My 2 year old...

Em's 2 year appointment went well. She is 92%tile for height and I think %42 for weight (26lbs). Her being tall makes it seem like she is skinnier than she is but she is really right on target. She does have a little head like her mom and dad (16%tile) but other than that she is doing well.

Shs is really smart too if I must say so myself. We read a lot of books each day with her favorites being her Biscuit series. Figures...it's about a dog! She just loves animals and going to the zoo is her favorite thing to do. She also loves going to the park and Grandma takes at leaast several times during the week. We can't wait till the weather warms up more so we can do more biking too. Em has a little seat on Kev's bike that lets her sit right up front and ride. Her favorite toys right now are her dollhouses and little people--she loves to pretend with them. I will sit down and play with her and she will copy me. She also loves to paint with paintbrushes and color with her markers. I leave her coloring books/bin of markers at the counter for her and she can climb up on her learning tower and color whenever the feeling strikes. I would love for her to be artsy. Her grandma Connie got her some princess play shoes and she loves those. I caught her in her closet trying them on saying "Loooove that" hahaha! She will also put them up to her foot and say "check sizes" lol! Cracks me up! We keep her dress up stuff on the lower level in her closet, so she often likes to get her tutu's on too and then of course will run to her mirror to see how they look. This girl is definately girly! I have a little drawer in my bathroom that I keep my costume jewelry in--she loves to get in there and put them all on. She'll then say "oohhhhh pretty." Gotta love this kid! Grandma said that she was retelling the story of when she went to the dr. saying " Emmie cried saying Mommy's house" That's what she calls our different houses--grandma's house and mommy's house lol! She can also count to twelve and knows all her ABC's (though she can't exactly point out which letter is what yet). We really don't push it...just like to sing songs and will show her different letters when we run across them. I know she can point out A,B,C and of course E. Numbers are the same--I'm not sure she knows what she is counting as she will often jump over the items and just keep on going. However, I am just sooooo proud of my little girl...she is turning into such a sweet caring child. She is very social with other kids and loves babies. She talks about Nick's little brother Adam calling him baby Adam. In fact, one of her little people is a boy baby and she calls that one baby Adam. At the playground, she is a rough and tumble though. Not one to fall down and cry like some kids do at minor stuff. She is a little wary of the big slides and sometimes won't attempt them until she sees another kid doing it. She loves to hang though and can hang by herself for a few seconds. We are practicing going from bar to bar with me holding her of course. She loves it! She can also swing in the big swing though we are still teaching her the pumping technique of propelling yourself forward without mommy and daddy's help. She's got a ways to go on that one! She's definately a climber like her mama though--let's hope she doesn't get up into a tree one day! I can't wait till the pool opens up...I just know she will really get into it this year.

On another note, she's been taking music classes with grandma and her friends during the week and she really likes it. I love exposing her to music--that's always been my passion too. I will hear her talking about Miss Janice (her teacher) and saying " Miss Janice says wishy washy" She has learned some new songs and likes to sing. Her favorites are Three Little Birds (she will request Bob lol!), It's a Small World, Wish Upon a Star and Get Rhythm (Johnny Cash). We've got cd's for Dan Zanes, Ziggy Marley, and Disney that we play in the car. I sing Jesus Loves You, Jesus Loves the Little Children, and Three Little Birds to her every night while I rock her.

The baby girl is TWO!!!

So my last post was about all the birthday's in February but wanted to give Em's party it's own post. ALOT of planning went into her party...I totally threw myself into the theme and had a lot of fun with it. I decided to do a Minnie Mouse theme since that's her favorite character right now (well with the exception of Simba from The Lion King--her fave movie at the moment). I did it with a twist though and used zebra and pink polka dot accents. I made tissue paper balls to hang over the dessert tables, covered the tables in zebra and polka dot fabrics and had pictures of the birthday girl everywhere. I put out a little bowl with Mickey and Minnie ears for guests to wear. I had Miss Gail come to sing songs with the kids and do a little dancing. Took them a minute to really warm up to her but in the end they all got into it! She had little instruments for them to play along with. It was a gorgeous day so we opened the patio doors up to the pool area and meadow--at the Clubhouse. I also set up a bounce house downstairs so after lunch the kiddos could go bounce off some energy. Sky arrived just in time with the beautiful Minnie cake she had made--it was almost 2 feet tall! It was delish--strawberry on one side and chocolate on the other. As luck would have it though, my camera battery started to die out halfway through the party! Could NOT belive it! But we did end up getting some good pics of the parrty and Megan helped take some for me. The Minnie cake help in its hands a smaller cake so Em got that one by herself to eat. Everyone sang Happy Birthday and she blew out her candle like a champ! Wondering what she wished for....

