Maw Maw & Pop's House

Every weekend we go to my parents' house. It's nice to have our family together for dinner, play with Cameron and they adore Emersyn. Normally we bring the puppies with us... Molly, their Golden Retriever, had surgery a few weeks back and couldn't be too active so we had to leave them home a couple weeks. It was so much easier, that we've kind of been slacking and not bringing them even though Molly's better. Part of the reason is that Emersyn can really get on the ground and play...

I have the best video of her today with this bunny that my mom has... Unfortunately, it takes a whole evening for our videos to upload to youtube, so you have to wait for that. Instead you get a couple pictures of Emersyn with Molly! :) (the video is coming though!)What a way to end February!! snapfish :: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3398718009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

da da da da

The week of snow pretty much solidified the idea to Chris and I that Emersyn's first word would definitely be "mama"... I mean, the child would just yell/cry/scream/say "mmmaaaahhh" or "mmmuuuuaaaa" or such the whole time. And she would look at me while doing it - whether she was in the exersaucer, Daddy's arms, on the floor playing, in her swing, in her high chair... all the time! But somehow, we've lost that sound completely and now all she says is "dadadadadada". There's a few other sounds that she'll put in there, like she's telling "dada" all this stuff, but basically it's all "dada" all the time.

The funny part is, that I am "dada"! Yeah. Emersyn will look at me, put her arms out and just "da da da dddaaaa" away. If Daddy's holding her, she still "da da"s to me. Crying, fussing, hungry, tired, playing, or just wanting a little more attention all result in trying to come to Mommy while calling "da da da..."! Oh, and tell Birdie that I am "mama" just makes her laugh and say "da da da" with a bigger smile. Let Daddy take Mommy's place for a second (usually so Mommy can pee) though, and she'll lean around or push Daddy out of the way to watch Mommy leave while calling after me "da da dadddaaa" in this sad little voice. And the Mommy phase is in full swing... not just with calling me Dada all the time, but having to have me with her. If I walk out of the room, she starts to fuss ("da da da") for a minute; if I walk in the room, no matter what she's doing or how content she is with doing it, Emersyn starts to fuss ("aahh da da da") and reach for me.

Don't get me wrong, I love that Emersyn loves me and wants me. I don't want to complain about it since I know, all too soon, she won't want anything to do with Mommy... I just wish she would want Daddy every once in a while, or at least, go back to actually calling me "mama" or "muah"! LOL!

Anyways, the biscuits are still a huge hit and going strong. Emersyn only gets one (if that) a day, so they're a special treat... the sippy cups aren't really that popular, but she uses it a little bit.

*cookie face**yup, Dobie is seriously resting his head on my sholder**a little blurry because some pup was making us shake and Chris couldn't stop laughing about it**feb snapfish album* http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3398718009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Sears Pictures

Well I picked the Sears pictures up today... I know we posted them already since we got the cd this month, but I figured I'd post a couple of our favorites again. We've decided to do the cd every month so that we not only get all of the pictures on the cd, but we get really nice prints for our family. Although, this month we did one of the collages (we had a coupon for a free one) and the lab didn't print it out. I didn't realize that until I got home though, so now we have to call and have them print it out for us. Anyways, here's some of our favorites (again) and the link to them on snapfish... (this months sears pictures)http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3451878009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/ (this month's pictures) http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3398718009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Biscuits & Sippy Cups

With all the drama yesterday about the house, I forgot this...

Emersyn actually stayed awake on the ride home from daycare yesterday, so I put her in the high chair so that I could do dinner. Normally, she's crashed out so Birdie just goes in her swing while I cook. To keep her entertained, I decided to take the Pediatrician up on introducing the sippy cup and a biter/teething biscuit.

After a few confusing minutes, I learned that Daddy drank all of the baby's applejuice, so Emersyn just got a little water this time. There's a couple videos that I'm loading up to youtube so you won't get them for a few days, but the pictures are fabulous...

One side note, we went through 3 - yes three - sippy cups before we found one that worked (for Mommy too). The biscuits on the other hand, they were a huge hit from the very second Emersyn touched it!

*yyuuuummm biscuit**yes, yes she is actually trying to get the sippy cup and the biscuit in her mouth at the same time**next time, we'll have a bib on... we've learned the hard way*

february snapfish :: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3398718009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

WTF?!?!?!

Ok so after work today, Chris went straight to "the new house" (yes, yes we are calling it that now and we don't care what you say - it's ours!) to meet with the contractor who works with the selling agent. It was supposed to be a meeting so that we could see exactly what this guy is charging us for with his 6-grand quote even though the appraisal estimated only 3-grand for all the work to be done... we've been pretty sure that we're using our own GC anyways, but we were still going to give this guy a shot.

