Say What?!

Emily, like every toddler, has her own language. Its funny how we adapt and even start to pronounce words like she does. Some of my favorites:

Mangles = Pringles
Opee-ten = Open it
Butt-on = Diaper (where did this come from?)
Dorothy = fish (as in, Elmo's fish Dorothy)
Manga = Grandma
Sissa = Alyssa (her cousin)
I Huuuunnngy = I'm hungry
Suckits = Sunglasses

It seems like every day she is saying a new word or phrase. The other day we were on a walk/run, and she yelled out "I WANT TO WALLLLLKKK!" which of course meant she wanted to get out of her stroller and wander around aimlessly.

She knows most of the alphabet, I think we have Sesame Street to thank for that. Tonight I wrote her name on her magna-doodle, and asked her what it said and she goes "Emmy!" I was super impressed until I spelled out MOM next and asked her what it said, she said "Emmy!"

I'm just loving watching her learn and grow!

I'm baaaaaack :)

I decided today that Emily is doing so many cute and funny things that I want to remember forever! Lord knows I'm not gonna get them all written in her baby book - It's much easier for me to blog about it! Not that she hasn't been cute for the last year or so, but I sort of lost my blog motivation for a while.

So, what I want to document today is the latest oh-so-fun toddler-ism we are experiencing. It sounds a lot like THIS (click the link).

It can be...frustrating at times! But frustratioin aside, "Mom" is still my favorite word in the whole English language!!

Emily and Bella

In just the last week or so, Emily has become VERY interested in Bella. She always rolls towards her when she's on the ground. Bella is incredibly patient and sweet with her, but she does want to "nibble" on Emily's hands and feet. Hopefully she learns soon that its a no-no!

Tonight I thought Bella was going in for a nibble when I saw she was actually licking Emily's hands! Kind of gross, I admit, but I did wash her hands right after this happened :) And right at the end of the video, Bella does go in for the bite...(p.s. Please pardon my superrrr annoying voice in this video!)

Does Emily want to hug Bella, or eat her? :)

Happy 2010!!

Happy New Year! We spent Emily's first New Year with our good friends Zach and Gretchen, and their little guy Graylon. Luckily, the kids were in bed WELL before midnight, so the adults could enjoy a few cocktails and play some cards.As you can see, the kids were almost as excited about New Year's Eve as we were :)
December was (obviously) a busy month due to the holidays, but we also celebrated Troy's birthday this month. Emily couldn't enjoy any cake with us this year, but she was happy to be a part of the celebration!
So, of course we should talk about Emily's first Christmas!! Emily hardly noticed the Christmas tree or other decorations, but she definitely noticed all the commotion at family get-togethers! She didn't quite get the concept of opening presents, and at times she even seemed a little bit annoyed to be in the middle of all the chaos...but she definitely loved having her grandmas and grandpas, aunts, uncles, and cousins around! She was full of smiles for everyone, as usual. At Christmas Eve mass, she was mezmerized by her Grandma Diana's singing, just staring at her during each song.
In other news, Emily has mastered rolling from back to tummy AND tummy to back! This makes her much happier now that she isn't getting stuck on her tummy. She can only roll one direction though, so she ends up moving across the room and can't get back.

Baby food is going really well now! Her favorites foods are squash, sweet potatoes, pears, and applesauce. We only tried "green" vegetables once and it didn't go over well...so we will have to work on that one.

Her latest "gadget" is her exersaucer, which was kindly donated by a friend who no longer needed it. Once she figured out how to get her feet planted in it, Emily LOVED it! She chews on all the toys, gets a-rockin' in there, and makes all kinds of funny noises :)Speaking of chewing, I think we are working on some teeth! The drool factor has increased significantly in the last couple weeks, and I think I see the white buds starting to push on her gums.

Her latest stats...at 8 months (5 months corrected), Emily was 16 lb 15 ounces - awesome! She is between 10th and 25th percentile for 8 month old babies!!

To sum it up, all you have to do is read Emily's butt....Life is Good!!!

The cure for any bad mood

How can this not put you in a great mood?! She giggles at the most trivial things!

Changing so fast!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Whew, it's been too long since my last update! Troy was finally able to get in the fields, so I have been pulling single-mommy duty lots of nights...which just doesn't leave much time for blogging :)

Catching a morning catnap with Bella

Well, where to begin? Between the time Emily turned 6 months old (October 19) and 7 months old (November 19), our poor baby had to endure no less than 8 shots!! She had the H1N1 shot and booster, the regular flu shot and booster, her 6 month immunizations, and her first Synagis injection. I am so glad that is all over! She will have to get the Synagis monthly until April, but I think those are the only shots she will have between now and then. Whew!

We are still attempting rice cereal and a few fruits and vegetables, but its not really going that well. We try every day, but Emily just doesn't eat much of it. She's on straight formula now, since she decided she wouldn't drink anything with even a drop of breastmilk in it :( But on the positive side, I'm finally done pumping YAY!! I can't say I'll miss that.

Still not much progress on rolling over from tummy to back. She did it a few times, and now she seems to have forgotten how. I really need to focus on tummy time with her, I know that would help.

On Thanksgiving day, Emily figured out how to roll from her back to her SIDE...hasn't completely rolled over yet, but she definitely has the side thing down.

Emily is wanting to be sitting up (supported) or standing (with us holding her up) most of the time now. Her bouncy chair and play gym don't allow her to sit up all the way, so those are starting to lose their luster with her. She really likes her Bumbo seat now, and we also got her one of those doorway-mounted jumpers - once she figured that out, she really liked that too!

Awwww, she fell asleep in there!

I put the "finishing" touches on Emily's room this month, too. I wanted to get a few more things on the walls, and I finally got it done.

I'll leave you with a couple more pictures from this past weekend:

Giggles