Mess,what mess?

What are you looking at bro??

Mess, where do you see a mess??

Yogurt is yummy and it's also a good moisturizer!

Peek a Boo

Peek a Boo...who's hiding!!

Pictures

We took the kids in to a studio to have some pictures done last weekend... Emma didn't so much as crack a smile the whole time, but we still got some cute pics.

Emma's new toys

Emma is showing off some of her current fave toys - the soft shapes are from a toy sorter she just adores and the step stool, well, it's what I use to get to the top cupboards, Emma like to push it all over the house, she can do this endlessly!! She also likes to carry toys in both hands and just kick the step stool all over the house!lol When she gets tired, she just lays across the stool and takes a little rest! She's such a character! We also had an interesting experience today - Emma's first visit to the dentist. I can hear ya'll say - you took her to the dentist, she barely has teeth!lol Actually, I had a dentist appointment and Emma refused to stay with the sitter - she basically refused to be more than about 6 inches away from me all day. I called the dentist's office to ask if I should reschedule my appointment and they said to just bring her in with me. Well, I thought they were crazy, but okay, worth a try. I bundled her up, packed a ton of toys and Cheerios and off we went. I parked her stroller right by the dentist's chair and somehow entertained her while I laid there getting my teeth cleaned... not an experience I care to repeat too often, but I have to say, she was amazingly good, she sat there and played and ate and chatted for an hour!

Messy eater!

There are days I'm such a mess, my shirt doesn't even make it through the whole meal!!lol

That's daddy's girl...

Emma LOVES books. Granted, most of the books we let her have are of the board variety, but for some reason, she likes dragging this big book around and leafing (or tearing) through it...daddy of course is excited that Emma loves books just like he does!lol

Emma and Rebecca

The beautiful Rebecca Li

The girls hanging out with their fave toy - the highchair!

Out for a stroll!

Snack time!

Swing time!!

We popped in for a visit with Carolyn and Rebecca today - and Janice, I took my camera and Carolyn okayed me posting updated pics of Rebecca - just for you babe!!lol I've yet to convince Carolyn to get her own Blog, but we can keep working at that!lol Anyhow, we had a lovely visit with the gals. It was a beautiful day today, around 10 degrees, so we took the girls out for a nice walk and played in the playground a bit. Here are a variety of pics from our visit. :-)

Favourite toys

Here's Emma with some of her favourite toys. She's got a couple of those light, "holey" balls and loves them and as you can see, she rarely goes anywhere without her lightsaber - notice that the lightsaber is taller than she is yet she still manages to drag it around with her most anywhere she goes!lol BTW, I'd say yesterday was the first day where Emma walked more than she crawled to get around. :-)

DONTCHA!!

Gary and I thought it was time to come into this decade and get an MP3 - technology is just really passing us by. He's great with the Blackberry and I'm great with the digital cameras, but otherwise, we're pretty pathetic. Anyhow, got an MP3 and figured out more or less how to use it today and one song I downloaded - and I hope ya'll won't think less of me for this!!!lol - is that amazingly annoying yet ever so addictive Pussycat Dolls song "Dontcha"...you know, the one that goes "Dontcha wish your girlfriend was fun like me, dontcha, dontcha"... anyhow, I've unfortunately been singing this silly song all day and Emma just adores it - as soon as she hears it, she starts some major bopping and screaming "DACHA, DACHA" and dancing her little heart out!lolol It's just hilarious!

Just hanging out...

I was in the basement with the kids earlier tonight and I just started snapping pics... next think I know, I'd taken about 100 pictures!!! Here are a few cute ones... Thomas has gotten Emma into Star Wars again! Emma's fave new game is Peek a Boo... she's an expert and no matter how many times in a row we do it, it never ceases to send her into fits of giggles!lol She's also now demanding that I do "Row, Row, Row your Boat" and "The Grand ole Duke of York" with her ENDLESSLY!!! For Row, Row, she stands in front of me and grabs both my thumbs and starts a rowing motion and for Grand Ole Duke, she just starts bouncing up and down... I've done the motions for both those songs so much in the last few days, I don't think I'll ever forget them!

