Holiday Weekend :)

I just finished up my call-week at work, and it actually went really well. It was one of the best call weeks I have ever had, so that was nice.

I had Thursday and Friday off, which I enjoyed every minute of. I got caught up with things at home and enjoyed spending some quality time with Emma.

On Friday, Emma sort of broke my heart a little. I had planned to have her stay home with me all day and play the day away, but once John started getting ready to go to work, Emma wanted her coat and shoes on, and she wanted to go to daycare. I love the fact that she loves daycare so much, but it's sad to think about how fast she is growing up and how independent she is getting!

So, I enjoyed some time to myself on Friday, and then I went and picked her up a little early from daycare and we headed to the mall. We went to Xcite, which is where kids can play in multiple inflatable jump houses. Emma was a little unsure of this, I think she's a little too young for it, but it was worth a try.

We did some shopping around for my work Secret Santa, and then we had a snack break, and headed home.

I had to work on Saturday, and it was the SLOWEST Saturday I have every worked. Usually, we are really busy on Saturdays, and sometimes we put in 20 hour days, but we had a lot of down time on Saturday, so we walked over to the Prairie Center, which was hosting A Festival of Trees.

There were decorated trees (which were auctioned off and bought the night before with the proceeds going to some kind of fundraiser), hot cocoa, santa, and cookies. It was fun to walk around and look at everything, and it was a nice way to move the day along.

Then, John surprised me and showed up at my work with Emma. So, we trekked back over to the Prairie Center so Emma could meet Santa. Emma has never met Santa before, and I pretty much knew it would be a disaster, but I thought we better at least try.

Emma didn't even try to like it. She just freaked out. Wailed and screamed until I took her off of Santa's lap. We are going to Breakfast with Santa in a couple weeks, so hopefully it will go better then.

This could be a fun Christmas card, am I right?

We also just wandered around looking at Christmas trees again, killing time...

The rest of my shift went really well, I was home by 7 and stayed home all night. Today, we went to church, and then had a nice lazy Sunday at home as a family. Emma had a great day. She was happy, giggly, and just fun to be around. She is finally starting to talk a little more as well. She can now say "ball", "uh-oh", "hi", "mom-mom" "dada" and "nigh-nigh". It's so cute to hear her talk more.

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. I had oodles of family time (which I love) and a great week of work. I look forward to all the family time in store for us this week with Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Week Everyone!!!

Emma and Mommy's Weekend

So, John is over in West River hunting deer, so Emma and I have the weekend to ourselves. We had a really fun day together, and we didn't even leave the house.

Emma decided to wake up at 0600, which was awesome. Not really. But we had breakfast and then Emma ran around and played until she pooped out. Then both Emma and I took a 2 hour nap, which was glorious!

After lunch, we continued to just play the day away in the house. Emma was in a great mood, and it was so much fun to just have a relaxing day with her. After her afternoon nap, the sun decided to peek out and it was 52 degrees out, so I decided we would burn off some energy outside.

It was nice out, and we spent a good hour soaking up some nice weather before winter is officially here. I picked up our soggy pumpkins and dead outdoor plants and put them in the garbage, and put a few other outdoor things away for the season.

Emma had a blast being able to run around outside.

Once we got a little chilly, we headed back inside. We faced timed with Grandma Patty for a half hour and then had some supper.  After a bath, and some more running around, Emma passed out for good at around 7:30 pm.

I miss my husband, but it was a fun day with my little peanut, and I love days like this. Tomorrow I plan to take Emma to church by myself, so that might be interesting. Other than that, we might watch some football and have some more quality time together.

I had a great day with Emma, but it wouldn't break my heart if she slept until 7-7:30 am...

Happy Saturday night everyone!!!

17 Months

I haven't done one of these blogs in a while, but Emma is 17 months old today (Holy crap.). She is at such a fun age right now, but she is starting to test us at times, those terrible twos aren't too far away.

Emma's gross motor skills are coming along really well. She just runs all over the place, constantly. It's amazing how good she has gotten at getting from point A to point B. And kinda scary. There's no keeping tabs on her now.

Her fine motor skills are going really well too. She does not say too many words yet though. She says "mom-mom-mom" "dada" "ball" and "hi". And that's about it. She understands a lot more than she says, but I am anxious for her to be able to communicate more with us.

Emma's likes

-Her latest thing is to bring a book or a toy over, to turn around with her butt towards us and then plop down in our lap to look at the book with us. Cutest. Thing. Ever.

