Ramble On
**Make sure to scroll to the next two newest posts as well because I did another one today on the house (very small update) and one last week about my hair that I never mentioned.**
So here are some current happenings/thoughts/current events over on Meade Ave.........
...Vinny is a nail-banger once more! FINALLY! I believe I've mentioned before that Monte didn't have work for him and then went on two back-to-back vacations so while it was great having Vinny around to help with the kids and work up at the house, we were missing the extra cash flow. Well, Monte called the other night and to quote him, said "we're back in business" so YIPEE! He starts up again tomorrow...........
...The next time I read an article or hear a mother comment on how tv-watching is bad for children I may just have to voice my opinion (or crack her one if she's really annoying) and tell her how that is absolutely FALSE. Just the other day, I was thinking "do my kids watch too much tv?" I think I knew inside that wasn't true because in the nice weather, we go for long walks, play in the yard, visit next door... but still, every Mother doubts herself once in a while right? Anyway, the very same day this thought crossed my mind, Emily recites the alphabet! LOL! She was watching her Sesame Learn the Alphabet DVD and there is a section where the repeat each letter slowly and flash it across the screen. All of a sudden I am hearing "A...B...Ceeee..." and thinking "did I just hear what I thought I heard?" Yup...sure enough, she did all 26 letters! (with a small exception at "N" which gives her trouble and around "U" where she gets bored and needs encouragement to finish) It was so funny because the other day, she did it for Pam. Then Pam and I clapped and cheered really loudly for her. Well, Emily just LOVES the attention so now I can't get her to go more than 3-4 letters before she cracks a smile and yells "YAY!!!" for herself really loudly! It now takes, oh about 20 minutes to sing the ABCs. :) Here is my little child prodigy showing off her letter skills with some fun new toys I bought her to "practice"
http://www.image4u.org/disneydream03/EmmiePieInTub.jpg
...I am losing weight! I started Tae Bo last week and it is ALREADY paying off...do you believe that?! I forgot (maybe on purpose... I'm not sure) to measure my hips and waistline before I began the tapes but I have already had two different people separately tell me my waist looks slimmer. woohoo! I am doing the Cardio Circuit video which is only about 35 minutes long. I love it because it's short enough where I don't get bored and it really targets the abs. Dieting is a big NO NO for me.. if I tell myself I can't eat something, I'll eat it tenfold. But with the Tae Bo and walking the kids 5 times a week.... and trying to drink more water, I am really seeing a change! I am so excited! I bought another Cardio dvd today do we'll test that one out tonight. I am on a mission now.... look out!
...BTW- I still love my hair! I think it's so bizarre that I haven't regretted cutting it yet because I always do. I love that I use virtually no conditioner in the shower (I used to use a full fistfull), it takes about 5 minutes of total drying time and I can wear it "flat" or use my curling iron to flip the ends a little. I feel kind of "sassy", if I do say so myself. ;)
...Andrew has been sleeping like crap lately. Ugh! It's a nasty combo of the tiny crib plus teething BIG TIME. He's "kind of" ok once he falls asleep but it is taking him a while to even do that. Two nights ago, he woke at 3:30am. I tried to leave him for a bit because I was sleeping on the couch but Vinny was in the bedroom and I guess it got to him because he woke up and picked the baby up. Great. Now I have to take him because Vinny had work in the morning so that's "what's fair" (but what a sucky rule huh!?) I fed him, sang to him, rocked him..... 4:30am and wide awake. So you know what I told him? I said "if you want to be awake at this un-Godly hour, we are scrapping it"! Yup... I took out my camera and started snapping pictures with my big-ass flash in his face at nearly 5am! LOL! He didn't mind though.... he was all smiles! I haven't had time to scrap the page yet but check out one of the pictures from that little photo shoot (be forewarned; your heart WILL most definitely melt into a pile of mush when you see my handsome little dude smiling at ya)
http://www.image4u.org/disneydream03/AndyManAtNight.jpg
...Well as much as I'd like to stay and ramble on with you lovely folks, my food just arrived (Chilis- Grilled chicken sandwich and fries.... Yummmmmmmmm) so I bit you farewell for the evening. =)
Lifestyles of the Tired and Exhausted
Oh man am I tired! And exhuasted! This is 'supposed' to be our last week in the apartment. I say 'supposed' to be because we do have a few extra days to play around with if need be. Basically, we are SO ready to move; we just have to make sure we have a fully functioning kitchen before we go. Right now, we have almost all the cabinetry hung, and that's not even a big deal if we don't have a knob on here or there. That's manageable. We got our floor installed on Monday. It's bee-you-tee-ful!! It's a one-piece linoleum - kind of a terracotta color with a mosaic tile looking theme. I think it came out great. We ordered our countertop and it is supposed to be cut to our measurements on Friday, installed on Monday. So that is really all we are waiting on.
