Emily's World

Happy 5 months old Sophia!

2011-01-28T09:33:00.000-08:00

Another month, another round of children not wanting to smile at the same time. At least I documented the day! :)
Disclaimer: Under no circumstances do I think these pictures are awesome, so view at your own risk of kid's heads cut off, shadows, or just bad poses HA.

Emily posing with my Grandma Cline's teddy bear because she has to have her picture taken if Sophia is.

Sophia posing with her 5 months sign, I asked Emily to make Sophia smile but Emily was more interested in watching Team Umizoomi. I decided to throw in the one picture where Sophia looked drunk for laughs(see disclaimer!)

Yet again I tried to get them both together, sitting, smiling, looking good and I failed again. I really need to start attempting it when another adult is around to jump around and make them smile & focus. Oh well.

And then some for fun(see disclaimer :) ) I think Emily really wanted to hold Sophia still and Sophia was sooooo done with pictures.

4 Months Old!!!

2010-12-28T08:34:00.000-08:00

Well Sophia has made it to 4 months old. Not sure on her stats as we go to the doctor later today but She certainly looks bigger and her clothes are proof. Emily desperately wanted to take some pictures with Sophia as well but wasn't in the mood to pose for them.

My daughters the purse models

2010-12-17T06:08:00.000-08:00

The whole idea as to why I have taken pictures of my kids with a vintage older than dirt green purse is not important :) However, I thought some of them turned out absolutely adorable to I am going to post a ton of pictures of my kids. I am kind of glad my kids are girls because Sean had to take some pictures too and he looked a little fruity in his!!!! Emily loves purses of all kinds and at the age of 2 had her first Coach purse(not purchased by me for the record!).

The carefree look at my purse pose

Sophia taking a snooze

Emily's runway walk with the purse

Emily taking a moment from modeling to check out what's on tv

Emily's "I am done posing for you Mommy look." But notice she still has a death grip on the purse.

The Joys of Storytime-Super Long But pics at the end :)

2010-12-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

Basically if you want to have any sort of fun around here for free you have to go to the library. Weird thought, I know. I NEVER thought I would go to the library for activities & to just play with their puzzles. I mean, we have puzzles at home but for some reason at the library Emily puts the pieces in them & then puts them away vs at home where the pieces are just everywhere. While our libraries(we have 3 we can go to) have some sort of free toddler storytime/craft time every single day I limit us to two times a week for my own sanity. On Thursdays is the two & three year old story/craft time and thankfully Ed is usually off so I take Emily by herself for some Mommy & Emily time to make sure she feels special still. Its a hit or miss on if she is going to behave & love it or just be a complete mess. Usually its either she's very good for the storytime part & then freaks out during craft or is wiggly & obnoxious during storytime & rocks the craft. This week was wiggly during storytime & she totally LOVED the craft. As a mother I was so excited when our craft did not involve a glue stick as Emily just likes to use it like a crayon & not for its original purpose. It was a jingle bell necklace! How freaking cool is that. Emily totally wanted to help me put all the beads & jingle bells on & actually was very cooperative with letting me do a color/bell pattern. And of course she had to put it on the minute it was done & actually ended up wearing it the rest of the day, yes even naptime. I think we finally got it off of her for bedtime.

Then on Fridays since Ed works and just one day a week didn't seem like enough since we have nothing better to do I take both kids to baby/toddler storytime. This one is a little different where they do more songs, shorter books, dances, and parent/child reading time. Oh, plus bubbles which is Emily's favorite part. Its so exciting to see how far Emily has come with this storytime. I started taking her when I was pregnant & all she wanted to do was run away to go play with the toys after five minutes. Then it was 10 straight, then 15, then 20, & FINALLY she would participate for the whole 30 minutes. I love that she does the motions & is starting to be able to answer the questions the woman asks. How do I accomplish this task since for those of you who know Emily & her past history of running at storytime? Well, right now thankfully Sophia either sits or sleeps contently in her carrier in my super huge stroller that is a pain in the butt. What's gonna happen when Sophia isn't happy in there anymore.....NO CLUE!

Also, on a side note. While its awesome that Emily is potty trained, it sucks with two kids at these ages. So during storytime Emily says POTTY. I am just like seriously, are you kidding me? So I start to drag my super huge needs to be oiled up because its squeaking & the tires aren't moving like they should stroller across the room because the other moms decided to sit by the door when I got there so I had to go all the way farthest from the door. Then the pregnant woman who sits in a chair(which is fine with me but for the record I sat on the ground with my kid at 9 months pregnant :) ) put her chair smack dab in the doorway. Really? Come on. So as I am trying to avoid peoples feet & kids to get out of the room and get stuck at the door, the pregnant woman kind of looked at me like I ain't moving honey. So thankfully, the other moms are like we will watch her for you just go. I had a thought of I wonder if I should but Sophia was sleeping, not doing anything bad & I can get Emily to the potty & back in 2 minutes without Sophia vs the probably 5 or more if I have to drag her too. Thank you other mom's!

So after another successful outing with two young kids by myself I was in the parking lot loading my kids up next to another Mom. I had put Emily in the car first(for safety) & then went around the other side to put Sophia in, the other Mom had her kid on that side so I decided to get the stroller put away first, then I picked Sophia up & figured I could get the door open & put her in too. I put two kids & a stroller away before this Mom had her one. She then stops me & is like, how do you do it? I can barely handle my one(realizing I totally schooled her on putting kids in the car). My response is quite simple: You just learn to deal with it.

Now for some pictures of my sometimes absolutely sweet & adorable kids. First up Sophia's monthly pictures.

One month:

Two months:

Three months:

And my babies together today after storytime. Emily thought it was awesome I let her put her arm around Sophia. She didn't want to move it!!!

