First Big Girl Hairstyle- the Braid!

Check it out- Emily had her first braid today! She is getting SO big. Also, after dinner last night she said, “Ok, I ready to go now.” Did I mention she is getting big? :)

21 Months Old!

It’s time for the monthly update! Emily was a big traveler last month- going to Granny and Grandaddy’s and taking a trip to the beach! She is getting so big and doing so many things....I need to start keeping a list going all month long so it’s not so hard thinking of all the things to put in the update!

Here’s what she’s doing now:

-Eating whole apples! She bites them, skin and all. Do not even TRY to cut them up- if she sees a whole apple, she wants the whole thing. I need to take a picture of the aftermath- the apple is basically skinned in 100 different places...it is hilarious!

-Opening doorknobs. This is not my favorite new trick, for sure.

-Potty interest- she wants to sit on the potty A LOT now. She is not really doing anything when she sits there, but the interest has finally arrived. My personal goal is to have her totally potty trained by Christmas.

-Wearing “makeup”. Whenever I am getting ready she comes in the bathroom and opens my makeup drawer. I have to give her a brush and she brushes all over her face saying, “make up! make up!” It is pretty amusing to say the least.

-Singing....oh boy, the songs! She LOVES singing so much! She knows probably 15 songs now and so we play Karaoke in the car, the grocery store, etc. She wants to sing all the time.

-Colors- she can now identify red and blue with pretty good accuracy.

-Shapes- she finds circles EVERYWHERE and is working on squares (‘scare”).

-Letters- she can ID letters E, A, and O with pretty good accuracy.

-Coloring- she loooooves to color! Any time, any place, if you have crayons or markers and some paper, she will gladly color for you. Or if you happen to leave a pen out, she will happily color your couch.

-Wrestling. I’m serious. I need to video her with Paul in the evenings- she loves throwing herself on top of him and falling off (he catches her!) and running into him from across the room. I have no idea where she sees this kind of behavior but it is pretty funny to watch a seemingly sweet little girl acting so wild!

-Saying sorry. She is KILLING us lately with saying, “I sorry!” over everything! She will not stop until you say OK and then she says, “all right”. It makes us feel awful when we say, “Gosh Emily you sure have a lot of toys” and she says, “I sorry! I sorry! I sorry!”


In the next few weeks we will be transitioning back into our routine with going to Miss Jamey’s a few days per week and getting ready for me to start school on August 10. I’m hoping to do a lot of swimming at our gym pool with her and having some playdates with friends before things get super busy again. Check in soon for more updates on our little princess!

Beach Trip 2009!

We are back from a WONDERFUL vacation. We had a fantastic time at Myrtle Beach and enjoyed getting to spend time at the beach and enjoy the company of Paul’s family. Emily LOVED the ocean and had a terrific time. Here are some highlights:

-First and foremost, the beach. Emily had NO fear about running into the water and enjoyed heading to the ocean every morning for a few hours. She built lots of sand creations (we will not call them “castles” this year...that would be a stretch!) and had so much fun making new friends with kids on the shore.

-Singing- Emily has learned the words to so many songs! She sang Skinnamarinky Dinky Dink (I Love You), Head, Shoulders Knees & Toes, This Little Light of Mine, ABCs, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song, Twinkle Twinkle, Victor Vito, the Bumblebee Song, We are the Dinosaurs....and probably a lot more I am forgetting. She loves to have someone sing to her and if no one will, she will sing to herself!

-Emmy loved having her Granny, Grandaddy, and Grandma Frances around to play with her non-stop and take her on long walks. The resort where we stayed had a lot of ducks in their lake and she loved seeing them every time we walked somewhere.

-Meeting other kids- there are two funny stories here. First, we saw Emily with a little boy who was about 2.5 years old. Let’s just say her “pick up” skills really need some improvement-- she started circling this poor boy and saying, “Hello, what are you doing? Hello, what are you doing?”....over and over and over! He just looked stunned and didn’t say a peep- it was hysterical! I wish we had had the camera for that- we were cracking up! The second funny story was Em’s “ability”, if you will, to join in other children’s play on the beach. No matter how old the kids, she would plop down in the middle of their sand play and just start playing with their toys! It was funny because she is so little....something tells me a few years from now kids won’t be so willing to let her come in and wreck their castles and things!

-Going out to eat-- one night we ate at a seafood buffet (we are not usually buffet people but Paul and I LOVE crab legs and it’s the best way to get them at the beach) and she ate...and ate...and ate...and ate!! We could not believe all the food this child consumed during the trip- she must be getting ready for a growth spurt or something!

-New toys! While on the trip Emily got a super cute bowling set (cloth animals are the “pins” and she doesn’t play with them like a normal bowling game- she lines them all up in a row and talks to them!) as well as Mickey Mouse (MeMe Mouse) and Tigger (Kiggo) stuffed toys....she loved them! Usually she doesn’t care much about toys when she first gets them (case in point for this trip- the Build a Bear dog Paul and I stuffed for her during Nap the first day....at least I had a coupon so it was free because she did not touch that dog the whole trip!) We were so shocked at how quickly she started playing with the bowling set and the Disney friends.


Overall it was a wonderful trip and we are so glad to have been able to enjoy the ocean with Emily. Now it’s back to work for Paul and just a few more weeks of summer vacation before I go back to work too. The summer sure does fly by when you’re having so much fun!


PS- I just thought I would let you know I am writing this in absolute quiet because Paul took Emily out for Daddy/Daughter Date. He has been doing this for a few months now, taking Emily out to get little treats and spend special time with him. Today’s agenda was a trip to pick out her first Mr. Potato Head, picking up lunch from Sonic, and heading to the park for a picnic and playtime. Just thought everyone should know he is the best Dad around. :)

Anniversary and Beach Trip!

Today Paul and I are celebrating FOUR years of marriage! It’s hard for us to imagine that we have been together for 7 years next month and married for 4. Since we’ve been married, we’ve moved twice (4 times total!), changed careers/ started careers, graduated college and medical school, adopted 2 crazy dogs, and of course, the best thing we’ve done....given birth to Emily Claire! It is hard to believe time passes so quickly but it reminds us to value every day we are given.

In other news, we are leaving on Saturday for vacation at Myrtle Beach! This is technically Emily’s third trip to the beach, if you count her first visit as the one when I was pregnant (hey, she was there!) I am SO excited to take Emily back because she had such a terrific time last summer-- she loved the ocean and playing in the sand, swimming in the pool, and having her parents, grandparents, and great-grandma all so close. We will see Uncle Bill this trip too, which is great- we don’t get to see him very often. I can’t wait to see how she does at the beach this year- I think a lot of running up and down is in store for us, as well as a lot of sand castle building! I’m not sure how the pool will go- she refuses to use a float this year so I bought her a bathing suit with the floatation panels built in. It seems to work well, but she gets very scared when she can’t touch the bottom. I’m mostly just praying that the place we are staying in (it’s a new place this year, not the same one we always use) has a kiddie pool...otherwise, I can see her refusing pool time all together and us spending all our time at the beach. Expect TONS of pics when we get back!

Hello, Elmo!

Today we had an embarrassing (to say the least!) moment when we were at a local coffee shop. Emily was playing in the children’s area with a little boy about her age. He happened to have very bright red hair. After a little while, Emmy ran across the room, stopped right in front of the boy, and yelled out, “Hello, Elmo!” I was mortified, the boy’s mother was NOT appreciative, and the girl I was at the coffee shop with burst out laughing. Can you say awkward?!