Goodbye Boston!

Since it's now been 5 days since we left, I guess I should get this post out of the way right? It was hectic madness getting everything done & getting out of Boston, not to mention really SAD. I hated leaving our adorable little home, and I DESPISED leaving my "second family." (Thank you AGAIN for your help & hospitality the last few days, how could we have managed without you?)

But, I'm also very happy to have this time to spend in Utah with family. In the end, I couldn't really feel either emotion effectively & just ended up constantly vacillating between the two, wearing myself out in the process!

Between the never-ending physical labor, lack of sleep, and emotional stress, I have to admit that I was a complete WRECK by Sunday evening - and I still had a 5-hour flight with Emma ahead of me! At least Grandma Jane was flying with us this time to keep me sane; without her we may not have made it! (Without her I doubt this move would've even happened; a million thanks to my wonderful mom!!)

** For those who are unclear on all this, we have moved back to Utah for Colby to complete his last semester of school at BYU (and more importantly, pay BYU tuition). We'd applied to do this for the whole year but there wasn't enough room in the first semester. In a further effort to save money, we'll also be living in my parents basement.

Colby and his dad, who were driving the car out, arrived safely this afternoon (after having made it through a harrowing blizzard on the already frightening stretch of Wyoming I-80). So we are all now in Utah & getting settled in as best we can before the madness of Christmas arrives. (Madness = cousins Ellie & Tommy coming from Cali to visit.) I've got some pictures from the last few days that I'll share when I get another few spare moments. (That'll happen real soon, right? wink wink...)

So before too much time passed, I just wanted to express my very fond & bittersweet farewell to dear Beantown, and all the many wonderful friends we made there. Is there any way you can all move out here so that we can have both our friends & family around? Well, just something to consider... We will miss you all so VERY much! If you're reading this, then you know where to go to stay in touch with us - please leave comments often so that we can stay in touch with you!

We will always love that city on the river; "Boston, you're my home!"

Well, it could be worse.

81%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

I think what did me in was this question: Have you ever live-blogged? (Blogging about an event as it is happening.) Since my honest answer to that had to be "Yes", I think that one really kicked my score up.

You can't make this stuff up...

Here are some of the wacky things that Emma does - I don't know where she comes up with this stuff!

She loves Tigger! She'll carry him around...

...and then set him down & lay on top of him. Adorable.

This is Emma's little green chair - or, I should say, little green climbing tool. She has finally realized its full potential & I can definitely say that it is as much trouble as I'd imagined it would be. :D Here's an example: First she gets a firm grasp on the chair & hoists it up over her head. Then, it's off to her desired destination!

This time (and quite honestly most times), the desired destination is the couch. She loves to sit up on the couch like a big kid, and now with the help of her handy dandy stepping tool, she can do it all without help from Mom or Dad. Which means, I'll walk into the family room at any given time with this waiting for me:

Even though I'm proud of her inventiveness, I can't yet decide how happy I am about this dangerous little development...

She also loves to bring me various articles of clothing to be put on her. That is, if she's not already wearing my kitchen towel on her head... Here she's sporting the latest in swimwear & pajama fashions.

And what fashion show would be complete without some delicate underthings for the ladies? This is a particularly odd recent hobby of hers - finding my bras in the bedroom and winding herself up in them. Is it terribly inappropriate to be showcasing my unmentionables on the World Wide Web? Well, blame Emma I guess, 'cause it's just too cute to not share!

Oh, the creativity of little children!

Heeeeere's EDWARD!!!

Okay ladies, here he is:

Whaddya think? Again, I think they did really well - not that his looks are perfect, but they've got plenty of potential, and what's more his acting will be easily up to par (which is definitely the bigger factor). So I for one am pretty happy about it! And at least now I can stop checking boards 6 times a day. (I've told you, I'm obsessed & it ain't going away.) Share what you think!

Yay for baptisms!

