Another Week

I have a huge list of things I need to be doing but instead I'm here, updating our neglected blog. Our house needs some serious cleaning. One big bummer about having all hardwood floors. The sweeping NEVER ends. I sweep the kitchen and living room at least twice a day, usually more, but I can't bring myself to sweep the bedrooms that often. I can't believe I have to sweep the bedrooms. That is a room that you vacuum. I used to laugh when my sister told me she was sweeping and mopping the bedrooms in her house. I've always had carpet in my bedroom so it just sounds so funny to me. But now, here I am having to do it. And it is still weird to me. I guess what goes around comes around.
We finally got pictures put up on our walls and have gotten all but 2 boxes emptied so it is starting to feel more like home now. It is such a good feeling to be able to find a home for everything, especially all those random little things that you aren't really sure why you keep them, but figure you might need them someday. At the same time I have been able to find a use for all those drawers in my kitchen. We have THREE junk drawers. Yes, three. I have no idea what's in them but I'm sure that someday I'll find a use for something in there.
We have LOVED the time change with Daylight Savings. I know that was a couple weeks ago, but I didn't want to speak too soon and have Emma decide to change her new schedule. Before the time change she would go to bed around 7:30 and wake up at 6:15. Now she goes to bed around 8:00 and doesn't wake up until 8 AM. I am loving it!!! As I have read everyone's blogs this week about not getting sleep, I have started to feel guilty about all the sleep I'm getting...and then I remember I have less than 2 months until my sleepless nights start. So, I'm going to enjoy it. So for now, thank you Emma!
I can't believe how big Emma is getting. She'll be 2 in 3 1/2 months. It's so weird to me. But we love her. She has such a huge personality and is so funny. She loves to be outside and knows exactly how to get to the school playground and the park by our house. I promise I'm not trying to be one of "those" moms. I really am amazed at all she knows and all she can do. It doesn't seem like a person that small should be able to know so much. She can put short sentences together, or at least get all the major words, and knows several lines to several songs. It definitely makes life easier being able to communicate with her. Jon's sisters taught her how to say I'm cute, so now she walks up to people and smiles really big and says "I cute". Cute has also somehow become a letter in the alphabet. It goes ABCDEPCuteRT...and some other random letters. It sounds so funny.
It's also interesting to me to watch her and her personality. At home she is always on the go, always talking, always having to do something. But when we go out, she has to take things slowly. Every time we go to the park she stands by me for a few minutes watching the other kids before she will go play. Even when she is playing she usually stops any time another kid comes near her and just watches whatever they're doing. Jon and I are both shy, so it makes me wonder what she'll be like as she gets older. For now, it's just a good thing that she's as cute as she is because she can throw some major tantrums and has some of the biggest meltdowns over the smallest things. The terrible twos have definitely started early and I have no idea how to deal with it. For now, I just put myself in time out. I lock myself in my room and it usually takes a couple minutes before she stops crying and starts playing with something. Hopefully this will keep working.
Well, I didn't mean for this to be so long so I'll end. Here are a few pictures...

Who needs a slide when you can go down the stairs? It's hard to tell because the stairs are so small, but that is what Emma is sliding down...well bumping down. It makes us laugh because she will only slide down the stairs, even though there are 2 slides right behind her.

This car seat was my great deal of the week. It is a brand new Graco car seat with tags still on and everything and I only paid $30. The lady bought a double stroller and it came with it, which is why she sold it so cheap. Turns out she's also LDS and is in our stake...small world.

Emma decided that this was her chair and plopped down in it to watch a little tv. I realized that they recommend you use this until your baby is 22 pounds. Emma weighs 22 pounds right now and there is NO WAY I would be using this with her. Who comes up with these things???

Yes...Emma STILL uses a bottle(only at nap and bed time). It's very frustrating but I just don't know how to get rid of it. What kills me is that she was the baby who refused to take a bottle. She wouldn't take it until she was 11 months old and now we can't get rid of it. Any ideas???

Getting Settled and Catching Up

These last couple weeks have been busy but good. Our move went well and we are slowly getting our house put together. Here are a few pictures from the day after we moved. It was such a mess!

Emma thought it was great. She had a blast climbing on and in everything. We found her in her room sitting in a suitcase reading one morning. It was too cute.

The lady in the other half of our duplex (Nancy) and our next door neighbors came over to meet us. They are both so nice. Nancy has 2 little dogs so Emma is in heaven. And the next door neighbors have two little kids so I am excited about that. I just have to get out of my shell and get to know them better. We've been to their house once and Emma has an open invitation to play in their backyard any time she wants. I would love to do that since we don't have a lot of toys, but it would feel awkward to me since we've only met them twice. Time to bake some cookies and head over. :)

It has been so fun to explore our area. Jon can take the train to work so we have the car, but it ends up being an hour each way, where driving only takes 20-30 minutes. So we switch on and off with the car. On the days I don't have the car, Emma and I have walked to several of the parks around here and explored downtown. It's only a few blocks away and there are so many fun little shops and things to see.

We spent last weekend at Jon's parents house. Jon had to take 3 more tests on Saturday and he was speaking in their ward on Sunday so we made a weekend of it. It was a lot of fun to visit and take a break from the unpacking and organizing.

Jon is SO close to finishing his classes. Only 2 more tests (one will be done on Saturday) and a few more quizzes and then he is done! He has to finish by April 3 to qualify for April graduation so he's down to the wire but it should all work out. And then we can celebrate!

I was able to go to the doctor for a prenatal visit last week. I haven't been since December since we were between insurances, so it was nice to go and make sure everything's okay. Everything looked great and the baby is right on track. He has been moving so much lately and it is so strong. I love being able to feel him moving. Only two more months...nine more weeks. Somehow nine weeks seems a lot closer than 2 months. Either way there is still so much to do before then. We are excited.

