Emily's First "School" Picture

Cue the flashback music . . . doodoodoo, doodoodoo, doodoodoo . . .

Back on September 27, it was picture day at Emily's day care center. All of the kids had their pictures taken, and they also took "class" pictures. The babies were first up, bright & early at 8:30 am. I don't know about the other babies, but at this early hour, Emily is happiest asleep. (This explains that sleepy, distant, annoyed look on her face in the pictures.)

Cue the music again to bring us back to the present . . . doodoodoo, doodoodoo, doodoodoo . . .

Yesterday, when I picked Emily up from day care, I learned that the pictures had arrived. We think that they turned out pretty cute, although it is a look on her face that has not really been captured on camera before. This is Emily's annoyed face, "Hey, I was happy taking a nap. What is going on? You expect to smile for the camera right now? I'm not in the mood." (I think it looks like she might be getting ready to pop the photographer right on the nose. Look at her left hand.) We can tell that these were taken a little too early in the day for her taste. When we take Emily to get her pictures taken, it's usually in the mid-afternoon, when she is wide awake and ready to explore.

She is also used to Daddy & me being there, looking like idiots to make her laugh and smile. Yes, Emily is a very smiley baby and doesn't need a lot of encouragement to perform for the camera, but when we go to the Picture People, there are lots of new and exciting things to look at and taste. She needs us to be goofy to get her attention on the camera and away from the camera's tripod wheels, or the space shuttle launching, or that piece of fuzz over there, or all the people watching her get her pictures taken, or the other baby that just came in the door, or the clown making balloon animals, or the bottle in her stroller that she didn't get a chance to finish, or whatever she happens to notice for the first time and is insisting that she explore and investigate. Emily's teacher said that they tried to get her to smile, but they were unsuccessful. We think Emily was just already annoyed by the early hour and was not going to smile for anyone, even if she had just seen Auntie Mandy's feet or her Grandpa B was making funny faces at her. Yes, even though she is cute, wonderful, and usually very smiley, Emily can also be very stubborn. (Hmmm, I wonder where she gets that from.)

Her "class" picture was taken later in the day; Emily is actually looking at the camera (you're going to have to take our word for it, since we're not posting her class picture). She's not smiling, but she's looking at the camera. In fact, she's the only baby looking at the camera. She is very used to cameras (as if you didn't already know that) and so she knew where to look. She just wouldn't smile. Goofy grape!

10 Months Old!

On October 14th, Emily hit another milestone. Just days after hitting the 300 Day mark, she turned 10 Months Old. As I have done in the past, here is a short list of the milestones Emily has reached . . .

As of October 14, 2007, Emily has four teeth on top and four teeth on the bottom for a total of 8; she has grown enough hair to get a haircut; she has wrestled a bear; she can pull herself up and cruise a little along furniture; she can disassemble and reassemble a car engine; she says, "dadadadadada, bwabwabwabwa, bweebweebweebwee, babababababababa, vavavavavavavavavava;" she sews her own clothes; she eats crackers & cheerios; she can bench press 300 lbs; she can open cabinets; she can tame wild camels & ride them; she makes piles of shoes & slippers; she can almost lift one of Auntie Mandy's shoes; she can escape from barricades & make a mad dash to whatever it is she wants, but can't have; she can land an Airbus A380; she can hold her own bottle & feed herself; she can perform an emergency appendectomy; she can wave "hi" & "goodbye;" she can fly the Space Shuttle; and last, but not least, she can squish an entire bowl of peas.

Ya gotta admit, she is one special, and quite talented, kid. We are very proud of her and can't wait to see what the next month brings.

Isn't this the cutest witch you've ever seen?

Goin' to Goebberts

Bummer, blogus blitzus interruptous!

So, despite our planned blogging blitz, it didn't really happen for a multitude of reasons. The first of which was that once Christa had these pictures ready to go, blogger was having issues uploading them to the blog. The second of which was that once Christa managed to get blogger to cooperate, I was busy working and not able to stay awake long enough once I got home to write a blog that made any sense at all. So here we are, once again . . . a week behind, so please understand that this is all stuff that happened last week, not this week (note the date on the blog). Without further ado, here we go . . .

On Saturday, October 13th, Emily, Christa, Grandma Kathy & I all went to the pumpkin farm to pick out our pumpkin and enjoy all the festivities. Now I should tell you that this is not a pumpkin farm in the truest sense of the word, but really a nursery/garden center/vegetable market. They do sell pumpkins at this time of year and have a lot of festivities and fun stuff to draw a crowd, which they do a pretty good job of. So, the group of us went to do what there was to do. Some of the attractions include: a haunted house, pony rides, a small zoo, a corn maze, a straw maze, pig races, camel rides, and hay rides. I am sorry to say that we didn't do it all, but we did do a bunch.

