Here I Am! and Other News...

Wow, it's been nearly 2 months since I last wrote a blog entry. It hasn't really occurred to me to sit down and write something and I'm not sure why. I haven't been super busy...maybe that's it. We have just been living life without anything too exciting going on so there hasn't been anything spectacular to share. ... Except that I just checked back to see if I posted Emer's Halloween costume and I didn't! So you've missed Halloween, Thanksgiving, my birthday, and nearly Christmas. I suppose I should back up to October, then, to begin this post:
Emer was a duck for Halloween this year! We took her trick or treating to grandma's house then Grammie and Poppy's house. Later that evening she helped me hand out candy to the neighborhood kids. She liked watching the other kids and kept her costume on for most of the evening. Since you haven't seen her walking yet, check this out!

I know she's mine, but I think she's the cutest duck since Ming Ming :)
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Following Halloween was Thanksgiving. I don't have any pictures from this to share but we had a wonderful meal at Grammie and Poppy's house with Uncle Scotty, Auntie Eron, and Hayden. Someday I should just hang out with the babies with my camera poised because Hayden and Emer are so cute together! They see each other and just light up. They love to share toys, laugh at each other, and keep each other from taking their much-needed naps! Our fearless babysitter (Grammie) recently took some video of Hayden chasing Emer around the couch. Emer is pulling a little toy puppy behind her and she's so fast that she actually catches up to Hayd! They just laughed and hugged. The two of them are a wonderful example of babies hard at "work" - just playing. We should all take a lesson from them!

<-- Here's a picture of Emer racing around the island and kitchen table in our house pulling her empty golf bag. Yes, it's fuzzy, but it's only because she wouldn't stand still long enough for me to get a good picture!

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As many, if not all, of you know, my birthday follows Thanksgiving. It was a big one this year. I figured, after years of being 29 it might be time to enter the new decade. So I told my husband that he had to throw me a party. Little did I know, he had already started planning a party! On Sunday, Nov. 29th Emer and I are playing, waiting for the Colts game to start, and my friend Kelli shows up. (I knew she was coming because she was at our house when I told Steve he had to throw me a party). Next, my mother-in-law shows up. And she has a pumpkin cake (yum!) I'm thinking, "Fantastic! He actually listened to me!" Steve then asks if I want to know who else is coming and proceeds to list half the Fantasy football league and their families, my family, and other close friends with their families. Everyone brought my favorite foods (one friend made sushi, my parents brough Famous Dave's Mac N Cheese, to name a couple of things). To top off the party, the Colts won!!

This man here -->

is one good party planner. Thanks, dear husband, for the best birthday surprise party an 'old lady' could ever hope for!!

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BTW, the day before my birthday we all attended Friendsgiving, an annual Thanksgiving tradition with one of my great friends from grad school. This picture was taken at this event, which is why Em's mouth is totally full!

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To conclude this post, I'd like to share a quick update about my first baby, Demitri (he's the black one). He's nearly always been a health challenge for us - possible heart issues when he was younger, he's been on meds for years to help control irritable bowel disease, he's a compulsive over-eater. Well in the last few months or so we've noticed that he's started peeing a LOT more than usual and he's looking ragged and somewhat skinny (for him!). My brother, the super, internal-medicine-resident vet, wanted to draw blood to run some tests and find out what was going on. At first D. was a mystery - his kidneys were good, his glucose levels were high however his fructosamine (sp?) levels were normal, he had a heart worm. Gasp! Yep, I kind of freaked a little at that! We then ran a urine screen a week or so later and the glucose levels were very high. So the verdict - poor health-challenged Demitri has diabetes.

After much discussion, we have decided to start him on insulin this week. My phobia of needles will make this one of the greatest challenges of my life, but luckily I have a husband who has agreed to help. It took a little heart break on my part, and a lot of discussion with other people he knows on his part, but he finally decided there could be worse things than taking care of our oldest 'baby'...especially when he and our tiny wonder get along so well (picture in your mind Emer hugging on D.; you're smiling, aren't you?!)

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Stay tuned because after Christmas I'm going to post more pics of the family and finally get around to the blog I was talking about on facebook when I mentioned that I have too many thoughts to post in one status update. Until then:

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

New York City 2009!!!

