New Years Eve

We celebrated New Year’s Eve by blowing off some really impressive fireworks in the driveway, putting on hats and tiaras and blowing some celebratory horns for a picture, cuddling up on the couch, watching the “amazing Robbie Knievel and his death defying jump over a flaming volcano” and being shocked when the local small town Wisconsin TV station cut to a commercial 4 seconds before the ball dropped in NYC! It was great and I wouldn’t have changed a thing! Happy New Year!

Sweet Tooth!

Thanks to my good friend, Susan...Emilia KNOWS where the M&M jar is in our house! And now that she has discovered what fun climbing is - she decided to climb up the stool in our kitchen and help herself to a few! Once she got into that jar - she could NOT get enough of the "nummies". Ha ha ha! When watching the video, don't be alarmed when it looks like she is going to sit down and fall off the stool...I was right there with a hand behind her making sure she was safe :)

Since we're on the sweet tooth subject - I decided to throw in this picture of Emilia with her Gingerbread House from daycare. Now that she is done with her morning nap, she gets to participate in all the fun projects that happen before lunch! I LOVE picking her up at daycare and seeing what she has created! This one was a favorite of hers...as you can see :)

May no presents go unopened...

Since we spent Christmas away from our house - there were still a few presents for Emilia left under our tree. We let her open one on Monday night...

And on Tuesday night, she decided on her own that it was time to just go ahead and unwrap that last present left under the tree. All the sudden I heard her mumbling to herself and then the the ripping of paper :) I was able to grab my camera before she had the whole thing unwrapped. She loved her new sleeping bag, flashlight (even without batteries) and water bottle. She is READY for camping next summer!

Tivo, YouTube, and Elmo

Hello, Daddy here. Daycare is closed this week so Emilia gets to stay home with Dad until Wednesday when we leave for Wisconsin. Nana is coming to visit later today so while we waited for her we did various activities like "paper" (coloring with crayons), play-doh, and puzzles. We also found the YouTube feature on Tivo so Emilia could watch her favorite Baby Beluga video she was asking for. Of course there were many Elmo clips to watch as well. Here is her favorite with Martina McBride. It's a little long but Emilia gave it a standing ovation and asked for an encore.

Silly & Sassy

Emilia is a great sport when it comes to showing us her tricks by request. Lately, the ones that get her the best reactions involve being silly by twirling and getting dizzy and showing us her sassy side by saying, "whatever" complete with hand motions :) I know, I know...I will regret teaching her this...but for now, we'll laugh and enjoy our little sassy pants.

Christmas at Nana and Papa's!

Over the river and through the woods to Nana and Papa's house we go! We had heard that Santa (Papa) had been busy in his workshop leading up to Christmas - so we were SO excited to find out what was under the tree! We had tried to agree to a "light" Christmas - but the amount of presents under the tree said that no body listened! It was no surprise that MOST of the presents were for Emilia :)

Just to name a few - she received books, a super cute magnetic monkey, pj's and an outfit, alphabet magnets, her very own cell phone, a puzzle spelling her name made especially for her by Papa and...imagine cowgirl music playing...a rocking horse and cowgirl hat! We had such a great time watching her reaction to opening each gift (and we had a little fun of our own giving and receiving adult presents!)

Other than having fun playing with all of Emilia's new toys, we had a good time taking her for a little ride in an old wooden sleigh. She was bundled up just perfectly and had so much fun being pulled and pushed along by Daddy and Papa! Thank you Nana, Papa and Aunt Jill for such a special Christmas :)

Home, Home on the Range for Christmas

Emilia's 2nd Christmas was even MORE fun than the first... She didn't sleep as much during the car trips as she did last year, but I have gotten more creative with my entertaining efforts! We traveled a total of 617 miles and saw a total of 29 loved ones which made it worth every mile and the neck / back ache I had from turning around to entertain the little miss during about 450 miles of the trip...

Our Christmas started out with the the traditional Christmas Eve service at Grandma and Grandpa's church. There was the story of Jesus' birth, Christmas songs (after which Emilia would clap and say yay) and the candle lite singing on Silent Night. My dad brought a mag light that looked like a candle for Emilia to hold onto :) Good thing - because she loved touching the "flame"! After church, we headed back to Nonna and Nonno's for a delicious Italian meal with all the things we love...wine, good food, family, laughter and full bellies! Emilia showed off many of her "tricks" and had no problem being in the spot light during much of the meal. We asked ourselves...what did we ever talk about without her around? After dinner, we moved onto presents and more tricks from Emilia...her favorite was standing on her head with Megan :)


The next morning, Santa came to the hotel room with a stocking full of fun presents. Emilia was a pro at unwrapping and handed every piece of wrapping paper back to me as she removed it from her gifts.



