Phrases

Em has suddenly started repeating everything we say. Everything.

It doesn't always sound like the same thing, but is often very close.

And now she's into two word phrases like "tip back" and "go go!" and "all done" and "one arm" (in reference to getting dressed).

Moving up in the language world!

Miss Emmy B

Emberly's new "favorite" is rocking with me and watching all of the videos I've taken of her on my phone. She asks to watch them by pointing to my phone and saying, "Emmy?? Emmy??"

Why yes, sweet child. You can watch videos of that baby Emmy while snuggling with me. Can't think of a single thing I'd rather do.

Good Morning

This morning Jordan tiptoed out of our bedroom and snuck into the kitchen (before I even woke up) to make me scrambled eggs and a piece of toast. This is the pretty much the greatest gift of all time, because it means I don't have to puke in the morning from an empty stomach. Love love love.

Then, while eating my eggs, raspberries, clementine, and toast, my sweet Emberly woke up and Jordan scooped her up, fed her breakfast, dressed her, and they bolted out the door to run some errands together, leaving me to just have a morning. :)

I laid in bed for awhile and then took the longest, most lovely hot shower. I read my bible and spent some much needed time with Jesus, dried my hair, found myself a bowl of Cheerios, and got back into bed where I now am officially stuck.

Can you say, "Merry Christmas to me??!" :)

And now I'm dreaming/thinking of all the things I'd like to accomplish today but probably won't... and feeling a peace about it. This bossy baby dictates how much I do these days, and I think it's a good lesson for me on resting, trusting, and not being in control.

So when my two favorites get home we are going to play toys and read books and enjoy time together as a family in our mostly messy house.

Lovely.

Food

Maybe normal people actually do have pregnancy cravings, but I feel like in reality it should be called the "one thing in the whole wide world I'd be willing to eat" syndrome. Eating food is just such a chore right now and I feel like I need to eat all.the.time to keep this bossy baby in my tummy happy.

When I was pregnant with Emberly, it didn't matter at all what I ate... I could eat pizza, Chinese food, tacos, spaghetti... or whatever sounded good in the moment. It was kind of awesome in that I could pick up fast food... fast... and eat it so I didn't have to feel so nasty sick (although I definitely did feel nasty sick a large majority of the time). But this baby is so very different... I have been eating bland and blah food like a baked potatoes, a bowl of Cheerios or Kix, or maybe a granola bar or ramen noodle soup. Tonight I sent Jordan to the grocery store for snow peas, carrots, and coldstone ice cream. Weird.

But let's just say for a moment that Jordan has been all sorts of amazing. I cannot open the kitchen garbage without puking some days, so I just pile my garbage next to it and he throws it all in and takes it outside. He gets me food when I have passed the point of no return. Brings me eggs in bed. Lets me take naps. Takes our child on errands to give me a break. I married the best of the best. Be jealous.

Ok I'm not normally sappy... So thanks for enduring.

That's all!

Oh happy day!

Oh happy day today! I only threw up once and had a nice long break from the constant nausea in which I got to spend some sweet time with Jordan and Emberly, get some much needed cleaning and picking up done, and just enjoy the little parts of my day. Thank you, Jesus, for the unexpected gift!

Emberly didn't take an afternoon nap today (though she gave it her best shot for an hour... so I still had a little break) so she crashed early. There is absolutely nothing in the world like rocking an all-about-movement bambino who lays her head on your shoulder and just melts into you, falling asleep in just moments. It is like a drug. The most heavenly, addicting drug.

And now this pregnant mama is exhausted. I've been napping every day and didn't today. So it is 8:00pm and I'm tucked into bed. One more day of school and this teacher is on Christmas break. So.very.excited. Maybe even as excited as those wide eyed kinders I see every day! Also excited that tomorrow is pajama day! Maybe one of the best perks of working in a school. Be jealous all you business working people.

5 sleeps until Christmas!

To-Do List

Things I've accomplished last night and already this morning that were not on my (ever growing, never ending) to-do list:

#1 - be awake most of the night with a fussy, crying baby.

#2 - throw up the medication that is supposed to help with my nausea. twice.

#3 - puke in the grocery store this morning on my way to work while trying to find something I can eat that will stay in my stomach.

#4 - lose 7ish pounds in the last two weeks instead of gain weight like normal pregnant people.


