Our 2nd Anniversary....a day late

No, I didn't forget that Robert and I had our 2nd anniversary yesterday, the day just got away from me, and I wasn't able to get to the blog. Here are some pics from the past 6 1/2 years!


Oh my goodness! Look how young we look! This was our first picture together!


One of our favorite hiking spots North of Carefree


Our trip to North Carolina to visit family


Husband and Wife!


And we are so happy that because we found this.....


We have our precious baby girl!




And as a quick side note...Robert surprised with me with these gorgeous flowers and my favorite wine!

A Hodge Podge of Things

This little cutie.....



Has gone from not being able to poop, to not being able to stop. It started Thursday morning, and unfortunately it hasn't stopped. It seemed like she was getting better Saturday and this morning, but it started up again this afternoon.
Emma has been a trooper. She has been playing, laughing, and moving all around the house. The hardest thing was that she got a horrible diaper rash from it and she would SCREAM every time I changed her diaper. Her doctor called in a prescription for her and after arguing with the insurance company about covering it, we have her diaper rash under control. The next thing we had to worry about was keeping her from getting dehydrated. We were told by the Doctor's office that a trip to the ER for IV fluids was a possibility. So we have been trying to get as much water and Pedialyte in her as we can. So far things have been good with this.
We have no idea what is causing the diarrhea. We have been giving her mac-and-cheese and bananas to try and stop it! It is so sad because she WANTS to eat. Poor thing, by the end of the day, she is so hungry that she can't get dinner in fast enough! Hopefully whatever is in her system will be gone soon.
Even with this going on, I was still able to go to a photography workshop with Jessica and her friend Janelle. It was given by Kamee June, who is a photographer in California. She is so passionate about photography that it was neat to hear her talk about. She was also someone that you instantly felt like she was one of your friends. In fact, Jessica and I both said that she reminded of us of our friend Jamie. The really cool thing was not only did we get to hear what she had to say, but we also got to see her do a photo shoot. It made me realize I need to get down on the ground to be level with Emma to get better pictures. It was a great day filled with lots of info and I can't wait for her next one.
While I was at the workshop, Emma spent the day with my Mom and Grandma. She did great, and they took good care of her making she she drank her fluids!

Talking about the photo shoot


This family was so nice to let 20 people watch what is already a somewhat uncomfortable thing

And just in case you were wondering, the backyard is still coming along. Robert is almost done with the tilling process, and thinks it will take about one more day to get all the way done. Know the question is if he wants to plant seed, get sod, or fake grass. It changes every day, so who knows what will end up with!

And just to show that Emma is doing ok.......


Before I tell you what you are looking at, I have to tell you the back story. One day Emma saw Robert spit. She thought it was hilarious and did full on belly laughs. This of course made Robert do it more and more. Fast forward to today when all of the sudden I heard this little tiny spitting type noise coming from Emma and realized that sure enough she was spitting on the ground. If you look really hard you can see it on the black part of the frame. I was in shock while Robert was so proud. I had visions of her in her girly Easter Dress spitting! I guess we have hit the stage where she remembers what she sees and imitates!

Backyard, Take Two!

Robert has started working on the backyard again, Yea!!! Our goal is to have grass for Emma's birthday. Hopefully it will grow in time! As far as we can tell, the backyard has never had grass, so the ground is beyond hard. Robert bought a tiller to help break the grown up. Unfortunately, the first one he bought broke with in the first 2 feet of it being used, so we lost some time there, but the new one seems to be working great. He has been working hard, but there is still a lot more to get done. I will keep posting progress pictures along the way!


Just getting started. Don't you love our weeds?!


Making good progress!



But still a lot more to go!


And here are some pictures of our cute little stinker from the past couple of days...


She is pulling up to stand on everything!


She loves to look out the door



She found the pictures!


Playing under the coffee table


First time wearing shorts! (I thought she looked cold, so I changed her right after I took pictures!)