Next, we were off to Christmas day at Ginger and Jeff's. This was a the BIG family gathering with all my cousins. Emilia was thrilled to be given 2 baby dolls from her great aunties - Lisa and Ginger. She is an even BUSIER mommy now...last count...she has 5 babies and loves them all SO much!

Emilia would have been happy with just one new toy...but there was SO much more in store for her!

Dress me up in bows!

We have been PATIENTLY waiting for Emilia's hair to grow. She is getting the sweetest little curls in the back and everytime my mom sees her - she comments on how much her hair is growing...but it's still a slow process.


Today - I thought it would be fun to try out one of her hair accessories...something other than the little headbands she has been wearing since she was an infant. I have to say - it looked SO CUTE to see her little hair up on the top of her head in a pink bow. Unfortuantely - Emilia was well aware of what was on her head and it didn't last long. I was able to snap a couple pics before she got the camera out of my hand and the bow out of her hair. The funny part - she was pleading for "Grandma" as I was trying to get a little video of her even though "Grandma" was no where to be seen! The video is not very exciting, but I'm sure my mom will love to hear how well Emilia is able to say her name, so I included it!

Hopefully she'll get more comfortable with bows in her hair because this is one battle I am NOT going to give up on easily! Plus - I'm pretty sure Santa is going to be stuffing her stocking with more hair accesssories! Ho, ho, ho!

Don't be fooled...

Don't be fooled by these pictures - Emilia LOVES sledding! Plus - they can't ALL be happy pictures...that's just not reality with a toddler!

Saturday morning, Jeff got Emilia bundled up and went out into the yard for some fun in the fresh powder snow! Emilia even got to go down her first HILL! It was only about 2 feet long and about 12 inches off the ground at the highest point - but it still got a "weeee" out of her! Hopefully she is warming up to all this snow - because we're headed into even MORE of it during our Christmas travels to Northern Minnesota!

Cookie Extravaganza

Tonight - the girls from work came over for our Annual SWW Cookie Extravaganza! We scaled back a little this year by changing up the menu to include just 3 treats...Molasses Cookies, Rolo Turtles and Hot and Spicy Chex Mix. This resulted in a less stressful experience for everyone :) Juggling 8 different recipes, figuring out the oven schedules and doing dishes can be a lot when you have that much going on!

Everyone was excited to see Emilia and once her shyness wore off, she was a little entertainer - laughing to get attention and even helping us unwrap the Rolo's for our turtles! She enjoyed some of the treats while she helped too - well - mostly just pretzels. It's a good thing she didn't eat too many or our perfect Rolo to pretzel ratio would have been off!

Thanks for fun night of traditions, girls :) You're the best!

Dinner at Susan and Andy's

We were invited to dinner last night at Susan and Andy's. They treated us to come delicious crab cakes (I think Emilia may have been the biggest fan), yummy stuffed salmon, rice, salad and wine. And to make the night even more fun - Susan gave Emilia her Christmas present a little early. It was a sweet little tea set that she wasted no time getting out of the box and playing with while we were there.

Thank you Susan and Andy for bravely inviting a toddler back into your house and hosting a great dinner! We're so thankful to have friends like you!

18 Month Check Up

Emilia officially turned 1 and a half today! We made sure to wish her a Happy Half Birthday several times and gave her extra hugs and kisses!

In the afternoon, we took trip to the doctor for her 18 month check up. She now remembers what happens at the doctor and is not thrilled with it. Upon entering the exam room, she turned into a little monkey, wrapping her arms and legs around me. The poor girl did not want to be put on the table for the nurse to get her measurements. With a little convincing, we were able to pry her off and get the following stats:

Weight: 20 pounds, 13 ounces (10th percentile)

Height: 32.5 inches (50th percentile)

Head: 18 inches (50th percentile)

She remains a skinny, minnie but that does not concern the doctor at all since she is following her 10th percentile curve perfectly. As far as all the other milestones - she is at or above where kids her age should be. When they asked how many words she has - we could't even give a number because it's SO many! She can repeat almost anything you ask her to say and the words that she chooses to use on a regular basis add up to much more than the 10-12 they want kids to have at her age. I love my chatty little girl :) She is up to speed on all of her gross motor stuff like walking and running and kicking balls and climbing. Looking back - I'm GLAD she wasn't ahead on this stuff...it was a much easier transition from infant to toddler with her not walking too soon :)

Her next check up isn't until 2 years old and we know it will be here in the blink of an eye...

Cheerios

Emilia proved once again tonight what a great little mommy she is! Shortly after I gave her a snack of Cheerios and milk, I found her sharing ever so nicely with her baby by feeding Cheerios right into her mouth.

