Our budding artist

Emma is loving her easel.

"Emma Paint" - as said by Emma





"Emma wipe" - she doesn't like her hands dirty




Smile for Mommy - "cheese!!!!"




Smile nicely now....




back at painting



I Love My Family!

We took this photo the other night and I just LOVE Emma's smile!  Such a fun photo.

Reminds me/us over and over again how lucky we are to have Emma in our lives and how much fun it is!

She's growing up so quickly and so well in our books, we couldn't be prouder.

And if Emma passes on everything she's learning to her little sister, I'll be a very happy mommy, and Rod a very happy daddy!

The days just get more and more fun.  The way she talks, calls us to play with her, draw with her, sit with her.  And when she gets excited about something she starts to almost stutter, saying, EmmaEmmaEmma draw, EmmaEmmaEmma paint....we hope it's not a speech problem and she'll grow out of it, for now it's cute! hehe

Love for your child is really like no other!  We tell you 100 times a day, but it doesn't hurt to say it again, We Love You Emma!

22 Months

Little Miss Emma, 22 months and talking so much these days.

Everyday she's amazing us with new words she picks up.  Pointing things out to us and telling us what they are.  It's actually great with Emma speaking, we can understand so much more of what she wants, although we do have a good dose of her uh-uh-uh's, and whining!
Not only her speaking, but actions, like stepping over my legs, she no longer needs to hold on to me, she can easily lift her leg and step over.  She's walking down steps when a rail is available.  Before she would love to climb on my back and go downstairs with me, now she refuses and wants to do it herself, saying, "Emma self".  I'm not complaining, as the pregnancy progresses, Emma is getting heavier.
Drawing and coloring, Emma is no longer just scribbling all over the page, she actually tries to color in objects, scribbles in small spaces on a blank page and can draw her lines up and down, side to side and round.  She's so proud of herself when she accomplishes all this.

an example of her art work

Objects likes her stool that she stands on to wash her hands, was once heavy, now she can lift it easily and before I know it I have a Sous Chef standing  next to me at the kitchen counter or sink, willing to season the dinner or wash dishes.

We got back from LA on Sunday and quite surprisingly this is the first time that Emma has eased right back into her routine.  It's been great, either she's growing up, or just getting used to travelling.
It was great seeing Emma and Ruby together again.  The fun lasted for the predicted 3 days, then the pushing and pulling began.  A bit of mediating and negotiating required.  But there were good moments of laughs, Emma copying Ruby, the two of them running around and dancing together.  Poor Ruby having to share all her toys with Emma, showing her possession, and reluctantly letting Emma play with her toys "just for a little bit".  Emma learnt to say, "Emma's turn" very quick.  Just amazing out of all the toys available in the house, they both would want the same toy!  Ruby would try turn Emma's attention to something else, guiding her to a different section of the room, or even a different room.  You would just see Ruby behind Emma and Emma just walking wherever Ruby took her, but then following Ruby back to where they came from.  Guess that's kids for you. 

The girls opening Ruby's birthday gift

not sure why Emma was a little unsure of this hug

playing with the magnetic dress up dolls

Em got sick toward the end of the trip, so we didn't get to do as much as we hoped to do, but I'm glad it's wasn't more than a runny nose and congestion, we just stayed indoors and recovered.  I thought that with Emma being sick I might not have been able to join Kerwin, Janine and Rod at the U2 concert, but Emma allowed and Trevor and Vivien babysat the two girls - Thanks guys!  Actually thinking of it, this was Rod's and mine first night out alone since we've had Emma.  U2 was awesome.

Emma also had the opportunity to meet more family members.  My cousin Bronwyn and her boyfriend were roadtripping from the West Coast to the East Coast, they stopped over for one night.  It was great that we got that time to quickly catch up.  Emma warmed up to Bronwyn almost right away, and only the following day did Emma warm up to the friendly giant, Andrew!  So much fun when there are others around to entertain Emma.

blowing bubbles

showing Andrew how the iPad works

Thanks for visiting!

Pregnancy update - I'm 20 weeks pregnant already.  Reached the halfway mark and really fortunate that this pregnancy has been just as easy as it was with Emma, well so far.  One morning in LA Emma caught me by surprise when I asked Emma where her baby sister was, and she lifted my top and started kissing my tummy and saying morning.  That lasted for a few seconds, then Emma said, "All Done" and covered my belly back up.  Sweet moments.  The week that I was in LA my tummy just popped out, all the good food we ate contributed to the 8lb gain in 4 weeks - yikes!!!  The baby's movements (quickening) started around 16/18 weeks, so the feelings were very light, but I can feel they're get stronger and stronger.  The broken sleep has already started for me.