There was some BIG excitement with part of the O-C household this past weekend. I took Emer to my favorite city in the whole world - New York City! I'd been trying to get there since last spring and Auntie Kelli and I decided it would be nice to go in warm weather for a change. (The last time I was there and didn't have to wear a winter coat was 2001!) So we checked our calendars, kept an eye on the airline prices and eventually decided Oct. would work. Ha! October is NOT warm weather! But the weather didn't matter b/c we had the best time ever and Emer seemed to love the city as much as I do :)

A few notes about our trip:

* Em did great on the airplane and we think she's going to be a FA when she grows up :) She got fussy waiting (don't we all when they have to de-ice the wings!) so the FA took her and showed her the galley, let her talk on the phone, etc. What a fun way to start our trip!
* As you can see from the pic above, Em loved looking out the window at the city. She just seemed to enjoy the city!
* We did go to China Town on Monday and shopped for her. She got a cute zip-up hoodie that says New York. Looks great on her!
* While waiting for the flight home Emer made friends with another baby girl who just turned 1 a few days before. She's always the social butterfly :)

And now that we're back home we've finally made it to the Pumpkin Patch and today, yes TODAY - Emer is walking on her own!!! She made a full lap around the coffee table without holding on. Big events in the O-C household! :)

Mobility, Part 2!

Do you ever sit back in life and realize that things are moving so fast you haven't had time to fully realize the effect? Well that's how I feel lately. I love being busy and on the go constantly - anyone who knows me knows I can't sit still! But this past week I've tried 3 or 4 times to sit down and blog about the happenings in The O-C Household and haven't! (Hmmm, maybe the problem is the sitting still part...) So here I am watching the Colts trying to write out the latest events. Let's see how I do...(confession - I actually started this blog 2 days ago while Emer napped...)

One thing I'd like to point out, before I go any further, is my lack of writing skill. I've started following a couple other friends' blogs lately and they are so eloquent. I just bascially recap life. I hope that it's exciting enough and well-written enough to capture and keep your interest...but now that I'm already boring you, let me get to the fun stuff!

* At the very end of August Emer started standing on her own! She would let go of something, leg press herself up, and laugh. She's since gotten quite good at keeping her balance, but still thinks it is a great feat and claps when she stands.
* The next big thing she discovered she could do was taking steps. It became a game. We would stand her up then back away and tell her to walk to us. She would take 2-3 steps then fall into our arms. It's a wonderful thing to have such a tiny wonder trust me so much that she would rather fall and laugh than try to walk to me!
* Moving on, she can now stand up pretty much anywhere but still doesn't walk a whole lot. She prefers to knee around. I have yet to see her get up and walk on her own when she's playing and doesn't think anyone is watching. I don't mind, though, as she's super cute (and very fast!) kneeing around the house. Check out this video and tell me what you think?!

* Now, since she's doing the whole standing and small walking thing, Grammy decided she needed shoes. So she now has 2 new pairs of shoes which are just as cute as ever. I was worried that if Emer didn't like them she wouldn't let me put them on without throwing a fit (see bullet point below). But she seems to love them and sits quietly while I put the shoes on her feet. She has this pair:
and a pair of brown shoes that are more like play shoes.

* She is becoming quite stubborn yet is still very social. She knows what she wants and will do just about anything to get it. She screams, pulls my hair, and then cries as a last resort. Of course she's battling the most stubborn woman ever so I predict years of "fun". She fights naps like she's a super hero who never needs to sleep, then gets cranky when the sleep starts to win. It's like she doesn't want to miss one minute of the day! The best remedy for these things is to take her out. I've never seen someone so happy to be out - she waves at everyone, smiles at most people, and sings in the car. I wish I had some audio to share with you as she sounds like an angel. And then she usually falls asleep on the drive home!

We have our challenges but we also have our special moments. Sometimes she makes me feel like I'm the best mom ever. I can see my attitude and drive in her and I know this a good thing. I feel fortunate that when she loses patience or gets angry I usually understand. I think that helps me keep my patience. And it gives me hope that she's going to LOVE New York City as much as I do!
Next Time in The Final Countdown: Emer and I are going to NYC with a friend of mine. We'll be spending 2 days in the great city. I should have an update for you after I get home. In the meantime, wish us luck! :)

Pike Y Summer Family Adventure! (shown above!)