On Sunday evening, little darling Izzy (one of the kids from my "second family" here in Boston) was getting baptized, so we went to join in on the occasion. We watched, along with her family & other friends, as Izzy was baptized by her dad. (Congratulations, Izzy! From the shy little girl I first met, you've become quite an accomplished & confident young lady - I love you!)

I was holding Emma up to watch, and as Izzy came up out of the water, Emma looked around at the others there... and instantly started clapping! It was adorable - no one else clapped or said "Yay" or "clapping" (the usual things that set her off); she just somehow knew this was something to celebrate. What a spirited & charismatic little girl she is, I am truly grateful for her joyful personality!

Emma's First Snow!

The other day we got a couple inches of snow here in Boston, so the next morning we bundled up & headed out for Emma's first snow-play! At first, she was a litte ambivalent:

Then she started stomping around & realized how nifty this stuff is!


In the end, she had a pretty good first experience with the white stuff!

Walking down the driveway with Mom


Showing how that winter wind blows!

Say hello to Monica & Sasha!

Today at work Katie was playing her very favorite game - pretending that she is "Kristen" & her baby doll is "Emmy." Usually we just play that we're both Kristen & both our babies are Emma.

Today was a little different, however. After telling me that she & her baby were "Kristen & Emma," she informed me that I was Monica! Who's Monica, you ask? Well I certainly have no idea, I can't think of any Monicas that Katie knows. At any rate, I was Monica from then on.

She then asked me what my baby's name was. I decided to get crazy & told her, "This is Sasha." She said, "Hello Monica, it's nice to meet you. What did you say your baby's name was?" We went through this about 20 times over the next hour - something about the name Sasha just did not click in her mind & she simply couldn't remember it.

The best part was that, when I was talking to Emma, I would just call her Emma (since she hadn't quite had time to catch onto her pretend name). Katie would begin to correct me, but then - having forgotten yet again - she'd have to first ask me what my baby's name was before reminding me of it. Classic!

This little face is one of the hardest things about leaving Boston - Katie honey, I am gonna miss you terribly!

Nov. 30 - Sayonara, NaBloPoMo!

An oldie but goodie...

Let's all wave goodbye to National Blog Posting Month as it comes to a close for this year. It's been a fun - and challenging - experience, and I'm sure you're all entirely sick of me by now.

So don't worry, I think I'll be easing up on the blogging for a little bit. Considering we'll be moving across the country in 2 weeks, there will be plenty of things more deserving of my time than yet another midnight blog post. :)

Thanks for playing along with my "Pic-a-day" madness - hopefully you've gained a new appreciation for the baby-wonder that is our little gal. Now, back to life as normal! (Or, as normal as it can get in this madhouse...)

Nov. 29th Emma Pic

Emma had an interesting day: she spent the afternoon in a size 6 - yes, 6! - diaper. When we got to work, I realized I hadn't refilled the diaper-bag stock & our only option (other than running the little monkey "commando" the rest of the day) was to look around for some of Katie's old diapers. Score! We found a couple in her closet, and Emma got a little taste of what she can aspire to be someday.

Things went slightly downhill after she took a spill over a toy...

(Yes, I am one of those mean mothers that will laugh & snap pictures as my child begs for comfort.) Once she'd recovered, she was biting at the chomp to get that diaper off & hop in the bath!

Well Emmy, I hope you enjoyed being "plus-size" for a day. Keep on eating that cottage cheese you love so much, and you might get to size 6 sooner than you think! :D

Nov. 28th Emma Pic

Emma had some major fun running around outside tonight - I think her tongue must've been frozen out or something! It's actually astonishing that I got so many pictures of her face, since I think what she enjoyed the most was running away from me.

Nov. 27th Emma Pic

Tonight, an old photo...

Here's Emma at 6 months. This picture came up this evening on my desktop rotation & for some reason I ended up laughing for about 10 minutes. I remember how, at the time, this photo perfectly captured so many aspects of her personality - and months later, it still does!

Nov. 26th Emma Pic

I'm gonna have to really step up my parenting-game, 'cause Emma is venturing into a whole new level of intelligence. I tell you, this girl is noticing & remembering everything around her!