Visit to the Pediatrician

Emma was at the Dr. G's for a checkup today. It's almost 2 months to the day since he first saw her. She's gained 2 lbs and is now in the 25th percentile for weight, still closer to the 10th for height - guess she doesn't have any of Gary's height genes...yet!lol He was very pleased with her physical development and assesses her at being at or above level for a one year old in all areas. She had to have 2 shots and let me tell you, she was not too pleased about that - she did handle it pretty well though. Last visit, she got one shot and practially screamed the clinic down. Today, she got 2 shots and just slightly scared the waiting patients!lol

Skipping along...

Emma found this skipping rope downstairs and now she likes to hang on to one end of it while we hold the other and pull her all around the house!lol And BTW, the overwhelming favourite in the dress vote is the little pink and green one.
:-)

Dressing Up!

Some of you may have noticed that Emma has not been seen in a dress so far in this Blog. I have to admit that I don't think winter and dresses go well together, not to mention that at this point, Emma is a little more "Terminator" than "Southern Belle" and the colourful leggings and tops she most often wears work better with her current lifestyle of crawling, running and general household destruction than dresses do!lol However, we're taking the kids to the photo studio next week so I thought I'd pull out a few dresses from her closet, although unfortunately all are still a little too big (or should I say Emma is still a little too short!lol) and see if I could find one that might work well for the photo shoot. We'll do a set of black and white photos and a set of colour. I thought her usual colourful outfits might work well for the colour pic, but one of these dresses might look really pretty in black and white. So, if you'd like to vote for which outfit(s) look(s) best on her, leave a comment or e-mail us. :-)

Paper play!

Do you REALLY need a load of toys when you can just spend your time tearing up a dinner napkin?? And notice how well Emma is balancing, both up and on her haunches... I think soon she'll be walking more than crawling - she's so much steadier day by day!

Perfect Winter Day!

Today really is THE perfect winter day, temps in the mid-30s, sunny and just wonderful. Thomas and I went this morning to an outdoor skating rink and had such a nice time... days like this almost make me glad that we're living in this climate. Thomas and I had a bunch of races and his skating improved a lot just from our morning skate! Here's a pic of him taking a rest in between races.

Bed time!

There's nothing like a hot bath and a thick pair of fleece PJs to end the day on a good note!! :-)

Winter wonderland!

Emma and I try to go out for a walk every day, although during winter, it's not always easy! Today, the temperatures are hovering around freezing and there's a nice light snow, perfect walking day. Since it is snowing though, I decided to take the 3 wheel stroller which has a full plastic cover that goes over it. Get her all set up and "platicized" and off we go. I'm dating myself here, but anyone remember the movie "The boy in the plastic bubble"...I think it starred John Travolta...I keep getting flashes of that movie as I push around my big plastic bubble!lol I think I will use the cover if we're ever out in a downpour, but this seemed ridiculous, Emma will have to get used to snow eventually, so why not now!lol I uncovered her and she just giggled the whole way home, laughing every time a snowflake hit her face!lol I've noticed that on windy days, when we're running out and about and I'm carrying her, trying to shield her face from the cold winds, she's struggling to hold her face up to the wind and loving it... I guess after probably not being outside much at all for most of her first year of life, she likes the feel of nature on her skin!lol Here's a pic of my snow bunny. :-)

Socks...a nice light snack!

All dressed from tip to toe and ready to go...
But wait...who needs socks...
Well, they do make a nice light snack!!lol

I found my toes!

Look!

