My Little Girl

My Little Girl

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Sick Baby

Ugh today was a ridiculously long and totally draining day. I feel like I got absolutely NOTHING accomplished.

See... my baby girl was sick. "Bery Sick" if you ask her.  And I knew last night that she was probably getting sick. That's another crappy part in an already crappy day.

Last night Emma kept fighting sleep. She would get to her normal "I'm about to pass out" phase where she takes the comforter and pulls it ALL-THE-WAY-UP to her chin. Usually it's about 5-7 minutes after this that she is good to go. But last night, after maybe 4 minutes, she would be restless again, trying her darnedest to get comfy. And she just couldn't. She woke up so many times during the night it might be safe to say that NONE of us slept.

Checked on her around 3:30am and noticed she sounded a little stuffy.


Woke up to a baby with a runny nose, slight wet cough, and kinda puffy-red eyes. I knew from the start that we were in for a long long day.

From the start she was off. She only ate maybe half of her pancake this morning. And Emma NEVER turns down a pancake! Then she would only let me sit in one seat in the living room while she played in the playroom because she could see me better in that chair. It was also the chair closest to the playroom. Every half hour or so she would come up to me and say "Mommy, you need hold me. I Bery Sick." She'd crawl up in my lap and cuddle for a few minutes. Then off to the playroom for another half hour. This repeated until about 2:30pm.

She refused to eat anything for lunch. Then I tried a bath so she'd go down for a nap. Nope. I mean, she liked the bath, but wanted nothing to do with a nap. It went on like that until around 4:30pm when I noticed that both she and her daddy were napping in the living room: Daddy on the couch and Emma on the floor beside him. It would have been cute if I hadn't been thinking about how it was very likely we would not be going to bed at a decent time tonight. DOH!

She slept until a little after 6. Daddy came home from hanging out with his daddy for a bit and I was FINALLY able to get out of my pajamas! Haha I had changed from one set of jammies to a different set, but hadn't been able to make it to actual clothes until almost 6:30pm.

Luckily my mom and stepdad brought over the fixins for ribs, potatoes, and biscuits for dinner. I put out a salad and some watermelon and we were good to go.

Now it's almost 9:30 and she's watching her new favorite movie. Well, she was about half an hour ago. She's asleep now. I just hope this little bug works its way through her quickly. Mommy has had a long day and needs a good night's sleep!

Night everyone!

Thursday, June 4, 2015

My baby is a big girl

It's official No longer can I try and deny it.We are well on our way to having an "official toddler." Emma will be two in less than a month. I feel like I haven't had a "baby-baby" in such a long time though. She has been this big girl for a while now.

Emma gets into everything. Seriously. Especially those things we explicitly tell her NOT to get into. Those are her favorite. Of course. haha

At one point I tried to jot down every new word Emma said. I WANTED to be one of those moms who could tell you exactly what words were learned at 14 months, 15 months, 18 months, 2 years... But the fact of the matter is Emma learned way too many words way too fast. She knew how to put sentences together, form complete and complex thoughts, making actual decisions from so early on that it was impossible to keep up with her. Granted, the decisions she made weren't overly ridiculous, but still. I let her decide what she wanted to wear---within reason...aka I presented options I felt were appropriate and let her choose. Sometimes I would pick out 2 outfits for her and she would end up mixing the shirt and pants but hey, she liked it so I didn't fight her.

She chooses her own sippy cups when she is thirsty. When we moved, I made sure there was a bottom cabinet allocated to her plates, bowls and cups. So when she tells me "Mommy I firsty." I tell her to grab a cup. She goes right to her cabinet, squats down, thinks about which one she wants, and then brings it to me. That's amazing for a not-yet-two-year-old.

This kid. She's a nut though, I tell ya. She loves to sing and dance. She loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and is now branching out to watch Octonauts, Sophia the First, and Doc McStuffins without a fuss. She still isn't overly fond of Jake & the Neverland Pirates, but that's fine too. She has a personality with definitive likes and dislikes.

She also knows what her "schedule" is. She knows Mondays are "Mamaw's days." Tuesday and Thursdays she knows she's goin to "Nonna's." And every Wednesday she wakes up and asks if her "An Sheh-yee" is coming over. I didn't know kids her age could pick up on that. Like pick up on what day of the week it is.

She knows how to count to 13. Sometimes she skips 5, 6, 7, 8--as in she will go "one, two, free, foe, nine, ten, eyeven, telve, tirteen..."; but if you ask her "What comes after 4?" She will tell you "5." And so on. She is learning her colors. She knows bue, geen, and wed (blue, green, & red). Usually. Those are about a 75% chance of her getting it right. Sometimes she knows yeh-yo (yellow), ohwange (orange), puhpull (purple). She doesn't understand white or black yet.

She gets the concept of names too. You ask her "What's your name?" And she says tells you. You ask her "How old are you gonna be?" She says "I gonna be TWO!" and holds up both of her pointer fingers! Now that's funny! I've even asked her what my name is. She says "Peeka" because my last name sounds like that. Or sometimes she says her dad's last name, then stops, acts like she's thinking about it, smiles (smirks really), and says "Nooooo. Is PEEKA!" Smartalec!

She's also a bit of an athlete. She can hit a ball off a tee to about 20 feet away. She can toss with serious accuracy. She manages to hit her target 99% of the time!! She loves footballs and basketballs and softballs... She loves to come up behind you and go "Momma-Kesh!" (MommaCatch) Then chuck a football right at the dead center of your chest!

