Raising Miss Emma: February 2015

Day By The Hour

8AM:

Time to party because it's the weekend! We wake Daddy up around 8:30 because Emma cannot wait any longer. Also because we have to do laundry and it's impossible to carry everything up/down the stairs with Little E. I would leave her on the main floor but she'd light something on fire and invite boys over.

9AM:

Breakfast recap. Note the 600 banana peels-- we go through 2 a day in this house.

10AM:

Still can't part with her banana peel. I'm not fighting her today and let her eat it. Whatevs. Also note: Numero dos pants because we got yogurt on her jammies.

11AM:

My husband got the Girl Scout Cookie Tracker App and found out that they'd be at AC Moore at 11. So guess where we were at 11AM?

12PM:

Made it to the mall. It's almost an hour drive so E napped in the car on the way there.

1PM:

New shoes for a certain little girl! The whole point of going to this mall was to go to Stride Rite. Apparently they are closing hundreds of their stores, and this one was one of them. Boo. Finish Line had some Sketchers and they were $30-- winner winner chicken dinner.

When the guy went back to get her shoes, Emma followed him. Yeah, we have a runner on her hands.

Friday Faves

Howdy! I'm typing this while Emma kisses the dogs and it's about to make my heart explode. We are so happy it's Friday here even though Nathan has to work Sunday. Oh well. We will just have to cram all our fun in tomorrow. ;)

Some random things I'm loving this week:

:: Kohls! I have never really been a Kohls fan. Not for any reason other than there was never one close to us. All the women in my life love Kohls. Even my FIL said his shirt was from Kohls! Anyway, E & I walked through there the other day and they had some good deals. Their kid clothes, children's books, and even toys are very reasonably priced. We didn't buy anything but I may be picking up a few Easter goodies for E's basket.

:: Some of these off Pinterest. . .

:: I just started following this blog and it is super cute!

:: Felt food! Ikea sells felt food and I immediately fell in love. I never got any-- Emma needs more toys like I need a bullet in my head. BUT I found these felt cinnamon rolls and I love them!

Okay that's all I can think of right now. Hope everyone has an awesome weekend! xoxo

16 Month "Little Things"

Our Little E turned 16 months on the 20th. I think we are getting into territory where we just say she's 1. It gets annoying to say how many months she is.

So on Friday we pulled out my camera and had a little impromptu photo shoot.

I never ever ever want to forget how cute she looks sitting there! She has the best posture, can use a grown up fork and spoon, and eats almost anything we put in front of her.

Both the dogs just hang there and wait for her to throw things. :-) We really do let her make a mess-- it helps her learn how to eat correctly, and we don't want to "yell" at her and create a negative view of eating. It should be fun!

Right now her favorite foods are: broccoli, Nature Valley Oatmeal bars, goldfish, and chili. The dogs eat everything she eats (haha) except bananas.

I'm not sure if she's a righty or a lefty-- she switches back and forth throughout the day. She also loves to eat on the run..carrying her granola bar around so the dogs follow her like she has beef up her sleeve.

We got her this dress (above) in Syracuse last May and it still fits! Score. Also note: It is impossible to take a photo of my kid right now.

Homegirl loves her water. She knows where we keep it and she walks up to the kitchen counter with her arms up in the air. So. Cute.

This girl is TV obsessed. She would watch TV all day if I let her. She'll stare at anything-- the news, History channel, sports games, Lifetime... you name it. Because she knows how to turn the TV on/off, we can't even hang out in our family room. Today I had to unplug it from the wall. It is so bad.

The dogs are her best friends. They absolutely adore her and I'm so thankful we are raising her with doggies around! She has just recently started obsessing over giving them treats. She knows where we keep them and she grabs the container and yells (because the container is heavy). I will usually open it and she hands them each a treat.

I never ever want to forget that she pulls out all the recycling. We keep it in a big in the kitchen and I just bring it out every night. She pulls the most random items out! Even though it drives me nuts, I still keep the bag out. Today she had a yogurt container on her head.

So proud of our big girl! God love her.

Last Week Recap

Not a very exciting week for us last week. Plain and boring but still fun.

Emma is always so sad to see Nathan go every afternoon. We say bye to him and she waves, but then cries when he leaves. Nathan has not quite perfected the art of sneaking out. ;) For my jogs, I have to run out of the house and she doesn't even notice I leave.

Speaking of jogs, because of our insane amounts of snow, I wasn't able to jog at all last week! Totally bummed. I have memorized 30 day shred and I'm so sick of it. Plus Nathan said all my jumping around in our room is going to make the TV fall off the dresser. I think that was a fat joke.

Tape has been so popular with E for the past few weeks! I have washi tape that I use in my planner, and she loves to play with it. It can keep her busy for quite a bit. I joked with Nathan that we were going to tape lanes and push cars around the house. We didn't, but that sounds like a really fun idea.

