Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year. It was definitely a lot different than last year. Emma loved all of her new toys and books. She got some really great stuff. Santa brought her a bounce and spin zebra. Her legs are a little too short for it but I'm sure she'll be bouncing on it pretty soon. She still loves to sit on it and spin around. She also got a couple of babydolls, books, blocks, a toy box, gift cards, and other great things. She has had so much fun today playing with all this new stuff. Uncle Same got Emma a really cool little giraffe bike. It has a screen that lights up and shows letters, numbers, shapes, and all kinds of learning things. On Christmas eve we went to my mom and dads house as usual and had dinner. Christmas morning we opened up gifts with Emma and then went to my mom and dads house. It was so much fun to see Emma and Cheyenne really get into their presents. I'm looking forward to next year when we have 4 little grandkids all over the place. It should be interesting. After that we came home and Emma took a nap. Then we went to Josh's parents house and had dinner. Emma did wonderful throughout the whole day. I can't wait until next year. I think as Emma gets older, Christmas is going to get more fun every year. I am so mad at myself for forgetting my camera when we went to my mom and dads house. I took some pictures with Katies camera but I don't have them yet, so I'll have to show you them later....or I'm sure Autumn will have some great pictures on her blog.

Aunt Katie gave her this pretty wooden growth chart for her room. Emma is 30 in. now.New toy box from Nana and Papa....my living room is so much cleaner now. :]The cool giraffe bike from Uncle Sam

I was most most excited to give her these little ABC blocks. They are clear all the way around and have the letter on them, and then inside is an object that represents that letter. Some of them are even interactive. They are so cool.

I think Emma's favorite present that we got her was her Backyardigan book. Once we gave her that, she didn't really want to play or open anything else.

Emma's present from Santa- a bounce and spin zebraEmma and her cute little babydoll

Busy Day

Josh and I have gotten so much done today. We had our Christmas tree and all the decorations put away by 10:00 this morning. We got Emma's new toy box put together and her toys organized. I even did about 4 loads of laundry. After Emma's nap we went out to do a little shopping. Josh and I got some new sheets at Kohls with some giftcards that we got yesterday. I'm so excited about having new sheets. We got a great deal on some 800 thread count ones. Then we went to Wal-Mart and got Emma a new CD player for her room. She has always had one that sits on the floor but has recently found that it's fun to open and shut it a thousand times and walk around with the CD. Most nights we turn on the CD player, only to find that the CD is upside down. We were going to mount a shelf in the corner of her room but decided to spend just a little more and go ahead and get a player that mounts on the wall. We got a great one for a good deal so I'm pretty excited about it. Plus, it makes more room on the floor for her to play. While Josh and I were getting the CD player mounted, I walked into the living room and found Emma sitting in her little wagon that her blocks go in. Autumn got it for her birthday and she loves to climb up in it and sit. She was sitting in it and lining her blocks on the window. It was so cute. She also decided she wanted to bounce up and down on the zebra. That was really the first time she has gotten on it by herself. She loved playing on it and smiled so big. She has been so happy today. Is she not the cutest little girl ever?

Snowy Day!

Today was spent inside trying to stay warm. About 12:30 this afternoon it started snowing very heavy. It has continued to snow most of the day. It is so pretty to see and I'm so glad Emma is old enough to realize that something different is going on outside. Once it started snowing really good, I pulled the blinds up from the big window in the living room and Emma sat and smushed her face against the window to see the snow. She sat there for a while and played while she looked out the window. I also took some other pictures of what Emma did today. We are supposed to get more snow tonight, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what we have in the morning. Hopefully we can take Emma out a little bit tomorrow and see the snow.

Every morning after breakfast I always let Emma watch some Backyardigans while I do a few things around the house. She sits so quietly and watches it and I never hear a peep from her. It is nice to have 30 minutes or so to get a few things done.I spent some of the morning getting most of my Christmas presents wrapped. I love wrapping presents. I love using pretty bows and ribbon and making it look really nice.

Emma has been doing a great job of feeding herself just about anything lately. Usually I break everything up into bite size pieces for her but today we though we would try to let her take her own bites. So I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and instead of taking bites, she shoved the whole thing in her mouth. Once I got a picture or two, I immediately had to go in her mouth and get it all out. She is so afraid that someone is going to take her food away.