Pix, Finally!

Here it is!

The pictures you've all been waiting for!

(And yes, I SHOULD be organizing my PartyLite closet and cleaning up the boxes in the dining room, but writing my blog is SOOOO much more fun!)

Enjoy!

Happy 4th of July! And, more importantly, Happy Birthday Emer! Here she is enjoying the flag from her new golf set :)

1.) Not so sure about this birthday cookie thing...

2.) Hmmm, it wasn't too bad! (Hey, Mom can cook! lol!)
1.) 2.)

We wanted to take advantage of our Zoo Membership (it was an early birthday pressie for Em). So after too many gloomy days we decided to go out anyway and we went to the Butterfly Gardens.

Emer loved it!

Even though Poppy was in Alaska on his birthday, we decided to hit the McDonald's and have some birthday ice cream! It was Em's first taste of it.

Like her mama, she loved it!

Finally, there's no story to go along with this picture, she was just too cute to not share with you!

Check back later for the Pike YMCA Family Adventure Slide Show!

Year One Stats Update

I know, I know, I have been slacking on posting here. I've been waiting to get pics from my mom of Emer on her birthday but haven't yet for a variety of reasons. Since she is in Alaska right now, and Em's one year doc appointment was last week, I figured I better just post the stats for everyone. Pics will be coming along someday. So here you go,
The Stats at One Year:
Height = 30 inches
Weight = 18 lbs
Head = (I don't remember!)
Milestones = She's crawling everywhere still and now walks along furniture. In other words, she can hold onto something and walk a few steps. She talks constantly, though I have NO IDEA what she is saying! She is a little spelunker (sp?), trying to get into cabinets and little spaces in the house.
Foods = We got the "go ahead" from the doc to give her nearly everything so we've been trying new little foods over the last week. New foods she's tried include:
grilled cheese,
yogurt,
veggie dogs,
tilapia,
tuna,
bagel and cream cheese.
She really hasn't seemed to not like anything yet, although she's still iffy on bananas!

My thoughts =
* I've been making her a house out of PartyLite boxes; it's going to be awesome! I'll be sure and post pics when it's done. She loves playing in the boxes and it's so cute to see her trying out the door and stuff as I make it!
* It's kind of fun giving her new foods to try. I soooo wish I could give her peanut butter b/c that would make lunch a lot easier. It is really hard trying to come up with different meals all the time. Whoever said it was easier when babies eat real food was on crack. Breastmilk is super easy, figuring out and fixing meals takes all my time! I feel like I am constantly thinking about food - what should we have for lunch? What should we have for dinner? Do we have everything we need for this meal? What do I still need from the store? Do you think she could eat pizza?!
* Finally, we've been vying for the Most Beautiful Baby contest through Fox 59. If you'd like to help please follow this link and vote for her:
http://beautifulbabies.trb.com/wxin/babies_home_gallery,0,4359108,permalink.ugcphotogallery?u=JLO74
You have 1 more week to cast your votes. We Really appreciate the votes!

Thanks so much for checking in and voting for Emer! I PROMISE to have pics up soon. We are doing the Pike YMCA Family Adventure and we take a pic at each stop so I will be posting those very soon. Stay tuned!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

WOW!!!!!

OMG!!!!!

Holy Crap!!!!!

Has a YEAR actually gone by aleady?!

The chatting little wonder at my feet says it has. This morning she has made a HUGE mess of pencils in the office. She loves to dump a box of pencils out and then hand them to me, handfuls at a time. Occasionally she tries to eat one or two. And she just babbles throughout the whole thing. Yes, this is a typical day in the life of the O-C household.

Please stop by later in the week for possible pics and a summary of how awesome Emer's 1st birthday at the Indians game was. Woo hoo, fireworks just for my daughter! :)

Things I Don't Want to Forget

It's the greatest cliche that 'time flies when you're having fun'. And I can't count on one hand how many people have told me that the first year just goes so fast. Well it does fly and it has gone so fast and I realize that I've already forgotten some things about Emerson's first year of life. I have managed to write most of what I wanted to remember in this blog (birth, size at various doc appointments, pics showing her growth, first foods, etc), but I feel the need to make a list of important things that I haven't blogged about yet. So here goes!

