Happy 16 Months!

Here's what's happening with Emily at 16 months:

 - She wears a combo of 6-12 month clothes and 12-18 month clothes.  I'm pretty sure this will be the last month that she fits in any 6-12 month clothes.

 - She's in a size 3 diaper and size 4 shoe although I just ordered her size 4 diapers.

 - She's starting to say a couple more words.   We've been working with her on saying please and thank you.  She's getting pretty good at saying thank you. 

 - She's testing her boundaries much more now.  She knows what she wants and is not happy if she doesn't get her way.  Her favorite thing to do is throw her food on the floor whenever she's done eating.  We haven't started time-out yet, but if this continues we might have to soon.  She also doesn't like to hold our hand when we're out and about.  If that keeps up, her going with us to run errands may soon stop.

 - She HATES brushing her teeth, so much so that I only attempt once a day.  I dread this part of our night.  I struggle every night to get her to open her mouth all while she's trying to squirm out of my arms.  I feel like I've tried everything! Any suggestions??  Please!

 - She's becoming a more picky eater! Things she used to like, she doesn't so much anymore.  And she still won't touch ANY fruit . .I know, it's so weird.

 - She's become very aware of the kitchen / bathroom cabinets and loves to go through them.  Daddy will soon be putting cabinet locks on them.

 - Her eczema is still an issue, especially on her hands and feet.  With all the cold weather we had, we just can't seem to keep it under control.

 - She has 8 teeth now.  4 on top and 4 on bottom.

 - They have been working with her at school on kicking a ball and she's getting pretty good.

 - She's been working on her forward and backward rolls at the Little Gym each Saturday.  She still needs lots of help, but she's doing better.  I have to keep telling myself we have several more years before she can even qualify for the Olympics.  :)  She can also walk on the balance beam now too (with some balance help from me). 

 - She still likes to watch the Wiggles, Sesame Street, Baby Einstein and recently, Thomas the Train too.  Sprout is her channel of choice and sadly it is on her channel 90% of the time.

 - She has done well at weining herself off her paci.  She only uses it at naptime and bedtime now.  As we go to get her out of her crib, she immediately throws her paci down to leave it there.

 - She loves playing with her baby dolls now.  She likes to give them hugs and carry them around. 

 - Her personality continues to come out.  She cracks us up all the time.  Even her teachers at school are always telling me how funny she is.

 - We've been working with her on using a spoon and fork.  She's getting better, but still has a long way to go.

 - She loves to wear her sunglasses.

 - She loves to wear my necklaces. 

 - She loves to carry around mine and Shawn's shoes.  She'll bring them to you if you ask her.

 - She loves to "read" her books and have them read to her as well.

I was looking at her in her swing this past weekend and she just seemed like such a big girl to me.  It makes me sad at how quickly she's growing up.  I have been guilty of always wanting her to reach the next "phase," but now that she's only a couple months away from being a year and a half, all I want is for time to slow down!

Happy 33rd Birthday Shawn!

Your 2 girls love you very much!

Just Another Saturday

We didn't do anything too exciting today, but we still had what felt like a very busy day!  We just ran a few errands after the Little Gym this morning and then headed to Burleson for dinner to celebrate Shawn's birthday a day early.

This last picture cracks me up.  We're on our way to Burleson and she's got a snack, water and her sunglasses on, all while watching her movie play.  Now that's the way to travel!

Emily and Her Baby

This morning before school, I caught Emily feeding her baby her milk.  I couldn't resist grabbing my camera. . .

Flashback Friday . . . Our Trip to San Francisco

Back when Shawn and I met, he used to do a lot of traveling for work.  And by a lot, I mean he used to average about a week a month.  One of the perks of all this traveling, was that I used to be able to fly out to meet him on his trips.  His flight would be paid for, so it was one less cost for us to incur.  And with all of his hotel point, rental car points, etc., we usually got a pretty cheap trip out of it.

Since Shawn was one of the more "senior" employees in his group, he got first choice on where he wanted to go.  So I remember at the beginning of the year, we'd look at all the trip locations for that year and this year I knew I wanted him to pick San Francisco and Boston.

His San Francisco trip was in May 2006 and the weather couldn't have been better.  This trip was our first trip together.  It seems so long ago now, but I still remember it being one of my favorite trips we went on.

Shawn's work portion of the trip happened earlier in the week and then I flew out to meet him one night after work.  He picked me up from the airport and of course we had to stop and take some pictures by the Golden Gate Bridge.

We ate at this restaurant in Sausalito our first night.  That night we stayed at a hotel near Napa Valley.  That was going to be the first part of our trip.

We went and visited 3 different wineries in Napa the next day (if I'm rembering correctly).  We only did a tour at one of them though (Robert Mondavi).  The others we just visited the tasting room.

 I can't remember the name of this winery.  But it was so pretty.

This is Robert Mondavi, where we took the tour.  I thought it was really neat learning how they made the wine.  

That afternoon we drove back to San Francisco and made another stop for pictures at the Golden Gate Bridge.

The next day we just walked around downtown San Francisco. . .

Checked out Ghirardelli Square. . .

Visited Pier 39. . .

And finished up at my favorite stop. . .Alcatraz Island.  I thought this was so neat!



 On our last day, as we were heading to the airport, I realized I never saw the "Full House" houses.  So we made a quick stop just so I could get a picture.

Ear Infection #25

Well, not really, but it feels like it's been 25.  Emily woke up this morning and I saw lots of wax on the outside of both ears.  The last 2 times I saw this, her ears were infected, so my gut told me her ear infection that she has been fighting for the last month was still around.  Shawn took Em in to see Dr. G this afternoon and sure enough she still has the ear infection.  But now it's in both ears.  :(  He gave us our 3rd antibiotic to try.  It's an even stronger one (Suprax) and also had us make an appt in 2 weeks for a re-check.  This time he said, if they aren't better in 2 weeks then it's time for tubes.  At this point, I really just want something to work and make her feel better. . .even if that means getting tubes put in.

After Shawn took Emily to the Dr., she was so worn out that she fell asleep on the floor of the family room.  Poor girl! 

And to make matters worse, right after her bath tonight she threw up all of her antibiotic. We're not sure if it was the medicine that made her sick or something else.  I'm hoping it was just a fluke and it won't happen anymore times tonight.

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a low-key Valentine's Day this year.  No big dinner plans or anything.  Just a quiet night at home with our favorite Love Bug.

And because we wore our hearts all weekend, here are a few pics from Saturday.

Flashback Friday. . .Texas Tech Football

Shawn and I didn't know each other at Tech (we were only there 1 year together), but I love that we both are Tech alums.  It's fun to root on our Red Raiders together.  Our first year dating, we decided to buy season tickets to the Tech games.  My good friend, Stephanie, lived in Lubbock at this time, so she always invited Shawn and I to stay with them.  Seeing good friends made our trips to Lubbock that much more fun.  Here are some pics from the year we had our season tickets.

We didn't buy season tickets any other years, but we still made it back for a few games.

I'm looking forward to the day we take Emily to her first Tech football game! 

Just Because. . .

She won't always sleep this way. . .