"Is she always this happy?"

On Friday the 26th, we took Emma to her 15-month appointment. We just looove our pediatrician. Dr. Karen always gives Emma a book after every appointment, and even writes a little message in it at the beginning. This visit, she tried three different books, but Emma already had them all! Finally, Dr. Karen gave us a lift-the-flap book about noses that was a huge hit.

Emma weighed in at 21.63lbs (40%), 30inches(67%)tall and head circumference was 18inches (53%). She's basically tall and skinny with a small-ish size head. I have to laugh at this because in each category, it's the exact opposite of me but it describes Roger to a T! :)

Emma demonstrated some of her 50 baby signs, including pointing to her own body parts as well as those of others. She can even name her shoulders which Dr. Karen found quite impressive. Roger taught her to do a little dance with her shoulders too - the "shimmy". It's pretty cute, I'll have to catch that on film.

At the end of the visit, she had to get two shots, and let me tell you, I can't ever go through that experience without crying myself. I remember thinking when she was a newborn and getting shots, that it would get easier as she got bigger, and not so fragile. Ohhhhh no. It only gets worse - trust me. No matter what I do to distract her, nothing prevents that instant transformation from happy, bubbly, tap-dancing little girl to shrieking, sobbing, pulling at my neck little baby and it breaks my heart every time. Thank goodness our doctor lets us space out the ones we want to give her, and lets us only do 2 at a time. I can't imagine doing 6!!

Luckily for us we haven't had to experience these painful moments any more frequently than our regular well-baby checkups. Dr. Karen also remarked at how incredibly healthy Emma's been. I know I am jinxing myself now, but in 15 months Emma hasn't been sick (a few sniffles here and there...mostly correlated with teething), never had a fever, never been on antibiotics, and never been to the hospital. Yes, I know it will happen but I'm grateful we've gone this long. I've heard several theories about her being so healthy - the breastfeeding, the fresh ocean breezes and sunshine, the organic/hormone free food, growing up with a household pet, the this-that-and-the-other. Whatever it is, I'll take it for as long as I can! :)

After the visit, we did our usual coffee run to watch the sunset. We finished up the weekend up with some shopping and dinner. Everywhere we went, Emma would greet them saying "hi!" and people would respond instantly. "Is she always this happy?" is usually the first question we get. And for the most part, she is. (sure, there are those moments when she refuses to take a nap, and belts out from her room, "maaaammmaaaaa!" or the times she's wrapped around my leg as I'm trying to cook dinner......) But yes, she is a happy, smiley, busy and engaging kid.

While we were shopping, a particular old lady took a liking to her and told me that a happy baby is a very special thing and that the world needs more babies, so we need to have 6 more! Wink wink! I was very flattered and gracious. I'm not sure I could handle that much carpal tunnel, but being a mother is the best decision I ever made, and I'll humbly take what life gives me.

I've been tagged!

Ahhh....it's so nice to have a staycation. I can finally catch up on a little blogging.

I've been tagged by Nugget's Nursery! Here's the sccop:

Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write 6 random things about yourself.
Tag 6-ish people at the end of your post.
Let each person know he/she has been tagged (or let them get tagged by reading your blog).
Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

My 6 Random Things:

1) I love my nickname - "Eeks" (or "Eeker" if you're my mom). It actually evolved from "Eeka". My cousin Kate and I were born 4 months apart and grew up inseparable. When we both started talking, she couldn't pronounce "Erika" so it came out "Eeka". She was the only one who called me that for a long time. But then somewhere along the way, I divulged this information to my buddies in high school and it stuck. It became "Eeks" for short and it's stayed that way for about 15 years. There was a time when it was just "E" too. I like either one! :)

2) I have been known to eat spaghetti with ketchup on top.

3) I'm a very light sleeper. I've always been this way, and parenting has only compounded this problem, but that's biological: research shows that mothers hearing actually gets more sensitive after their baby is born to make sure they don't sleep through their cries. I shared a room with my sister for almost 13 years and if she even breathed too loudly at night it would keep me up. I've now resorted to using white noise after many years of trying to cope. Hopefully I'll get some deep, uninterrupted sleep in about 20 years.

4) When I was a kid, I had a favorite baby doll that I named "Diggan Maluse". I have ABSOLUTELY no idea where that name came from or why a six-year old gave her baby doll a first and last name. It makes me laugh, and it became an inside joke in my family. I don't know where the doll is now - I'm hoping we kept it somewhere throughout all of our travels. I would get such a kick out of bequeathing it to Emma.

5) I have a highly irrational fear of Mountain Lions and Brown Recluse Spiders. Not just a fear of them, but a fear that I will meet my death by them. Neurotic, much?

