Trying to find out if my words have any meaning

Elsie Lane is 1!

2011-10-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

Elsie Lane Thompson just turned 1! Its pretty amazing. She is pretty amazing. She has like a 20 work vocabulary including some compound words such as hot dog, back pack and peek-a-boo. She loves to say baby and loves saying it with several different kinds of inflections. BAYby, baBEEE and so on. She has incredibly blue eyes and she only cries if you take food away from her. She loves food. Any food and all food. Im amazed she only weighs 21 lbs. She doesn't know the sensation of fullness.

This was the very first time we got to see her. She was so cute. She cried when only her head was out. I was a little worried but she is totally not a crier. She is such a happy girl. She adores her big sister and is pretty much up for anything. She is very social, which is difficult for sleeping when she would rather be hanging out.

She is so stunning!

What else do I want to remember about Elsie at one? She does sign language and LOVES the Baby Signing Time dvd we have. She just started walking this week and does it with ease. she has 5 teeth and several thigh rolls. se is in the 50% percentile for height and weight and 93% for her head, brains and beauty, amazing. She will do anything Emolyn does. Did I mention she loves to eat? Hasn't met a food she didn't like. She has way more hair than Emolyn did and its super blonde but still not enough to do anything with but a barrette. She loves saying hi and blowing kisses and giving open mouth kisses and patting your back while you hold her. She is so good natured and fun. Oh and of course she is going to be a big sister. Im sure she is very excited especially with loving babies so much. Two babies should be joining the family in April 2012 if everything goes according to plan. Of course since having anymore babies wasn't in the plan originally Im not super confident in any more plans.

Elsie at her 1st birthday party!

Elsie's 6 month photo shoot

2011-05-10T09:26:00.000-07:00

Im finally posting the pictures fro Elsies photo shoot because I was waiting to give them as mothers day gift. So here they are. Awesome Tracey at En Love Photography did an amazing job capturing my happy little lady.

Emolyn 9 months

Elsie 6 months

I saw this planter and just thought what a cute idea! I think Tracey thought I was nuts but isnt it fun! I was standing right there and Elsie was totally cool with it. She is so easy going.

Look at those matching eyes!

I like seeing their arms next to each other. Its so funny how Emolyn totally has my coloring and Elsie is so fair. Bring on the sun screen!

We had to get some pictures of Elsie in this sweet sailor outfit from my aunt Marianne. Isn't it adorable!
Elsie update: Not crawling yet but starting to rock on all 4's. She loves being in her bumbo and loves to eat. She weights 16 lbs. She has amazing fine motor skills and loves to grab anything in her reach. She prefers her mom to anyone and loves singing/talking with her favorite sound being "ma ma ma ma". She sits up and her favorite toys make noise, she loves her "sheep book". She laughs at Emolyn all the time. Emolyns favorite thing is to tell Elsie "a boo!" and it really makes her laugh. Emolyn is a great sharer and wishes she could carry elsie but at only 10 lbs different its not going to happen anytime soon.

Our spring garden

2011-04-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

Our winter/spring garden has come to its end. Its time to plant some summer food but we sure enjoyed the broccoli, cabbage, turnips, carrots, basil, thyme, red leaf lettuce and are still waiting on the green bell peppers to ripen (we got 3!)

When you plant things from seed with a 3 year old some times the drop a few too many seeds in the little hole and you end up with 50 tiny carrots! But they were delicious. She saved the biggest one for daddy because "he is a big man"

She treated the turnips like they were her babies. Emolyn talks alot about "her" family, which is not us, its her husband Daniel Thompson and her kids, whch are constanly changing. Daniel works at a place called "donation" and its by the zoo. He is frequently at work or taking their kids to the "hostibul" (hospital) because they are sick. And some times they die, but then they are all better again :)

She does make an excellent little mommy. I heard her telling Elsie in the other room 2 days ago "hold still Elsie", so I quickly came in to find Emolyn changing Elsie's clothes. Apparently changing her own clothes 8 times a day is not enough.

I loved that these turnips looked married to each other.

Here are my beautiful ladies!

My girly girls

2011-04-06T16:30:00.000-07:00

Well my sweet Elsie girl has been with us for half a year now, amazing! She is so fun and happy I just lover her! And she has an awesome big sister! Emolyn is the best helper ever. She is so helpful and kind and hilarious and tender. She found these dress-up teeth with a sucker attached, i dont know which part was her favorite :) Emoyln is also the best eater ever, i mean turnips, beats, chocolate milk, raisins, she devoured a blood orange yesterday to the point that i think she ingested some rind.

Elsie has learned how to zerbert. i love it! She has started eating sweet potatoes and zucchini and seems to have an insatiable appetite, as is evident by looking at her thighs!

She also loves her delicious fat feet!

And she has the most incredible laugh! She has been ticklish since the minute she came out and tickling her is so much fun! But I always stop when she wants, no tickle abuse here! I will see if shawn can get the video on here for you all to enjoy.

And I am humbled as I had a shocking realization yesterday, I am a slave to my to-do list. It can sometimes determine my mood, always directs my day, if things don't go according to the list I am upset/disappointed. So I need to find a balance because I think no list=insanity. Maybe some sort of rough list, like a "if I get around to it" list. Who knows, anyway its my cross to bear :)

since we last saw each other...

2011-03-28T16:35:00.000-07:00

My Elsie Lane is almost 6 months old. What happened? It has gone so fast. She is so beautiful and plump i love it! We just took her 6 month photos yesterday sop I should have those within a few weeks to show off.

Elsie is super chatty, babbling with some pretty hilarious facial expression. And he talks much more in the evenings than the morning. She sits up by herself for some extended periods of time and loves grabbing toys and shoving them in her mouth. She loves rice cereal which is the only food she has had so far. And of course she loves her mommas food, never refuses it!

She has the sweetest personality and loves to laugh. She is very ticklish! And is currently very into the sound and feeling of scratching things. She also loves to cuddle and smash her cheek against yours, its pretty great. She has turned the corned on car rides and now usually sleep through the whole thing, finally.

Emolyn turned 3! She is so funny and caring and says the greatest stuff. She is always trying to put concepts together of things she doesn't really know about but it usually sounds like she is a genius.

She got a doctor bag for her birthday and is either a doctor or a nurse almost every day. She loves taking care of her babies and stuffed animals. Sometimes they fall off their bikes but sometimes they are dead. To which she follows "but its ok" and then she fixes them. A lot of them have babies in their tummies which she, as the doctor, cuts out (because thats how all babies are born right?).

Emolyn also loves clothes. she changes approximately 12 times a day. And the combinations are always very fashion forward. church yesterday was silver shoes pink tights a purple skirt with a yellow shirt on backwards. I try to capture some of these outfits but who has the time with them always changing.

Emolyn told me the other day she loved me this much and spread her arms out. I said "you love me more than anyone else huh?" and she said "No. I love daddy most" well now at least i can stop guessing, i know for sure, she is a daddys girl. And how could you not be. He is an awesome dad. The play robot together using robot voices and he takes her out on her tricycle.

We have been fortunate enough to go to prescott, az twice within 6 weeks and it was so much fun each time. Snow the first time and sun the 2nd. I love being together as a family and going out of town, even if its just an hour away is such a treat.

So here we are. I am working 6 shifts a month and LOVING being at home all the other days. I have noticed I have been jamming too much into these days and am finding all 3 of us frazzled and going from one place to the next so I am trying to slow down a bit and not commit to so much. Shawn is looking for a new job since tiny prints isn't turning out to be what they hired him for. If he didn't have such a sensitive gag reflex i would send him to nursing school :)

life in the bumbo

2011-02-07T16:12:00.000-08:00

Elsie is finally in the bumbo and for the most part she loves it! Wanted to give you a quick look at what life with the bumbo looks like at our house. First is painting outside last week before it got cold, so i guess a week and a half ago.

Who are you?

Oh yeah now I remember, you feed me

I like food

Well sometimes the bumbo can be exhausting, and so can putting away clean clothes which is what I was doing in the girls room when I looked over and saw this

Whoops, guess we blew through nap time :)

Today at the dr 4 month old Elsie Lane was almost 13 lbs! She is 50th percentile for height and weight. What a perfectally average baby! I love it! She is talking and laughing and doing so much better having independent play time (as I write this she is totally crying, why does she make me a lier? Sign of things to come? I hope not)

All that to be said staying at home and being a mom is so awesome! Elsie is a great sleeper and eater and Emolyn is the most special caring giving sweet girl. She woke me up sunday morning to give me a foot massage :) I couldn't be more blessed. I just have to remember that during the crying. When all 3 of us are crying it can get a little tough.

January plus

2011-01-31T17:09:00.000-08:00

Emolyn wants me to let you know her birthday is coming up soon. She says "Its twenty wherey second" or february twenty second :) She says "lets blog about it".

And I wanted to show you some awesome pictures my sweet friend Sarah took of Elsie last friday. These havent even seen editing yet!

Also wanted to declare my 2011 theme. Salt and Light. We had Cynthia Heald author of Becoming a Woman of Simplicity speak at our bible study last tuesday and someone asked her "what do you do about friends or family that arent saved?" And I think this is applicable in all areas of life but her response was so awesome, "We should be salt and light". Now Im paraphrasing, as I didn't record the presentation, but she went on to say when people are in the dark and they need light they turn a light on, when something is not salty enough we add salt to it. But too much light and too much salt is never good and always off putting. So read Matt 5:13-16 and see that I can be available to people, being light and salt when they want it. Listening and being able to speak truth when its asked for and not feeling that I have to be all things to all people all the time. So freeing and encouraging and im totally into it. And im also encouraged to keep myself salty (which I feel comes naturally for me wink wink). But not being too busy to focus on me a little bit.

We spent a super fun weekend up in Prescott that I have some great pictures from. Hopefully there will be a nap time this week that will accommodate another post

Goodbye Christmas

2011-01-10T09:29:00.000-08:00

As with every year this Christmas had a huge build up and an abrupt stop. I have decided I will start decorating earlier so we get to enjoy all the holiday stuff for longer. All that to be said we did have an awesome Christmas. Elsie was a dream sitting in Aunt Miranda's lap for all of present opening at the Thompsons and napping through present opening at the Ellis-Rhodes. And Emolyn enjoyed every minute all all things holiday. She loved cookie decorating and seeing christmas lights and was so thankful for all of her gifts. Santa got her some light up Sketchers which were and still are a huge hit. Shawn did an awesome gift giving job this year which I have to point out since it is such a challenge for him. He had a mothers necklace made for me with the girls names. I will include a photo next time. I also got some new trees for my collection. Here is what it looked like at the end of the season. I need a bigger place to display them for next year.

We have been enjoying the cooler weather, you know 60 degrees :) We were a scarf family for our trip out to the Mozingos compound this last saturday.

ANd Elsie is getting huge! She has these great thunder thighs! She is rolling over and cooing and trying so hard to laugh! She loves to talk and watch tv :) She is becoming so laid back, liking to hang out and watch whats going on around her. she slept all night in Emolyn's room last night! Its officially the girls room now! Elsie wore an outfit the other day that Emolyn wore in this 9 month old photo shoot! Remember how tiny she was!
I just love being at home with these sweet girls. I am so thankful for Shawns job at Tiny Prints so I can be a momma at home. Even if Emolyn did say this morning she wants to go live with cousin Nate in New York :)
Here are just a few shots from Christmas time that you might enjoy

Such a performer

Now you see where she gets it...