Travel Bug

Someone has obviously travelled a little too much.

Today after some grocery shopping, we get back home and Emma plays with her toys.
While I'm in the kitchen washing the fruit, Emma comes into the kitchen with her little pull case and says, "Bye!!" and waves at me.  I wave and say Bye back.  I also say, See you soon and I'm going to miss you.
When I said this, she came running up to me and gave my leg a hug, then said, "Miss" and ran back to her case and said Bye again, waves and walks around our kitchen counter.

When she went around once, she saw me again and said, "Hi!".  I said Hi back and welcome back, hope you had a good time.  Told her too that lunch will be ready soon, but she must just make herself at home.  So she dissapears and comes back a few minutes later, again with her case and saying, "Bye", waves, gives me a hug, says "Miss" and does the sign for, "I Love You".  And so she repeated her Hellos, Goodbyes, miss you's, hugs and I Love You's over and over, until she grew bored and decided to play with her basket of eggs.

Oh she just makes my heart melt.  I count my blessings that I have this opportunity to be at home with Emma and see all these special things about Emma.

A Sister for Emma

So the verdict is in, we are expecting a baby GIRL!

I will admit I was little dissapointed with the news at first and stunned (I really thought I was having a boy), we like most were hoping for one of each. But two girls, a little sister for Emma to grow up closely with, we cannot wait and definitely getting more excited and creating a better bond with baby, who is nameless right now. Thinking of another girls name is hard.

It was quite funny when the technician was looking at baby and she got to the gender part she asked, "You did want to know the gender right?" But while saying that I could already identify it was a girl!

The first thing I said to Rod when we were told the sex was, darn not as much shopping for me as I was hoping!!  Rod's first comment was, I need to buy another shotgun!  Rod's pretty excited to have another girl, I think Emma has given him high expectations! haha.

It's fun knowing what to plan for, we don't talk too much about baby to Emma about baby, but the day before our scan we asked her if she wants a baby sister or brother, she responded with, "sister". Now when we ask if she's having a sister or brother she says, "brother".

On to preparing, sorting and thinking of names.....Lots of hand me downs and so starts the second child syndrome :)

Tumble Gym

We've been taking Emma to Tumble Gym for about 6 or 8 weeks now.  It's taken Emma a while to get used to everything, new class, new people, new activities.  Every week we see her adapt more and more.

This week stood out, Emma was able to follow the stretch exercises (standing and jumping, then touch the ground, straddle your legs and bend down,  etc etc), she's able to jump a bit better on the trampoline (feet actually leaving the surface), walk on the balance beam with assistance, hang from the monkey bar (still not lifting her legs tho, but can hold on), completing the Tree Frog (both hands on the ground and both feet off the ground) and sort of doing the bear crawl (two parrallel bars that Em has to climb up on using all fours and walking across like a bear, she usually walks through, but today she managed to climb up top and just stay there, I'm sure she'll get the walking bit soon).  I was amazed how she just arrived in class and did everything she had to do.

I think I was more shocked today when she just went up to the mat and placed her hands on the ground and raised her feet for the Tree Frog - thought to myself, is that my Emma doing that??
Amazing how without you pushing them or always helping them, they can complete a task themself and really surprise you.

Quite appropriate that today was their awards day, all the kids received a certificate and gold medal for the school year.

Receiving her medal and certificate



Our little Tree Frog



21 Months

It feels like its been a busy month, I guess with all the excitement of sharing our good news with everyone, and  Rod's sister, Sharon (Sha Sha - what Em called Sharon) visiting.  It's been fun.

We met up with Sharon in Boston and it took a day or two for Emma to warm up to her.  Em traveled really well.  Kind of crazy to think that after this trip Em has flown over 12 times!! Think thats more than I ever travelled by the time I was 21!

Boston is a great city, nice and compact, and relatively easy to get around.  Lots of history and lots to see.  We tried walking the first day, but then decided to make use of the trolley tours.  We at least got to see all the main sights and our feet got to rest a lot more.  You know a city is relatively small when you can see the State House from almost anywhere you go, even crossing the Charles River.  Em adapted well, taking her naps in her stroller.  Somehow she's gone back to 2 naps a day, quick 30-45 min morning nap, then a later afternoon nap.  She'll only take her morning nap if she's in the car, or if we're out and about in a stroller.  If we're at home, there is no way she'll nap in the morning.
We all shared one room, so I was a little anxious about this, as Emma always sleeps in her own room.  But again she adapted well, first night everyone cleared the room, except for me, then the second night we tried with all of us in the room.  We were all so tired, we all actually fell alseep while waiting for Emma to fall asleep!  During this trip Emma was super clingy to mommy, so left mommy having to carry her a lot, even during some naptimes.  Because we were hopping on and off the trolley we didn't want to put Em in the stroller, which left me carrying this heavy lump for almost 2 hours while she napped (how I wished I remembered our ergo carrier).  We knew if we tried to pass her over to Rod she'd either wake, or she'd still want me to carry her (half asleep and reaching out her hands - bou bou).  The things we'll do for sleep!!  My arms were so sore the next day! 

