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12 months!

1 year ago this morning I went to the hospital to be induced since it was a couple days past my due date. And after a very quick few hours you made your way into this world at 12:38! I am still surprised at how quickly things went that day.

While I can't believe you are 1, I also can't remember what life was like before you were here. How can I possibly have a toddler now?

Anyway, we celebrated your big day a couple weeks ago with friends and family, so today is just a nice little celebration at the house.

Here is what my 1 year old is up to these days:

* You are taking more and more steps everyday. I think I've counted 8 total at one time, but each day you are doing it more and more. You have even started to scale the walls to get around. I guess you have finally figured out that crawling hurts those knees.

*You finally got your 4th tooth just yesterday! They have been quite slow to come in, but are finally coming in. In no time you will be eating steak.

*You are also talking or jabbering a lot. The words I think you say are: mama, dada, duck, up, go, dog, bye, hello and maybe some others that I'm just not sure about yet. You are definitely talking more... we are just trying to "de-code" what you are saying!

*You can climb up and (finally!) down stairs.

*You love to be outside and will ride on your little cars moving your legs to make you go. I think you are very coordinated like your sister. You girls will be playing soccer in no time!

*You love the bath... especially when the water is running... you just swat at the water and get your face all wet and just laugh!

*You love to rock back and forth on you and your sister's rocking chair. You also get very upset if Grace sits in the chair. Which brings me to my next point...

*You do not how to share. Not like I expect you to, but you definitely want anything Grace has. Thankfully she is pretty good about sharing.

*You love to give kisses and hugs. I LOVE those little open mouthed kisses and how you bury your head in our chest for a hug. So cute.

*You are a fabulous eater! And eat almost anything we give you. But you especially love fruit and chicken. However, I'm also working on weaning you. I've been offering you milk in your sippy for about a week now and you aren't showing any interest... soon enough!

Happy Birthday baby girl!

bored

Not us. I saw this yesterday on a friends blog and thought that Grace would love it. Basically its just cleaning money. Why would that be fun? Because you're 3 and if your mom lets you play with a toothbrush and water in the kitchen - that's cool! Grace is super into money these days. Wants to have money in her wallet and wants to buy things... or really me to buy things for her.

So here she is.... rather engaged. She "cleaned" her coins for a good 45 minutes while I fed Emma, put her down for a nap, put the dishes away and cleaned the kitchen. Great idea Jenny!!

Oh and just so we don't leave Emma out... we went to a friends birthday party this past weekend and brought out little travel booster seat with tray with us for Emma to enjoy (or demolish) a cupcake. Anyway, so the booster was on the floor yesterday and Emma had a blast for a good half hour just sitting in the chair, standing up and crawling around it, only to go back and sit in the chair. It was so cute.

Remind me again why we have a whole room full of toys?

speech stuff

We have been busy with Grace's speech. She started 2 weeks ago just days after she turned 3. (The transition into the public school has been SO easy... I hope that if anyone else has to do this with their child that it goes as smooth as it did for us!)

She goes to school on Tuesday and Thursdays for 30 minutes and works with Ms. Kristine (a speech therapist) and Ms. Ryan (her assistant who is getting her masters right now and also happens to be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader!). They are both young and super sweet! Grace works so hard for them. We have started with the letter "n" in the final position. Words like "balloon" or "button" and even "banana". She has learned to clap out her words by syllables. It sort of sounds like each syllable is a word on its own. Anyway, its working. She is saying "ba - na- na" perfectly! I'm just very hopeful at this point that she will be right where she needs to be in no time. Thanks everyone for all your advice and support! I've needed it.

Princess Party!

Well the dust has finally settled from the big birthday party.

We decided to have a joint Princess Party for Grace's 3rd and Emma's 1st birthday. It was the best decision and actually worked better than I could have imaged. We had about 15 kiddos and their parents in our house and to me it never felt like it was too crazy. I think everyone had a good time. Only thing I was bummed about later is that I never got a picture of all the kiddos and I didn't take a picture of the front door decorations or the cupcakes. Oh well... but I will say that I thought it was all pretty cute! :)

So here is the party in review:

First off... Happy Birthday girls!

We decorated some princess tiaras

and pirate hats.

We ate some pizza

and crawled on tables!

Bounced a little.

Sang Happy Birthday and blew out some candles!

Ate some cupcakes... yummy!

Shared a little.

Bounced some more.

Laughed a lot.

And had the best Princess party ever!

first steps

Yesterday Emma took her first steps!! She took one step a couple weeks ago, but I think it was more of a fluke. But then yesterday she was taking lots of steps. We only got up to 5 steps at once, but I'm sure in just a matter of weeks she will really be walking well. Woo Hoo! I really hate the whole crawling thing so I'm super excited that she is starting to take some steps. Here is a short video of her taking a few steps. I think Grace wanted some attention from daddy too :)

More updates coming soon on the girls birthday party!

now and then

I love looking back at pictures.... how quickly they change.