Sisters

We love Papa John, yes like the pizza

Photo by Emolyn, mostly you contort your body to fit into where she is pointing the camera

Hope you had as fantastic a holiday season as we did. We plan on visiting the zoo soon and me trying to finish the advent calendar I started making. I made a ton of holiday treats this year for "Edible Christmas". In an attempt at forward thinking I decided to make our christmas gifts so I wouldnt have to leave the house to shop with a newborn. Well I dont know if it kept me in the house more but it was totally fun. I made 3 kinds of beef jerky, peach jam, apple butter, coconut macaroons, raspberry and almond truffles with sprinkles (Emolyns contribution), I dried apples pears and bananas, a kumquat cinnamon and clove syrup for tea, hot fudge, caramel sauce (which is so great in coffee), cinnamon apple sauce, pickled red onions, flavored butters (italian herb, basil, blue cheese, and lemon garlic) and banana nut bread. Maybe we can draw names next year :)

The evolution of a family photo

2011-01-10T08:47:00.000-08:00

Holiday time!

2010-12-14T15:12:00.000-08:00

After shopping for our tree last week we started decorating the house. Emolyn found Maurice's (RIP) antlers and said she was a moose. Then I got out ornaments for her to put on the tree. With no direction she did this:

All at 2 year old eye level. Hilarious.

Then on to gingerbread house creation. Note Emolyn's outfits, her favorite thing to wear lately is pajamas and swimsuits. Frequently together. Anyway we got our gingerbread house through Bountiful Baskets and got everything all ready to decorate only to find out you had to put the house together and wait 24 hours before decorating, bummer. oh and you had to have 2 pounds of powdered sugar on hand for making the "glue". Are you serious? Who has 2 pounds of powdered sugar laying around? Well lucky for us I had 1 and turns out that was more than enough (so why tell me to make it with 2?). So with much frustration and some supports the house went up.

Elsie enjoyed the whole experience.

But today Emolyn and I got a chance to decorate. We were hoping to do it with friends but they got sick :(

Emolyn ever-so-gently placed each nerd and mini chocolate chip in the frosting. Also we used starburst, lifesaver mints, tic-tacs, an Oreo and a york peppermint patty. Emolyn picket out all the candy for the house. great job I think. Here is the final product. I did the front of the house :)

She was very pleased with herself but sad that we have to wait until daddy gets home to eat it . And with him working long hours it feels like an eternity!
Elsie update: She is sleeping awesome through the night, only waking up once to eat. She loves to be close to me all day in the wrap but this week she has been having fun in alone time. Laying in her play yard or in the swing. She has started cooing and smiling, she has the biggest grin its adorable. Trying to capture a picture of her smiling but I haven't been fast enough yet. I love these girls!

faces of Elsie

2010-11-30T14:30:00.000-08:00

This is what I found on the camera after a little photo shoot in the girls room on the ground. Photos were either taken by him:

or her:

Emolyns first dentist appointment

2010-11-30T13:11:00.000-08:00

Emolyn went for a cleaning today with Dr Aaron Verbarg. She had a fantastic time! She was so great sitting in the big chair with her mouth wide open. They said her teeth looked great and that mom could help her brush even though she said she could do it herself! When Aaron asked her what was her favorite thing to do she said "Brush my teeth". Good answer! Way to know your audience!

Catch up Halloween Time

2010-11-17T11:47:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for Halloween was a little rushed this year, as I sort of feel it is every year I guess, but I love letting Emolyn get the seeds out of the pumpkin for me to roast. The cleanest way to do that was in her undies :) By the way these gerber undies are my favorite. We even bought her the "boy" ones because she wanted blue so bad. But hey we are potty trained! My mom stopped by on her way home fro work to bring me coffee for the party just in time to help Emolyn with the pumpkin.

Then it was time for our annual Halloween party. Our 7th year! We had a ton of tasty treats. Seeing as we had 3 Halloween activities I let Emolyn pick out a different costume for each using her dress-up clothes. At the party she was a ballerina fairy princess. it was sort of a combo of those three :) And she wore my Barbie shoes until I realized she might break her neck, but she wears them well.

Shawn and I were Ken and Barbie circa The Love Boat era Elsie had plenty of arms to keep her content all evening. She was "mommas little pumpkin"

Saturday evening we went to the fall festival at church which Jessica Meredith and I headed up. It turned out great! We had like 300 people show up and ended up with plenty of candy for the little ones. We had Taylor Sprague there to photography the kiddos and their families at a little hay/straw photo booth. This was Emolyns first time holding Elsie without an adult touching her. I was petrified. You can see Elsie reaching for me, poor girl. Emolyn was so focused on looking good for her picture that she was like a mannequin. We had to move her arms to put Elsie there. It was hilarious. She didn't look at Elsie once, just at the camera. But alas, Little Bo Peep found her sheep.

Linda made Emolyns adorable costume with so many fun layers and lace, she loved it! Her Elmo candy bucket didn't really match but she didn't care.

Halloween night we spent at the Schanens handing out candy. Shawn and Emolyn went trick-or-treating. Emolyn had a rough time waking up from her nap and picking out a costume was disasterous. She wanted to wear this pink summer dress, so I just put a couple more pink things on her and she was the color pink for Halloween. By the third costume dressing up gets a little old. But she and her daddy had a great time and her candy was delicious :)

This weekend is going to be awesome!

2010-10-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some updated pictures. Can I just start off with I love being home! Even with all the poop and the crying and the clean up the days fly by and I am totally ok with not leaving the house! All though I have left and some times were better than others :) 2 is definitely more than twice as much work :)
We are learning more about Elsie everyday. She is pretty laid back like Emolyn but really enjoys eating, and would eat all day if I let her. Its the only thing she cries about. She did gain 12 oz in 10 days! She loves the swing we are borrowing from the Youngs (thanks). And she is a total mommas girl. Shawn cant quite make her as happy as I can but its not for lack of trying!
Emolyn and I baked cookies today and they are cooling while she "naps" which is pretty much her singing and reading out loud for an hour, at least, and then (if I am lucky) falling asleep or having an accident or needing to "tell you something" or needing to "see baby sister".
Emolyn is doing great transitioning to being a big sister but does seem disappointed that baby sister has so many rules and places you cant touch (eyes mostly) and you aren't aloud to kiss her with food in your mouth. But she has been doing really well considering. And she loves to help! she cleans, she attempts to cook, she puts away her laundry, she gets things for me, she puts away her clean dishes. Its fantastic! She has also been pushing the envelope with her fashion sense. Its been intense.
We are looking forward to a fun-filled holiday weekend and what looks to be the start of the Holiday season, not that you would know it by the 90 degree weather! Pictures of this weekend to come soon and look for more Elsie newborn pics soon too!

My Elsie Lane...

2010-10-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well we brought home Elsie Lane Thompson last thursday. She came into the world on Oct 5th at 7:50 am weighing 6 lbs 5 oz (I was shocked she was so big!) and 20 inches long. She is too big for most of little sisters preemie clothes and is a totally silent sleeper! Unfortunately no time to write more now. Maybe when we figure out which is day and which is night and how not to fall asleep only 5 minutes into nursing I will write more :)

Enjoy our excellent photos taken just this last sunday by Tracey at En Love Photography!

Shawn's pick for outfit!

My favorite!

comparison

2010-10-04T07:29:00.000-07:00

Some comparison shots for you. 2 days before Emolyn was born...

2 days before baby sister!

39 weeks how crazy!

This week is a lot to look forward to. I am excited and nervous and excited!

Emolyn and babys room looks so cute! Linda came and decorated, its almost done I will put up some pictures when we complete the final touches.

Emolyn just figured out yesterday she and baby sister have the same mom and dad, it did not go over well.

Emolyn has been performing a new song, something about across the river. Linda any ideas?

I am going to buy myself some fun birthday presents today because I deserve them.

Yesterday was only 103 degrees I could totally tell the cooler weather! So sad...

Made an awesome photoboook of my maternity photos through Tiny Prints. Heads up, not very user friendly. I offered to tell them all about my experience...

Already scheduled newborn baby photo shoot!

Next time I blog will be with new baby pictures!

The life and times of the Thompson 3.5

2010-09-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

Emolyn wanted to listen to her i pod yesterday, alone. She was adament she did not want to hear it on the speakers, it was for her ears only. Well at 108 degrees she was hanging out in undies, thus without pockets. But we made it work.
She was my cooking helper the other night calling herself "A cooker girl". All this time with other people she comes home with these phrases I have never used and its pretty hilarious. But we put on our matching aprons and went to work making curry and egg rolls for dinner. It was delicious.

Emolyn wanted to do some of the picture taking so here is a picture of baby sister.

Emolyn asking for the camera while Shawn was taking some pregnancy shots.

35 weeks

36 weeks

No pictures from 37 weeks yet but it is well underway. Less than 2 weeks until C section day! Only 3 more days of work after today! Ahhh! Its all really happening! We will have a baby in our house. Emolyn told me she wanted to go to the dr with me so she could be there when he cut baby sister out of my tummy so she could give her a kiss. I told her, not today.

Record breaking high temperatures are making pregnancy super fun but I have my own personal massage therapist coming over tonight! Its the little things that get me through the day! Oh and I can't wait to be home with my girls and have my bathroom done (its almost there, I should probably post a picture huh?) I am, if you will, a lady in waiting...

*notice I have new blogs I follow. If you haven't updated yours in, I don't know say a year, your off the blog roll. But check out some of the fun new ones I added!

The countdown is on

2010-09-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

25 days till baby (which means 24 days till my birthday- at which time I am totally getting a free dozen Dunkin Donuts-thanks Linda!)
8 more shifts at work
1 more baby shower- Thank you sweet friends for getting together to celebrate our growing family
25 more crappy nights of sleepy
1 crib to finish cleaning, I have already ironed the crib skirt, I know me, ironing -weird!
1 last date night tonight! Emolyn is sleeping at Mimi and Pop pops. I think shawn and I are going out for thai food together. Then maybe a movie, depends on how long I can stay awake :)
25 more days left with my sweet girl being the onyl one to hold. Im already a little sad she has to share me. She prayed for me to have baby sister last night so I wouldn't be sick anymore, its pretty adorable. She says "You sick mama? You need acid pill? Sorry baby sister making you tired."
1 master bathroom in demo mode, maybe done by the time baby comes!
2 grandmas, 2 grandpas, 2 Aunts, 2 Uncles, 2 great grandmas, 1 great grandpa and 1 big sister and many more all waiting!

Maternity pictures!

2010-08-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun taking maternity pictures while Shawn was home this last weekend. It was pretty warm but Tracey with En Love Photography (look her up on facebook) made it worth it. I was so nervous that I wouldn't still be pregnant and she made an appointment with me so fast. She was super flexible and had some great locations to choose from! In only 3 days she gave me 6 pictures like a "preview". And they are so fantastic. better than I could have imagined. I am so pleased and now can't wait to see more! Its hard when you aren't one of those people who feels like they are "glowing". If I am its because its hot out. So it was so much fun to feel pretty. And I always love pictures with my little growing family. Its hard not to get good pictures of Emolyn! Who of course turned it on when she saw the camera.
Enjoy our preview pictures!