Yeah, only Chris pulled up to find 4 trucks in our driveway (which at least means that the 10 foot mound of snow is gone), the front door open/unlocked, and guys MUDDING! Yeah, MUDDING!!! I mean, they're on thier little stilt things mudding the fricking ceiling!! First off, the work was not supposed to start until we said so. Secondly, we hadn't even agreed to use this contractor. Thirdly, we wanted to have the mold inspection done before any of the holes got patched. Forthly, they just covered the fricking ceiling with quarter inch sheetrock instead of patching the holes in it and doing the texture thing to blend it in like they were supposed to. Fifthly, this dude didn't even the list of stuff from the appraisal of what exactly was supposed to be fixed! Oh yeah, we're PISSED!!!

I mean, it's nice that there's power in the house, but WTF?!?!?! Chris called Johnny right away and heard Johnny curse for the first time... we've only ever heard any emotion (very angry) from Johnny once in this whole process, so hearing him actually use profanity says how unhappy he is with the situation. He's trying now to get ahold of the selling agent - Brett Johnson, for the record - to have all the worked stopped and figure out what happened. I mean, Johnny has been very honest with us and has told us that he was very, very, very specific in all the details of how we wanted everything to go.

Come to find out this contractor is a long time friend of Brett Johnson's. We're all pretty sure that this is a little thing they do - Brett has people who are not that into home repairs or whatever and he refers this GC buddy to them, who then over charges them like crazy and they all benefit, and it's all done before the home buyers even know better. Needless to say, we will not be paying for any of the work that has been done on the house.

Why can't things just be not so hard for once?!?!

Wellness Check & Vaccinations

Yesterday we took Emersyn to the doctor's for her 6 month wellness check and round of vaccinations. I hate the shots and it seriously pains me to see them do it... but I was sooooo proud of The Bird - she screamed like crazy with all 4 shots (yeah 4 shots) and, after about a minute and a half, just stopped and cuddled up to Mommy. She's such a little trooper! Oh, and the reason there was 4 shots this time is because she had the 2 normal vaccination shots (with one oral vaccine) and then she had the seasonal flu shot and the h1n1 shot. We have to go back for a nurse's visit to get the follow up flu shots in a month - 23 March - but we don't go back for more vaccinations or a wellness check until she's 9 months.

Here's how Birdie measured up this time ::
weight - 16 lbs even - 50th percentile
height - 26 1/4 inches - 70th percentile
She's gone up in weight, which is really great, and slowed down in height. Basically, Emersyn's starting to even out and is very healthy.

Dr. Hill is very, very happy with Emersyn's development too. Bird's a little ahead of the game with standing/walking, but perfect with the beginnings of a crawler. She kicks her feet like she's walking when she's on her belly, which Dr. Hill says is one of the more progressed signs of a crawler-beginning. Emersyn had a real blast with the paper covering the exam table too... as she pulled, riped and tried to eat the pieces, Bird showed the answer to most of Dr. Hill's questions. And I swear we need to get a roll of this stuff because Emersyn was happier than a pig in shit every time she'd get a piece off or move the the whole paper to her!! I guess it helps that it's a different texture than she's used too and it makes a crunchy noise when you touch it...

Since Emersyn's so grown up and doing so well with everything, we get to introduce new special treats now. It's just a little bit of water in a sippy cup or, occassionally, a little apple juice and a teething/biter biscuit as a snack once or twice a day, but it's a huge step for the baby. Plus, we were both surprised to learn that Emersyn is a good bit ahead of the game in the sleeping department! Although she's still getting up once a night for a few ounces of her bottle, the fact that she goes a solid 9 hours on average is above the curve for her age... we thought we were a little behind there, but we're actually doing really great!

We didn't get any pictures earlier like normal for her doctor's visits, but this is what vaccinations do to Emersyn...

Squash!!

Yesterday, we added the next new food to Emersyn's list... Squash!! Of course, we were at my parents' house (like every Sunday) and we forgot our camera. And, naturally, because we didn't have the camera for the first time, Emersyn actually reacted to the new food! Ugh, it was really funny too. She would take a bite, scrunch her face up as she "chewed" it up, and then reach for the spoon with her mouth wide open for another bite, only to repeat the same thing again! Oh, and her new thing is to say "ah" or "yum" sounds when she opens her mouth. Normally, they start out all cute with this little voice, but if you don't move quick enough, Bird gets this deep, grunting noise while still making the same sound!