Here she is looking out the window and playing

This was taken earlier today, we have alot more snow now

Playin' at Nana and Papa's

These pictures are a little late. They were taken last weekend while we were at my mom and dads house. Emma has so much fun playing in the playroom. She is very good at entertaining herself.

Message from Santa!

I just found this really cute awesome website called Portable North Pole. You put in your child's information and a picture and Santa sends them a video. I did one for Emma and FYI Autumn....I also did one for Cheyenne. They are so cute. Emma won't have a clue what she is looking at but this would be great for older kids. Go to this website and just send the info.

http://portablenorthpole.tv/home

Happy 26th Anniversary!

Today is my mom and dad's 26th Anniversary. I am so proud and happy for them. They are one of the most perfect couples I have ever seen. They just fit together so well. I love you mom and dad! Happy Anniversary. Wishing you many many more years together.

A Christmas Tradition

This year Josh and I decided to start a new Christmas tradition. Every year after Thanksgiving we are going to take Emma and Ryleigh to Hallmark and let them pick out their own ornament to put on our tree. Then once they grow up and move into their own house we will let them take all of their ornaments for their first tree. I am really excited about this new tradition and I think it will be so much fun to do as a family every year. By the time we made it to the Hallmark store this year there wasn't a whole lot to choose from. But we got one that we love. I'm looking forward to next year when Emma can pick out her own all by herself. So here is Emma's 1st Christmas ornament!

AWESOME News!!!

I guess I spoke too soon when I blogged about the restriction on people under 18 year olds not being allowed in the hospital. I found out this morning that as of this past Monday, the ban was lifted. There is a chance that the rule might be put in place again if they see more of the H1N1 virus but as of now, there hasn't been enough cases in the hospital or community to have the rule. I am so excited. I really want Emma to be there to see Ryleigh and also so I can visit with her everyday. This made all of my anxiety go away....atleast for now!

Christmas Quiz!!

Since Christmas is my all time favorite holiday...here is a little Christmas Quiz!





1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Even though I love egg nog, I can only drink about 2 or 3 sips because it's so sweet and strong, so I think my favorite is hot chocolate....but I only like it made with milk....not water.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?they sit under the tree. how are you supposed to sneak into the living room to see what Santa left if they are wrapped?

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?Growing up, we always had colored lights. But since Josh and I got married, we have had white lights on our tree. Since we live in a condo, we can't decorate the outside, but when we get a house, watch out! I'm sure Josh and I will go crazy decorating.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?No....mainly, because I just don't have any.

5. When do you put your decorations up? The day after Thanksgiving!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?I don't think I have a favorite.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Waking up with Katie at 2 or 3 in the morning, crawling into the living room to see what Santa left. I can even remember one year when we stayed up all night playing with what Santa left. Mom and dad never had a clue.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? well, sooner or later I think you just figure it out.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Not usually. I like to open everything on Christmas.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?We use white lights and ornaments that I have bought over the years. When I got married I had a ton of Hallmark ornamnents that I bought in the past years when they went on sale after Christmas.

11. Snow. Love it or dread it? LOVE IT!! I just wish we could get more.

12. Can you ice skate?I've ice skated 2-3 times. I did an ok job then, but that was many years ago. I don't know how good I would be at it now. I'm looking forward to taking Emma and Ryleigh when they get older.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift ever? I don't think I really have a favorite.

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Number 1 is making sure that I remember the reason for the holidays. Number 2 is spending time with my family!

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? I love the homemade Christmas candy that my mom makes.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?I love decorating the tree when its dark outside and most of the lights are off except the tree. Then we play christmas music while we decorate. It really puts me in Christmas spirit.

17. What tops your tree? an angel

18. Do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving. I could care less if I get a think for Christmas. But I would spend every dime I had to get someone something special for Christmas. I love seeing the smiles of peoples faces when they open up a gift.

19. Candy canes: Yuck or yum? yummmm..I love the Spree flavored ones.

20. Favorite Christmas show? I love the movie Christmas with the Kranks...I could watch it all day long.

21. Saddest Christmas song? Christmas shoes...it makes me cry everytime.

22.Christmas Shopping....love it or hate it? HATE it. I usually try to order everything online. I hate everything about christmas shopping...the crowds, the rude people, you can't even look around because you are always running into people. That's probably the only thing I hate about Christmas.

Ok, now I tag Katie J. and Katie K.!!!

