Miss Em

I know I've said it before, but I can't believe how much Emerson has changed in the last 6-7 months!!  It's so amazing to witness all these changes and all she is learning!  She can be the sweetest little girl in the world at times and at other times not so much ... lol!!  She certainly has her own mind about her ;) 

I LOVE how she says hello to all of us and her teddy and blankie.  Numerous times during the day she'll walk up to me and say, "Hi Mom!" in this sweet, soft little sing-song voice.  Melts my heart :)  She also does the same to Cal when he comes home from work and she'll often pick up her teddy and blankie and say, "Hi teddy.  Hi blankie"  and give them a big hug!!  Adorable!!!  Emerson and I also have this "thing" we do, where I say, "Emerson?" in a soft, quiet, kind of questioning voice and she looks at me and says, "Uh huh?" with a big grin on her face, to which I either say, "I love you Emerson!" or "You're so cute!"  She knows what I'm going to say every time, it's so cute the look she gets on her face ;)

Emerson also has a great love for her brother, as well as her cat and dog.  Every morning when she gets up she says, "Blake?" and walks off to his room to see if he's there.  As soon as she finds him she greets him with, "Hi Blake!"  Every night Blake has to say goodnight to her in her room.  We tried changing it up and having him say goodnight to her downstairs, but that did not go over well!  Once we got to her room she cried his name over and over until he came up to her room!  I often find them "wrestling" during the day, which I used to try to stop, but I don't anymore!!  Reason being, they are both having fun!  I worry that Em will get hurt, but she usually doesn't, and they're both laughing the whole time, so I'm learning to let them be :)  As I said earlier, Em also loves Heidi and Jazz.  She often "talks" to them and gives them many, many hugs and kisses :)  I'd say her favorite animal right now is a puppy.  She points them out everywhere we go and in every book.  "Puppy, puppy!!  Woof, woof!!"  So it is fitting that she is a dalmatian puppy for Halloween :)  And her costume also goes well with Blake's fireman costume!

I know 18 months can be a frustrating age.  There's so much going on in their heads, but they can't always communicate what they want to get across!!  Emerson's favorite way to express her frustrations is to hit ... she'll hit anything and everything in her way.  To tell you the truth, it's hard not to laugh a lot of the time, as she's hitting the pantry, the table, the floor, the couch, etc!!!  But we try not to laugh, because of course we don't want to encourage her hitting.  This is something new for us, as Blake never hit a thing until his sister came along!!!  lol!!  Thankfully we can usually stop her from hitting people by threatening her with a time out.  But I think one day soon we'll have to follow through with a time out, or she'll start pushing her limits more!!

We've had a few people remark at how well Emerson talks.  I know that at 19 months, children can typically use 6 words.  I have no idea how many words Em can use, but it is significantly greater then 6!!!  She's a little chatterbox and uses a lot of 2 word phrases as well! 

Emerson has 14 teeth and #15 and #16 are almost through.  Most recently she cut her top two eye teeth.  The next two on their way are the bottom two eye teeth :S  These teeth have caused Emerson (and Cal and I!) a lot of grief!!!  She's had her hand in her mouth constantly for the past month and is drooling so much, which has given her a bit of a rash around her mouth.  I can't wait for the bottom two to be through!!!  Thank goodness for Advil and Tylenol, which seem to give her some relief.

Emerson is loving the Come Play With Me program at the YMCA!  She LOVES music and dancing and interacting with other kids.  It's so cute how she walks up to the other kids and looks up at them and tries to talk to them!!  And I find it funny how she seems to call most kids between 0 and 2 baby ;)  It's great for Emerson to have some 1 on 1 time with me, but she also has time to wander off by herself and play, which is something she doesn't often do with Blake around most of the time. 

We love you so much Em :)

xoxo

Blake's First Day of Preschool!

Today was the big day!!  And Blake did GREAT!!  When we first arrived, the preschool director was outside the classroom directing everyone.  She introduced herself to Cal and I and talked to Blake while we were putting his indoor shoes on, hanging up his coat and putting his lunch box (for snack time) in the big bin!  Then we went into the classroom to sign him in and do a few more paperworky things!  At the same time one of the teachers came and said hi to Blake and showed him that the color of animal he had on his name tag, was the color of square he was supposed to sit on, on the big area rug in front of the other teacher!  And that was it, he was off to join the other kids and didn't turn back.  We peaked in at him a few times and he did great the entire time.  I was very surprised, there was only 1 girl who cried a bit at the beginning and then again at the end when she saw her Mom!  We didn't count how many kids there were in his class, but I think there was around 18.  Quite a few newbies and some returning preschoolers!  Today Blake made a book mark with his name on it, colored a backpack coloring sheet and learned the letter "I".  They did a worksheet on the letter "I".  At the end of the class the teachers let the kids out one by one (you have to sign them out and in) and when it was Blake's turn he came charging out with his crafts to show us :)  And of course he had to tell us about a few of his favorite songs they sang!  We got a newsletter and calendars for the remainder of the year.  They have some fun days coming up!  Wear your pj's day, wear your favorite team jersey, swimming day (they swim 1 week or 2 classes, out of every month), a Halloween Party and breakfast with Santa!!  We had a great morning and were so proud of our little man :)