Yesterday I was at the drugstore with Emma, picking up some pictures at the photo counter. Suddenly I hear this girl yell, Oh My God Mom, LOOK!! I of course turn to look what she's so excited about and see this 12 or so year old girl is pointing at Emma and saying "Look Mom, isn't she the cutest baby you've ever seen"!! So maybe the overabundance of attention we get when we're out and about isn't so much because we're interracial, but because Emma is so cute!!lol

Bass Pro Shops

Determined and Persistent

Some, including us, would call Emma stubborn, I'd even go so far as to say VERY stubborn. Since this seems to be a pretty obvious trait in our sweet girl, we've decided to refer to it as determination or persistence...sounds better doesn't it??lol Now there are times when persistence and determination are a good thing and times when they're not. For instance, when it's the 13,987th time in a day that I've told Emma to be gentle with the cats (by the way, CAT is her first word) or the 78,654th time I've told her not to put something in her mouth, it's not such a good trait, but then, on an evening like tonight, you've got to admire her determination. Emma's been working on her walking skills for the last few weeks, but the one thing she couldn't do was get up on her feet without holding onto something or pulling herself up on something. Tonight apparently she decided that she would master the skill of going from sitting to standing from anywhere without holding on to anything or anyone and she must have worked on this for a good hour. She'd stand up, walk a few steps, sit (or fall) down, then get up and start all over again. If you tried to help her up, she'd yell at you and push you away... again and again and again and again she did this, I'd say at least 40-50 times, until apparently she was happy with her ability. By the time I took her up for her bath, she could get herself up without a wobble and could do it carrying a variety of toys in her hands!! And the funniest part is that apparently mastering this skill required vocal accompaniment and she would grunt and groan with her every up and down!lol

Hat, what hat??

Okay, so the hat is cute, but did Mommy REALLY think it would stay on my head for more than a nanosecond??

Emma's First Love!!lol

Have I mentioned that Emma loves our fridge?? She'll kiss and lick it at any opportunity!!lolol

Clapping!

Emma has now gotten her clapping skills down pat and will pretty much clap for herself for any little reason - take a bite, clap, clap, clap, take a step, clap, clap,clap - well, you get the picture!lol

You said that!

Here's a picture of Emma enjoying some mac n cheese... and notice the unusual grip she has on a sippy cup!!lol Emma LOVES pasta, just about any kind with any sauce. Someone recently made a comment to me about how "she must love rice, it's in her genes"... umm...okay, well, she does love rice, but I think she loves pasta even more, does that mean there must be a bit of Italian in her somewhere???lolol I'm really surprised at how many odd comments we get, many from strangers, and since I'm a member in good standing of the "foot in mouth" club, I pretty much just assume people mean well, the words just don't come out right. For instance, yesterday an elderly neighbour saw me taking Emma out of the car. She calls from across the street - " you didn't have a baby did you, she's not yours is she" - assuming I guess that I was babysitting someone's little one. I went across the street, introduced her to Emma and told her we'd adopted her from China, at which point she says, "okay, so she isn't yours"... well, if she's not mine, I want someone else to get up with her in the middle of the night!!lol She then asked, as most people seem to, if Thomas was "mine"....yes, as a matter of fact, BOTH are MINE!lol Let's not forget "Is she his REAL sister"... well, she sure looks real to us!lol Also gotta love the couple at Costco who sat next to us in the eating area and started the conversation with "So, where'd you find her"!!lol

New Teeth!

Here's Emma showing some new teeth...she now has 3 on the bottom and 2 on top... funny how the top ones look HUGE right now... hopefully her mouth will soon look a little more balanced!lol

What are you holding Emma??

Emma is holding a child proofing device that goes on table corners to help keep kids safe. Emma thinks taking these things off is great fun - it's like she's on a treasure hunt - excited as can be when she finds another rubber corner to remove. Believe me, there's not one child proofing rubber corner that has met up to Emma's standards - they're off within seconds, no matter what super duper device I've used to put it up! I'm thinking of hiring Emma out to baby proofing companies. They can proof a customer's house and then we send Emma in to see if it's REALLY child proof!!lol Emma started the new year off at Dr. G's office. He says she has hives... no idea what they're from but hope they disappear soon!! Happy New Year everyone!