Tigers, Elephants, New Aunt and Uncle, Halloween!

Emma is learning more and more about her whole new world!

We went to the zoo with her for the very first time when my brother and my sister-in-law came in town. I think she loves animals even more now.

She loved being able to go t the petting zoo and pet the goats and sheep.

She can still make the craziest faces. She looks like she may not like it, but she's looking at me with the camera. She's now getting more and more aggressive with the camera, not just touching the lens, but wanting to take the pictures herself!!!

Oh, she has been climbing a lot more these past three weeks...





The white tigers were so frisky, not to mention the handler was feeding them a snack!




It really does not take her long to warm up to people...she loved her new uncle and aunt!!!



And Halloween! Oh My! She now knew what the costume and especially her Hello Kitty basket were all about!!!
I tried to set up the tripod to get a few family shots of all of us ;)
She was so excited to look in her basket when we got home. And we all had the community lollipop!










This was the scariest house we visited. I think next year she may be too afraid to go all the way up!
She was just so excited to know go up and get candy!!! Really anything in her basket!!!


She didn't like the flash on the camera...Oh, I'm so sorry!



This was the very first stop of her Halloween trick or treating experience. She was so excited!!!

We joined in on the fun of dressing up! I want to get a really cool wig I saw in the French Quarter...on my wish list!


Dadda found his Jester hat. Mine is somewhere. Gotta find it, cuz we got to make Mardi Gras fun for her too!!!

She loves anything that she can put a cap on and she has been screwing things on and off! Engineer in the making?!

And she loved her Halloween party at Gymboree! She had another runny nose so she hadn't been for a little while and she just jumped right on in!



She is not shy at all...she goes up right away to see Gymbo!


She's getting her kiss from Gymbo! Then she'll follow him around the room as he kisses all of the babies.
Parachute time...includes bubbles, and she loves the bubbles. Catches them on one finger!!!


Peek-a-Boo!





A friend from where I used to work gave her this way too cute coat! Oh My!!! She twirled around and was so happy with it on!!!

She has been putting on her hats...so I just started shooting some pictures of her doing her twirling around, having fun, and coming at me and the camera! All the pics are straight out of the camera...I'm lucky to get them on her!











Yep, this is one of the mornings...no pants, one sock on and still cute as can be!
I keep saying, God, how much cuter and sweeter is this little girl going to get!

This week we are spending time with Dennis's sister and another aunt for her to meet! This is the first from Dennis's side to get to meet her...so we have all been so excited. It only took a couple of hours for her to already love her new Aunt Denise.

Emma Emma, what do you see?

I see Momma's Starbucks cup calling for me! We make sure our cups are empty so she can have fun and act like she's drinking something or we'll ask for a small empty cup with a lid from Starbucks. She loves it!

She usually falls asleep in the cars...that pretending to drink coffee wore her out!
We went to the Insectarium. Not too crazy about the roaches. And don't really like bugs, but it was pretty cool. She loved the butterflies.

And we went to our first of many more to come birthday parties! This one was also a costume party, so she got to wear her new ladybug costume. But without the antennae...she still is not crazy about anything in her hair.

Dadda got in the princess castle space thingy with her. She takes awhile to warm up to new people and new environments. So by the time we were about to leave, then she was really starting to have fun!

I sneak in as much scrapbooking as I can ;)

A little mini book I made of some of my favorite pictures of her when we first got her. I really love the Cosmo Cricket black album...so easy to use. I bought more to do for Christmas.











We're Bouncing at Gymboree - can't get that song out of my head, so had to use that for the title of her having fun at Gymboree!
Just a simple layout to remember when she got her first shots here...her 12 month shots.
And have her added to our wall! On the top left is her hand print, and on the top right is her foot...the same foot print that the official in China did for us when she was made officially our daughter.
Close ups of them...

And using more of the October Afternoon paper I had won for this little cutie face! Making Love Eyes.
Got my October layout calendar done. I Fall More in Love with You Everyday.
Rugrat is stirring from her nap...more teeth coming through!

She's Happier and Happier Each Day

We were so excited when our guide followed up with the White Swan hotel in getting us our Barbie Adoption doll. Every adopting family that stays at the White Swan receives one. But we didn't. So our guide took care of us and told the hotel we would like one if possible and we would pay for the shipping. So we got her this week! She cannot be bought. Although there are two I saw on Ebay being sold for $200. This one is an Eighth Addition.