Here's today's example: this morning while putting her in the car, I showed her the signs for Mommy, Daddy & Baby. (I've shown her Mommy & Daddy once or twice before this, but she's never seemed to pay much attention.) She didn't seem any more interested this morning, really, so I didn't think much of it.

Well, by the end of the day, I'd seen her spontaneously sign "Mommy" about 5 times. I caught this one on camera (it's a bad picture, I know, they can't all be winners):

Even cuter was when, at one point this evening, I somewhere said the word "baby" & to my shock, she started signing baby! I showed her that just this morning, and didn't even go so far as to help her do it! Yikes. We're working on Daddy, but it's quite similar to Mommy and so far she's not really interested in distinguishing between the two.

So, for a current count, she can sign:

• More
• Eat
• All Done (her version of it, involves banging the tray rather than just waving her hands)
• Car
• Shoes (so far it mostly just mimics "More", but she makes a valiant effort)
  
• Mommy
• Baby
• Please (yeah, I showed her Please earlier this evening, and about 30 minutes later asked her to sign Please & she did it.)

In addition, she now knows all the different rooms in the house. I can tell her to go to "Emma's room", "the bathroom", "the kitchen" and she heads right over! This morning after breakfast I even said "Let's go to the family room to play now," more just talking to myself - and she turned around, walked straight into the family room & started going through toys. :D

We've entered a new phase, people - and I say Bring It On! Can't wait to see what you can learn tomorrow, Emma Jane!

Nov. 25th Emma Pic

Yesterday Emma & I went out for a few errands at the mall after her nap (only one of which ended up getting accomplished). We returned a few things to the Children's Place, and between there & a trip to Old Navy, I found Emma's Christmas present:

Yay for Poof Baby! I've been meaning to look around for a good snow-play outfit for Emma. She'll have to keep up with her cousins in the snow at Christmas, after all, and will need to be properly outfitted. Children's Place had the only pair of boots I've seen in all my searching that are smaller than size 5 (not that it doesn't make sense, the average age for a walker is a year & the average shoe size for a 1-year old is about a 5), but these were 4's and pretty much fit her, so I snatched them up. Then, luck of lucks, Old Navy had poofy warm coats & baby snowpants to match - both for 1/2 off! I love it.

Merry Christmas Emma - I think you're gonna make good use of these, waltzing through the powder & chasing the Nerdomdom fur-people. That's of course counting on a nice white Christmas...

So Big!

Here's Emma's latest tricks:

First, she LOVES to throw away her diapers! She knows right where the pail is in her room; from anywhere in the house, after changing her diaper, I can hand it to her & say, "Emma go throw this away." She walks straight to her room, over to the pail, lifts the lid & drops the diaper in, then turns around proudly & walks away. It is positively adorable! And quite useful, I must say. She actually is a very helpful girl - I don't have it on video yet, but after she's done emptying my bottom kitchen drawer that's filled with measuring cups and tupperware, she usually puts everything (or mostly everything) back in and closes the drawer before heading off to play somewhere else. Thanks, Emma! Anyway, here's the diaper-dropping:


And now, for the title track, here is Emma's "SO BIG!"

Nov. 24th Emma Pic

Tricked you - today's a Mommy pic! Don't worry, you won't actually have to face my sorry mug, just my lower extremities.

While busily packing our things for our impending move, I was so fortunate as to sprain my ankle - yipee! This should make chasing after Emma MUCH easier...

The worst part is, though, I didn't sprain it doing something tough like carrying a 50-lb. box of books around the house (which I had been doing previously) - instead, I was just kneeling on the floor sorting things. I'd been sitting on my feet, and then after a while shifted positions so my feet weren't under me anymore, and yowza!! World of pain! I really have no idea what happened, quite the mystery.

It's subsided a bit now & only hurts when I move it wrong, so luckily I have this handy-dandy "Rocket Sock" from a previous sprain to help keep things in line. Actually, come to think of it, it's also a memento from Colby & I's first date! I had asked him (yes, I had to make my own dates) to our sorority date night, during which the highlighted activity happened to be Dodge Ball. :) Slip of the ankle, down she goes, and we're off to the ER with Colby behind the wheel of my little white convertible.