Thanksgiving-Part 1 & Part 2

2010-11-28T08:43:00.000-08:00

This year we only had one stop planned for Thanksgiving. I was looking forward to only having to travel 10 minutes away since you never know how two young children are going to handle the stress of so many people around. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out exactly like planned. Ed woke up with a migraine that morning. This sucked on multiple levels. 1) I seriously wanted to do some shopping since I wasn't going to be able to on Black Friday so I figured I'd shop a few stores on Thanksgiving instead. 2) He was not well enough by the time we had to head to my Grandma's so yet again, its me & my two kids all by myself.

I decided to head to one store with both kids in tow. It wasn't terribly crowded. We managed to grab the stuff I wanted but then of course with a full cart Emily had to go potty. This is definitely when two adults is more handy than one. We survived, checked out Santa's Winter Wonderland & Emily enjoyed it because Santa had not arrived yet. I really wish Ed could have gone because there would have been no wait to see Santa unlike the other night when we were there. Oh well. We went home & I then got everyone ready to go, well except for Ed who was still milking his migraine.

We headed over to Grandma Gato's & it was a light crowd of 25 this year instead of the usual 50. It was strange to be able to walk around & not bump into someone every second. I think the kids enjoyed the fact that they could run around too but they spent most of their time in the back room playing or on the organ. Sophia was happy just being passed around & Emily actually did eat some corn, potatos, & fruit. She held up pretty well considering the festivities were during nap time. Sorry there are no pictures, didn't even think about it because it was just me.

I did manage to take a few pictures of Sophia when we got home. She was a little tuckered out at first:

But then I gave her a bottle & she perked up

Even though I brought Ed home a plate of leftovers, which is was completely able to eat by the time I got home(its a miracle isn't it?). I could tell he was upset he didn't get the "fresh" meal so I offered to make Thanksgiving for him on Saturday since we already had a turkey in the freezer. Ed was in charge of the turkey & then made himself in charge of the stuffing because he wanted White Castle stuffing & wanted in the bird(I am not a fan of the cleaning or putting stuff in the bird...bleh). So we had turkey(which seriously turned out so juicy it was like one of those tv turkeys), white castle stuffing which turned out awesome, corn, green bean casserole, mashed potatos/gravy, homemade cranberry sauce because apparently Ed has an aversion to the jelly stuff, & homemade bread. And then contrary to what you might think, no we did not have a Costco pumpkin pie(mainly because I wasn't making a trip there in the short time) so I made us a pumpkin pie as well. The meal was fantastic & Ed got his Thanksgiving, just a few days late.

Emily vs Sophia

2010-11-21T08:58:00.000-08:00

Posting to motivate myself to start blogging again!

2010-11-10T10:46:00.001-08:00

Still here & ready to blog again!

Me & My Tutu

2010-06-20T06:29:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Emily here! I got this awesome tutu & heels for my birthday & wanted to model them for you! Here I am clunking around in my very own high heels instead of stealing Mommy's!

Here I am doing a quick twirl for you!

And here I am taking a quick break from vacuuming to strike a pose for you!

The Zoo...yet again

2010-05-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

We headed on up to the Zoo again last week as we became members so its the "cheapest" activity we can do that is actually semi exciting. Emily LOVES animals & riding in the wagon so its a win win for her. Here she is that morning all set to ride in the car:

Here she is taking a quick picture with the Bison & Daddy

Heading into the NEW Great Bear Wilderness exhibit. It is incredibly nice but for some reason I thought it would be bigger or more bears. Maybe next time when there are not one million children milling around I'll get to take a closer look.

Emily was checking out the monkeys

But wanted nothing to do with the really large fake frog....

My little zoo keeper :)

Checking out the Sea Lions at her own height

Walking along with Daddy

How was Emily's day at the Zoo?

Emily enjoying her food

2010-05-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

So somtimes my little princess is the neatest eater ever! It mostly depends on what she's eating. However, if sauce of some sort is involved it can get quite messy & hilarious if you are snapping pictures at the same time. Emily is learning to pose(on her terms, not yours!).

So in addition to her eating poses here are some other randoms I snapped because Emily is just so gosh darn cute!

That's all for now!!! I am attempting to organize the 1000 pictures off of our camera right now to print before Emily's 2nd bday so I'm sure I'll find some more with some hilarious stories behind them!

Fishies

2010-04-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

Emily is obsessed with fishies. She had a teeny goldfish in a bowl ever since October. She loved her fish. Its name was fishy(yea we were really original but we didn't want to confuse her). So after awhile, and after Emily got way more powerful she felt the need to look at her fish ALL DAY LONG and then eventually wanted to pet the fish as well. After a few days of constantly helping her look at her fish and making sure it didn't end up on the floor we went and got a real fish tank. Most children would get a nice 1 gallon tank, not the children of Ed. He got her a 10 gallon tank(although the price was awesome so I can't complain). We moved over her teeny goldfish that has been hanging on all of these months and 2 other HUGE fat goldfish. We tried to give them names but I don't remember which is which and I'm guessing Emily doesn't either. She still tries to touch them but now its a lot harder for her to cause damage.

Easter Marathon

2010-04-07T05:58:00.000-07:00

After the Easter egg hunt the day before I knew that Emily would be tons more excited about Easter day and her multiple baskets and egg hunts she would have today. At Christmas she still wasn't into opening presents but she is definitely getting the hang of it. We were going to head up to the Rog's for Easter soup so we only had a few minutes to give Emily her Easter basket. Thankfully, that's all she needed. I put it out on the couch for her when she was around the corner and when she saw it her eyes lit up.

Don't worry there are plenty more eggs full of candy underneath the huge pink ball!

She immediately went for the pink recorder. She was actually the one who picked it out for herself at the store but I managed to hide it from her for 2 weeks. She started tooting away.

She checked out "a book" (scratch & sniff!) and her new pink ball to replace her smaller one that had broken. Then she saw some eggs in her basket. Being such a smart girl that she is she assumed there was something in them so she opened one and candy came out! So she of course had to have a sample of some chocolate at 7am. Oh well, its Easter!

