More Posts to Come...

Does anyone still regularly read this?  How many times a week, Mom do you actually click on it?  I've been sporadic at best, but life is so much busier with two and a part-time job.  But, more blogging is soon to come.  Two super fun field trips.  An amazing girls weekend away.  An almost 17 month old baby girl.  And, and IPhone filled with some really great photos ready to be purged.  And, not to mention...  tons and tons of jewels on the brain.  I've gotten a bit behind on blogging.  But, it's pretty nice to see at least the accessorizing is rubbing off on Emma.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emma - Sixteen Months

"NO" has finally been added to her vocabulary, and she's not afraid to use it.  She tells it to Noah when he tries to steal her toys.  She tells it to me, when I ask her if she's ready for bed.  She tells it to people when they ask for a hug.  She is definitely a little one that knows her mind.  She loves her big brother and wants to play with and around anything he is doing, which at times really bugs him, and I think she knows it.  So, she does it more.  And, just today, I swear they were fighting over a toy, and she swung her hand to hit him.  Lord, help me.  She loves her baby dolls, and definitely has a preference.  Today, we searched all over the house for her "ba-bee," and I honestly entertained the thought of buying a back up... something I swore I never would do.  She is so happy, even on days when she only gets a 30 minute car nap.  She is a great eater and loves avocado, watermelon, goldfish and ham sandwiches with mayo and cheese.  She is so verbal and her receptive language is amazing.  She is going to be the kid that says, "why Mommy?" incessantly.  She loves to play.  She will put that baby doll her toy stroller and push it up and down the halls.  She loves playing with anything that has a ball.  She loves to find smaller (mouth size) toys, walk up to me, shove them in her mouth and run away.  She finds that one particularly funny.  She cries when I brush her hair, and she always pulls out her bows in the car.  She follows this with an "uh-oh," which she repeats the entire 30 minute drive to school until I can get out and put it back in.  Same goes with her shoes.  Luckily, Noah is able to reach over and pull off the other show if one happens to fall off.  She doesn't seem to mind that in doing so, Noah twists her foot in an pretty awkward way.  She usually laughs.  In fact, she loves to laugh at Noah, and he has started saying, "Emma laughs when I go (insert really loud noise here.)"  And, she does, and usually tries to repeat.  Cute! 

So, Emma is the age that Noah was, when we started him in speech therapy.  If you would ever have asked me, if I blamed myself for Noah having autism, I would have unequivocally told you no.  But, if there was any inkling of a thought in my mind that I did something to cause it, Emma has washed it away.  She does things that we worked for months in therapy for Noah to do.  She points at pictures in books.  She repeats sounds back.  She drinks from cup.  She throws a ball.  She eats with a spoon.  She follows one-step commands.  She expresses her wants and needs with words and gestures.  She answers when I call her name.  She has that innate social curiosity and joint attention that therapists have always talked to me about.  She is building her tree from the ground up, whereas Noah has been playing catch up on the parts that didn't come naturally as an infant.  It's a little bittersweet.  And, of course, some of that is partly second child, and I know things are all relative, but wow, she's an easy little girl to be a mom too.  And, I think God knew what he was doing when he gave her to our family. 

And, now for the cuteness!! 

Morning hugs from brother.

 

Walking around with "a" baby, not "the" baby.

 

Blowing kisses

 

This is the "uh-oh" face.

 

Car nap.  Look at those lashes.

 

Mommy's guacamole.  Yum!

 

Love this little face.  Getting her hair done.

 

Momma (and Daddy!) just following the AAP rear facing until age 2 rule!

Field Trip - The Zoo

Noah started the day super duper early and super duper excited for his zoo field trip.  The class had been talking about it all week, and Momma had been prepping for the bus ride. 

 

Here we go!

 

All buckled up.

 

Welcome to the zoo!

 

Map in hand.  Let's start with the fish.

 

Fun shot of Noah and his classmates crawling through the fish tank.

 

Elephants.  Check.

 

Is it a horse or a zebra?  It's actually in the giraffe family.  I know... that's what the sign said.

 

Hanging out in the African exhibit.

 

Least favorite activity of the day. Petting zoo.

 

The bus ride home. The End.

Field Trip - The Zoo (Pre-Blogpost)

It's well documented that the zoo is one of my least favorite parenting activity. But, first up on the field trip calendar was the zoo, so off we went. And, as if gearing up for animal sightings wasn't enough, I also had to prepare myself for a 30 mile bus ride. Ugh. But, enough about me. Noah was super excited for the zoo (if his 4:30AM wake time was any indication.) I brought my camera and a blog post will follow, but let's just go ahead and judge field trip success/enjoyment/super-funness by a little before and after bus ride picture. Oh yeah, super fun day!

The Zoo - A Comparison Shot x3

I know... I know... kids grow.  It's part of the deal.  But, seriously, how did my cute little guy get to be such a handsome big boy!!  Sniff! Sniff!  Want to know his secret?  Cheez-Its and chocolate milk, baby!!

 

April 2011

 

February 2012

 

October 2012

 

 

It's a Good Day for Autumn!

Pre-Rainy Weekend

It rained all weekend, but Friday afternoon before it all came in, the kids and I went outside.  It was still hot and the air was super thick with the yucky weather ahead.  It may or may not have been drizzling.  Emma hears the word out, and she is standing at the back door.  I've taken to spelling O-U-T to Noah to ask if he's interested in going before actually saying the word out loud. 

I love outside!

 

Ready for some gymnastic tricks?

 

Straddle jump.

 

The captive audience.

 

Roller coaster time.

 

With a little help from Noah. 

 

Everybody ready?

 

Hold on tight... Here we GOOOO!

 

Get back here brother!

 

Fun afternoon!