What did we do, you ask yourself? Hold your horses, we're going to tell you. Have we ever denied you the information that we have teased? When we got there, we took a couple of pictures with the cut-outs that they had, and also picked a couple of little mini pumpkins for Emily. Then we went over to watch the kids riding on the ponies. Emily didn't seem all that interested in riding on the ponies; she did ask if she could bet on them, and I had to tell her that these ponies weren't really racing, but just going around in circles. I did assure her that we would be seeing some races later. From the ponies, we went to see the first zoo tent, and it was really impressive. They had quite the array of animals including: Monkeys, Deer, Cougars, Tigers, baby Lions, Goats, Llamas, and Alpacas. We could have had a picture taken with the Lion cubs but they were being a little frisky & rough and I wouldn't have felt comfortable having Emily that close to them. After the first zoo tent, we went to watch the pig races. We got a spot at turn three, right at the end of the back stretch, and Emily immediately started to look for the betting windows. Sadly, it turns out that you can't bet on the pigs either; Emily was very disappointed, so, we placed some wagers between ourselves. Emily did very well, even without any handicappers to give her some information. After the pig races, once Emily & I settled up our bets, we went into the aviary tent to look at the pretty birds. Emily was very interested in the birds and paid rapt attention to the few raptors they had. After the aviary, Emily & I went into the straw maze to get lost, and then found. We had a lot of fun in the maze and Christa had lots of fun watching us get lost, but she was very happy once we were found. After this, we went in the last zoo tent, which had Giraffes, Zebras and some deer-like animal with long horns that did not have a sign.

After looking at all the animals, it was time to take a ride, but not on some boring old pony; we took a CAMEL ride. Emily was very excited about this and I thought it was just OK, I mean what's the big deal right? So while I waited in line, Emily, Christa & Grandma Kathy picked out our pumpkin. When it was time, Emily joined me in line and we took our camel ride. After riding on Spitsy, I came to this conclusion: camelback is the only way to travel. Emily & I had a great time, and we learned that camels are not wiry, they are very soft. A lot of the people waiting in line ooohhed and aaahed at the cute little girl riding on the camel. I can't wait till next year to do it again.

So there you go, we are a little closer to being caught up again, and we have also learned that Camel rides are cool.

"Wait a minute . . . where did this mini pumpkin come from?"

"Daddy, did you see who put this mini pumpkin on my stroller?"

"Hey, Mommy, Look!! I'm standing next to a really big bunny!"

"Mommy, I'm sooooooo big."

"I'm almost as tall as Daddy."

This crazy gibbon was very attentive to his audience.

CHICKENS!!!

Deer . . .

. . . and Wallabies, oh my!

Emily was having the best time looking all around, taking it all in.

She thought the Lemurs were funny.

She was very relieved that the groomer for these Alpacas had not done her haircut.

"Feeding" the goats with Daddy.

The pig race crowd was getting really full, Emily thought that she might have a better view if she sat on Daddy's shoulders.

"Hey, what's over there?"

Here come the pigs around the turn.

After the pig races, we went to the aviary and looked at the birds. This was Emily's favorite part. She really had a lot of fun, and laughs, watching the birds. Our first stop was to see this beautiful Tawny Eagle.

What a cute little bird. He's so poofy, and he has the cutest red patch on his chest. We don't know what type of bird he is, but we liked him.

We also really liked these colorful pheasants.

Oh, no! What could Emily have done to get her face on a "Wanted" poster? Was it the murder of all of those innocent peas? Look at that face, not an ounce of remorse for her criminal act, it's almost as if she enjoyed it.

Not only was she on a "Wanted" poster, but she was caught and incarcerated. We really need to teach her to crawl away from people who are chasing her.

"I'm innocent! I'm innocent! Daddy, could you please give me a tin can so I can clang it on the bars in protest?"

Lost in the hay maze.

"Daddy, I see Mommy! I think we need to go that way to get out of here."

"Grandma, look at all of these pumpkins! Do you think Auntie Mandy would be able to find me if I sat here?"

"We're going for a camel ride. We're going for a camel ride! WE'RE GOING FOR A CAMEL RIDE!!!"

"Mommy, look!! I'm riding on a camel!!"

"Mommy, did you see that I'm riding a camel?"

"Auntie Mandy is going to be so jealous that we're sitting in a tractor, Mommy."

300 Down, 65 More To Go!

Moving right along in our latest blogging blitz, we are now up to Wednesday, October 10. Today was yet another big milestone for Emily . . . she is now 300 Days old!!! Can you believe it? We can't!! Time really has flown by this year. It's already October, before we know it, she's going to be a year old and running around like a champ.

