Another First...

This afternoon while playing with Emma, we were giggling and tickling each other. Just playing like us crazy girls do. I noticed the strangest look on my little girl's face. She stopped laughing and just stared at me with her wide grin. She was studying my face and she looked so happy.... and I've never felt more loved, ever. It was one of those moments where everything just seemed clear (because I admit I have been strugglin' with all my jugglin').

It seems weird to say, but I felt honored that I was the object of her adoration (if only for a fleeting 10 seconds). It also scared me a bit. It was the first time I thought "my daughter needs me." I mean I know she has always needed me, but now maybe she knows it too. I don't really know how to put it into words. It also reminded me of myself as a little girl and how I worshiped my own mom (and still do). It's hard to describe, but it was awesome to experience. I have to say it lifted my spirits up just when I needed it. Fuel for another day, or two. This must be what rock stars feel like...... :)

A mother understands what a child does not say.
- Jewish proverb

The soul is healed by being with children.
-FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY, The Idiot

"Uh oooH"

This word strikes fear in my heart. Not because Emma has done something she didn't mean to, but rather she did exactly what she meant to do. I try to tell her that Uh-OH is only when there is an accident. I think it translates into "job well done" in Emma language. This is how we started this Friday morning off.

What? We have to leave in 10 minutes? No problem.

You eat your cereal off the floor. No, mommy is not

having a nervous breakdown. Ants are our friends.

licking cereal dust off her fingers=one classy lady

Bye Daisy, we have to go. P.S. Thank you. P.P.S.

I promise to give you ham after Dan goes to sleep tonight

To cosleep or not to cosleep, that is the question!

Emma will be a year and a half in two weeks, and she is still sleeping with us. I think she slept a total of 5 nights in her own crib and that is probably a generous estimate. It was totally worth all the money we spent on the crib and bedding. That's a few hundred dollars I should have used to invest in a bigger bed!

Cosleeping is pretty controversial so I'm just going to state my experience/opinion. I'm not saying it is the right thing for everyone, but for a long time it was right for us. First there are dangers of soft bedding, pillows and exhausted parents to a newborn that I am aware of. Emma did sleep in a bassinet for a long time because of this. When I went back to work I was tired, and it just was more convenient for her to be in our bed for feedings. I also had some working mommy guilt and felt like that was our special time to cuddle. I couldn't be there for her during the day so I wanted her to see me and feel me next to her at night. I wanted her to feel secure, and I missed her.

In my opinion, this created a very strong bond between Emma and myself. I was comfortable, she was comfortable. That is not the case anymore! She is kicking, spinning and doing a little karate in her sleep. None of us are waking up rested. It's true, if she was already sleeping in her bed we wouldn't be dealing with this now. It's true, she is older and has a stronger personality. There are some draw backs such as I think it encouraged her to wake up in the middle of the night for milk (which she still does) and she now REALLY wants me to be there when she wakes up.

So we are starting the transition to her own bed. I think it is time. Emma is starting to sleep in her own bed. Okay, it is really her mattress next to our bed, but it is a start. I wish it wasn't so cold. I worry about her. And I check on her a hundred time during the night, because I never got used to her being on her own either......and I have to put her back after she falls off the mattress at least 5 times every night.

Stay tuned for updates on our latest challenge! (P.S. I just realized the outlet cover is missing in this picture and it has been replaced!)

Wordless Wednesday

W-E-I-R-D-O

No. Your eyes are not deceiving you. Emma is wearing my bra around her neck like some little brazier super hero. She does this every time we fold clothes (and I do try to hide them).

I think this is another case of her almost (but not quite) getting it. She walks around with my bras and says "mommee" "boobies" like she is taking them out for a walk. As if they are detachable!!! Well, I guess she isn't completely wrong considering most of my bras are padded. :)

She also loves to wear underwear on her head. I must be doing something wrong.....

It's a Mystery!

How is it that after a weekend of cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning my living room looks like this?!? A serious madwoman plays here (with her muddy-pawed shedding like crazy sidekick).

