18 Months!

Yep, Emily is 18 months old. She's quickly going from baby to little girl. It's so cute, so much fun, and so challenging.

She has started talking more and more. Some of it I understand and some of I haven't the slightest clue. Some of her words include:

Moe (more)

Baby (baby)
Baby (Pelly - her stuffed pelican)

Baby (her blanket)

Baby (Banjo - our dog)

Eaa (eat)

Peas (please)

Tant Tou (Thank You)

Cracker
Ice
Mimme (mickey - means she wants to watch Mickey Mouse)
Mama
Daddy
Nonie (Brad's mom)
Pawpaw (Brad's dad - his "name" is Peepaw)
Mimi (my mom - her name is "Gumi")
Shelsh (Shelly, Brad's sister)
Bike
Par (park)
Bed
Soe
Book
Daw (dog)
Bahh (bath)
Cheee (cheese)
Phay (play)
Waffle
Wawa (water)
Cookie
ou-side (outside)
bye-bye
....and more that I'm just not thinking of.

She can also be a big goof ball - as long as she very comfortable with whom ever is in room. She'll dance, run in circles, make silly faces, and just make you (and herself) laugh. It's a completly different story if she's not comfortable with someone in the room. - then she's so shy.  However, no matter how shy's she is she will always say bye-bye and blow kisses when someone leaves. So adorable.

She also has quite the temper. We've had a peek into what is coming with the "Terrible-Two's". These tantrums aren't going to be fun. Emily has thrown a couple all out-kicking-screaming-laying on the floor-crying fits. Ignoring little Emily, like most kiddos, has been the best way to get past them. Most of them are short and sweet, but those that's aren't...wow! Brad looked at me during one of them and said, "Make it stop!"

She LOVES being outside. She stands at the back door saying "ou-side." Anytime a door opens, she trying to get out there any play. The park is her favorite place. She like the playground, but would rather walk around, splash in puddles, and enjoy the outdoors.

I love our little redhead and I'm so excited to see what the next 18 months have in store for her and our family.

The Great Ice Storm of 2011

Yeah, I know it’s been a long time since I’ve updated this blog. I have no good excuse – I’ve just been lazy. However, we’ve been stuck inside for three days now (stupid ice storm) and I figured now would be a good time to update.
We got struck with ice, snow, sleet, rain, and some record low temperatures early Tuesday morning. Our backyard is white, our front yard is white, and our driveway is a thick sheet of ice. There are rolling blackouts happening. All of the schools in the area are closed. North Texas has shut down. Yep, just in time for the Supe… I mean, National Football League Championship Game. Being stuck inside with an (almost) 18 month old who loves to be outside – yeah, it’s tough. So what have we been doing?
OutsideWell, Emily begged and begged and begged to go outside, so we let her. She played outside in the white mix for a little while and was very happy. However, a few minutes later she took off her hat. Then, she demanded that Brad take off her jacket. Brad decided this was a good time to “teach her a lesson” about being cold. So, he took off her jacket. About fifteen seconds later she came running inside screaming cause she was so cold.
Lesson learned?


PaintingI set up the kitchen table, put an oversized shirt on, and let Emily paint away. Emily picked out the colors: pink, purple, and blue. She was so happy and very focused on what she was doing. She painted two pictures and is very proud of them. She’ll pick one up and bring it to me with a big smile on her face. It’s so cute.  


Taking Banjo for a WalkEmily loves to hold Banjo’s leash. She found it laying around yesterday and brought it to me. I figured why not, I put the leash on and let Emily take Banjo for a “walk” around the house. Banjo wasn’t too thrilled, but Emily loved it. She walked Banjo all around the house.


Bike RidingEmily received a trike from her uncle for Christmas. We put it together and let Emily play with it around the living room. She loves riding it and pushing her stuffed animals around. She loves it so much that we have to hide the trike. If we didn’t all we would hear is, “Ride, ride, ride.”


Play doughI found a very simple homemade play dough recipe and made a batch (with some help) for Emily. When I asked her what color she wanted, she answered, “purple”. So, purple play dough it was. Emily wasn’t sure about the play dough at first, but with the help of some Christmas cookie cutters, she had some fun.

