Potty Training - For Real this Time!

I know, I know .. I've posted about potty training several times. Well, this time it is for real. We got up Friday morning and Ivan decided he wanted to give it a shot. So, I said ok, let's go for it.

We put Emery in her big girl undies and she didn't have any accidents for the first 3 hours. We ended up going through 5 pairs of undies that day but only one real accident. The other 4 times she started to pee, realized it and stopped and went in the potty.

Saturday and Sunday - no accidents at all and the same pair of undies all day!

We are still putting diapers on her during her naps and at night but otherwise, she's diaper free. I took her to Del Taco today (who would have guessed??) and I was nervous that she would pee in the car. Nope, dry the whole way there and back.

We are rewarding her with M&M's for every time she goes potty. I ask her every 30 minutes or so if she has to go potty and she always says no. She just let's us know when she has to go and then it's a mad rush to the bathroom.

I am so proud of Emery. She is such a big girl and has made all of the transitions from baby to big girl so easy for Ivan and I. We are so grateful for our little girl!

Christmas Day Festivities

We were up late last night so we all slept in today. We got up and started opening presents around 11a and started round 2 of Christmas Celebrations. Emery really liked opening her gifts, she would open one, look at it for a minute, toss the gift to the side and say, "mas" (more in Spanish). She got spoiled with all kinds of fun gifts including a Princess Dress Up Kit, a tool set, lots of books and clothes. She's one lucky girl!

Cute Makayla with the Christmas tree


Halfway through opening gifts, Emery decided she needed a break and laid down with her new Elmo B (she calls blankets "b's")
Ivan helping her put on her princess shoesYes, Emery has this crazy hair every single morning :)

Makayla got a ton of cool gifts too. She got a magic set, a zhu zhu and a ton of clothes. After dinner, she tried out her Magician skills. We had a good time, lots of laughing, but, let's just say, she shouldn't give up her day job. Makayla mixed up a few of the tricks but we all had a good time.As we were putting Emery down to bed, she wanted Maya (that's what she calls Makayla) to lay in her crib with her. So, of course, Makayla jumped right in and cuddled with her. Then Emery wanted me to get in the crib - ya right!

Christmas Eve Celebration

We went to Ivan's sisters for Christmas Eve. We enjoyed a great dinner and as always, great company with the whole family.

Emery and Grandma Lola
Emery modeling her new princess backpack
She is obsessed with checking her toes for toe jam - sick! Emery literally takes her shoes and socks off several times a day and checks between each toe for lint. I have no idea where she picked up this obsession.

Emery cuddling with Grandma Phyllis
Here she is with her most favorite person, Uncle D
Playing herself some Rock Band

Here Comes Santa

We went to see Santa on Tuesday. Luckily, we had perfect timing and the wait was only about 30 minutes. Makayla asked for a pink guitar and Emery, well, we were lucky they had candy canes so Emery would even get up on the couch with Santa.

Just for fun, here is last year's picture with Santa. Emery sure is growing up fast!

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.