Gave Emmie an ice cream sammy and she loved it! Huge hit.

We had a "snow day" on Ash Wednesday, so we never got to get ashes. Instead we colored. Win. A church down the road had drive thru ashes, but the roads were super bad.

E is a pretty good colorer. ;)

My friend told me to check out Honest Toddler on FB. It is hilarious! You will have to search for it, but oh my gosh I laugh so hard at every post.

I wish I was exaggerating when I say my kid cries every time we let the dogs out. She wants to go out so badly, but she doesn't have a snow suit. Before Nathan left one day I asked him to scoop some snow for her and we played with it until it turned to water.

She practiced scooping, using her silverware, and I tried to teach her how to stir. She kept putting her feet in the bowl, too-- like a mini pedicure. So funny.

Friday Emmie turned 16 months old! We had a little photo shoot and she wore her cute little Syracuse dress that somehow still barely fits. She isn't easy to photograph I tell you!

Saturday I embarked on organizing her baby clothes. As things don't fit her I would put them in bins in the garage, but I never organized them by size.

We found Emma's sunglasses and she insisted on putting them on/off 634 times. When I put them on she got a very serious face and ripped them off me.

My poor husband came home from the car dealership and clothes were all over the kitchen. He said "Did we have another baby? Why are these out?".

I can't believe she wore that! I remember picking up like it was yesterday. Time sure does fly.

My grandmother got Emma that dress for Easter last year. I was sure most of her dresses would still fit, and they looked like they did, but she kept grabbing at the neck part and grunting/yelling. Sooo guess not. Not to mention some of the dresses didn't cover her booty. Ha.

I can't think of anything else that went on last week. It was pretty low-key! Hope everyone had a great weekend! xoxox

15 & 16 Month Favorites (Friday Favorites)

Friday Favorites with a twist. ;) Our little E is 16 months old today! Where in the world does time go?

This is by far my favorite age-- E has a personality, can really play and understand things/toys, understands commands, etc.

Very few things can keep her busy for long. Some things we're loving right now:

Shape Sorter-- While she can't exactly "play" with this toy, she does try to stick the shapes in. She knows how to open and shut the box, and therefore she dumps the shapes out 500 times every afternoon.

Fisher-Price Little People-- We have the princesses and Emma loves them! We don't have a house for them or anything (apparently they make cars and all sorts of crap for parents to buy), she's just happy with the people themselves. So is Oreo because he ate off Repunzel's arm. She even puts them up on the windowsil and then throws them on the floor. They are the perfect size that she can also teethe on them without worrying she'll choke.

Melissa & Doug Standard Unit Blocks-- Best purchase ever! We play blocks at least twice a day. She can stack several up and loves carrying the stacked blocks around. I always try to create a big caste but it never lasts long-- Godz-Emma comes crashing through.

Pipe cleaners/Poms-- Really any kind. I found some on Amazon for $1 each. This weekend I'm going to try to put a hole in a container and have her put the poms in the container thru the hole. Should be good for hand eye coordination, cognition, something?

As I mentioned (back here), she loved the pipe cleaners and colander. That kept her busy for quite some time! Nathan likes to make one long pipe cleaner for her to play with. They are a big hit right now.

Bears/babies-- Another huge hit! Shoot, even the dog toys! It's crazy. We lined them all up yesterday (probably 30 small stuffed animals) and we played school. Emma was pretty disruptive and sat on half the class but we had fun. She will hug all the animals and kiss them. She loves to put them places and give them to the dogs.

Shoes-- Yup. Socks too but mostly shoes. She carries shoes around and yells at me until I put them on her. 7AM my kid is wearing sneakers with jammies. She loves it when I let her wear my sneakers or even Daddy's shoes.

Crayons/Markers-- Coloring is huge right now. I printed off a sheet for Ash Wednesday and we colored on that until I caught her eating the marker. Ayy yi yi. She does get frustrated when they don't write as well (if she doesn't push hard enough) which can end badly. Emma loves to color on boxes we get in the mail..especially if she can get in the box! Bonus.

That's what we're loving right now! I'm also loving nap time. :-) Hope everyone is having an awesome Friday! xO

Confessions

In an attempt to "keep it real" here, I thought I would do some confessions every so often. . .

:: I've cleaned our front door once since we moved in. There are Emma's finger prints and dog nose prints everywhere. Today I caught her banging a teether against the door and slobber was everywhere. Yum.

:: I'm trying to quit drinking Diet Coke for the 2nd time in my life. I'm down to one tiny one a day and I've gained at least 7 pounds. I'm not exaggerating. I asked my husband if he would rather me be fat or drink Diet Coke.. he said Diet Coke. #whyamidoingthis

:: Emma knows how to turn the TV on and off-- with the button and remote. God help me.

:: E is having an ice cream sammie because she was crying and nothing was working.

:: 30 day shred whooped my behind. It was only level 1.