In case you are interested, here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
1 TBS cream of tartar
1 TBS oil
food coloring

Directions: Heat all ingredients in a saucepan, slow to medium heat. Stir continuously. Once dough is at the consistency you want, remove from heat. Cool before using.

Sitting on the CounterEmily loves the sit on the kitchen counter. That’s where she eats her breakfast every morning. Yes, I know it’s not the safest place, but oh well. The drying rack for all of her cups is right next to her spot on the counter. She loves to take apart her cups and put them back. It keeps her busy long enough for me to unload the dishwasher.


SweepingThe little one loves the play with the broom and dustpan. Heck, if she wants to clean under her table, I’ll let her.

 
That’s what we’ve been doing around here these past few days. I’ve loved being home with Emily. It’s been a very nice break and unexpected week at home. I wish I would have been a little more productive, but I’ve had a ton of fun playing with our little girl.
I’m going to try to update on a more regular basis.

Christmas Card Time!

Thanksgiving isn’t here yet, but it’s time to start thinking about Christmas cards. The past few years I’ve designed and printed my own cards. I was planning on doing the same for 2010, until I learned about Shutterfly’s great promotion – bloggers get 50 Christmas card FREE! I’ve never used Shutterfly for cards, but I have printed tons of pictures from them.

I started searching through their website and found a lot of great designs that I just love! Seriously, check them out, http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards. I’m sure you’ll find at least one (or two) cards that you really like. I’m partial to their photo cards. Seriously, what’s a Christmas card without a picture? I’ve already picked out the one I’m going to use – it’s a secret for now Now, I’ve got to figure out which picture of Emily I want to use. Here a few of my other favorites:

All Wrapped Up
Merry Blossoms
Snowflake Sprinkles

Something else that I’m very excited about – Shutterfly can address and mail the cards for you! Really, how much easier can sending Christmas cards get?

I’m sure you know this, but Shutterfly does other things besides Christmas cards. From mugs to birthday cards to calendars – Shutterfly can hook you up. And I’m sure you’ll be able to find a great Christmas present for someone in your family. And they even have photo books (I love me some photo books!).

 

So, check out Shutterfly for your Christmas cards this year!

Shutterfly is running a promotion – bloggers can get 50 free cards when they blog about this promotion. If you would like to participate, visit their website, http://bit.ly/sfly2010

The Joy of Crashing Your Computer

There are some good things and bad things about getting a virus and crashing your computer.

Yes, I managed to crash our computer. I was just looking for a cute little Christmas outfit for Emily. One that has the adorable little ruffles on the pants. But, I can’t justify paying $50 for an outfit she’ll wear once (maybe twice). So off to the internets (yes, I said internets) I went. I was searching away one night and some how, some way, I managed to get a nasty virus on our computer. As soon as I thought there was a problem I just shut the computer down. Brad got on the next morning, and started to question what I was up to. Ummm….let’s just say there were some new icons on our desktop and they were a little graphic.

Brad tried, and tried, and tried to rescue our computer. But he finally gave up when we got a “physical memory dump” and “blue screen” error. We were able to get the most important files off of the old computer (thanks to an external hard drive). However, I know if  we didn’t get it all.

The good things about crashing your computer beyond repair (ok, it could have been repaired, but the computer was five years old, the monitor was coming apart, and keys were missing) – is that you get a new computer!

The bad thing is that it’s expensive!

The good thing is that this new computer is super fast and fun to play with.

The bad thing is that it’s expensive and we still aren’t sure if we were able to save everything.

The bad thing is that shopping for a new computer is a pain in the butt! Sure, we could have built a Dell online, but we didn’t want to wait that long. We went to six different stores searching for the best deal. We found what we wanted at store #5 but the sales guy was a idiot and we walked out of that store without a computer.

The good thing is – I have some new software that makes it easier to blog and edit pictures.

The bad thing is that it’s expensive!

In some ways it was nice not having a computer at home for a little while. It was amazing how much more I got done around the house! This new computer will spend more time in the office and less time in the den.

Now that we are back in the computer business around here – maybe I’ll be better about updating the blog.

Fun Day Friday!

Fridays are my day with Emily. The director at Emily's daycare calls them our "Friday Fun Day!" I try not to put pressure on myself to get stuff done, but to really spend my time with Emily. We spend time playing outside - either at the park or our back yard. We spend time making a mess around the house. We spend time just hanging out.Now that she's starting to get a little older (tear) there are more and more activites for us to do.