Emma Dorothy is just blossoming and teething again! A molar has now come through! And it looks like she may have others. It all makes any kind of schedule and napping a bit harder for us all. She has definitely reached that 14 month old stage of getting a little more aggressive in what she wants and doing the whiney noise. She way too cute though and we love her no matter what. Try to give in only a little without her causing too great of damage!


She was going to town on the keyboard and then going back and forth with the cell phone. Oh boy!



The new Spongebob Squarepants bubble bath makes great bubbles and is tear free too. Comes in Dora too, but she picked Spongebob. She loves Spongebob...that's my girl! She loves the intro song when the cartoon comes on...that's her favorite part.

Getting little Emma Dorothy dressed and ready for another day. She's a wiggle worm!
I was really lucky to get these shots. Although, the camera still doesn't capture her personality. But these are the closest...look at that smile!
And she's not only kissing but hugging her stuffed animals, lying her head on some of her books, and also hugging us! It's amazing how she has grown and learned to love.

Okay, so she and the cats share some toys! Whatcha gonna do?! She loves that little mouse. You pull the string and it vibrates and will move across the floor...she just loves that. She's also playing on the 100 Good Wishes Quilt we made for her in her room. So glad we did that for her.
This is priceless. This is how she will hand you something or point to something with her arm up to her face.
She loves to spend time with Daisy and Archie although the feeling is not mutual yet. But they tolerate her well ;) And Daisy is easy if there is food involved...

And Emma Dorothy is ready to GO GO GO

She loves this little remote steering wheel that makes the pictures on the back of the front seat make noises and music. This is one of the gifts from Dennis' company that she got a couple of weeks ago. So loves them. They are so unique.

And here we GO GO GO to Gymboree. Missed a couple of weeks because of her runny nasty nose. But all is good and she didn't skip a beat...
She spotted Gymbo and made a B-Line to him!
And gave him a big {HUG}
She just loves him!
We've been showing her how to kick her little Gymbo beachball at home and now all of a sudden at Gymboree, she was doing it all on her own!
What-a-know!
Even the big kids have fun at Gymboree!

Well, our shopping cart will never look the same again. Spongebob bubblebath, diapers...

...little fingers into everything...
...she likes to help you shop ;) She loves Goldfish and spots them right away!
And here's some scrapbooking things. I got to participate with the SIStv event online last weekend and was able to do one challenge. It was called "So You Think You Can Scrap." There were three "dances" you would be assigned to. "Graphic," "Frilly," or "Artsy" I was put in the Frilly Dance/Category. So I used this cute photo of Emma at the White Swan Hotel in China and using all of the rules: lots of flowers, the bigger the better; pastel colors, no bright colors; no printing, only cursive or script writing, and ribbon or lace I had soooo much fun doing this and being able to participate in one thing.

And to my surprise I WON!!! Yes! Jeannie, the facilitator and Fashionista over at SIStv picked my layout and SIStv will be sending me a prize! How cool is that?! And the layout also made the Catwalk over on SIStv. So Emma is already styling!

And finished up our trip to China scrapbook. Got a lot of misc. paperwork and things that I think will be cool to look at later tucked away in the pockets I had made. Sorry for some bad shots. Just in a hurry!

Oh, and this got caught in between the book...had picked the clock up when we had first gotten back from China...at Target I think??? Very cheap. So just added some buttons all the way around it for a little fun!




Well, Emma is waking up from nap.

The Little Things

Not so little...but Emma got all three of her 12 month shots! Measles, Hepatitis, and Chicken Pox.

Stopping to appreciate the very little things that lie about the house...the overlooked, special things to remember with having a little person added to our family of us and two cats...

Well...this isn't special...Just Daisy's issues with the kidney disease...she was doing good for a couple of months at least getting her diarrhea in the littler box or at least in the bathroom, but started outside. Dennis spent all morning Saturday cleaning this up.
One of Emma's favorite toys...the Universal remote! She changes the channel, turns the system off, has set up Spongebob to record, etc! She knows this thing controls the system, so the dummy remote we tried to substitute didn't do it for her ;)
Emma loves our cell phones. On Dennis's she has scheduled an appointment with www, has called his manager, has taken pictures, has sent a picture of herself through email... On mine, with the iPod part, she plays the song by Duffy Syrup and Sugar over and over and gets the biggest smile on her face. She loves that song.
Besides always having my water bottle, which Emma and I now share, I keep stocked of Coke Zero and Coffee to keep me going!
Dirty diapers and lots of papertowels...mainly for cat cleanups though ;) I showed Emma how to bring her little diaper bag to the trash, and now she gets very excited to hold your hand and carry the little bundle to the trash. We cheer every time she makes it to the trash! ;)
Emma loves to help with the laundry.
The faces she makes...just priceless!
She gives open-mouthed kisses!
After her nap, we took a drive to see Aunt Holly and Uncle Mike and then had an early dinner.