naptime in the arms

super clingy emma

I've always been wondering when Em will call me from her crib.  Well it started in Boston.  So the great thing about hotels are the heavy curtains which really makes the room dark.  I've always wondered about getting darkening shades for Emma's room, wondering if it'd help Emma sleep in later.  Turns out, it doesn't make a difference.  Em still chose to wake up at 6am!  First morning she was really quiet in the crib, just waiting for us to wake.  Second morning, she's still quiet, but probably half an hour into it, starts calling, Ma, Ma, Ma!  Da, Da, Da!  ( I will say it was cute hearing her call us, we just laid still hoping she might go back to sleep, no such luck)  Our last night, Em took a late afternoon nap, think she fell asleep close to 6 and woke at around 8, in time for dinner, this was nice as we got to see the night lights and enjoy our last evening.  Em slept at 10/11pm, I thought great, we all get to sleep in, nope, 6am on the dot, Ma, Ma, Ma!  Since Boston, every morning now Em will call me at 7am.  Makes me strongly consider keeping Emma in a crib when baby #2 arrives, it's great right now that Emma can stay contained in her crib until I'm ready to get her. All I've got to bear right now are her calls.

After our Boston trip, we came back to NC, spent a week here, then off to Charlotte for the following weekend.  Sharon was meeting up with a friend there that lives in Asheville and spending the weekend there.  Instead of driving up and down (2 hour drive) Rod and I decided to stay the weekend in Charlotte.  So we got to see another city.  Not as exciting as Boston.  But was nice to still walk around and see what it had to offer.  Very quiet city, you almost feel unsafe because it's so quiet.  We spent our Saturday at a kids science musuem, Discovery Place.  I think Rod and I had our fair share of fun experimenting with all the gadgets there.  Lying on a bed of nails, sitting on a chair that elevates by the use of a huge vacuum, taking a science quiz, which clearly is not our strong suite.  Em's favourite part was the huge water table.  Enjoying filling cups of water and spilling it out.  Ending when Em decided to spill water all over herself, instead of back in the water table!  Oh no!!!!

Mother's Day, I was spoilt with hugs and kisses.  Felt really lazy that morning, so we all had breakfast in bed and took our time to check out, then meet up with Sharon and made out way back home.  Amazing to be celebrating my second mothers day.  It gets more and more rewarding.

For the rest of Sha-Sha's stay we did a lot of shopping and hardly any site seeing.  It was really great watching Em and Sharon spend time together, and Em enjoyed having her aunt there to play with her.  I got a few breaks which was welcoming.  Sharon got to see Emma at her music class, one of the storytimes at the library, and we decided one day to go strawberry picking.  This was fun, the strawberries accumulate really quickly and they look so good you almost want to eat them right there and then, obviously Em wanted to do this, we had to stop her.  There were other kids there who's mouths were all red from eating as they picked.

As soon as Sharon left, Rod left for London, so it's been a long week, one more to go.  Talking over skype, Rod can't get over how tall she's gotten and how much more she's talking.  Her latest word - Avocado - "Avo-ca-ca".  It's crazy how her face will change by the week too, this morning I looked at her, and thought there is something different about you today.  Looking bigger I guess.

What Emma's been up to this past month - she's changed in her ways that she's stopped her pushing (thankgoodness), and now she's very caring, stroking other kids or babies (this makes my heart melt, esp thinking of baby #2 on the way), or kindly sharing her toy if one kid asks for it or wants it.  Not everything is given up easily as you can imagine, but for the most part she'll share.  Quite tough when you see other kids not willing to share with Emma after she's been so nice.  Em is one of those kids that will stand back and let everyone ahead of her, then be left with the remnants.  I see this so often at music class, she'll get all excited to pick an instrument and run toward the box, but when she sees the other kids running too, she'll stop about a foot away from the box and just stand there watching the kids grab their choice of instrument, and she looks as me like, hi mom and just smile with her hands behind her back.  I have to go in and tell her to grab an instrument before she's left with the egg shaker AGAIN, poor kid.  But she's happy with that.

