Updating my blog has (obviously) not been a high priority lately. Between helping Nick on a few projects and trying to keep one toddler, two dogs and one kitten from destroying our Christmas tree, we have been busy! Hopefully I can begin updating more often again soon, but I'm not making any promises. I did read a blog post today that I thought was pretty awesome. Nothing we don't already know, but it's so nice to be reminded:
http://inspiredtoaction.com/2010/12/7-true-things-about-you/
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Our first family Christmas card!
Green Ribbon Holiday
Get custom holiday cards online at Shutterfly.com.
View the entire collection of cards.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Christmas Cards
Well, it's one of my favorite times of the year again. Christmas card time! In the past, we've tried to organize a family photo session, but that usually takes a long time and is frustrating enough with just the dogs. Add a toddler to the mix and it's pretty much impossible. So this year, I'm just going to use pics I already have for our cards. I've used Shutterfly in the past for holiday cards as well as other photo services, so I thought I'd check out their holiday cards.
You can check out Shutterfly's Christmas card collection here. I love this one, called Perfect Paisley. Wouldn't that look adorable with a picture of Emma's cute face? I'd definitely love getting that in the mail (but I am a little biased).
I also like Peppermint Snowflake:
Shutterfly also offers some great Christmas photo cards. I had a hard time settling on just one or two designs that I liked the best. There's one called Top Ten Moments that would be fitting for our year, since we've had so many firsts (Emma turning one, walking, talking, running, feeding herself, first trip to the beach...I could go on and on).
I also really like this card, called What a Year. It would let me tell everyone about our special year too.
If you're looking for a good gift idea (this is great for grandparents if you have kids), you can also make your own photo calendar.
I'm making a few of these for our parents and grandparents, and might just make one for myself too. You can add in your own special dates, which is great for our parents (and also my husband, who has a hard time remembering dates sometimes :-) ).
Head on over to Shutterfly to choose your favorite card! Hopefully you'll have an easier time choosing that I am!
You can check out Shutterfly's Christmas card collection here. I love this one, called Perfect Paisley. Wouldn't that look adorable with a picture of Emma's cute face? I'd definitely love getting that in the mail (but I am a little biased).
Shutterfly also offers some great Christmas photo cards. I had a hard time settling on just one or two designs that I liked the best. There's one called Top Ten Moments that would be fitting for our year, since we've had so many firsts (Emma turning one, walking, talking, running, feeding herself, first trip to the beach...I could go on and on).
If you're looking for a good gift idea (this is great for grandparents if you have kids), you can also make your own photo calendar.
Head on over to Shutterfly to choose your favorite card! Hopefully you'll have an easier time choosing that I am!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Halloween 2010
This blogging thing is harder than it seems. Actually I just haven't taken the time to update in a long while. Even with Emma's 2-3 hour naps (thank you Babywise)! I've been trying to get our house cleaned up, which is hard for someone who has never been a neat freak...until now. For whatever reason, I have suddenly felt a huge urge to get this place clean. I've implemented a weekly cleaning schedule, which is great. It helps me to get most of the house clean, but I don't spend hours cleaning. I keep finding more things to add though, so I'm still tweaking it. I still hate cleaning but I feel so much better once it's done. Although it's never really done...I would really like to know where all the dust comes from.
Halloween this year was quite different from last year. Last year, Emma was a monkey and went to church. This year, she was Elmo and she got to go trick or treating around my parents' house. The weather was great and Emma seemed to have a lot of fun. We pulled her in her wagon, but she walked to everyone's door for the most part. She said hi and thank you; we'll hopefully have "trick or treat" down for next year. She got to meet a lot of dogs, which she loved. She stayed up a little late, but didn't get fussy at all. Unfortunately mean Mommy and Daddy are eating all her candy...however, I did save the suckers for potty training treats.
As far as the potty training goes, she has regressed a bit with peeing in the potty. She has pooped twice though. Fortunately, we started early enough that I'm not freaking it if she takes a few steps back...we have lots of time to get it done. And she loves sitting on the potty...she always asks us to read her a book...and then another and another. She is very grown up all of a sudden. We've been working on self-feeding, which she's very happy about. She can feed herself any finger food, but has a harder time with a fork or spoon. She can put it in a bowl or plate, and then into her mouth, but there's usually no food on it. But we're getting there, and she seems pretty determined to figure it out. She's still just as picky as ever, but I am going to start offering more vegetables. She usually plays with them instead of eating them, but I'm going to keep trying.
Halloween this year was quite different from last year. Last year, Emma was a monkey and went to church. This year, she was Elmo and she got to go trick or treating around my parents' house. The weather was great and Emma seemed to have a lot of fun. We pulled her in her wagon, but she walked to everyone's door for the most part. She said hi and thank you; we'll hopefully have "trick or treat" down for next year. She got to meet a lot of dogs, which she loved. She stayed up a little late, but didn't get fussy at all. Unfortunately mean Mommy and Daddy are eating all her candy...however, I did save the suckers for potty training treats.
