Cheesch

Sweet girl saying cheese for the camera, and her abrupt decision that the filming was over:)

Say Cheese!

Emma and Daddy's new favorite past-time - taking pictures, saying "cheese" over and over!

Em and her new "baby bed" with clothes and a quilt..

her new "creative keeper"

looking at dad's gift

loving her new bunny

and watching video very intently with her dad

Merry Christmas!

We were all very blessed this Christmas...  and thankful for all those loved ones we were able to spend time with, and sending all of our love to those much too far away...

Emma was quite the lucky girl!!!!  You can see her playing out in the snow with her new sled, talking on her tiny phone, all the goodies when she first went downstairs in the morning....

AND we just got her to say "cheese" for the camera!!!  Often she looks like a goon, but we got lucky with the last picture below.

So I know there are lots of pics of Em here, and I am going to post some more...  the grandparents who are not here need to see all of her they can!  

Much love to all....

holiday party

Last night Carol had a get-together for all of the day care kids and their families, and those from past years too.  Emma wore the holiday dress that Grandma Loerch got her last year at an after Christmas sale!  She was so cute when she first put it on, running around the house, jumping and dancing.  At the party they sang Christmas songs, and just for Emma they sang "itsy-bitsy-spider" and Emma held the microphone!  As the rest of the kids sang other songs Emma stood smack-dab in front of it all, jumping and dancing, clapping at the end when everyone else did.  I think we may have a dancer on our hands, or at least a drama queen!!!

love to all...

New Skill

Emma learned how to do something new today... take off her shirt!!!  When I went to pick Em up from daycare I was informed that she had spent most of the morning taking her shirt off - and I'd never seen her do it before!  And sure enough once we got home off went her shirt.

love to all...

Polite girl

She did it!  Emma burped the other day and then she said "excuse me"!!!!  How funny is that?

She also said her first sentence this week...  "Dada home"  When were in the car on the way home from daycare. Now she says it as soon as we get in the car.

I suppose ALL of this cuteness is to make up for her behavior while my mom and I were trying to Christmas shop the other day...  She decided to lie on the floor, yell "no", put her hand DOWN my shirt and grab on my boob, then she pushed her stroller into a stand....  ah, the joys of motherhood:)

love to all

Emma decided to try on Grandpa Loerch's boots, hat, and gloves the other night - cutie!  

A funny story...  Emma has rediscovered her doll "Tottie", a black doll that my mom made for her, named after my friend Tosha.  Well, Emma was taking a shower with me the other day, and Tottie was waiting for us on the toilet.  I was washing my face and when I opened my eyes there was Tottie IN the shower with us!!!!  Did I mention she is a cloth stuffed doll?  Emma had opened the door to the shower and got out to get her and then back in, all while my arms were closed - oops:)

One other cute one - Em had Tottie in the stroller and all of a sudden I hear "Pu-me" and she was waving her hand in front of Tottie and making a funny pace.  I asked her, "Did Tottie poopie?" She said "yes", I asked if she needed to change her diaper, and if so she knew where the diapers were (her diaper bag was right next to her).  Sure enough Em got out the changing pad, the diaper, and wipes!!!  

Love to all...

Michigan Part 2

After our time at the Patterson's we headed over the the Hinrichs side, in Hudsonville, MI.  Grandpa Jim and Nana and the WHOLE side of that family were there (about 20 of us!).  We had such a lovely time and Em had so much fun playing with the big girls (she did all she could to sit on Sienna's lap!).  Em got to read with Grandpa and ride the big bear (that goes "rraarrrr!) with Nana.

Thanks to them for what is always such a wonderful time at their house!

Love to all....

michigan Part 1

"Frank the Tank" is in Michigan!  

We drove to Michigan (yes, it took 12 hours one way) for Thanksgiving break.  We were able to stay with Grandma Patterson for a few days, and Emma had a wonderful time there.  She played with her new suitcase (and her hair in a ponytail!), carried around the new swing for her babydoll that Grams had got her.  She also had a grand ole' time in my boots.  It was so fun to watch em interact with her Grams and Great Grams, and to have her pee on me in our of "potty" incidents (note to self: don't wash child's hands in warm water unless there is a diaper on!).