Life is so good. It just feels like things can't get any better. We are so happy and feel so blessed.

Emma and Jon's sisters building a fort on the couch. This is one of her favorite things to do with them.

Food Tag

One more tag to get caught up on...this was kind of fun to think about. So here are 7 things about me and food.

1- I love chocolate but I don't like chocolate cake or chocolate ice cream. And it has to be milk chocolate. I can't stand dark chocolate.

2- Making dinner is so stressful to me. I enjoy cooking but I'm usually not prepared and am either missing one ingredient or didn't prepare something early enough. I spend all day trying to figure out what to eat, go through several options, and end up making one of my backup meals...you know of those meals that you ALWAYS have all the ingredients for...which means we don't eat a big variety of meals.

3- I am not adventurous in my taste or cooking. I tend to like more bland foods...I don't use a lot of spices or extra flavoring because it's usually too strong for me. I am also hesitant to try new recipes because I don't want to make something that is going to be a flop. But if someone I know recommends a recipe I will usually try it.

4- I love fruits and vegetables but tend to only eat them when they are already prepared (salad for instance). I know it's not hard to do so I'm not sure what my deal is.

5- I am a picky eater. I don't really consider myself as really picky, but a lot of people say I am. I guess this just goes along with liking bland foods. I don't like a lot of the foods that have strong flavors...pickles, mustard, tomatoes, onions, peppers of any kind, seafood, sauerkraut, etc

6- I eat way too many sweets. One is never enough and I usually end up eating "just one more" until I've eaten way too much.

7- I prefer home cooked meals to eating out. Given the choice (if someone else was cooking) I would definitely pick the homemade meal.

If you want to do this, you're tagged!

A Few of My Favorite Things

I know I was tagged a LONG time ago...but it was right before we moved and we have been getting settled in so here goes...

Five of my favorite things

1- My family. All of my family of course, but especially my little family. I love the time that we're able to spend together when we're all happy and everything just feels perfect.

2-Warm weather. This is something I have come to appreciate more after having a child. I love to be able to go outside any time of the year and not have to bundle up. I thought I would miss the snow, especially at Christmas, but I don't. Warm weather just makes for happier days.

3-Where we live. Aside from the traffic there is so much I love about the bay area. I love living here. In my mind, it's always been one of those far off, almost exotic places that I would love to visit over and over again, but I never thought I'd live here. I love how beautiful it is. I especially love crossing the San Mateo bridge and being able to see the bay stretch out both ways with the San Francisco and Oakland skylines in the distance. I really need to take some pictures of it...it is so cool. Anyway, I just love how green and pretty it is and how much culture and diversity there is here.

4- A good meal. There is nothing more satisfying than a eating a meal that just hit the spot.

5- Clean sheets and a freshly made bed. I don't know what it is, but the bed just feels so much comfier and cozier with clean sheets. I love it!

A Good Morning

Yesterday was SUCH a rough day. Emma was extra grouchy...practicing the terrible twos or something...and I had four extra kids all afternoon who had way too much energy stored up after being in school all day. I guess you can't blame them. So after fighting all day, dealing with a prank 911 call and the cops, and just feeling very inadequate I was done. I dreaded getting up this morning, but it really has been one of the best mornings I have had in a long time. I actually slept for 6 straight hours, which is probably more than I get most nights. I ended up getting up at 6, right after Jon left for work. I took a nice long shower, ate breakfast, read my scriptures, and got to do all the blogging I wanted. It has been such a nice, peaceful morning. I know it's only 7 now and things could change, but it makes such a difference for me to be able to start my day off on a good note. We have a music/singing time group for Emma this morning and a couple small errands to run this afternoon. I'm not babysitting today and the weather is beautiful so I know we can spend some time outside. It's going to be a good day.

Getting Ready to Move

Our big moving day is this Saturday! I am SO excited...if you couldn't tell from all my posts about it. :) We are so ready. We were able to furnish the entire house with nice stuff for free. Several of the ward members here had stuff they were getting rid of and we got a couple things for free off of Craigslist...including a brand new bed and a piano. We really feel so blessed in every aspect of this move. We feel so good about where we are going and know that it is where we are supposed to be. And we feel so blessed to have had everything work out so nicely the way it did.
I was able to go to our house last Friday and take some pictures so I thought I'd post some.

The kitchen is by far my favorite room in the house. I love it! We have more cupboard and drawer space than I know what to do with. It's great.

I think this room is so pretty. I love the counters and cupboards.

This is part of the living room.

The kids room

Our lovely WHITE bathroom. We need to add a lot of color.


And this is our room.


You've gotta love old house quirks....like how the back door is in our bedroom. :)

Funny Girl

These are just some random pictures from the last couple of weeks...all of Emma of course. She is such a funny little girl. She has so much personality and is always doing things to make us laugh. She loves being silly, especially with Jon's little sisters. We are going to miss having so much family around!

Emma loves glasses. If she finds them she puts them on. I laughed so hard when I saw her with these.

Emma has recently discovered My Little Ponies, which she calls panies. She loves ponies. She also loves Barbies and will point out Barbie in every book or movie that has her in it. We were at Blockbuster a few weeks ago and walked by a movie that had some cheerleaders on the cover. Emma got so excited when she saw it and yelled Barbie. She didn't want to put the movie back after that. It was so funny.

Another favorite is play doh. Before she can start playing though, she has to stick a blob of it on her forehead...not sure why, but she thinks it's funny.

What's more fun on a rainy day than taking all the pillows off of the couch? We had so much fun.

We love our little girl. It is so fun to watch her learn and grow. She is such a chatterbox and copies everything that we say. It's so fun (and sometimes scary) to listen to the things that come out of her mouth. I can't believe how fast she's growing up.