't get sea sick! Actually, I hope I don't get sea sick!

Sitting up

My baby Emma is getting to be such a big girl. Today when I laid her down for a nap I could hear her playing in the room so I went to watch her on the video monitor, well, she had rolled over on her stomach and then she sat up! She went from her stomach to sitting up! I couldn't believe it. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't saw it. Luckily, I had put her crib on it's lowest setting and had put her crib rail up at nap time, so she couldn't fall out. Although, I have to say that I need to get into the habit of raising her crib rail. I watched her for a while, after a while she put her thumb in her mouth. It seems she could get into a sitting position but couldn't figure out how to lay back down. So I went in and laid her down. She look on her face said "Thanks so much mommy, I couldn't figure out what to do."

Uh...oh

Today Kevin taught Emma how to say "Uh oh". It is so cute. Is there anything that she does that isn't cute. I love her so much more every day if that is even possible. I look forward to when she is really talking and not just repeating what we are saying. I just love spending time with her!

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.