Zoo Lights

We took the girls, plus my cousin's daughter Lilly, to the Zoo on Saturday night to see the lights. Everyone had a great time and the weather was decent. It was quite interesting having 9 year old and 11 year old girls with us - they were being crazy chasing after a boy! I think they are way too young for that, but maybe it's just because I'm getting old.

Emery had the best time. I was jealous of her because she was all bundled up in her stroller.

After we got home, Emery was playing with some magnets on the fridge. She dropped one under the fridge so I moved it out to get the toy. Ok, I'll admit it, it's dirty behind my fridge, I haven't cleaned back there in a while. As soon as Emery saw the mess, she grabbed her broom and started sweeping it up. I wonder where she gets it from...

A Day at the Aquarium

We went to the Aquarium today with my Mom, my cousin's baby Quinlan and my niece Makayla. It was nice to get out of the house and see all of the cool fish. We got to see an octopus being fed and pet the sting ray's. All in all, we had a great time.

Makayla and Emery are so cute together!
Quinlan was attached to my mom's leg for the first 20 minutes. Now my mom knows how I feel :)

Quinlan tried taking Emery's sippy. She was quick to find his and helped him out by giving it to him.

Family Pictures

We finally had family pictures taken last month at Wheeler Farm. My friend Amanda took them and did an amazing job. You can see her work or contact her at http://loulouphotography.blogspot.com/

Amanda really had patience with us. The weather wasn't great, it was really windy and cold and Emery was being a total Mama's girl. She literally wouldn't let go of me until the last 10 minutes. Thanks again Amanda for taking wonderful pictures of my family!

Elmo Live

We took Emery to Elmo Live on Sunday at the E Center. She was happy to see her favorite characters, Elmo and Monster. It was a good show and always great to spend some quality family time together.
Emery follows after her Mama though and seemed to enjoy people watching and the food just as much, if not more than the show itself. She loves Churros and actually figured out that she likes just licking the sugar off of the Churro rather than actually eating the entire thing.

She also loves my heels. She even wears them while going potty on the big girl potty.

Festival of Trees

We made our first ever trip to the Festival of Trees last weekend. I got a ton of ideas for our tree but have yet to make any of it happen. We had a good time and Emery's favorite tree was the Dr. Seuss tree - it was awesome, even though you can't really see it in the picture.

While I was vacuuming the other day, Emery was really quiet for about 5 mins so I went to check on her. I found her with the sugar and flour (open by the way) and the blender out. I think I would have stumbled upon a HUGE mess if I hadn't caught her when I did. Good thing my mommy instinct kicked in when it did.

Busy, Busy, Busy

We've been very busy lately. Just wanted to do a quick update.

We went to the Discovery Center at Gateway on Sunday. We have an annual pass but hadn't been there in a few months. It's nice to see that they added a few more things for the kids to play with and Emery had a great time.



We put up the Christmas tree and Emery loved decorating it. Everytime she walks by the tree she says, "ooh".
Finally, some Emery updates:

• Can put on her own socks and shoes - oh, and take them off too
• Moves around the dining room chair so that she can reach/access anything in the kitchen
• Loves to play with water and do dishes in the kitchen sink
• Loves to help cook, load and unload the dishwasher
  
• Started two word sentences - most of them include the word no, but she is talking more and more everyday
• Loves to be sang to by ME (only my daughter could appreciate my singing)
• Favorite songs are:
• Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
• Rock a Bye Baby
• The Wheels on the Bus
  
• ABC's
• Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Wants to be rocked and sang to every night before bed
• Can recognize the numbers 5 and 8
• Has turned into a Papa's girl - when she's hurt or crying in her crib, she could care less about me, it's all about Papa
  

Let it Snow!

Ivan took Emery outside today to enjoy the first snow of the year. First, we had to get her all bundled up!

Emery's 2nd Birthday Party

We had Emery's birthday party on Sunday and it was a huge success. Thank you to all of our family for coming to celebrate with us.

