Big Girl Bed

Emily slept in her big girl bed for the first time last night! She has been so ready for us to get her room ready, but it has taken a bit of time. I don't have any pictures of the room, yet, but will get them up as we finish all the finishing touches over the weekend. This was Emily's first time to sleep with a pillow which she thought was neat. We put the side rail up just in case, though she'd rather it not be there. We have the mattress down on the lowest setting, but we'll move it up when she's a little older and we hopefully put a trundle bed underneath. When its moved up, the headboard won't look quite so big.

She likes to climb up on the bed and hang out there. When she came home from school today she said she was going to take a little rest, which she often does while I get her lunch. She asked if she could do that in her big girl room and of course I said ok. She loved getting to rest on her bed instead of on the floor like she usually does.

She took a little bit of time to fall asleep last night, but she was given strict instructions not to get out of the bed until Mommy or Daddy come in. She didn't, though she called for me once before she fell asleep because she had dropped Molly (her monkey) and couldn't get her leg under the covers quite right. She slept through until this morning, like normal. She took a little longer to fall asleep for her nap today, but fell asleep within 25 minutes or so, so not too long overall. We hung up room darkening curtains so I can get the room nice and dark which is one of my complaints with the current nursery. We'll remedy that before this baby moves into it.

And the light is not on in the picture, the flash lit up the room like that!

She's such a big girl now! She really isn't a baby anymore.

NYC

We took Emily into New York City on Sunday to see all of the Christmas decorations. Emily knew that we had to take 2 trains (PATH and Subway) and when we came outside again, we would be in the city. We often have the Today Show on tv in the mornings so she has seen the Rockefeller Christmas Tree and we told her that would be the tree we saw. She recognized it and loved looking at all the lights on it. She had a lot of fun watching everyone ice skating. Santa was even out on his skates which was pretty neat for her to see. We walked up 5th Avenue a bit and stopped for a lunch a little off 5th at a nice and quiet restaurant. Then we continued on and took Emily into FAO Schwartz to see all the neat toys. She had a great time looking and playing with things. When we put her back in her stroller it was around 1 or 1:30 and she asked if I would put her down. She wanted to go "down" for a nap! That was our last stop so we headed back on the subway and PATH and made it to our car. She took a great nap when we got home. I guess all the "fresh" NYC air wore her out! It was a great day for going in, the temperartures were in the mid to upper 40's and we were in the hot touristy spots before 12:00 for the most part. Hopefully next year we can take her in again.

Santa

Picture with Santa at the mall
Breakfast with Santa

On Saturday morning we went to Breakfast with Santa at the Y. Emily had fun eating a bagel there and Santa came around and greeted all the kids at the tables. Then we got to get in the BIG line for our picture with Santa. We took several pictures and the people there took one, we got a pretty good one where Emily is smiling for the camera. She enjoyed it and talked about breakfast with Santa all weekend!

Before Thanksgiving, I took Emily to the mall to see Santa. I had a deal through Shutterfly and decided to give it a shot. We went in the afternoon, around 4 or 4:30 and it was so nice and quiet. Absolutely no lines and Emily was able to sit on Santa's lap for awhile, probably 10 minutes while she warmed up and we got a cute picture. The top picture is from the mall. Since they were doing it with Shutterfly, we actually got the picture on a memory stick so we have it on the computer. You can't beat that!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Helping to open Daddy's gifts

Cake!

It was Greg's birthday yesterday so Emily and I baked him a yummy chocolate cake yesterday morning. She started singing Happy Birthday to Daddy in the morning before he left the house. It was adorable and we managed to get some of it on video at dinnertime. I'll try to upload and post that soon. I made chicken picatta for dinner and we all enjoyed that. After dinner, she helped Greg open his gifts, in fact present time was a very quick activity! She moved from one gift to the next and then just as quick through the cards. She had a lot of fun with it, though. We gave her a very small piece of cake after dinner, it wasn't fair not to after she'd helped make it and she loved it (what's not to love?!?). Tonight, the next night, we asked her if she wanted another small piece again. She asked for candles in it (we didn't do it) and then asked if we were going to open presents again. If it was up to Emily, birthday celebrations would last for days!

We'll take Greg out to dinner one night this weekend for a birthday dinner out. We're just waiting for him to choose the restaurant!

Baby Shower in St. Louis

Poppy reading bedtime stories to Emily
Playing and reading with Grandy

Playing with Nonnie

Emily and I went to St. Louis for Jill's baby shower this past weekend. None of my pictures are great, but I don't have the better ones on my computer. And none of these pictures are from the actual shower. We had a good time during the visit and enjoyed the baby shower on Saturday.

Decorating for Christmas

Emily and all the snowmen/holiday stuffed animals
Hanging ornaments

Emily wearing Greg's hat looking at holiday lights outside

We decorated our house for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving. Emily enjoyed it and loves looking at the ornaments on the tree, especially those that she knows that she can touch. She turns on the tree in the morning and when we get home from being out.

