Blue Ribbon Winner

If I could brag on my hubby for a minute...Chad's picture of Miguel Tejada (a Baltimore Orioles player) on a rehab assignment playing for the Keys won a blue ribbon at the county fair. =o)

Emmie =o)

Emmie is finally starting to get hair. When she gets warm or it is humid outside she gets little curls around the back of her head. She gets that from her mommy. =o)


Swinging like a big girl


On Thursday night when we were gone, Emmie wore her Maryland jersey so that she could match Chad who was wearing his and watching the game at home. She also liked to "help" my Grandma water her plants. Her MiMi taught her how to do it at home.

Family

My cousin Dan and his girlfriend Kristen drove about 200 miles roundtrip in one day to see us and meet Emmie. (This was a couple days after they finished a cross country road trip from Vancouver to Toronto.) Was that sweet of them or what? =o)



Four Generations...such a special moment

We're still alive =o)

After a 2 month hiatus I figured it was time to post again. The past two months have been very busy but fun. Emmie and I took off for a week in September to visit my Grandma in Canada. That was a very fun trip (pictures to follow). It was fun seeing friends in Michigan and showing Emmie the places I went as a little girl. (Not that it made that big of an impression at this point in her life). Emmie did great on her first flight and even got to sit in her own seat for part of the time.
Chad and I are in the midst of starting up our own electrical business so that Chad can take over for his Dad in a couple of months. We're thankful for the opportunity to start things up with several clients already waiting in the wings.

Sorry this is so short but I want to post some pictures too......=o)

Birthday Girl

It's hard to believe that Emmie's been part of our family for one whole year already. It has been so much fun to watch her grow both physically and mentally. I love being the one she wants when she's scared or happy. It's amazing to see how much personality she has already. Happy Birthday Emmie! May God grant you many, many more birthdays in the joyful years to come!




The traditional cake-all-over the face pose. =o)



Is this what you're supposed to do with the box? Emmie has already learned how to slam dunk on her daddy.



We went to an O's game on her birthday. Temp at 7:05 pm: 101 degrees =o)



Emmie's name is the first one on the list. =o)

One thing I have to get used to with having a cute child is being on TV. So far all three minor league games we've been to Emmie's been on the big screen. This time we were walking into the game and the cameraman spotted us (aka Emmie) and in a flash was doing a close up of us to go on the regional game coverage (MASN for those of you who know). Unfortunately we weren't taping the game =( Ok, Ok so maybe I enjoy having and bragging about my cute kid. ;o)

7 things about me

Well, Elisa tagged me with this eons ago and I am just now doing it. I am such a blogging failure. =o) I'm not going to tag anybody mostly because everyone I know has already done it. Wait, I'm talking to Jenna right now and she still hasn't done it so I tag her. =o)

1. I actually look forward to doing my taxes each year and I do them by hand (not by computer).

2. I stayed up to 2 am three nights in a row to finish the last Harry Potter book.

3. I was a captain on my swim team in middle school.

4. I hate leaving dishes in the sink overnight.

5. One of my goals in life is to watch a ballgame at all 30 major league ballparks.

6. I've been to 30 States, 5 Canadian provinces, and halfway down the gulf side of Mexico. Now I just have to get across the ocean.

7. I have both American and Canadian citizenship.

Yeah!! I made it! Hopefully there was at least one thing in here you didn't know about me. =o)

Summer fun

These are the most recent pictures of Emmie. All taken within the past week or so....



Emmie loves to eat her duckies while swimming



Not quite sure what to make of the catapiller MiMi is showing her



A comparison shot...bigger than the dog, smaller than mommy



Our little clover princess

Cute pictures

Extra paci's are always good things to have when sleeping... (look in her hand)


Teddy bears too =o)


Where's Emmie?



Peek-a-boo!

The Tupperware photos

Every child needs tupperware photos. I have mine, Chad has his, and I'm sure all of you have yours. Here are Emmie's. =o)





Hmmm.....which one to play with?




Ahhh...just right!



Have to dig deep for this one....