Friday Night Fun

Tonight we came home and tried as hard as we could to distract Emma from her latest and greatest obsession (Shrek). Lately she eats dinner and begs nonstop to go into bed and watch it until she falls asleep (a painful repeat of the first 30 min..every night). Tonight I couldn't take the sight of that green Ogre so Dan took a turn :)

Emma is quite a toddler these days. It is so exciting to see her develop but part of me gets a little sad about how fast she is growing up. She is NOT a baby anymore. Ahem, she has her own "opinions" now. I even got a little nostalgic today and looked through her baby pictures, back to the days where she couldn't speak, yell, cry, or steal the yellow mustard out of the fridge and dart all over the house with it yelling "NO! MINE!!!"

Tonight Emma ate mac & cheese (nana Riggs recipe, yummy), ham, green beans, half an apple and juice for dinner. She can seriously pack away the food. She now says "Umm!" when she likes something. Other new things I want to get documented before I forget:

@17months
1. Emma weights 29.2 lb and is ~33 inches tall (97% for both height and weight)
2. Says new words of Momeeee (no more mama), opple (apple), peassse (please), Taaaank yeeeee (Thank you), EAT! (also does the sign for eat), toes, belly, donnKEY! (donkey, Thanks to Shrek), car, ball, ouch, brrr, and hot (as she licks the outside of the oven door)
3. can tell you what a hyena says (high pitch laughing that her daddy taught her)

4. she is now starting to sleep through the night without needing a "baba" (sippy cup with milk, don't even try to trick her with water!)

Emma hopes they will be best friends forever.....

Daisy hopes Emma will drop that apple slice

If this picture doesn't speak for itself,

I don't know what else to say!

Waking up on the Right side of the Bed

Emma is definitely a clone of her daddy. By the time 7pm rolls around she is grouchy and begging to go to sleep. The mornings are a different story all together. She wakes up ready to take on the day. My favorite moment of the day is seeing her wake up and smile (second favorite is when she falls asleep :). Next she assesses where everyone is by asking "Deezy? Mommy, Dadda, babba?" (how is that for priorities!) After the best husband in the world takes her out into the kitchen, I stretch out and try desperately to go back to sleep without anyone noticing. It has never worked. What kind of punishment is this anyway to be the only non-morning person in the family?? I digress. After I take a shower, I emerge from the bedroom to a morning house party!

grasping the concept of "sharing"

a little too well...

seriously the most extreme

morning person I've ever known

This smile does wake me up. I love this girl!

a morning wii fitness routine?

check out those abs! The five seconds on the

Wii is definitely paying off!

This is a video of Emma starting the morning off with a waffle and some dancing. If only I could be this happy in the morning!! She can really get into it. I didn't catch the best part today.

A very special THANKS! to my friend Debbie who was so sweet and brought

me her camera yesterday! It was like being reunited with an old friend!

Dinner and a Movie

Actually, lunch and a movie. Here are a few pictures I managed to take today while Emma was eating her lunch (beans and peas, her favorites) while watching Shrek 2 (also her favorite, I shudder when saying, typing, or thinking of Shrek!). I was very excited when I borrowed the batteries from the remote, and my camera turned on!! I thought I was so brilliant, until the batteries died after about 10 pictures (again)! To the dismay of my check book it still looks like I will need to buy a new camera. I'd like to say that while I've been camera free I've learned the importance of living in the moment as opposed to capturing the moment. Yeah, I would defiantly like to say that....and I would by lying, lying, lying! I'm seriously going into picture with drawl, although I think the rest of my family is happy!

That's right, I'm that mom!

"mom, you're kinda in the way"

Someone is always sick these days! Emma

is getting really good at wiping her nose...

and other things........

"Yeah, it's my new favorite thing"

Haiti

Have you heard? You can donate $10 to the American Red Cross by texting the word "Haiti" to 90999 and your $10 will be on your next cell phone bill. I did it. Did you? I am proud that Americans are responding the way they are!! To read more about the money raised through text messaging click here. With that said, I am really sad to read so many negative comments about the US giving aid and $ to Haiti. Comments about how we need to help Americans and only Americans. All I can say is that I don't think these people have seen the same pictures or heard the same news coverage I have. I hope if you can give, you will. If you can't I hope you will be lifting up the people of Haiti in prayer.