We had a lovely time there and were so glad we got to go...  Love to Grams and Great Gram and Thanks for a wonderful visit!

"Potty"

"Pee Me"  this is what Emma says when there is a dirty diaper!  Of course we say "Pee-u", so we don't know if she thinks that if we say "U", it means her, so she says "Me"???  Either way it is dang cute...

So yes, she is sitting her new potty chair.  However, there is not a whole lot going on!  Just a lot of sitting and standing and wasting of toilet paper!  

Ever since her cousin Sydney (my cousin's 4 year old daughter) came, and Emma saw her sitting on the potty, Em has been obsessed!  The first night I could NOT figure out why she wanted in the bathroom so bad, nor could I tell what she was saying.  after about 10 minutes she came and got me and took my hand and lead me into the potty, and tried to get on the toilet.  Of course, her little potty is no where near as fun as the big one, but it will do either way for now:)

Love to all...

Grandpa Jim

Grandpa jim came to visit for the week, from Michigan.  Emma and I went to see him, Aunt Judy, Great Grandma Hinrichs, and cousin Evy, for dinner the other evening.  We had so much fun!  Emma and Evy loved playing with each other, and Em warmed up to Grandpa REAL fast.  You can see him telling her where he needs his face washed! 

She continues to amaze us every day - new words, actions, games, expressions... and just a little bit more of me coming through:)

Love to all...

2nd Cousins

My cousin Steve, his wife Bobby, daughter Sydney, and my Aunt and Uncle, all came up from Iowa for the weekend.  Here are some pictures of Emma and Sydney, in matching dresse, having fun playing with each toher.  Emma of course LOVES to give Sydney hugs and kisses!

Surgery

Emma had her eye surgery today and all went well.  We got her packed into the car about 6:30am (normal time for her and me to get going in the morning anyways!) and drove about 40 minutes to Children's West Hospital.  We checked in, and dad handed me the bag to go change her dirty diaper (he will usually go do it himself, maybe it was because it was so early in the morning?!).  We then we called back to the pre-op/play room.  It was so interesting to be at the Children's hospital because they take SUCH good care of the kids AND the parents, always making sure we were OK and comfortable and SO much for Emma to play with.  

We got her changed into their "pj's" and red woolly socks, then had her temp and oxygen level taken (with a little monitor on her toe).  Then she had a good 15-20 minutes to play in the large room while they got paper-work filled out.  We had the surgeon, the nurse, and the anesthetist come talk with us to make sure we were well informed and comfortable.  Emma got a big purple "X" above her left eye, to make sure they did the procedure on the correct eye!

When it was time to go into the "induction" room (where the kids are put under) there were twinkling lights all over the ceiling.  Emma could tell something was happening, she got quite squirmy and a little fussy.  We tried to ease her into the mask, but the smell of the gas was not to her liking.  SO, with her baby in her arms, her in my arms, and Elliott holding on to her arms, the man making sure her legs didn't get mixed in the wires, and the lady holding the mask on her face...... She finally fell into sleep, only about 1 minute after they put it on her.  Both Elliott and I got teary eyed as they were doing it because it changed her breathing a bit, and she was uncomfortable and struggling a bit.  I say her "lullaby".....  Whooo!  But once she was calm then we were all OK.

We were shown to the family waiting area, and Elliott went to go grab us a bite to eat (she couldn't eat or drink this morning so we only had coffee - that was a must!).  About 15 minutes later the surgeon came in - all done!  He told us it went well, and actually they had to use a larger instrument than normal because the blockage of the tear duct was quite tight.  he was so kind and gave us his personal cell phone number in case we had any concerns.

About 5 minutes after that they called us into the recovery area because she was awake.... When we walked in she was flailing for all she was worth (and she is VERY strong) in a nurses arms.  She just snuggled right in to me, and I gave her some juice and then she felt better.  We were in the recovery room for about 20 minutes I'd say (they like to monitor them to make sure they don't have any adverse reaction to the anesthesia).  She drank ALL of her juice, and we read a couple of books, and then she had her Organic Clifford Crunch Cereal!  She also had some graham Crackers......  

She was a bit fussy on the way home, but by the time we got back here she was rearing and ready to go!!!!!!  She is napping now - yay:)

Love to all....