Days old

1 year

2 years

3 years

3

How in the world am I mother of a 3 year old?

Three really seems so old. I know I know... I say that every time I come to sit and write these posts, but its so true. 2 is still toddlerhood, but 3 is a preschooler and before I know it Grace will be walking up the steps to Kindergarten. And even then I'll wonder where the time went and how she can be so big and grown up.

So much has changed in one year.

Grace you have gone from putting 2 words together (barely) to saying full sentences with 6+ words... although not all those words are understood by all.

You have gained a little sister. You are far better a big sister than I could have even imagined. You are so sweet and caring and you always want to know where she is and what she is doing. You love her and I know that despite the screaming matches you have that one day you will be best buds.

You also became potty trained this year... Woo Hoo! You are just down to wearing a diaper at night time although I think those days might be short lived.

You favorite things to do these days are playing games like Memory or riding your bike outside. You just love to do anything really... arts and crafts, going to the park, you love story time at the library and you LOVE school. You also love reading new books so we are always trying to add to our collection.

This year you also developed a little attitude. You know what you want and you wont stop till you get it. In the same breath you know where the time out spot is and you know that mom isn't afraid to send you there. :)

Overall though, you are the sweetest little 3 year old I know. You just have this little infectious smile and personality that draw people close to you. I love you more and more each day!

So my first baby is 3. Another year gone by and another one to look forward to. Now we are off to enjoy the rest my little Valentine's day :)
Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you are having a nice day with the ones you love :)

Fireproof

I just finished watching the movie Fireproof. And while I am normally fast asleep by this time, I just couldn't go to sleep until I wrote a post about this movie. I guess my blog is really sometimes just like a journal to me. But what I wanted to say was that you need to go see this movie. Or better read the book. My best friend, Hailey, read it and she told me about it. Since I'm up to my ears in books right now I rented the movie. Unfortunately Adam didn't get to watch it with me, but I totally want him to see it too. I've always felt like I'm one of the lucky ones... a lucky wife with an amazing husband, but you know its probably because of our love of Christ that we do have an amazing marriage. Anyway, I just wanted to tell everyone to go rent it. It's a great one.

Oh and grab your box of tissues... you will need them!

Check this out too.

Peek-a-boo and ABC's

Just a little video for you on this beautiful Friday. Grace was playing Peek-a-boo with Emma and I had to get it on video. And I got her to (sort of) say her ABC's... its still a work in progress but she is doing great!

11 months!

Happy 11 months Emmy!

Where is the time going?

It's already time for me to sit down and write about you at 11 months.

Weight: ~20lbs! My big girl!

Here is what you have been up to this month:

*Teething all month. Although you still only have 2 teeth (hmmm.)... but I can see those top 4 teeth. Hopefully they will come in soon or mommy might go crazy!

*You are a little copy cat and a little shadow. You love to do anything your sister does and you are constantly following her around. You two really are super cute together!

*You are a screamer. You will start these little screaming (for fun) contests with your sister. It's quite loud, but you guys just scream and laugh. I really should get it on video sometime.

*You LOVE bath time! I can now say to you "let's go take a bath" and you take off to climb up the stairs. (Also something you love...climbing stairs... if you only understood how to go down them!).

*You love singing songs. Patty Cake, Peek-a-boo and The Itsy Bitsy Spider are your favorites right now.

*You are still a fast crawler, but you are getting more brave and standing for longer periods of time. Maybe those first steps will be this month?

And here you are ready for Valentine's Day. Even your jeans have little heart patches!

25 random things about me

I posted this to Facebook, so if you read it there already sorry.

Anyway, enjoy hearing stuff about me that you probably already know or didn't really want to know. I enjoyed writing it.

