Emery, Emery, Emery...

With teething, Emery wants to chew on everything. She found the Tylenol bottle and sucked on the top like it was a binky. She also enjoyed chewing on the lid. How beautiful are those big blue eyes??Sleeping in her pack-n-play in the hotel..


Emery is finally getting enough hair for me to try pigtails. What do you think?

Us on the subway ...




Mama Emma and Emery taking a nap on a long car ride..

Emery with family...

Emery with Grandma Lola and Mama Emma

Her Uncle Eduardo (Rodolfito)
Uncle Manuel
Aunt Bella and cousins Natalie and Pamela
4 Generations

WARNING - Picture Overload!

Here are some cute pictures of Emery - in the stroller at the airport and in the plane on the way to NYC.




How adorable is this? Emery has become attached to her binky on this trip - we definitely let her have it more during this trip than she ever has it. It normally stays in her room and she only gets it when she goes to bed. That's a habit we'll have to break quickly now that we are home.

We're HOME!!

It's so nice to be home! We had a good trip in NY and got to visit with all of Ivan's family. It was nice seeing them with Emery and knowing how grateful Ivan's Mama Emma was that we made the trip out there. It's late, so no pictures tonight, but I will post some tomorrow. It's crazy, we were only gone for 5 days (including traveling days) and Emery changed so much. During this trip, she learned to FINALLY hold her own bottle and put her binky back in her mouth.

We didn't make it to Wicked, the tickets were sold out by the time we decided we were really going to go. So, we didn't experience anything that NY had to offer, but we got in lots of family time. The trip was really to visit family anyway, so Ivan and I weren't disappointed.

Day #1 in NYC

Yesterday was a bit of a challenge. Emery slept ok the night before, although, she did wake several times for her binky, but she got a good amount of sleep.

We got up, had a little continental breakfast at the hotel and then headed out around noon. I've always said that I'm not made for a bit city, and now with Emery, I believe it even more. We headed out with the baby, diaper bag and stroller. Wow - it was lot of stuff. We took a shuttle to the subway and then went through 2-3 transfers on the subway. We finally made it to Times Square.

We walked (in sprinkling rain with humidity) down to a little steakhouse called Tad's Steakhouse. The restaurant greeter was hilarious - very friendly and a huge flirt with all of the ladies - pretty entertaining.

Ivan and I had a good lunch and then headed out to walk around. Right at that time - Emery's meltdown started. She wouldn't go into her stroller, she wasn't sure that she wanted to be held and she was just screaming. Our child doesn't EVER behave like this and Ivan and I weren't really sure how to even react. The good thing is that we didn't start fighting and kept our cool. We walked over to Macy's to see about trying to feed Emery. No go! So, we decided to head back to Ivan's Grandma's to try to let Emery take a nap. First, I wanted to change Emery's diaper. We spent about 10 minutes trying to actually find a restroom (not a good time to be in such a large department store). Emery was screaming the entire time. I was so ready to cry! Finally, I decided to take off her shoes just to see what would happen. Silence - it worked! I'm not sure what the deal was with the shoes, but I can guarantee that Emery will never be wearing those shoes again.

Once the ordeal was over, we were still a little nervous about heading out to the town again based on Emery still being tired. So, we headed to Ivan's Grandma's apartment. We got there and Emery went down for a nap (I joined her) and Ivan got to visit with his Mom and Grandma.

We then went for a quick dinner and then back to the subway (a train was down so a 10 mile ride took 1 1/2 hours to get home). We got home at 10p, settled down, and went to bed. Luckily, Emery slept the whole night through until 10a!

We are going to meet up with family and visit this afternoon and Ivan and I are hoping to get to Wicked Sunday afternoon. Hopefully we have better days to come!

We made it to NY!!

We were up early and left the house at 7a. Now mind you, when we don't have to wake Emery up, she usually sleeps until 1030a - yes, from 9p-1030a straight. Yes, we are very lucky and very spoiled.

Anyway, I was worried about the 4 1/2 hour flight to begin with but then even more worried since we had to wake Emery so early. She ended up doing very well during the flight. The first 15-20 minutes were quite rough, but that was just because Emery was over-tired by that point and wasn't in her crib to take her nap, so it took a bit for her to get to sleep.