-Pacifier (This has finally been limited to bedtime only. Most of the time it NEVER even leaves the crib. Once in a while we accidentally leave it laying on the counter, and Emma will see it and then think she needs it, but otherwise it is for bedtime only. Thank God.)

-Being outside (This is tough this time of year. Emma loves to be outside, and sometimes she gets down right crabby if we don't let her go outside when it's freezing out. I already can't wait until summer.)

-Bathtime- Emma still absolutely loves bath time. Splashing, playing, squealing, and laughing usually always happens during bath time. And she gets mad when it's time to come out.

-Food. Emma likes to eat, just about anything. She's gotten really good with fruits and veggies, she still loves mosts kinds of meat. And we gave her her first chocolate at Halloween, and she sure thought that was great! She has a good appetite and usually eats really well for us. But lately, when she is done (or feeling naughty) she will start throwing her food on the floor. Not cool.

-Bedtime. I don't know if this is really a "like", but bedtime has gotten so easy around here. Once Emma starts acting tired (usually around 8:00 pm) we give Emma her pacifier and lay her in her crib. That is all. She usually rolls right over to her side, doesn't make a peep, and passes right out. It is heavenly. And she sleeps until 7-7:30 am. I am loving getting my sleep again. It's going to be tough to go back to sleepless nights with baby #2 someday, not that that's happening anytime soon mind you.

-Mommy. Emma is such a momma's girl. There is no question who she will choose between me and John. And sometimes she will freak out if John takes her away from me.  I think it's just a phase, and it makes me feel really good that she wants me so bad, but I feel bad for John when Emma screams at him sometimes. When just John and Emma are together she does just fine, it's when I am around that Emma really shows her favoritism.

-Books. Emma can look at books all day. Okay, maybe not all day, but she loves books. And she will "read" books to herself out loud which is adorable. She especially likes her books that make noise.

-Being tickled. Cutest Giggle Ever!!

-Music. Emma loves to dance anytime music comes on. Sometimes she moves her arms, other times she tilts her head from side to side.

Emma's Dislikes

-Being changed/having to hold still. She doesn't like to have her diaper changed or to be dressed at all. She does okay with it, but gets fussy and antsy towards the end because she wants to be able to run around.

-Being told "no". She understands this word, and when she points to something or does something and we say "no", she instantly starts crying and carrying-on. It usually doesn't last too long, especially if we can distract her with something else. But throwing fits is Emma's new trick, and John and I are not impressed.

-New people. It takes Emma a while to warm up to new faces, which is completely normal at this age.

Overall, Emma is such a happy little toddler, and I feel so blessed to be her mommy. I have her to myself this entire weekend because John is hunting out in west river, so I am looking forward to some high quality mother-daughter bonding time. I haven't quite decided what we are all going to do, but it will be fun!

I will leave you with some pictures of Emma and me from tonight! Have a great weekend everyone!

Emma: The destructor

This is what she does, empties everything out of everything. Cute, but tiresome. 

Selfie with a one-year-old: Not easy. 

Tickles. 

Girls Day :)

Well, another week has flown by. I am finally feeling 100% and I finished my antibiotics, so I am finally healthy! Emma has stayed healthy as well (knock on wood). She just cut another tooth, so she has been really snotty, and coughing some at night because of all the snot, and also a little crabby due to the teething.

I worked on Sunday, so I have had Monday and today off, which has been amazing!! Yesterday, Emma went to daycare for a while so I could sleep in, clean the house, and then run to the mall and get my hair cut along with some other errands. Then I picked Emma up and we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening together.

Today, I kept Emma home with me all day, and we had a blast! Daylight savings time has messed Emma up, so she got up right at 6:00 am, and we had some breakfast and played the morning away. After her morning nap, we went to the public library near our house for Lapsit. Lap sit is a reading program for 6 month olds to 24 months olds. We read books, sang songs, and then played with toys. Emma did really well and had a good time.

After the library, we went to KFC for lunch, and Emma ate an entire kids meal. She's growing up so fast!!!

Finally, we stopped at the mall. I broke down and bought some Santa PJ's for Emma as well as an adorable sweater outfit. Since Emma  was behaving so well, I let her burn some energy off in the play area in the mall. We spent a good 45 minutes or so in that area, and Emma was just having the time of her life.

