Emma's Two Pictures

Oh sweet Emma. I can't believe you are already two. I've said it constantly, but you are the best addition to our family. You are full of adventure and mischief. You care so much about others, and will stand your ground (sometimes a little too loudly) for what you feel is right. And sometimes, what you feel is right - is a lollipop for breakfast. You love your big sister and want everything she has. But you are still such your own person. Your nails have to be painted, and repainted when chipping. You are obsessed with shoes. You like anything pink and girly, but you can jump and throw better than most two year olds. You are the best mom to your baby dolls, always feeding them and being so sweet. You point out every baby you see. You insist on your hair being a certain way, whether it is a bow, ponytail or pigtails. You would change clothes 3 times a day if we would let you. You are 0 to 60, and thank goodness for your crib or you'd never go back to 0. Emma baby, we love you for everything you are. Keep being my sweet little spitfire, and don't grow up so quickly! Happy second birthday big girl. 

And, while I am writing a novel, I just have to update more about Emma. She has hardly any teeth. But manages just fine with those gums. Her hair curls at the ends, and gets really curly in the humidity. She's 22 pounds - and I will have to update height after her appt, but pretty short I am guessing. She is still in 18 month clothes and I'm not sure when she'll be tall enough for 2T. 

She says a ton of words - but my favorites is "another" (instead of two, seems so proper). She is stringing words together like "I want that," "I want another," "I Do," or "Mine shoe."

She says "gotchu" which is so funny. She dropped a wipe but caught it on the way down and said "gotchu wipe!" She was stung by a bee early last summer. Every bug she sees, she says "bee" and runs away worried. We were reading a book with a bee, and she said "Bee!" and I said "Emma do you remember getting stung" and she said "uh-huh" pointed to her leg and rubbed it and said "ohhhhh" (like it hurt) and then said "Bee gotchu me!" with an upset face. It was so funny!

For some reason, I couldn't remember "oink" for pig noises - so I would snort. She would try to snort and just ended up sounding like she was choking. So now whenever someone asks her 'what does the pig say' she starts choking. Mom fail. 

We have always called her Emma Drama, because she will take things a little too seriously. She hit me the other day and I said "no hitting!" Her lip curled, she burst into tears, she ran to the corner of the room, sprawled onto the floor and just started screaming like I was the meanest in the world. Emma - you hit me! 

But sometimes the world can seem so hard. And she doesn't like to be disappointed. If she wanted to do something or see something, she will get so upset and we have to let her know that we understand what she is saying (many times the frustration is from her seemingly whining when she's trying to tell us something). 

She will meltdown over a lollipop or not being able to swing outside because its raining. Which can be annoying! I will tell her, "we are going to {insert something fun} but we can't do that until you calm down." She will nod 'okay' and suck in her breath, still quivering. And every ounce of annoyance at that meltdown fades away as I see my baby trying to be brave and calm down, even though life can seem so hard at 1. 

When she really wants to do something, she will raise her eyebrows, nod her head up and down, with a small smile like she's trying to convince us it will be so much fun. 

And when she gets really excited, but wants to hide it, she has a shy smile like this. 

She is at such a fun age. So full of personality. Loves us more than anything. And I just want to bottle up every moment of her smiles, laughs, excitement, and the way her pigtails bounce when she runs. She'll be big before we know it. 

Happy birthday sweet girl - you and your big sister, don't grow up too fast. 

Emma's Second Birthday Party

Emma has been so excited for her birthday party for a month now. We got an oriental trading magazine in the mail with party themes. Olivia flipped through it asking Emma, "do you want a fire truck party?" "a mermaid party?" and when she hit on the unicorn page Emma freaked and said "Party!!" So from then on, the unicorn theme was born.

Just like Olivia's second birthday, it was pouring down rain. So we had to improvise and have activities in the garage. We filled the water table with rice - assuming it would get every where. Before anyone had gotten here, Dan came out to find both girls IN the rice table. We had a mess and the party hadn't started. :)

The lighting in these pictures are awful, but I just don't have the energy to edit them all. We had make your own gummy necklaces, which were a big hit - even with the boys. 

We had 'decorate your own t-shirts' which was a hit with the bigger kids. I'm sure the parents are not going to be thrilled when they want to wear them to school or church. But they had fun coloring all over their shirts.

Mimosas - obviously.

As party favors, we had two of Emma's favorite things to celebrate her turning two. A lollipop and a lipgloss ring. We are big fans of lipstick and lipgloss around here. I'm sure the boys were thrilled to get that. 

