oops!

In my last post, I said Em's birthday was the 7th....it's the 8th. Yes, I am a forgetful, terrible mother! I always have to stop and think about her birthday, and whether it is 2/7/08, or 2/8/07. I need to remember that she was born on the 8th, and so was I. Sheesh!

New Obsessions of an Almost Two Year Old

Oh, our dear sweet girl is getting quite the personality. She has discovered the wonders of "moo-bies", and is totally infatuated with "The Incredibles". She would watch it all day and night if she could. We've had it on about 7 times in the last 4 days. As soon as she wakes up, she's asking for "in-bed-bles!!", all the way to daycare she talks about it, all the way home, all during dinner (and before & after dinner). Oh yes, she's obsessed.

She has also discovered the wonders of Dora the Explorer. She got a Dora doll from Nana & Papaw for Christmas, and has one Dora video, which we watched during the Indiana drive. We have also watched that video until our eyes bleed. She has a hard time deciding between Dora and the Incredibles. Such decisions.

Her birthday is coming soon (Feb 7!). We will be in Florida visiting Keith's parents the week before her birthday, and will be having some Dora birthday cake with Emmy's grandparents and great-grandparents, as well as her great aunt & uncle! I am planning to make her a kitty birthday cake, but may hold off on that one until next year and do a Dora cake instead. Need to see if I can find a Wilton cake pan for that! We like Dora, because she is bilingual, and Emmy is getting exposed to some Spanish words. She shouted the Spanish word for "open" while watching the video the other day. Impressive!

She's been doing pretty well with the potty-training. She will routinely tell us when she needs to potty, and then proceeds to rip off half of her clothes (should be fun at her new daycare in a couple weeks!). She will tinkle in the potty pretty well. When I dropped her off today at daycare, Jeffrey commented how she never poops in the potty. When I arrived this evening to get Emmy, Jeffrey said she spoke too soon. Emmy went to the potty, and started to poop, and then got so excited that she was doing it that she jumped up and ran to the other room where Jeffrey was to tell her all about it....and pooped with each little step she took. Jeffrey said there was poop everywhere! Gosh, I'm so sorry I missed that.

Snowland!

It snowed overnight, and of course, everything in NC is shut down as a result. We got about 2-3 inches, judging by what is on the deck and my car. Some parts got 5+ inches in the Triangle. Unfortunately, NC doesn't have snow plows, or the foresight to put salt or sand on the roads. Keith, being the optimistic Hoosier that he is, went into work today at 730am. Silly boy! Doesn't he know that no one goes to work when it snows in NC? He said hardly anyone was there, and came home around noon, as the roads were still a mess, and the temp was dropping.

Emmy and I went out about 930 this morning. It was a brisk 25 out, still snowing, and windy! We stayed out about 20 minutes, and that's all Mama could take. We made hot chocolate to warm us up. We did another trek outside around 330 when the temp had warmed up to about 35. Em helped me clean my car off, and used the brush to clear off her tricycle too. Got some cute pics to prove it snowed!

Chilly Willy

You know, it must be the Hoosier in me, but all I can do is think of (and complain about) the weather lately. It's been cold, and this weekend, it got colder! Low teens this morning when we woke up, and windy. Yuck! My poor peeps in Indiana are really freezing their rumps off in the negative digits. Yes, I am glad I live in NC. Stay warm, loved ones!

We had a date night tonight...went to see Gran Torino, the new Clint Eastwood movie. It was really good! I must say though, Clint's character, Walt, reminded both Keith and I of my Dad. Several parts of the movie were laugh-out-loud funny, and the ending was a tear-jerker. Fair warning! Definitely worth heading out to see it. We had dinner at a Singaporian place that is co-owned by Keith's old boss. Good food!

I really blew my New Year, New Me Diet today...had lunch with the fam at the Loop, and of course, my will power wasn't enough to resist ordering an Oreo milkshake. I did, however, pass on the fries and ordered the steamed veggies (patting self on back). Then, at dinner, we split fried cheesecake. Yes, it was as good as it sounds. Oh well, tomorrow is another day. I lost 6 lbs my first week of online Weight Watchers, and I'll get back on the wagon again tomorrow. Really trying to make 2009 the year we focus on health as a family. I made appointments with a new primary care doctor for Keith and I, and the office is literally 5 minutes from our house. Our old one left the practice, and it was 30 minutes from home anyway. We both need lab work and physicals. I am baking very yummy banana nut bran muffins, and we are eating them for breakfast each morning. They have flax seeds and bran, in an attempt to lower cholesterol. Family history is not our friend in this regard! (I suppose neither is fried cheescake!)

Funny LIttle Girl Stuff

Emmy is really talking, repeating, and listening to what we say. (Scary!) She has started saying some funny stuff that I wanted to record and not forget.

This morning, she was sitting on the couch with her Dora doll, Blue, and Kitty. She had her quilt wrapped around herself and all the pals. She said "Here go, Thank you, Welcome" over and over when covering everyone up.

She has been playing like crazy with the kitchen set she got for Christmas. She has a little tea set, and loves to pour me tea. "Here go, Mama, more tea." She's even put a tea cup to Blue's trunk for him to drink some tea.

She is starting to do a lot of counting...in the car the other day, we were stopped at a light and she noticed several trucks. I asked her how many, and she counted, "one, two, tree!". She can count to 4 now, and often counts the snaps on her onsie as we are getting dressed. I got a fun farm animal place mat for the table, and she likes to sit there before dinner and count animals.

She is very insistent on bringing about 4-5 various friends with her in the car. When we get to daycare, I tell her she can choose one to go in with her, and everyone else has to stay in the car "to rest". When we walk inside, she'll look back at the van and tell me, "Mama, Kitty resting".