6) In my previous life, before I was all grown up and decided to become a professional photagrapher (hey, a girl can dream) I had many random jobs: a laser-eye surgery patient consultant, an orthadontic technician, a horse stable-hand, a nanny, and a burger-flipper at Wendy's (my very first job). I am a perfect specimin of employer ADD. :)

Hope that was enough randomness for you! I now yield the floor to my blogging buddies below so that they can disclose their own silliness:

1) New Millienium Motherhood (Kate) - (she and megan will vouch for my fear of mountain lions)
2) Strange Ways Here We Come/Megan and Lars - Megan
3) Baby Badgalier - Jen
4) Blue Crab Adventures - Jen
5) Katie Jean - KJ
6) Jen Posts - Jen

Swapping Favors

The beautiful thing about taking a photography class is making friends! And even better...making friends who take photos for you for free to get the practice! My friend Natacha took us on a Christmas-at-the-Beach photo shoot this past weekend, and I love the way they turned out.

We agreed to swap favors, so the next time she has family in town, I'll get the practice. I just hope I do as good a job - it's not easy taking quality beach pictures in broad daylight. We're so happy to have pics of all three of us finally! Thanks again Natacha!

Merry Christmas from Sunny San Diego!

Who needs Step 2?

So this is what you do when it's been raining for 4 days straight in San Diego (which is like...um....never!) A little painter's tape and some cardboard can go a loooong way to keep an active toddler entertained (especially when she keeps asking to go outside).

We're hoping to actually break in the new bike seat we got her - until then, we're using the box it came in. Eventually we'll paint it to look like a little gingerbread house just in time for Christmas. Rainy days, staying in your pajamas all day and playing with cardboard rules! I think Emma enjoyed herself too, ha ha.


Here she is texting all her friends, telling them to come over for a box party! :)

Tree trimming and party girl!

Last weekend we picked up our Christmas tree. We got a little one (we have a little house, but also wanted one that Emma couldn't tackle) at a local nursery. Emma thought it was perfect, just her size!

The next day, Emma celebrated her friend Winter's first birthday! What a fun day. Winter had great entertainment. Miss Dana brought bells and drums and scarves and a guitar to play for all the kids! Emma loved dancing around and playing with all the props. She loved getting dressed up with her birthday dress from aunt Mary Kate!

December 2008 update

Since it's been a while, I thought I'd jot down what Miss Em has been up to lately. She cracks me up all the time. Every day she does a little something extra (usually goofy or sweet) like patting me on the back when giving me a hug or wanting to brush my teeth for me. Precious!

She has been saying 'mama' and 'dada' for a while, but now she'll say "Hi!" every time she walks up to me. It's too funny. It's in such a casual tone of voice, like, "hey, whut up mom".

She's learned "no". She doesn't say it - she just shakes her head. A lot.

She's perfected the pout. Turns her mouth into a big circle and sticks that bottom lip out. Big time.....even accompanies it with a nice little "waaaaah". Technically I guess it sounds more like, "waaaaaaoohhhh". And then turns to see if you're watching.

She keeps getting more teeth! After all four molars popped up (and we recovered from the interrupted nights) she got all four incisors popping through at the same time. Her mouth is almost totally full!

She's still got a great appetite and eats almost everything (except meat....still not big on that). Her absolute favorite food is hands down: BLUEBERRIES!! This girl could eat blueberries morning, noon and night. They've got magical powers for a cranky/fussy toddler - so I always have them in stock!

She's still *obsessed* with babies. Babies on the street, baby dolls, pictures of babies in books or magazines, real babies (like our neighbor's 4 month old). She still loooooves babies and wants to smother them (almost literally!) in hugs and kisses. Let's hope this tradition continues.

She and Parker are best friends. She particularly likes pulling up his lip to inspect his teeth. She'll make a growling sound and then run down the hallway for him to chase him. That brings me to my next one....

She loves playing cat-and-mouse! The slower you stalk her and the louder your roar, the harder she laughs. She'll run herself into a corner and then dance/fidget around until you capture her. Her favorite time to play this is right before bath time - as I'm chasing her around trying to peel off clothes!

She also looves being outside. She'll grab my keys or her shoes and take them over to the front door and make her clucking sound (not sure how, but that was the sign she chose to mean 'outside' for some reason). She gets giddy when we put the sweater and shoes on and she runs out the front door. I have to catch her in time so she doesn't tear down the front steps. Once outside she loves waving to the cars, picking flowers and spotting the birds flying. She's a fast runner too! I now understand what "chasing after a toddler" means. :)

One of the funniest things she does these days is make piles. She'll pick up 5-6 things in her arms at once (all different shapes and weights) and struggle to carry them across the room. Then she'll make a little pile with each piece, until she decides she needs to relocate the whole load to some other part of the room. It cracks me up what she likes carrying - mostly akward and heavy household items. She'll even grunt and groan if they're particularly heavy. But she loves overloading herself and making her little piles. Too funny!

In 10 days she'll be 15 months old!! I can't beleive it!

I am finally getting caught up!!

Ok, ok. It is time to finally update our blog. It's that time of year - things are just really busy and being gone for 10 days, working part time, a walking toddler, a photography class, a husband who travels and the holiday season approaching has made for very little downtime. And when I have it.....well I just want to veg. :)

Anyway - we had a great trip to Florida to visit Pache and grandmom Judy for an extended Thanksgiving trip. We chose to go for 10 days so taht we could beat the holiday rush on both ends. We had some trouble on both flights in the end, but I guess it's the price we pay for having every other flight we've taken home with Emma be mostly successful.