:: Nathan left for work and there were 6 ice cream sammies. I'm pretty sure there are 2 left. In my defense I gave a whole one to Emma and they are the snack size. :-)

A Peek Into Our Week (Happy V-Day!)

Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday! My husband got a 3-day weekend (which is rare) so we've been celebrating all weekend long. :-)

And now we're dealing with 6 inches of snow, no plows, and figuring out how he's getting to work. SCORE.

LOL my husband sent me this Monday afternoon when he had to go into work early for some event. It pretty much describes us quite well.

My birthday was Monday. My sister in law once again made me laugh and sent that shirt (above) for my birthday. For Christmas, her order got mixed up (or so she says) and I got a shirt with Biggie on it. More here.

I told her I can't wait for this Christmas to see what shirt I get!

When we go to the grocery store, we can't walk by the bananas without Emma going bananas. One time I let her eat a banana while we shopped. One time. She'll never let me forget it and now she eats one every time. The cashier always laughs when I put a banana peel up on the check out.

Best idea ever! I have been slowly building our little craft box and found these for ONE DOLLAR. They keep her busy for an eternity in toddler time (20 minutes in real time).

I showed E how to put them through the colander and she caught on super quick. She laughed so hard when I put them between her toes.

Big girl status! She loves eating with big people silverware. Ain't nobody got time for baby spoons. She loves broccoli with cheesy rice.

On Valentine's Day we went to a "nicer" mall about an hour away from us. I had been wanting some of these shirts (click here) from Gap Body, and was kind of afraid to order them online without trying them on. OMG they are so comfy and I definitely recommend them! I got 2 because of the price tag, but I told my husband if he needs any gift ideas, I want them in every color and style. Ha.

E is going through a huge smoothie stage and is obsessed. I don't know if she just likes drinking out of a grown up cup or if she truly enjoys them, but she's had one every day for almost a week.

I know I know store bought smoothies are full of sugar and chemicals and baby sea horse carcasses, but she likes them and it buys us 3 minutes of mall walking.

My aunt sent us a box of goodies and Emmie loved her shirt! She reminded me of when I was little and used to wear my dad's shirts around the house.

That (above) just made me laugh. We used to have a cat yearsssss ago and she always tried to dart outside! Nut jobs.

Thursday morning shenanigans with Daddy. These are the bizarre pictures I get while I'm out jogging.

Friday afternoon Emmie and I made more valentines! And I pissed around playing with a canvas when I should have been doing: dishes, making dinner, returning 340598 emails, spending 2 minutes with my husband before he went to work, wiping out the fridge.

Went outside of my comfort zone and let Weezy have at it with the finger paints. She wasn't too into it, surprisingly. She only sat there enough to make 2 hearts.

Paint was everywhere. It is so washable though, you can literally wipe it off of the paper! Crazy.

That was kind of a fail (above), but I will always keep it to remember how small she is! Maybe next year we can try again when she won't be so wiggly. :-)

Okay hope everyone has a great day! xoxo

Good Deeds

When I was a little girl, my dad taught me all about good deeds. He taught me from an early age how important is it to make someone else smile, or help someone in need.

I'm sure my mom's family is going to attack me-- duh she taught me this stuff, I just remember this specific memory with my dad.

Anyway, he always told me that you're not really supposed to share your good deeds with others, brag about them, etc. Even the bible says that and personally, I'm not sure how I feel about that. You should be able to tell someone! It will make your heart feel full.

Anyway.

We made a pact to always call and tell each other our good deeds of the day. Always. No matter the time, day, no matter where the other person is-- we always can brag to each other our good deeds.

He'll say "I have a good deed for you!" One day he helped a family find their dog that was missing. One time around Christmas he helped a guy find his missing gift certificate. He's done a lot of good, but those are just random ones I happen to remember. :-)

I usually can't top him. The other day I bought a candy bar for the cashier at Target-- she was pregnant and looked like she needed a pick me up. ;) It pulled on my heart strings when she said she has to get as many shifts as she can before her baby boy arrives.

But no matter what the good deed is, we always feel we can brag to each other about it. Sometimes you have to tell someone...even if it is against the rules. Amiright?

Okay hope everyone is having an awesome weekend and had a great VD! Xoxo

2 Years Ago This Week (Throwback)

I found out I was pregnant! February 7th, actually. I will never forget that day.

Nathan was at work and I just knew it. I walked to Target, bought the most expensive test they had (I wasn't going to waste money on reading lines, ain't nobody got time for that), and about passed out when I saw what it said.

Nathan didn't believe me! Was I buying the positive tests on Craig's List or something? Actually, people do that so I shouldn't make fun.

There was no "grand" way of telling him I was pregnant-- I just showed him the test when he got home from work.

Can you see my bump? I had one immediately, ha ha.

So thankful to God for our sweet, growing baby girl. Here she is today, two years later:

I just can't believe how fast time flies. I know, everyone says that.

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