Perfect! It matches my eyes!

Since you last heard from us....

Emmie is now almost 11 months old. She's not quite 20 lbs and is just under 28 inches tall. A couple of days after my last post (which was right after she turned 9 months) Emmie started walking around. Within a week she had figured out how to stand up by herself and by all rights became fully engrossed in the toddler ranks. Crawling quickly became a thing of the past and just within the past week she has figured out how to walk backwards and "twirl" (walk) around in circles.
We joined the summer reading program at the library and have enjoyed reading books together for prizes. She got the biggest kick out of the larry boy sticker she "earned" from the librarian for completing the first list of activities in the program. Now granted while I want my daughter to enjoy reading, I must confess that my motives are not completely pure....I'm going to really enjoy using the coupon for the free ice cream cone from Chick-fil-a that comes in the little goody bag she received for participating. =o)
Well, since most of you would rather see pictures instead of reading my ramblings, I'll say good-bye for now so that I can post the pictures before Emmie wakes up.

Riding along in my automobile....

My baby beside me at the wheel....

This is how Emmie honks the horn on her new car.

She stands up and presses her belly against it to make it squeak.

When she's not driving, she's flying.... =o)

Thank you Hil, for introducing us to the wonderful world of mini pops.

Just the right size for little hands and mouths. =o)

To all those people out there who say Emmie looks like her daddy, you're right!

Now we all know what Chad would look like if he were bald. ;-)

Hickory, Dickory, Dock....

So the other afternoon I was sitting in our living room reading a book while Emmie played with her toys. I happened to glance over at the kitchen just in time to see a little brown streak scurry across the floor. Determined not to freak out, I slowly walked out into the kitchen to check if my eyes had been deceiving me. Now why I even bothered to look I'm not sure because there way no way I was going to get anywhere near to said rodent if I spotted it. So when Chad got home later in the day he set up mouse traps and checked them several times throughout the evening with no success. The next morning, just when I was beginning to think I had been seeing things, Chad's mom came down to let us know they had caught the little furball upstairs. Vindicated, I went throughout my day. Just when we were getting ready to leave to go somewhere, Chad calls out from the living room. "I see him!!" Chad proceeded to chase the mouse into our pantry where he (the mouse) hid for a few minutes and then came out and started to nibble the peanut butter on the mouse trap that Chad had set. Apparently, he was just a little baby mouse and therefore too small to set off the trap. Fortunatly, Chad was able to catch him and let him go outside. Hopefully, that will be the end of the mooses (as Chad calls them) for awhile. I can't see how they could like living inside when the have a cornfield right across the street to play in. =o)

In other news, Emmie had her 9 month doctor's visit today. She's a healthy 27.25 inches tall and 18.5 lbs, the 50th percentile for both for her age. This means that despite being able to down almost a whole hot dog in one sitting, she only gained a pound over the last 3 months. This is probably due to the fact that she is crawling all over the place now. She is standing very well by herself, is walking around when she has something to hold onto, and will even venture to take a step by herself now and then. Her favorite pastimes are climbing the 12 stairs up to MiMi and Poppy's house when mom or dad happen to leave the door open, "dancing" (holding her hands together and twisting side to side) when she hears music, and riding in her car outside (pictures coming soon).

Happy Easter

HE IS RISEN!

In Honor of April 15th

Emmie saw Chad and I working on our taxes and so she decided to do a little bit of auditing on her own....

We'll just count these items up here.... (notice the standing on her own)

Ummmm....something is not adding up quite right

Have to pull out the calculater for this one....

There apears to be a serious problem here....

In Honor of April 15th

Just Kidding!!

Time for my monthly post =o)

The past month has gone by so quickly I didn't even realize it had been that long since I last posted. Some of the highlights from this month are:

-Emmie is crawling all over the place now. The other day she was in the hallway in view of Chad and I while we were talking in the living room. Next thing we knew Emmie had disappeared down the hallway and into the bathroom (I had left the door open because I was in the process of putting away towels) where she was kneeling beside the toilet with her hands on the seat peaking into the bowl. Thankfully we caught her before anything more interesting happened.