Check out the video – it starts out with Emilia saying, “In the mouth”, after she feeds her baby the first Cheerio. Then she tries to get it out by popping it back into her mouth like a little bird! I just love this girl!

Santa and Albert

This morning, we visited Bachman's for a fun play about Rudolph's Nose featuring Albert the Elf and Santa! It was the perfect amount of time for a one and a half year old (25 minutes) and the fact that it was free entertainment made it even more perfect. Emilia sat on Jeff's shoulders for most of the play and then went up on the stage to "participate" in a couple Christmas songs. After all of this excitement - we waited in line so Emilia could sit on Santa's lap for a couple pictures :)

You can't tell from the look on her face...but she is already pretty excited about Santa! She is really good at saying his name and at recognizing him in pictures. What fun it is to see the belief forming in her little mind. Just wait until Christmas Day!

First Snowman

It was a nice, mild day yesterday and the streets were clear of snow, so Jeff and Emilia bundled up and went on a little wagon ride. After they got home, they made the cutest little snowman I have ever seen! We can't wait for more snow so we can get out there and make Emilia her very own snow chair and fort! Oh what fun!

Daddy Daycare

Today, Jeff signed up for a change for pace and tried his hand at "Daddy Daycare!" Our friends Mike and Erin asked if Jeff would be interested in watching their, now one year old daughter, Adelynn, for the day since her daycare was closed. He said yes and kept Emilia home from daycare so the girls could play. I called several times to see how they were all doing and got fun reports every time...

The first call home was just after breakfast - Jeff reported that Addie ate great – in fact, better than Emilia! The girls were served a blueberry waffle / applesauce combo and ½ of a banana! Emilia was working on sharing – apparently she was interested in whatever Addie had and was holding 6 toys at once in her arms... There was music on in the background and they were all having fun...I wished I was there!!

The second call home was to request that Jeff take some pictures (for blogging purposes!). He said they were still having fun playing. Addie was moving around all over, pulling herself up on the toy shelf, following him and Emilia when they went into Emilia’s room to find the Walking Wings. Jeff said when he and Emilia walked out of the room, Addie followed to the hallway and then stopped and Jeff said, “Come on, Addie”. Then Emilia walked back over and took her hand and repeated, “Come on, Addie.”


Shortly after this call - Jeff decided to take the girls on a boggin adventure in our yard. He bundled them both up in their snow gear and them strapped them on the boggin...Addie on Emilia's lap. When Jeff emailed the pictures to us, his message was:

"Here they are training for the olympics...bobsledding"

I couldn't stand knowing that the three of them were all at home having fun - so I ran home over lunch to enjoy some chicken nuggets and grapes :) Can you tell who the lunch was catered for!?

Jeff said they had a great day. Emilia gave lots of hugs, worked a lot on sharing and tried encouraging of Addie to walk by holding her hand, saying "walk, walk, walk" and stomping in place. Addie wasn't really interested... Plus - Jeff said when Emilia tried to imitate Addie's mode of transport - crawling - that Addie was about 1000 times faster :) Ha ha...we never really had a crawler :)

Fallen

This morning was an extra cold 10 degrees...so Jeff decided to bundle Emilia up a little more than usual in her snowsuit. It goes on pretty easily and I’m sure it keeps her nice and toasty...but it makes mobility a little more challenging.

Tonight, after carrying Emilia in from the car, I ran back out to grab a couple grocery bags I had in the trunk. When I came back into the house, I found her lying on her tummy. I thought she was just looking for a toy under the table or trying to play with Sophie, but I quickly realized she had become much like the character from the Christmas Story who falls down in his snowsuit and can’t get up. I just had to grab the camera to capture this funny moment before I helped her up!

Sweet Emotions

One of Emilia's favorite books features babies expressing all different types of emotions. She is such a little imitator - it took no time at all for her to be able to "express herself" just like the babies in the book. Here's a look at some of these sweet emotions...

Grape Faces!

Sometimes you just have to have fun and be a little lighthearted. With all of the stress this week has brought our way - we decided to just stuff some grapes in our upper lip, grin and bear it!




And if that's not enough to make you smile - check out this picture of Emilia showing me her "strong " impression. She squeezes her fists as tight as she can, bites down her little jaw and shakes. It is hilarious!

Little Red Toddler

Even though I know Emilia has so much fun with her friends at daycare, it's so hard to head off to work and leave this cute little munchkin every morning. On Tuesday morning, we sent her off to daycare in her CUTE little fancy red coat and hat with her shiny red shoes to bring it all togetehr. It's sure fun to be fancy for no particular reason :)