2 years old

Emerson is two years old! I can remember the day she was born like it was yesterday and I can't believe how much she has changed! She is talking quite a bit now and says all kinds of words and shows lots of understanding about the world around her. An expert at mimicking, Emerson can repeat pretty much any word we say and likes to impersonate us. One day Mark was talking and she is sitting there shaking her head going, "yeah, yeah, uh huh, yeah." She will also get on the phone and do that as well as pretending to tell jokes. Funny girl. Right now she loves to take care of her baby saying shhh, rocking her, as well as checking for a dirty diaper. Such a good little Mama. Emerson has become very sympathetic of when we are hurt. She points out any boo boo and asks if it hurts and wants to kiss it. Of course she wants someone to kiss her boo boos in return. She can also name tons of animals but her favorite right now is an elephant. I think a trip to the zoo is definitely in order. She loves her dog and is always saying, "Hey Mia," and chasing her. She loves to run after her telling her to sit, and of course hush. Ha! She has a new found love for airplanes after a trip to the airport observation deck and has become an expert spotter. She is still tiny as ever and is probably 20lbs soaking wet. Although the girl can eat. Her favorite foods include pizza, grapes, hummus, homemade sweet potato fries, anything with peanut butter, varieties of fruit, and recently baby carrots. Such a blessing she will finally eat at least one vegetable! Hopefully over the next year she will continue to add more and more foods to her diet.  She has entered the 2 zone already throwing fits, saying, "Mine!," and of course hesitant to share. She even says, "My Daddy." A daddy's girl for sure, she claims him, and calls not just for any Daddy but her Daddy.  She enthusiastically spots his picture, and always asks where he is when he isn't around. Emerson knows how to say please and does it quite often as she thinks it's the magic word to get whatever she wants. After months and months and months of prompting she will finally say thanks occasionally.  She enthusiastically counts 1, 2, 5, 6! We're working on filling in those numbers. :) She loves the a, b, c's and it's one of her favorite tunes. Although she will dance to just about anything but especially loves high energy music and latin inspired. We're so thankful for a healthy and fun girl and can't wait to see what the next year brings. Happy Birthday Emerson Kaye!

Birthday Fun

The day before Emerson's birthday we decided to take her and her best buddy to Marbles for a fun trip. We had been once before and she had such a good time we knew she would have a blast again. Here are her and Ben playing with the train station.

Taking a ride in the bank truck.

Emerson found two giant bears in the story room and was determined they were her new best friends.

It took some convincing to leave them there.

Emerson the professional surfer!

Playing in the grocery store was one of the favorite activities. 

You had to keep close watch to keep hold of your shopping cart, as they were a hot commodity.

The super fun money room, toward the end of the day so she was looking pretty tired. Afterwards we ate our packed lunch outside then headed home for a nap!

Little Princess

Until I can do a birthday post...

32 Weeks

 

Wow, only 8 more weeks to go! I'm sure this next month will fly by and before you know it I'll be full term. How am I feeling? Well, pregnant. Very pregnant to be exact. I don't remember feeling like this last time, especially this early. My belly feels super heavy and I'm waddling all over the place. Muscles are pulling and stretching and I'm really not sure how there is room for 8 more weeks! After a week of being sideways, which is not comfy at all the by way, baby boy is finally head down. He is not as active as Emerson was but he likes to turn around and stick his behind out instead of kick a lot. Which makes my belly look very strange and lopsided. As you can kinda tell by the picture my maternity shirts are starting to not cover my belly. Who knows what will fit by April. I'm gaining weight pretty steadily now instead of the huge jumps I had before. I'll probably end up with the same gain as last time with E.  This week I've been craving cuban style grilled cheese, chicken nuggets with bbq sauce, and bbq sandwiches with coleslaw. Every week I have a harder and harder time chasing a toddler. Seems like everytime I have to speed up I get a braxton hicks and I have lots of pressure this time. But, I'm sure it's very comical to others to see someone with a big belly running down a two year old. She can usually outrun me easily. Hopefully in the next few weeks we can start to get things organized. Here is a sneak peak of the little guy we had done today. 

 Pretty cute if I do say so myself!

Gymnastics

Monday mornings Emerson has been going to toddler gymnastics or what she likes to call "nastics."  She gets to run around and pretty much have free reign of the gym. Unfortunately it was our last week but Mark was off and got to go with us for the last session.

They have a really cool playground on the side with a "rock wall" to climb and one of the fastest slides I've ever seen. Emerson flies about two feet at the end. Luckily there are foam mats.

Each week she has become a little braver. This week she went full force trying several things she has never done before. Like the giant foam pit!

Your Dad throwing you in might be one of the reasons for trying something new though. Ha!

She also tried the rings and hung on what seemed like forever!

She was definitely proud of herself. 

The tiny toddler side that is always a favorite.

Back to the rings. 

Cheesing with Dad.

She maybe be tiny but she is strong! I was really impressed. Hopefully we can sign up for another session sometime soon. I've seen lots of mamas there toting little babies in their mobys. So there is hope!

Potty Training 101

Step 1: Remove Diaper Cover

2. Attempt to remove diaper

3. Place diaper cover on your baby since you no longer need it.

4. Make a dash for it before anyone notices

Happy Late Valentines Day!

Here is Emerson's Valentines picture. Dressed all in red and sporting some of Mom's accessories. Yes, I do own a glittery red headband. Who doesn't? Since I'm indecisive here is a vintage version...

and a regular version. Taking this picture was pretty exhausting but seeing as she hasn't had a "real" picture taken in months it's all worth while. Happy Valentines!

Emerson's Valentine

Here is Emerson showing some love to her valentine, our neighbor Ben. Don't ask where her shirt is. I guess we still have to work on things not to do to get a boy's attention. But, look at the love!

30 weeks

I'm trying to keep up with belly pictures now since we are in the home stretch. I do look a little rough in this picture but this is what happens when you run and back forth with a self timer 10 times trying to get a good shot while preventing a toddler from toppling your camera. One thing is for sure I desperately need a hair-cut/color make-over. Nothing like looking at pictures of yourself to get you to feel weird. Ha!  At least I have some new maternity jeans that fit great! For now at least. Back to baby facts. Not a lot new to report. No new cravings, just being hungry. Baby is still head up and flipping around so hopefully he will settle into the head down position in the next few weeks. According to my handy iphone app he is about the size of a head of cauliflower. Roughly 3lbs. But, with our kids we can assume a little less. Mark and I have resumed our hypnobabies childbirth studies. Just in the nick of time since it's a 6 week lesson series and then you want to leave some weeks for practice. I've washed most of Baby B's clothes and folded them. But, alas they are in the laundry basket since they have nowhere to go.  I'm working on him a crocheted blanket that is a lovely shade of aqua.  Oh and if you are keeping notes he could be here in 8 weeks if he comes when Emerson did. 

29.5 weeks with Emerson

Just for comparison this is Emerson's belly pic. Happy Thursday!

Trip to the Museum

Yesterday we joined some friends for a trip to the Durham Museum of Life and Science. We had only been for a quick trip once before so it was nice to come back. We went to the butterfly exhibit and Emerson was really liked walking around in the jungle like environment. It was a nice warm up from the cold temps outside too.  Next we headed inside where there were lots of creepy bugs and critters. Most of which I would rather not see again.

But, the poisonous frogs were rather cute. Emerson loved looking into the glass and yelling at them. I'm not sure they enjoyed it quite as much.

We played a bit in the toddler area. We could probably stay there all day.

Here we are playing with some friends in the tornado area with snacks in hand. Thankfully she didn't blow away.