More scrapbooking things... Dennis loves his little teeny tiny album he puts in his planner...
Got September calendar going...
I'm so glad last November on Thanksgiving, I took a photo of our living room area of how it looked then knowing it would look different once Emma was here...so did this for the layout for the September layout.
For general scrapbooking, this new glue gun by Glue Glider is awesome! It's about $14...and about $8 for the cartridges of glue. So easy and really sticks. Has really been great at moving fast and not having to change out cartridges often or dealing with my liquid glue all of the time.
I don't really like to scrap trips just because it can be not so great photos or stuff you really don't want to take a lot of effort to scrap, at least I don't. So here's some of the pages of lots of photos I couldn't decide from and/or wanted to have printed to look back over and not stuck on a DVD.




This one is my favorite...look at her little hands and foot in the photo!

Last Couple of Weeks

This was the first thing I scrapped when we got back from China for my calendar...

Did my calendar part to match and journaled what's been going on with Emma, etc. I was able to go to one Yoga class! Ha! But now that she if finally getting on a schedule, hopefully we can too...
Went to Scrapfest here locally...where you scrap for three straight days! OMG, it was fabulous!!! Dennis and Emma were able to stop by and visit me there and I was able to meet them for lunch and do baths and bedtime before heading back over to get more scrappin done! I went by myself and sat at the singles table and met some really wonderful people. Cannot say enough about how wonderful it is. I got about 37 layouts done too for the albums I'm putting together of the trip! Started it as a mini album to use my Zutter to bind it...but saw how fat it was getting and got two 8x8 American Crafts binders...but kept the uniqueness of some of the pages as is without putting in protectors...
Here's just a few of the pages...

And did a really fast and quick card for Dennis's birthday tomorrow!
And will hopefully get this finished after rugrat gets to bed tonight for Dennis to carry with him...
Here's some old pictures from the first week we were back that I thought had gotten uploaded here, but didn't...Emma was doing fine in the pool until all of a sudden, she just wanted out!
I think she was doing great until Dada decided to swim around her and kicked his legs...it scared her!

And these, I just took the day before her party/shower on the 30th...too cute! This is an outfit that her PaPa picked out for her.

Archie has been doing pretty good with rugrat. He will come up to her and has not swatted or hissed at her...he just goes about his normal business. But he will have to run from her sometimes when she gets a little too excited...and I'm so glad I can give him and Daisy attention. It took a little while for that to happen, but finally did. I gotta love on my furbabies!
Daisy still beats rugrat hands down for messes! Once we get a break with rugrat (i.e., putting her down for a nap or bedtime, Daisy seems to always make her diarrhea messes or throw ups or both! Twice in the middle of the night, we've had to clean our sheets because of her messes. It's been pretty rough. She's exhausting...Daisy, not rugrat...well, rugrat too, but Daisy just seals the deal.
And these are pics from the party/shower...

This is my friend from high school!!! I was so surprised she came and it was so good to see her!!!
It really was so nice. Lots of friends from where I used to work brought food. And Emma did AMAZING with everyone. She even let people hold her. She had so much fun!






Been a busy couple of weeks. Tomorrow, we will celebrate Dennis's birthday by probably going to Outback, his favorite. We were hoping to take her to the zoo, but she has been having a runny nose, no fever...but just she and I covered in snot! I've learned to NOT forget the Kleenex when I leave the house!

Little Rug Rat is Wearing Us Out!

We have finally succeeded at taking more than a 15 minute nap! The most she has slept is an hour and a half! WhooHoo!!! She gets so restless and will still bang her head sometimes trying to relax and unwind. But little by little I think she is getting there with that. As far as just normal baby stuff...she definitely doesn't always like the nap and we will have to leave her and hear her cry, checking in to let her know we are still here. It's just too hard for us to totally leave her with all that she has been through. I have just started noticing a change in cries sometimes and I do wonder if she is grieving.

She has been doing so good since we've been back that we went ahead and signed up for Gymboree. She was ready! And she has been loving it...she is getting more and more comfortable and enjoying herself rather than staring at everyone else and pointing to all of the posters.