We met Keith for lunch today. She had milk and Keith had ordered a shake. When she figured out what Keith had, she took his cup, and slid her milk over to Keith...."here go, Dada."

Last night, I was in the kitchen making dinner and sneezed several times. Just as I was finishing, Em walked in and said "bless you" so clearly that Keith and I thought someone else was there!

I got the DVD of the Incredibles (Disney movie) through an online trade. It came in the mail yesterday, and when Keith opened the package, Emmy saw that it was "a moo-bie!". She begged to watch it, and so Keith and Em went to the living room to watch while dinner was cooking. She was so excited she kept running into the kitchen shouting, "mama! Moo-bie! In-bles!!" Incredibles was a few too many syllables for her to spit out.

We got a package in the mail today from Grammy. I let Em carry it inside and told her it was from Grammy. She was so excited to have a "present from Gammy!" She wasn't as excited when she discovered it was a set of deer whistles....thanks Mom! (Emmy says send a moo-bie next time!)

A Troublesome Start to the New Year

This week has really been a doosie! We got home Sunday evening from a long vacation, and had mountains of stuff to get done this week. We had no food in the fridge Sunday night, and I had planned to do grocery shopping Monday after work. Forgot that I starting teaching the PA students on Monday, so didn't get off work until late. Was late picking Emmy up from daycare. No food = had to grab some Japan Express to take home for supper. Locked my keys in the car at Japan Express, and Keith had to come find us with the spare set of keys. Tuesday Emmy and I went grocery shopping and filled the fridge. We had a nice lunch at Panera Bread, where she ate a cup of cheddar & broccoli soup all by herself, with very minimal mess! Yay! She loves soup so much, I thought I'd make crockpot chili for supper on Wednesday. Got everything set up Wednesday morning, and had a crazy, busy day at work, still trying to catch up and get organized from having the week off. Picked up Emmy late again Weds, got her all psyched up for chili for dinner during the car ride home. We said together, "Soup is messy!", so she wouldn't scream and rip the bib off. First words out of her mouth to her Daddy when we walked in was, "Dada! Soup is messy!". Which prompted Keith to tell me that the crockpot was off when he got home. Had to throw out the entire batch of chili which had been sitting out all day, uncooking. Ugh! Grrrr! Thursday and Friday were busy at work, and the evenings were busy at home, cleaning, unpacking, settling in. Saturday was a massive "get the house cleaned and sanitized" kinda day. We all went to the library to return some books, and decided to head to the mall for strolling and dinner. We had fish & chips at Rockfish Grill. Today was pancakes and eggs for breakfast, church and I had the wonderful job of sorting, storing and putting away all the Christmas decorations which had been sitting in an empty room for over a week. So much more fun putting UP decorations than putting them away. I was reminded again how many sentimental Christmas ornaments we have, and how much fun it is to see them each year. We watched Dora the Explorer with Emmy tonight, as she is now hooked on "watch a moo-bie" since watching movies on the car DVD player during our drive north. Everytime she gets into the van she asks to "watch a moo-bie!". Try explaning to an almost 2 year old that "car moo-bies" are only for long trips....ha! Well, I think we have everything pulled together now that we've been back a week. Don't know why it took so long to get back into the swing of things, and hopefully this week will be better!

A New Year

Happy New Year to all. We got back Sunday evening from a trip to Ohio and Indiana to visit family and friends. We started out the day after Christmas, and spent the weekend with the Garretts. Many thanks for to them for delicious fondue, fun trips to the local Nature Center and bargain shopping, and out for an adult date night at Bella Luna's (local Italian restuarant like I've never seen!) and seeing the Curious Tale of Benjamin Button. Fun times!

Next, we ventured to North Manchester for a few days to visit Mom, Jim and Josh. Keith went to Tipton one night for a reunion with high school friends, and Emmy and I went to Columbia City to visit with my college girlfriends. We all brought our kiddos, and the place was a madhouse! So good to see everyone again.

Emmy was in hog-heaven at Grammy's house. There were cookies and treats everywhere, and she enjoyed (sort of) being assaulted by the dog's tongue at every opportunity. The dogs are about the same height as Emmy's hand, so every time she walked around with food in her hand, they watched her like a hawk, hoping she would drop something (and a few times just taking something out of her hand!). Uncle Josh really outdid himself this year with the gifts, and he was so happy to watch Emmy open her presents. It snowed just a little while we were there, and Em was very interested in tromping around in the little bit of snow that stuck to the ground. Thanks to all the Manchester family for everything! I know Grammy wishes we could have stayed longer so she could get an extended "Emmy fix".

We finished up our Indiana visit in Logansport with my Dad. He'd been so anxious to see Emmy and she didn't disappoint. She is so comical now, and is quite entertaining. We went to a Loehmer reunion Saturday afternoon, and I got to see some cousins and other relatives that I hadn't seen in over ten years! We left from the reunion and started home Saturday afternoon. We stayed overnight in Ohio and were home around 6pm Sunday. It was a long week, and we are still trying to catch up. The cats had the place to themselves while we were away, and it certainly showed. Only one broken item while we were gone, thankfully.

The Christmas decorations are down, and all thrown into the extra bedroom. I need to sort through it all and get things packed up. Keith took the outside lights down yesterday, and the tree is by the road, waiting to be picked up. Ho-Hum...early January is so depressing after all those festivities.

We hooked up the Wii Fit last night, and I enjoyed exercising with it. I especially liked the slollum (sp?) skiing and hula-hooping!

Hope you all had good holidays, and have a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!