Ring Around the Rosies

Emma loved to play Ring Around the Rosies.
Here she has some willing victims, I mean, participants! hehe

Vacation in Wisconsin

We went out of town to Wisconsin on August 7-15th to visit Kevin's family. It was so nice be around his family. I really do wish they lived closer so that Emma could grow up with some cousins! While we were visiting we went to this really neat organic farm out in the middle of no where. On certain nights the people who live on the farm cook stone fire pizza. It was a neat experience and was a lot of fun! Plus the pizza rocked!

Hi Maddy!

Laura and I have figured out how to use the video chatting program! It really has helped me not miss her as much when I can see her face on the computer and we can talk for a while. Well, this afternoon we let the girls talk. It was so funny to watch them. They really didn't seem to know what to do, I think Emma thought it was just a picture of Maddy and was confused when she started moving and talking. hehehe Emma brought Maddy some of her toys to play with together, I thought that was funny. I can't wait to see them again!

Holding Hands with A Boy!

I just think it is so cute when Emma holds hands with other kids. Here she is holding hands with a little boy from church. This is before they each think the other had cooties! hehe

In Trouble

Emma got in trouble tonight for being ugly with us and being disobedient. We took her food away and turned her into the corner. Here she is crying and saying "hold you, mama" (translation: hold me, mama). I thought it humorous, so I included it for you.

Bahama Bucks

Over the last few months there was a new restaurant that was being built on the way to our home. We found out the name of the place was Bahama Bucks. So for the last few months we were being silly with Emma and saying "look Emma, Bahama Bucks", just because it was fun to say. After a while we would drive by and Emma would say "Mama, Bahama Bucks!". Well, now it is up and running and we have taken Emma there a few times. She loves it and it is a fun memory. I have to say, this place sure is hopping at night! Since it is a snow cone place I wonder if it will stay in business during the winter months.

Potty Training

Well, I think Emma is officially potty trained. Even at night. About a week and a half ago Emma started waking up and calling out to go "pee pee on the potty". Which at first was great, until she started doing it regularly ever 4-6 hours at night. It was like having a new baby all over again. We started putting her in pull ups at night because it was easier to get her undressed to go to the bathroom. We also learned why people use two piece pajama's instead of the one piece zip up pajama's. The one piece pajama's are a drag with going to the potty at 3 am. But overall she is doing great! It has only taken me a month, is that long? I'm am just so proud of her (and me!)

Folding Laundry

Papa was trying to teach Emma how to fold laundry. Emma's idea of folding laundry is wadding the underwear up in a ball. Well, papa tried!

Cracked

My mother watched Emma tonight for us so that we could go to bible study. My mom said Emma said the funniest thing while she was rocking Emma. Apparently Emma was gently stroking my mom's arm then she said...

"Mema, your cracked. Lotion make it better."

Laughing, my mom said "I'll do it later".

"No, do it now."

So my mom put some lotion on that she had near her and asked, " is this better?"

"Yeah, better. "

Emma is so funny. I just love this age. She cracks me up with the words she uses when she doesn't know any better.

Lunch

Today I asked Emma what she wanted for lunch and she replied she wanted a "cheese pounder". Hehehe. I promise we don't eat at McDonald's that often!

Miss Maddy

When we came back from the game tonight my mom told me that Emma missed Maddy. Here was their dialog. Emma is in red.

Mema, Maddy move away.

Maddy moved away?

Yeah, Laura and Anna too. I miss them!

It's ok baby, you will get to see her again soon.

Yeah.

Is that not the saddest thing you have ever heard? I teared up when my mom told me that. I have to go out and visit them soon.

I love being a mom...

Kevin and went to the Ranger's game tonight. My mom came over to watch Emma. When I picked Emma up to give her a kiss goodbye she said " I love you very much mama Carri". I was almost ruined by the Carri part but it was soooooo sweet. My eyes teared up. There is nothing better in the whole entire world than to hear your child say they love you very much! It doesn't get much better than this!

Rangers Game

Kevin and I went to a Ranger game tonight. I don't particularly like baseball but we went with some friends and it was nice to spend time with other adults.

Princess Emma

I brought out all of Emma's dress up clothes for her to play with to keep her busy while I cleaned the house. It worked great. She loves playing dress up. I particularly love the white gloves and the high heel shoes.

Genius?

