Grandfathers

My kids are lucky to have 4 grandparents. Well, not completely fortunate because Mike's mother died when he was young, but his dad has married a wonderful person and she is a wonderful grandmother, or Oma, to the kids.

But, the bad thing is that the grandparents don't live close - one set lives 4 hours in one direction and the other set lives 4 hours in the other direction. So, we see them as much as we can, but it isn't often that we see them all at the same time.

We had the opportunity to see all four grandparents for Emma's first birthday! It was a nice day and we celebrated her birthday with cake and presents and we had a nice dinner together.

Between myself and Heidi (Oma), we took a good number of pictures that day. One of my favorites is one that Oma captured of Emma before she went to bed. Its not a great one of Emma because you see mostly her back, and not even a great one of my father, but you get to see Emma with both of her grandfathers. That doesn't happen very ofen!

Baby Fish Mouth

If you ask Mike and me to pick one movie as our favorite (together), it would be "When Harry Met Sally". Not sure why, but we both love this movie and love to watch it together whenever it is on.

There is a scene in this movie where the Sally character (Meg Ryan) is drawing pictures for a "pictionary" game. It is supposed to be a "phrase" and she is drawing what is "supposed" to be "Baby Talk". Well, in the series of guesses, someone says "Baby Fish Mouth" - and everyone looks at him. What is Baby Fish Mouth, they ask? Well, now I can show you.

This is Baby Fish Mouth!!

Is she asleep?

Of course not!!!!

At this point, I give up - if she goes to sleep now, its a waste because I have to get her up in 30 minutes to get Michael from school. And, from the squeeking I'm hearing from her room, I doubt she's even close!!

Willful at One!!

We have driven Mike to work the past 3 mornings due to car trouble (I'll elaborate later in another post). Emma has always been quiet (and a little tired) on the drive back home because we typically hear her talking in her bed about 6am each morning. Well, this morning she actually fell asleep in the car on the way home. Of course, when I drive into the garage and open the car door, she wakes up. I took her immediately to her bed and laid her down to go to sleep (this was an entire hour ago). Of course, has she gone back to sleep - NO. I just went into her room and she was laying in the bed playing with stuffed animals. I looked at her, gave her her blanket, and told her to go to sleep.

She laughed at me and shook her head NO! (a new trick of hers)

Boy do I have my work cut out for me in the future!

Oh, what a beautiful morning!!

It's snowing here. They were saying "a little precipitation may blow through" but there is a good 1 1/2" on the grass. It isn't sticking on the road, and its coming down nice and slowly so its a very beautiful scene this morning.

Happy 1st Birthday Emma!

Emma celebrated her first birthday on Thursday. Thursday was a low-key day because we had been sick in the house most of the week, and its not like Emma knew it was her birthday, but we did. I completed the "Year with the Bear" photos to show her growth - I'll put up a photo of the 12 monthly shots a little bit later, but this is Emma with her Birthday Bear!

This weekend, Emma got to celebrate her birthday with BOTH sets of Grandparents. Granny and Granddaddy Gwaltney came up from Roanoke and Oma and Opa came down from Williamsport with an extra special gift - Great Gram. What a nice way to spend your birthday. Emma had birthday cake - and she started out eating it very carefully, with her finger, but then decided that fist fulls would be a bit better. She definitely enjoyed it though, which is all that mattered.


Granny and Granddaddy gave her a little baby doll - she reached into the little bag and pulled out that baby and talked to that baby for a LONG time - she really liked it. Then, Oma and Opa gave her an elephant shaped pillow, which she liked well enough, but then she saw that they gave her some BOOKS!! Yay Books!! She has been "reading" the two books they gave her over and over ever since!!

Mommy and Daddy gave Emma some Spring clothes that we can hardly wait for her to enjoy in warmer weather - although she paid more attention to the tags on the clothes than the clothes themselves.

Where has the time gone?

This has multiple meanings for me at this moment.

Why haven't I posted recently. I don't know - I'm trying to figure out where ALL of the time between Samantha's birthday and Emma's birthday WENT - all of a sudden, its February 18th. That period of time last year I a) went on bedrest and started 2 pregnancy appointments a week; b) went into the hospital for 4 days - got out of the hospital; and then c) went to the hospital EVERY DAY for testing until we all decided that d) Emma was ready to be born on February 16th.

Which is my second "Where has the time gone?" My baby is one year old. She turned one year old on February 16th. I'll post a picture and a post tomorrow, but I'm trying to figure out where this year went. Do you think it went faster because we know she is our last one? Do you cherish things more when you know its the last time you'll see a first smile? first laugh? first hug? First crawl? Emma's first year has flown by - I just don't know where the days, hours, and minutes have gone. My 6 lb, 12 ounce bundle of cuddle is now a 24 pound strong baby with equally strong lungs and a dozen different looks for you at any one time!

Go hug your kids!

One Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed

I have been calling Emma "little monkey" recently because when she stands up and holds onto the railing, she actually bounces up and down on the crib mattress. I guess she thinks that if she pulls hard enough on the railing she'll get out of the bed. But, last week, Emma was standing up in her bed with her hands on the railing - shaking it thinking she can get out of the bed. I went in to get her out, and when I put the rail down, she did a full-gainer front flip over the railing and landed smack on her back on the floor. She wasn't hurt - and was only scared for a second. She was more excited to be out of the bed. She LOVES to get out of the bed and always has the biggest smile on her face as I carry her downstairs.

So, for the past week or so, she has started "Cruising" the crib. Either she's looking for a part of the railing that may be "weak" and she can escape, or she's trying to get away from that "mean railing" that made her flip out of the bed.

Either way, the minute I put the railing down, she grabs my shirt and arm like there is NO TOMORROW - there is no way she's flipping out of the bed again.

But, until I put down the railing - its "One Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed" and hopefully NOT "One fell off and cracked her head!"