49 days and counting

2010-08-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

OK so all of the sudden its happening fast and we are going to have another baby! In 49 days or less!
Family update:
Shawn- got a job, Emolyn reminds us regularly that she prayed for Daddys new job. Aparently we should have had her doing that sooner. He is working for a company called Tiny Prints.check them out, the company is fantastic and the work envirnment makes me totally jealous, and I like my job! The lounge is a 50's diner. They take ice cream breaks. It seems incredible. He is in California for training for 2 weeks but gets to come home for the weekend.
Nicole- with Shawns new job development my work schedule should be changing to working less and being home with my girls more! Still working out the details. As for now I am still full time but on light duty until the baby comes. Which means less time on my feet and hopefully a little more weight gain. So far I am only up 4 pounds. I get weight again tomorrow and I am aiming for 10! Fat chance, no pun intended. Otherwise baby girl remains unnamed but as of last weeks ultrasound she is doing well growing (3 lbs 4 oz) and she has chubby cheeks and some hair! I think it will be pretty easy to tell the baby pictures apart.

Emolyn- babies babies babies. She loves her baby dolls, naming them, feeding them bottles (they are frequently "thirsty"), and patting them on the back when they are "crying". Yesterdfay she was telling her newest baby, "don't cry, its ok, its just me and mama". She got a new baby for going poop on the potty and as we drove to the dollar store she was calling out "Im coming baby, Im coming to bring you home". She is like the cutest little nuturing thing I can hardly stand it. She also loves do dance and watches "dancing show" which is SYTYCD. She does a lot of "high kicks" at home like she sees on the show. Also she does a lot of singing and making up songs. My favorite is "I know because". And thats the whole song. over and over. "I know, because, I know, because". Its hilarious.
So despite my lapse in communication all is well at the Thompson home.

Family camp

2010-07-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

We just got back from family camp at church and we had an awesome time! It was so nice to be out of the heat for a little bit and great to spend that time with friends. We got to share a cabin with Andy and Meredith and 7 week old baby Jack. He slept better than Emolyn did! We met some new friends and had a great time being intentional with just the 3 of us as a family.

We had a "Western Night" on 4th of July that was so cute! There were a ton of fun games set up and Emolyn could do almost all of them. Although the shooting to knock down empty soda cans ended up being her walking up to the pyramid of cans and swinging the dart gun right into them. Oh well.
Our little western family! 26 week into building baby sister!
Emolyn LOVED her freckles.
We panned for gold and then used our gold at the "General Store" to buy, what else, candy.
The only time she wore her bandana. Man she looked cute. It was so nice to spend the weekend in Payson and to get time with our little family and our church family. Emolyn made plenty of new friends, she was very popular with the older girls who taught her some cheers and played with her constantly. It must be hard to be so popular!

6th Anniversary

2010-06-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

Today we have been married for 6 years and this is the very first anniversary I have been pregnant! So Shawn surprised me with a night at our favorite local B & B Maricopa Manor. We stayed there just after our wedding (thank you bridesmaids and groomsmen) and then on our first anniversary. It is so cute and quaint and they have a pool and a spa and the room are individual like cottages. Very fun. Shawn requesting a room with a tub so I could take a bath! I think thats the #1 most relaxing thing to do, especially when pregnant and we don't have a tub at home. So I spent yesterday swimming and shopping and napping and taking a bath. It was awesome! No pictures, sorry Emolyn wasn't there to inspire the camera to come out! She spent the night with Jason and Michelle and of course had a blast!

If you ever need a night away check out Maricopa Manor, they have discounted summer rates!

Emolyn's First Bike

2010-06-22T17:07:00.000-07:00

Emolyn got a bike from Gigi and Popo (my grandparents) for her 2nd birthday back in february. Well I wouldn't let her ride outside until she got a helmet, and as you can see it took us a while. But we not only found a helmet, its an Elmo helmet.

She also has Elmo shoes and Elmo sunglasses but we didn't want to go too over the top for the first bike ride! She totally loved it! She made Shawn push her the whole time. "Come on Daddy!" Pretty funny to see Mr 6 foot 1 bending down to push the tiny bike!

We have only been able to go out 1 other time because it is so incredibly hot now. But she does love getting all ready to go out and ride.

She is talking like crazy right now saying sentences and asking about all her friends, and even people who aren't her friends. Lately she has taken to asking about her pediatrician, "Where is Dr Leonard?" "What is Dr Leonard doing?" Hilarious.

She is also very excited about baby sister! As we all are. 6 months of pregnancy down!

New York!

2010-05-23T22:16:00.000-07:00

So these got a little out of order from our trip but you get the idea. We had an awesome time in NYC! We got to hang out with my cousin Nate (our person tour guide) and his super fun friends. We got to see and things we will probably never get to again so that was extra cool!

We started off our trip arriving late and taking a little our of Times Square, better at night I must say.

We spent the next day at Central Park, had drinks (well some of us) on the roof of The Met with this amazing architectural exhibit. We ate at a little restaurant Shawn has been dreaming about called Shopsins. For extra reference see the documentary "I Like Killing Flies". The food and the man lived up to the hype!

The next day was Brooklyn day! Nate lives in Brooklyn so he took us around to some of his favorite spots. We had a great brunch, went to the coolest flea market, and spent the afternoon at Prospect Park. We had New York pizza for dinner that was amazing after a brief stop at the Brooklyn Bridge.

We spent the next day hanging out with friends eating more great food and ending the night with an incredible improv show at UCB.

Shawn wishes he was still there, it was all a little to much hustle and bustle for me to spend much longer there.

Thanks to my great cuz and his accommodating roommates and friends. What an awesome experience we had!

Good morning

2010-04-18T07:59:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to let the 3 of you that read this know that Emolyn is like 80% potty trained. Its very exciting. We ran out of diapers and instead of going to the store we said "you have to wear your big girl panties there are no more diapers" and she did it! Shawn did go buy her Elmo panties which helped but still!

Its fun to think of having another baby in the family. And a little scary of course. I love the baby stage. holding and feeding and cuddling. Im glad Emolyn still likes to cuddle with me.

We have a busy beginning of summer planned so look forward to some vacation pictures while I can still get out of town! Mexico x 2, payson and New York! Shawn and I are taking a 5 day trip in May, sans Emolyn. It should be awesome!

Garden and special news!

2010-04-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted about my garden yet! I took this pictures shortly after planting and wow has the whole thing taken off! Shawn created an above ground planter for me from some recycled pavers (Thanks Try family) and we filled it with soil and mulch and were on our way. Our broccoli yielded one delicious stalk.

Our special gardener is very helpful. She loves to tell us when the srawberries are ripe!
And of course help water.

We have had some delicious salads from our 2 lettuce plants. Our onions are sprouting like crazy and our tomato plant is 4 times the size. but only like 3 tomatoes :(. Our bell pepper plants have yet to bring any food but look really healthy and are growing!

And a quick flash back to Easter of last year. Look at this little peach! How precious!

And guess what? By Easter next year she will be a big sister! We are having a baby in October! We are so excited. Yesterdays ultrasound said it looks like another girl! Emolyn keeps saying "sister"! Its pretty fun!

Easter + Emolyn DDS

2010-04-05T17:45:00.000-07:00

Emolyn had a great Easter filled with a super cute dress, gloves and miles of candy. But unfortunately due to my need to keep the lights on at home I had to work. So I set out her dress and her little basket, and off to work I went. Cold and alone. And Easter is supposed to be about celebration. But look how cute she looked!

Recently Emolyn has been fascinated with teeth, mostly my teeth. And she has been investigating them.Why she has to pinch my nose I don't know.

But I get a kiss after so its all worth it.Emolyn Kate (as she calls herself) has taken to being very independent. Both with going potty (yes!) and cleaning up. She is also very into candy and cookies, awesome. But she still holds n affection for veggies so we are working on keeping that relationship open! She loves to give hugs and "massages" where she rubs your shoulders for 5 seconds. And while she might be without clothes around the house she is never without shoes.

Emolyn turns 2 (like 2 weeks ago)

2010-03-09T15:34:00.001-08:00

So I know I am overdue for a post but i had to document Emolyn's 2nd birthday! And some updates on what its like to be Emolyn at 2. Emolyn had her first party at my moms house. it was supposed to be outside but the rain kept us in.

Emolyn was so glad to have her family there and loved that uncle tyty came even though he had to work.

She was happy to get a meal she could use her fork but mostly her hands. see how much she likes chicken! Emolyn is like the least picky eater ever, its fantastic.

Finally she got her cake. we did a "colossal cupcake" last year and it was perfect. who else at the party eats cake? Plus she got red frosting with her favorite friend Elmo on top. She sings the "elmo's world" theme song pretty well.

And after a time on gluttony, she is done. and she was pretty clear about it.

Emolyn and her family guests had a great time at the party, she really enjoyed presents but I didn't get any pictures of that sorry. The party ended with the need for a nap, which happened pretty shortly after she got in the car to head home. Thanks family for a great 2nd birthday party!

On Emolyns actually birthday (she turned 2 on 2/22) we went to the science center with the Winzelers, because Baby Addie, as Emolyn calls her has a birthday the day after Emolyn. So thinking it was the childrens science museum we got free culture passes from the library (that you city of phx) and headed downtown.

The girls didn't seem to notice my disappointment in choosing the wrong location but hey it was free. The first stop was this construction area about how homes are built well the girls didn't care for that as much as the play house that was there.

Then we went upstairs and found the "wired" area all about energy. The girls found some things but the dads found lots of things!

Emolyn got to play with this air thing that was pretty fun.

Then she laid on a bed of nails.

Then the dads fixed all the rings so the ball went through each of them in a perfect arc.
We decided to head to lunch next at Tacos de Jaurez, where Emolyn fell out of her high chair. After some tears all was well and we parted ways the the Winzelers. We had the 2nd half of birthday to do!

The final birthday event was the evening of Emolyns birthday and Gigi and Popo's house. Gigi made a big dinner and the family came out to celebrate. Emolyn got some very fun gifts. Aunt Marianne gave her a "baby doll" she calls all the others just "babies" but this one is very fancy so its a "baby doll".
And that any good little mommy Emolyn rocks her baby.
Gigi made special lemon cupcakes for Emolyn. Emolyn still clueless about candles and fascinated by the fire took forever till we blew it out.

At 2 Emolyn can:

March

count to 11 (minus 5, she hates 5)

sing parts of ABC's

Dance with motions to several songs also making up motions to songs that do not have any

she has now been a flower girl twice

some hair is starting to show up

she loves the shower

other than several wiping poop on herself incidents we have been getting better at using the potty (we being Emolyn, shawn and I pretty much have it down)

She loves babies, real and otherwise, and always thinks they are sleeping

like apple juice, altoid mints and cheese

likes talking on the phone, which is usually silence

loves shoes and other accessories, namely purses and sunglasses

loves her mom and dad and calls for each of them on a regular basis!

Our little girl is so loved we had such a fun time with family and friends. Stay tuned for more of our adventures!

January Update

2010-01-22T15:23:00.001-08:00

This is my "pumpkin spice latte" outfit.
This is emolyns nose in case you were wonderingGuess who went potty on the potty 2 times yesterday? Well along with candy each time Emolyn got some undies. Its all very exciting.

She might get cuter every day.