As far as the potty training goes, she has regressed a bit with peeing in the potty. She has pooped twice though. Fortunately, we started early enough that I'm not freaking it if she takes a few steps back...we have lots of time to get it done. And she loves sitting on the potty...she always asks us to read her a book...and then another and another. She is very grown up all of a sudden. We've been working on self-feeding, which she's very happy about. She can feed herself any finger food, but has a harder time with a fork or spoon. She can put it in a bowl or plate, and then into her mouth, but there's usually no food on it. But we're getting there, and she seems pretty determined to figure it out. She's still just as picky as ever, but I am going to start offering more vegetables. She usually plays with them instead of eating them, but I'm going to keep trying.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
We're still alive!
My effort to blog more often has not gone so well. But we've been very busy around here lately. Emma is 17 months old and she is everywhere! We're still having problems with her allergies. Fall is especially bad for her. We took her to the allergy doctor, and got a prescription that will hopefully help ease her congestion. It seems that dust is really hard for her, so she gets a flare up when I dust the house. I can dust most of the house while she's sleeping and hopefully that will help, because she loves to tag along and "help" me clean.
We've also started potty training! She's pretty young, so I just thought I'd buy a potty seat and see what happened. She has taken to it so quickly! She is realizing now when she has to pee and she bends over and grabs at her diaper. She loves to run into the bathroom, sit on the potty and have me read her a book. We've been pleasantly surprised with how well she's done so far. My goal was to have her potty trained by the time she's 2, so that gives me 7 months.
Our trip to the beach was fun, but Emma hated the beach. She didn't want anything to do with the sand or the water. Our house did have a wagon that she loved to ride in. We pushed her in that wagon and let her push it around the neighborhood about 200 times. As soon as we got home, we got my old wagon from my parents' house and cleaned it up. She loves it. We were also able to swim, which was her second favorite thing. We tried to plan out our traveling times, but we failed miserably. We drove to Atlanta for a baseball game and then drove straight to Destin, and got there about 12:15am. Emma slept for about an hour and was awake for the rest of the way. It took us half the week to get her back on her schedule, so she was not a lot of fun for a few days. We did better on the way home though.
Here are some pictures of what the little lady has been up to lately.
We've also started potty training! She's pretty young, so I just thought I'd buy a potty seat and see what happened. She has taken to it so quickly! She is realizing now when she has to pee and she bends over and grabs at her diaper. She loves to run into the bathroom, sit on the potty and have me read her a book. We've been pleasantly surprised with how well she's done so far. My goal was to have her potty trained by the time she's 2, so that gives me 7 months.
Our trip to the beach was fun, but Emma hated the beach. She didn't want anything to do with the sand or the water. Our house did have a wagon that she loved to ride in. We pushed her in that wagon and let her push it around the neighborhood about 200 times. As soon as we got home, we got my old wagon from my parents' house and cleaned it up. She loves it. We were also able to swim, which was her second favorite thing. We tried to plan out our traveling times, but we failed miserably. We drove to Atlanta for a baseball game and then drove straight to Destin, and got there about 12:15am. Emma slept for about an hour and was awake for the rest of the way. It took us half the week to get her back on her schedule, so she was not a lot of fun for a few days. We did better on the way home though.
Here are some pictures of what the little lady has been up to lately.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Another Giveaway
I'm entering another giveaway, this time from the Chronicles of a Babywise Mom website. The giveaway is for the So Easy Toddler Food Cookbook, which is supposed to be helpful for parents of picky eaters. And do I ever have one of those. Meals are soo frustrating, unless I only give her the same foods over and over. And that would be fine if it didn't involve hot dogs and frozen chicken nuggets. Occasionally I can get her to eat some pears or peaches, but she won't eat any veggies. At all. It's driving me insane. She either clamps her mouth shut and refuses to take the food, or she takes it and spits it out. Needless to say, our dogs love helping me clean up the kitchen. I know she's healthy because she's growing and happy, but I miss my little girl who used to eat all her fruits and veggies!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
I should've been a pediatrician
I've been doing a lot of research on milk protein allergies and lactose intolerance, trying to figure out which one Emma has. I'm leaning towards an allergy (apparently there are both rapid and delayed onset allergies, which explains a lot), but she's too young to test, and it doesn't seem that testing for a milk protein allergy is very accurate anyway. Today I came across this article (gotta love Google) about a possible connection between cow's milk allergies and reflux. Why am I reading more medical articles than Emma's doctors? The good thing about an allergy is that most milk allergies are outgrown by kids, while lactose intolerance isn't. It's difficult trying to keep Emma on a completely dairy-free diet. Milk of some form or another is in everything! Pair that with an already picky eater, and it makes for difficult grocery shopping. Especially since I don't exactly have 3 hours to leisurely stroll through the grocery store, reading every single ingredient. Who knew kids were so much trouble?? Just kidding...I love my baby (who's not at all a baby anymore), food issues and all.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Pre-Toddlerwise
Love this post from Chronicles of a Babywise Mom! It's about the pre-toddler age, 12-18 months. It's very reassuring.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Posts I like
DIY Hairbow Storage
I've been wanting something to organize all of Emma's bows for a while now, but really didn't want to buy anything. This is awesome (WHY do I never think of simple things like this?).