Then it was off to the Rog's for breakfast. Emily didn't quite understand that a hard boiled egg was still an "egg" because according to her only scrambled eggs are eggs but she eventually ate a little bit along with some sausage. She opened her Easter basket and again started tearing through it. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures because for some reason I always forget to bring out my camera when we are at other people's houses. Emily then started her Easter egg hunt. She was becoming a pro at it. These eggs had money in them so she got a kick out of shaking them up. Also by this time candy count is still at 3 little tiny chocolate eggs!!!

After the Rog's we headed down to Great Grandma Gato's for some ravioli. As I hoped Emily did take a quick snooze in the car so she wouldn't be a total crab. We got there and immediately started her egg hunt. It was probably a good thing that Cousin Sean had his egg hunt in another room already because I could see them drawing blood over a plastic egg. Then we had our ravioli. And then the Easter baskets came out. It is a good thing we waited until after we ate because otherwise the 2 of them would have been on candy overload. Sean had to sample pretty much everything in his basket but Emily was more interested in the fruit snacks. All in all, Emily was a pretty darn good girl all day on Easter and is eating her candy a little bit everyday. What more could a Mom ask for!

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

The Rog family was all set to ride down the road about a mile to go to the neighborhood Egg Hunt. As I started checking out the weather report throughout the week I knew things didn't look good. When you are 8 years old looking for eggs in the rain probably is tons of fun....not for a toddler(or her parents). So I needed a backup plan of course.Luckily, while we were at library storytime on Friday they had put out the new "Free" kids magazines with all the fun activities and events going on around Chicagoland.

And there it was....The Hippity-Hop Egg Hunt! It sounded awesome, egg hunt(indoors) &(by age group!), prizes, refreshments, the Easter bunny for free pics, face painting, magician, juggler, games, petting zoo, moon bounce, etc....It definitely caught my attention. Then I figured out where it was at, a retirement community. It definitely burst my bubble for a minute but I thought, hmm, maybe this could still be awesome.

I somehow got Ed on board(I think the whole indoors thing sealed the deal) and of course we had to invite Sean along. So per the weather report we woke up to pouring rain, retirement community here we come!!!
We got there and the place was already packed!!! It was crazy! However, I was feeling much better since there were people here :)

The set up for the younger kids was actually really cool and very kid friendly. They made an encased balloon pit:

And then they would let 10 or so kids in at a time. Here is Emily checking out the pit:

At her first try in the pit she kind of just wanted to play with the balloons. But can you blame the kid? How fun is a pit of balloons?

Then on her second try(she only got 1 egg the first time because she had some ruthless kids in there with her) she started to get the hang of it and pushed those balloons around like crazy!!

(You can kind of see her hand, she went completely under all the balloons)

And afterwards she was rewarded with a cupcake and cookie. I assure you she at one point was licking the frosting off the top but I apparently missed that picture!

All in all, a fun DRY Easter Egg Hunt!!!

Random Playtime Pics

2010-04-02T17:18:00.000-07:00

I had some random pics on my camera of Emily that have absolutely nothing to do with anything but I think are pretty cute. For your viewing pleasure:

Put me in the Zoo

2010-04-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

Apparently everyone in the world went to the Zoo on Thursday, so we did too. Emily was much more into the animals this time and was super excited to see the cow. I think once the new bear exhibit opens up she'll really enjoy that one too. Generally we only take one wagon for the 2 kids but figured we'd bring both and drag the coolers along with us to save Kevin a jog back to the cars. I think the picture speaks for itself:

The kids were not in a smiling mood so I didn't end up getting too many pictures. They were too busy, too hot, and getting too tired. So this is the cutest one of Emily petting the goat. I was so proud of her that she did it!

5....5 dollar fooooooot looooonnggg

2010-03-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

No, we did not have Subway today, or recently for that matter and its not because we didn't want it!!! Lately, I have been noticing Emily is drawn to certain jingles and tv show openings. I completely understand when she comes running from across the way when she hears the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse opener or the Imagination Movers brainstorm song. But the Subway commercial??? Why does that send her running? The opening to "The Office"???(I think Ed taught her to be excited about that). Even more odd is that just about five minutes ago she went flying across the kitchen to the tv when Dino Train was on. She loves dinosaurs for some reason(probably because you get to say "roar" when talking about them) but I have only had her watch that show probably 2 times. Its not that its not good its usually on during her naptime so she doesn't get to see it. How did she know what it was? Does Dino Train have some secret subliminal message in their opener that sends toddlers running? How about Subway?

Saturday Morning with Mommy

2010-03-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

This morning Emily was extremely happy because she got up in time to watch Manny and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. My child who never stops moving actually sat on her couch eating fruit loops and drinking milk watching Manny. It only lasted 10 minutes, but 10 minutes without movement is a start in the right direction!!!

Then Emily decided to come over and help me use my computer. Thankfully when I told her to go find her computer she actually went and got it. Emily is obsessed with herself and thinks pictures are the coolest thing ever so I decided to grab a few shots with my webcam. There could have been some really cute ones but she moves too darn fast for the web cam.

So we got our model shot:

And then our computing shot:

For those of you who don't know Emily is quite the computer/printer genius and has done things to our computers that seem impossible. She enjoys changing my parent's printer to the Russian language and when she rearranges the icons she generates an automatic email somehow. Oh boy! Its only 8:30am....its gonna be a long day!!!

p.s. I promise my child wears other shirts besides her Panda shirt. That one seems to end up on her a lot when I post blog pics.

Oh the library

2010-03-15T10:37:00.000-07:00

So after I started staying home the library became one of Emily & I's spots to go and kill time since its free. It was always hard to go but I was determined to make it work. At first she would fairly calmly stay in my arms while I hurled books into my bag. Then she got bigger and heavier and mobile. I kept going. It kept getting harder and harder(mostly because my child thinks its awesome to explore everything and is not scared to run away from Mommy==poor Mommy). Then I started sneaking away to the library after Ed would get home so it turned into me time(super exciting "me time" I know).

