Life remains busy

I have once again failed to update in a timely matter!  Emily is keeping me on my toes, however the camera has collected a bit of dust!  We are due for another photo shoot soon as she has just approached 13 months!

I thought I was going to be done with the monthly shots at 1 year, but I have been encouraged by many to keep them going.  However, gone are the days I can plop her on the chair and step 10 feet backwards to snap a few photos.  This girl is too quick and on the move to leave her perched on a chair as she will gladly tumble head first off of it the second you step away!  Daddy is going to have to assist me this weekend to keep the tradition going.

In other Emily news, we have two new teeth that have arrived!  I thought they were never coming!  She got her first four so suddenly between December and January and then nadda!  She has been a drool factory for the last few months so I just knew they were coming.  There are more on their way I'm sure.  She has had a few rough patches, but overall has taken teething like a champ.  It's gotta be pure torture - bones poking through your gums and all :::shiver:::.  Poor girl!

In Andrea news I am in the midst of training for a half marathon!  This coming September I will be running the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in Philadelphia.  I have been meaning to dedicate an entire post to this and to the cause I am running for.  But we are still working on the logistics and so it just hasn't been the right time!  I would like to set up another "page" on the blog as well dedicated to my training and journey.

Which leads me to another update.  I NEED to update the blog design again! My little Emily up there is only 2 months old.......I think it's time to get a new theme going!  Anyone out there got any thoughts for a new theme?  Would love to hear it!

My New Pajamas!

I am a stickler for anything kitty related.  Love my two kitties an love finding cute clothes for Emily with kitties on them!  So I was in love with these new PJ's and snagged them right up for my little lady.

Trying to take photos of Emily is always a challenge....

Aren't I cute in my new pajamas?

Hey Mom, whatcha got there?

I wanna play, what is that thing?

What?  Why can't I play with the camera?

Please?  I really want to smudge up the lens mom!

Gimme Gimme!

I want it!

Waaaa, I can't LIVE if if you won't let me play with it!

I can't take it anymore!

I hate you mom!

OH, MR. BUNZ!  Can you believe what mom did?!?

You understand me don't ya Mr. Bunz?

Sigh, Everything will be okay I guess....

She ALWAYS is intrigued when I pull out the camera, but in all actuality it was nearing nap time so she was extra fussy.  Gotta love pictures of a fussy baby though (I know I love a good "crying" picture, can't help but giggle at the drama.)

We went upstairs for a rest after this. :)

Spring is Here!

So even though the weather here is unpredictable and down right junky at times (welcome to Michigan), it's a beautiful thing when the leaves start sprouting and the flowers start blooming....

Mom's day!

Well, after a whirlwind of a Saturday, Sunday came upon us quick and it was Mother's Day!  Technically this was my second mother's day.  However, last year I was in a daze and was overcome with the daunting reality that we were bringing a teeny tiny infant baby to our home for the first time!  It was a great way to celebrate the holiday of course, but I didn't really feel like a "mom" quite yet.  I felt like an under experienced girl that somehow was allowed to take a baby home with her as was supposed to know what to do with it!

My what a difference a year can make.  I am a mom.  I feel like a mom.  I care for my child 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  It is the hardest, yet most rewarding job I've ever had the privilege to have and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

So it was my day.  Mom's day.

Emily (aka daddy) got me the most wonderful card and beautiful diamond earrings.  Jim then went out and got me a breakfast of champions - McDonalds as per my request - large caramel iced coffee, a sausage and egg mcmuffin with no cheese, and one of the greasiest hash browns on the planet.

It was perfect.

We then headed downtown to our annual Detroit Athletic Club brunch with the Choate and Jeffery family.  It was delicious as always.  The rest of the day was ours!  We had seen all of the family the day before at the birthday party, so we passed out our cards and said our best wishes then.

Then we did something crazy.

A family friend of Jim's is an aspiring musician.  He had recently released an album with a band - Ando & the Jolly Barrels, but alas, priorities shifted and the band split.  Ando decided to continue on his own.  He doesn't live around here anymore, but apparently got a gig at a bar near the campus of Michigan State University.  Jim's parents told us about it and we thought it would be fun to go.  They then offered to watch the little muchkin for us.....overnight....since we would out late.

Our first full night without Emily.  Cue tears.