The past couple of weeks we've gone to the zoo and the children's museum. The zoo was wonderful because Emily loves animals. She would get as close as she could and wave to each animal. She was so excited to pet the goat and the horse. Roaring at the lion was big-time fun. And trying to pet the white tiger might have made her day. Oh, making monkey noises at the monkies was pretty cute.

The children's museum was fun, too. It was so nice to just let her walk around and explore the different areas on her own. She loved pushing the grocery cart around, pressing the button to make noise in the ambulance, and playing with the bubble machine.

And then there's the park. Emily loves being outside and going to the park. She's perfectly happy if I just let her wander around the big, open field and explore. But she loves going down the slide, too. The bigger the slide, the better.

I'm going to have to find some fun, indoor activites for winter. I can only handle talking her to the mall playground so many times.

And yes, she wears that TCU shirt a lot on Friday. Fridays are TCU purple day around here.

Halloween Crafts!

Eighteen25, one of the blogs I follow, did a month of Halloween crafts all of September. I'm not really much of a Halloween fan (I'm really looking forward to Christmas on their blog), but there were quite a few crafts that I just fell in love with! There are so many creative people out there - I love copying their ideas :)

My favorite idea was the trick-or-treat bags posted on September 15. They idea simple enough for me, didn't require any sewing, and it's something that I could use year after year. So, Emily and I headed out to Joann's to pick up some supplies - fabric, wonder under, bags, and ribbon. As much as I love Joann's, their ribbon selection is NOT good. So, we made another trip to Michael's for cute Halloween ribbon.

I made Emily's bag and then I kept going. I made four bags and the only reason I stopped is because I'm out of bags. Here are a few pictures of the finished products:

Be sure to visit eighteen25 and see all of the wonderful Halloween stuff!

It's Only Temporary

When Emily was three or four weeks old she would get really fussy and cranky around 4 p.m. We would calm her down only to get a screaming, crying, very unhappy baby around 8 p.m. Brad and / or I would be up for hours trying to figure out what was wrong and how to help. Many, many times I sat on the couch holding a screaming baby telling myself, "This is only temporary. This is only temporary. This isn't going to last forever."

When Emily was seven weeks old we finally figured out she had reflux, got her on some meds and the crying, screaming fits ended. That was only temporary.

Emily started sleeping through the night when she was about 11 weeks old - right before I went back to work (awesome!). That all changed once she was five months old. All of sudden Emily wanted to be awake in the middle of the night. Sleep was only optional. Again, I sat on the couch, in the middle of the night, with a crying baby telling myself, "This is only temporary. This is only temporary. This isn't going to last forever."

And yes, with a little (modified) sleep training, Emily started sleeping through the night again. That was only temporary.

Then there were those times I would excuse myself from whatever was going on at that moment (work, hanging out with friends, running errands, playing with Emily, sleep, etc) and lock myself in a room (or bathroom) with the pump. When Emily was ten months old I was very ready to be done pumping. I was sick and tired of being hooked up to the pump several times a day. But, there were many times when I remember thinking, "This is only temporary. This is only temporary. This isn't going to last forever."

And of course, it didn't last forever. It was a "sacrifice" I was more than happy to make for a year for my sweet girl. It was only temporary.

Last weekend when Emily was sick, we had a lot of downtime at the hospital. We sat there with our sweet little girl, who just felt like crap, wishing the doctor would move just a little bit faster. She was so sick and we were very worried. I remember thinking, "This is only temporary. This is only temporary. She's going to get better and this isn't going to last forever."

All of a sudden it dawned on me - sure, the tough times are only temporary, but so are the good times. Emily isn't always going to want me to snuggle with her before she goes to bed. She isn't going sit in her highchair, sign "all done" and continue to eat with a smile on her face. She isn't going to pull her little doggy around the living room and laugh everyday. She isn't going to run to me and smile everytime I pick her up from school. She isn't always going to blow kisses to her daddy before she goes to bed. All of those things are only temporary.

It may take a rough night or a sick little baby to remind me that good and bad - it's all temporary. I need to cherish each moment I'm given with my sweet little girl.

This is only temporary . . .