Well, today we went because I had some books that needed to be returned and since its Monday I knew Ed would be later coming home from work. Books were returned no problem. I figured I better go upstairs to the Children's area and sign up for Story time before I look for more books in case Emily starts having a hissy fit. Because we all know there are those people in the library that stare, give dirty looks, and just don't understand. Its not a college library people, its a public library, its bound to have a little noise.

We headed upstairs and I filled out the form for story time. Emily was already squirming on my lap. I almost didn't finish the form because I could see how the next 6 weeks were going to turn out but I am determined to take her to storytime. We ran around the children's area for about a minute before Emily was going to go nuts taking books off of the shelves. I went downstairs made it towards the section I like and was able to grab a book off the end cap before Emily got squirmy and I knew loudness was coming. So we left, with one book.

Thankfully the library has a "hold" system so I generally have some books on hold for me so when storytime days come around we can walk in, go to storytime, see how long we last(hopefully more than 5 minutes) and pick up Mommy's books on the way out.

Oh the library, I will beat you in the end!!!

An update finally!

2010-03-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

Long overdue I know but Emily & I haven't been up to anything exciting due to the weather. So here is a few random things we've done since our last post.

Over the holidays Sean & Emily got together for a little bit of fun while Sean's parents found out he was having a little sister. The kids decided to play dress up(yes I used the word dress up for Sean HA!) and rock out on the drums

Then we all went up to Wisconsin over Ed's birthday and of course there was tons of snow up there so the kids went sledding(in the loosest terms imaginable) up and down the driveway. Emily wasn't a huge fan but I think she was just a tad cold.

Apparently a trip to Wisconsin is not complete anymore unless you head on down to the outlet mall and over to Buffalo Phil's. The kids enjoyed their pizza buffet while watching a train bring our drinks to the table. To our surprise in our check was a couple of free passes to the game section so why not go check it out. This place had games, go karts, bowling, bar, mini kid roller coaster, etc. Pretty much the only thing safe and interesting for Sean & Emily was the Ball o City. So we climbed up and down and around and went down the slide. Emily would have a blast climbing up but was a little hesitant on the slide(it was pretty darn fast).

So we finally decided to let Emily go to a real bouncy house. It just so happened the McCammon's were heading over to the one in Channahon so we went down and hung out. Emily was way more interested in RUNNING around the whole place instead of the actual bouncy things. She did enjoy them but seriously just enjoyed being able to run around free without boundaries. She also enjoyed the games as did her Aunt Annette. I think we walked away with a necklace, a pink skull bracelet, and a few candies.

We've done some other random things since the last time I posted but unfortunately I did not take any pictures. Hopefully we'll have some exciting stuff coming up with Easter, the arrival of a new cousin, and our 2nd birthday which is still so far away but will be here before we know it!

The Office

2010-01-12T17:59:00.000-08:00

So I was watching The Office today and started thinking about all the good, crazy, and just plain weird times we used to have at our office. I have always believed that the tv show is absolutely hilarious but for those of us who have worked in an office environment it is FREAKING HILARIOUS.

So in no particular rambling order, some of the "episodes" we would of had:

*When an employee(who we will call Mr. Corn) who put deodorant on at his desk & then proceeded to brush his teeth there by using a cup of water to rinse and spit in.

* The day Mr. Corn who owned a scary big monster truck and sped through the shopping plaza lot with his window rolled down yelling "I got doughnuts!! I got doughnuts!" (even though we were most likely all on a diet)

* The MANY days that Mr Corn would bring in a breakfast sandwich for Joy because he noticed she ate them sometimes. So he persisted in bringing them to her every morning for at least a month. Needless to say he for some reason never noticed there was a big stack of them in the freezer for a rainy day.

* The day that we wasted most of the day trying to get the ball in the trophy cup. You were only worthy until you got it in at least once.

* When the weirdo customer came in to flirt with Monica and asked to hold her hand.

* When for our Secret Santa Eddie got some windex

* The numerous afternoons the boys would spend taking turns in the bathroom after the chinese buffet.

* The times we would go out as an office for winning something and get the waiter all excited because he would figure out that we were spending $$$$.

* And one more Mr. Corn for good measure, the many times he would eat oatmeal while he was talking to you, so he would cover his mouth with his hand in order not to be rude.......

Maybe it was a tv show and the check is just lost in the mail?

Snow Snow Snow

2009-12-27T16:19:00.000-08:00

The last couple of days it has been snowing like crazy. Emily hadn't been out in the snow, well really ever. Last year she was too little and the first snow we had this year wasn't as pretty and it was super frigid. So the other day we got all bundled up like A Christmas Story and went outside.

Here we are all bundled up:

Checking out the snow:

And when we fell over Emily was pretty much done with the snow.

We were pretty much outside the same amount of time it took to get bundled up. Oh well, I'm sure there will be much more snow to come!

Christmas in a Nutshell

2009-12-27T16:14:00.000-08:00

Yet again Christmas was a whirlwind. Here there everywhere and tons of presents for Emily. The sad part was that she still was not interested in opening presents. She is just a couple months shy of getting it. Her reaction to all of these gifts:

was get me out of here Daddy:

But, she throughly enjoyed playing with all of her new toys once they were opened. So thank you to everyone it was a great couple of days and Emily will totally get it next year!(And her Mommy & Daddy got some pretty cool things too!)

12 Hours with Emily

2009-12-20T17:26:00.000-08:00

Today was a marathon day. 12 straight hours...no breaks...no naps....not more than 30 seconds away from Emily at any given time today.....and I survived :) Just kidding. Its not bad, but when you rely on naptime for a little time to yourself it turns into a really really long day. Thankfully we had a few adventures today!

First, Emily woke up and was unusually hyper(that should have been my first clue). She ran around back and forth zipping around etc. My favorite part was when she ran across the kitchen and slid and fell down, cried but still managed to hold on to a fistful of teddy grahams with a death grip.