Oh this month Em got her first official hair cut, she sat on my lap with my iphone and we managed to get quite a straight cut.  She was proud of it, and I will say she looks a whole lot neater now.
It was quite funny that day.  I was explaining to Emma what I was having done and that after she got to play at the playzone she'd have to be a good girl and sit in her stroller while I had my hair done.  Emma kept repeating the word, haircut, haircut, then "back", thinking that I was going to leave her at the playzone while I had my hair cut.  After a while she started associating that she was going to have her haircut.  Because she seemed quite eager to have her haircut, I asked the stylist if she could cut her hair and she did.

Em has been telling me diaper diaper, basically telling me when to change her diaper.  I do wonder if this is the early stages of potty training.  It was great in Boston, as she'd always remind me to change her diaper.  After a while it became a habit of saying diaper, just so she could get out her highchair and walk.

With the increase in vocab, it's been fun, as now I am able to read stories to Emma and for most books she can end off the sentences as we read.  She's also doing this with nursery rhymes and we're slowly learning the alphabet.  Amazing seeing Emma's memory increase and how she now remembers things.
We went to the post office the other day and the lady behind the counter gave her stickers.  I had to go again about 2 days later and the first thing Em said as we walked in was, "sticker".  I said that we'll have to see if the lady has stickers, so as soon as we got to the counter, Emma asked me to carry her, and just as I lifted her, she looks at the lady and says, "sticker, sticker".  The lady asked what it is she was asking for, everyone in the post office had a good laugh.  So Emma gets one sticker, but of course thats not enough, she asks for "more".

So many funny things happening these days, this post will just carry on and on if I type about every thing.  It's definitely a cute age right now, and I know it's only going to get funnier and more interesting.

Emma's latest thing is to have me wrap her blankets around her.  It's a warm 30 degrees outside and she'll still insist on being wrapped.  Makes for great entertainment - who needs tv when you've got your child??

Videos....

More videos of little Miss Emma.

Enjoying the ride at the mall - ice cream anyone??
Can't wipe that smile of her face.  Took forever to try get her off the ride.
We did this while Aunty Sharon was shopping.

Emma loves her music, and will start moving to the music as soon as she hears it.
So we're walking in the mall, and walk past Abercrombie - this store it known for its sounds of loud music and whiffs of perfume and cologne as you walk past.  Emma cracked us up, as she walked past.  She stopped to listen to the music, then started bopping to the music.  After Abercrombie, she moved onto Hollister and did the same.  Cuteness!!!

Happy Friday everyone!!  One more week and daddy will be home again.

Today she has a pretend conversation on the phone copying everything I'm telling her to say, "Hi Dad, I Love You. We Miss you.  See you soon. Ok Bye."  Emma's relay, "Hi... Dada, Love, Misssss.. you, See, OK, Biii!"
 

Family Update

As most of you already know, our family is expanding.....

We are 13 weeks and 2 days along and everything is going well.  Besides being tired, and just a few food aversions, no complaints with this pregnancy so far.  Seems quite similar to when I was pregnant with Emma, just notice that the weight or the tummy is coming along a lot quicker.

We find out the sex of the baby in June, we cannot wait to find out! 

We're looking forward to our new addition, and can't wait to see what type of big sister Emma will be, a bully, sharing, caring, loving??  It's gonna be fun dealing with two....I think, I hope!

Anyways...we'll be keeping you all updated with our progressions and of course Emma will still be main feature on this blog for the next 5 months, then it's all about sharing, or it may even mean less time for blogging!!!

Happy Easter

We had a quiet Easter weekend.  Here in America we don't get any days off, so it was like a regular weekend.

Sunday, we just went to church, then after the service they had an Easter Egg hunt for all the kids.
Emma had a blast, we didn't expect her to find many eggs, but she did really well, finding 15 eggs.
Daddy had to help her in the beginning, but after a while started pointing them out, and with some encouragement from others she would run toward them to pick them up.  Eventually the adults couldn't resist getting the ones from the trees and putting them on the ground for her to pick up.

Here's Em on her hunt.

Then after the hunt, Em couldn't wait to go on the swings, and lately she has to ride the big swings, no more baby swings for Emma.  We hope you all had a great Easter.

Easter and Sweets are.....

We gave Emma her Easter basket this morning.  Inside was her first pack of sweets.
Think she liked it??

Happy Easter All!!

Emma is 20 Months

Happy 20 Months Emma!  shuwee...another month flown by!