Booty!!!

Em just couldn't handle getting her diaper on the other day, so off she went running around the house with a naked bum!!!!

She has such a desire to be big girl - always so thrilled to see what the big girls are doing..... So naturally she would want to try to put on her mama's mascara:)

Love to all...

Growing up!

Emma is growing up so fast it seems!  And it is so fun:)  Elliott and I built her a tent the other night, but she didn't get it...  She was like "why are you guys in there?".  But, you can see her pointing to her "mouth" like the book does.  

Then she had a good time trying on Mama's vest!  She looks like a giant snowman, and she kept it on for about an hour!

Also, here she is playing with some new building blocks with her dad.  Of course, he had too teach her how to knock them over and she LOVED that.  For as much as she loves her babies, and can't stand things out of place or fallen over, she LOVES to make loud noises!

She has started shaking her head yes, so is really able to differentiate between wanting and not wanting things now.   for the most part that is really great:)  But now I know when she says "no" she means "no", and she s certainly not affraid to use it!

Love to all....

EM-SPINNER

This is a new play time event. It seems we stumbble on to new and maybe a bit odd past times daily. The first spin was a skoosh to fast i think, but Emma still enjoyed it! I think...

First Snow!!!

Emma had her first "real" snow experience yesterday morning!  Last year she barely knew what was going on, but yesterday she was raring and ready to go....  She walked all around and just kept touching the snow, getting her hands wet and freezing cold.  I think she enjoyed it, but it will be fun to see what happens when there is a lot more for her to trudge around in.  

Once we were done I was certainly thankful that Grandma Loerch decided she needed TWO jackets and TWO pairs of boots, so she had a dry pair on to go to the store.

Not a whole lot else new, except for that she is a cutie-patootie!  Babbling away a mile a minute and really starting to say a lot of words.  We all went to Old Country Buffet last night (I know- ha ha!).  But we had fun and Emma LOVED her carrot cake AND her ice cream cone:)

Love to all...

MN Zoo

El, Em, and I went to the  Zoo on Sunday and we had a wonderful time!  The animals were all out in full-force - the grizzly bears especially!  

You can see Em lying down in front of the GIANT aquarium, stopping in the middle of the trail to change her babies diaper,  stopping to smell and then kiss ALL of the plants, and looring face to face with a grizzly bear!!!!

The bears were the most amazing part.  They were wrestling and carousing RIGHT in front of the glass!  Emma also loved the monkeys and the sea otters.  I actually had to hold on REALLY tight when we were looking at the sea otters because she so badly wanted to get into the exhibit with them.

Love to all...

Trick-or-Treat

We took Emma out tick-or-Treating last night, just up and down the block...  She was a hoot!!!

We dressed her as a "fisherwoman" - with a pole, muckers, and a tackle box!  She was so excited once she realized what we were doing that she was RUNNING up and down the street as fast as she could with her dad in tow.

After she would put a piece of candy in her tackle box, she would rub her hands togehter really quick and then rub them on her jacket - she was so excited to have "accomplished" getting the candy, I think!  

She was enthralled by a large headstone at one house, and it lit up and made scary sounds... She just crouched down next to it to get a closer look!  She was also really curious about pumpkins - got on her belly in the neighbors driveway, and then had to kiss each one (she is not shy when it comes to handing out kisses and hugs!).  You can see those PURSED lips in one of the pictures here, and that is what she does EVERY time she wants to kiss someone or something - and you can bet there will be a boat load of slobber involved!!!!

Happy Halloween and Love to all...

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins with Emma on Sunday...  she was not so interested.  As a matter of fact she was totally disgusted by the "guts"!  She was however enthralled with pouring the seeds in and out of the bowl, and even enjoyed pouring them BACK into the pumpkin!  She was quite excited when she figured out that she could take the top off and on too.

She has another word... Apple!  And did I mention that she pats her leg and tells the dogs next door to come?  

She only slept a 1/2 hour at Carol's today (some teeth are coming in I guess, as she could be part of  a wet-t-shirt contest, the way  the drool is pouring out of her mouth!).  So we had  a pretty unhappy afternoon, and she was sound asleep by 6:30!!!!

Love to all...