Once Emma started getting crabby (AKA ready for her nap) we bolted out of there. I made a quick stop at Bath and Body works for some Holiday scented hand soap (I am already getting in the holiday spirit, and I LOVE it!!). Then we headed for home.

Emma passed out on the car ride home, and didn't even wake up when I changed her diaper before laying her down. She was wore out!! Right now, she continues to nap away, and I am enjoying the quite with a nice cup of coffee and my feet up.

I really enjoyed my day off with Emma, I live for days like this :)

First Snowfall

So, it snowed today. Or rather, it is snowing, as it continues to accumulate outside. I'm definitely not ready for full-on winter with the freezing cars, snow blowing, poor driving conditions, and of course the bitter bitter cold, but I kind of liked today's snow.

It was a pretty snow, and Emma sure thought it was great. I stood outside with her for a little bit and she just looked at it in awe, and then tried to catch some on her little palm, it was adorable. Then she would giggle. I love firsts with Emma. I mean she saw snow last winter, but she was too little to really enjoy it, so it's like the first time all over again.

I didn't work today, so I got some extra time with Emma today since I didn't get to see her much over the weekend with my being so sick. On that front, I feel much better, but have 5 days of antibiotics to finish yet, but hopefully we are all out of the woods, and I hope Emma stays healthy :)

Emma has been doing really well lately, but she gets so tired so fast. Usually, she only makes it until about 7-7:30 for bedtime, however with Daylight Savings Time, 6:00pm feels like 10:00 so I can barely blame the poor kid. But she sleeps all night, and usually doesn't get up until around 7, so I can't ask for much more than that!!

I had a great day off hanging out with Emma and now it's back to work tomorrow, and I have to work call later this week, Boo.

Here are a couple Emma pictures to leave you with :)

Only 16 months old, and I already get this look. Uh-oh. 

Halloween Sickness...

Well, for once it wasn't Emma that was sick, it was me...

I love Halloween, and I got sick on Halloween day and didn't feel better until yesterday (Sunday). I was miserable. I went home early from work, and then stayed home from work on Friday. I had the chills, sweats, aches, nausea, and one heck of a sore throat.

I missed out on all the Halloween festivities, and Emma had such a good time. Not fair. My sister, Rachel, came to town for a couple days for Halloween and John's parents came Halloween evening to spent time to Emma.

They took Emma trick-or-treating to a few houses and she did really well I guess. They said she would walk to the door, squeal and get all excited when seeing the other kids, and she would not let go of her trick-or-treating bag of candy, no matter what! I guess it was adorable, I wouldn't know, I was laying on a couch somewhere feeling like death.

I am so bummed I missed a Holiday with Emma. I already work so many Holidays and weekends and miss things that way, that it sucks entirely to miss them for being sick.

It was nice to have the extra help while I was sick though, I could focus on getting rest and getting better while Rachel watched Emma.

On Friday, Rachel watched Emma all day, and I went to the doctor, and they discovered I had strep throat. They didn't even give me a strep test, they could just tell by looking in my throat. My doctor said "That is one of the worst throats I have ever seen..." Great...

My parents came to town Friday afternoon for a visit since they hadn't seen Emma (or us) in a while. So, once again I had good babysitters while I spent most of the day in bed. They all went out to eat Friday evening while I went back to bed. I didn't really eat anything for the three days I felt like absolute crap, I think I lost about 3 pounds, but not a diet plan I would recommend...

Saturday I was still feeling crummy, the antibiotics hadn't kicked in yet, so it was another day of resting and not doing a whole lot. My mom helped clean the house while she was here and everyone helped watch and take care of Emma. I appreciated all the help while I was sick, but I wasn't a very good host, that's for sure.

I finally started feeling like a human being again on Sunday. We went out for lunch to PepperJax (I finally had an appetite again!!) and we walked around Scheels for a while too. It was nice to get out of the house after 3 days of being cooped up. We did just have a lazy Sunday after that in preparation for another week of work.

Man, I haven't had strep throat in years, and I forgot how much it sucks! And then I was paranoid because I did not want to give it Emma- so far so good on that one. I guess only time will tell. It was a bummer to miss a fun holiday, but at least I had the weekend to completely recover before going back to work.

Sorry for the lack of Halloween pictures, but I obviously didn't take any and apparently neither did John, so we have no photos of Halloween. How sad...

Hope everyone else had a super Halloween and stay healthy :)