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* I want to remember how I feel right now - I wanted a son, and I know I probably will again in about 11 or 12 years, ha!, but right now I'm so happy with my little daughter and excited to share all kinds of things with her. I am loving it so much that when I think about having another kid I think I would want another girl (ack!). But regardless of whether we have 1 or 2, I'm looking forward to going to the park, going downtown, hitting the zoo together, catching a Colts game, going to New York, etc. with her.

* She's all about fun and games already:

* I want to catch on video her being a total ham. She is so funny around other people - well behaved, a big show off. But I never think about pulling out a camera until I sit down to update this. But then today, I caught this short clip!

She's a funny one, little Emer.

* I hope I never forget her funny jack-o-lantern smile. I can't seem to get a good pic of her smiling lately and the ones other people get do not show off her crazy teeth. But trust me, they are hilarious looking!

* She's a techno baby - she dance's to Daddy's made up techno music and is totally into technology:

* She is a social butterfly and loves hanging with Mommy's friends!

* And because they ALL grow up so fast, we need to remember Emer and cousin Hayden hangin' together as babies!

I hope that some day Emer decides to have a kid and she can share this blog (well, the baby book that will eventually be made out of the blog) with her kid. Of course, I hope this is 30+ years down the road, lol! Stay tuned for a special Birthday Blog to come next week :)

Upcoming Stuff!

Oh wow I've gotten so bad about posting here and this is where I intend on keeping all of my memories of Emer's babyhood. But how can I remember things if I don't post them! Ack! So here's a few things that we've been up to (sans pix) and I'm working on another post filled with things that I don't EVER want to forget (there will be pix on this post!). I guess what this one is about is explaining why I've gotten so bad about writing. So here goes:

OMG, the end of school is crazy!
* I was trying to pump up my PartyLite business just before school ended so I'd be nice and busy for the summer (I succeeded, for June anyway, still have available dates in July!)
* Meanwhile, my school was applying to be a part of the Now Excuses University program (NEU) and I was in charge of the video portion. So every spare moment in May went to filming at school or editing at home. I finally got 10 minutes of video pared down to 5, which was the max time the video could be. I hope we get chosen as an NEU school!
* Once school ended I picked up a couple of shifts of Wellness Coaching at the Y. Those were fun, and let my mom keep Emer one more time before summer was officially here. She already misses her, it's funny!
* Then I started taking a class and had to go to Terre Haute for the first week of class. We had to have a book completely read by the first class so at this point every spare moment was being spent reading! I finished the book, at 1am the night before class. And the first week of class rocked!

I am now back home, studying (the rest of the class, until the last week, is distance ed.), doing laundry from our trip, making baby food for Emer, working at the Y, and getting ready for my, hopefully, awesome PartyLite June! We are hoping the weather gets warmer, though, b/c we want to go to the pool. So far we went to a pool party the weekend after school got out and it hasn't been nice enough since then. So Em and I are getting pretty stir crazy at home. Well, I am anyway! She just explores, plays with her toys, laughs, eats, sleeps (currently taking a monster of a nap), and poops. LOL!

And speaking of laundry, the dryer just buzzed so I'll go fold until she wakes up. And I will get a nice, long, updated, picture-filled post up here soon. As always, thanks for checking in!

Mobility!

Woo hoo, we have mobility!

One week shy of 10 months old Emer crawled for the first time. We were sitting in the office and she was wanting her music thing. She got up on her knees and took 2 crawl steps towards it! I tried desperately to get her to do it again so I could video tape it but no luck. Instead, Grammy sent us video on Tuesday :)

Throughout the week she went from timid to deliberate and sped up a little bit. She's having fun and so are we. And I finally did get that video I was trying so hard to capture!

In other news:

* She tried apples this week and loves them. Yea, a fruit she likes!

* She is eating more like meal times some days. Not every day, but some days...

* In swim class this week we went completely under the water. She did awesome!