Emery helping me make the icing. This was her first time licking the beaters and she kept asking for more.
Homemade cake and cupcakes. I wanted to decorate each cupcake with Elmo's face too, but I ran out of time. Either way, I'm proud of my baking abilities and I think I will make it a tradition now to make Emery's cakes for her birthday's.
Present Time! Emery grasped the idea of opening gifts pretty quick and was very excited with each gift she opened. She is one spoiled little girl and we heard a lot of "MINE!" during the process of opening gifts.
Emery took several of her gifts straight over to Uncle D to show off what she got.
Cake Time! Emery was a little shy but loved being sang to. I still sing Happy Birthday to her and she always responds with "mas, mas!"

She loved eating the icing. She actually touched the cake more this year than she did for her first Birthday. Although, it was just with one finger each time, she still doesn't like to get dirty.Trying on her snowsuit and beanie - she's reading for sledding with Ivan as soon as the first snowfall comes.She loves her new Dora bike. By the time spring comes, she should be a pro at riding it around.

Hiding Spot and Halloween Update

For Halloween, I took Emery to South Town mall for her first trick or treating experience. Wow, that place was crowded. We got there half way though the trick or treating and half of the stores were already out of candy. I figured it would be mostly babies and toddlers but I was wrong. Emery did ok, but I think next year will be a lot more fun for her. After we passed one store and Emery got one piece of candy, she wanted to sit down to eat the candy. She didn't quite understand that she could get a ton of candy if she just waited. But, we both like to people watch, so we hit up a few stores, got about 10 pieces of candy and enjoyed looking at all of the costumes.

I think she enjoyed helping me hand out candy at home more than her own trick or treating experience though. As kids would come to the door, Emery would stand at the window and say "wow!" to the kids' costumes. I would hand out candy and then close the door. Emery then realized how trick or treating worked and after I closed the door, she came to me asking for candy ;) Below is a picture of all of her loot from her trick or treating at the mall. I told you it wasn't much!

This is Emery's new hiding spot. She loves to sit inside the cupboard and try to close the door on herself. Silly girl!

Emery Turns 2!

I can't believe my baby turned 2 today. I so vividly remember being pregnant with her and the day my Dr. told me I would be induced that evening. I was terrified of labor but was so excited to finally meet my little girl.

We got to the hospital at 10p on Wednesday, November 6th. I was given Cervidil and was to get some rest - right! I was basically up all night from nerves while Ivan slept peacefully on the couch. My Dr. came in at 8a to break my water and start the Pitocin. I sat up to put on my makeup for the day and my water gushed everywhere! I told my nurse that I refused to get out of bed after that and I held true to my word. Around 11a I was dialated to a 2 and the nurse asked if I wanted the epidural. I wasn't in any pain but after she looked at the anestesialogists schedule for the day, it was then or never so I got the epidural. Ivan and I just hung out for the day and waited for our little girl. I was terrified all day. Every single time the nurse entered the room, my body shook uncontrolably, like I was freezing to death. It's funny how your body reacts to stress and fear. The Dr. told me that with it being my first delivery, it would be a while and I should have the baby around 8p that evening.

At 4p, Ivan was getting hungry and wanted to go get some lunch. I told him to hurry because I had a feeling that it would be sooner than 8p that we would have the baby. Right as he was about to leave my Dr. came in and checked me. I was 10 centimeters and he had me do a few test pushes. He told me that I would probably push for about an hour and left us with the nurse while he went to do paperwork. Fifteen minutes later, Emery was there and ready to be born. Unfortunatly, the Dr. wasn't in the room, so we had to wait for him. I waited for 20 minutes for him to come back and I was over it! I was asking the nurse to find any Dr. around, even a foot Dr. - at that point, I didn't care who delivered the baby. The nurse kept reminding me that I was her first patient in labor and delivery and that she had never delivered a baby before - not very reassuring. My Dr. finally came back and wanted to chit chat with me about how quickly the pushing went. I was yelling at him that I didn't care about any of it and I was just ready to have the baby.

Emery was born at 4:52p and she looked just like Makayla. She was tiny, 6 lbs 7 oz and 19 1/2 inches. She was the cutest little thing!