Fast forward a few hours and we decided to take a trip with my Mom to Meijer. Its a foreign store to my parents and it was for a new Christmas tree so obviously I had to load the box for her too. First the reason we went is because my parents tree that they have had for awhile(pre the pre-lit tree phase) had lights going out & my father was sick of figuring it out. I don't blame him. Our tree is pre-lit all the way!!! We went to Meijer(while my Dad was sleeping so it was a surprise to him when he woke up) to find the same tree Ed & I had purchased a few weeks earlier.

We go over to their tree display and check out the slim pickings(it is like 5 days before xmas after all). We checked out spruces and pines and clear lights and colored lights, slim, normal, lifelike etc. Then, I saw it. The box I was looking for. It is pretty much the same tree we got a few weeks earlier just a 1/2 foot shorter. Done deal. It is now 50% off plus I had Meijer Santa Bucks(for the record when we bought our tree it was about 30% off or something so I wasn't too upset). So we ended up with a 7 foot, pre-lit, white lights, lakeside spruce lifelike tree.

After that fulfilling trip it was about lunchtime so we headed over to Doggie Diner. They of course had their usual hot dog special so Emily & I split it. She at her hot dog with a fork with a dabble of ketchup on each piece. My kid loves sauces of all sorts just like her Mommy.

Then we dropped Mom off & went home for naptime....or so I thought. I tried for a hour. a whole hour. She did lay down a few times and get quiet but then was up and raring to go a few minutes later. I gave up around 3pm and decided to ride it out until 6:30-7pm.

So for the next couple hours she raced around even though I tried to get her to cuddle with me & watch a xmas movie. Nope, it was like she had eaten a bowl of sugar behind my back. We ate dinner and then it was time to try out our new Wii games!

I got 2 games, Just Dance & Jenny McCarthy's new fitness game to try out for FREE from House Party. It was super exciting to get that Fed Ex package on Saturday. We tried out Just Dance first and it was actually really fun! I had never heard of it but it has awesome song choices, is fun to try and do the dance moves, and is a good workout at the same time. Emily loved the music and had some serious moves going on.

On to Jenny McCarthy, I didn't get to far into this one so I'll report back later for any Wii Fitness fanatics out there but Emily's favorite part about this one is that there is a web cam so you see yourself the whole time! Emily thought it was really cool that she could see herself dancing on tv.

Then it was time for one more glass of milk, brush our teeth, and then try for bed. I prayed silently as I walked her up the stairs, layed her down, and she quietly went to sleep.

The End of our 12 Hour Day Adventures--If you have made it this far congrats! That was a really really long rambling story!

Stupid Cribs & Pacifiers

2009-12-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

Its only Wednesday. It has been the longest 3 days ever and its only gonna get worse. I made the decision about 2 months ago to start getting rid of :

Because those of you who personally know my child know that she pretty much was attached to it. Well, first I got rid of it during the day(i.e. if she wasn't napping/bedtime) it was no where to be found. This literally took less than a few hours for her to even care or notice. It was soooo easy. Oh what a sucker I am to think the rest of it would be easy.

Now, some of you might say I should have yanked it at a year, some might say why not just let her keep it to sleep with until 2. Well when she was 1 I valued sleep and knew she would never give it up. And why not let her keep it until 2? Because I really don't want to be that Mom with a 5 year old and a binky. And I am afraid the longer I wait the longer its gonna take me to get rid of it.

So this week I decided we would start tackling naptime and bedtime. I was unsure if I was going to do it at the same time or separately. Let's just say Emily made that decision really easy for me. She is quite the climber and up until now had only gotten out of her crib once, when she was SUPER mad and I think her anger catapulted her out of the crib.

So Monday naptime rolls around, after a couple of false alarms of her telling me she wanted a nap she finally meant it, took 10 minutes for her to settle down and then it was quiet. I felt so accomplished. I felt like I could do this! Then bedtime came around. Everytime I put her down she would hop over the side of the crib. So I made the decision at that time to tackle naptime first since the idea of switching to a toddler bed might be in the near future.

Day 3 of naptime....it is not getting easier.....isn't it supposed to get better as the days go on? Nope! Emily decided today that she just really was not interested in going down for a nap. She just kept trying to crawl out of her crib. Well 2pm rolled around and I seriously just thought she was not going to nap today because of her stubborness. About 2:05 she wised up and quietly layed down with no fuss and went to sleep. Lesson learned: when you think Emily is ready for a nap add at least 30 minutes possibly a hour before you even think about bringing her upstairs.

The joys of parenting, no manual on this one(at least not for my kid). So for those of you who frown upon pacifiers don't worry I am working on it so my kid isn't that 5 year old with the binky!

Santa Maybe?

2009-12-13T12:30:00.000-08:00

Ummmm no. So on Friday night we headed over to Drauden Middle School to check out my sister's band playing some Holiday music and to check out Santa Clause....again....maybe.......

So we headed over to check out Santa. This one was a kid dressed up so you would think slightly less scary than some old man right? Umm no. Here is Emily checking out Santa from afar

And then here she is pleading with her Mommy not to make her go any closer to him.

So in the end, I was done torturing my child for this year with Santa and did not make her go any closer. But she did get a candy cane from an elf. On the other hand, this was Cousin Sean's first time with Santa so I pretty much forced Kevin into making him get a picture. I gave him awesome advice(Kevin was in the picture and they backed into it). He screamed of course, it was classic. Unfortunately I do not have a pic of that, it was on Kevin's camera.

BUT! Here is Sean eating his candy cane which was pretty gross :)

But he enjoyed it!!!!

18 Months Old!

2009-12-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

YEA!!! Emily made it in one piece to 18 months old. Her actually anniversary was on December 4th but we visited the doctor today for her checkup. Here are the stats:

26 lb 10 oz (80%)
34 inches tall(97%) -->Daddy is super excited because this means we can finally flip her around!
She is right there in all of her skills and Doctor says she's great. We only had to get 2 shots today thankfully since Daddy was not at the appointment(shots are his thing not Mommy's) and we don't have to go back until 2 YEARS!!! I seriously hope we don't have to step foot back in the office until then.