Updates

I know it has been awhile since I last updated, but nothing super exciting has been going on. We have had at times a crabby and sleepy baby on our hands for the past week due to teething. It was just by chance that I saw Emma's bottom left tooth coming in. She is very protective over her month and won't let me look in it or touch it. I can finally feel the tooth now, but it seems to be a very slow process and it is still very hard to see. We have been doing a lot of teething medicine and holding. One down, (or half way down!) 23 to go!
As you can see from the above pictures, Emma learned how to eat a popsicle just in time. My friend Becky told me that you can buy the Yo Baby yogurt in tubes and freeze them. Emma finally figured out how to eat them on Saint Patrick's Day. It is perfect timing because not only is she teething, but the weather is also getting warmer. This will be the perfect summer snack! The only thing she didn't like about it, was when she broke off a big piece. I guess it was too cold for her and she would start crying until I got it out of her mouth. We are going to try another one today for our snack. Thanks Becky for the suggestion!
Emma and I also headed down to Phoenix Children's to have a picnic lunch with Jamie and say hi to everyone in the clinic. I had to bring so much stuff, that I wasn't able to bring my camera, but we had a great time catching up with Jamie and getting to see everyone.
This weekend, Robert's mom, step-dad, and grandma are coming out and next weekend is my photography class with Jessica. I am so excited to learn some more things!

Updates coming soon!

10 Months!

Ten months! Double Digits! It is so hard to believe that Emma is 10 months old today. I know it is so cliche, but where has the time gone? Last night at dinner Robert and I were saying how 10 months ago, I was on the phone with my mom trying to figure out if what I was feeling were contractions, and then on the phone with Robert trying to figure out how late he would be working. Just 10 short months later we have a beautiful daughter who is sitting at the dinner table, eating dinner with us, and carrying on her own conversation. It really is amazing how much she has changed and learn to do. Robert and I miss the days where she would sleep snuggled with us but are excited to see what new things she discovers every day.
This past month has probably brought the biggest change so far. Emma has become mobile! She started out by army crawling around the house, and is now doing the traditional crawl every where. She easily pulls up to her knees on everything (even the kids in her baby story time class!) and can pull herself to stand, but knees seem to be the favorite. She easily sits by herself, waves, and dances. It is so cute, because she will even start to bounce in the grocery cart when she hears music! Even though we aren't sure what she is saying, we can tell when she is really trying to say something, and just babbling. She even changes the inflection in her voice, and sometimes it sounds like she is asking us a question. She continues to loves books and whenever she sees one, she will make the "b" sound. It is hit and miss if she will eat breakfast or lunch, but always seems to eat a good dinner. She loves all veggies, salmon, anything with pasta (even broccoli!) beans, grilled cheese, and fruit.
We can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Yesterday Emma and I headed over to pick up my Grandma and take her to the zoo. The weather was perfect and it was so nice to be outdoors. For some reason a lot of the animals decided not to be out, be we still had a great time.
Before we headed to the zoo, I wanted to try and get some pictures of Emma in Grandma's yard. For the past several years, every spring, Grandma and Grandpa's backyard becomes covered in California Poppies. It looks like a field of wild flowers. It was something that Grandpa looked forward to each year, and is something else that brings happy memories for Grandma. The flowers are getting less and less each year, so taking Emma's picture with them is something I really wanted to do.
I also used the day as a way to practice with the settings on my camera. I definitely had the wrong exposure on several pictures, but it also gave me the opportunity to practice editing in Photo Shop. I also played with some artistic effects to see what they would do. On my computer screen, I think they look ok. I have no idea what will happen when I print out. I have been reading and a lot of people talk about getting calibrated monitors so the colors on their screen match what will be printed. All of this stuff to learn and think about!




Since the flowers have special meaning in our family, I wanted to make it stand out.





Normal color....


An artistic action I'm playing with




Another action...

Baby Story Time

This morning Emma and I headed out to the Queen Creek Library for our first baby story time. It is a 30 minute class for babies age 6 months to 18 months were we sing, do finger plays, read a story, and then the babies have "free time" with toys and bubbles. We both had a great time and the 30 minutes went by very fast. We are looking forward to the next class on Monday!