Can't believe just 4 more months until our little one turns 2, it's crazy.  Just yesterday Emma gave me a glimpse of whats to come with the terrible twos!  Can't say I'm looking forward to it!  It's crazy to see your child so out of control, and you can't reason, talk, or do anything, except let her kick and scream until she has let it all out!  There was definitely a point where I wished I could scream the way she did!  I thought the tantrum would stop after 10 minutes or so, but it was about 10 minutes plus a 20 minute drive home that this lasted.  Boy was that ride home fun!  Sounds cruel, but while driving, thinking what can I do to calm her down, I let the windows down and let the wind blow on her a bit, it worked, but for just a few minutes, then it was, no no no! and the screaming started all over again.  Eventually she screamt herself to sleep!  An hour and a half of quietness.  I felt so tired after her episode.

Glad to say that we see more of her better days, than yesterday.  Goodness, think I'd be a wreck if this happened on a frequent basis!  While this was all going on, I had to call Rod and tell him to listen to his daugther, because if I had to tell him about it in the evening, he'd think, "what, not my Emma!".
Fun times!!

So 20 months, and what has Emma been up to?  Big thing this past month is Emma's increase in vocabulary, still alot of babble, but she's saying more words, copying a lot of what we say.  This morning I read one book and she was able to finish off the sentences for me, quite cute.  Her friend Rohan does this quite well, so I thought let me try with Emma and to my surprise she knew the words.  Her latest words, ice, melt, duck (actually saying duck and not quack quack), distinguish between hot and cold, up and down,  there are always times where she'll just say something, and you're like hey, thats cool!
Everything is Emma, Emma Emma - what is your name? Emma, what does this say? "Emma", Who is a monkey? "Emma" Whats the magic word, "Emma"

I keep saying I must jot down all her words and things she says, but obviously I forget to do that.  It's funny hearing her say certain words and it sounds like curse words.  Instead of cup, we hear "kak" and then this morning we get Emma from her crib, she had unzipped her gro, and said, "oh no!", then what sounded like, "oh sh&t!", I think she was saying "zip".  Rod looks at me and says, "thats you!".  Funny how all the bad things she does are apparently my bad habits! 

Em still loves to help around the house, saying, dust, sweep, wash (when I wash the rice, or is she wants me to wet her sponge so she can wash her dishes),  she'll also come running and say "help", when she hears me unloading the dishwasher.   She loves hanging the cutlery, such concentration to get the utensils on the hooks tho.

Tea Party's with Pooh bear is her favorite, feeding Pooh everything from cake, to bananas, oranges, the one day I said to her, Pooh Bear says thank you for giving him all this food, so Emma goes up to Pooh and takes his hand and makes the sign of Thank You.  More funny moments.

We started Emma at gymnastic classes.  We go on Saturday mornings, which is nice because Rod can join us and see how she interacts, what she does, and how her confidence levels improve as she gets used to a class.  Her first class, she walked onto the gym floor like she knew the place, and made herself at home.  She loves the trampoline (jumping only lifting one leg at at a time), and slowly getting used to the balance beam and bars to hang from, altho as soon as she feels the weight of her body she lets go!  Lazy girl.   

We purchased Emma's first pair of sunglasses, she loves them.  Took to them a lot quicker than I thought.  We've been reading this one book which shows a whole lot of kids at the beach, and I ask her to point out all the people wearing sunglasses, probably that is why she was so excited to wear them.  I asked her how her new sunglasses were, and she responded with, "Dark". 

Just last week, Rod's cousin Gavin came and visited for the weekend, it was great seeing him and so wonderful seeing Emma with family.  She took to Gavin so well, and it was as though she remembered who he was, giving him a big hug and kiss when he arrived.   It's amazing how one just knows family.  We see Rod's sister, Sharon next Thursday, we travel to Boston to meet her.  We're looking forward to seeing Sharon and exploring a new city.  Emma gets to see more family, yay!

Well another great month of Emma.  One night I asked Rod, "What would we do if we didn't have Emma?"  Without hesitation, his response was, go on vacations, watch more movies, buy a new car, play more golf, want me to carry on??  and rambled on more things.  Emma even though your dad says silly things like this, we don't know what we would be doing, but we'd definitely be missing out on you and so fortunate and blessed to have perfect little you in our lives.  Just please stop growing so fast!!!  We love you oh so much!

Always laughs in the Fok Household

Oh Emma, how you make us laugh!!!
After bathtime, Emma loves covering herself with the towel and playing peek a boo.  One night we were asking where's Emma and she started responding with, "No" and shaking her head whenever we asked if she was anywhere but under the towel.  We thought it was the funniest thing, seeing this little body under the towel saying "No" and shaking her head, then getting excited when we asked if she was under the towel, and she would pop out.

There are so many funny moments, so hard to keep track of it all. 

