Shoes and now this...you've got to be kidding!

Poor Emma, no sooner does she have to wear shoes, now I pull out boots...will it never end??lol Today, I took Emma out and let her walk around outside for the first time. When we go out, it's usually just to head into the car or stroller and she always wear a one piece "footie" snowsuit, so this was the first time she went out and walked around a bit... she touched the snow with her hand and from her reaction, I'd say she's less than impressed by the white stuff!lol

New discovery!

Today, Emma opened and got into a box of Kleenex... who needs toys when you can pull out tissue after tissue from a box!!lol She tried to eat a tissue of course, but I talked her out of that one!

Hanging Out!

Here are pics of Emma stealing the remotes - good luck to all of us finding them when we want them!! Another pic of her dragging along her favourite "blankie". My parents have been visiting this week and they've been enjoying Emma and vice versa. My parents live 100s of miles away and this is the 2nd time Emma has met them. They spent 3 days here a few weeks after we got home and now this visit. It took her a couple of hours, but she was hanging out with them like they were here all the time. What's really odd is that Emma refuses to go to anyone but DH and I and our sitter and if anyone else does manage to hold her for more than 20 seconds, if DH or I leave the room, well, let's just say it's not a pretty picture. Emma insists that if anyone dares get close to her, Mommy or Daddy, and preferably both, have to be even closer!!lol Anyhow, after my parents had been here a couple of hours, my mother took her downstairs while I cooked and Emma played with her and my father, no sign of DH or I anywhere around... odd isn't it... this happened last time they visited as well...who knows why, my parents sure have been enjoying her hugs and giggles! :-)

Another one bites the dust...

Thomas lost another tooth this week... he's 7 and he's now lost a whopping 4 teeth over the last year, all on the bottom!lol

Fashion statement

Here's Emma's new fashion statement...like her anklet??lol

These shoes were made for walking...

I'd gotten Emma a pair of shoes a month or two ago, but after wearing them once and spending all of her time trying to get them off, we hadn't bothered again. Today, I pulled them out again. I thought now that she's got the walking thing down, it's time to add the shoes to the picture. Well, she's funny as can be. For the first 10 minutes or so, she kept walking as if she was going through a foot of snow, lifting her feet way up in the air with every step! She seems to like them now though since having discovered that you can kick things and they make all kinds of cool noise when you're wearing shoes... ah, my delicate little flower!lol

OUCH!

Emma got her first "booboo" other than the odd scratches and bruises yesterday... we took our eyes off her for one moment and next thing we know, she's jammed in between the bed and night stand and seems to have scraped her eye on something. She's such a tough cookie, she cried but not much. This morning her eye was red and swollen, but by afternoon, it was pretty normal in size, just with a scratch. Here's a picture of her with Rebecca today where you can see the damage... you can click on the picture to enlarge.
Given what a little daredevil she is, this is probably the first of many scares she'll be giving us!!

All together now!!

Getting these 5 busy little girls to pose for a picture is not as easy as it might sound!!lol Left to right: Keira, Kate, Emma, Rebecca and Sadie. :-)

Yangxi Girls

Emma and I got together with Carolyn, Dana, Jackie and Shelley who brought their beautiful Yangxi girls over for a visit today. It's almost 3 months to the day since we met our daughters and they're all doing great! It's incredible to see how much these little ones have grown... they're all so delightful! Rebecca

Emma

Keira

Kate

Sadie

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.