Dallas Arboretum 2012

I know this post is late- like 7 months late, but today I am tired and exhausted from a day of yard work and all of these pictures were already loaded and too cute not to share.  So I am taking you back to fall :) and pumpkins- lots of them!  

Adge came home one weekend in October on a layover for one of her classes.  We decided to take advantage of my companies free days at the arboretum and go see the pumpkins.  Side note- it was freezing this day!  All of the pretty pumpkins at the entrance.

Emma loved all of the pumpkins!

Awww, so fun to go back and look at how small Emma was!  Her hair has grown out so much!  At this stage, she was crawling, but not walking, so it was easy to get a posed picture of her :).

Emma thought it would be fun to try to eat the pumpkins!

Emma with one of her favorite aunts that we wish we saw a lot more of!

Love this picture of Emma :)

Me, Nonni, Emma and Adge on the steps.  I love this picture :).  I think Emma is trying to say, "it's cold out here, why do you want to take my picture so much!".

We also got a nice family shot- that ended up making our Christmas card picture for 2012.  There was no bun in my oven at this point- we didn't realize that soon, we would be a family of four!

Dad and Adge squeezing onto a bench- looking quite a bit alike.

I cant remember what the exhibit was called (Chulilly, maybe?), where they had all of these exhibits of glass weaved throughout the arboretum.  At first, we just took a Prochaska picture- super cute!

Then, we decided to add Emma to the mix.  I will let her facial expression describe how she felt about this picture!

Soon after, Emma got some snuggles from Nonni while we got some hot chocolate.

I love this picture, Emma and Nonni were looking at Wes, but if you look in the background you can definitely tell by the smile on my face that I am amusing my family or telling a really funny story.

Before we left for the day, we decided to head over to the pumpkin patch to take Emma's picture in her Halloween costume.  Here is Adge and I at one of the pumpkin houses- I love that girl and wish she lived closer :).  

Happy Halloween (7 months late) from the sweetest monkey that I know!

Camera Lens

We recently bought a new camera lens off of Craigslist- the Nikon Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6 VR DX. We have been debating about getting an additional lens ever since we bought our camera.  We finally went for it since I am hoping to do the new babies newborn photos myself- yikes!

We met the guy selling his lens at Chick-Fil-A.  While we were "testing" out the new lens- we took a few snapshots of our favorite little subject.  Look at that sweet girl eating ice cream- a little out of focus, but still pretty good.

This lens shows all the details (more specifically, dirt) on Emma's face :)

Playing on playground- through two panes of glass!

Not the best picture of Emma, but I just love those baby blues.  She definitely hit the eye color jackpot :)!

Cant wait to see all that we can do with our new camera lens.

Baby Girl #2: 27 Weeks

How Far Along: 27 weeks- hello third trimester! 

How Big is Baby: the size of a cucumber (15 inches, 2.2 pounds); how this baby could have grown 6 inches in one week is beyond me.  And isn’t an eggplant larger than a cucumber?  Silly ‘What to Expect” app J. 

Sleep: I have been so exhausted every night that I have slept like a rock!  Yay for sleeping!

Diet/Cravings/Aversions:  haven’t really been craving anything specifically.

Symptoms: back still hurting L, but I am thinking this is par for the course from here on out.  Also, my belly is growing by the day! 

Movement: Yep- still loving it!  Still going to miss this part the most!

What I am worrying about: really not too much this week.  Starbucks is behaving himself, so I get to keep him around for right now!

What I am loving:  This was a great week- seriously we have done so many fun and productive things.  I went to the doctor on Friday morning and got to hear the sweet babies heartbeat (and passed my glucose test!), then finished the night with a fun dinner with our friends (thanks to my parents babysitting Emmers).  Saturday was just as great- we found Emma a new car seat for my car- brand new- for $35 (so the new baby can ride in the infant carrier).  We ran a lot of productive errands (paint store, home depot, target, back to home depot J) and finished the night with yummy Italian food.  This week has proved to be just as productive- on Monday, I picked up the marble tile for our fire place and the new curtains for our living room.  That night, we splurged and bought a new telephoto lens for our camera (brand new off of Craigslist)! On Tuesday, we went and borrowed a tiller from Wes’s friend and Wes tilled up what was left of our grass in the front yard on Wednesday night.  Also, Wes finished painting our back living room (including the window sills) and hung the curtains and my rhino up. 

