Lollipop Lollipop Ooh Lolli Lolli

Emma's first lollipop! (A grape dum dum from Dr. Boarman)

 

Emma Kate was able to enjoy her first lollipop today courtesy of Dr. Boarman.  Emma had a pretty rough night, making me hold her most of the night so we headed to Dr. Boarman's office today to make sure she was alright.  Apparently her lungs and ears are fine.  Dr. Boarman thinks she's just having a rough time with teething.  She has watery eyes, sneezes, lots of thick runny boogies, and the sneezes.  Poor punkin.  Dr. Boarman gave her a lollipop when we left and she got to suck on it from the office down to the car (at which point I was a mean mama and took it away for safety's sake for the drive).  She loved it!

 

Tonight Zack and I had goosesteak sandwiches.  It. Was. DELICIOUS!  I've already cooked goose this way before and the second time repeating the recipe was another delicious success.  It's probably my favorite game. 

 

Zack had his last day of general surgery and he begins another month of ortho trauma for March.  He works every SINGLE day this month.  Every day.  Not one day off.  Sigh... I don't know how he does it.  He's a machine! 

Cake for 'Kate

 

 

Mmmmmm... pumpkin carrot cake!  Papa's favorite and apparently Emma Kate's too.  Delicious!

Girls' Weekend Out

 Sweet helping hands making her first beignets.

 

Look at those smiles! Two happy ladies...

Emma's first time in the swimming pool!

Whoopsies... swim dipe droopage.

 

This weekend was our first girls' weekend out with MawMaw.  We spent two nights in a hotel and did a little shopping, a little swimming, and a lot of smiling!  It was Emma's first time in a hotel as well as her first time in a swimming pool.  Luckily, it was a clean, warm pool so it made our first experience a great one!  Emma was true to form and took a while to just look around when we were in the pool to figure things out.  Once she had enough thinking and looking time she began splashing and kicking and really having fun.  She's such a treat. 

 

It was wonderful to spend some relaxing time with MawMaw and be able to have some fun at a hotel as well.  Emma enjoyed sitting like a big girl in their high chair and I liked being able to try her on different foods.  She still isn't a fan of anything that isn't smushy or pureed, but DOES like pulled pork!  Yummy.

Emma isn't "crawling" yet, but she really rolls and moves around to get to where she wants to go.  She's working hard on her crawl right now and has gotten the hang of moving forward as well as backwards.  She does a bit of a modified army crawl.  It's so much fun to see her growing and learning!

Whooo is that cute Owlet?

I wish video could be downloaded.  Zack and Emma were laughing up a storm!

My little owlet was biting the couch.

Mollie.... Do my teeth look clean?

Look at that hair!

Zack was incredibly sweet and brought me home a dozen gorgeous roses for our anniversary.  What a lucky lady I am!

 

 

This week has been a fun and busy one.  We have been lucky enough to be able to take Zack lunch most days which makes all three of us happy happy.  I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have such a wonderful family!



 



Half Forgiven

Today Emma and I went back to the same church we've been trying.  Pastor Andy was there today and we enjoy his sermons.  I must have been a very bad girl this week though, because during communion I got the bread but not the wine.  You can choose to use a glass or drink from the community cup and the man pouring the wine must not have seen me holding my glass with the bundle of baby in my arms so he skipped right past me.  And, unfortunately, I sit in the back (so I can dip out if necessary with Emma) so there were wayyyyyy too many lips on that community cup for me to try it since we were among the last up to the altar. Sigh... I guess I'm only half forgiven this week.

Happy Anniversary, Zack!

Battle Royale

Ava- "Pfffffffft..."

Emma- "UGH!  How DARE you do a drive by tooter?!"

For Uncle Jerry and Aunt Michelle- it's oatmeal and prunes.

I have an adorable video of Emma playing the drums with her spoon and cup, but stupid Blogger won't let me upload it... sorry!

Drunk on love... or oatmeal and prunes.  Either way it's pretty great.

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

Emma and I have had a lovely Valentine's day morning.  Cupid brought her a book this year called "Valentine Zoo", but no candy (because Mama would eat it all anyways!). We made Papa a valentine last night and left him a candy treat early this morning for work but he forgot to look at it before leaving.  Oh, well.  Love is still in the air.