We'll have to start working on building up the excitement for Hanukkah soon, too!

Emily's Funnies

Emily has continued to have several funny things that she says that amaze us by how funny they are or how great her memory is.

I threw a baby shower for Jill. As various preparations were underway, Emily would ask what things were for and I said Aunt Jill's baby shower. Emily asked if there would be a bath, too and if it was in the bathroom. I think she understands better now that it has passed.

For the shower, I made Jill a diaper cake. It looks like a 3 layer cake, but is made entirely of diapers and isn't edible. Tonight, Emily pretended to bake cakes (Greg's birthday was yesterday and she helped bake his cake). When I pretended to eat my piece I asked her if it was birthday cake. She said that my piece was birthday cake, but hers was diaper cake.

Here is a picture of the diaper cake if you're curious.


Emily's memory continues to astound us. We had her friend, Sophia, over one night in October for a little date night babysitting exchange. I made enchiladas for dinner and Sophia didn't like them. It hasn't come up in conversation since then, but on Tuesday night we had enchiladas again for the first time since then. Emily sat down to eat them and very matter of factly said "Sophia doesn't like 'chiladas. They're too spicy for her. Sophia had other dinner." We couldn't believe that she remembered that from so long ago.

Emily went even further back with her memory. Earlier this week Emily was washing her hands after using the potty and she asked about her little potty. It's been put away for ages, probably sometime this summer we put it in the attic. I told Em that she doesn't use it anymore and she said that her little potty has bears on it. I told her that she was silly and then thought for a moment. It did have bears on it. Then she said that it only has one bear which is exactly true, one bear in the center. It just floored me and Greg that she remembered that from such a long time ago. And again, something that we never talk about. Of course, when I told Greg about it, he remembered right away that her little potty had a bear on it. I suppose she is taking after her daddy with his stellar memory.

Happy Thanksgiving 2008

Emily wearing her Native American Headband from schoolEmily playing her Indian Drum

Feeding the babies their Thanksgiving dinner

Our Thanksgiving table

We had a super nice Thanksgiving with just the 3 of us. It was nice and relatively relaxing with a delicious meal. Emily made a Thanksgiving placemat and turkey centerpiece for the table from school so we used those to decorate our table. Emily was very proud of her placemat and loved having a real cloth napkin and real plate just like we use. At school they made Indian Headbands and drums also. It took me a bit to figure out what she was calling them, but her teachers are more politically correct than I am and were calling everything Native American. I finally figured that out! They had a Thanksgiving feast at school with (deli) turkey, cornbread muffins, and cupcakes. I'm sure there was some other food, but all Emily told me was turkey, muffins, and cupcakes.

Pictures

All the leaves in the yard when we got back from TX. It had been fairly bare when we left

Emily reading to Harry the dog in our bed one morning

Emily wearing her new dress and tights

Emily reading "Babar" to Molly in the rocking chair.
If you asked Emily, Molly was getting ready for a nap.

It's a BOY!

After several ultrasounds (all routine) we are most definitely having a little boy! This picture was taken the week of Thanksgiving, when I was 21.5 weeks along. The baby is looking great and I've been feeling good. I started taking a pre-natal water fitness class a few weeks ago that I really enjoy. Emily knows there is a baby in my tummy, but how much she really grasps is unclear. She gives the baby hugs and kisses and knows that it is a little brother and that is a boy. I don't know that she fully gets that a baby is going to come home in a few months and won't be leaving! I'm sure she'll continue to understand more as the nursery gets ready for a baby and we bring baby things out when everything gets closer.

Visiting in Dallas

Aunt Jill reading to Emily and Frisco
Emily playing with Frisco

Eating lunch at SMU Homecoming

We've changed a bit since college! (Shannon, Larissa, and me)

We went to Dallas to visit Aunt Jill and Uncle Nathan after visiting in Austin. We had a lot of fun and went to Homecoming at SMU on Saturday. It coincidentally was Greg's 10 year reunion. Emily loved the parade and afterwards we all had lunch. Greg and Nathan went to the football game while Jill and I took Emily home for a bit of a nap. We had a fun visit with them and Emily seemed to enjoy Frisco. She initially wanted to tell her "no, no," but Greg suggested that she say "Frisco sit" instead. So, everytime Frisco walked near her, that's what she said. We eventually convinced her that it was ok if Frisco moved around a bit.

Visiting in Austin

Emily on the fire engine at the park
Park time

With Aunt Christi and Uncle Dan

Reading with Grandma

First time "playing" pool with Grandpa

A BIG tower

We went to Austin to visit Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Christi, and Uncle Dan the day after Halloween. We had fun seeing everyone and enjoying spending some time outside since the warm weather was a nice change from our usual fall temperatures.