What I am looking forward too:  I am already looking forward to my husband being home on Sunday from his camping trip- I don’t like it when he’s gone J. 

Best Moment of the week: this is going to sound superficial, but putting our new curtains up.  They were definitely the most I have ever spent on curtains, but I love them and they were worth every penny (and I got a cars eat for $35 so it all balances out, right?!?)

Emma: 14 Months

I seriously cannot believe my baby is 14 months old!!

Skills: the vocabulary just keeps increasing.  In addition to what I wrote about last month, this month she is also saying “iiiiiii” for ice, bye bye, hi, and ha ha ha “hot hot hot”.  She used to only say ha ha ha when we opened the oven door, but now she says it when we get something out of the microwave or if we give her food that is temperature hot or spicy hot.  She also knows how to say no and is saying it correctly- this I am not so excited about.  The other night when she was sitting in my lap, I asked if mommy could have kisses.  She promptly put her hand over my mouth and said no.  Of course I couldn’t help but cracking up, so now Emma thinks that is hilarious.  Wes will go to get her out of her car seat and she will tell him no as well, pushing his hands away and kicking her legs.  She also knows what noise an elephant makes and to raise her arm like an elephant trunk when we ask her.  She can growl like a tiger/lion (we use these two animals interchangeably).  The other day, Wes taught her the hand motions for patty cake- it is hilarious.  She won’t perform every time, but when she does it’s a hoot.  We are working on blowing kisses- but it has only happened about three times. 

Likes: Emma still prefers to be outside- lately, she has been loving to play in dirt.  Most of the time likes her mommy more than her daddy J.  Emma likes to get into everything.  She will open up every cabinet door and pull everything out.  To say she is a mess-maker is an understatement.  Emma still have an obsession with dog food- which we just try to ignore hoping that it will go away.  Food wise- Emma ‘s favorite fruits are strawberries, blackberries and blueberries.  Her favorite thing to eat is avocado and probably eggs with sausage scrambled in it. 

Struggles: we have actually improved in this area.  Emma had two successful outings where she was in her stroller for most of the day and did fabulous.  She is also getting much better at restaurants and when we say down she knows to sit down.  I have also been trying to reward her; if she is good the whole meal, I will get her out of her highchair at the end of dinner so she can sit in my lap.  When we tell Emma no, she can’t have something- she still generally bursts out into tears.  We are working on how to respond to the word “no” by trying to explain to her why she can’t have something or why she can’t stand up in her cart at the grocery store.  Changing Emma's diaper at night is a struggle.  As soon as she knows it's going to happen, she starts to run around the table thinking it is a game which drives this mama crazy!  

Superficial: She has five teeth now- we got one new one this month and it was horrid.  Emma was cranky and grumpy for days.  She is wearing mostly 12 – 18 month clothing.  Emma is still holding steady in her size 3 diapers.  Her blonde hair is thin and starting to curl a little in the back.  Her blue eyes are still her most complimented feature (I have a feeling they are going to get us in trouble one of these days).  We have been told three times this month that she looks like a baby doll- I don’t really know how I feel about this compliment (although, I guess it is better than strangers saying she looks like a Barbie doll).  She has the cutest, roundest tummy.  

We love you baby girl :)

Eeeekkk: We Might Have a Name

Park Days with Daddy

Wes and Emma have been getting to the park quite regularly on nice days.  Emma loves to chase the ducks and the squirrels and Wes loves to wear her out so its a win win situation. Emma loves to "talk" to the ducks and bend over to get on their level!

Here she is getting a little closer to the ducks, but still didn't conquer her fears that day and get super close to the ducks!