We are loving the rain here. Emolyn is "splashing" in puddles.

Emolyn is trying to get over her month long ear infection. I think we might have done it this time!

Christmas part 3- Ellis

2010-01-12T12:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas is backwards at my moms house and Shawns parents house. My moms we do eat first and then do stockings before gifts. Shawns house stockings are last and you dont eat until after gifts. Well its all very exciting! And either way you eat and get presents!

We spent Christmas day at my moms house. Jason and Michelles family went to Michelles parents on Christmas eve and the boys had some pretty sweet dart guns to show for it. So we made some targets!

And dont worry emolyn got plenty of very cool things! She got a tiny little baby and a bottle, she held the baby and took off its clothes, rocked it and gave it a bottle, then threw it on the ground to get something else, all with her sunglasses on.
And she got a very cool crocodile christmas book from Aunt Michelle and a stuffed dinosaur, very cool as you can tell by Emolyns face.
This was the only time he was allowed to do this.
We had a great time with my family and our family tradition is a big shopping day on the day after christmas so our gift is money to shop. We all eat together and see a movie. This year no movie as Sherlock Holmes was sold out. so we shopped more! We get all the sales and I cant even tell you what amazing deals I got! I love it!

We had a very busy but a very happy Holiday. My grandpa was still in the hospital on Christmas so we went in shifts to see him and my grandma.

He is home now and regaining his strength. Less than 1 week of IV antibiotics left! Thank you all for your prayers and concern. By all I mean the 2 of you that read this. You guys are really great.

Christmas 09 pt 2

2010-01-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

Emolyn loved wandering around checking out everyones toys on Christmas Eve. She opened all of her presents very well and was always thankful. Ten she would go to Pop Pop so he could get them out of the package for her!

Mimi and Santa collaborated to get Emolyn so many fun things! She got a ton of fake food and dishes to eat it off of! She loved it. She is so good at pretending. Mimi also got her some rags to "clean up". Emolyn loves walking around and cleaning.
My big gift. A quilt rack! I am so excited to display my quilts! Now I just have to get them all finished...
Emolyn got an awesome table and set of chairs to do her playing on. She loves to draw and these washable markers are perfect! I do have some of her art on the fridge, very moving. She is very talented.
Emolyn got a Elmo play set from Uncle and Tyler! This was her going to give him a hug and say "Dak Un" (Thank you)
We had an awesome day with the Thompson clan, followed by a night of worship and the Christmas Eve service at church.

Christmas 09 pt 1

2010-01-03T12:46:00.001-08:00

Well between my grandpas illness and working hard for the money this holiday season flew by. It was a little good in that I didn't do any last minute impulse shopping. So our gifts were a little more meager this year as I stuck to the budget and did most my purchasing pre-holiday.

Here are just a few snippets from the big day!

Emolyn was so excited to get to Mimi and Pop Pops house on Christmas Eve. It was our Christmas round 1. She went and woke up "Randa" and "Tywer" and said "shh ty ty sleeping". Just look at the excitement on her face.

Pre-Christmas Sunday morning Emolyn looked soooo cute in this fabulous coat from Mimi. And she knew it! She danced for Benjamin and his friends once she got to church.
Shawn and I always exchange our gifts the night before Christmas. Well since Christmas Eve is our Thompson Christmas we exchange gifts on the 23rd. I would exchange gifts in october if Shawn would let me. I love presents! I got him this awesome new Onion book!
Here is my tree collection! It grew by 3 trees this holiday! But this was before the "spouting" of the newest trees. I love the variety! Look at my littlest tree all the way from Germany! Thanks Miranda!
Here was our tree this year. Morten in all his glory. Sad really. Only 3 ornaments made it up. All new this year. We just didn't have time to do much decorating.
Tis was only a glimpse. I assure you when I have time (never) there will be more to come (hopefully).

Fun treat!

2009-12-13T20:56:00.000-08:00

My neighbor across he street and down one gave us this super cute horse for Emolyn!

As you can tell she loves it! This lady is so nice and I can never remember her name but I did watch her son once when I let her borrow my car. Funny story.
Oh and Emolyn was strutting in a winter wonderland today. She looked so cute!
We went to say hi to Mimi for her birthday! Emoyln cant say "Happy Birthday" yet. But she can say "happy" and "birthday" just not back to back! We had a special girls only weekend with Shawn being out of town in Disneyland. It was super fun while also exhausting. She makes me tired, but I love her! We jam packed the weekend and were going going going the whole time. And Emolyn seems to have a cold (runny nose, no fever, but it sure makes her grumpy!). Oh well Shawn will have to deal with it tonight. He is finally home!

Christmas tree shopping

2009-12-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went shopping at our local Whitfill Nursery for Morton Thompson (our christmas tree's name). We named him the first year and decided that would always be his name. So now its Morton the 5th. It was extra cold here like 45 degrees so we bundled up and headed to dinner. Our family tradition is dinner first. This is Shawn's year to pick the place so we ate at The Yard House and got there in time for happy hour! We shared 2 appetizers and they were huge! Sliders and Chicken nachos. And Emolyn had some soup. Her new thing is soup she loves to say "soup" and to eat soup.

This was what tree shopping looked like for us.

Emoyln sat next to the HUGE inflatable snow man. Just to give you a little perspective...Here is the tree at home! We usually only get a 5 foot tree due to our enormous cast iron tree stand!

Check out our new family pictures!

2009-11-26T12:12:00.000-08:00

We were blessed to know Erica Sawrey of Cora Kingston Photography who spent several hours following us around Saguaro Ranch Park capturing out little family having fun. Check out these sweet photos!

Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket

Thanks Erica!

Thompson Family Disneyland 09 part 1

2009-11-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

We had a great time at Disneyland with Shawn's family but it started out a little rocky for Emolyn. On our previous trips to Disneyland Emolyn was anywhere from totally excited to crying out in horror (mostly when she saw the annimatronic Buzz Lightyear right before the ride). So this trip we decided to just be layed back and let her enjoy Disneyland to whatever extend she wanted to enjoy Disneyland. It was really her trip.

Linda dressed her in a princess dress over her clothes everyday so she was a little princess. As you can see...

Come on dad, lets go!

After attempting to ride Peter Pan where she started crying in line Shawn and I went and had a little photo time in Fantasy Land. She loves being with her daddy. Or "dad" as she calls him, or "mom" as she also calls him!

As you can tell she loved the Alice and Wonderland ride...

And so did Tyler...

But the day got better I promise! It was hard to get her in a photo with a smile there for a while! Stay tuned for part 2, wishing wells!

Halloween 09

2009-11-03T14:43:00.000-08:00

For Halloween this year we had our 5th annual Halloween party friday night and celebrated Halloween at the fall festival at church. Shawn and I were a 70's couple.Miranda was Danish or Swedish or Norwegian, we didn't really know. Maybe Dutch?
My mom and John were the old hippie couple, past their prime.
Emolyn was a hotdog.

Meredith and I were accidental twins

Emolyn loved seeing her friends all dressed up. Madison was a ballerina fairy princess.
Emolyn loved the games, we were like the first people there which was so perfect because she got to do everything without the big kids in the way! When we got to the face painting we let her choose her won color. Brown. yuck. at least it matched her costume.
Her favorite part about each game was no matter if you won or lost (or cheated which was frequently the case) she always got candy.
She carried her "candy purse" until it got too heavy. She had some super cute pictures taken by Erica at Cora Kingston Photography.

All the moms got together for a mommy and girl photos. As always I photographed well.

Jeannette pulled the girls around in her wagon. Both girls were "so big". It was pretty funny to see them with their hands up like hey were on a rollarcoaster.

By the end of the night Emolyn could say "hot dog" and she had wiped off most of her face paint. All in all we had another great Halloween!

2009-10-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to take advantage of the timeshare we have had for 5 years and spend 2 weekends ago there. We had such a great time together as our little family it was so much fun! Emolyn of course was extra cute and we brought plenty of snacks to keep her happy.

And happy she was as she sang "a b c, a b c". Its fantastic.

She has also picked up "air drumming" from shawn and even makes sound effects sometimes! Daddy's little girl!
We got to enjoy the resorts kiddy pool, probably our last swimming adventure for the year, in October, so sad.
It was so nice to relax. We have had something planned every night for it feels like 2 months! How did we get so busy? Anyway I have been working extra so Im a little burnt out after work and house work. sorry about the lack of blogs but I know you have been dying to see her! I will include some new photos soon, because her winter outfits are super cute! Yeah cool weather!

Free Zoo Day!

2009-09-23T12:28:00.001-07:00

So Wednesdays in September are free at the Phoenix Zoo if you are a Frys VIP member, which who isn't? So Jeannette and I took our girls to the zoo. Madison is 6 months younger that Emolyn and they had a great time together. They almost held hands once. Mostly we were glad there was no hitting or stealing of things. They played very well well together. And what a cute pair!Jeannette had to go to the bathroom and Madi was non too happy to be alone with me!
So I see now Emolyn might need a bigger shirt!

We had a great time! We cant wait to watch these birgls grow up together! And cant wait for more new friends to come! Welcome Rori!

Mom gets out

2009-09-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

A couple fo friends at work were having a birthday celebration and invited me to join them. So I went out. Alone. It was fun but pretty weird. I decided I like going out with shawn best. But it was fun to dress up.

Emolyn helped pick my shoes.
And she picked a pair for herself.
She is so funny! I love her so bad!

Things Emolyn likes

2009-09-13T22:08:00.001-07:00

Emolyn loves to brush her teeth, and she is a good brusher! Only she cries when we take her toothbrush away. Also in this picture is what we call "bunny baby" a sweet gift from Aunt Etna and Uncle Barry that is a baby in a little bunny costume. Emolyn loves it and was heart broken when she needed a bath today, baby bunny that is. She had a run in with a very drippy, very upside down sippy cup of milk. ANd of course you all know about the hat issue we have.

I just put this outfit on Emolyn the other day and I wish I would have done it sooner! The overalls are almost too short! They are hand-me-downs and she loves them! She had her hand in her pocket like all day. Also pictured is her baby stroller. Poor Maurice has been rammed several times but she loves it.
Baby Signing Time. Emolyn LOVES IT! Im so glad our friend Anne is letting us borrow it because it is fantastic. Emolyn knows over 30 signs. It amazing. She dances she closes her eyes and sings, she spins in a circle. It has made baby communication much easier. Although she has really started talking a lot more lately. Still calls almost everyone "mom" and screams "mom" a lot, she did say "pop pop" when she saw Randys picture!
And now you know Emolyn is a gangster. She put both hats on herself and can do some of her dressing herself. But this is her new pose. And when she sees herself (she will spend 10 minutes in front of the oven taking and dancing for her reflection) she sticks out her tongue.
Ever heard the term "makin and relaxin" or "chillin like a villian"? Either of those would describe this unposed picture that Shawn captured. Priceless.
Otherwise life is me at work and shawn job searching and doing some free-lance design work from home. His new company is called Ithaca Designs. Check out some of his stuff here.

Hats

2009-08-22T23:14:00.001-07:00

Emolyn loves to put on hats. She comes out of her room wearing them. Its pretty hilarious. Hee are a few examples. Some times the hats are hers, some times not. Oh and she does the same with her "hair accessories".