I had my first OB appointment yesterday and Dr. V asked if I felt pregnant (in reference to morning sickness). Uh... yes, I surely do feel pregnant. He reassured me that they love to hear it when people are super sick because it means their hormones are doing the right thing and they are way less likely to miscarry.  I can appreciate that.

Tell me I'm going to make it through today. Better yet... will you pray that I'll make it through the day?

Right now I'm laying on my small group table in my office typing this on my phone. My first student is absent this morning. I truly think that was God at work so that I could regroup a few extra minutes before plugging forward. Thanks, God. You know exactly what I need. :)







Molly

Win

My little mother child

On Thanksgiving Day I moved Emberly's highchair to the floor so that we had enough room around the table to host our guests.  Once I moved it, Emberly was immediately drawn the the newness of the highchair on the floor and insisted on playing in it.  She got in.  She got out.  She got in.  She got out.  It was all kinds of fun to my little over one-year-old.  But then I noticed something...

Emberly went and found her teddy bear and put him in the highchair.  She found an empty bowl and a spoon and started stirring the bowl.  She blew on it a little.  She told her teddy it was hot.  She smacked her lips and started feeding her teddy, saying "mmmmm" each time she gave him a bite.  I was completely in awe of the little immagination that grew right before my eyes.  And then she took her teddy out and gave him some love and kisses and some love pats and layed him down on the floor and covered him up with her blanket telling him "nigh-nigh."  And then she put him back in the chair and fed him again. 

My little mother child.  She goes through the routine now every day.  She feeds her teddy and her baby.  She burps them.  She puts them to bed.  She changes their diaper.  She blows on their food when it's hot.  And then she does it all over again.  It's incredible to watch.  I seriously just cannot get enough of it.

I think she'll be a great big sister.

Morning Sickness & Mother-in-laws

Hello.

Let's talk about morning sickness for a minute. It is so.not.fun. You people who love being pregnant, I just do not understand you. Don't get me wrong... I love love love love the prize at the end. It is 100% worth it. But the process is just well... lame. Lame is the nicest word I can think of.

So that is my little rant. Now let's talk about awesomeness. Like my mother-in-law who came to help with "whatever" yesterday, which just so happened to be my worst day yet. She fed Emberly so that I could hide in the bedroom so as not to smell the smells associated with any foods, she gave Em a bath, read her stories, did my dishes, folded my laundry...

I asked her to move into our basement but sadly, she has to go back to Bismarck. But seriously, who does that? I have pretty awesome in-laws. You should all be jealous.

So that's my story about morning/all-day sickness. If you're a praying person and wanted to pray that I could be done with the puking and all day nauseousness soon, I'd be forever grateful.

Happy Thursday to you!

Funny Face

Do you think this is as funny as I do? Because for some reason I just can't get over these faces. I'd like to claim that I was teaching her how to make faces in the camera... but she did this all on her own as she was peering at herself through my camera phone. I die.

My mama

My mom is awesome. She watched Em this morning while J and I were both at work (J works one day shift a month) and I came home to a well-fed, played-with, and taken-care-of bambino, completed laundry (folded and everything), dusting done, dishes washed, floor scrubbed, and probably a bunch of other things I haven't noticed yet. I could have cried I was so happy. And well because my hormones are extremely messed up. Thank you, baby. But more importantly, thank you mama. Because sometimes you just need your mama.

zzzz...

Dear Life,

My mom said you'd probably call me a liar if I told you this... but I just need to document.  Emberly has been sleeping from 7 or 8pm until between 8:30-10am every day.  Sometimes she gets up to 15 hours of sleep at night.  This is super strange and very unreal and I only wish I didn't have to get up at 6am to get to work on time so that I could actually take advantage of it. 

She still naps once or twice in addition to that huge chunk of sleep too.  She is one well rested little bambino.  Let's all just pray together that Baby #2 will have similar sleep habits.  No I mean it... please pray. 

Sincerely Yours 

Only Child

 

Only Child: Expiring July 2013

 

 



Bedtime Bologna

I'm laying in bed (yes, I sure am!) listening to Emberly bounce around her crib... singing songs, talking to her teddies, and who knows what else while she is supposed to be napping.  It's been close to an hour.  Jordan and I have each been in there once.  Jordan got the pleasure of changing a messy diaper, I got to just lay her back down and say it is time to sleep. 

