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!