Magnetic Meal Planner
This is also a cool idea. I usually type mine out in Excel, but I always end up changing a few meals / days, so I have to write on it. People (excluding me) are so creative!
In other updates...Emma is having a little trouble sleeping lately. She still sleeps all night, but she has been waking up super early (think 5:30am), which makes for a fussy morning and an early nap...leading to an early bedtime. In the past, the earlier she went to bed, the longer she slept. That's not working this time. If I try to keep her up a little later, it takes her a long time to fall asleep...and the later she goes to sleep, the earlier she wakes up. Looks like I'll be breaking back out Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child once again. She is in her first week of walking, so I'm sure that has something (or everything) to do with it.
I've been wanting something to organize all of Emma's bows for a while now, but really didn't want to buy anything. This is awesome (WHY do I never think of simple things like this?).
Magnetic Meal Planner
This is also a cool idea. I usually type mine out in Excel, but I always end up changing a few meals / days, so I have to write on it. People (excluding me) are so creative!
In other updates...Emma is having a little trouble sleeping lately. She still sleeps all night, but she has been waking up super early (think 5:30am), which makes for a fussy morning and an early nap...leading to an early bedtime. In the past, the earlier she went to bed, the longer she slept. That's not working this time. If I try to keep her up a little later, it takes her a long time to fall asleep...and the later she goes to sleep, the earlier she wakes up. Looks like I'll be breaking back out Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child once again. She is in her first week of walking, so I'm sure that has something (or everything) to do with it.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sorry
Sorry for the lack of updates. We've been busy around here, although I couldn't tell you with what. Emma is keeping up one our toes, since she's finally walking. Not all the time, but she can definitely do it when she wants to. It's too fun to see her walk back and forth between us. We started Kindermusik a few weeks ago, and are really enjoying it. We also have vacation to look forward to in less than 3 weeks. I can't wait to go to the beach! In other news, my Braves are completely blowing it. I always knew Chipper was the most important part of that team, but no one believed me. And now there's proof. Also, football has started. I'm not a huge football person, but I like to watch college football on tv, and we love WKU (and you know I'm a true fan if I love a team that's lost 22 straight games), so we'll be taking Emma to the first home game of the season this Saturday. The weather has been great here, so we've been able to get out every morning and walk the dogs, swing, swim and visit the ducks. I love this time of year!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Chicago Day 5 - The End!
Our last day in Chicago! Prior to leaving Sunday we walked around and took a few more pictures. Let's face it, Emma takes THE best pictures. Ever. We walked to a little park area with a gazebo. She thought it was pretty cool. Her favorite part was trying to chase down a pigeon. She loves birds.
After we checked out and said goodbye to Chicago (always makes me sad to leave...no matter where it is), Emma decided to take a 2 hour nap in the car. It was wonderful. Until we got closer to home, and she had a slight meltdown. Maybe 2 shorter naps is the way to go. But still, we enjoyed it while it lasted. We stopped in Indianapolis to eat at PF Chang's. It was Emma's first time there, and we were a little worried about what exactly our picky eater would eat. But she got kids' sweet and sour chicken and loved it. She's crazy that way sometimes. She was so good in all the restaurants we went to. We stopped again about 40 miles later at the outlet mall. We didn't stay long, but I did find Emma some cheap shoes at Stride Rite and some jeans at the Carter's outlet. I love those places. I went in the Coach Outlet but didn't find anything. Shocking. Nick was trailing behind me closely, ready to pull me back if I saw a purse I liked. Just kidding...not really. After that, we came home. Like I said, around Cave City Emma started fussing. She was tired, hungry and bored by that point, so we couldn't really blame her.
All in all, we had a great time! It was a really fun first real family vacation. I hope that each year we can take at least a short trip to a cool city like that. Although I don't know if I'm willing to forgo my beach trips for it...I do love the beach and can't wait to take Emma for the first time in October.
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| Wake up Daddy! |
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| Love that face! |
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| Pigeon!! |
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| She loved the elevator |
All in all, we had a great time! It was a really fun first real family vacation. I hope that each year we can take at least a short trip to a cool city like that. Although I don't know if I'm willing to forgo my beach trips for it...I do love the beach and can't wait to take Emma for the first time in October.
