Sushi...

I was supposed to be in class until 10pm tonight, but was having issues. It was just a really stressful, busy day. So I decided to ditch my last class and take Emma, Grandma, and Kayla out for sushi instead. We had a great meal and we all really enjoyed it. The girls loved using chopsticks and check out Emma shoving an entire piece of a California Roll in her mouth at once!

Asthma... again.

Emma is such a little trouper! She was having problems with her asthma again this weekend - started off as a slight cold & fever, then the wheezing began. It was so sad. She was just so lethargic and not my usual happy baby on Saturday. She does really well with the nebulizer though. Just sits still and holds her face mask in place... as long as she can look at books or watch Elmo while she's doing it! We followed Grandma's advice (thanks Mom!) and put Vaporub on her feet and chest and she slept in footed jammies last night and by today she was back to her smiley self with just a little residual wheezing - Check out the sunglasses!

Slip Sliding...

We went to a tea party/ dress up playdate last week with our playgroup. Emma was dressed up as Minnie Mouse (check out how thrilled she looks to be wearing the ears!). Our friend Jen snapped the other 2 pictures of Emma on the slide. I love the action one... eyes closed, hair (?) blowing in the wind, dress up, feet out... too funny! Thanks Jen!

Earth Day...

How freaking cute is this!!! Emma brought it home from school today. Its the earth day craft she made on the 22nd at daycare and I just love it! This is her 1st tear-and-paste craft project from school, so I thought I'd share.

Time flies...

I can't believe Emma is 18 months old already. She moved from the infant side, where she has been since she was 3 months old, to the toddler side of the classroom this month and its amazing how much she is changing everyday. I was apparently more worried about the transition than she was. She is loving being on the "big kid's side" and getting to do all of the extra crafts and outdoor play. She especially likes the housekeeping area with the babydolls and strollers.

Disneyland

For my birthday this year I decided to take Emma to Disneyland for the first time. Grandma & Auntie Christine came with us and we had a great day. Emma loved going on all the rides, especially Nemo, Small World, Dumbo, & the carousel. She also enjoyed the TarzanTree House way more than I did - that's a LOT of stairs (& they don't take you anywhere...just back down the other side of the tree!) Due to my being a little OCD, we had been up at 5am and on the road by 6am, so Emma hung tough as long as she could without a nap and eventually passed out right on the carousel horse. :) She decided to take another nap later during Pirates of the Carribbean too. She seemed to really enjoy everything and it was a lot of fun! Emma was supposed to get ONE souvenier, but was loving on Sully AND Dumbo so much that we had to get both! We also got a "1st Visit at Disneyland" pin for Emma's babybook (thanks to Erin's tip).

Road Trippin '08

So in July of 2008, when Emma was 9 months old, she & I got in my jeep and we took off for 3 weeks. I was a little nervous about being alone on the road with her, but it went great! She was a wonderful traveler and we covered about 1800 miles that trip. We got as far north as Redding, Ca and stopped for a visit with our old friends Jeff & Eileen & their boys, where Emma got a chance to hold a 2 day old baby chick ( I think she might have confused it for a nugget!) Then we worked our way back south. We spent some time hiking in the giant redwoods at Muir National Forrest, rode the carousel and ate some clam chowder on Pier 39 in San Francisco, toured the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, saw Aunt Ann, Uncle Roger, and the famous aquarium in Monterey Bay. Our final stop was Morro Bay where we played on the beach and fed the seagulls. It was a wonderful time alone for Emma and I...

1st Christmas

Christmas 2007 was great! Emma wasn't that into it obviously - slept through buying a tree, looking at lights and putting up the tree, but she loved her new baby doll. I took her to see Santa Claus and, as I was paying for the overpriced pictures, he was whispering in her ear. When I walked back over to him, he stated that Emma had told he that she loved me very much and was happy to be here. He also stated that she said she wanted a new babydoll and a new mobile for her crib for Christmas. I had been thinking about buying a new mobile for a couple weeks prior, so when he said that, I KNEW he must be the REAL SANTA!

Halloween 2007

Emma's first Halloween was pretty uneventful. After all, she was barely 3 weeks old, so it would have been obvious the candy was for me if I had taken her trick-or-treating! So we went to a little party the weekend before where she wore her Halloween jammies and then on the actual Halloween, I just dressed Emma up in a silly hat & onesie and we passed out candy together. Look how thrilled she seemed with the outfit! :) Also, you can see that she was getting more comfortable in the bathtub by this time. I also just included the picture of Emma in the pink outfit because it was one of my favorites for the longest time...

I brought you home on Thursday, October 11th. It was a relief to relax in my own bed and have you snuggled up next to me without a nurse warning me about dropping you! As per family tradition, Grandma gave you your first bath the next day. At that time, you did NOT seem to like water, but things sure have changed now! On the 14th, I got a picture of your first smile...

Your Birth...

So, since I finally decided to start this blog at 18 months into Life with Emma, I thought I'd start by taking a little trip back through time......

Emma was born on October 9th 2007 at 6:42 pm. I had been at the hospital since a little after midnight (would have been there AT midnight, but Grandma & Karen were coming with me & they never run on time) so I was in labor for about 18 hours - gotta love the epidural! After a little over 2 hours of pushing, she was here and already had an attitude - check out the tongue. This was one little girl (8 lbs 5.7 oz & 19 3/4") who arrived with very clear ideas about what she wanted. As you can see, she didn't like being dolled up right from the start...

Well, I decided to jump off the cliff because all the other kids were doing it and finally create a blog page! Actually, I finally took the time to look at some of the pages my friends were creating and realized its actually an amazing way to keep a sort of digital babybook for Emma where I can just quickly jot down new things. Don't know that anyone else will be interested in it, but thought I'd give it a go...