When everyone left, Aunt Lisa and cuz Alyssa stayed and we opened up their presents--a doctors kit and Mickey keyboard book from Aunt Lisa and a Princess dress up outfit from Alyssa. She loved the doctors kit and book and waited till we got home to try on her princess dress--she wanted to try her new dress up princess shoes from grandma Connie on with it. hehehe! We danced around a bit before leaving the Clubhouse. All in all, it was a fabulous party...I got lots of compliments on it. Everytime we drive by the Clubhouse now Em will say "over". Hahaha...I think she's waiting for next years! :)

February...the month of birthday's and sickness!

Ok so my last post left off at right after Christmas time so I wanted to update on her birthday MONTH! That's right...month! It was a whole month of celebrating. First off, we celebrated with the Gwinnett Area Mommies/babies who were born the month of February/Jan. which was Sam (Jan.), Nick, Ike and Em. It was a little playdate party where each kid got their own little cupcake and we would all sing each one Happy Birthday. They all loved it! And Em even blew out her candle! The following weekend was my birthday--33rd! We met my mom and Jus for dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen and of course my brother had brought cake! Yummy! Em helped me blow out my candle. Then Anna and Peter brought over a cake for us to celebrate Valentine's Day....so MORE cake to eat! haha! We've also had birthday parties galore to attend this month with Ike and Nick's on the same day, one after the other! We had planned to take her to the GA Aquarium for her actual birthday--Monday, Feb.14th, but that was cut short. She was a little off that morning, clingy and whiny but I just chalked it up to being a toddler. However, once we got started on our drive she complained that her "belly hurt". I started thinking this wasn't a good idea but we were already almost there. Before we could do anything else, she puked all over! It was awful! We turned around and headed back home. Poor girl puked several more times that day and we just ended up cuddling on the couch and watched movies. We did get to see Toy Story and she loved it. She couldn't keep anything down and I know she felt terrible. I'm thinking the birthday parties on Saturday had something to do with her getting sick Monday. Boo :( So all in all we ended up spending her birthday laying around and cleaning up puke! The following weekend was Gabby's birthday and by then all was well though her appetite was still a little off. She had fun playing with her friends at the gymnastics studio Gabby's party was in. Afterwards, we went to Grandma Connie's for a quick dinner and she loved getting to play outside with Roxie and Maxie.

Hmmm...guess it's time to catch up since I am now TWO months behind! We had a wonderful family Christmas. Spent Christmas Eve as usual at my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Denny's house. It was nice but we were missing some family members so it was definately a more quiet event than it normally is. I am looking forward to next years when the rest of the family can join us! She got a few goodies--a Mister Potato from Aunt Lisa and an adorable pink coat from cuz Alyssa. Em was especially taken by my aunt's new little dog--Minnie. Christmas day was fun. Opened presents Christmas morning and then had lunch next door at Grandma's. She got a new wooden kitchen, pots and pans and some food to go with it. We ended up putting up some of her gifts because she was opening one and playing with it for a hour! We would never have gotten done! Grandma Connie and Papa Donnie came over and they brought her an American Girl doll...she was in love! She used the stroller she got from Grandma Anna to stroll her around.

We decided to take a drive down to Tampa to visit some more family during the Christmas break and left the day or so after Christmas. Our plan was to go and stay for a few days. However, once we got there we realized that their house, etc. was not quite toddler proof and I had to run around catching her from breaking all the ceramics and other trinkets! Also, Em got sick the first night there and puked in her sleep-poor baby. I started to not feel well too so we decided to make it a quick trip and stayed only one day. We did get to visit briefly with the Ballinger cousins, aunts, uncles and my grandparents. I was really hoping to get a little bit more time with them but it just didn't work out that way. We were really bummed and decided to do at least one fun thing while down there and stopped at Busch Gardens before leaving town. Em had a blast--she got to ride her first ride by herself--woot woot! It was the swings ride. And she got to meet Big Bird, Elmo and Abby from Sesame Street. Would love to go back and do Busch Gardens again when we have more time and feel better. She crashed out in her stroller on our way leaving the park, with pretzel in hand (that NEVER happens!). She slept most of the way home though I could tell she wasn't feeling well. We left Tampa on New Years Eve and got home almost right at midnight! I ended up with a fever that wouldn't leave and Em was still feeling ill. Ended up taking her to the dr. the next day and poor girl was diagnosed with double ear infections and a sinus infection. I ended up with a really bad cold that lasted a few weeks. Boo! We will all be happy when Spring arrives and the sicky germs leave our house!