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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

9 Months = A Big Girl

On Christmas Eve my baby girl turned 9 months old. So, we figured it was high time we went from the super out-grown baby bath (pictured below) to the big girl bath (also pictured below). Tonight was the 1st night we tried it and needless to say, we had a MUCH happier baby and bath time experience. Hopefully the smiles will continue as Emma has never really enjoyed bath time much. Anyway, as you enjoy these few pictures I'll also give you a few interesting tidbits of what this big 9 month old has been up to.

I'm not sure what Emma weighs exactly this month since we haven't had a Dr.'s appointment but since she was sick last week and considering the fact that she didn't grow too much last month, I'm thinking she didn't gain too much weight this month. I'd put her at 22-23 pounds. She fits into 12 month sized clothes perfectly. She wears size 3 diapers and size 1 or 2 shoes. She is a master at pulling up on ANY furniture in the house and walks around EVERYWHERE, even along the walls. She drinks 4 bottles a day, 6-7 ounces each. She eats 3 solid meals a day plus snacks sometimes. She is the queen of finding cheerios on the floor and eating them. She has 8 teeth. We can tell she understands many things we say to her now including the following: "Where's Daddy?" "Where's Jack?" (the cat) "Go get it!" "Yay!" "No no, don't touch!" "Come here!" And Emma, especially after she got sick and felt rotten last week, ended up mastering the word, "Mama" and also does really good at "Didi" which is her version of Daddy. (It DOES makes sense since the 2nd syllable of Daddy sounds like "Di" so she just repeats that twice.) Emma's typical sleep habits are the same as last month, sleeping from 7:30pm-6am (or 6:30). And she takes 2 naps a day. Besides her mommy and daddy, her favorite person is Teal Romsa (who often babysits for her). She loves scooting across the floor, especially to chase the cats! She likes books, but mostly for the fun of opening and closing them or eating them. She still never really looks at the pictures or seems to listen to the story. She DOES have 2 favorite books, though, that have touch and feel animals in them and she seems to sit and listen/interact with those, ok.

Ok, that's all I can think of for now. Any more and I would feel like I'm just rambling on with too many obscure stories. BUT, we love our Emma and are having a blast watching her grow and change before our very eyes.

Christmas Day

Our Christmas Day started off bright and early at 5am when Little Miss Sunshine woke up early and wouldn't let anyone go back to sleep. It's amazing how it starts so early! So, we got up, read the Christmas Story, opened our stockings and a few gifts, skyped with my parents and by the time the sun ACTUALLY came up, we were all tuckered out! Ha! But then we had to get ready for church and head on our merry way.
Emma sitting on her new stool that we got her.
My mom got me my favorite movie EVER! 7 Brides for 7 Brothers.
Emma checking out her new foam blocks.
Mom & Dad on skype.
Emma in the nursery at church.
Eric and I had nursery duty at church this week so this was how we worshipped.
For Christmas Linner (Lunch/Dinner since we waited until after naptime to eat it), we went over to the Romsa's again and had a wonderful Christmas Meal.
Emma sporting some new duds from Grandma.
Always walking.
Skyping with more family the day after Christmas, which was actually still Christmas Day in the States!

We had a wonderful Christmas here with friends AND family. Thank you SKYPE!

Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas Dress!






Thank you to both Grandma's for dressing and accessorizing my beautiful baby so well!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve

So, this week has been a sort of sick, boring, stay-at-home kind of week. Not too much to blog about. But, we are feeling much better now so today (Christmas Eve), we were a bit more active. We woke up this morning to find the first good amount of snow for the year had fallen. So, this afternoon we bundled up and took Emma to the roof of our apartment (mostly because there are no big open areas around here) to "play" in the snow.
Which pretty much ended up in failure. But we got a few pics anyway. :)
And then we headed over to our friends' house, the Romsas, for Christmas Eve Dinner. We'll also be having Christmas Day Dinner there as well! But it was nice to spend the evening with our fellow friends. Below are a few pics of the night.
Emma and Isaac always wanted to do (or have) what the other one was doing (or playing with).
A few of the ladies.
A very handsome dude.
Mama and Emma strolling around.
Daddy and Emma checking the camera (and each other) out.

Me & My Love

Monday, December 19, 2011

Christmas Break is Here!

Well, we started off our Christmas break with a bang, literally. Been dealing with a pukey, whiney baby for a few days now. BUT, things are starting to look better on that end. Too bad she's getting a nasty cold now!

