What girl doesn't love the spa?

I've decided that Sunday nights will be Emma's "spa night". Tonight, we started the tradition with a nice long bath, fingernail trimming, full body massage and a little gentle ear cleaning. She loved it! In fact, next week she asked me to exfoliate her pores. I just hope we're not creating a monster.....

She was so relaxed, that she crossed her own legs in this picture. :)

Do they make fleece underwear?

The downside to living in San Diego (and this might surprise you east coasters) is that it DOES get cold here. Especially living by the water. This is a picture of the temperature in our room this morning (it's the one on the left, and no the rest of the programming has not been updated yet, sigh). Yikes!

Looks like a trip to Home Depot today for another space heater! (don't worry, we have one in Emma's room). :)

Our New Year's Resolution...

....is to never EVER let the lawn get this ridiculous!

Big girl's seat

Emma has "graduated" to the big girl's seat on her stroller. She LOVES it. So we took a walk today to break it in. Even though it was chilly, she was well prepared in her new hat.

Monkey on my back

Literally!

This was emma's Xmas gift from Aunt Rachael. I think they're already best buds!

We love our new camera!

Just some test shots:

Our forgotten child

Poor Parker. He doesn't get nearly as much air time as he used to. So today on our walk, I decided to take a few shots of P-funk, to let him know that we still think he's as handsome and lovable as the day we brought him home. Here's to you kid.

Ready for a laugh?

This video is hysterical!!

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1612655&cache=1

2008 is making me tired

Ok, I think that's enough blogging for one night. I am off to bed!

Happy New Year!

After 17 days back east for the holidays, we spent the first day of 2008 at our favorite place: Pacific Beach!

We interrupt this blog...

.....to show you a very cute baby!

Sorry, I couldn't resist. :-P

A very Griswald Christmas

For those of you in the know - you'll understand what I mean. Two words: mexican ornaments.

What?! I am on my tummy?

Why didn't you tell me it would be this cool up here? Now I know why you're always sticking me like this....

One of this things is not like the other

Um.....mom........there's some fuzzy bouncing giggling babies next to me. Tele-who?

Jose, the conversing parrot

One of the great things about having a new baby is the opportunity it gives you to reconnect with loved ones from your past.

My cousin Kate and I are four months apart. So essentially - I was a little older than Emma is when she was born. We grew up 15 minutes from each other, and were virtually inseparable for close to 15 years (until I moved overseas).

So we made a visit to see Kate and Margot (her mom) and introduce her to Emma. Kate's family are all animal lovers like us, so we got to meet a few others as well: Poppy the bulldog, Bentley the cat, and Jose the talking parrot. This bird was a riot. Everything I said, he would respond with "Ohhh...." So I would say a few sentences, and Jose would chime in: "Oh?", "oohhhh", "Ooooh". It was too funny. He's over 10 years old too, so we had to include a picture! :)

Sitting on Santa's lap

We never made it to sit on Santa's lap this year. There was just too much going on, and the thought of braving long, hot lines at the mall didn't appeal to any of us. But we still had to get a picture for posterity.

So.....we improvised.

Vintage Photo Shoot

On our last day in Maryland, Gammie requested we do a photo shoot with Emma so she could hang the winners on her wall, along with the other pictures of the grandkids. I wasn't sure if Emma would cooperate with the pink boa and hat, but she did, and wait until you get a load of these pictures. The light was just perfect - and my new camera caught some AMAZING shots.

What do you think?! I was so inspired, that I ran right out and purchased an additional portrait lens for my camera. I can't wait to take more pictures!

The Arlington Girls: Next Generation

For the Arlington girls, it's now an annual tradition to get together during the holidays to get caught up and give hugs in person. It's usually the only time the three of us are in the same place at the same time.

This year, the three of us got together at Potbelly Deli in Bethesda, along with the next generation - Charlotte and Emma. I daydreamed on the way home that our kids will all carry on this tradition some day in the future! How fun would that be?!

Emma's first Christmas

.....and her first Christmas puffs! :)

2008 is gonna be great!

Happy New Year! Boy do I have a lot of catching up to do. Stay tuned.....

Belly laughs

Being a mom is the best. Waking up every morning to this little smiling happy face just changes your purpose for living. Every day is like an advent calendar. You open up the day with an unknown treat.

Last night, emma laughed at me for the first time. I got out of the shower and wrapped my hair in a towel turban style. When I bent down to pick her up, she looked up at me and gave me a big hearty belly laugh! I dunno if it was the funky hairdo or if she was just in a good mood. But that laugh was yesterday's chocolate-filled-drawer for December 9th. :)

Yay for dresses!

Dresses aren't very practical on a newborn. But I had to break one out to celebrate Emma's 10-week birthday! I think she likes them after all :)

My warrior baby

I got the nickname "warrior mom" in the hospital delivering Emma because in my quest to have a natural birth, I endured back labor without pain relief for 48 hours. All the nurses thought I was one tough cookie for holding out as long as I did. That was certainly never my intention (to go that long) we just thought that active labor was imminent. Anyway, that's a whole other story entirely....

Well, luckily Emma seems to exhibit some of the same warrior qualities, as she had to get her first shots last week and although she cried, she still managed to perk back up and give me a smile as soon as we got home. I had to take this picture to commemorate her war wounds: three pink hello kitty bandaids! :)

Television and Autism?

I won't take this as gospel just yet, but it is very interesting. There can't be much good that comes from watching tv at a young age (or in general I guess). Glad we canceled our cable a few months ago! :)

http://tinyurl.com/35vw77

The missing reindeer....

...and her double chin say Happy Holidays!

The many faces of my little peanut...

Emma, the college professor:

Emma, the kitty-cat:

Emma, the kitty-cat after a tickle:

Emma observing the mobile I made her. In case you couldn't tell - she's in training to be a future NASA physicist:

And last but not least, Parker finds a good resting spot:

It FINALLY rained!!

Most of you probably heard about the fires in San Diego a month ago. The fact that southern California was experiencing the worst drought in nine years was a major factor. Locals around here began to call it "Sandy Desert" despite the fact that we live so close to the ocean, everywhere you look, you see nothing but brown.

Add to this, that anyone who knows me has heard me complain about the utter lack of thunderstorms here. If you grew up on the east coast, you know what a good, hard rain and thunderstorm can do for your soul. It cleanses. It's cathartic. Well ladies and gentlemen, after 2.5 years of living here, I finally got my wish. It rained for 24 straight hours here. Hard, pelting, running-down-the-street rain. The best part was I took Emma outside one morning and we sat on the porch just watching and smelling. It was great. :) And this was our view....not much to look at. But it was so friggin cool.