"Now You Know" Stories from a Crazy Mom Part 4

Now the dog knows I'm crazy too.

This morning after rushing around like a mad women with an evil sidekick, Emma and I jump into the car and speed toward daycare. We are 5 min away when I realize that I have forgotten my laptop (gasp!) and planner (double gasp!) at home. I couldn't turn around and go back because Emma would then have to miss breakfast at daycare (as if she and her new friend "stomach bug" need more food to vomit into my face). So I end up driving all the way to day care, all the way home, and all the way back to work (daycare is next to work).

So on my way back home I was thinking "no big deal you can drink your coffee and listen to music and relax." Mission accomplished. Totally relaxed.

Then I got home and caught the dog in the biggest "dirty diaper from the trash heist" she has ever embarked on. RED PAWED! Seriously, I was only gone for 45 minutes.

She apparently also loves vomit covered paper towels as much as a fine wine. It's a developed taste, only for the mature palate.

I started in on the longest lecture anyone could ever give to a dog when I see Daisy lift her ears and turn her head sideways as if she didn't understand. Don't play that game with me, you know what you did.

Then I realized she was confused because I just yelled, "Daisy you are the naughiest doggy ever! You made a very bad decision to steal baby Emma's poopoo diapies out of the trash. Yucky, yucky. No touch!!!"

That's right. I scolded the dog in baby talk. I still think she knew what I was saying.

Another "B" word!

BARF! I have worn more vomit today than I'd like to think about. Looks like Emma has a date with her pediatrician tomorrow :( You should be rejoicing in the fact that I no longer have a camera, because you wouldn't believe what my carpet looked like unless you had seen it.

Perfect Saturdays and the letter "B"

Today is Saturday and I live for Saturdays! Not because I get to sleep in (up at 6:30am today) or because I have an exciting life with a booming agenda (I didn't leave the house). I love it because I get to relax and spend time with my family without the morning rush to get out of the house or the evening rush to get everything ready for the next morning rush. It is so fun to spend time with Emma during her best hours as opposed to the evening when she is hungry and tired (and I am hungry and tired). Today we built living room forts, played in her tunnel, diapered her babies, chased each other around, did laundry (where I put the clothes in the drawers and she takes them out), tried new foods (raisins, you are suddenly very popular), and watched the exact same movie we have been watching every night for the past month or more. It was the best Saturday. If my camera was still alive I would post one of the many perfect pictures from our perfect Saturday. In other news, Emma is growing and developing by leaps and bounds! Here are a couple of facts about the star of this blog:

1. She LOVES the letter B and all things associated with it. It is very very strange. B words compose the majority of her vocabulary with baby, beans, babba, Bubba, bye-bye, bubbles, and the most recent "boobies" as her favorites. In the future I will lapse into a fake nap before I answer anymore questions about the human body especially if it is a word she will share with her daycare class :)

2. Beans are her favorite food (it's a "B"!). In order of most liked to least are kidney beans, black beans, great norther beans, green beans. How could you really pick a favorite out of that group?

3. Emma is talking in her sleep now (she dreams a lot about Daisy and babbas)

4. Today she tried cinnamon raisin swirl bread and she can't get enough. She ate 3 slices today. She also tried oatmeal raisin cookies. It could be a raisin thing, although she hasn't met a cookie she didn't love (she gets this from me).

5. She is obsessed with pointing out ears, eyes, nose and mouth. You have to be careful because she isn't very gentle and you usually get her sticky fingers shoved in each, in that exact order.

6. She now demands to go into bed (my bed) at 7pm to watch Shrek2 before falling asleep. She makes in until Shrek takes the "Happily Every After Potion." It drives me crazy, but it works.