This was my first sprain - or considerable injury of any kind, really - so I was a little distressed. While we were there waiting to be helped, my parents came rushing to my aid. However, after meeting Colby & judging him (in all of 4 minutes) to be quite the gallant fellow, they went ahead & left. LEFT! Stranded me at the hospital with this (as far as the really knew) strange fellow and a bum leg. Oh, the love.

7 years later & I'm on my 4th sprain now, I believe. (maybe 5th?) What can I say - my hubby makes me go weak in the, err, ankles!

Nov. 23rd Emma Pic

Don't worry, only one more week & then you'll all be rid of my pseudo-daily blogging spree... :D

Okay, for the 23rd: Emma discovered one of Daddy's greatest pleasures - a tall cup of ice!

First she dumped it all out on the floor to take a brief inventory:

Holding onto one of those slippery things with little hands isn't as easy as it looks!

Finally she got a good hold & went to town.

She enjoyed her first ice cube so much, she took a seat & made herself a little frozen lunch in front of the afternoon weather report.

She had so much fun playing with these, I couldn't believe it. When I felt her hands they were positively FREEZING! But you couldn't have told her that, she was happy as a peach. Daddy's little girl, I suppose!

Nov. 22nd Emma Pic

Today Emma figured out how to play the little recorder that came with her birthday instrument set. It was adorable, really - she'd put her lips around the entire mouthpiece, rather than the slender part intended. But hey, whatever gets the job done, right? :D

"Mom, I really need you to stay on beat, we've only got 10 minutes of rehearsal left! Let's take it from the top."

Gobble Gobble, Time for Turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving! Did you all get turkey & taters as yummy as mine? I doubt it!

Nov. 21st Emma Pic

Well today we had Emma's 1-year checkup - which I only remembered 10 minutes before our appointment. :D (You can just get used to that now, Emma, it ain't gonna change.) Our little girl is really growing - she even exceeded my wild hope for 18 big ones! In one year, we've gone from 6 lbs. 1 oz / 18.5 inches to 18 lbs. 3 oz / 30.5 inches. Way to grow Emma! Now just pack on another 2 lbs. & you will discover the grand world of a front-facing car seat - and BELIEVE ME, you're gonna like it.

Emma of course took the place by storm; she explored all over our little room & even started opening the hazardous waste container. It was all I could do to get her to sit still long enough for her weight to register on the scale. She had to get three shots (which were not well received at all), and as the nurse was pulling the third one out Emma got her hand free & swatted the nurse's hand, causing the needle to drag a 2 1/2-inch cute across her leg. That did not help the situation at all! Oh little girl, you do make things harder than they need to be...

Nov. 20th Emma Pic

Yeah, yeah...

For today's picture, I give you... Emma-Art!

She'll make millions someday.

Nov. 19th Emma Pic

Here's some pics from our recent "first birthday" trip to Kiddie Kandids with Grandma Jane.

Okay, who else agrees that this is just not the way an average 1-year old stands? I mean look at that posture & poise! She looks so stinkin' grown-up in this picture, I truly cannot get over it.

hehe I just can't help but giggle, can you? I can't handle the cuteness! :)

Nov. 18th Emma Pic

Are you kidding? Did you not see the just-posted Birthday post? Yeah, I don't think any more pictures are necessary tonight. Just scroll down & take another looksie at the "bathtub picture." It definitely deserves a second look.

A Very "Monkey" Birthday!

** Warning: Picture-heavy post ahead! **

Happy 1st Birthday, my little monkey! For a quick flashback: this was our last glimpse of the little baby-in-ma-belly, two days before Emma was born. How could we have ever guessed what was in store for us!