We gave her squash for dinner again tonight (and will for the week, before giving her another new food), so we got a little video and a couple pictures... The reaction wasn't nearly as good as her initial one yesterday, but you can see a hint of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_private?v=N48PvZLuvvA&sharing_token=FMDM0WiLxhec6zbNWwcssw

First Day

It's Emersyn's first day on B-Side at daycare... she's officially a little mover and I can't say she's a newborn any more...

Emersyn's first day at daycare, 5 October 09...

Now, so big, her first day on B-Side...You can see why she's moving to the "movers side"... she's trying to get a puppy, by the way...

Last Day with Newborns

Today is Emersyn's last day on A-Side at daycare... she's officially going over the wall to B-Side with the other movers. It's just so crazy to me that Emersyn's that big already. I mean, I know people are always saying it and that she's only 6 months old so we have a long way to go, but time really does just fly by. It sounds so silly, but I already feel like my baby's all grown up!!

*last day with the newborns at daycare**kind of random picture of Emersyn in one of Kristy's outfits*

New...

Ok, so when Chris told me that our realtor said he'd "have the contract on Wednesday", what he really meant was that Johnny said he's "hoping to have the contract on Wednesday, but that it could take a week or little more". We did talk to Johnny and he's not worried about; apparently the hard part is over and a couple days off for the contract to get to us isn't a big deal. We are going to try and get back in the house this weeked to get some more measurements though... Chris did a good job the first time, but forgot to get the measurements of where the windows/doors/closets actually are in the rooms, which makes planning things a little harder. LOL!

Also, here's a new video of Emersyn! This is from the 16th (Tuesday), and she's playing with her new favorite toy... She really likes pushing that top and has now started trying to get the balls out with her mouth as she's pushing the top!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_private?v=GGIaM7PH5zs&sharing_token=fKUEDzLcxCxI1RdD0ATN6g

Over the Wall

Emersyn's daycare has 4 baby rooms - not only separated by age, but also by what stage each baby is in. New borns are in "a side" until they start sitting up alone, rolling, maybe getting ready to crawl... then they go over the wall (the 3 foot-ish divider they use to split the large room) to "b side" where they have new activities and toys to stimulate and help them learn while crawling, rolling, beginning to stand/walk. After that it's over to "c side" and then "d side" until she's out of the baby rooms altogether.

That being said, you can understand why I'm a little sad that Ms. Barabra told me this afternoon that Emersyn will most likely be going over the wall on Monday. Bird is now not only the oldest in "a side" but she's also getting very active - sitting up and rolling a lot. With more than two teeny tiny newborns in her room, it's time to move her over where she can be a little mover without bulldozing over the immobile babies. It's a great system, and a really big reason we chose this daycare... And, of course, I'm so super happy that Emersyn's developing and learning and growing... It's just that, well, it's going really fast! I was not prepared for time to fly by so quickly and for her to become a person instead of my baby this quick!

Anyways, on a kind of related note, Emersyn has a itty bitty tooth peeking out. It's not really here yet, but you can just see a little white thing in the corner of her mouth. Not that I actually know what I'm talking about, but I'm guessing within the week we'll officially see her first tooth! I tried to get a picture of the little piece you can see, but every time my finger came anywhere close to her mouth she stuck her tongue out... plus she likes the camera (it's shiny) so getting it that close to her resulted in a few blurry pictures of her hands tangled with my hands tangled with her feet (which she also tries tograb with) with an occassional speck of her tongue in there!

So instead of those pictures, here's the video of Emersyn getting applesauce for the first time on Monday (15th) ::

http://www.youtube.com/watch_private?v=lv6Gaq5Bcds&sharing_token=f72pYQw5aA59OQqniVYwTw

Separation Anxiety

Seriously, today I totally had separation anxiety. I know that it's not supposed to be the Mommy who gets it, but after more than a week straight with Birdie I can't help it! I think it wouldn't have been so hard today if things would have went a little better yesterday... See, we didn't want to drag her in and out of the stores, unbundling and rebundling her, worrying about feeding her around the furniture in the stores. So we took her to daycare for a couple hours instead. When we dropped her off, Emersyn cried like crazy. I felt so horrible. I mean, she kept reaching towards me and crying "mmmaaaahhhhhh" with all these little tears running down her cheeks. This is the baby that didn't even flinch when we took started leaving daycare on her very first day, when I had to go back to work after (a way too short) maternity leave! Chris took her in like normal today, and I resisted asking at all if she cried this morning again... But needless to say that my day pretty much sucked because I missed Emersyn like crazy!!