I was at the house all day today. Well, first I spent all morning emptying out our dressers and loading up 5 big black garbage bags and then I blew $300 at Target but I'll get back to that later. :p I set up mine and Vinny's clothes in our new dressers and then started to set up Andrew's room. His crib is so big and blue and boy-ish...I can't wait for him to sleep in it because he is so squished and pathetic in his current mini crib. It served it's purpose but a full-sized crib is long overdue. Back to mine and Vinny's room - how did we order 5 dressers with drawers and cabinets, plus we have a double closet and we still don't have enough room for our clothing? Well, I managed to get it all in there so I am exaggerating a tiny bit but I took up 4 dressers and left Vince with a nightstand. I am feeling a little guilty about it but can I help it if I have more clothes? So as of now, I feel it all worked out but I am just waiting to hear Vinny's mouth when he actually sees the layout and sees how I arranged the drawers. Oh and I took the "good" side of the bed with the two windows above my head. I felt like I was in college getting their before my roomate and picking the good side of the room. :) Before I left the house, my Dad ripped the toilet out. WOOHOO! Finally! So tomorrow, Lauren is babysitting and I am tackling the bathroom. First two things of importance on my list are mopping the floor and contact papering the cabinets.
I think I could probably go on and give more details but honestly, I am tired. Did I say that already? I can't remember what I told you all and what I haven't at this point so just trust me that it is coming along beautifully and I promise to have pictures to share soon!
Making The Cut
So I'll just jump right in and tell you what I did yesterday (Friday) morning: I cut 13" of hair off. Yup - I finally cut it. I called and asked for a mini consultation first so I was really pleased when I walked into the salon and found my stylist was about my age, trendy with great hair. Great hair on your stylist is ALWAYS re-assuring! I said "listen, back in the day, I had great hair (I better have - I used to spend upwards of $250 for it!) I have two little kids now and just don't have the time to do it. I look like a witch with this long hair. We need to take it off!" She understood and didn't even laugh when I apologized for my greasy hair and the botched up bang job I gave myself last week. Since I donated my hair to Locks Of Love which makes wigs for children with cancer, you need to cut a minimum of 10". They put my hair in a ponytail and she said "are you ready girlfriend"? Of course I was ready! It took me a good 7 months to be ready but I definitely was now! CHOP! I immediately said "I already love it"!, even though it was all crooked. It was just so much lighter! A bunch of people at the salon were telling me what a nice thing I was doing, yada yada yada. At this point in my life, it's just hair. During the cut, Tara (the girl with good hair working on me) asked if I was ok with it or in shock. I said "you know... a few years ago, I'd be sitting here in tears. Now.... not so much". Even today, a full day and a half after I made the chop, I LOVE it! I feel free! I feel 5 pounds lighter! My kids can't rip my hair from my head - I don't have the permanent knot near my neck from Andrew's slimy little hands. :) Like Pam said, if I am not regretting it at all, it was definitely time to make the cut. I agree 100%. Everyone loves it (that, or they are being polite *wink wink*) And I feel really great about doing something for such a worthwhile cause. Here is an AFTER picture for the curious (and come on... I just told you I lost 13" of length... you KNOW you're gonna check this link out!) http://www.image4u.org/disneydream03/IMG_0301sized.jpg
A few Musings for the Week of April 17th...
What we did this past weekend:
........Vinny worked for 12 hours on Saturday doing lawn-cleanups with a buddy of his from work. Since construction has been super-slow this past month (his boss is waiting for contracts and permits on jobs to go through and is now in the midst of two vacations...) a friend from both FDNY and construction asked Vinny to help him out in Suffolk for the day. He got paid REALLY well and I guess has now learned a new trade. :) What a Jack of All Trades that man is becoming! :)
........I took the kids outside all weekend - we had gorgeous weather! They are fighting the tail ends of their colds but are 98% better. Yesterday was especially nice! We went out walking for close to two hours! I have been trying to take the kids for early walks where Andrew takes his first 45 min nap in the stroller (we made it out about 4 times this week which I was happy about) because it gets them out and gets me some much-needed exercise. So yesterday morning, we walked to town and I did a small food shopping........ then we walked home and switched out of the double stroller because Emmie kept asking for her buggy. It's too hard to push her and carry the baby so I strapped him in the Bjorn (what a great gadget)! and off we went! We ended up walking to our new home to see my Dad working (saw a few of our new neighbors too) and walked past the park where baseball games were going on ( ran into the Volberg kiddies there :) ) I definitely broke a sweat during this whole outing (which is both good for my weight loss plan but very, very sad for showing how out of shape I truly am).
