Embry's 3 Years Old!

Another birthday has come and gone! This party was much easier to prepare for than Nola's was. I ordered subs and slushies from Eegee's as the main food source which cut down on a lot of prep time. The cake was fairly simple since I bought a cake decorating kit (including the cars, the trees, and the bridge) and then used colormist food coloring spray to color the cake instead of actually dying the frosting. I made deviled eggs and pasta salad for sides and my mom made her famous baked beans, pink stuff, and potato salad. I made a photo banner of Embry from ages 2-3 which turned out very cute and cut out some letters for the wall message and printed Dora and Diego characters I found online to hang up on the wall too. My mom spent a lot of time drawing all of the Dora and Diego characters to make 2 banners for the living room which were super cute! We rented a Dora jumping castle which is a whole story in itself.

The chance of rain was down to 15% (started at 60%) for the party and it was raining all morning leading up to the party. When the jumping castle arrived (early around 11am) Embry was so excited. She watched through the window as they set it up and before her nap I asked if she wanted to go jump for a few minutes. She ran through the house excitedly yelling about jumping in her Dora jumping castle and I followed. The second she got to the back door and I opened it, she froze and started screaming 'nooooo!' She really did not want to go in it. So I picked her up and took her in anyway where she proceeded to cry and cling to me like her life depended on it. She claimed she didn't want to get wet, but that really didn't make any sense because she LOVES water, so I'm not sure what her deal was. However once the party started and it wasn't raining anymore (and dada wiped down the inside of the castle with towels) she was more than happy to spend a LONG time jumping and screeching with delight. It did rain during the party, but all in all, it turned out pretty good. We stood under the porch to hit the pinata. None of the smaller children had any hopes of breaking it, but eventually I ripped it apart and dumped the candy out. All was well.



The day after the party, on Embry's actual birthday, Tony had taken the day off work so we went to McDonalds for breakfast and then to the desert museum. Embry loves the desert museum and she walked around holding one of our hands most of the time instead of being in the stroller. We got to see a lot of animals and Embry was very happy.
Then we dropped Nola off at my parent's house and took Embry to eat at Panda Express and then to Harkins to see 'Puss in Boots'. Embry really likes Shrek, so we figured this was up her alley. She had such a good time! She used a booster seat, never tried to get up, ate her popcorn, drank her fruit punch, and held our hands. It was PERFECT. It was a really great experience for all of us.
I watch my friends two kids on Monday nights so once we got home, I packed Embry up and headed to pick up her friends for dinner at McDonalds and about 2 hours in the playplace. Embry couldn't have been happier, it was fantastic.

We went to MOPS on Tuesday where I worked in childcare most of the meeting and both Embry and Nola picked up colds. So now they're sick and I feel bad for them, but since I just got over my sinus infection I'm really hoping they don't pass it on to me. I finished my antibiotics about 4 days ago and I still have a fever around 100 which will not go away. I called the rheumatologist and left a message to see if he wants to see me and the primary care dr was stupid and told me to take some tylenol and see if it goes away. Hello, am I an idiot? Of course I've been taking tylenol and I've had this fever for 2.5 weeks already, I'm pretty sure it's not just going away! Not to be a debbie downer, but Tony took off work for an hour this morning because I had a follow up appt with the podiatrist and the kids are sick, so Tony watched them while I went to the appt. Turns out they didn't put the appt into their computer and the dr was already running behind so they couldn't fit me in. I'd like to point out that it's not 'fitting me in' if I had an appointment and the dr's office staff didn't do their job correctly. Anyhow, vent over and I'm going to bed!

Nola is 1!!!

Wow Nola, I can't believe that you're 1 year old already! This past year has gone by SO fast and I'm so very glad that I got to spend all of it watching you grow into a speedy little toddler. I'm sorry that I had to miss a few weeks of your life at the beginning, and I know you won't remember it, but it makes me sad anyway. You'll never know how important you are to me. You're my little one. The sweet baby that helped me to see how very special every moment of life is, even the bad ones when we're cranky and just want to go to bed. You are such an amazing little girl who makes me smile even in the worst of situations. You make me so happy and I can't believe I've been given such a miraculous blessing as you. I'm privileged to be your mama and I'm so glad that I get to watch you grow up and become the person that God intended for you to be. I love you so much No-nos, my little one, you're my favorite one year old!