Oh Santa.....Maybe next year....

2009-12-07T19:08:00.000-08:00

Oh Santa. I had high hopes for Emily with Santa Clause. She did ok with him last year but this year was another story. I think the picture speaks for itself.

This was attempt #1(yes I did do multiple attempts because I am that Mom). Sad thing is that before this picture just a few minutes earlier Emily had been singing & dancing with Santa & Mrs. Clause. Explain that one!

Well after the library we headed over to Walmart. I just wanted to see if it was the environment, or literally the idea of a guy in a big red suit with a white beard. As we approached the Walmart Santa Emily just started freaking out. That idea was out. I decided that I wasn't going to give up. I brought Emily back the next day at 10am. She had her snack, she definitely was no where near taking a nap so I figured she was at her best!

We hovered around the area where Santa was & kept going up and down and around waving and saying Hi to Santa for about 10 minutes. I started walking toward Santa with Emily's hands around me like a death grip, five feet away her poor legs were trembling. So, I tricked her by turning around and backing into the Santa and obviously I was in this picture too(I guess you are never to old for Santa). As you can see, we still are completely terrified of Santa. Her face is priceless.

Being the *nice* Mom that I am I of course let Emily partake in a Candy Cane after she endured the trauma of Santa. She took a few licks, calmed down and we were off to bigger and better things!

I think the most important lesson is that I did not have to spend one penny to figure out that Emily was not a fan of Santa yet. Thank god for free pictures with Santa!!!!

Olive Garden Muppet Man

2009-12-05T07:28:00.000-08:00

Ok, Christen you will think this is absolutely funnier than anyone else, just file it under White Hen Stories.

So Ed, myself & Emily ventured out to Olive Garden last night. I was very apprehensive since it is a nicer restaurant and Emily is at that age where she is awesome or not so awesome.....As far as Emily goes, she was pretty good, no meltdowns, fairly quiet, and just ate off of our plates instead of the $6 kids menu(I wasn't sure if she would eat it and it seemed quite extravagent for her). On to the muppet man!

If you have been to the Olive Garden on Weber before you might of had this man as your waiter. I remembered having him before but Ed didn't(big surprise). As he approached our table I did one of those are you serious we have this guy, out of everyone. I wish I had pictures but that would of been really really tacky & rude :) Imagine a muppet(mushed up face, looks like had way too much botox), with black spiky hair, and talks like Frank from Father of the Bride(the planner). A picture would make this so much better.

Basically Ed could not understand the man and it took all of my patience and energy to make sure I listened intently. The only slip up was when he brought Ed the wrong soup(Ed ate if of course) but I think that's pretty darn good considering what could of happened. He also gave Emily a breadstick plate and a dinner plate. I thought that was cute but he obviously didn't foresee that she easily could have thrown them both across the room(which did not happen).

The End.

***UPDATE**** I found the receipt from the other night and his name is Aldo.

Ducks go Quack Quack

2009-12-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

Ducky Ducky Ducky. One of Emily's go to words is Duck. She has a book she likes me to read to her that has ducks in it so it is a word she has picked up on. In addition, to my surprise she has somewhat correctly identified the wildlife in our backyard(or well close enough). Today there were just geese back there, but ducks frequent the yard too.

So everyday at some point Emily is checking out the ducks/geese in the backyard and learning that they go Quack Quack at the same time!

Playdate!

2009-12-02T14:12:00.000-08:00

Well it had been a few weeks so it was time to hang out with Danielle & Chase again. Danielle decided it would be fun to bake Christmas cookies and I thought Emily + cookie = happy Emily so why not! Emily & Chase had much more fun playing with each other this time because Chase is starting to crawl and move around so Emily can "play" with him now instead of just staring at him. She of course had to pet him and at one point was "sweeping" him with her broom. I guess she could have done much worse things!

Here are the 2 of them hanging out, Emily is trying to feed Chase his bottle(er steal his bottle)

And here are the results of our afternoon...

And this was supposed to be a picture of Emily eating a cookie but she couldn't stand still she was so excited to eat one:

I am sure there will be many more Christmas treats in Emily's future!!!

My new Trick

2009-12-01T06:54:00.000-08:00

Hey folks Emily here.

I have stolen Mommy's computer so I can tell you about my new awesome trick......

I now love to climb in my chair all day long, up down, up down, it is so much fun and drives my Mommy nuts. I am still working on getting the straps put together.

But I am very proud of myself! Talk to you later! Emily

Peas Peas the magical vegetable!

2009-11-23T10:56:00.000-08:00

So my daughter is weird, she LOVES peas. I think of all the vegetables that one is her favorite and she enjoys eating them which is weird since tons of people warned me my kid wouldn't want to willingly eat them.....Well she is defying the odds, but why peas? She enjoys most other vegetables but her eyes light up at the sight of peas. Here she is having them for a snack(yes snack) not even a forced meal time but rather she is eating them for fun!!!!

And yes, she is eating them off of a pink plate on the couch, they are peas after all so I figure why not let her eat them her way!!! I am hoping her obsession with green vegetables is permanent and not just a tease!

The coolest bathroom ever-next to "The Nerk"

2009-11-21T12:01:00.000-08:00

So the Rog family was out running some errands today and stopped by Kohl's. It wouldn't be normal if we didn't stop to check out the bathroom and am I glad we did! Kohl's has the coolest "Family" bathroom ever. It was seriously not allowed for me to ever enter a family bathroom before Emily but now I have the awesome privelige of using them which helps a lot when its just me & her out shopping. I wish I had pictures but I don't so use your imagination.

First, I could actually wheel the big stroller in there and had room to turn it around easily, there is of course the sink, the adult sized toilet, a changing table, a little seat built into the wall with a seat belt to put your kid in....and the best part! A kid sized real toilet complete with their own low to the ground toilet paper dispenser. So look out Kohl's when Emily starts potty training you will be our store of choice!!!