-As soon as the crawling clicked in, the pulling up started. Emmie now enjoys pulling up on any object and letting go to see how long she can stand by herself. I think her record so far is 20 seconds.

-Emmie is becoming a little clingy now too. If she is tired or hungry, she follows me around the house making pitiful whimpering sounds until I pick her up and hold her. I took her to get pictures done a few days ago and unfortunately the only appointment they had open was right in the middle of her tired/hungry afternoon time. Therefore, it was a very short lived experience that resulted in one wide-eyed scared picture and a daughter that promptly started crying and crawling toward her mommy everytime she was set down. Needless to say, no pictures were purchased at the end of the session. But I must admit, it is a wonderful feeling to know that Emmie feels safe and protected in my arms.

-March was the month of Aunty visits. Emmie has a lot of real aunts and adopted aunts. First adopted Aunt Cami was up from Florida for a wedding and came to visit. Then just a few days ago, my sister Melody was out to visit from CA and she got to meet Emmie for the first time. Lots of fun there.

-Emmie's had a little bit of a stuffy nose the past week and just yesterday started coughing and sounding a little worse than before. So being to good mother that I am, I left her home with Chad for the afternoon and went shopping with Beth. We finally realized that we only live about an hour apart so if we meet at the outlet mall in the middle we can see each other and shop at the same time. Life is good.

-I've been walking a lot now that the weather is starting to warm up a little bit. 10 laps on the driveway is a mile so I try to do at least a mile a day. I usually push Emmie is the stroller. She enjoys the ride and usually falls asleep around lap 5. So not only do I get Emmie to take a nap, I'm able to work on my figure a little bit at the same time.

-I noticed yesterday while trying on clothes that walking has helped return my backside to my prepregnancy norm or even a little better. After notifying my wonderful husband of this news, he promptly replied that I should have bought the mirror in which I had made this observation. =o) I love my hubby. Actually, I found his remark pretty funny (he was just teasing) so no need to post comments in my defense. =o)

Until next month...=o) (but hopefully sooner)

Still growing....nothing outlasts Emmie....

Yes, Emmie Rose is six and a half months old already. At her last doctor's appointment she was 26.5 inches long and 17.5 lbs. Congrats to Tif for guessing her weight exactly the morning of without even seeing Emmie. Emmie has become quite mobile and enjoys army crawling/rolling all over the place and exploring. She has learned how to get herself back into a sitting position after she gets on her stomach to get something. It is so much fun watching her learn more and more each day. We went through a week of teething last week. Emmie now has her top front left tooth (to match to pair of front teeth she has on the bottom). When she got her two bottom teeth in she really wasn't that fussy so we thought we got off easy. Errr..Wrong answer. She was constantly whining for about 4 days straight and poor thing, it didn't help that she had her first cold too. So a sore mouth with a stuffed-up nose, that made for a few late/sleepless nights for all of us. But she's over her cold now, so she's been pretty happy the past few days. =o)

First Snowfall

We had our first small snowfall last weekend. Emmie found the snow to be interesting and cold. She wasn't too thrilled with the whole bundling-up process but she did like sledding down the driveway with her daddy.


Warm and toasty



For some reason mommy and daddy seem to think this is fun...

Pennsylvania Farm Show

At the beginning of January we went with our friends David, Hilary, and Abbey to the PA Farm Show in Harrisburg. We enjoyed walking around and looking at a lot of interesting things and eating a lot of good food. We can't wait for next year!


Which came first, The Emmie or the Egg?



A sculpture sure to clog your arteries =o) Yes, that is the liberty bell made out of butter.



This one goes out to all the PHCers out there.....

Emmie Rose

I predict good things for your future



One night Mom was out shopping and I was getting bored. So I was telling Dad how bored I was so he put me up on his shoulders. I liked it so much that he let me sit there and suck on his hair for a whole half hour before Mom got home.



I like to pretend I have long hair



Stretching is a vital part of working out. I call this the foot-in-mouth stretch.