All the siblings were home for the holiday and we even got to visit with two sets of our friends. I was a total slacker when it came to pictures so unfortunately I don't have that many exciting pics. We had a wonderful time hanging out with Tia and Uncle Andy, Aunt Rachael, Uncle Josh and the rest of the crew. We had a delicious Thanksgiving meal and Emma had a BLAST showing off all her goofy tricks. One of my favorite parts was our trip to the Tampa Aquarium! I love aquariums/zoos and this one is truly one of the best I've ever been to. It's PERFECT for kids - everything is at knee height and there are so many interactive exhibits. At one point, they brought out real penguins and all the visitors got to sit up close and personal. They were literally a foot away from us! Emma loved it and so did mommy!

This is how close they got to us!

video montage

Just a few videos to show you the many sides of Miss Busy. She is a very busy girl! Always on the move, and still obsessed with anything that flies. Her daddy taught her a few dance moves and she loves practicing them for the camera. Enjoy!


Busy Bee from Eeks on Vimeo.


Sorting from Eeks on Vimeo.


the plane! the plane! from Eeks on Vimeo.


silliness from Eeks on Vimeo.

Happy Halloween!! We had a great Halloween, and our neighborhood totally came alive!! Wow! I think every single house within a 6 block radius was open and welcoming. Tons of kids at all ages everywhere. How fun!

We went trick-or-treating with the twins up the street - Lily (ladybug) and Jorin (dinosaur). Emma has never been afraid of anything in her life. But that dinosaur costume really got to her. She was scared for a good half hour. She finally warmed up to him, just in time for us to hit the neighborhood haunted house!

Emma is giving Lily a kiss. She is getting really good at that! We are also working on giving hugs too. Mom's nerdy costume was Pippy LongWitch. Not terribly creative, but it was the best I could come up with!

Emma is the walker in the group, so getting a picture of all three of them together is not an easy task!

This haunted house was AMAZING! The owners spent the better part of the last month putting it all together. It was a full maze through their backyard (although you could barely tell you were in their backyard)- they had floors, walls and ceilings completely covered with halloween decorations, lights, sounds, etc. I would have LOVED this as a kid!! Emma was fascinated by all the lights. It was kid-friendly so nothing jumped out at you. It was really cool!

Saying goodbye to the talking head before we left! Trick or Treat!!

Happy Halloween!

walking and kissing

I intended to take a short video of emma's crazy walking skills. But in the end, I got a great video of her kissing skills. :) Love. Her.



the kissing bandit from Eeks on Vimeo.

Happy Fall!!

The Santa Ana winds are finally dying down, and it's starting to feel like fall around here. We had a wonderful time yesterday at our friend Winter's house. She and Emma met in utero (hospital tour for mom's) and they're pals in napping crimes. :)

Thank you to Tia for the beautiful fall dress!!

How PRECIOUS are these two???

birthdays and black eyes

Finally getting around to posting this. It's been busy here at Popsicle Central. Three different people have caught the cold! I think we're finally on the mend now. If only the weather would decide which direction it was going to go!

So we spent a week back east celebrating Emma's first birthday with family and friends. She ended up having more than one celebration, what a lucky girl! To make things more interesting, Emma decided to start walking on the trip. And everyone knows that with walking comes bumps, and bruises, and yes, the occasional black eye. So she had a little black eye under her right eye (see below) for her birthday celebrations. She's a tough girl, though. I think she was almost proud. :)

"I'm so excited! I get to have FOUR birthday cakes this week!"

On Friday night, we had her first birthday cake and singing at cousins Morgan & Tommy's house. She loved everyone singing to her, and hanging out with her fun cousins!

We had a Virginia celebration on Saturday, the 27th. Thank you to Aunt Sarah for the beautiful party dress! We got to hang out with G.G., and Tia and Uncle Andy, our special, wonderful Emma (for whom little Emma was named), friends from New York, Florida and Portland, cousins and more! It was great, and Emma loved being the center of attention (before taking a nice long nap in the closet. hey, she slept like a champ!)

On Sunday, we had a birthday celebration for her in Maryland with family. She had a beautiful Princess Cake handmade by Aunt Kelly and cousin Morgan:

Gammie created an amazing birthday Princess party for her Precious Angel. It was a fairytale dream! Just look at this spread!

When it came time for Emma's cake, she was a little tired, but she's still a party girl through and through. She loved her birthday treat!

The wonderful legacy of her first birthday, is that she was able to share it with THREE other generations!! That's right, she had two paternal great-grandparents at her party, and we had to capture it on camera:

What a lucky girl she is. She got lots of wonderful books, clothes, baby dolls, games, puzzles, handmade sweaters, two necklaces, a handmade book by Aunt Kelly and more. The best gift of course, was just having our loved ones around us to help celebrate this little treasure. I think she enjoyed herself immensely and we look forward to many more! Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make her day so special!

For the rest of our trip, there are simply too many pictures to post at once, so take a look at ALL of them here:
http://eeks101.smugmug.com/gallery/6164504_GM5h3#388568957_Mhntk

enjoy!