She also loves shoes. She is such a little lady!

new recipe

2009-08-18T15:17:00.000-07:00

I dont usually like Salmon but I got a great new way to make it more tasty and less fishy! This recipe comes from Sarah.

Cut a salmon fillet in 1 inch cubes, or bite size.

Marinate salmon in a re-sealable bag with 1/2 soy sauce and 1/2 maple syrup, enough to cover the salmon.

Marinate for 30 minutes and then bake.5 minutes at 500 degrees. Delicious I promise! Make sure you make enough!

First trip to the zoo

2009-08-13T14:00:00.001-07:00

This has been quite a week of firsts for Emolyn and I. We had our first ride on the new light rail (see Lindas post), Emolyn had her first hair cut that night after dinner (pictures soon), and today we went to the Wildlife World Zoo together.

I have never been to this zoo but we had a blast.

Admission was more expensive than the phoenix zoo because its not government funded but you can get so much closer to the animals. And they have an aquarium which was great for getting out of the humidity today. Emolyn got to pet sting rays! She totally freaked out.

They have 2 beautiful Macaws at the entrance just hanging out, well they started squawking at each other really loud and Emolyn started crying. I was like "oh great this is going to be an adventure" but she did so well the rest of the time!

We met my friend Cody and her daughter Dakota there and we dodged mud puddles and fire ants as we got super close to a huge Rhino and a sleepy jaguar climbed onto the cage over our heads

summertime

2009-07-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

I have great friends and they sent me flowers! Delivered. I have never had flowers delivered before and it was very exciting. The tulips all opened up and it was fantastic!

Shawn and Emolyn were watching for a monsoon storm the other night. PS Shawn never takes off his shoes. only to shower and sleep.
"my daddy has big feet"
Emolyn still plays with her easter basket and eggs she likes taking them out and spreading them around the room. Shawn also gave her an old mouse and she loves that.
She got so excited about me taking this picture she closed her eyes! I love this outfit! She looks like she is going to a country club. This shirt is from my favorite place Hissyfits!
We are enjoying as much of the summer as we can with play dates and swimming but trying to keep cool in the house too. Shawn has been working on some graphic design jobs and it planing on starting his own business! More info to follow...

Hard Week

2009-07-24T16:58:00.000-07:00

Shawn and I were blessed to find out a few weeks ago that we were having another baby! Due 2/24/10 almost exactly 2 years after Emolyn. Emolyn went to our first Dr's appointment with us and we saw Baby's heartbeat. We have his little picture up on the fridge.

Earlier this week I started bleeding and cramping which I knew was bad news. I called the Dr Tuesday and they scheduled me for an ultrasound on Wednesday. Our suspicions were confirmed, I had lost the baby. I should have been 9 weeks and he only measured 7 weeks 4 days. I know enough about ultrasounds to know what to look for and I knew immediately he was gone.

Shawn and I have our moments of sadness but mostly we have peace. Its weird how all those one liners "It wasn't meant to be" and "its not the right time" and "everything happens for a reason" are strangely comforting. Because the miscarriage was so early it is highly likely the baby had a chromosomal abnormality.

We are just holding our little girl and being so thankful for the gift that she has been to us and continues to be, even when she throws her books at me to read them to her!

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughtful prayers. We are laying low for a little while. But otherwise I am feeling pretty good. Up for cleaning the house anyway! The laundry waits for no one!

Too hot for clothes

2009-07-21T11:23:00.001-07:00

As the "excessive heat warning" continues Emolyn and I have chosen to stay inside and I was realizing she has been doing so many cool things lately that we are getting them on video and no still pictures. So here are some updates from yesterday.

This is Emolyn every morning she wakes up and come to our bed to have her morning bottle. She is now on bottles only for wake up and bedtime. But she loves to relax in luxury. Can you tell which side I sleep on? The side with all the crap on the bedside table!

Emolyn loves to dress up, every couple of minutes she comes out of her room with new accessories. Different shoes, hats and something in her hand. This outfit was just after we were folding laundry and she put shawns underwear on her head, actually her head through one of the leg holes, it was pretty funny!

Here is an example. 1 crock thats too big and a dish towel scarf. Very eclectic.

And finally dinner. Emolyn had some organic ravioli and she ate it all, and then wanted more! She knows several sign language words thanks to "Baby Signing Time" so she signs "more food" on a pretty regular basis. And she pretty much freaks out when baby signing time comes on she loves it so much. Also she is an artist. I mean look at the beautiful designs. Breathtaking. And it was off to the shower.

We have had several more successful potty stops, I think she is getting the hang of it. We are only leaving the house to swim and does she love swimming! We have a few friends with large shallow area in thei pool so she loves to walk around there and then step off the edge. No fear this one. She has also started to get frustrated. When one toy wont fit in another or a shoes is too small, she will scream at it. Oh and to put shoes on she grabs her foot to put it in the shoe. I guess she doesn't realize she can control her feet without using her hands. Its great to watch. Well sorry for the delayed update but here is my little cutie!

Around the house

2009-06-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

Shawn put up these cool frames with our amazing pictures from Kelsie. Only they aren't picture frames the were art displays at Ikea and not made to be taken apart and pictures added in. But shawn figured it out and made it look awesome! The whole wall art, under $10! Please disregard the surrounding mess!

And my latest addition to home is my amazing gift from Miranda. A beautiful perfume bottle from Prague. Isn't it fantastic. I wonder if I can wear it on a chain...

5th anniversary today! I love being married to Shawny. And I cant believe we got to have a baby together. Being parents has been such an awesome transition. I cant think of a bad part of us being together. And now we get to do a road trip, his favorite thing not mine. and go to a wedding, my favorite thing not his. What a fun weekend planned!

Dads day and my girl!

2009-06-23T21:31:00.000-07:00

I love having a little girl. I know I always wanted a boy but I love having a girly, lipstick loving, shoe trying on girl! She is so fantastic. If you haven't spent some time with her and you want to let me know because its a crime to keep her to myself! I know she is cute but she gets a million times cuter when you hear her "talking" or watch her do her lizard impression or see her kiss every picture of Elmo in a book! I dont think i better baby exists in the world!

And to honor my fantastic husband I must say he is the most amazing dad for my little lamb! He is so delicate with her but still so much fun. We had a great fathers day with a panini bar. Very fun! Thank you shawn for being an awesome dad!

Here is Randy about to enjoy his panini. I wish i would have gotten a shot of the cool gift Emolyn and I made for him. I took a pair of shawns old jeans and made Randy a grilling apron out of them! Emolyn was kind enough to donate her hand prints to each pocket!

Ketchup

2009-06-20T08:31:00.001-07:00

Mexico was great! We had a great time with wonderful friends. Emolyn was amazing and the weather was perfect!

We had so much fun and it was a treat to get out of town. Make sure you enlarge this last picture because her face is pretty sandy.

On the homefront while the girls were in Mexico shawn was in Wisconsin. He had a really fun time with his dad and brother. If he ever decides to blog again I will have him put some pics up.
Getting ready today for fathers day. Hopefully a bunch of cute pics will be up shortly.

In other news we have only 1 more out of town trip this summer and its next weekend. Then we are home until late August. I am excited to have a little less traveling chaos but not excited to be in the heat! Yuck! It should be 110 next week!

Oh Kids under 13 are free at the Phx Zoo all summer! I just found out and Emolyn and I are totally going! Who wants to come with?

Well I am off to try and pull some creativity into fathers day. I love gifts!

2009-06-03T22:26:00.000-07:00

real quick update. maurice is sick. The dr thinks he has addisons disease. really? Come on! so we are in the midst of in between vacations and trying to get Maurice to eat and drink. Ahh, one more day of work and then vacation can begin!

Stuff, no pics

2009-05-25T22:49:00.000-07:00

I know you all love to see photos of Emolyn, well all 6 of you who even look at the blog but alas today I have no photos. Not that any would compare to kelsies!

Just some quick notes on what I have been thinking about lately:

-go to bed earlier (starting after this blog)

-be in more pictures (i read an awesome post by the famed "pioneer woman" that she wrote about getting in the pictures with your kids. She said in 5 years you will look 5 years older and 10 years ago I thought I was ft but look at me now!) It was kind of an eye opener. I try to get out of pictures because I think I dont look good but I am only going to get worse so get in them now!

-read more, this is hard because I read at night which keeps me up late, see bullet #1

-should we have 2 kids or 3? Not time yet but 2 is sounding good and the 1 I have is easy. Here is my rational: If I have another girl, totally not worth risking a 3rd girl. that would put me over the edge. and if I have a boy then we have one of each and if I have 1 more than only 1 kid get someone like them that feels unfair. Michellis told me this story about a lady having 3 kids incase 1 died the other would have a sibling to help them cope. But i think the more kids you have the more your statistical risk increases that 1 may die. I am just saying. And finally at 3 you are outnumbered. there are more of them then there are grown ups. Just contemplating.

-Summer is looking busy. Or is it? Maybe just for the next month then like everything in AZ it will dry up.

-Should I take Emolyn to Mexico for girls vacation? I want to say yes because we will never be going in the city. we will be in a house on the secluded beach unexposed to any germs which may be swiny in nature. We are going in like 2 weeks. We will see...

-I wish more people would blog regularly. you know I dont always have time to read them all but I love to be updated. Know whats going on in their lives.

-I dont feel like I fully got to enjoy the Memorial Day sales today. Bummer.

To all a good night...

New Pinkerton Photo Pics!

2009-05-23T18:36:00.001-07:00

Thank you so much Kelsie for these adorable new photos!

http://pinkertonphoto.com/slideshows/emolyn1/

15 months

2009-05-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

My little girl is 15 months old today! Here is a little update to what she is up to.

-she loves swimming and splashing but after ever splash wipes her face, a lady doesn't let water sit on her face!

-she has taken 4 consecutive steps but is not happy about it. she cried after walking at michelle's last night. she just really likes crawling.

-she has 8 super cute teeth

-she does this super excited face where she balls her fists and crinkles her nose, its fabulous

-she loves opening things, drawers containers and putting stuff into them, like pulling out all of her socks and putting them in where the diapers so or right now pulling all the paper out of the printer

-she says "dahg" which is very east coast for "dog" but "dahg" refers to all animals, and some people. and by the way shawn and I are both "dad"

-she loves giving kisses, it used to be like pulling teeth but now she love it. she kisses everyone in a book and if she likes you enough she will kiss you too

-she loves playing with other kids and we are working on being "gentle"

-she points to everything! and pointing is usually followed by a grunt indicating "i want that" or "take me there"

-she is almost too big for her infant seat. i think we have 2 pounds to go.

-she is the most expressive child. i wish i could capture every expression, its priceless.

-she has the most pleasant demeanor. She is simply a joy to be around.

WHOOPS

2009-05-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

So these are pretty hollyhocks right? So they didn't look this way like 2 weeks ago.

I finally decided to attack the week situation in the back yard and probably pulled like 6 of these beauties out, thinking they were weeds. I am an idiot. I planted these seeds probably 3 years ago, they were transplants from Lindas amazing hollyhock garden. So now I only have like 4 stalks but I am such a dork. There is finally something not hideous in my backyard and I go and ruin it!

On a happier note Emolyn has started putting things on, hats, socks, jackets. She is so funny right now and just wants to play and play. I love her!