A Date and Anxiety

First off, my c-section has been scheduled for

March 13, 2010 at 7:30 a.m.

I will be exactly 39 weeks on March 13th. The hospital will not allow any doctor to schedule a c-section if the patient is less than 39 weeks. No one, including my doctor, seems to think that I will make it to 39 weeks but I guess little miss Ryleigh will let us know when she is ready. I imagine that I will probably go into labor and just have to go to the hospital and have a c-section then. As long as she gets here safe and sound, that's all that matters to me. I think now that we have set a date, it seems so much closer. Ryleigh will be here before we know it.

The closer it gets, the more anxiety I've been feeling. Believe it or not, the only thing that I think about and the only thing that bothers me, is not seeing Emma. The hospital now has a policy that no one under the age of 18 is allowed in the hospital because of flu season. So Emma will not be allowed to come see me or baby Ryleigh. We will have to wait until we get home. I completely understand why this rule is in place, but I just HATE it. With a c-section, I have to stay in the hospital for 3 nights, 4 days. 4 days!!! I have never even been away from Emma for a day, especially not 4 days. I don't know how I'm going to do it. I am supposed to be happy about having another baby and enjoy the first few days with Ryleigh, but all I can think about is how much I'm going to miss Emma. I know that she isn't going to forget who I am, but I just don't want her to think that I'm never coming back. I'm hoping that it will work out to where Josh can spend some time during the day with her and maybe a night at home too. But after having a c-section, I have to have someone with me, because I literally can't get out of bed or walk by myself. I definitely do not want to be left alone and it's alot easier for me to let Josh help me to the bathroom than someone else....ya know....since he's my husband and everything. :] I guess we'll just have to wait and see what we can work out when the time comes though. I'm just really sad that I have to be away from Emma so long and that she has to wait to meet her baby sister.

Emma's Christmas Pictures

Ryleigh-26 Weeks!

This past Friday, I went to the doctor for a check-up. We also did another ultrasound so that they could look at her heart. When I went for my anatomy ultrasound at 18 weeks, she moved around too much so they tried to get everything else on friday. She looked perfect and healthy. She is definitely an active little baby though. Everything else went fine. I did the 1 hour glucose test. I should hear back about that on Monday, but I'm not really worried about it. They also stuck my finger and found out that my hemoglobin was really low, so my doctor gave me some pills that I have to take everyday. I wasn't surprised that is was low. I always have really low iron levels and I also had to take some pills when I was pregnant with Emma too. I also was supposed to schedule my c-section. We picked a date, but I have to wait on confirmation from my doctor first. The lady didn't call me back on Friday, so I hope to hear from her tomorrow. I'll let you all know when I find out. I now start going to the doctor every 2 weeks. My next appointment is on Christmas eve.

Breakfast with Santa!

This year, we decided to take Emma to "breakfast with Santa". Every year Murphy in the Morning on 107.5 does this as a fundraiser for his charity called "Murphy's Kids". This year it was at Tripps Restaurant. We had a buffet breakfast and then were able to visit with Santa. It worked out really well too. I can't imagine standing in a line, trying to entertain Emma at the mall or Friendly Center. We ate first and then we waited about 3 or 4 minutes in line to see Santa. Plus, it was to support a really good cause. Emma did pretty good with Santa this year. She got a little scared and fussy at first but I think that was our fault for trying to sit her on his lap. Once Josh held her beside him, she was fine......we should have done that from the start. It was a lot of fun though. We got to speak with Katie, Josh, and even Jack for a minute. Unfortunetly, I didn't get any pictures of any of them. We were able to take our own pictures of Emma with Santa and they also took pictures too. They put them up on their website and then you can download them. As of this morning, they aren't up yet. So once they post them, I'll be sure to add some more pictures. I only got a few with my camera and they aren't that good. So I'm hoping they got a better one of her. Although the restaurant was crowded, it went very smoothly and I'm really glad we went this year. I'm hoping we can do it again next year.

15 Month Check-Up

Today I took Emma to see Dr. Lowe for her 15 month check-up. She did great. Once we got there, the nurse took all of her measurements and then the doctor came in to see her. I was a little concerned about some diaper rash that I couldn't get cleared up. It has been there for about a week now, but never seemed to fully go away. Well today, I found out that she has a small yeast infection. So I picked up some cream after her appointment that should help her. Emma also has another tooth poking through. Dr. Lowe said she looked great and we will go back when she's 18 months. She got 4 shots today too and did great with those. She cried for a few seconds and then was fine. Once we got home, she ate some lunch and then took a little bit over a 2 hour nap. I can't believe my little girl is getting so big.