Yeah, I got a little teary walking to the car.  But they called us a few times and let us know when she fell asleep and that all was a okay.

Anyways, back to Ando.  I didn't mentioned what type of music he plays......

Death Polka.

Yep, you heard me.  It's quite the niche, eh?

We went, he rocked out, we bought some t-shirts, we went home and crashed.  All in all in was a great time, and a once in a lifetime experience to see!

Feel free to check out his website at:  www.deathpolka.com.

Good times had by all!

And without further ado, my great mom's day present:

 

Just bein' artsy fartsy

Emily's First Birthday

What a whirlwind of a week!  I've pretty much exhausted myself this week preparing for this day.  And well, it went GREAT!  The day was perfect.  Beautiful weather, lots of family and friends, good food, and one happy little girl!  I am definitely more of a "a picture is worth 1000 words" kind of girl, so I will let the photos tell the day!

Outfit was made by me.  "Applique" onesie and a colorful tulle tutu:

This hat was a gift from a good family friend.   It looks so adorable!

Here is all the party decor.  I made the Poms and the birthday banner:

The cake....oh the cake.  Yes, I made that cake.  I had taken cake decorating classes....oh lets see, 4 years ago!!!  And let me tell you, this was hard work.  Trying to get this thing decorated while watching over a roaming toddler - definitely a challenge!  But it turned out great!

Emily's personal "smash" cake.  Also decorated by me.  Just a simple little diddy:

Friends and family gather for the fun!

My awesome Uncle Chuck manned the camera while Emily stuffed her face with cake.  He did an AWESOME job!  He also took the last three "candids" on the montage above:

A great family shot:

Love the messy cake hand!

Emily's best bud Super Mario was helping her eat the cake:

Lastly the gifts....Miss Emily was getting pretty tired by then.  We got lots of nice things:

We had a great day.  Emily did so well.  She interacted great with everyone, enjoyed her cake and everyone had a wonderful time.  The weather was gorgeous out today and I just couldn't of asked for a better turnout.  I can't believe my little girl is now a TODDLER!  She is just changing right before our eyes and we are so wonderfully blessed!

The Lent Experience

So this year for Lent (40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday) I decided to give up my most favorite thing ever - sugar.  I LOVE sweets.  Love love love.  Can't get enough...seriously.  It's almost like a problem, lol!  So it was the perfect thing to sacrifice for me.  It would be challenging and little did I know it would be very rewarding!

So it's started out badly.  I ended up eating cake like the first weekend.  Okay, not the end of the world of course.  Just stop, try again.  A another week goes by, slipped again.  And again.  And again.  Yes, I had a lot of slip ups.  Majority of the time on weekends or at get togethers with family and friends.  It's one thing when I am at home with nothing in the house, no temptation, more willpower.  But out of my comfort zone, surrounded by others, yeah, definitely hard.

But you know what?  It's okay.  I tried.  I failed.  I tried again.  And overall I would say I succeeded.  Over the course of this forty days something a couple things happened.

1.  I lost 10 pounds.  TEN pounds....by doing nothing!  Just NOT eating sweets.  No sugar in the coffee, no quick trips to the mall to get a smoothie, or ice cream cone through the McDonald's drive-thru.  Didn't have to lift a finger and 10 pounds of apparently "sugar weight" came tumbling off.  Awesome!

2.  I am now determined to make this a lifestyle change.  Very limited amounts of sweets for me.  A teaspoon at MOST of sugar in the coffee is fine now....especially after drinking it with NONE for that long.  I never really got used to it, but I can now enjoy it with a lot less.  No more drive through ice creams, smoothies, iced coffees, etc during the week.  We can have some fun, get a fun drink or dessert on the weekend.  It's all amount moderation right?

So it was a tough but great experience this year.  And probably the first time I actually made it through the whole season really putting the effort and thinking about it everyday.  Usually in years past I would easily just forget about it or not do anything at all.

So what will it be next year???

Just watching the time go by....

Well the little lady turned 11 months.....almost a MONTH ago!!!  Once again, I'm becoming a professional at slacking on this blog.  Ah well, better late than never!

Here is her 11 month "couch" shot!  Can't believe I actually kept up with it every month.  The pics aren't great, but it shows a nice progression.

This girl just won't smile for the camera!!