So we take her to her class for her level and for music. Then for a free play day. As much as we can fitting it into her schedule...
She has improved so much with walking. She can now walk an entire room in a flash!!! This little activity of pushing the log...she wouldn't do the first time, but had no problem this time...just still likes to stare at the instructor ;)
Believe it or not...she was having fun. Crazy little thing. We can usually tell if she likes it or not. Sometimes she's just a little unsure. Everything is so new to her...especially all of this attention.
Bath time has really improved and have had no problems since! She got in the big jacuzzi tub with me tonight and just LOVED the bigger bubbles! This picture of her she is pointing at Hello Kitty. She is constantly pointing at EVERYTHING...lights, switches, Daisy and Archie's pictures, Daisy and Archie, her pictures, all of the Hello Kitties...she spots every one of them. Her little mind just doesn't stop...

She does the craziest looks. She's not really too crazy about the big camera either. But she really does wear her expressions all the time...too funny! I'm not quick enough yet to get really good shots of a great smile...she's just too fast!

My friend, Denise, from where I used to work had this little toy delivered, and we had it ready for her when she woke up from her nap. She is kind of slow at waking up, but also just wasn't sure about all of this. Once she realized she could play with it, she was just clapping and swaying to the music!


Dennis went back to work today...first day back. It was hard for him. He was so excited to get back home to see her. I did pretty good. I was really getting worn out though the last couple of hours. She really doesn't play by herself much still...so it was pretty much 12 straight hours of carrying her around or letting her walk me around, or playing, or eating, cleaning up, etc. My back is pretty achy...and I'm ready for some sleep! But she is soooo adorable and such a sweetheart!!!

Two Weeks Home Now

Can't believe we've only had Emma now for four weeks and have only been home for two. We have got the going out and about thing down pat...I think China and all of the running around whips you into shape for that real fast. At home is another story...

...But she is doing so much better playing by herself and also with us having to put in her in the pack and play for just a little bit so we can get her meal ready, get dressed, get you something to drink, feed the cats, etc....so it's just for a little bit...and it's really helping her adjust to knowing we are not going anywhere. The same with the car set. She used to cry and cry and just want to be held...now, she just makes baby noises, plays with the book or toy, and then usually falls asleep. So huge baby steps. She just loves to be by us at all times, to be held, or for you to take her hand and for her to take you for a walk. YES, she takes US for a walk! She just soaks everything in. I think her first word will be cat...because she has put all of the cat pictures from books and toys, the pictures of Daisy and Archie, and, of course, the real cats...and has put them all together and knows they are the same. She's amazing!

We still haven't gotten much of a break as far as being able to catch up on sleep or do much of anything else, so we still take turns relieving each other. We do have certain areas closed off, so we know she'll be okay...she just usually comes looking for us after a short time...or like yesterday, Dennis fell asleep on the couch while I was trying to do some scrapbooking, and I thought it was just way too quiet. Found her with the cat food paperplate flipped over on herself playing in it!!! Yuck!!! Knew that was coming...so we just have to remember to keep the areas blocked off. Just using the Play mats for that...propped them up against chairs and made gates.

She is not picky at all about food. She eats just about anything. Except she really doesn't like yogart. We did get her some McDonald's chicken mcnuggats! Her first! But we don't eat a lot of fast food, so no problem with her eating what we eat...healthy variety...

This was from this afternoon. I knew she was sleepy...but she still will not go down for a nap. I had tried earlier with no luck. So later, this was lunch, and all of a sudden, she's like this...we cracked up laughing...was able to recline her and just leave her there. She did still have food in her mouth! But she didn't move for about 30 minutes! So we don't get much of a break at all...

Dennis gave her some ice cream the other night...
In China, they do not feed babies anything cold. But we've found she likes cold water much better than room temp. And even though the shock of the cold ice cream surprised her, she loved it!



She is such a happy baby. She smiles at everyone and gets so many compliments. She loves her watermelon. But this is a good example of how teething can be, so prepare yourself for "Sybil." On one of our "showing" her off visits to our vet's office, one of the girls said her boy that is the same age has been teething and goes from happy to Sybil. And the pediatrician did confirm that too. So she's normal and the happiest little thing I've ever seen except when the teeth get her. Can't imagine the pain she's going through!

One minute, she's happy and loving everything...
The next...the pain of teething...prepare yourself for this! There is nothing and I mean nothing that will console her. People will think you can't handle your baby. But it's normal. The Children's Tylenol and the prescription from the doctor have been HUGE HUGE HUGE help...hardly ever see this mood swing anymore!

She loves her toothbrush she got when we took her by the dentist office. Put the Oral-gel Toddler toothpaste on it for her and she goes to town! She reaches for it in her little cup in the bathroom every time I finish her bath, which have been going good again. It's better since the meds for the teething and with just me with her...

So I think while I still have about an hour break, I'll try to feed myself!