We are thankful, though, to have 3 whole weeks at home to rest and recuperate and to celebrate our Savior's Birth! Above I have posted a video taken a few days BEFORE the stomach issues hit that should make you smile. It did when I just watched it now. Enjoy!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Kid's Cafe

On Thursday our church's "Mom's Group" took a sort of field trip to a Kid's Cafe. I'm not sure if they have places like this in the States but they are pretty awesome! It really is a coffee shop where Mom's/Parents can go and relax while their kids can go play in with all the great toys they have! It is kind of like a McDonald's play area, only with a lot more thrown in. They even had things like walkers and bouncy seats for the little little ones. If we had wanted to, there were even cubicles where the Moms could get on the internet while their kids played! Pretty sweet. Here are some pics from the day.It was like herding cats to try to get all the kids in one picture.The Mamas.Emma and Isaac in their color-coded walkers.Isaac: "Wait a second, Mom. Is this how it's supposed to work?!" (I love that since they are the same age they are always at the same developmental stage and trying to do the EXACT same thing!)
Every 8 month old's dream... being surrounded by all the balls you could ever want to chew on.Starting her early. :)
Playing with friends.

"Reading"

I left Emma in her room the other day for a bit and when I didn't hear anything for awhile I came back and found her doing this. :)

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Best Family EVER!

Stocking are a big part of my family Christmas traditions and this week we received THREE big boxes from my parents (one for each of us) filled with Christmas presents and stockings WITH the stocking stuffers already in them. You're the best, Mom! Thank you so much for sending all that stuff and for helping make our Christmas away from "home" this year extra special. We'll have to skype when opening it all. Oh, and also thank you to others who have either sent us gifts or sent them with us in our luggage this summer. We have been good and not opened them yet, but can't wait! We love you, all!
"Thanks, Grandma!"

Christmas Concert Bake Sale


The afore mentioned frosted sugar cookies (all 200 of them) were sold at this bake sale last Friday during our school's Christmas Concert to help raise money for our Mission Trip to the Philippines this year. Not sure if I have mentioned this yet, but Eric & I (and Emma!) will be leading the trip once again this year. We are super excited. More details on this are sure to follow.

From the Kitchen: Christmas Edition - Part 1

I am loving being at home this year for Christmas and have a long list of Christmas foods and snacks that I want to or already have made this month. I have already made Sugar Cookies a few times and even got to have a frosting/decorating party with some High School girls to sell them at a fundraiser bake sale we recently had. I also have made Chex Party Mix which is something my mom always makes over the Holidays. I remember growing up that another thing my family used to made was almond bark covered pretzels. Sooooo.... when I found the container pictured below at Costco I immediately decided to cover them with chocolate for a Christmas snack. Notice they have PEANUT BUTTER inside them! Yum!!!


They only lasted a day.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Emma Stands

Emma has been pulling herself up and cruising around furniture in the living room for several weeks now but just today she discovered something new...

Friday, December 9, 2011

Family Christmas Pictures!

Thank you to our friend, Amanda Rich, for being willing to go out on a cold December day and snap a few family photos for us! They look great! Below are a few of the ones we thought were good but didn't make it into the Christmas card this year. Enjoy!




Thursday, December 8, 2011

ICS Staff Christmas Party

This past weekend our school held it's annual Christmas Party for the staff. This year I had the privilege of heading up the planning committee. Our theme was "A Hometown Christmas" so the decorations, games, & the picture taking area was set up to give a "homey" feel to our group. We talked about family traditions and even made gingerbread "houses!" It was a fun evening and I am pleased with how it turned out.
Me acting as host and drawing some names for the door prizes.
Some of our ladies up front reading the Christmas Story.
My table's genius Asian-themed gingerbread house! We almost won, too!
I loved the centerpieces so much that I had Eric snap a picture of one before we left. Cranberries, greenery, & a tea light floating in water. Cool. Thank you to Meredith for coming up with such great decorations.

Friday, December 2, 2011

An early Christmas?

Yesterday it felt like Christmas came early to our house because we received THREE packages in the mail from super generous people who love us and were kind enough to send us things we didn't desperately need but wanted anyway. THANK YOU SO MUCH Larry & Bonnie Zanger, Larry & Annie Lambert, and Grace Maxwell! Now our holiday season will be complete because I have all the baking supplies I need for Christmas goodies and Emma's head and hands will be toasty warm because she'll be wearing the most adorable hand-made hat and mittens OR one of the cute headband/hair clips she got! We love you guys!