She ended up sleeping for close to 2 hours and then drank a bottle and played a bit. I walked her up and down the isle of the plane once and then it was time to land. I feel really good about how she was on the flight. Let's just hope she is the same on the way home Monday.

It seems like we spent most of the day in the car. Ivan's Uncle Manual was nice enough to pick us up from the airport. We then headed to the hotel to check in and drop off our luggage. Then, off to pick up Ivan's Mama Emma and cousin Rodolfo. We ate dinner at a very delicious Mexican Restaurant and now we are winding down for the night. It was a very busy day, but a good day. I can't wait to get home and post pictures of Emery with her daddy's side of the family.

I finally did it!!!

It's very sad how many times I have tried to get a cute background on this silly blog. But, I am proud to say that I finally did it all by myself! yeah!

Now, the question is, will I remember how to do it again? You will be able to tell by whether or not the background ever changes.

Oh, and my new camera finally came in today. I'm so relieved it is here before we head off to NY!

Crimereports.com

I actually watched about 20 minutes of the news the other night. For those of you who don't know, I despise the news because I think it's all negative. They never talk about something good that was done in the community or country, just about deaths, crimes, etc. Anyway, in the 20 minutes that I saw, they actually talked about a cool website.

crimereports.com

Check it out - you type in your address and it will show a map of your neighborhood and the crimes that have taken place. You can even put the mouse over the little symbol and it will tell you the month/year of the crime and how far in miles from your house it occurred.

I feel good to know that there's not much crime in my neighborhood. Most of hit happened at the Family Center area - but that's expected since it's a shopping center, right?

I hope everyone lives in safe, crime-free neighborhoods too!

Emery is WALKING!!!

Well, she's taking 3-4 steps by herself. That's just the beginning of walking, right? She took her first few steps on Friday night. And, dare I say that Ivan and I encouraged it? I am torn because it is so dang cute, but I also am totally not ready for her to start walking on her own yet. Below are the pictures that I attempted to take of her first steps. (my new camera BETTER be here before we leave for NY)

And, Emery has also figured out to smile for the camera - YEAH!! Here are some cute pics of her bath time last night. Emery loves the bath and speed crawls into the bathroom every time I mention bath time for her.

Emery's Favorite Toys..

Ivan keeps telling me to stop buying Emery toys. Based on the pictures below, I think I should start listening to him.

The baby monitor .. here she is squeezing herself between the bed and the night stand to help herself to her "toy".
And, any stroller. If you notice, there are 2 here and a 3rd in my trunk. Yes, I have a problem with buying baby items. But, I do actually have a good reason for all 3 strollers. Different sizes for different outings. Anyway, I justify it to myself..

Emery loves playing with strollers. She will seriously entertain herself for 30 mins+ with any/all strollers.

Here new favorite thing is to crawl over to the stove, pull herself up and look at her reflection. Occasionally, we will also catch her sucking on the stove door. Don't worry, we don't do much cooking so the oven isn't ever hot..

It's a very sad day...

Our friends, Mike and Candice Greene lost their little 5-year old boy, Jackson, last week. We are attending the services today in support of the family. Although I have only personally met Mike, Candice and Jackson once, we are very close with Mike's brother, Mac.

It breaks my heart to imagine what the Greene family is going through right now. Jackson was diagnosed with cancer back in July and his little body wasn't strong enough to stand the chemo. Since having Emery, I understand the love and bond between Mother and child so much more now. I don't understand why things like cancer happen to such little, innocent beings.

I hope the best for the Greene family and hope that they continue to cherish each and every moment with their other two children. A piece of me thinks about their family daily and wishes them the strength to get through this tough time in life.


Below is a link to the obituary and a beautiful picture of Jackson Greene.

http://www.legacy.com/saltlaketribune/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=117389677

We almost lost our entire blog!!

As you all know, I am extremely technically challenged. It's pretty bad and to the point where if I ever actually have to call tech-support on my own computer (and, only once and it was before Ivan and I were dating) they have to start with questions like "what color is your start button". I seriously know nothing about computers and technology and don't have the patience to learn. I try to do things and then I just get frustrated and either give up or make Ivan help. Well .. this evening, I decided to make some changes to the blog .. I wanted to change the background to cute one's like my friends have and add a view counter.