* She popped her 3rd tooth today. It's on the left side, top of her mouth. Mommy's boobies are nervous!

Life with a baby still basically rocks. Thanks for stopping by!

9 months down!

Whew, the last 9 months have flown by! On Monday Em had her 9 month doc. appointment (no shots this time, thanks goodness). Here's the outcome:
Height: 27 3/4 inches (now somewhere around the 50-75%)
Weight: 17 lbs 1 oz (somewhere around the 50%)
Head: 17 1/2 inches (still hovering around the 25%)
Developmental markers: she's rolling around! She reaches for things, helps us feed her by putting the spoon in her mouth on her own, she dances to music (very funny to watch, I should get some video to post...), and she loves to look at her reflection. I'm not sure this last one is a developmental thing or just her realizing how cute she really is :)

-> So basically she's slowing down and letting her body catch up to her head, ha! This is totally normal, it's apparently just like when we as adults decide to go on a diet. We get more exercise (she's rolling around and reaching and just very active) and we slow our eating (she's not eating as often as she used to).


Here's a few cute pics of some of the things she's been up to lately:


Hanging with Daddy

Visiting with Uncle Scotty

Going swimming with Mommy! Yep, we signed up for Parent/Child swim classes which begin April 15th!

She's trying out new bath hairstyles::We saw the Easter Bunny!
And last but not least, she's partyin' with her friends! Here is Em and her friend Ella at Ella's 1st birthday party:


Thanks for stopping by and checking in on Emer!

The Family Keeps on Growing!

Quick, what's your first thought?

...

Nope, I'm not pregnant again, I just got a nephew today! And here are the details:

Mommy - Eron, my cool sister-in-law

Daddy - Scotty, my awesome brother

Baby - Hayden Alexander (my sweet tiny nephew!)

Length - 21 inches.

Weight - 7 lbs, 8 oz (sorry, at first typing I had 8lbs, 7 oz!, my bad.)

Date/Time - Feb. 4th, 2009/7:56am

Here is Hayden and Proud Papa :
Mommy, finally able to relax and enjoy her adorable son:

Congrats Owens' family! I love you guys!

The Tooth, the Whole Tooth, and Nothing But the Tooth!

The title says it all!

Emer has been a bit fussy lately and we couldn't figure out why. My mom said she was like me, always needing attention and needing to be carried around. I said, "Thanks! (sarcasm) But she doesn't act like that with me all the time." Then Mom decided to do some sleuthing. As a last resort she stuck her finger in Em's mouth to find...

Her First Tooth!!!

[This picture was not taken right after but I thought it looked like her saying, "Of course there was something wrong, I'm a wonderful baby who is just growing teeth. Geez!"]

And that's basically the update for now. Everything else is going really well:

* we're still having tons of fun (though we're a bit bored trapped in the house lately),

* she's still only eating rice cereal and oatmeal b/c some days she prefers to play with it than eat it,

* she's continues to outgrow clothes like crazy,

* and she still loves her baths!

Just like I still love her!

Finally - an Update!

It has been over a week since Emer's doctor appointment and a week and 3 days since her 6 month birthday. So I guess I better give you all an update! Well here you are, facts and pix just for you:

First the Facts:

Height - 27 1/4 inches (90th percentile still!!!)

Weight - 15 lbs 4 oz (50th percentile still)

Head - 16 1/2 inches (just under 50th percentile still)

Foods - She has been eating rice cereal for nearly 3 weeks now and oatmeal for over a week. The doc recommended we try different grains, one a week, then mix them before we move into veggies. After veggies we can try fruit. Funny enough, if a kid aquires a taste for fruit they are less likely to enjoy veggies which is why veggies should come first. We are still on oatmeal, though.

Conclusion - She is continuing to grow at the same rate which is good. If we see a growth spurt in one area but not another or a slow down in one area then we worry, but as she's the perfect baby, there is no cause to worry about anything!

Now the Pix:

Pictured here on Christmas Day with Great Grandma and Grammy.

Over break we also went to visit Great Granny:

Here's just us girls, hanging out on a cold, snowy day!

And to conclude, she's just so cute when sleeping:

Happy New Year!!!