 

Mama vs. Emma vs. Oatmeal... For breakfast Emma and I engaged in a friendly battle royale between myself, her, and the pruney oatmeal.  I think all three of us ended up winning.  After the first few minutes of me struggling to get her to tidily eat I gave up and let her grab at everything she wanted.  There were puffs everywhere, containers on the floor, oats everywhere, water splashed, and eventually, once the meal was complete, we were serenaded by Emma with her grand finale of spoon/cup drums.  She was just having so much fun.  I can always clean up a mess, but I can never get enough of her beautiful smiles.  She had fun, I got her to eat a massive amount of food, and we both ended up winning.  She's been sleeping happily for over an hour and a half now.  Ahhhhhh... bliss.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

She has happy smiles when playing her piano.

 

Emma was helping me take photos by removing my lens cover for me.  So helpful you are, Emma Kate. I need to practice my photography skills more because it's getting tougher and tougher to get photos of a rolling moving baby.  And I know, I have NO CLUE what moving is yet.  I'm just enjoying every single second!  She isn't crawling yet but certainly can get to where she wants to go by rolling and twisting all over the place.  Gone are the days of setting her down, because if you do- off she goes! 

Happy Belated 8 Month Birthday, Emma!

Look at that tummy!

Ahhhhh what a weekend.  Emma Kate, the dogs, and I made the long haul back to Indiana this weekend after waiting out their billionth snowstorm this winter.  The roads were clear for our drive but fate would have it that we would get caught in standstill traffic in Dayton during our trip there.  This set us back quite a bit on the clock and unfortunately also wore our threads a bit thin.  Emma didn't handle the ride there very well this time and handled being at the funeral home even worse.  My sweet, smiley happy girl was a bundle of sobs and snot.  My poor, poor baby. I had hoped to spend the rest of the evening meeting with family and sharing my condolences for the loss of Pap, but my sweet girl did not want to be there so we had to dip out after only a few short minutes. 

Friday was better and Saturday was an occasion!  Emma woke Saturday morning saying, "Ma ma ma... mama mama..."  and then when I picked her up she immediately changed to using different sounds.  It was the cutest thing!  Did she realize what she was doing?  I'd like to think so.  I am personally counting Emma's first word as "Mama"!

Sunday was back to being a little rougher.  My confession to you all is this:  my mom can bear witness to her own daughter being as much of a nasty as her daughter's daughter (if that makes sense).  Emma decided to begin  to really bite this weekend (HARD- blood drawing, ouchie-wow-wow hard!).  That, paired with being a lot tired (I hadn't slept much the night before due to having to hold her all night) made ME not only whiney but short tempered and unsympathetic.  Yes, Emma was back to being fussy on Sunday, yes she was biting, no she didn't want to nap.  This was NOT her problem.  I was.  My poor attitude I am certain was the major problem of the day.  My mom and Paula, bless their hearts, never mentioned my lack of savvy.  I, however, felt the downward spiral of being a bad mama all day long.  I am mediocre at many things.  Being a mama is NOT one of them. I can honestly say that I mostly rock at being a mama.  I am patient, I have a soft touch, I love with every iota of my being, I am slow to exasperate (even with bites, kicks, scratches- I take them in stride!), I am sympathetic to her needs, I put Emma (and Zack, for that matter!) first.  Except for Sunday... Poor Emma.  Bad, bad mama. 

Yesterday and today I am back again.  Emma is back again.  She may be teething and having a hard time with it this time around, but I found myself back in Kentucky again.  It feels GOOD to be my patient self again.  I got knocked off my tracks in Dayton on Thursday only to find myself again on the road Monday. 

It was wonderful seeing everyone this weekend but I wish many things:  that traveling would have allowed more time together, that visiting was under happier circumstances, that I was a better mama, that Emma felt more rested and less pain from her teeth, and that Zack could have been there, too.  I love each and every one of my family and I hope that even though I'm not around as much that you can feel it.

Side note:  Emma's 8 month photos were a toughie today!  She loved reaching for my camera at every chance.  What a cutie...