Emerson had fun at Come Play With Me.  She was the only kid for awhile, but towards the end others showed up!  We signed Em up for a YMCA membership today.  Just made sense with the cost of the program and swimming lessons!  Today Em sang and danced, played with a bin full of Mr. Potato Heads and blocks and did some coloring :)  At first I think she was a bit overwhelmed with all the attention ... Mom, Dad and the instructor's undivided attention!!  But it was really nice to spend time with just her and it was good for her as well!

Here are a few pictures from our exciting day:

xoxo Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Baby :)

September is here already?!

And I'm 30 weeks pregnant!!  Wowzers!!  I knew this pregnancy (and summer) would go by fast, but wow!  I'm still feeling really tired, but I don't expect that to change anytime soon!  Cal and I both really, really, REALLY need to work on getting to bed earlier, but we've been saying that for years now.  Other then that, I'm doing good!  Still taking 1 dycletin a day ... every time I try to go off of it, I'm sick the next day.  I remember with Blake's pregnancy I finally just went off the dyclectin, even though I was still puking, but this time I just can't feel like that with 2 toddlers to take care of!  And the heart burn has kicked in full force, but is cured by Tums, so it's all good :)  Baby is very active and kicking up a storm!  I have another ultrasound on September 13 to see where the placenta is.  Hopefully it has moved and is no longer low-laying!  Blake often gives the baby (my belly) hugs and kisses and Emerson just likes to pull my shirt up and say baby!!!!

We had a good weekend camping with my parents at Whistler's campground, outside of Jasper.  It is so beautiful there, surrounded by mother nature at its finest :)  The weather was actually quite good.  It rained a bit during the day, but not much.  Blake and Emerson loved running around and seeing Athabasca Falls!!  On Sunday my Mom, Cal, the kids and I went swimming at the indoor pool in Jasper, while my Dad stayed back so supper would be ready and Miss Em could get to bed at a decent time ;)  Blake had a blast on the water slide!!  Emerson had fun, but was way too daring for me!!  She didn't want to be held or even touched in the water and went under a few times (which did not upset her in the least!).  She just wanted to walk around and into water up to her neck and then try to float at random times?!  It was crazy!!  We tried putting a life jacket on her and she was not pleased with that ... although last time we were swimming she loved having the life jacket on!  I'm glad she starts swimming lessons on Saturday and thinking that she might be an early swimmer!!!  Both the kids rode home from Jasper with my parents, so Cal and I had a very quiet trip home :) But I think Heidi was a bit lost without the kids!!!  That was our last camping trip of the year.  We're debating putting our trailer up for sale this week.  We're not taking it out to the storage lot until October, so we're thinking it wouldn't hurt to advertise it for a few weeks?!  If it sells, we'll buy something new this Fall, if not we'll try again in Spring (unless we change our minds by then!!!)!

Blake helped Cal and I prepare everything for his first day of preschool tomorrow.  Earlier in the day he told us he didn't want to go to preschool, but I think we've changed his mind!!  We whispered to him that we better not talk about preschool in front of Em, because she really wants to go but is too young.  That seemed to cause a shift in his attitude!  He was excited to pack a snack in his new Woody and Buzz lunchbox, label his cups and bowls (with Mabels Labels!!!  I LOVE this company!), pack his backpack and pick out his clothes for tomorrow!  We reminded him at bed time that Emerson might be upset when we drop him off, but to tell her it's okay Em, you can go to preschool when you're 3 too!!!  He then suggested that we take Emerson to the play gym across the hall :)  Usually we can't "trick" him, but I think this angle may have worked ;)  We'll see how it goes tomorrow morning!!

And so our busier days begin!!  Preschool Tues and Thur morning, along with Come Play With Me for Em and I.  Thursday is hockey registration for Blake and Saturday Em's swimming lessons start!  We're also looking forward to a visit from Candace, Nicholas and Presley on Wednesday :)

Have a fabulous week everyone!!

xoxo
Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Baby