It's getting harder and harder to get these pictures taken.  You try getting a near 1 year old who is constantly on the move to sit down in one spot and NOT eat the piece of paper that sits next to her.  It's stressful!

So little miss is officially a WALKER!  She was taking a few steps as of the last post, but now she is doing more walking than she is crawling.  And just today she managed to push herself up to standing from the ground!  I don't think she realized what she was doing and probably won't do it again for another week or so, but she can do it!  And she'll figure it out soon enough and be running around this place like crazy in no time!

Birthday planning is officially in OVERDRIVE!  I have a week and half left to get everything together.  Things are coming together smoothly though.  I have some decorations made, all the plates/napkins/cups.  I am making her cake which is craziness but I'm excited.  I'm planning a two tiered fondant decorated cake for the cakes and a smaller "smash" cake for Emily to dig into.  I have made all the fondant so that is out of way.  Will be prepping more things as we get closer.  A friend of mine is supposed to come by next Friday to help me put it together.  Should be fun.

I have her birthday outfit as well.  Onesie with her name on it (also made by me) with a colorful tutu (again made by me).  Looking forward to getting lots of fun pictures of the birthday girl!

Stay tuned!  Coming up next:

The Lent Experience

Running For Lillian

Operation: Sippy Cup, First Steps and more!

So this little lady is rapidly growing right before are very eyes!  Almost 11 months old!  We've decided it's time to attempt to ditch the bottle and transition right to the sippy cup.  She has been very good for the last couple months taking water from the cup, but as soon as I put formula in it, she just scrunches her face and looks at me like "what the heck is this ma?"

So today starts "Operation: Sippy Cup."  Cutting out the bottles.  Attempting "cold turkey" today just to see how it goes.  So far, it's okay.  She took 4 oz of her normal 8 oz serving this morning.  She had a nice heaping helping of yogurt for breakfast, so she is getting a good dose of dairy and nutrients from other sources.  I will try again this afternoon with another 4 oz serving which is what she normally takes.  By evening, I will try another 8 oz before/with dinner.  If she doesn't drink much of that, I will consider putting the rest in the bottle to have her finish it up.

I sometimes complain that this girl is somewhat emotionally "high maintenance" (very needy and clingy at times.)  But when it comes to the basics of what usually mom's complain about, she is a breeze!  She has slept through the night since about 2-3 months, dropped the pacifier at 4 months, dropped the bedtime/naptime bottle around 8-9 months, doesn't need to be rocked/held to go to sleep.  Frankly, it's been pretty great!  I'll take the crazy mood swings and separation anxiety over not sleeping through the night any day!

In other news, missy miss has been taking her "first steps" for the last couple weeks now.  She is so cute!  She gets all excited and will take 2-3 steps before she ends up lunging into you.  Jim and I will prop her up and have her go back and forth in between us.  She thinks its a fun game and is getting better and better every time!  Here is a quick video I shot yesterday:


Original Video - More videos at TinyPic


Another trick she has learned is not one I am very fond of.....chewing on the crib.  I went in to get her from a nap a couple weeks ago and saw this:

nom nom nom

Not good!!!  So I rushed out to the fabric store and bought materials to make some guard rail covers.  I haven't taken any pictures of them yet, but when I do - I will be sure to post them.

Here are a few more pictures of the crazy faced rugrat:

And here is one of Emily and daddy playing their favorite game....Rocket Baby!  Jim flys her around the house making rocket ship noises.  We have got to take a video one of these days because when he sets her down, she gets all upset and starts making the rocket ship sounds because she wants daddy to do it again!  Too cute!

She swims!

So last month we started swimming lessons with Emily.  Being that she never seemed that interested in bath time, I wasn't sure how she would take to the water quite honestly.  Well, she loved it!

It's a bit chaotic really and we just end up wandering around in circles with the babies playing with rubber ducks, try getting them to kick their feet and scoop their arms in the water.  I don't expect Emily to get much of that, but just getting her into the water and used it is a good thing.

This summer there will be ample opportunity to swim - in our subdivision pool, out at the cottage lake, and up north when we go out on my dad's boat.  I want to make sure she is comfortable in the water and such.  Jim and I have been taking turns taking her in the pool and it's been a lot of fun!

 Splashing and having fun!

 Awww :)

 Loves that duck

Just after getting dunked!