She is sneaky though.  We go in there to tell her it's time for "nigh-nigh" as she calls it, and she signs "eat" or "drink" or "play" - and thinks that it is going to get her out of a nap.  She is desperately tired and yet won't stop long enough to actually sleep.  So here it is 12:30 and she is supposed to be waking UP from a nap, and she hasn't even fallen asleep yet. 

Some days she gets just one nap, other days she gets two... but what she really needs is about one and a half.  Someone figure that one out for me.


My mom called this stalling, complaining, "I need a drink" or "I'm scared" or "I'm suddenly very hungry" stuff bedtime bologna when I was growing up.  I think my child inherited it from me.

 

One year pictures... blogged only 3 months late!

How did I never blog Emberly's one-year pictures??

 

 

 

 

Diaper Detergent

I've been using Rockin' Green laundry detergent for my cloth diapers since we've started cloth diapering and have had zero complaints. Our diapers have gotten clean, I haven't had many stink or buildup issues (or at least more than the average cloth diaper user), so I wasn't actively looking for a different solution. However, another cloth diapering mama friend of mine visited me awhile back and told me she makes her own detergent for pennies per wash. Way less than Rockin' Green. So I gave it a try. I've been using homemade detergent for the past 10 or so diaper loads and have had fresh smelling clean diapers!

I've literally asked her to resend me the recipe probably four or five times thanks to my disorganized life as of late... so I'm documenting in a place I can't lose it! Maybe you'd like a homemade detergent too... even if you don't wash cloth diaps!

22 oz. washing soda
7.5 oz. baking soda
8 oz. oxyclean free

The oxyclean free was $8 I believe for 3 lbs, so kinda spendy upfront, but you can make 6 recipes out of one tub. That means $1.30ish per recipe. Not bad! Baking soda is $1 for 16 ounces, so $0.50 per recipe, and the washing soda is $4 for 55 ounces, therefore $1.60ish per recipe.

Bottom line:

Homemade: $3.40
Makes 74 Tbsp. I use 2-3 Tbsp per load in my top loader. This washes 25-37 loads.
$0.14 per load on the lowest end.

Rockin' Green: $14.95.
Washes 45 loads with 2 Tbsp.
$0.33 per load.

Here is a picture in case you like to know what you're looking for!




Molly

Emberly's Words

Emberly has SO much language.  I cannot even count/note all of the words she knows because it is literally growing every day.  Every once in awhile we'll be reading books or looking at something and E will announce a new word that we didn't even know she knew.  Last night we were reading and she pointed to a fish and said, "fsh."  :)  Jordan and I looked at each other with surprise... we had no idea she could say that!  Makes my mama heart proud.  Just for fun to look at someday... here is a list of some of the words E says and signs on a daily basis...

Spoken:
- "neigh" for a horse
- "moo" for a cow
- "baa" for a sheep
- moon
- mama
- dada
- papa
- nana
- duck
- nigh-nigh
- up
- help
- ball
- bath
- cheese
- "nana" (for banana)
- all done
- honey
- teddy
- book
- more
- snack

Sign Language:
- more
- eat
- banana
- all done
- diaper
- bird
- fish
- cat
- dog
- horse
- drink
- milk
- train
- airplane
- car
- please
- thank you
- sorry
- shoes
- socks
- sleep
- boat
- ball
- wash hands
- bath
- brush teeth
- book
- outside
- bug
- up
- stars

Honey

Jordan is out of town hunting and when he called yesterday Emberly was nearby. As soon as I ended the call she looked at me and put her hand up to her ear like she was talking on the phone and said, "Honey? Honey?" :) I guess I talk to my "Honey" on the phone quite a bit. :)

 

Target

I used to love going to target. It was kinda like my happy place. Sometimes if I needed something to do I'd just go walk around the aisles and creep on people and buy some stuff I didn't really need. I think some people would call that retail therapy. Maybe it is, but that is not the point. The point is, that target is now a representation of how my life has changed:
 

1. I never ever ever need something to do.

2. There is no room in the budget to buy things we don't need.

3. Retail stores are terrible horrible no good very bad places to bring one year olds. Especially at nap time, meal time, before nap time, before a meal time, after a nap time, or after a meal time. Therefore... all times = bad times.

I don't mind. I really love Em. But every mama needs a break every now and then.