Cal-exico

2009-05-15T21:49:00.000-07:00

So our annual family vacation to Mexico took a bit of a twist with the swine flu thing (excuse me H1N1) and so we relocated to Carlsbad California. We had an awesome and of course we have a ton of pictures of Emolyn! She is an amazing traveler and loved the pool, she went swimming at least once everyday. She adored hanging out with her cousins and learned "punch punch" where she punches them in the face and they fall backwards, she loves it. So here are a few snapshots of our time together.

We love spending time with our family and reading and eating and playing games. We so enjoy each others company its so nice to get away together. And we had a special guest on family vacation. Thanks for accepting our invitation John!

Potty pics!

2009-05-07T21:31:00.000-07:00

Shawn put her in the same outfit with the same book to re-create the experience. what a great guy! So here she is, my little tinkler!

What a special girl! I love her so bad!

Big experience, no photos

2009-05-06T21:34:00.000-07:00

Guess who peed on the potty! Emolyn! Pictures (staged to recreate) to follow but she totally did it. I try to bring her to her potty whenever I have to potty. So she is sitting on her pink potty bottomless reading her "baby faces" book and she keep dropping it and picking it up. So now she drops it and tries to crawl off the potty to get to it but the potty has tinkle in it! So she dumps pee all over the book and the floor because she doesn't really walk yet so in crawling off the potty it came down with her. So she and book have pee all over but i am trying to be so excited about pee in the potty and I want to give her a treat but the pee seems like I need to take care of that first. So after some quick re-diapering and sanitation I take her to the kitchen where we open a little pack of M&Ms she is so exciting she is bouncing in my arms. I take her to the bathroom and show her the potty again and say "good girl for going potty in the potty" and give her an M&M. It was dramatic but rewarding.

Packing for vacation to Carlsbad. i work tomorrow and friday and we leave early sat morning. Yikes! So potty staging pictures hopefully to be done by shawn tomorrow!

My first tutu

2009-05-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

Still a work in progress but this last week I got Emolyn into the first tutu I made. It was a little tight, so we will have to go bigger for the next one. Stay tuned!

Emolyn is still feeling yucky. She has a cold and croup and i think all the mucus in her tummy is making her randomly throw up. so we are sort of dealing with a lot here! But she is so sad to watch. Such a pitiful little thing all stuffed up and coughing. Her cough does sound much better now and no more wheezing, but her oxygen level was great at the doctor. She tries to sleep and the cough wakes her up and her throat is sore so she cries, poor thing. I made her some gatorade popsicles and she likes those!

One benefit of Emolyn's illness is along with my mental health day off work last week I got off today to be her personal nurse. I haven't worked since tuesday. I could really get used to this no working thing!

Mothers day is fast approaching and I havent finished my gift plans. My mom is so hard to shop for. I feel like I am always finding things for Linda but my mom seems to be more difficult to find things for. Oh well, keep searching.

Wishing you all a Happy Mothers day week full of naps! Ha! I read in my parenting magazine these kids said what they wanted to get their moms and one girl said "a doll because all mommy has in bed with her is daddy" it was funny.

LIFE UPDATE

2009-04-30T09:34:00.000-07:00

So since I havent posted in forever here are some short clips of what has been going on, call it bullets with photos.

-shawn was mowing the front "yard" (if you have seen it you know what I mean) and in an attempt to get the lawn mower out of the shed he discover a wasp nest. He got the nest down with a hose but they were mad and they got him right in the ear. He was such a trooper. First sting ever, and he still finished the yard. Good man.

Yesterday I asked Emolyn "where is mommies nose?" and she pointed to it. then i asked "where is emolyns nose?" and she pointed to that. genius. She has been rocking some pretty cute summer outfits lately, as it has been 100 degrees!

The family that brushes together, stays together.
She is making if you can believe it, even more funny faces. I know impossible you say. She is so funny. She also has been standing by herself and continues to walk with a one hand assistance. Depending on her shoes she might walk like Frankenstein.
She has also super been into peanut butter. what a mess but she can hold a spoonful of it herself and lick it clean. I am trying to find high fat foods for her to try and bulk up. ANy suggestions?

Leggo my Eggo

2009-04-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

I introduced Emolyn to Eggos this week. She loves them!

Egg time

2009-04-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

We dyed 4 eggs for Easter with Emolyn. It was a little challenging because she really wanted to put her hands in the dye and she doesn't get the paintbrush concept so she mostly just watched.

But when the eggs dried she got to get ahold of them!
Then she birthed an egg.
It was awesome.

Easter, sort of...

2009-04-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

So on Easter morning Emolyn woke up at 3 AM with a fever and what turned out to be a double ear infection. So we stayed home from church and hung out. We got to talk to Miranda and Randy and Linda in England, which was so fun, and I got some cute pics of her even though she was sick.

But since she was sick she was not in a very good mood which is unusual for her so I got some video, not great quality because it was on our still camera but I wanted everyone who thinks she is just the perfect baby to catch a glimpse of bad mood Emolyn.

We celebrated the Easter stuff throughout the week. So I will have photos of those events to come.

Update: emolyn is walking with only 1 hand to hold and she is holding her own bottle. She loves to show off all 8 of her teeth when she smiles and she loves giving kisses. She points and grunts to what she wants and if you dont get it for her, oh no. I am trying to let her work things out so as to avoid raising a spoiled brat! But she knows she is loved and loves when I get home from work. She also likes to lift up things and look under them. which when you are holder her is your shirt! She is great, lets call her...

New Stuff

2009-04-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

Deal of the century! I have been looking for a high chair for Emolyn and I wanted something nice and wood so it could go in the dining area and look nice. I really like the Eddie Bauer ones but they were so expensive. So i started looking at second hand kids places. Well they were all plastic and crappy. But, as I was leaving Kid to Kid in peoria with my friend Christy this lady was unloading one from the back of her van. I asked "are you selling that" She was like "yes but I hope they give me as much as I want for it. Its a really nice high chair and it was over $100 new" I know all these thing so I gently ask "How much do you want for it" to which she replies "$30" so I snatched it out of the parking lot for $30. she never made it in the store! Steal of a deal for the both of us!

Sorry she is sideways. But she loves it!

So does Maurice. She drops him food and he eats what she drops on her lap while she is still eating. I think we could stop feeding him and he would get enough with what she drops. But finally we found a good use for Maurice!
This is my second fabulous deal! A beautiful new table and 8 chairs! our church was having a rummage sale and Linda got a sneak peak at this gorgeous table and called us. There is a leaf for the middle that makes the table square! I love it! and only $50! its sure good having someone looking out for us! Thanks Linda!

And lastly and not shown. I got 2 new swim suits. and it wasn't that horrible to shop for them. Both are 1 piece and super cute. I got them at Marshalls. 1 was $131 perry ellis super cute for only $25 the other black and white polka dot for only $16!

whats outside your front door?

2009-04-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

I wake up saturday for work at like 5 am and it is raining so hard. I didn't realize until I walked out the door that it wasn't rain but hail! In april. it was like 90 degrees last week and now I have hail! I knew Shawn wouldn't believe me if it was melted when he got up so I took a quick pic!

Baby at home

2009-04-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Here is my pretty girl just hanging around the house.

I did get some awesome deals this week. I will have to take some pics and show you! Emolyn is playing peek-a-boo like crazy, she hits herself in the head most of the time. She has also started blowing kisses and loves to kiss everyone in her books. She walks as long as you hold one of her hands but she still isn't comfortable walking alone. She is crawling so fast she often disappears. She is getting excited for summer! She has like 4 swim suits!

Who loves Disneyland, we do!

2009-03-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome trip to Disneyland with some great friends. Check out all the pics on facebook but here were some good ones!

New phone pics

2009-03-22T22:06:00.000-07:00

Shawn was able to import the photos from his cell phone using this new fangled "bluetooth" technology. Well we got some pretty cute ones on the computer now! Here are just a few!

This is Emolyns new found Pirate Face that she makes on a very regular basis but its hard to catch on film. Our friend Clark got a good one. Shawn takes pictures of her while they are home together and sends them to me while I am at work. This one made me laugh out loud.

This was when I was cleaning out the childrens ministry supply closet at church. Shawn was an Italian man, mostly because thats the only accent he can do.
"Who me"

Don't you just love her in bunny ears? We can't wait for Disneyland! We leave this friday!

Look who did it!

2009-03-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

Guess who took a step to me today! She fell on the second step but the first one worked and it was awesome! Just wanted to let you all know!

Sleepy baby and Monkey

2009-03-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

This is my sleepy baby and her monkey. She loves this monkey from World Market that my grandma gave her. Its funny because she can't make up fun names for her toys yet and we just aren't that creative I guess because we have named him "monkey". I know, clever. Its not even Mr Monkey or Professor Monkey or Dr Monkey or even Captain Monkey. I remember when Benjamin was little and he had a cat named "sad kitty". Why it was sad I dont know.

P.S. Thanks Kristin for this awesome outfit!

Mazagine

2009-03-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

My mom got us a special gift this christmas with a magazine subscription and we each get to pick our own. Well I think I am the only who is still deciding. I am reading reviews and I dont know what to pick? I like the magazine blueprint but they cancelled it. I am thinking maybe Real Simple. I like Ready Made but I got the book and the reviews seemed right on with that one. A few good ideas but mostly duds.

So I was hoping for a suggestion or two.

2009-03-11T22:17:00.001-07:00

She is going. Its settled. i love her so bad!

We love Disneyland

2009-03-09T09:24:00.000-07:00

Can't you just see the joy on his little face? We love Disneyland and for christmas we got each other annual passes. We get to go to the Magic Kingdom the last weekend of March with our good friends Meredith and Andy, it is going to be awesome.

Here is my dilemma. Should I bring Emolyn? She is so well behaved and so much fun and so happy. But then one person always has to stay with her and cant ride the rides. She can't walk yet so she will have to be pushed or carried. She doesn't get characters and stuff yet. But she has cute Disney clothes! And I absolutely hate to be away from her. Andy and Meredith said they are totally ok with either one. They are awesome.

I know everyone has an opinion about when to take a kid to Disneyland. We are going again for sure in August and she will be coming then. We want to sneak in a trip before then also. SO, what should we do?

Oh what a year it has been....

2009-03-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

My little girl. Who would have known a year ago we would have such a healthy, busy, happy, hungry little girl. And look at her, in her birthday suit! Sorry I know its a ton of pictures but its amazing to watch her grow! She is amazing. She had her developmental assessment today and guess what? She is a totally normal 1 year old! No deficit, no "based on gestational age". She is constantly amazing us and cracking us up and wowing us with her little personality.

I was ready through my journaling from her month in the NICU so I thought I would close wth some of my thoughts/feelings on the events of the day.

"Shawn went to the ultrasound with me and by this time many friends and family had gathered to support us. We were laughing and having a good time a the ultrasound, able to see the baby and watch it move around was really comforting. We asked the tech how large the baby was, it looked good to us. she said, “around 2 and 1/2 pounds”. shock. The baby should have been at least four pounds. How could this have happened? At this point we knew the baby was coming and I quickly realized I couldn’t fatten it up in the next hour. So the calming peace that had been with me most the day came again. It was out of my control. I could either freak out of accept what was going to happen. My nurse came to pick me up from ultrasound already knowing the test results. As she pushed me she discussed the most likely outcome. The baby was too small. It would almost definitely need assistance breathing and maybe even more support. We might hear a cry and we might not.