It's been 2 years and Emery is the highlight of our lives. She has the best personality and it such an easy baby (how long do I get to call her a baby for?). Below are a few of her highlights right now:

• Is just learning to jump
• Wants to copy everything I do and is the best little helper - loves to load the dishwasher, vaccum and dust
• Asks for ice and french fries everytime she is in the car with me
• Loves to be rough housed with Papa
• Adores her Uncle Danny - she calls for "D" all day long
• Adores Carter just as much - she loves to hug him and give him kisses
• Is a great sleeper - usually sleeps from 9p to 10a and takes one 2 hour nap
• Adjusts well to not having a set/regular schedule
• Loves shoes, clothes and make-up
• Favorite DVD's are Elmo's Potty Time, Earnie 1,2,3 and Blues Clues ABC's
• Loves to sing ABC's and Happy Birthday
• A great eater for Grandma, not so much with Mama and Papa

2 Year Well Baby Visit

We had Emery's 2 year appt today. She is looking great and right on track in every area. She weighs a whole 25 lbs (25th percentile) and 33 in tall (50th percentile). Our pediatrician, Dr. Shelly Ring is amazing, but is out on maternity leave so we saw another Dr from the office. I now appreciate Dr Ring even more. The other lady just wasn't the same. Here are a few recent pictures since I've been neglecting our blog the last couple of months.

Emery trying out her Halloween costume. I bought it early so I could figure out if she would go for the hat or not - luckily, she thinks her costume is adorable and loves to wear it. My cute little pirate!

The other morning I was cleaning the kitchen and the house was silent. I went to look for Emery and she was just chilling in her stroller with Elmo looking out the window. I think she was still trying to wake up for the day.

Vegas Baby!

Ivan and I drove to Vegas last weekend for the Utah/UNLV game. We had a good time, but we also realized that as you get older, Vegas just isn't the same. Some highlights from our trip:

• Utah/UNLV game and Utah won!
  
• I got a massage
• Ivan watched the Giants game totally uninterrupted (too bad it was a bad game)
• We saw 2 movies - more than we've seen in the last year
• In N Out every day - yummy!
  
• We saw Le Reve at the Wynn - amazing show!

Emery spent the weekend with Grandma Lola, Aunt Silvana and Uncle D - she had a good time but was mad that we left her. She refused to speak to us on the phone all weekend - they would offer her the phone and tell her it was Mama or Papa and she would respond "No Papa!" and run away. Nice! Luckily, once we got back, she was back to being a Mommy's girl and I was pleased.

My Cleaning Helper

I've been obsessed with Spring cleaning (yes, I know it's Fall) over the past couple of weeks. My goal is to deep clean two rooms per weekend until the house is done. Today I was taclkling the living room and back door area, including cleaning blinds and scrubbing walls and baseboards.

Of course, Emery wanted to join me. She sat right down and started scrubbing the walls and baseboards. When she wanted to clean the wall higher than she could reach, she stepped up on the baseboards to get higher - hilarious! I wonder how much of a fine I will get for not following the child labor laws :)

At one point, we were both scrubbing away, Emery stops, pats my shoulder and I look over. She gave me a kiss - melted my heart! I guess Spring cleaning isn't too bad when you have a helper who still loves you even when you're cleaning, right?

Circus Time

We took Emery to the circus last Sunday. I was nervous about how Emery would do being confined to a small area for 2 hours, but I figured we have to start somewhere. A place filled with other kids is the perfect place to try it out, right?

The first half of the Circus, Emery did pretty good. She wanted to sit in my lap and then move to her chair and went back and forth a few times. Just before intermission, she was very restless so we went up to the concessions stands to walk around. The second half of the Circus was a little tougher, but Emery had a good time making friends with the little girl in front of us.

Emery's favorite part was of course the animals. She would kind of sit and watch them when the elephants, horses and tigers came out. As soon as the animals went to the back, she would look over to the door where they came out of and hold her hands out trying to pet them - too cute! I've now determined that any outing with a 2 year old that isn't a disaster, is a success. So, the Circus was a success.

I didn't get many pictures, partly because if Emery saw the camera she would have wanted to play with it the entire time and because the battery was going dead. But, here's one of the elephant!