My pediatrician was on call this weekend so I always seem to ask her "free" questions about Emma. I asked her a question about Emma's eyes, sometimes when I look at Emma it doesn't seem that her eyes line up well. Of course, I am the only one that seems to notice so I am sure it is just my paranoia. So the pediatrician asked me if I felt like she could see well. I told her that, yes, she seemed to be able to see well and I gave her an example. I told her that when we are out driving Emma will see a person walking a dog and point to the dog and say "mama, dog". Then I will proceed to ask her what color is the dog, just to test her memory, and she will almost always get it right, saying "black" or "brown" or "white". So my pediatrician said "Wow, she knows her colors." Ummm, yeah, and several of her letters and numbers and she can count, some. She was so impressed, apparently she said that knowing her colors is a 3 year old skill. Wow, my daughter is so smart! I have always thought she was pretty clever and funny but I just figured that she was just as smart as any other child her age. It is nice to know that she learns quickly.

Cup

My baby girl is just growing up so quickly! A big girl bed, potty training, and now a cup instead of a sippy cup. Emma gets a little excited about drinking from a cup that she will sometimes poor it on herself. She is getting so big so fast!

Pooping on the Potty

Emma has finally figured out how to poop on the potty! I wasn't so sure after cleaning it out of her underwear several time. My co-worker suggested when Emma poops in her panties to actually put it in the potty and say "yeah, poop in the potty, see this is where poop goes." It seemed to work. Emma started recognizing when she needed to poop. I couldn't help myself taking a picture of Emma after she pooped in the potty. Doesn't she look so proud of herself?! Sorry if you think it is gross or weird, just don't look, scroll down, look at the other cute pictures.

Swim Teacher

Emma's swim lessons are officially over. She did her last class today. She will be so sad to not go swimming. I will have to take her to friends houses who have a pool or just go to the city pool, although, I hate to spend money to swim for 30 min- 1hr. I'm so cheap. Anyways, Emma did so good with her lessons. I can tell she's improved greatly! Here is a picture of her with her swim instructor. She also had two other girls as instructors, but they were the same from the last class so I left them out this time.

Mini-van

It's official. (No, I'm not pregnant.) It's official that I'm a big dork! Or how about this. I'm officially a mom. Officially. I bought a mini-van today. Well, I hate to say "I". Kevin did all the hard work of dickering with them, I just went in later, signed the papers, and took off with my new mini-van. I love it! It is so awesome. I love the color, which Kevin tried to convince me to pick a more manly color. I love the automatic sliding doors, easier for Emma to get in, backseat air conditioning for Emma, sunroof, leather, everything. There are so many cool things about it! I have wanted a mini-van since before I got pregnant with Emma. It all started when I saw a co-worker's min-van. I was in love then and now I am ecstatic to have one myself! Did I say I love it?

Now I just need to come up with a name for her, hmmm, or him. My first car was a 1984 Ford Escort hatchback and her name was Gladys, she died to save my life. I was so sad when she died. Then I had Eggbert and he was a 1994ish Ford Aspire and he looked like bright green Easter egg. And then I got my first brand new beautiful 2001 Honda Civic and her name was Isabelle. And then there is Ralph, my 2004 Honda Element that I just traded in. (I named him Ralph, b/c when I first saw the Elements Kevin thought they were so cool looking and I thought they were just disgusting looking, hence the name Ralph, like "he made me want to Ralph". Hehe) I have to say I was kind of sad to trade him in. He was a great car, my only complaint was that he only sat four because only two people could sit in the back. Everything else was great about him. You know, now that I am looking at my names, Gladys, Eggbert, Isabelle, Ralph, so it seem that I have been rotating sexes so I guess my new car is a girl. If you have an suggestions for names I would be willing to hear them. I need a name that is beautiful, comfortable, fluffy, a real girly sounding name.

Here is a picture of Ralph in front of our house before I traded him in .

Update on Potty Training...

Emma is doing great with potty training!! She didn't pee on the floor at all today. As a matter of fact we went to the mall to play with one of her friends and I was brave and put her in her panties. Well, I took her to the bathroom two times with no success. Before we left for lunch I made her try to go again and today was the first time she peed on a public potty! I am so proud.