They went back the next day and Wes took some bread so that Emma could feed the ducks.  She was trying to show the ducks that she had some bread.

Here ducky ducky, Emma has some bread for you.

Now, this is a little better!

And after Emma had a bite of the bread first, she finally shared some with the ducks.

The ducks had enough of Emma, but Emma hadn't had enough of them :)

After all the fun with the ducks, they headed over to the playground.  Emma loves to climb up the slide which I don't think I will ever understand.

These next two pictures are my favorites.  The smile is so genuine :)

Pure joy.

Look at that little stinker face!

The last time Emma and I were at the park, I couldn't even get her to walk on the bridge.  What a big girl- so happy she is holding on!

Wes also taught Emma to slide down by herself.  I cant believe how fast she is growing up- when he sends me videos like this, it makes me realize that she is not a baby anymore and is like a real life toddler.  On one hand I am so proud of her learning and developing and on the other hand I am so sad that my baby is growing up.

And just want to end with this picture of my girl on her car when she got home from the park.  Baby girl loves her car and drags it everywhere with her.  One day we will have to let her take her car to the park.  

So happy that these two will have special memories of visiting the park with each other :) and happy that my husband takes pictures and videos for me :).  

Blustering Day at the Rangers

Ok, I am sure that anyone that lives North of me would make fun of this blog title, but it was a blustery, freezing cold day at the Ranger game.  In our life before Emma, we used to go to the Rangers pretty frequently (maybe 5 - 10 times a season).  Since most of the Rangers game start at 7 pm, I decided to take the afternoon off work for a 1:05 game.  Wes bought our tickets on stubhub for a mere $3 each and our plans were in place.  The only problem, it was raining pouring the day that we were supposed to go to the game.  In addition to the rain, it was 39 degrees outside.  We debated whether to go or not since our tickets were so cheap, but I decided that since we already bought our tickets, had our food and I had taken the afternoon off work, we would charge ahead and go.

The game was delayed an hour and a half and Emma fell asleep on the way to the stadium.  We paid more than we ever have to park and let Emma sleep for awhile in the car.  The worst part was probably walking to the stadium- it was freezing cold and the wind was blowing right at us.  Don't these two look happy that I made them turn around for a picture :).

And a close up of our munch in the duck hat that her grandma made for her!  She was bundled up.  I put on her zip up p-jammers, jeans, long sleeve shirt and then sweater- I was not going to let my baby girl freeze!

Once we got to the game, we dropped off the stroller and then found out seats on the third base side as close as we wanted.  Of course these were not the $3 seats that we paid for, but we didn't have much competition so we figured we would sit where we like.  The twinsies were enjoying their front row seats!

Disclaimer for the next several photos: 95% of the time, I make sure that Emma eats well balanced meals with a protein, veggies and fruit.  However, the Ranger game is time to splurge a little :).  We started Emma off with some cheetos and this kept her content about three innings.  This baby loves some cheetos.  Then the dollar hot dog man came by.  We decided to get Emma her first ballpark hot dog.  She was in love!

I made Emma pose with the hot dog before she dug in.

She decided it would be best to feed her ownself.

But when that didn't work out, she accepted some help from dad.  Love at first bite :).

After the hot dog, then it was time to stand up and cheer for the Rangers!  She loved to clap along when the fans were clapping.

Then, it was time for my favorite part of the game- nachos!  Emma decided to help herself to some nachos :).

And this is her cheese face- I think Emma also fell in love with nachos.  I wish I would have captured the expression on her face when she got a hold of a jalapeno- hilarious!

I promise- we really did watch some baseball.

Then time for daddy to take a picture of Emma and mommy during the 7th inning stretch.

Then, my other favorite part of the game.  Emma climbed up into my lap for some snuggles.  I think she had finally had enough excitement for one day.

She even leaned in for kisses from time to time- love her!

I am so glad we didn't let the weather scare us off- it was a great afternoon for the three of us!