Tamara pushed me into a room full of family and friends. You could see on their faces they knew. This was not going to be easy but it was already happening, and it felt like it was going very fast. The shaking from the shots had stopped and I was very tired. We were all waiting for a girl down the hall to deliver so the dr could be ready for me. I rested my head in my hands in the wheelchair as I waited. I was exhausted. They helped me to bed and I tried to be awake and positive. Shawn put on his surgical scrubs and they came to pick me up. Around my bed in a circle everyone stood and said a prayer. For me, for Shawn for our baby for our family, for health, for peace."

BFF

2009-02-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

Emolyn and Madison had a play date this week and here were some clips of how it went.

Mostly Madison just watched Emolyn crawl around and do things. Emolyn would try to crawl on Madison or poke her in the eyes. She does have great eyes. But when Madison would cry emolyn would look at me and cry, like, "Momma make her better". They were super cute! At Mirandas request I will also be adding some video!

Is she smart or what?

2009-02-12T18:32:00.000-08:00

25 blah blah blah

2009-02-12T18:28:00.000-08:00

So I did the 25 random things about me from facebook. Since I did it once i figured I could post it twice

1. I would rather be at my house than almost anywhere else. Even if it means more work and more things to clean, I am a home body.
2. I love my husband. He makes me feel amazing and I can't get enough of him. He is my hero.
3. I love english but I was a science major. Thank God I had those english classes to bring my GPA up.
4. I do not photography well. I love digital, so easy to erase.
5. I want to be like my mom when I grow up.
6. I have had 2 tattoos and 6 piercing
7. I love to cook. Recipe no recipe.
8. That being said I can not bake. Too precise.
9. I can not draw. Maybe this is my list of weaknesses. But seriously. Not even stick people. please dont make me.
10. I love to scrap book. I think because I am crafty but certainly not very creative.
11. I like to sew. I have made a few quilts in my day but can not seem to finish them I get the tops done and I am over it.
12. I hate to hear babies cry when I cant be with Emolyn. It reminds me of her, not that she cries a lot but when a baby cries church I have to go get her. I miss her terribly.
13. I have poor spacial awareness and frequently run into things.
14. I also have poor coordination and can not dance. Kelsie will teach Emolyn to dance, that is if she is lucky enough to have avoided each of her parents poor dancing genes, although Shawn does a mean butterfly!
15. I have mixed feelings about my dog. Its love hate. He smells.
16. I was on a dive team in like 6th grade. potentially the worst on the team. but i still got a trophy.
17. I love dark chocolate and I do not like white chocolate.
18. I felt like a total failure when Emolyn was born. I was so sad that I could not keep her safe and help her grown and that she was better off outside me then inside. I felt like I was already a bad mom and I had just started. But then she smiled at my and cling to me and I knew she loved me even if I wasn't perfect.
19. I have 20/400 vision in my right eye.
20. I have ripped a pair of pants down the butt while i was wearing them. they were pleather, i can't talk about it anymore.
21. I have a genetic predisposition toward office supplies.
22. I wore a head gear at night in 7th grade. because you just aren't awkward enough.
23. We have only paid for 1 piece of furniture in our house. We have a ton of generous friends. Oh and non of it matches. thats a sacrifice we are willing to make.
24. In high school I ran cross country because a friend talked me into it. My body was not made to be athletic.
25. When I was little I took a spanish dancing class. I had this huge outfit and played castanets. Wow mom.

girl stuff

2009-02-07T12:52:00.000-08:00

Emolyn saw these shoes today that she got from Aunt Miranda for Christmas and she had to put them on! Aren't they so cute! She is working on tooth #6 and just found some crayons we had hidden in the desk, whoops! She is starting to listen to "no" and growing out of clothes so fast! I think we are going to get her a potty for her birthday!

Thanks Jana for the cute shirt! Emolyn gets to see our special friend mrs Jessica tonight! We have been missing our girlfriends but got a chance to see them last weekend. We missed Miranda Jessica and Sarah but we had a good time just relaxing together. I made cookies from Kelsie's special recipe!

ahh food

2009-01-31T09:47:00.000-08:00

Well I am sure many of you have heard m talk about Bountiful baskets. We participate in this co-op where we pay $15 and get 2 baskets of food, all produce. Wow, there is so much.Here is a snapshot of this mornings goodies. Here is the list:

5 packages of strawberries

6 tangerines

1 pack asparagus

1 head lettuce

7 apples

10 lbs red potatoes

5 peaches

broccoli

2 acorn squash

pack of carrots

wow. all for $15. check them out at bountifulbaskets.org.

Last week

2009-01-26T14:55:00.000-08:00

Last week Emolyn and I went out the my grandparents house and they have a hot tub so we took a dip. At first she hated it but then after spending some time outside with my grandma (gg) she was willing to try it again and she loved it! The water was just warm enough, it was very nice.

She has an amazing swimsuit body! When we were at my grandparents my grandma gave me all the ingredients for a lemon meringue pie. Along with her amazing meyer lemons off her tree she gave me all the fixings and encouraged me to try and make it at home even though she has never made one! And guess what. I did it! It worked and it was pretty darn good. My nephew Benjamin loves lemon pie so I brought it to him and we tried it together. He gave it 8/10. I was pretty proud of myself!

Oh and have we got a problem. Emolyn loves shoes. I cant get her away from mine. When we are in my room she goes right for the shoes. Oh dear.

Everyones gone and it smells like chorizo

2009-01-19T10:26:00.000-08:00

Emolyn and I have a girls day today since shawn is on a boys days with Aaron and Jeremy. I was thinking we could really combo those for a baby name. Like Arimy or Jerin. I like them and I would love some feedback.

Anyhow, Emolyn and I have been having an awesome morning and I wanted to share some of our adventures with you. We tried to call Miranda on skype but she is in class, so we missed her. Bummer.

So I told you Emolyn was crawling. Here it is...

She is so fast I barely got these pics! And remember I said she pulls herself up! It is so funny to see such a tiny little thing standing on these skinny little legs! But man is she cute!

What a HAM! We just love her so bad. Here she is spending a little time with mom today and dad last night.

She loves to sleep on him, it must be because he is so big and strong. She loves her daddy and I am so grateful he is there for her when I cant be. My heart goes out to moms who have to use daycare for their little ones. I know we are so lucky. How did we make such a cute baby?

Oh she is ready to have her earrings changed, stay tuned to see how that goes, I might try and do it while she is asleep!

O

2009-01-12T13:32:00.000-08:00

Due to frequent requests here are several pictures of Emolyn's "O" face.

Emolyn Kate

2009-01-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

Weighing in at 14 lbs 10 oz Emolyn is doing a ton of fun new things and I get the pleasure of spending the weekend with her. Shawn is out of town so its girls weekend at the Thompson house.

Emolyn is easily pulling herself up and loves to bounce on her knees. She loves cords and wires. She can wave and clap and rubs her hands together like they are cold. Her very favorite thing to no is shake her head "no" to any question. However she does not like it when I saw no. Hence the tears.
She loves the independence of cherios, who doesn't love feeding themselves. She wears 6 months size clothes easily and she loves trash, mostly paper. Here is her playing in the trash under the desk when I was trying to answer emails. She moves so fast!
And she has 2 new top teeth. I used iphoto in an attempt to turn her upside down to let you see them but she was so entranced by her own picture she would hardly open her mouth!
We love our little girls so terribly I cant imagine how big my heart would get with another. And how hard to split your time between children. But we are still planning for more, not this minute but eventually. I am trying to memorizer every minute with her in my head because she is changing so fast and I love the new things but I am sad the old things are gone too.

I cant believe she is almost a year old! I told her for her birthday I want her to say "mama". We will see.

I miss her so much when I am away and its hard to get enough of her when I am at home. So if you come over and the place is a dump its because I love my baby.

Christmas Day

2009-01-09T15:52:00.000-08:00

How did I skip this? Anyway we had Christmas Day at my moms house. We start the day with homemade cinnamon rolls and shrimp cocktail, winston is allergic to shrimp, just so you know. Emolyn loves family! Here she is with GG who gave Emolyn one of her favorite toys, a brown striped monkey. Also GGs friend from Hawaii sent Emolyn a special gift and a new Hawaii quarter!

Stockings are sort of a huge deal in my family, santa comes to my moms house and thats where we get them. We always do stockings first and my mom, i mean santa goes a little overboard and usually our stockings are overflowing. It is filled with thoughtful unique gifts for each of us catered to our likes. But we have to wait until everyone is ready to open them and Jason notoriously takes a ridiculous amount of time.
Emolyn loved spending time with her Aunt! They have so much fun together EKT cries when I come to take hr away!

Uncle Jason of course is fun too as are her cousins. We love spending time with family and it was so great to have the Thompson clan join us for dinner.
Guess what I just talked, sort of, to Miranda in England! Check out her blog to keep up on her comings and goings!

Day after and my christmas home

2009-01-04T17:49:00.003-08:00

For the last 6 or 7 years my mom has been giving jason, Michelle, shawn and I a shopping day as our Christmas gift. We spend the whole day together and literally shop till we drop. We get all the good after christmas sales and we get exactly what we want. We also eat several times and usually see a movie. Emolyn spent the second 1/2 of the day with us because I have been missing her pretty bad lately. It was a great day and we love spending time with mom and each other. This year we made quite a haul!

The day after Christmas we went to visit Shawns grandma, the elder of the two Emolyns. We always have such a wonderful time at her home, she is such a great hostess and always has sweets! Emolyn loves getting to sit in her lap and hear her sing to her "little lady".

Here is my fist waffle in the new waffle iron. Turned out great!
I didn't get a chance to photo all my decorations but I have been creating a tree collection the last few years and I got 2 more trees after Christmas this year. Maurice ate my feather tree last year which is a bummer because it was pretty cool.
I didn't get to decorate very much this year, that was left up to Shawn since he had more time at home. But I did get a new idea from Stacie about how to display my christmas cards in a fun way, so I got out my christmas ribbon and started pinning the cards to it. Unfortunately I couldn't keep up with the cards and next year will need 2 ribbons. She also saves the cards and puts them on a ring by the year and puts them out to display during the holidays and everyone loves coming over to see their old cards.I hope you all had a happy holiday season. I know we did. I really tried to relax this season and not stress out. It didn't always work but I felt more laid back then usually. Shawn and I both really enjoyed this year, probably our best Christmas together yet, Emolyn probably had something to do with it. We love being a family and getting to spend time with each of our families too. We got to have Christmas dinner together as one big family and it was so much fun to have everyone there, and of course great food. Linda made an awesome rum cake which was the hit of the party! And now as we transition happy spring cleaning to you all as you try to find a place for all those new gifts!

Christmas Eve 2

2009-01-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

The evening of Christmas Eve shawn and I have made our "family time" with just us since the rest of the time seems so busy. This is the time we exchange our gifts and we did the last night of advent. Emolyn only got one gift from us but she loved it! Maurice also opened his stocking which we were glad to get done with because most of it smelled like beef.