So, I attempt the view counter. Nope, can't figure that stupid thing out. And, there are step by step directions on the stupid page where you download it from. Still can't get it, so I just give up and figure, "ooh well, I didn't really want one of those anyway". All the while just trying to convince myself of that so I don't get too frustrated.

Next, the blog background. Now, Ivan set the last background for me because I couldn't figure it out. So, I don't even try. I pick a background that I like and then call for Ivan. He comes and tries to do it and all of a sudden all of my posts are missing. I am trying to not openly freak out and deep down Ivan is freaking out too. Luckily, he was able to restore the posts, but he couldn't figure out the background. I think he just isn't willing to take time away from his Utefans.com or Diner Dash game to figure out my needs. Ooh well, needless to say, I'm back to a boring, old, background.

Learning Boundries or Parent Denial?

Okay, for you experienced Mommies out there ... could Emery really be learning her boundaries at the the ripe old age of 10 months, or am I in denial?

There aren't many things that we won't let Emery do/touch around the house. Not that we are push-overs, but we have more so baby proofed the house instead of having to walk after Emery saying "no, no" to everything. Below are some of the things we won't let her play with:

• The stereo/DVD player/DirecTV box
• The tray on our ottoman that usually has drinks on it
• Carter's dog food/water (although this WAS one of her favorite toys)
• Carter's bones and raw hides

Now, since we have been telling her no each time she tries to get into any of the above, now when she tries to get into any of them, she gets close, stops and smiles/smirks at us to see our response. Now we just have to give a simple "no" and she basically leaves the item alone.

Could it be that she is already learning her boundaries and will really be that good of a child? Or, is it all DENIAL on my part?

Camera Recommendations

If you have a camera that you love, and it's reasonably priced, please share the make/model. I think a new camera will have to be our family Christmas present to each other. And, maybe a little early, so we will have it in time for our trip to NY at the end of September.

Emery's 10 Month Photo Shoot

I love the idea of taking monthly pictures and love the frames in Emery's room where we can see her change from month to month. But, man, I can't wait for the last 2 photo shoots to be done. When I first started, it was easy, then a little tougher with getting Emery to smile and be able to see the silly toy. Now, at 10 months, it's nearly impossible. Ivan and I took a total of 15 pictures and we didn't really get any great one's. Boy did we try though. Ivan was behind me bouncing up and down and yelling Emery's name and she just wanted to get up and crawl!

This will prove that I really need a new camera. The delay in my current camera just doesn't work when trying to take pictures of a very active baby!


This one is the cutest to me, even though it is from the side. It shows her wonderful, happy smile and her two bottom teeth. Which is your favorite?
In the last month, Emery has gotten very, very active. She crawls after us all of the time and is actually pretty quick these days. However, when I am up running around the house, she does get quite frustrated when she finally gets to me and then I move to another room. She is also "cruising" all over everything. She walks herself around in our living room holding onto the couch, ottoman and her toys. She's going to be walking any time now. She pulls herself onto anything and everything. She's still a very happy and lovable baby. She has her moments, but they really are far and few between. She will try any table food we feed her, she just opens her mouth. And, she wants anything and everything that we are eating. She's dying for a taste of a nice cold, fountain coke. Not for a while though! And, she loves to watch you cook. Ivan's Mom cooks for her everyday and she loves watching the process of preparing the food. Ivan and I both think that it's just because she knows that she'll soon get food.

I am slowly trying to introduce the sippy cup, with no success yet. I haven't been consistent at all, but I would like to have Emery off the bottle around 1yr. We'll see how that goes. And, she still won't hold her own bottle or feed herself. But, I'm not going to complain. The time is going by so quickly, I'll take advantage of the 10 minutes of cuddle time that I get a few times a day while she drinks her bottle.

Emery is such a big girl ...

Emery looked like such a big girl today in her jeans and tennis shoes. Ivan and I can't get over it!

Here she is finding Carter's dog and water bowl for the first time. We really need to figure out what we are going to do and where we will move the dishes to. As expected, Carter was good about it and just started eating the food out of her hand. But, 1) I don't want to risk it with Carter and 2) I really don't want the mess all through my house.

Go Utes!!

It's official, the 2008-2009 College Football Season has begun. For those you who really know me are probably very surprised that 1) I know when the season starts or 2) that I even care. But, for the last 5 or so years since Ivan and I have been together, the start of the football season has a significant impact on our lives.