Mr. Fishy

2009-11-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

Emily had decided that she was ready for another pet besides Hershey and just happen to come across Mr. Fishy at a birthday party she went too. At her friend Robert's 2nd birthday party these cute little fish in bowls were the party favors!

Emily really likes Mr. Fishy and likes to try to pet him.....

So Mr. Fishy usually lives far up on the counter and comes down for visiting hours with Emily!!!

Growing up

2009-11-19T12:54:00.000-08:00

So I have noticed over the last few weeks that Emily is OBSESSED with eating at her little table instead of in her booster chair. This is super exciting except for the fact that the dog gets fed even more than when she was in her booster chair. But, this is super good news for Grandma & Grandpa Gato who just invested in a table for their grandchildren so my sister & I don't have to fight(or worry about bringing) a chair for the little ones to eat in.

I think they did a pretty good job of having snacktime & dinner at their awesome new table!

Halloween!!! (long overdue)

2009-11-19T12:51:00.000-08:00

So this year Emily started to understand Halloween. She actually went around the neighborhood and trick or treated!!! She didn't catch on to saying trick or treat so next year she will be a pro!!! Emily's costume was Pebbles this year(her Aunt Annette's idea) and I think my homemade costume turned out just fine. The best part about it was that since it was made out of her regular clothes she WORE IT!!!(instead of pulling at it and trying to get a real costume off of her like last year's pumpkin).

My little Pebbles:

Her partner in crime is of course Bam Bam.....but he transformed into a Pirate at the last minute!

And then towards the end of the night Emily found Allie's hat to her Butterfly costume and couldn't resist trying it on

We had tons of Spooky treats from our Halloween cookbooks, spider webs, abracadra hats, taffy apple cookies, and tons of other sugary treats that Emily throughly enjoyed and then crashed later that night.

Snack Time!

2009-10-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

So who am I kidding, one of Emily's favorite times of day is SNACK TIME! This kid gets her appetite from her dad. Some days it feels like its snack time ALL day long. Those days are super frustrating but oh well. She's got a little pudge but at least I know she's eating.

Today it was cheese its but no matter what it is Emily always enjoys snack time.

Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins!

2009-10-13T18:44:00.000-07:00

So we finally have made it to the pumpkin farm!!! It looked like it was just going to keep getting colder so I figured we better go sooner than later. Emily was a little uncooperative with the photos but there are still some cute ones! The place we went had tons of stuff. Emily had an awesome time but I kept thinking about how next year she is actually going to really enjoy it. We started out with a few pictures in the front displays:

And then proceeded on to the tons of animals they had. There were goats, cows, pigs, rabbits, baby chicks, roosters, turkey, sheep, etc. I was kind of thinking Emily was going to have another freak out with the goats like at the zoo but she did alright.

Her first hayride!!!!!

And our first "train ride".......

And the bouncy house(they even had separate ones for big kids and little kids)

And finally the pumpkins! A lot of them were taller than her!

Overall a very successful trip, the animals were interesting, the train & hayrides were fun, lots of pumpkins.....but the best part.........APPLE CIDER DONUTS!!! Yum!

Giveaway! Yoplait Less Sugar, More Fun Prize Pack!

2009-10-08T11:38:00.001-07:00

Courtesy of MyBlogSpark.com--

Are you searching for a snack for the kids that tastes good and is good for them? Yoplait Kids yogurt is the perfect solution with 25% less sugar than the leading kids’ yogurt. With its thick and creamy texture that will hug your little one’s spoon, you won’t have to worry about a sticky mess to clean up afterwards. It also contains no artificial sweeteners or flavors, so you can feel good about serving it to your kids.

In addition, Yoplait Kids is a good source of vitamin D and, according to two new studies that provide the first national assessment of the crucial nutrient in young Americans, millions of U.S. children have disturbingly low vitamin D levels, possibly increasing their risk for a variety of health concerns, including bone problems. About 7.6 million children, adolescents, and young adults have vitamin D levels so low they could be considered deficient. It can be challenging for growing kids to get enough vitamin D because this nutrient is only found naturally in very few foods; however Yoplait Kids makes it a little easier to incorporate a delicious source of vitamin D and calcium in your child’s diet.

MyBlogSpark.com and Yoplait have sent me a prize pack including an insulated tote, spoons, and a coupon to try out their yogurt. Emily & I went and got the free yogurt and she loves it! It is thick enough that she can get it to stay on the spoon and it comes in funky colors and flavors but is still healthy!

If you would like a chance to win a prize pack please leave a comment below or email me for a chance to win! I will notify the winner by email!

Zoo Adventures!

2009-09-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

So yea, we went to the zoo ages ago but I finally got the pictures on the computer! Thankfully our wonderful Aunt Annette, Uncle, Kevin, & Cousin Sean have a Zoo membership so they let us tag along. The kids are getting more excited to go to the zoo every time!

Here are our little fishes!

And of course our signature just chilling in the wagon!

We'll throw in an actual picture of an animal too, but getting the kids to look at them for an extended period of time is still difficult!!

I'm sure we'll have plenty more Zoo adventures! Next year hopefully we can use the wagon to hold our lunch and drinks instead of kids!

Halloween Treats for nearly nothing!

2009-09-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, both McDonald's and now Wendy's have some great deals for kids treats out there.

McDonald's

The book costs only a $1 & you get 12 coupons! 4 free apple dippers, 4 free small cones, and 4 free apple jiuce or milk jugs. AWESOME DEAL! The only thing is they are not valid until October 31st but otherwise I think your kids will thank you.

Now on to Wendy's!

Same idea, it costs $1 and you get 10 free junior frosty coupons which are not valid until Nov 1st but don't expire until February!