But she's also such a girly-girl. She wants to wear dresses all the time. Seriously, I have to force her to wear shorts and pants. She wants her skirts and dresses. So weird for me because I used to have to be forced to wear dresses! But this kid loves 'em. I have said for a while now that she will be the girl on the softball field in full hair and make-up! haha

I can't believe she's going to be two next month. Exactly 4 weeks from today, actually. And it will be her Golden birthday. 2 on the 2nd.

I love being her mommy. I love watching her with her Daddy. I love snuggling with her and singing and dancing with her. I love when I drop her off with her Mamaw/Papaw or Nonna/Poppa, or when her An Sheh-yee or An Kiki come visit her and seeing her play with them. It hurts sometimes that she is so okay with me leaving or when she loses it because I have to take her home, not gonna lie. But then I remember she knows she's loved from everyone. Every single person who has ever met her has liked her. Genuinely liked her. She says "HI!" to the people in stores and their faces always light up and they almost always say hi back.

I got lucky. I know it. I was smart enough to wait for the perfect guy for me, so I would have this perfect person to help grow and raise and mold and shape and teach... I get to be her mommy every day. And every day is a blessing.


SO MUCH

... has happened! I can't even believe it.

But before I delve into all of that, let me apologize for not keeping up with this blog better. I'm trying but we always have so much going on. And I have learned that being present in those moments are what truly matter most. So, that being said, while I will still try very hard to stay up to date on this, I will also be making sure that I don't let moments bypass me as I think of my next blog.

Okay, now back to the awesomeness that is MY LIFE! haha

First big thing: We moved! Yep. My boyfriend and I bought a house together. I have never owned my own home. I lived with my parents until college. Rented until I moved back in with my mom. Then I lived with Matt. So this was a massive step for us. To have this HUGE house with this HUGE meaning behind it.... We're in this together, you know? I mean, we've had so many good moments, so many memories at our old home, but this was a fresh start. Emma will be two soon and we wanted a bigger place to raise her. Our old home had a "past" to it that this home doesn't. This is just me and Emma and Emma's dad.

The house is gorgeous too. We fell in love with it right away. Even put an offer in on it. It was rejected at first because the bank accepted someoneelse's offer. So we looked at other places, contemplated those places, considered making offers on those places. But we kept this place in the memory bank. We would keep looking at it on the computer, pulling it up and revisiting the "shoulda, coulda, woulda's" of this place. After a few weeks, we noticed it was still listed as "open" so we put another offer in. And we got it!! We got the news right before we went on our family vacation in Disney. While there they needed more "stuff," so we scrambled then to make arrangements to get the bank the documents they needed.

Fast forward to April 24th. We closed on our dream home on that day. My boyfriend and I celebrated with a lunch date at Maggiano's--just the two of us. We picked out the colors together. We picked out the detail-stuff together....all of it.

We had our grandfather paint most of the house and take care of most of the cosmetic issues, but I will say my stepdad and I painted my room and Emma's room. I even painted most of the ceilings throughout the whole house! I ended up having to change a few room-colors after we started, but I am so happy with how the house looks. The whole family is in love with it! Emma can't get enough of it. She loves this place. Has called it her house since the start.

First floor:
  • The first floor has a formal dining room and formal living room right in front. We call the FDR the "Beauty & the Beast Room" because of the color and the chandelier we bought. tee hee hee.
  • We made the FLR Emma's playroom. She has so so many toys that we needed an entire room to house them! 
  • Then there's the open kitchen and family room with a fire place. I love the fire place.. and the wall of bay windows in the family room. We still have some work to do in the kitchen, but it's all little things. Like painting the cabinets and putting an island in. 
  • Then there's the laundry room right off the kitchen--leads to the garage. Have plans for a few changes for that room, but nothing that is a "has to be done right away" type thing. Nope. I love the mint color I chose for that room!! 
  • The powder room on this floor is coral and I do mean CORAL! It's so bright and lovely. Honestly. I see that room and it makes me smile, it's so cheery!
The Second Floor:
  • The upstairs has the bedrooms. Guest room, Emma's bathroom, office, Emma's room, then the master bed and bath. 
  • Emma's room is pink and violet and ADORABLE! We have Mickey and Minnie decals on the wall and I think it's the most fun room for a toddler I've seen. Her bathroom is the same pink. 
  • The master bedroom is grey and blue. Simple and soothing. I even have a reading nook in my room. :) It's so much fun. And the bathroom. It's HUGE! And the colors are peach and coral. And I think that might be another favorite room-color-choice combo. 
  • Right now the office and the guest room are "neutral." I don't know how I want them to look, so I'm keeping them sort of bland for now. No point in doing something I don't love just to have to redo it later.

The basement is massive and finished. It has a storage room with built-in shelves. That room was one of two reasons I fell in love with this house.

The backyard. Oh geez. I love our backyard. Small patio but big enough for our table and chairs plus some set-up chairs where the family can all circle up and chat-chit. And Emma's swingset. This kid loves her swingset. It was the second thing that made me love the house. Emma is really into slides right now, so this was perfect for her. This may actually be the reason she loved the house from the start. haha Our yard isn't "massive" or anything but there are 4 houses side by side with open yards and each has the swingset. So all the kids can play together and just run from one yard to the next. I love it.

Since I have made this post incredibly long (much more so than I had intended), I'm going to wrap it up and end it now... With some pictures of the house as it is now! Enjoy!

Dining Room with "Beauty & Beast Chandelier"




Emma's Pink-chic bathroom





My Mint laundry room
 


 





 
 
Master bedroom with my reading nook! :)

Okay

Emmaleigh Grace

Emmaleigh Grace