This day, like many others, was a very busy day. We started out a little behind the eight ball. Emily & I both slept a little later than we should have, which makes leaving for daycare (and school) on time more challenging. Seeing how the weather has become more like fall weather should be, Emily has begun wearing her cute pink fleece coat that Auntie Mandy & Grandma Kathy picked out for her. Also, as it is really chilly, and windy, in the mornings (and because let's face it, I just can't resist the cuteness), she has also been wearing her adorable puppy hat that I picked out for her. I think she looks like a little marshmallow baby when she's all decked out in her fuzzy, fleecy attire.

Emily spent her day at daycare and had a very enjoyable time. When I finished at school, I picked her up and we headed over to visit Grandma B (and Grandpa B) at church. For those of you who don't know, Grandma B is the Director of Religious Education at a catholic church. Wednesday is her busy day, as this is the day for CCD. Emily & I like to go and visit before the madness begins at 4:00 so that Grandma can get some hugs in to help her through her evening. Grandpa B comes to direct traffic at 3:45 and then teaches a class in the evening. He has caught on to our little ritual of visiting Grandma and comes a little early now to get in his own hugs. Emily has also decided that she likes helping Grandpa direct traffic. She gets a lot of compliments, and respect, from the parents dropping off their kids for CCD. She knows how to hold up her hand to stop traffic when necessary, and when to wave the cars through when it is safe for them to go. When CCD was well underway, which makes Grandma & Grandpa busy, it was time to move on.

Our next stop was Grandma Kathy's house. Since Daddy had to work, Emily & I had planned to spend our evening celebrating with Grandma Kathy & Auntie Mandy. We had a lot of fun!! The first thing that we did was change Emily's clothes, since she had been a very messy eater at day care, this was a much needed event. (I think she got more of her food on her than in her.) We needed to get her messy clothes into the wash before the stains could set completely. Luckily, I had brought her jammies with me, just in case. Once she was snuggly in her jammies, it was play time. I put Emily down on the floor and let her explore to decide what she wanted to do first. I'll let the pictures do the talking for the next little while . . .

"Hmmm, what's up here, Grandma?"

"Hey, Wow!! It's my witch hat and . . ."

" . . . a book!"

"Nothing to see here, Mommy. I'm not up to anything. I'm just sitting here next to Grandma's cabinet."

"Yummy, I love green witches with pink hair!"

"Auntie Mandy, I knocked over your tower!! I guess you'll have to build a new one."

"What should I play with next? Look, it's my red baseball bat! Where's Auntie Mandy's new tower?"

"Grandma, I'm having a lot of fun. Auntie Mandy keeps building towers for me to knock over, and sometimes I even let her finish one before I knock it down."

"I've got you pinned, Auntie Mandy. Yell, Uncle! Wait, that's silly, you're not an Uncle! Yell, Surrender!"

"Grandma, if you could hold my hands for me, I think I'll be able to walk over there."

"Twinkle, Twinkle, little star . . ."

"Wow, so this is a pumpkin? This is not what I thought a pumpkin was. Auntie Mandy is always calling me a Little Pumpkin Face. Is this what she thinks I look like?"

"Grandma, I think Auntie Mandy needs some new glasses. She thinks I look like this pumpkin!"

"Grandma, do you need any help? Why is the water running?"

"Can I help you put the dishes in the dishwasher, Grandma? I'm a big girl now. I'm 300 days old. Mommy & Daddy keep saying that I'm growing up so fast."

"Is this where this plastic cuppy-thing goes, Grandma?"

"Grandma, did you know that I'm 300 days old. I heard Mommy say that I'll be 1 in 65 more days. Daddy says that I can have chocolate cake when I turn 1."

"I think that I might be able to climb up here. Let's see if Auntie Mandy can find me if I sit next to these pumpkins."

"Grandma, can you make sure that I don't fall down. It looks like a long way back down there. I'm going to hold onto these pumpkins and wait for Auntie Mandy to come back. We're going to give her a quick vision screening."

After all of this excitement, we headed over to Once Upon A Child. This is a store that we heard about awhile a go, but hadn't had a chance to check it out yet. We heard that this store is a resale shop for baby clothes, toys and gear. Emily was very excited to do a little "bargain" shopping. She is a very good shopper. She found herself a pair of very cute designer Ralph Lauren red corduroy pants. Ohh, La, La!


When we finished our shopping, we went back to Grandma Kathy's for a little while. Then we went home so that we could both go to bed, hoping to get up on time the next morning. We both had a lot of fun celebrating Emily's 300th day, but it was time to get ready for her 301st.

Modeling her new Ralph Lauren pants, and redecorating Mommy & Daddy's room.