We had Nola's birthday party today. It went very well, but as usual, I always feel rushed during parties. I feel like everyone is just waiting for the next big event...the food, the cake, the presents. Anyhow, I LOVED the rainbow theme. Holy cow, it was great. It was a lot of work to figure out how to make all the rainbow food, but it was so pretty. I have to say, I'm never making a rainbow jello cup again, those things took like 12 hours. Nola liked her smash cake OK but I was inside cutting up the rainbow layer cake while she was eating her cake, so I'll have to watch the video to see what all happened there. She has been able to stay standing up without holding onto anything for about a week now. She does it more often everyday and I think she might actually start walking soon, probably within the month. She's such a fun girl, I love her so much!

Birthday Par-tay

So it's taken me so long to get this post done because #1 my sister was in town from MT and #2 I was trying to edit some good pictures from the party to post, but I pretty much don't have any good ones. I'm kind of upset about this lack of good pictures from my baby's first birthday party. Basically, I felt really rushed during the party because I didn't want it to take 12 hours and make everyone stand around in the cold because they felt obligated to stay. Soo, that left the picture taking to take a back seat to everything else. Anyhow, I'd say the party was mainly a success besides the picture thing and it being oddly cold that day (like 65, which is darn cold for here). I got everything ready in time, with the help of Tony, his mom, his sis, and my friend Jamie and her bf Matt. Tony got up at midnight the night before to start smoking the 3 pork butts on the grill and let me tell you, it was freaking delicious! We also made german potato salad, deviled eggs, pasta salad, 2 cakes, chip dip, cottage cheese jello salad (aka pink stuff), carameled apples, and my mom brought over her delicious baked beans.

So we ate, then let Embry play with her smash cake. Basically she petted it for a while and wasn't really interested in smashing it so I helped her out and stood her up in it. Then we cleaned her up and put her clothes on and everyone had cake and icecream. Then Embry opened her presents. She got lots of neat stuff, mostly toys, and a few clothing items. She didn't care to actually partake in opening the presents, but I had a good time opening them. :) That was pretty much it! I took her over to the swings afterwards while other people cleaned up (thanks to whoever did that!) and she had a good time swinging. I didn't get any pictures of her in her princess outfit, which makes me very sad. :(

Embry had her 1 year check up on Friday (11/20), here are her stats:
Weight: 20 lbs 1 oz, 50th Percentile
Height: 29.5", about 60th Percentile
Head: 45 cm, 50th Percentile

Luckily while at the dr's office he told us that they happen to have some H1N1 shots in, so Embry got her first dose of that and I got one as well. This was the first time she's gotten shots in her arms so I was supposed to bear hug her while she was facing me and try to keep her arms down. Haha, yeh that didn't work. I ended up just grabbing whichever arm they were poking with both of my hands to hold it still while she screamed and wriggled. She was very upset.

On Saturday Tony was sitting on the couch with her and she accidentally flipped off forward and hit her forehead on the coffee table. Now she's got a purple bruise above her right eye. Then we took her to the nursery at church on Sunday night and they paged me saying that she had fallen down and hit the back of her head but she has like a rug burn above and below her left eye and on the eyelid. It doesn't seem to be bothering her at all, but it looks pretty bad.

Thanksgiving is coming up and we're hosting. Tony's mom, sis, and bro are coming down from Phx and my parents and bro are coming over too. Tony's smoking a turkey on the grill and we're also making one in the oven. Of course we're making a bagillion sides and a couple of desserts too. Somehow I think we're going to have a ton of leftovers. Good thing I LOVE turkey!

1 Year Old!

I don't even know what to say. This year has flown by so quickly! My little baby girl was just entering the world at this time one year ago. Boy, we had no clue what we were in for! Sure there were lots of hard times, I won't lie, but it has been so very worth every moment. I'm sitting here trying to think of words to describe how I feel about my little girly, but it's really impossible to put it into words at all. I love her. I guess that's all that needs to be said.

