Teeny tiny because Andrew is demanding to be fed (again!!) so I am holding him, typing with one finger and drowning in a sea of toys that Emily set out as decoration.
Welcome to our new website! It will be easier to update everyone here since I can write more (aren't you all thrilled) AND this is FREE- my husband really likes that part. *wink*
OK, pressing on:
posted by Gina M @ 10:48 PM
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Her name is Emily and she is full of tricks. We charge admission though. $1. It goes to our house fund. ;)
Emily is SO much fun nowadays! I really am truly amazed at how smart she is and all of the little things she picks up on a day to day basis. When I have visitors, I find I can get them to visit longer (buying me a minute to hop online or file a nail or something) if I make Emily do tricks.
Some new ones:
**She sings a Barney song.** Yup- I have a little musician on my hands here. There is one Barney song that goes "If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops, oh what a rain that would be. Standing outside with my mouth open wide, ah ah ah ah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah...." (c'mon, you know you know that song from your kids and were just singing along with my typing). During the "ah ah ah ah" part, the kids open their mouths wide and look up. Emily makes the noise with them!! It is so cute.
**She dances!** I know, I know. You are thinking this is too good to be true. She sings AND she dances. She has been dancing for a while now. She knows "shake your butt" and when we tell her to, she... well... shakes her butt! But now, she knows that if we say "tap dance!", we mean dance fast... and she does! She marches really quickly in place, a la Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. (Hey- Bojangles is kinda catchy as a nickname, no?) So she has two totally different dances. My Dad asked if we could enroll her in Norma's yet. I thought I was rushing it! Maybe we should wait until she is at least potty trained Dad!
**She does Itsy Bitsy!** The other day she came up to me and started babbling and making the hand gestures for Itsy Bitsy Spider. Just for being in the right place at the right time, a free demonstration:
"You didn't know I had so many unique talents did you?" 
**A few random things** We stopped counting Emily's words a while ago. She has a whole bunch of them. Her new favorite is "MORE!". It actually makes meal times quite nice. I can ask if she is "done" or wants "more" and go from there. Of course, I hear "MA!" (and she says it just like that; she yells it and then cracks this huge smile!!) a bazillion times a day and her new favorite (ok well I said "more" was her new favorite so I guess I was caught in a small lie. But really, this is another popular one) is "Da-yee" for Daddy!!! Awwwwwwwww..... she gets out of a lot of trouble with that one!!! If she knows she is doing something she shouldn't be (like rifling through our CD cabinets), she reprimands herself. She shakes her finger and head and goes "no no no no". She just started loving showers! This kid loves water on her head and in her eyes. Weirdo. ;) She cleans up after herself, putting all of her toys in some bin or another and even takes paper towels and helps me dust. Now if I could only teach her to use the vacuum, we might be onto something here.
And before I go, I just have to share how much Emily loves her little B! B is what she calls Andrew (short for "baby" because every once in a while, she calls him "beebee".) When she hears him crying, she will see if there is a bottle nearby and stick it through the crib slats and into his mouth (or sometimes his eye, but she has good intentions!!) She gives him his binky when he whines. The first thing she does in the morning is walk into my room too look for "B!" She smiles whenever she sees him. He is the ONLY person she will willingly give a kiss to. If you say "give B a kiss" she does. Anyone else, she has to think about it long and hard (and the answer is usually NO!) She really loves her brother. It's amazing that at this small age (she is only a baby still herself) she really knows he is a small person that needs to be loved and she does just that. Now all together: "Awwwwwwwwwwwwww............".
posted by Gina M @ 10:33 PM
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...is my son Andrew. I kid you not.
This is one of the hard things about having kids so close in age (besides bottle stealing, binky sharing, double diaper changes, blah blah blah blah........) You don't want to buy anything because all of Emily's toys are already mostly new. They are still what is being sold in the stores so they aren't outdated or anything. But if you don't buy anything new, the second baby gets shafted. This presents a small problem for us since we have one girl and one boy. Don't tell Vinny I told you, but Andrew has been known to use a pink towel or snuggle with a pink Teddy Bear. I mean, what's the sense of buying a new musical bear when the 15 we already own are A-ok, minus their pink fur.
I was thinking along these lines when I hung Emily's pink and purple butterfly mobile over Andrew's crib. Vinny had a few colorful words to say on that subject. So $40 later, the butterfly mobile has come down and I moved into the world of electronic mobiles with remote controls and everything! (Hey, if he was giving me a reason to shop, I was taking the idea and running!)
Sooo... last night I decided I had to go to Target! I just had to! I was feeling really bad about not having bought one Christmas gift for Andrew but I already bought a bunch for The Princess. When Vinny asked me where I was going and I said "Target" he told me he was blowing the store up. Just a fair warning- you might want to get your Target runs in now!
I walked the aisles but he is still so small that none of the toys really seemed appropriate. But I was on a mission!! I had to really fight hard to keep things out of the cart that would be good gifts for Emily and look for things suitable for a 2 month old boy. So he got three toys (yes... a whopping three): a ring stacker, a high chair tray toy (it's a little rocking horse) and some little toy dump truck that makes noise. Dump truck = manly. Vinny outta like that.
"Does this look like the face of someone who is hard to shop for? I didn't think so!"
posted by Gina M @ 10:24 PM
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House hunting. Now there's a treat. You start to look and wow, it's kind of fun. Going out every weekend, being nosey and looking through people's homes. You get some great decorating ideas! But when it is rolling into month number SIX of your search, you start to feel a little angry at the whole process. If I look at one more listing that says "Lots Of Potential", I may scream. Loudly. And never stop! All that means is "I am a really un-kept home, with a few shingles falling off and maybe a rip or two in the ceiling but if you pay $400,000 for me, I can become YOUR problem...with lots of potential"! Whatever all of you realtors. I am onto you and your wordy games! We actually looked at a house last week with half the bathroom wall ripped out and the toilet, not hooked up, sitting in the middle of the bathroom floor. Now THAT was a great look. It really made us want that home...........NOT!
Seriously, people are asking the most ridiculous prices for absolutely nothing. They are listed as MINT and then you go visit them and you think "how do people live like this". They just slap some paint over shabbily constructed walls and call it a day. I probably sound like I am whining. And I am. And I really don't care at this point. But you wouldn't believe what is out there until you see it with your own two eyes. Soooo.... we are still searching! And nosey-ing through people's homes on the weekend. That part still remains kind of fun. :o)
posted by Gina M @ 10:59 AM
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THE KIDS MET SANTA CLAUS YESTERDAY! It was a lot of fun. What a jolly fellow. They were having some "technical difficulties" with the camera (technology I tell ya!) so we had to wait about a half hour. Andrew was already in Santa's arms so I left him there. I told Santa I was just running into Fortunoffs and I'd be back- maybe. Ok not really. But I did ask if he wanted me to hold the baby in the interim and he said "Nope... he's nice and comfy near this cozy suit". So that was really nice. I am sure not many children get to take a half hour nap in Santa's arms!
I think the wait allowed Emily some time to warm up to the big fat guy. She did great!!!! He gave her a little coloring book afterward and said "See you on Christmas Eve Emily!" At that point, she was so over him. She just wanted to head over to the carousel. ;) I can't share the picture yet.... what fun would that be! It came out EXCELLENT!! I really am so so so excited with it! BUT- it is our Christmas card picture so I have to leave some element of suprise for you all.
posted by Gina M @ 11:51 AM
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