1. It only took about 20 people sending this to me for me to finally do it. :)
2. I don't really like chocolate. Never have. I will eat an occasional M&M or oreo, but that is about it. Just the idea of a slice of chocolate cake makes me sick.
3. I love reality TV ... you know The Bachelor, Biggest Loser... but I don't have as much time to watch as I would like (really 2 hours of TV... in my dreams!)
4. I am so happy to be back in Texas. I don't ever want to move away again.
5. I love going and doing with the kids. Like going to the zoo, going to park, etc. I just hate the preparation that some activities take.
6. I want to go to Disney so bad (I've never been!). But I'm waiting another 2 years until Emma is potty trained, but before Grace starts school! So if you want to come with us in the winter or spring of 2011 let us know! :)
7. Most of my vacations as a child were to the ski slopes. I was a pretty good skiier... was even ranked twice! I haven't skiied since college :(
8. My mom is my best friend. I don't know what I would do without her. Seriously, I'm so lucky to live only 20 minutes from her!
9. I have a huge extended family. My mom is 1 of 9 and my dad is 1 of 8. Plus almost all of those aunts and uncles are married and have several kiddos so holidays are very busy for us! But I LOVE it! (oh and most of these family members live in the DFW area).
10. I would love to be a teacher someday. Maybe when my girls are in school?
11. I love anything crafts. Love to sew, paint, scrapbook, make cards. Only problem is I don't have the time for it all. So I just do it when I can. I think I will do a lot of this when I retire one day :)
12. I love to give gifts.
13. I am sort of a control freak.
14. I love to read. But I didn't really start reading for pleasure until I was out of college at 23. I just finished Twilight and I'm reading 2 other books, one for Sunday school and the other for a bible study.
15. I am a MAJOR neat freak. Just open my cabinets or look in my closets next time you are over. Seriously I love my label maker and love to organize.
16. I don't really like to shop. Some days I enjoy shopping, but I HATE trying things on. I usually just buy and return if it doesn't work. This is sort of hard now with kids.
17. I don't know that I have a favorite food. I love anything I didn't have to cook.
18. My favorite color is blue. I think its because I have blue eyes.
19. I met my husband when I was 20. I actually had another boyfriend at the time (only for a week) when I dumped him and Adam asked me on a date like the next day!
20. I have the smartest husband I know. Seriously, Adam is so smart. I just wish I knew more about what he does. I really have no clue. (That sounds bad like I don't care, I really do, its just that electrical engineering really is like a foreign language to me!)
21. Adam and I are big savers. But its paid off. We have no debt at all, except our mortgage. We even bought our last car with cash. It was an amazing feeling!
22. I wasn't a big saver until I met Adam. I actually owed about $800 or so on a credit card when we got married and he paid it off that month. Such a sweet hubbie.
23. When our kids are grown, Adam and I want to travel. Hey we will only be in our late 40's!
24. I am so happy that I have 2 girls. I always wanted a sister (I have 2 brothers). I'm so happy that they will always have each other.
25. Not sure I want anymore kids. But ask me again tomorrow and I might give you a different answer. :)

dentist

Grace had her first visit to the dentist (finally!). Our pediatrician recommended that she go after for her first check up when she turned 2. It only took us 11 months to get there. Really though last year was so busy with having a baby, and moving that the dentist just didn't fit into the equation.

Anyway, she did great! She did everything they asked and got lots of prizes and even an award for having no cavities. Oh and the dentist was great! The office was just for kids so it was decorated all fun and had fun kid stuff. She just loved it. I wished they would have had dentists like that when I was a kid! I mean if I got a sticker, a balloon, a little toy frog, an award, a toothbrust and a cool kiddie flosser I might want to go to the dentist more often than every 6 months. Seriously she got all that!

new

I love new things. Especially my new design! My sweet friend, Lindsay, did it again and didn't disappoint. Don't you love it! You can check out all her other designs here.

Oh and add me to your follow list. If you are a blogger and don't know what this is you need to find out! It's how I stay up-to-date on all my blogs by just following people from my Dashboard page. Anyway, so add me to your list to follow and you will know when I updated and you wont have to come back to check. You will love it just as much as I do!

Thanks again Lindsay! love ya!

videos!

Grace has been able to count to 10 for months now, but we have been working on counting to 20. So far we are to 13. Sometimes she will go from 13 straight to 20... its a work in progress. :)

(She got a little confused when I pointed to a new row and wanted to start over. )

*********************

Emma is little miss busy lately. The other day I caught her playing with the toliet paper. This reminds me so much of when Grace found the tissues! (Wow does Emma look like Grace did!)

projects

I've been busy working on a couple projects.

First is a bow holder for all the bows we have. We love bows. And since I've had all of Grace's bows just hanging on some ribbon for a year I decided to make a little bow holder. I didn't want one of the ones with their initials since I have 2 girls and I keep their bows in a bathroom that they both share. I got the little plaque at the dollar store and then used ribbon I already had... cheap project!!

Up close

Look it matches the polka dots in the shower curtain!

I also decide that our kitchen table needed a face lift. This is a table that my aunt and uncle gave to me when I was a sophomore in college. They had it for about 20 years and I have used it for about 10. And I just really don't want to spend our extra money on a new kitchen table so I decided to paint it black. Totally different, but I really like it.