Couldn't get the birthday girl to stand still, but got her big sister with her tutu and unicorn shirt. 

It was so much fun celebrating Emma. She just loved the attention when everyone was singing happy birthday to her. But she tried to hide it behind a shy smile. Happy birthday sweet girl!

Emma is Two!

Emma's birthday started with her favorite breakfast - donuts. She woke up super early - which was a lot of fun, because I normally leave for work before she's awake. I said "happy birthday Emma" and she yelled, "I'm TWO!" I wasn't sure she actually understood a birthday until that moment. She ran into her closet, grabbed her birthday shirt and asked to put it on. We went downstairs and I added two candles to her donut. 

And she was terrified of them! She kept turning away and yelling "no hot!" She refused candles for the rest of her birthday. 

But diving into the donut was ton's of fun!

She shared cupcakes with her friends at school and her teachers made her a birthday sign. (More sugar!)

For dinner we had Pasta Provisions which is Emma's favorite - it's homemade from this little shop (not our home - haha). Funny side story - Olivia always had spaghetti squash and we called it spaghetti. She was probably 3 when we finally got her pasta provisions and she freaked, "what is this amazing stuff??? why is it different from all the other spaghetti I have had!" She had never had real pasta before - haha.

My parent and Dan's parents were in town, so we sang happy birthday again, with no lit candles, and Emma was in heaven! She's actually even saying 'cheese' here because she was so excited about her cake.

21 weeks

Wow - the belly has gotten BIG this week. I thought I was evening out to where I was with Emma - but nope, third kid. People are a little surprised when I tell them I still have 4 more months. 

Sweet Olivia though - she is dying for her baby sister to be here. I keep telling her we want her to grow bigger, to be healthy, and that we have so many fun things before she's here. Like going to Disney World - the pool opening. She said "Disney and the pool will be fun, but having a baby sister around is EVEN MORE fun. I'd rather have that." Sweet thing is learning patience, and I love that she is so excited for her sister. 

Meanwhile, Emma is convinced there is a baby in her belly. 

Boy, Bye

Obsessed with these valentine's day sweatshirts. Especially now that we know we are having 3 girls!

And then Emma's RBF in this picture is perfect!

Love these sweet girls - even if Emma is impossible to take a picture of!

Baby #3 is a....

We didn't lie to people about the ultrasound date this time around. We told everyone the day we were finding out, but knew we wanted to tell family and the girls first - and then reveal to everyone else. Well - that wasn't the best idea. :) We had quite a few texts from people DYING to know the gender. Part of me wanted them to wait so they could find out in the mail, the way we planned - but part of me liked that they cared enough to reach out and wanted to tell them right away.

I get it - I was DYING to know the gender too. Mostly because Olivia had her heart set on a girl - and I didn't want her to be disappointed. Also because people were telling her a boy would be better - and I, again, didn't want her to be disappointed. 

Anyway - we told the girls with a cupcakes and got it on video. Emma kept yelling "party!" when she saw the cupcakes - but Olivia was excited for the surprise. It took her a few bites to get deep into the color. Then, she thought she saw pink and blue. And then finally saw the right color.

We sent the video to our parents and watched it with them over the phone. And then we mailed out these scratch offs.

I really wanted to send out those capsules that have the sponge inside (they normally have dinosaur shaped sponges) where you put it in warm water to melt the capsule and the sponge pops out and I wanted it to say "girl" or "boy." But, turns out, those don't exist. Someone work on that.

Anyway, the cupcakes and the scratch offs revealed that its another girl for us!!

We could not be more thrilled. Three sisters! Dan always told me he was going to have all girls - and that has turned out to be true. I can't wait for more pink, more sister matching, more use for those hand-me-downs, and no nursery decorating! Olivia is just dying for her baby sister to be here already - and Emma is still pretty pumped for a party. :)

20 weeks

A 20 week Dr appointment selfie for this one. Up 18 pounds, but actually didn't get a lecture this time. Yet. ;)

19 weeks

A little work bathroom selfie because I forgot to take a 19 week picture.

I started looking at cars this week - boo! I LOVE my car! Dan has a minivan so we are set for road trips. I drive 70 miles a day so I don't need a big car, just something safe and comfy. But it does need to fit 3 carseats so I can pick the kids up each day.

And, if we're being picky, Olivia really wants 3 car seats in a row. I don't want to climb in the far back to buckle anyone and she doesn't want sit in the back by herself. AND it is much easier to hand french fries back if they're all in a row. Any recommendations?