Besties

My lifelong bestie and I grew up doing pretty much everything together. One of our favorite things to do was to dress up in matching outfits and dance and put on "programs" and plays for our parents and siblings. Nerdy. But awesome. And I so desperately want E to experience that with a lifelong bestie. I don't know who her bestie will be, but my dear friend Rachel had a baby just 8 weeks before Emberly was born and we have had lots of "play dates" already to encourage their bonding (and who are we kidding, we selfishly love to hang out too!). Rachel found these adorable matching little dresses and we have seriously been waiting MONTHS for them to both fit into them... but today was the day! Just brace yourself for some Harper and Emberly cuteness.

 

Emberly is a lover. She just had to give Harper some love...

and a kiss. :)

 

and once we changed them out of their dresses they weren't all that interested in getting dressed again. It's a one-year-old thing. So we captured a few more sweet moments. :)

 

 

 

 

Kindergarten Quote

Me: You write a big capital Q by first writing a capital O and then putting a little line through it at the bottom.

Kinder Kiddo: Oh! So it's kinda like shooting a lazer out your belly button!

Seriously??

 

No Nap Tuesday

Em decided yesterday was a no afternoon nap kind of day... and after close to an hour and an half of talking in her crib, I gave up too. Around 5:00pm she was drooping in a major kind of way, but still seemed happy. I figured we'd shoot for an early bedtime, which meant we just had to make it two more hours... but... E disappeared into her room for a moment and emerged with her pajamas and said, "nigh-nigh" and signed sleep. She sat down and cooperated while I put them on her, she snuck back into her room and emerged this time with her snuggle blankets and teddy bear and insisted again it was time for "nigh-nigh." So what's a mama to do? 5:00pm naps yield a messy crabby baby an hour later... but I'm choosing to believe it probably would have been the same and worse without a nap. :) Thankful for a communicating little bambino... even though she wasn't smart enough to take her nap in the first place.

 

Favorite Words

 

Em's new words are "up" and "help" (which sounds more like hep) and end with a question mark in her sweet little tone. Pretty much everything Em does all day long requires "hep," or she volunteers her "hep" {which isn't that helpful, let's be honest} but it is still sweet nonetheless. Loving my job as a mama.

 

Who wouldn't with this classy lady??

 
 

Hat

First thing E says to me in the morning when she wakes up is, "haaaat?" as she pats her head to sign it. So we put it on and she walks around the house saying "hat. haaaat. hat!" She then peeks in the mirror to admire how she looks in her fancy winter hat and says, "woooow!"

I think it's also a (not so subtle) hint to go outside... and I usually don't acknowledge it... but today I did, pjs and all.

 

 

 

 

Full Heart

Dear Life,

Emberly has turned into such a cuddle bug lately... and it melts my heart. She cannot sit still during the day, but before naps and before bed she just mushes her little body against mine and we read stories and talk in quiet voices and it is all kinds of heaven.

Today we were sitting in the living room playing when I could tell she was getting tired... so I said, "Hey E, it's night-night time." She said, "nigh-nigh?" Then she stood up, walked into her room, grabbed a book and threw it on the rocking chair, and waited for me to sit down. I sat down and read her the story, said "goodnight. Love you." She kissed me (right on the lips) and said "nigh-nigh" and I layed her down and walked out. I love that girl. She's just been singing in her room ever since.

I know, I know... I'm kinda mushy... but... too bad. I love her a lot.

Sincerely Yours,

Molly

Kisses

Dear Life,

I had such a sweet mama moment tonight when I was tucking E into bed. She didn't take an afternoon nap, she spent the morning with a little one year old buddy, and she had a date with my parents at a Cancer Survivor's picnic tonight... so she was SUPER tired. So I pull her up onto my lap to read stories and rock a little before we say goodnight and every book I pull out she pushes away. She love love loves to read books so I was puzzled, but finally caught on and just turned out the lights and started saying goodnight. She turned her little body around and out her head on my shoulder (as if to say, "thanks mom, I just wanna go to bed") like we do each night, but then suddenly she put her head up again, looked me straight in the eyes, and came right at my lips for a big mouth open baby loving kiss. She zeroed in on my lips about ten more times... if I turned my head to get out of it she turned hers too. Mama melting adorable baby loving. She put her head back on my shoulder and let me rock her a moment more while she cooed and sang the softest, sweetest, baby noises. Then, she gave me her wiggle signal that she'd like to just be in her bed so I laid her down and she sang herself to sleep. Sigh. Every day I feel more in love with that bambino.

That's all.

Sincerely Yours,
Molly

Da-Da

Me: Hey Emberly, can you say mama??