Before (I had started to sand it when I remembered I needed to take a before pic)

After (well sort of... still in my garage waiting for me to Polyurethane it and push it back together)

I actually think the after picture doesn't give it justice b/c it really is pretty... so I'll post another picture once its back in my kitchen nook.

She qualified

Grace finally had her FIE (Full and Individual Evaluation) this morning. It went well and she definitely qualified for services.

They basically just gave me a summary, and a lot of what she said was in a foreign language (not really... just in speech therapist talk.). I'll receive a formal report of her evaluation in a week or so and then we will have a big meeting to discuss goals, treatment, etc. What I did understand is the main issue is with Grace's articulation... the way she says words. Which wasn't anything new... since she has been working with ECI for the past 4 months.

They are recommending that she goes to speech therapy at a nearby Elementary School twice a week for 1 hour and 45 minutes each time. Honestly, I think it will really be good for her. She LOVES all the fun games they play and was already mimicking the teacher this morning.

Although, it was a little difficult to hear. Who wants to hear that their child failed. But the way I'm trying to look at it is that she just needs a little extra help and by Kindergarten she will hopefully graduate from the program or at the most just be pulled out for a little bit each week.
If anything this will just better prepare her for school and give us tools at home to communicate better with her.

Thanks for your support everyone! We know there could be MUCH worse things to have to worry about and are thankful that our little bump in the road is a small one.

two peas in a pod

I love it. Having two girls is so much fun.

Emma is really into ANYTHING her sister is into. So yesterday morning when I was trying to get ready I saw them both playing nicely with Grace's doll house.

Busy playing

Sharing (this was totally not planned... just looks like Grace gets the Big Sister of the Year award!)

Giving hugs. Grace said "I love my sister" when she was hugging her. Awwww....... just enough to make my heart melt!

scarf anyone?

Okay so if you have been watching The Bachelor or really if you just go to the store you might see these cute women wearing scarfs. Cute, but not for me I thought.

If you know me you know that I'm normally wearing jeans from Gap, a t-shirt from Target and my sneakers. Maybe add the sweatshirt that I wore the day before too. :) I guess typical mom gear. Well now that I'm finally back to size I like I want new clothes. But if you know me you also know that I'm cheap.

So yesterday I ventured off to Belk to buy a new Crock-Pot that was on sale. Long story short they were out of them, and since I was childless I thought I would browse through the women's department. I didn't find anything so I headed to the juniors department. I know I'm 29, but some of the items in the junior department are cute. I brought 6 or so tops to try on and only ended up buying one. One that came with a scarf. I know its like pants that come with a belt. But it was cute and on sale with my 20% off coupon for $15 bucks.

But then I came home and couldn't figure out when I was suppose to wear the scarf... I mean in what kind of weather. Since the shirt was short-sleeve and yellow I thought it was more Springish, but the scarf was clearly more wintery. So I called my friend, Hailey, and she told me I could wear it in mild weather anytime. Just throw a light jacket with it. Cool I though! I'm going to be in style... a first for me!

Anyway, I came home tried the shirt on again and couldn't figure out how to tie the darn thing. Well this morning I started to look and it was like the blogging mamas out there heard me. Here are two videos that you have to check out. HERE and HERE!

Here is a picture of me (in jeans from Gap and t-shirt from Target with my new scarf. I decided the yellow shirt needs to wait until its a little warmer... or just not January.)
Not a fabulous picture since I took it of myself in my bathroom with no flash. OH and I had not showered yet and I still had my makeup on from the night before. Oh well, you get the idea :)

a glimpse

When you are a parent most of the time days just float past you, turning into weeks and months. Time is gauged upon things like x amount of months since they have been walking and x amount time till their next birthday.

Those 9 months that you are pregnant time stands still. It seems to last forever... at least for me it did ... probably because I felt terrible most of the time. But then the baby is born and time races. You blink and your baby is a walking/talking little girl.

But lately I've been getting this little glimpses of Grace (and Emma too, but mainly Grace) as an older child, a teenager (talk about attitude!), and even as an adult (a mother). Just little things that she does. The way she is to her sister (she really is a fabulous big sister!), the way she wants her finger and toenails painted like mommy, or the way she taps her finger to her head and says "think, think, think" when we play the game Memory.

Not really sure the point of the post. But its weird to think that my little baby will one day be older. Until then I'll try to slow down and just enjoy her being little. For now, I'll keep the glimpses of her in the future. And maybe one day I'll be able to share with her all the stories I'm saving up. Today she is my sweet little 35 month old girl. And in a blink she will be THREE.

work

Sometimes Adam works from home. Sometimes its once a week and sometimes it ends up being once a month. But the days he is home we love it.

But I'm afraid he doesn't get as much done... can't imagine why?!

I think he is going to work at the office tomorrow :(