Another funny....while Rod was bathing Emma I popped a sweet in my mouth.  I then went to join them on the bed while getting dressed.  Emma caught a whiff of the sweet, came up to my mouth and took a smell, then motioned to her mouth, eat.  I then got tons of kisses after, I guess in hopes I'd share whatever I was eating with her.  Can't get anything past Emma.

Here's the peek-a-boo video, hope this lightens up your day.

New Videos

Our latest activity has been playing with Emma's memory cards from her Aunty Sharon.  Because she isn't old enough to understand matching the pictures by turning the cards over, I thought to try laying out 2 cards and hand her the other 2 and see if she can match the pictures up.  She managed to do this right away, I've slowly increased it, and now she can do up to 9 at a time!  It's unbelievable how quickly kids catch onto things...a child's mind really amazes me! 

I've finally let go and have let Emma feed herself more.  She's doing really well.  There are still the messy moments (as you will see at the end), but it's so great watching her, and even better when she enjoys Mommy's cooking.

Naptime with Pooh

Emma insisted that she take Pooh Bear upstairs to nap with.  A little hesitant to have such a big fluffy thing in her crib, especially when she's sleeping, I didn't want a big fight before naptime.

This was the napping result.  As you can imagine, as soon as she was sound asleep, Pooh Bear came right out of the crib, and I don't think will ever make its way back in again!

I couldn't even see her face buried under all the blankets and pooh!  Just shows how much Emma loves soft things to snuggle with!

Emma's 19 Months

Another month gone by.....this time I'm on schedule, blogging on the right date!
The word of the month has been, "Ma, Ma, Ma"  Yes, thats ME, Mommy!!!
I thought the clinginess got better with time, not worse!  Even though tiring after hearing it the whole day while playing with her, trying to clean house, make dinner, it's really cute hearing "Maaaa", being called out in the middle of Costco, when I quickly run down one aisle to grab something and Dad is pushing her in the cart.  Emma hasn't been a lover of Daddy too much this part couple of weeks, breaks his heart!  If I hug Daddy, she pushes me away so she can hug me, then when Daddy hugs me, she gets angry and pushes Daddy away.  I'm sure just another phase she's going through.  I do worry that it's possibly because I spend too much time with her??

Maybe I blog too much about the good times with Emma, I forget about the "bad" times.  This blog today seems pretty appropriate.

Today was an eventful day of her turning 19 months.  Emma woke in her normal happy disposition.  Always greeting us with smiles, followed by her crawling in her crib and saying "Baba", then walking/jumping around and falling over saying, "Whoa", then grabbing all her dolls and blankets, before we can take her out and get our morning kisses.  I tried to change her in to her clothes for the day.  She was happy for me to put on her pants, but did not want her pajama top off, so we left it at that.  She had her morning milk, but with being a little sick, she's still got a bit of phlegm and coughed up her milk.  The exact same spot she deposited milk on when she was 3 months, except this time it's full cream milk and not breast milk, Yugh!!!  (Cleaning recommendations appreciated).

So we got changed again after a bit of breakfast and just before heading out to run a few errands.  We had the battle of the shoes, all excited about her wearing a new pair of shoes, she wanted nothing to do with them.  So we settled for her regular shoes.  Errands were fine, no hassles there.
We drive home and I entertain Emma with a video on my iphone in order to keep her awake, so we can get home and have some lunch.  (Emma is really good at falling asleep in the car)  5 minutes before reaching home, she has another coughing episode in the car and sounds like she brought something up again,  I tell her not to worry, we'll be home in 5 minutes then I'll clean her up.  She hands me the phone then shortly falls asleep!!! "No!!!!"
Thinking she will take a short nap now, because she hasn't had lunch, I hope she'll wake when I take her out, picturing in my mind we'll have lunch, go to the park as she'll have had her second wind, then have a nice afternoon nap. Ended up Emma napping on our bed for 2 hours!! Yay!! Mom got a nap too!

We have lunch, then get ready to go to the park.  Emma had a long sleeve top on, because it was so hot outside I wanted to change  her to a tshirt.  She wanted nothing to do with that, but she did want to wear her new shoes! "Seriously!"  We got to the park, we sit on the swing for 20 minutes, then at the top of the slide for another 20 miuntes without wanting to go down.  Eventually she decides to go down still taking her time, sitting on the edge, there's a little boy waiting for Emma. He decides to give her a nudge with his foot and she falls!  Tears and all, we leave the playground and go home.  We blow bubbles to make things better, she then eyes the sidewalk chalk and wants to draw, so we draw.  While she's doing that I decide to sweep the garage, she wants to particicpate in this chore too.  A few sweeps in she wants to take off her top, moaning and pulling at it.  So I take it off.  I try put on her tshirt, but no she doesn't this, so I have a half naked toddler sweeping our garage.  Eventually she allows me to put on her t-shirt.  She then wants to water the garden with her new watering can.  Another fun activitity, especially when Emma doesn't want the water to come out of the watering can!  She gets upset!, so she pretends and makes the sounds, silly girl!  She then wants to draw again and blow bubbles, I say No, I want to go inside now.  I try get her inside and she throws a tantrum for a good 15 minutes.  Eventually calms down and wants her water and some crackers, and wants to watch, "Baa", Timmy Time. 