When we got home we had lots of fun though! I have a little video of her actually pushing the top of this toy by herself... a little crazy too. Emersyn kept getting so excited that she'd fall right over. It was really cute!

snapfish :: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3398718009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Happy President's Day

Happy President's Day! :)

First, let me say that Johnny-the-realtor called us today and it looks like we'll have the bank's contract on Wednesday!! He's going to let us know as soon as he has it and what will happen, and when, after that. I can't even tell you how extremely excited we are!!

Second, we got to hit the furniture stores today and totally took advantage of the holiday sale! We got the most perfect dinning(kitchen) furniture ever. Seriously, if I could have made the stuff myself, it would have been this Broyhill Attic Heirlooms stuff! Since we had already been to a few places, Gardiners gave us this super low price and let us finance it. They're even holding it until we move and can have it delivered to the new house! I know it doesn't really mean much to you all, but... we got a huge table, 4 side chairs, 2 arm chairs, a gorgeous china cabinet hutch thing, and a sofa table. Of course, we totally forgot to get the counter stools, so we'll be going back soon to add them on. But we're so excited! If you want to see pictures, broyhill.com has everything; you can just look at the attic heirlooms dinning collection and that's basically what ours will look like!

Last, but not least, Emersyn got another new food last night. Not that there was any doubt about it, but she loves applesauce! The video is coming, but this picture says enough...

There's more on our snapfish February album --- http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3398718009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Our House

So we went to visit our house this afternoon... we mainly wanted to get measurements so we can start planning and getting dinning room furniture and pictures and all that. The house was just as wonderful and "perfect" as we remembered!! There's more pictures on snapfish ((house album --- http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3471337009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/ )) if you want to see all of the pictures of the house. You can see the work in some of the pictures, but there's definitely more visuals of the damage in other pictures on snapfish. We also had a little helper! You'll see Cameron in more than a couple pictures too; he was so adorable, but couldn't quite understand why anyone would want to live in a house with no heat or lights! LOL!

Of course, there was a very large obsticle just getting to the house... Yeah, apparently everyone knows the house in empty so the whole street/cul de sac put their snow at our house.

Living room, immediately to the left of the front door.

Dinning/Kitchen

Cute picture of Cameron... and our extra wide stairs.

Bedroom 1, immediately to the right at the top of the stairs.

The hall bath upstairs.

Bedroom 2, which Cameron said was his until he saw the master and changed what bedroom he wanted!

Bedroom 3

Our master bedroom

The master bath

We're going furniture shopping tomorrow for at least a dinning room. Hearing we've gotten the approval came at just the right time, because we're hitting the President's Day sales!! Wish us luck and keep your fingers crossed that the bank's contract gets to us soon. You know we'll keep you posted with all the lastest news!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

We're going to our new house to get pictures and measurements today, but before we head over to Maw Maw's house so Emersyn can play, here's a few V-Day pictures for Emersyn's first Lovey Holiday!! :)

feb snapfish --- http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3398718009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish

Tea Cups are Hysterical

If it's got a face, it makes Emersyn happy - puppies, people, baby dolls, her inch worm toy... so the tea pot/cups set that my mom gave her for Christmas is no exception. Normally, the tea pot itself is the main smile-maker. It not only has a big face on it, it even plays music and talks. Still, Emersyn likes to hold a tea cup and bang it on her exersaucer or just smile at it before throwing it across the room when she takes it out of your hand... Tonight, though, the tea cups became the funniest thing ever!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_private?v=JSmrbazmh3I&sharing_token=axGZNYMZUW8newN5m_f9Rw

6 Month Pictures!!

After last month's drama to get our pictures, we decided to just pay the extra money and get the cd this time... Ok, by "we" I really mean "I"; and when I say "decided", I really mean "went against Chris' wishes because I'm a brat". Anyways, there's a lot of really great ones! Of course, you can see where Bird starts to get tired towards the end. With all the snow, Sears had to reschedule a lot of appointments to this weekend, and there was a new girl who apparently didn't have the slightest clue how to do anything; we got the manager (who I love) and got seen almost on time, but the poor girl had to keep running out to fix the new one's mistakes. Regardless, Emersyn did really great and we got some really great pictures!

Lady Bug Valentine's Outfit

Valentine's Outfit #2

One of the times she tried to get the camera

She wouldn't sit for the life of her, so we compromised

After this, she lost it...

The tears stopped just long enough for this last picture. When I took that headband thing off, we found out why she was so upset... the stupid thing was too small and left marks on her! I felt horrible, but neither one of us knew those things came in sizes! :(

Sears Snapfish :: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3451878009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/