Grocery Store Adventures

2009-09-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

So I had been putting off a trip to the grocery store for a week now just because its not my favorite thing to do with Emily. Its not that she is bad in store, she is actually very well behaved because she enjoys looking at the people and waving at them....It is the unloading of the car that I loathe. I never know how its going to work out, did I just get one bag, a million bags, seriously there has to be a better way(I know online grocery shopping).

Today there was extra annoyances because the stroller and 2 bowling balls were still in my trunk so I had to pack the groceries in the backseat(or so I thought I was). Emily and I were waiting patiently in our cart(because you cannot put Emily in the car until AFTER you return the cart otherwise you will get arrested-another fun addition to my life) while this woman parked next to us slowly put her child in the carseat, got in the car, handed him sanitizing stuff, checked her hair, checked her makeup(its 9am people), did other stuff that I have no idea why while I'm standing in the parking lot waiting like a fool. She knew I was there. Ignorant people, usually people with kids are even more in tune with that, but not this lady! Urg.

We survived, I ended up packing in the front seat(yes, that is HOW LONG SHE TOOK) and we made it home. I dragged the stuff in the garage, then took Em in, and then thankfully put her down for a nap so I could drag everything in the house.

Halloween is right around the corner!

2009-09-19T09:20:00.000-07:00

Now just for laughs, here is a picture of Rosie in her pumpkin costume!

So I know my sister has been talking about Halloween since June. I am realizing it is right around the corner. Last year Ed didn't think Emily would appreciate a trip to a pumpkin farm so we didn't :( but I still got her a pumpkin and had her experience it! As of right now Emily is going to be Pebbles with her cousin Sean as Bam Bam(totally appropriate for both of them).

This was my cute baby last year!!! We went with the classic pumpkin costume because that is what I was for my first Halloween. We have a picture of her in my actual costume from many many years ago too but she posed better in the modern one!

IKEA Meatball Meal only $1 this weekend!

2009-09-17T14:39:00.000-07:00

Speaking of IKEA! Just saw that this weekend Sept 18-20 you can get a Sweedish meatball meal(10 meatballs, mashed potatoes) and from experience they are absolutely delicious and that is an awesome deal if you happen to be by an IKEA!

Also, Mcdonald's has Halloween coupon booklets for kids. I believe they only cost $1 and have 12 coupons for free items like apple dippers and small cones. Great treats for little children who behave well!

Any questions about any deals let me know!

**if you are into facebook there are always extra coupons/deals/free stuff if you become fans of certain places!

It's been awhile!!!

2009-09-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

Why did I stop blogging after I started? Well, life got a tad busy for awhile. Emily's eye teeth kind of took over the world and she wasn't feeling well for a few weeks. I promise in the next couple of weeks I'll be posting her past and current pictures as well as keep anyone updated on any awesome deals out there!

Some of our recent ones have been our trip to IKEA for free breakfast for Emily. It was our first adventure to the actual food court upstairs and it did not disapoint. It was weird, I won't lie. But now that I have done it once I feel like a pro! We did breakfast which seems like a better deal, but it definitely would be more exciting/exotic to do lunch.

More to come later! I promise but we have to get ready for swim lessons now!

Fun times!

2009-08-12T19:45:00.000-07:00

Well today we did something out of the norm, Emily & I went to lunch with Danielle & Chase. Emily always enjoys people watching like her mother so it was a nice time. The best part.....it was 99 cent kids meal day & I had no clue! Awesome surprise!

Another cool thing was that Ed let me out of the house a half hour before Emily went to bed so I could go to the library for a seminar. It was like pulling teeth but I knew that Emily would go right to bed because she hadn't napped much today. Thankfully that sealed the deal. It was weird to be in the car without her.....

Also, Miss Emily got a brand new baby stroller from her Grandma Gato the other day and absolutely loves it. She still tries to sit in it herself but also puts her babies in there and pushes them around. So cute! Pictures to follow shortly!

The girl who would not nap!

2009-08-10T13:22:00.000-07:00

So today was completely frustrating. Emily is becoming more irradict with her naps again. I have had her on a schedule for the months I've been home which has been great......but now she thinks she is such a big girl and does not require naptime anymore. It is not everyday but just enough days to throw off our schedule. Today was one of those days. She got up at 7 and would not go down for a nap until 1:30. Seriously.

But once she finally went to sleep I was able to get a couple dozen muffins made so Edward doesn't go hungry!

Off to Grandma & Grandpa's later for more fun, hopefully she is much happier when she wakes up, her eye teeth are COMING!

It's a HOT one!

2009-08-09T18:49:00.001-07:00

Emily was a crabby patty today but I still let her go out into the world. Her first adventure was to blockbuster on a walk. The 100 degree heat was not fun but the cool air at Blockbuster inbetween definitely helped.

Then Miss Emily went to Aunt Annette's & Uncle Kevin's for dinner. She had quite a good time. She really enjoyed the homemade Blueberry scones and Sean's really cool self feeding treat bowl. Although she helped herself to more than one at a time like you are supposed too. Imagine Emily, on a mini couch, grabbing handfuls of puffs and shoving them in her mouth. Hilarious!

Catie's 6th Bday!

2009-08-09T06:29:00.001-07:00

Well on Saturday we headed out to Rochelle for Catie's 6th Birthday! It was supposed to be just me and Emily because Ed had to work but he ruined our fun at the last minute. He actually got out of work early for once. I didn't bring my camera so I don't have any cute shots(let's just say Emily didn't let Catie have all the fun w/ her ice cream cake). If anyone sends me some I'll post them.

Emily had a blast playing with the other kids. Her favorite party guest was Alfie(the dog). She kept going by his cage trying to pet him and kept saying "Doggie". Emily was so tired afterwards and slept the whole way home.

Welcome to Emily's World!

2009-08-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

Because I have some free time on my hands I have decided to officially start a blog. It will not be very exciting but someone might think its interesting. It will be about Emily's Adventures. What she is doing that day, her milestones, etc. I will probably throw in some of my coupon knowledge as well just for kicks.