Embry is going to get a very good birthday present today... she'll be seeing all 4 of her grandparents in the same day! We're going over to my parent's house to eat because my sister is visiting from Montana. Tony's dad was transferred to a halfway house in Tucson yesterday, so we'll be going to visit him at 6:30pm. Then Tony's mom and sister are coming down from Phoenix to spend the night before Embry's party on Sunday.

There's still lots to do for the party. Mainly making the food and finishing the cakes. I got the fondant on the castle cake so it still needs the candy accents and then I need to make Embry's smash cake tomorrow. I guess that means I'll be getting up early, so I should get to bed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMBRY!

Week 47

Some bigs things are happening this week for little Embry. On Monday my family was over for my mom's 68th birthday. After we ate pizza, pink stuff, and cake/ice cream we went outside to let the kids play in the grass. So we're standing there and Embry is sitting in the grass and then Colter sits in front of her, so she grabs onto him and pulls herself up to standing and then lets go and just stands there all on her own for the very first time! She did it for like 10 seconds straight too! I had my regular camera out there and got some great pictures, then later in the day she was playing with the beach ball outside and she stood up on her own again, but this time I had the video camera out. That night she did it a lot more using my brother's arm and various other things and she would take maybe a wobbly step or two as well. Then Monday night she also said 'mama' twice, but not at all since then. She definitely didn't associate it with me either, but that will happen eventually.

On Wednesday morning Tony got me up because Embry was going from sitting to standing on her own and then taking a few steps to get to something she wanted (a toy or food). We sat across from each other on the floor and had her walk back and forth between us which was about 4 steps each way. Then I held out a wooden ring and kept moving it farther and farther away. The farthest she walked without stopping was about 16 steps. She will only do it when she really wants though. So I guess this means she can officially walk as of 10/7/09! I wonder when she'll decide that walking will be her main mode of transportation...probably not for a while.

My birthday is tomorrow. I'm turning 26. I decided I would like to go to either Apple Annie's or Buckelew Farms to go on a hayride, pick some pumpkins, and wander the corn maze. I think Apple Annie's sounds slightly more appealing even though it's about 30 miles further away because they have an apple smoked burger lunch. Neither has a petting zoo though, which kinda bums me out. I wonder if there's hot apple cider, or caramel apples? Anyhow, then we're supposed to go out to dinner (although depending on time and hunger that may not happen) and then we're meeting some friends at the Gaslight theater to see 'Cronan the Barbarian.' I'm so excited for that, I love the gaslight! I'd really like to get some chairs and fire pit or chiminea for the pool area, but it seems like by the time my birthday rolls around we never have any extra cash to go towards presents. I don't know how that happens, but it never fails. I mean, I don't really care about the present part, but I'd really like to get some of this house stuff done. I could ramble off the list of house things I'd like to have done, but it's virtually endless and extremely costly. I am fairly certain (judging from 2 $150 water bills in a row and our marshy lawn) that one of our sprinkler pipes is leaking. Money = stress. I'm so thankful for what we have and appreciative of all the blessings we've been given, but I'm sure everyone can understand that it's hard to not always want more.

This week both my brother and Tony were sick. Tony never really gets fully sick though. He rests right away when he feels illness coming on, then it never actually develops into anything major...so he seems to be ok now. It was incredibly bad timing though, you can look at my chart if you so desire to find out why, the chart. Then my brother, not sure what kind of illness he had since he stayed in his room virtually the entire time (which I'm very thankful for) and I would just drop food off at his door. He's doing better as well, but I'm hoping now that he's out and about around the house neither me or Embry catch what he's got. Speaking of illness, I had my flu shot last week and Embry got her first round this week. She only cried for a second and then we cuddled and she was fine. I told the dr that her diaper rash still had open sores that weren't healing so now we're mixing in hydrocortizone cream with the other 2 antifungal creams and then putting desitin on top of all of it. It seems to be getting better. Eliminating the juice from her diet has really solidified her poo, so I guess that's good for the diaper rash aspect.

I'm having issues figuring out this halloween thing. I want me and Tony to match Embry, so if she's a ladybug then I'd want us to be bugs, but the only adult bee costume I can find Tony says is not 'manly' enough for him. I don't really want her to be a princess if she's going to wear that for her birthday party, but if she is, then we'd be a king and queen, but those costumes are too expensive. I wish things were free.