Emma has dinner and cleans plate, Daddy comes home and it's this sweet cock of the head and big smiles, like, "I've been a good little girl the entire day Daddy!"  Dad had the car serviced, so we swapped cars for the day, while we switched the car seat around, Emma got to play around in the car, which brought about another tantrum when it was time to go inside.  She asks for milk, which we give her and I just hope she doesn't cough it up again.  I take a seat on the steps, while I wait for her to finish so we can go upstairs and bath.  She takes a seat next to me.  She then sees her Pooh Bear seat and wants to sit there, so she goes and sits and bounces around on it.  Then comes back to where I am, and instead of just sitting next to me, tries to get comfortable resting against the front of my legs, then stands up again and tries to find another spot, this time sitting to the left of my legs, then wrapping her one arm around my leg and resting her head against it and finishes her milk, "minish".  Thats when I forget about the crazy day we had, all the whining and crying, and just treasure that moment, kiss her hand and tell her mommy loves her so much!  I guess that is when I also forget about the "bad" times, so when I get around to blogging I only remember the good times!

I hold Emma's hands to go upstairs, each step she takes, she says, "Upstairs".  Emma has a bath, we read stories,  have our cuddles, then sleep time!

Happy 19 Months Emma, here's hoping I or we survive the rest!

Videos of Emma

I didn't take too many photos this visit, think mostly because I was just trying to keep up with the two girls.
I did however manage to take a few (this few may still be considered alot to some) videos of Emma during her trip to LA.  Enjoy watching....

As soon as we arrived in LA, Ruby showed us how she loves to jump on the bed!  This has now given Emma an idea and she now loves to jump on our bed.  Here are the two little monkey's jumping on the bed!



Emma took a liking to Ruby's ladybug ride on - after one day she got the hang of it and quite enjoyed riding around on it.  Quite cute seeing her two little legs moving that way!  It's so interesting watching the progression of Emma on this thing.  First to try coordinate the two legs to move, and then to keep her bum on the ladybug.  Then once she got the movement right, had to learn to turn.  After turning she had to get the hang of putting in that extra vroom to get over the carpet, then after getting all that right she learnt how to get off the ladybug.  Getting off something that doesn't have breaks is hard, firstly she'd try hold on and cross her one leg over, but the ladybug would wobble and she'd ask for help, after a while without assistance from us we saw her just pulling the ride on out in front of her, then she'd carry on walking and move onto the next toy.

Ruby goes to school one day a week.   It's really great that we got to tag along and experience something like this.  Almost like a playdate and daycare rolled into one, mommy's and their kids hang out together and go about the activities, from hand painting, to play dough, we got to make kites, play in the sand pit, ride bikes.  We joined in snack time too and this was the first time Emma drank out of a cup and drank juice!!  She did really well considering I hardly attempt this due to the mess.

After snack time the kids and parents split up and one group carries on playing, while the other group go for story time and singing.  Emma had no problem joining in and being part of it all.  Makes me realise that our little girl is probably ready for daycare, but mommy doesn't feel ready just yet.

Here you can see Emma joining in the fun with the music and a feather, it was very hard for Emma to give up the feather at the end.

A short video of Emma decorating her kite

Then she had the opportunity to test it outside.

Last video - Our last day in LA we just spent the day at home with Kerwin's mom and dad.  The two girls dancing to "Dancing Queen".

It was really fun seeing the girls together, although toward the end I think they were getting in each others way.  Ruby needed her space back and Emma just wanted to be able to play with whatever she wanted, her safe option was Ruby's little kitchen, anything else there was a bit of tug of way - kids! so funny!  I think another week together would have been good for them, and interesting for us to see if  they'd just give up all the resistance and just be in peace with each other over toys.

We're going back in June - so should be interesting to see then too how they interact again.  Maybe Emma will be talking more and be able to talk back to Ruby. 