Christmas Eve

2009-01-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

This year we got to have 2 Christmas days by celebrating Christmas with the Thompsons on Christmas Eve. We had a great time and of course Emolyn got spoiled with a ton of awesome gifts. But mostly she liked that her Grammie wrapped gifts in special foil paper just for Emolyn so that it wouldn't disintegrate as she drooled all over it. She got fun toys and cute clothes as some spending money! (which she is wisely saving up for her next carseat)

It wasn't just Emolyn who got spoiled by presents Shawn and I got awesome thoughtful gifts too! Shawn got this cool stainless steel frying pan he has been wanting and I got a waffle iron! A fun round one. Check out a future post to see my first batch! Shawn and I also got TWLOHA tee shirts, check out the site, this company is so cool. I also got more cool clothes and jewelry. Linda gave me this awesome scrabble pendant from www.homestudio.etsy.com and I dont think any of them could suit me better! Although they do have a ton more that I want, check them out!

I wish we would have taken a family photo because everyone just looked so cute. Miranda and Linda were matchy matchy!
Tyler had to ;leave a little early for work but we had a beautiful Christmas dinner together with hame and Mamaws special raisin sauce!
Emolyn gave the best gift by taking a nap on Randy's chest. But you couldn't keep her down for long she was up quickly and ready to watch her daddy play guitar at Christmas eve service at church. She stayed for both services and did awesome.

Merry Christmas from the Thompson 3!

2008-12-26T13:50:00.000-08:00

We had a blast this Holiday season and so much fun to enjoy it with Emolyn who is nearly a professional crawler! Weighing in at 13 lbs 10 oz she is pulling herself up and sticking everything in her mouth. To my dismay she also says "Da Da" on a regular basis. She has been [playing with all of her new toys in her play pin where she cant get into anything dangerous as she is now quite the mover. She is also getting good at screaming really loud when we take something away from her. What happened to my passive little angel? I will fill you in more on what Christmas looked like for our family but here was just a taste!

Catching up

2008-12-18T21:31:00.000-08:00

I know you are thinking "Is something wrong with Nicole?" since I have been silent for so long. But not to worry. Life and working and the Holidays has just got me a little bit more busy than usual. But let me sum up how totally much fun we have been having and what amazing things my exceptional daughter is doing!

1. I got a hair cut. Hated it at first now it is growing on me. I donated my hair so that was fun but the guy was kind of a jerk who gave me my free haircut and I have seen him before and he is super good but maybe he was in a bad mood, it could be because he has gained like 50 lbs sine I saw him in march! Anyhow, he pretty much said I wasn't cool enough for a cool haircut and gave me a bob which I didn't want and then I said "well its pretty round, like I have a helmet on" and he said "well it is a bob!" Uh duh, thats not what I wanted. And then he blow dried it all forward and it was very flock of seagulls. And then I said it didn't really like the front and he said "maybe you want bangs" and boom, just cut bangs. no conversation just snip snip. And the bangs are very julia roberts as tinkerbell. hideous. But it is looking better, thanks God. And I did not shed any tears, although I thought about it. And i have been getting a very good reception about it at work which is nice.

2. We have been doing advent as a family every sunday night,. ANd it has been really fun. our womens group at church had this lady come and kind of teach a way to do advent with kids that really makes the holidays fun and we are enjoying it.

3. Shawn and I went to disneyland! And we got season passes! so if you want us to come with you we will! We went with the college group and it was a blast check Mirandas blog and facebook for more photos. The new toy story ride was awesome here is us being excited about it.

4. Emolyn got her ears pierced and saw santa in the same day! Hopefully the "diamond" studs will keep away the "how old is your little boy" questions. I think they are adorable and she really did quite well. She loved Santa and his real beard! The smiled at each other and they really had a connection. It was hard to get her to look at the camera for the $20 picture. wow.

5. emolyn is crawling and pulling her self up and standing well and being generally cute. She is still sleeping well through the night. No words yet but she does say "ba ba" which I think means bottle, which means milk and I am the giver of milk so essential "ba ba" means mom.

6. We have completed several Christmas traditions and we have more coming up so stay tuned. We are doing Emolyns first Christmas so we are very excited about that. She crawls to the presents under the tree and tries to open them. I keep trying to tell her to stop being so greedy she will have plenty of presents on christmas eve and christmas.

7. To all those who did not get a christmas card I am sorry we decided to cut back this year and I didn't realize how many people we had to cut! I was pretty bummed. So family all got one and that was kinda all. But we used the awesome photos from Kelsie so if you saw the previous post you didn't miss out.

8. We got a new chair from my grandparents. A super comfy lazyboy rocker. It is so nice to be able to rock emolyn to sleep, we didn't have a rocker before!

9. Happy Holidays!

New Photos of Emolyn

2008-12-08T15:14:00.001-08:00

Well she has done it again. Kelsie from Pinkerton Photography has beautifully captured Emolyn and our family. Expect one of her creations on a Christmas card this year! Until then enjoy our little beauty and her many expressions!

Emolyn's Slideshow

Check out the cool purple jogging suit from Aunt Stacey

Holiday time

2008-12-02T05:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have not blogged in many moons. The holidays are always a busy time in our house and with working full time it doesn't slow down. Here are a few quick things we are looking forward to:

Disneyland-we leave this friday!

The famous Try Christmas Party where we all dress up like Christmas Family Vacation

Emolyns first Christmas!

My super fun friends Jana and her husband bringing their little Delaney to town, can't wait to meet her, she and Emolyn are only 1 week apart!

Christmas Eve service, it always gets me ready for the big day.

Thompson family tree decorating, I think it might be my year to put the star on, but I may just be hoping!

And many more...

Heres to hoping I post more soon and that the Holidays dont pass me by. Check out Lindas blog for Thanksgiving photos!

Emolyns first stand!

2008-11-16T18:16:00.000-08:00

I wanted to showcase Emolyn's whole outfit his morning so I was trying to hold her and photo at the same time. Only I let her go and she stood by herself!
This last one is a little fuzzy because i was capturing history!

PicBall

2008-11-16T18:04:00.000-08:00

So we spent sat. afternoon at a local park (for those not in AZ yes our parks are more brown than green). Emolyn and I had a mini photo shoot before everyone arrived then it was burgers and dogs and some kickball! Emolyn was all time cheerleader as it was hard to choose between the team with dad (The McRibs) and the team with Aunt Miranda and Uncle Tyler (The Shrutes/Voldemort). But needless to say Emolyn and I had an awesome time and cheered the McRibs to a shutdown 12 to 3 victory!

2008-11-15T12:01:00.000-08:00

Remember when... This was Emolyn in her chair 6 months ago

And Emolyn now! What a big girl!
She is feeling much better and we have a fun picnic/kickball day today with the college group, Emolyn loves to be involved!
The Thompson household is trying to get set for the Holiday season. It makes me so sad the some of the excitement of Christmas gets lost in the anxiety of Christmas. Like "yeah its coming" and "Oh crap I need to go shopping". The new one person income makes the Christmas shopping a little more difficult. And I have decided we are not getting anything for Emolyn. She wont know and I am sure she will get a ton of goodies from her loving family. Maybe I will wrap some of the toys she already has for photo purposes. or maybe she will just get diapers for Christmas!

Poor Emolyn

2008-11-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

I took Emolyn to the Dr today because it has been 10 days and her nose is still runny! Come to find out that this tough little girl has a sinus infection, and two ear infections! You never would have known if not for the runny nose. No fever, she hasn't been irritable, just her usual pleasant self. Poor thing. So today she was 12 lbs 7 oz and her temp was 99.3. Her snot is even clear! Oh well. I knew something was funny, I am glad we took her, but I feel bad she is so sick. Hey we went 8 1/2 months with no illness thats pretty good!
We tried to put some tights on her Sunday before church. Oh wow, she hated it and man were they too big. We thought it was more funny than she did.
So we will be staying in for a few days, which Shawn is not happy about. He likes to take her out and I think he gets a little stir crazy in the house. He got to go to guitar center today while I was at home so he got a little break!

Horror of horrors

2008-11-04T05:51:00.000-08:00

my vote not counting, not as horrible as i had originally thought.

Halloween 08

2008-11-01T10:40:00.000-07:00

Halloween got a little frantic this year with our party being on halloween night and it being Emolyns first Halloween! We ended up attending the church fall festival for a short time, mostly to show off Emolyn. But we had just taken Maurice to the beauty parlor (Petsmart) so he came along. Wow, he almost got more attention than Emolyn. His reindeer costume lasted about 2 minutes so he was just a dog this year, which went well with the theme. Emolyn was a cat, I was a mouse and Shawn was cheese. We got a family photo taken at church so when I get that one I will post it. But for now here were a few cute ones.

Madison was an inmate and her parents were police. Jeannette got the badge and Matt got the gun.

Emolyn changed costumes half way thru the party to the less hot doggy costume, but got tuckered out and headed to bed. But she didn't stay down long. She quickly realized the party was still going and stayed strong till 10:30!

I will be posting soon about the fun decorations and snacks we had, man I love the ideas you find online!

What we have been up to

2008-10-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

Emoyln is into osmosis. I keep finding her with her books on her head.
Her least favorite thing is bath time. She hates it so we rarely bathe her (i know it sounds gross) If you think about it she gets wiped down with baby wipes like a zillion times a day after eating and with every diaper change so she doesn't really get that dirty. But she has a cold so I wanted her to get all the germs washed away. but look at that cute butt!
Now after the bath she is great. As soon as you remove her from the water she is fine. But she did well in the pool so I dont know what her issue is. But this was bath time tonite.
Now even sick girls have to eat so we had some of our homemade applesauce with a ton of rice cereal to try and bulk up!
And lastly since Emolyn is sick (green runny nose, no fever) we had to stay home from the college group Halloween party tonite. Shawn got to go and he decided to be Ashton Kutcher.

Emolyn is looking better right now, less snot, easier breathing, I am sure i will sleep better tonite!

Looking forward to our Halloween party next friday!

little baby

2008-10-21T16:07:00.000-07:00

Well our monthly weight check was today and it was a little disappointing. At 8 months emolyn is only 11 lbs 11 oz. she had been gaining a pound month and this month we only got 11 oz. Oh well. i know she is still growing and what a cutie huh! She is becoming even more active scooting around and almost always moving, I think she burns too many calories being a barrel of fun!

I made 2 soups last week, roasted red pepper and tomato. it was so fun and they were pretty good! We have also been making a ton of apple sauce and pear sauce with all the apples we got from Randy and Linda's trip to Wisconsin and from a flat of pears my mom bought. It is so easy to make it in the crock pot, what a breeze and delicious!

where there was 1 now there are 2

2008-10-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

This is Emolyn surrounded by her new barn animals that make sounds! She loves to eat them. And speaking of eating it will be a lot easier for her with another tooth! Thats right tooth number 2 has come in right next to tooth number one. Its a miracle!

Well in an effort to try and have at least one pair of jeans that fit that are not maternity jeans Shawn and I went shopping at Macys where we have a gift card yesterday. What a disaster. The womens size jeans all come up too high on my waist, even the low ones and the regular length is too long while the petite are too short. An the junior sizes all go too low on my waist, making me get a size larger to fit in to them. I think I might have tried on 100 pairs of jeans. Shawn was so patient and so was Emolyn.

Then we went to mervyns across the street who is going out of business, everything 50% off, found 2 pairs of jeans, the fit perfect. So that was all a little crazy and it makes we want to start working out.

Today I will be trying to finish the top to a miniature quilt I am making, hopefully pictures to follow. But I work tonite so I will be trying to squeeze in a nap.