Home Sweet Home

We finally made it back early this morning around 12:30am after a long and tiring drive. We were just too lucky on the first trip. It spoiled us, and we were not prepared for the snow, ice, crazy drivers and overall holiday exhaustion that met us on this trip. So many highlights to mention including Emma getting so peeved about being in the car that she self induced vomiting as a form of (not so silent) protest (also popular when we try to get her to sleep in her own bed--I know, you wish you were me). The girl is a drama queen and seems to know NO limits! Anyway, I'll take the weather and sleepy driving any day. I could certainly pass on the 6 hours of curdled milk odor.

True to all of her trips, Daisy was a complete lady, and we actually forgot she was back there several times. I tried as hard as I could (and failed) to get her an all inclusive 4 month stay at Casa de Nana y Bubba, but I'm glad she is home with us. Today I got to unload the dishwasher while she pulled a hysterically thrilled Emma all over the house on a blanket. Daisy, you are worth your weight in dog hair :) Besides my darling Daisy, the trip was only made better by a fellow motorist who either has a very good sense of humor or a very warped view of himself. Either way, you made my day STDLY from the great state of New York. Please be careful though, if you are too STDLY you might get more "STDly" than you bargained for. That's right. I said it!

P.S. I shopped for cameras today, and they were all so beautiful....and expensive. For now, blog readers you will just have to experience life through my eyes and twisted mind. Good luck to you.

Christmas Vacation 2009 prt 3

Thaaaat's right Bubba (grandpa), I'm taking your picture!

"Don't worry Bubba, you relax. I'll

respond to this fire. I'm pretty sure I

can drive the fire truck."

This is kinda a long story. It goes something like this,

tires so bald wires are hanging out=grumpy Bubba and trip

to Walmart where Emma's daddy buys new tires. The end.

I happen to think my new treadmill looks great on the car :)

He's not a real mechanic. He just plays one on

the blog..... (he considers himself more of a silent investor)

The real mechanic. Thanks Uncle Glenn!

clumsy dog + 90 mph + 1 artificial knee + a foot of snow

= photographer (and the one who pays the vet) crapping her pants

snow pants=funny waddle

Emma and her nana playing in the snow

"kid playing in the snow" pictures are not

authentic without a stream of flowing snot :)

A very short clip of Emma navigating in her snow pants

Thank You Nana and Bubba for an AWESOME stay!

Happy New Year 2010!

Our little circus is still here in Cleveland, NY but we are preparing for the long tour home tomorrow. We have had such a great time here (as usual), and I'm always a little sad to leave. There is a big chance that I will spend a few hours of our trip home discussing 101 reasons why we should move closer to our families :) Needless to say we always enjoy spending the last days of a year (2009) and the first of a new year (2010) with our family. Holidays are just so much more fun since Emma joined the party!

We are happy to report that 2009 was the quiet year we were hoping for. Of course, that is relative I guess. Here is just a quick recap......Emma said "bye-bye" to ear infections (if only temporarily) after getting tubes, became a cranial band queen with the most beautiful (if slightly misshapen head), graduated from the infant room into the toddler room (yes, I am including this. I'm her mom and I'm proud!), survived mono, double ear infections (they're baaack) and walking pneumonia at the same time (go big or go home as they say), accomplished many many first including birthday, beach vacation, carousels etc. Dan continues to rock his biostatistics courses ending last semester with a 4.0! I continue to love my job, and I think we have done a great job at finding a rhythm with our busy schedules. This year we have made a resolution to get that bossy baby into her own bed! (all of you veteran moms can start laughing now)

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions. ~Joey Adams

Happy New Year!!

Christmas Vacation 2009 prt 2

OH what a way to start the new year! My camera is broken :( It is time for a new one, but my bank account is not compatible with the Nikon I've been eyeing. These pictures were taken with grandma's camera. I will be going into picture with drawl very soon!

modeling my new Dora The Explorer sunglasses

cleaning up after making cookies with Nana!

Cleaning the cookie cutter

Teaching cousin Karli the proper techniques of toilet

papering the house :)

playing in Karli's room, just prior to

stealing her toys and pinching her cheeks.