Emma is 18 months

Wow, where has our baby gone??  I can't believe Emma is a year and a half old!  Time has just flown.
I held Emma in my arms like a baby and realized I have not held her that way in a LONG time! I couldn't hold her and she would not let me hold her, rather telling mommy, "WalK, WalK".  Why I capitalise the "K", Emma is in the habit of announciating her K's.  So when she wants to read a book or sees a book, she'll say BooK! 

So independent now, she tells me what she wants to do, where she wants to go, which shoes she wants to wear, and what she wants to eat.  The one day I wanted to give her fruit, she eyed these cheese puffs and insisted she have them, I tried to compromise with, "you can have after you have your fruit", but No she wanted her chips.  So I let her have her way and she had her chips, and a few chips later, she then says she wants her fruit.  At least she ate it, so I couldn't complain.
We've definitely realised that we have to give Emma time to listen to us and change her mind about certain things like giving me my purse back.  Takes a bit of persuasion and sometimes bribing, but she'll eventually do what she needs to do.
This whole discipline is scary, always wondering if what we're doing it the right way of doing things, and are we saying it right too.

Things with Emma just get more and more fun!  We can chase, hide and seek, copy movements, follow instructions.  We love to explore wherever we're walking and stop and smell the flowers along the way too.  We're at the stage where when we're walking somewhere Emma has to hold Mommy and Daddy's hands.  We love it.  And if she gives dad a kiss, she has to give mom a kiss too and vice versa.

Emma is continuing to learn new words, some words are definitely getting clearer.  Her latest words are, "all done" and "minish" for finished.  As you know we've been going to music class, and its so great to see her progress, like one week later she's doing more of the actions the songs call for.  Also in the car, I play her songs over and over, now when I look at the rear view mirror, I see Emma doing actions to the songs.

This week we're in Los Angeles.  Rod is working, and we tagged along so we could spend some time with Ruby, Kerwin and Janine.  So great seeing the girls together.  They got along pretty quickly, Ruby instantly saying I'm going to share my toys with Emma.  The sharing has been a little challenging for both of them.  Bouts of pulling and pushing, but we're getting there, and I guess it's good for them.  With all this sharing, Emma has had to say Thank you so many times, that, that word is becoming a little clearer (too me at least).  Another word Emma is using a lot this week is "share' (or so I think that is what she means) when she wants something from Ruby, which actually sounds like she is saying xie xie (shieh shieh - thank you).
Such fun seeing the girls together.

We're waiting for our 18 month check up to see how Emma is doing, but from what everyone says, she seems to be just fine!!  Definitely heavier, has her nice solid legs, round belly, round cheeks, her hands are getting big and her fingers are getting longer.  We are progressing from 14 teeth to 16 now.

This is definitely a fun time.  So much happening so quickly!  I know I've missed out on writing about other things she's doing as part of her milestones, things happen so quickly, if I don't write in my journal right away I forget.  And now I'm just too lazy to get my journal and search for each new thing she's done since last month!

Nonetheless, Emma is still the happy, just go with the flow kid (until she's tired or hungry), that brings a smile to our face all the time!

The Best Feeling in the World!

So after 5 long weeks with one week break inbetween....Rod is finally home!
Both Emma and I are glad to have daddy back home.

I don't think anything can beat the feeling of your baby running toward you to welcome you home!
Apparently her expression was that of a screaming smile!!  No squealing or shrieking this time tho.

Emma and Mr Froggie

We've been going to Music with Mar (pronounced Mer) - this music class is based on Mr Froggie.  We've been to about 5 classes now I think and Emma is really participating well.  So cute to see her get so excited and helping out.  The classes are really busy and loud, after the first class I did not think I would go back as my head was spinning.  But it's fun for the kids it seems, and that's what matters right?

Here are a few videos of her participation.

At the start of class the kids all get to play with the toy frogs.  Emma says the word Frog.

Emma loved bubbles when she was 3 months old, and now 17 months still loves bubbles.  Thats our daugther, the one shrieking, the only child shrieking!

After fun with playing with the frogs and bubbles, it's time to put the frogs away.  Before Emma would just put one frog in the case, then run back to me, or not even put a frog away just spectate from my lap.  Yesterday Emma was very enthusiastic, putting the frogs away, helping the other kids put the frogs away (more like grabbing it from the other kids), then wanting to help zip up the case.  What I find funny is the teacher said, use slow, safe feet and Emma walks/runs all over the frogs.

Time to learn about rhythm and beat with sticks, the teacher sings a song and calls each child up one at a time to fetch two sticks.   

So much more goes on in this class, couldn't capture it all, but I think you get a good idea what class is all about.  Just great seeing her enjoy class. She gets so excited when I mention we're going to see Mr Froggie.  Well, we're off to story time at the library this morning, another fun activity for Emma, and we get to see more bubbles!