(At first it's hard to tell, but her face is turned towards us & it's as if a light is shining on the right side of her face, particularly her chipmunk-cheek. See it? No? Well it's adorable, trust me. And the round white area at the top is her right fist up by her face, the same one that came out up next to her head when she was born - the same side of her head with her little funny floppy ear. I can only assume that that little hand was up there, smooshing her ear, all nine months! Or as soon as she grew fingers...)

I finally got a little extra time to post pics from Emma's birthday celebration - and believe me, it was pretty tough to limit it to just these ones! But here are the highlights:

We made full preparations for a grand party, with presents (of course), balloons, and a very special, very appropriate cake!


Once Emma woke up from her nap, it was "Babies, start your engines! " Aaaand, off she went! She got right to work with her instrument set from Gma & Gpa Norton, doing some fine rata-tat-tatting:

She's quite fond of pianos, and luckily this one came with a large Mickey attached, one of her other favorite things!

This is her sorting & resorting her new Little Mermaid bath toys from Gma & Gpa Harmon - special thanks to you from Mommy, Little Mermaid is her absolute favorite!

We knew we needed to find a Curious George for her, and this one is so cool! You sit him on his bottom & since his head is weighted, he rolls forward & does a full somersault! Emma absolutely loves it, every time we make George tumble she just laughs & laughs.

Isn't this adorable?! This was Daddy's gift for Emma, a giant monkey-head pillow! Emma loves it, she'll be in the middle of playing, and then see her pillow & drop everything to go over and lay her head on it for a few moments. Darling!

In the days since her birthday, I think this toy has earned the coveted title of "favorite new toy" - her Magna Doodle! Who knew a 1-year old would be so proficient with a Magna Doodle? But she totally knows how this thing works, she draws on it & uses the stamps, then slides the bar across to erase it all and start over. I swear, this girl does not know she's only 1!

In an effort to turn Emma's constant attention from our own, very expensive laptops, we thought we'd try providing her with her own: (Time will tell if this approach actually works, but considering this is Emma we're talking about, something tells me it will fail miserably. Oh well, I had to try.)

Following with that theory, I also gave Emma her own bag, filled with all the same things as Mommy's bag: a cell phone - no, make that THREE of our old cell phones, with old SIM cards that make them operable but not active - a set of keys (yes, real keys, she's not fooled by kiddie keys for one second), some lip glosses (none that she can actually open of course), a little wallet with old credit cards (don't tell her that, she's ready to go shopping!), a folding hair brush, and some other random "grownup-ey things." It's now called her "Monkey Bag" & is a staple wherever we go for guaranteed entertainment & happiness, no matter her mood. Way to go, Mom! (Yes, I really am tooting my own horn that obviously. Leave me alone.)

She loves to wear it around the house now, and when it falls off her shoulders she instinctively knows to lift her arms above her head until the straps slide back on. Clever girl!

About 40 minutes & 200 pictures later, Emma had acquired herself a slew of new playthings. What a haul!

Next on the program: MONKEY CAKE!! It started as a subdued investigation...

... and ended as a massacre! I was worried she wasn't even going to eat any, but after I gave her a spoon to dig in with, she started licking the frosting off & realized that the cake was for more than just smooshing in her fist. She ended up having several finger-fulls before giving me her "all done" sign.

And we all know what comes next - bathtime!! For those of you who spend the next 7 minutes laughing your rear off at this photo - this is the sort of attitude that I get from Emma all day long. And while it is hi-LAR-ious right now, I can't help but think of how I'm gonna feel about it 15 years from now. Oi...

After a thorough washing of Emma & her highchair (thanks, Grandma Jane, you really took a bullet for me there!), it was time for some birthday peek-a-boo with Mom & Dad's door in her new super-cute, super-fuzzy PJ's from Grandma Joni! This is her new favorite game - she closes the door & then runs over to the bed and waits for the person on the other side to open it; she then shrieks & runs over to close the door again. She could literally play this for an hour straight.

Look at that face! That's the face that steals my heart, every morning! Emma Jane, we love you dear! While I can't imagine how anything could top your first year, I have no doubt I'll be eating my words a year from now. :D