Ivan is OBSESSED with Utah Football. Him and his friends have season tickets and get together to watch every game. It's also Ivan's time to relax and enjoy some good old Jack Daniels. So, from now until the end of November, Emery and I are on our own basically every Saturday.

I am hoping for a very successful season for the Utah Utes. I love to see how excited Ivan gets over a big win. Lets hope for many good game and wins to come.

GOOOOO Utes!!!

Babies, Babies and More Babies

On my Mom's side of the family, we have had 3 weddings and 4 babies born in the last 2 years. Ivan and I started it off with our wedding, then two of my cousins got married last year in May and June. Then, Emery was born in November 2007 and since then, we've added three more babies, one in May 2008 and two just this month. Below are the newest additions to the family. Note, all of the babies are boys except for Emery. Do you think all of her boy cousins will grow up to beat up on Emery? That's all I'm worried about ... I think Emery will be tough and able to hold her own, at least that's what I'm hoping for.

Talon Chinery
August 21, 2008
5 lbs 6 oz
Son to my cousin Tasha in WA

Quinlan Barrett Rothey
August 26, 2008
8 lbs 11 oz
Son to my cousin Amelinda

I am so excited to have one little cousin living in Utah for Emery to play with. Quinlan is almost 10 months younger than Emery, but once has been around for a few months, he and Emery will be able to have lot of play dates, especially since Aarn and Amelinda live just a few miles away. I can't wait to see the little boys grow up and develop their own little personalities.

Tickle Me Elmo

Emery's Grandma and Auntie Silv bought her a Tickle Me Elmo last Christmas. A little early, but we all figured she would grow into it. I'm learning that she definitely takes some time to warm up to the stupid thing. (I'm sorry, am I supposed to actually like a bright red, talking, moving stuffed animal?)

Anyway, I got it out about a week ago and squeezed it's tummy so it would laugh, lay down and then sit itself up again. At first Emery just watched it and didn't know what to think. Then, I brought it closer to Emery and she freaked out. The closer it came to her, the more Emery freaked out and she kept pushing herself further from the Elmo.

Ivan got it out tonight and let it sit on the ottoman by Emery, not turned on. She kind of looked at it for a few minutes. Ivan then turned it on and Emery was ok for a few seconds, until she cried because she was scared. I picked her up and brought the Elmo closer to Emery. It was the funniest thing - she couldn't help but touch it, even through her fears. Every time she bent over to touch the Elmo she whimpered, but she still touched it. Once she touched it, she would turn her head to hide from it.

I think we will keep Elmo in the closet for a while longer (or just send it to Grandma's and Auntie Silv's for good) but it's good to know that Emery will face her fears at the ripe age of 9 1/2 months old.

The best part of the day...

Emery wakes up in the happiest mood every single day. How could you not just love the huge smile, messy hair and slightly swollen eyes first thing in the morning?PS (don't mind the totally mis-matched jammies please)

Emery's First Word

I'm not sure if you can exactly call it a word since she doesn't really realize what she is saying, but she started saying "ma, ma" today. She actually starts out by just moving her mouth with no noise coming out, but eventually, the sounds come out too. I swear, her Auntie Silv can teach her anything and everything she knows so far was taught by Auntie Silv.

In the last couple of weeks Emery has begun to:

• talk :)
• crawl
• pull herself to a standing position
• get into a sitting position from laying down
• clap
• wave bye-bye
• throw tantrums when you take away a toy or set her down from standing

Where or where does the time go? I cannot believe my little baby is growing up so quickly. I now understand why people have so many babies. It is such an amazing experience to see them grow up, try new things and develop their own little personalities.

Emery's 9 Month Pictures

I don't even feel like I need to say anything :)

Our World is Changing Forever!

The first picture is what Emery accomplished by herself Friday afternoon while I was vacuuming the living room. I knew that we were soon in for trouble ...


Today while vacuuming, this is what she did - again, all by herself.


She has been pulling herself up in her pack-n-play for a few weeks now, but here she is pulling herself up onto the couch. I don't know if I'm ready for a baby who is completely mobile all by herself.

She also wants to be standing all of the time. If we are sitting down playing with her, she will reach over and grab one thumb with each hand and pull herself up and hang out standing. She has even gone as far as to grab a toy (a pretty heavy one at that) and stand while holding it with one hand.

Any tips from anyone out there?