15 months:

22lbs 11 oz-50th percentile

29 3/4 in. tall-50th percentile

Size 3 diapers

mostly 12 month or 12-18 month clothes

size 4 shoe

Poor Baby...atleast gettin' shots is a good excuse to rock some hello kitty bandaids. :]Ta-Da!

While we waited for the doctor....all she wanted to do is play with the tylenol bottle and mommy's sunglasses

24 Weeks!

This past Saturday made 24 weeks for me and Ryleigh. Time is slowly starting to fly by. The first part of the pregnancy went by slow but I guess now that we are so busy and the holidays are here, it's going by faster. As expected, things are a lot different with Ryleigh than they were with Emma. I thought that being pregnant and chasing a toddler around was going to kill me, but so far, I'm doing pretty good. Emma is a pretty independent little girl. She likes to be by herself and she is very laid back. My back is hurting by the end of the day from running around and picking her up but other than that, it hasn't really been as hard as I thought it would be. Josh and I are slowly making preparations for Ryleigh's arrival. We have the girls' room all painted and the toddler bed and crib in there. I completely rearranged the closet so that there is plenty of room for both of them. There are still a few things I want to do in their room, but for now, it's done. A few weeks ago, I ordered two bottles that we will be using. They aren't available in the Babies R Us store near us, but I wanted to make sure we liked them before we are started buying too many. So I got two bottles and also the set of pacis. We really like the bottles and think they are going to be perfect. I guess we will just have to wait and see if Ryleigh likes them. As I went through all of Emma's baby stuff, I realized that we don't really need much. I almost feel like I'm forgetting something. I can remember when I was pregnant with Emma, I filled up a whole page of stuff that we needed. I think the only issue I'm going to run into is that they won't be able to wear the same clothes. I had to get rid of a bunch of Emma's clothes because they were the wrong season. About a month ago, I made a checklist of everything I wanted to get done around the house before March. It was a pretty long list and I'm proud to say that we only have about 3 or 4 things left on it. We have been working our butts off every weekend trying to get a few projects done. It has mostly been cleaning out stuff and taking a bunch of things to Goodwill. I think I took 8 bags in one day a few weeks ago. It's crazy to think we had that much stuff laying around. But I'm a very clutter-free person. [my mom would laugh at that because I used to get fussed at daily when I lived at home for how messy my room was] But now, I'm all about having less stuff and making the most out of the room we have. I kind of got off on a different subject,......but now, back to Ryleigh. She is really a kicker. She kicks hard and she makes herself known. Just like with Emma, I have continous heartburn. I have to take a Zantac everyday before I even think about laying down or sleeping. It's horrible and it hurts, but there's not much I can do about it. Luckily, the zantac usually helps. I am still not gaining much weight. I think right now I'm down about 22 or 23 pounds pre-pregnancy. Sometimes I have an appetite but other times, I just don't feel like eating or I eat 1/3 of something and am full. I have a doctor's appointment next friday for my glucose test, ultrasound, and I am pretty sure I will be scheduling my c-section that day too. How exciting it that? It makes it seem so much closer. It's weird to be picking a day to have a baby. I mean is their really a bad day or good day? But it makes it easier when making sure that Emma is taken care of during those 4 days. So I guess for right now, there's not a whole lot going on. The pregnancy is going great and every day is one day closer to meeting our baby Ryleigh.

Made by My Mom!

I can't even explain to you all how excited I am. Last night, my mom gave me her nativity set. You see, she hand-painted this set back in 1993. She used to put it up every year for Christmas. She hasn't been able to put it up at her house for a number of years because she just doesn't have the room for it. It takes up a lot of room. My mom loves this set and is very proud of it. She said I never would have gotten it if she would have had somewhere to put it, but she wants it to be displayed and said that I could put it up at my house. We have the perfect place for it. Above our fireplace, we have a nook that I've only sat picture frames at. So for now, I took those down and put this up. It looks awesome. My mom did such a great job and you can definitely tell that it took her a long time. I am so grateful to have something so special to my mom and something that she made. Thanks mom. I love you.

the whole set

camels

the 3 wise men