Emberly: Dada

Me: No, mama. Can you say ma.ma?

Emberly: da.da.

Me: How about mommy? Can you say mommy??

Emberly: Daddy??

Me: Seriously???

Canning and Camping and Crazy Fun

Dear Life,

I am eternally behind in the blog-o-sphere. I'll be honest, I just can't find the motivation to sit down and type after E goes to bed. And if you've ever spent time with a just-turned-one-year-old, you know that sitting down to type is most definitely not an option while she's awake. So here I am, at nap time, typing away as fast as I can before E decides nap time is over. She fell asleep about 3 minutes ago (after blabbing for close to an HOUR)... so I figure I have a good twenty minutes or so. (I wish I was kidding.) But the good news is... that at least I had the last hour to accomplish things! And accoplish things (plural) I did not. But I did accomplish ONE thing, and that is making applesauce!

Thanks to a tip from some friends of ours, we found an old apple orchard that had been mostly ruined by the flood a few years ago. Many of the trees are still good though, so people can just pick to their heart's content. Love.Love.Love.

My sweet child loved this as well...

So I had all these delicious apples that needed to turn into applesauce and apple butter and apple pie filling and appley apple goodness...

So I bought this beauty.

Meet Victorio, the food strainer. She's magical. Seriously magical. You cut the apples in half (or quarters if they are really big) and throw them in a pot of water... boil them for 15 minutes or so until they're hot and squishy, and then pop them in this beauty, turn the little handle, and out comes applesauce out of one end, and all the skins, seeds, leaves, and what-have-you out the other end!

Sure wish I would have found Victorio before I made 64 cups of tomato sauce in the blender last week...

Anywho! Live and learn I guess. There is always next year. :)

So anyway... none of those things were the point of this blog post. Serious A.D.D. Those kinder-kids are wearing off on me. (Speaking of ADD... every time one of my kinders wrote the letter "b" when I asked him to this morning he exclaimed, "nailed it!" in a "I'm 5 going on 17" voice. Where do they hear these things anyway?? Either way... kinda made my day.)

Ok back to the point. Jordan and Emberly and I went CAMPING this weekend. If you know me at.all. you know that I am not a tent camping kind of a person. Like... not even a little. So add in the fact that it was the first weekend of Fall, temps reached 34 degrees at night, and I'm a pansy... and you have a recipe for disaster. Except (I can't believe I am even saying this) we had SO.MUCH.FUN.

We woke up Saturday morning and packed up all of our gear. We drove the *cough cough* hunting suburban (that I swore I'd never ever step foot in) and drove to Maplewood State Park. This was year 5 for Jordan and I... year 2 for Emberly. It is one of my all-time favorite annual traditions. The colors were beautiful and we had a picnic, hiked some trails, and just enjoyed God's beautiful creation.

Then... we drove to the lake where Jordan had found this little camping area while four-wheeling, with a fire pit by a secret little lake. It was windy and COLD. But... E didn't seem to mind. She had fun "helping" daddy set up the tent and playing with sticks and dirt and leaves and all kinds of goodies that her over-protective, germ-hating, mother doesn't let her do at home. It was one-year-old exploring heaven.

About 7:00 we drove E back to my parent's cabin where she was intending to spend the night. Too cold for babies to sleep in the tent! So we piled back into the red-neck suburban... (Did I say red-neck?? I meant it.) and took E to grandma Go-Go and grandpa Juice's. I tucked her into bed and we headed back into the freezing cold camping land.

We had the most glorious campfire, made hot ham and cheese "tonka-pies" over the fire, mused at the beautifully clear sky filled with stars, and crawled under our 12 (not exaggerating) blankets to sleep. And believe it or not... we actually slept. Until 8:45 the next morning. Glorious.

We woke up the next day, made some hot chocolate, pancakes, and eggs on our camping stove, packed up our things, and went to get E. All around fun experience. (Jordan, are you reading this?? I'm even admitting it out-loud to the world!)

Sincerely Yours,

Molly

Happy Birthday, to you!

Happy Birthday, Dear Emberly,

Happy Birthday to you...

Notice the progression of the next few pictures to see how Emberly liked her cake...

Maybe the cake wasn't a hit... but Grandma Tracie for the win with the lemonade!

Happy Birthday, Sweet One. I can't even imagine what our life would be like without our speed walking, teddy bear cuddling, tomato loving, all out giggling girl.

Photo credits: The amazing... Kendra Love Photography