Actually, I am even more proud of her pooping on the potty. Yesterday she pooped in her panties a little and then finished on the potty, which she was pretty excited about. Today before nap time she peed on the potty but wouldn't go poop, even though I knew she needed to go. I put her to nap in her panties and told her she better not poop in her panties and to call out to me if she needed to use the potty. Well after a few minutes I heard "poop on potty". I rushed in there, expecting that she had already gone in her panties and she didn't! She actually sat and pooped on the potty! I'm sorry, if you don't have children you will some day know how exciting it is when your child poops on the potty! It's almost as exciting as getting presents for Christmas. Almost. So Emma pooped on the potty all by herself. Here is a picture of her watching herself. I'm sorry, it was to funny. Hey, at least I didn't include the picture of the poop! =)

Pent up at home

With all this potty training I have been at home a lot. Emma has been watching a lot of shows while sitting on the potty. So I feel guilty with her sitting at home watching TV all the time, but it is hard to go out anywhere while trying to potty train. So we went out for a walk with her scooter. She loves her scooter! It was hot, but it was nice to be out of the house for a little bit.

She Did It, She Did It!!!

Finally, for the first time in two weeks of potty training Emma pooped on the potty. Well, actually, at first she pooped a little in her panties. She was playing awfully quietly in "the park" this morning when I decided to check on her and I noticed she had pooped in her panties a little. So I rushed her to the potty and made her sit on it and then she "did it" she "did it". She was so proud of herself! Hopefully now she gets the point that you poop on the potty and not in the panties! She really did very well with potty training today. She only peed on the floor once and peed in the potty more times than I could count. Of course giving her watered down tea, a diuretic, helped her need to pee a lot. Emma's gotten pretty good about recognizing when she needs to go or not. Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Goofy Hair

I love making Emma's hair all silly and goofy during her bath and I can't help but take pictures of it to use as blackmail later! =) hehe

Still Potty Training....

Ok, so potty training is hard. Emma is making great progress. But we can't go anywhere, or if we do I am always afraid she is going to pee on herself. So last week I thought, I will get her pullups. Well, those have just slowed potty training down. I used them last week when we were out and Emma would just pee in them as if she had a diaper on. So after talking with a Pediatrician this weekend I have decided, no diaper or pullups except at bed time. That's right, even during her nap. She is just going to have to figure it out. So here is that tally for today.

Peed on the floor: 2
Peed in the potty: 5
Peed in bed during nap time: 1
Pooped in potty: 0
Pooped in her panties: 1
Abby ate poop: 1

Yes, you read that last one right. I am laughing now, but I thought I was going to kill my dog today. Why are dogs so disgusting? So here is the story. Emma pooped in her panties after nap time, luckily it stayed in her panties. So I put the poop in her potty to show her where poop goes. The potty happens to be in the living room. So I took Emma into the bathroom to clean her up and when I came out Abby had taken the poop, like a large peach sized amount, and had eaten it. I started screaming at her, I was so disgusted and grossed out. Luckily Kevin was home and I screamed at him to "do something with Abby before I beat her, I'm just going to kill her." Yes, I know, maybe I shouldn't have shouted that I would kill Abby right in front of Emma. Kevin let Abby outside and came up to see what all the fuss was about. I was almost in tears, I am not sure if it was mostly b/c of Abby or that potty training is really hard and I was tired of cleaning up Emma's mess. Kevin just kept saying, "you will look back at this and laugh, it's ok, dogs eat poop". Ewwww. I don't care, my dog won't eat poop! Even if I have to beat her regularly, just kidding. =)

Water Safety

Today Emma learned how to use and wear a life jacket. She did really good although she didn't like it when the teacher let go. She floated by herself, but she cried and flailed in the water.

All Smiles

This is just a cute picture of Emma in the car.

Play with Maddy....?

Today I took Emma out to play at one of her favorite places. The problem is she always goes with Maddy. This morning when I asked her if she wanted to go and play she said "Yes, play with Maddy too." I said, "No, baby, Maddy moved away, it will just be Mommy and Emma today." She then said, "Play with Maddy, pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaasssse." My eyes just started tearing up and I told her again that it was just going to be me and her. It was so sad. And when we got there she was looking for Maddy. Eventually she just forgot and went off to play. I hope that isn't the long term effect..... forgetting. =(

Silly mama!

Emma and I playing around before bedtime.

No, No, No, I love you Mama

This video is of Emma and I being silly before bedtime. Sorry it is a little wobbly, I am filming it myself with her crawling all over me. I just love this video, it captures her saying, "No, no, no, I love you, mama". I know she won't say that forever, so I am glad I have it on video. =)

Animals

Emma just loves our animals. We have Abby our dog which is a Sheltie. Missy and Stinky our cats. A tank of fish with Carl the Crawfish (long story). Here she is giving hugs and kisses to Stinky and playing with Abby. The cats don't care for Emma much, but Abby tolerates her well.