........I took a scrapbook class with Daniela yesterday. Holy Schnikes it was a long one! 1:30-5 but we ended up staying until 6:15! It was titled "Life Is A Masterpiece" and we made these cool, vintage albums with a limited edition Rusty Pickles book (NOTE: If you are not into scrapping, kindly skip ahead because this bore the BeJeezus outta ya!) They started as plain cardboard covers and plain pages and we covered them in papers, sanded them for a rough, scratchy look, inked 'em.. it was a lot of fun and the album is totally old and rustic looking! I cut out letters and put Life Is A Masterpiece on the cover. I think what I want to do is gather up pictures of my 4 Grandparents and stories from Grandma Elinor and fill the book with them. It will be really cool for my kids to look at one day - my Grandparents will seem ancient to them!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So today we are taking the kids to the duck pond on Merrick Road. I guess we need to buy popcorn first (are you still allowed to feed the ducks popcorn? Something is telling me probably not.........) I haven't been there since I am a little girl! In case you are interested, here is a picture of me and my dad there when I was 15 months old: http://www.image4u.org/disneydream03/InMyLifecopysized.jpg
Emily does the silliest thing with her Apple Jacks. We were eating them straight out of the box the other day when I noticed she asked for more even though there was a pile of perfectly good Jacks right next to her. So I gave her a few more and then I noticed it - she was only eating the green ones. I tested it out again and sure enough - she only picked up the green ones. She fed all the orange ones to me. How silly - they all taste the same! (they do don't they?)
I definitely have a girly-girl on my hands over here. Yesterday, she told me she needed to go to the potty so I made her sit on the bowl. nothing actually happened but I told her if she at least tried, she could play "make-up" (anything to distract her from getting off the bowl and running around bare-butt!) Her favorite is my blush brush (which is collecting dust at this point in my life...) So we did blush and then I let her use the eyeshadow brushes and powders. She thought they belonged on my cheeks so I was wearing a shimmery white on my face for the latter part of the evening. Then for "lipstick" I gave her a berry flavored Disney Princess chapstick. She was doing good just sniffing it but when I took my eyes off her for a few minutes, I saw a big smear & a bunch of chunks of pink wax in her hair. DOH! The Princess chapstick went in the trash and my little wiley minx went into the bath.
A special thanks to Funky Unkie for the cool Disney souvenirs! He started the trip saying "no souvenirs" then it became "ok souvenirs for only Emmie and B" and it finally ended with him bringing home .... 9 statues! LOL! He picked up a plain Mickey and Minnie for my collection, three shimmery, pearlescent Princesses which now complete Emily's collection (Cinderella, Mulan and Sleeping Beauty were just added to the Snow White, Belle and Ariel he bought her last year) and we started Andrew's collection off with 4 pieces: Goofy, Donald, Pluto and Stitch (he is the cutest!) I can't wait to get everything onto display shelves in the house.
BTW
...I am going to start AVON again. I think with the next-next campaign because I still need to order some books. So if anyone is interested in placing an order or you want a book to flip through, get in touch with me in the next 2 weeks or so. I think the order I am going to place goes through on the 25th.
So what is today? The 17th? We are moving in about 13 days and I haven't packed one thing - not one piece of paper, not one ounce of anything! I really don't know what I am waiting for. I guess I am secretly hoping it will just get done? Who the heck knows. I don't know where to start. It's like I don't want to waste my time packing with boxes and stuff because I am moving literally up the block. Yet I can't just walk it all to the house so the stuff does need to be packed in some form. This bites.
An aside:
...I got my new toilet. Vinny said he bought me the "elongated seat" in "case your ass gets fat". Did I mention how he has such a way with his words?
A few food recommendations on the Island:
...If you want super duper delish pizza you MUST got to RoseMarie in F-Dale. Hands down - best pizza around. We usually just choose Papparedelle's up town because it's close but their stuff all tastes the same. We have now started to drive to RoseMarie because it's worth the extra effort. Their crust is just different and the Sicilian in dripping with gooey cheese........ don't even get me started on the Grandma's pie! (haha) Anyway, I can't wait for IDOL night on Tuesday because we are ordering a bunch of pies. I love pizza party nights!
...I am not sure when the last time you ate at Singletons was but I suggest you go! (I should be getting compensated to plug these places!) I ate their for my b-day in Nov and loved it so much. It's just a great meal -from the app. to the dessert. We went for our anniversary last week and the food was really awesome. If Vinny has off, we are going to try and get there for Mother's Day brunch.
Oh I decided what I want to get Vinny for his birthday. I will post it here because it will be a cold day in Hell before he comes online, let alone does a search to find my Blog. Anyway, I am going to get him one of those big, canopied- couch type of swings for the backyard. The kind you just want to relax on and take a nap? I figure it's a gift even the kids and I can enjoy (but shhhh........ don't tell him I said that)!
Did I tell you guys we have a bunny? And he was free! Of course we share him with the rest of 11th street. There is this bunny that lives in our backyard! It's funny because everyone says they only see him by us... why is he particular to 11th? Why are 10th and 12th streets not places he'd like to hang? He is friendly too.... I can't wait to get some pictures of him and for the kids to see him. Only drawback - bunny poop in our yard! Ewww!
I have decided to do something different with my OFoto albums. Starting in May, I will send out ONE album at the end of every month. Since I got my cool new camera, I want to concentrate on possibly taking more quality shots (poses w/ props, portraits, etc) rather then a gazillion "blah" shots. And I can't think of any more creative captions! I'm drained! So I think I will just send one album at the end of the month, covering that previous month. Who wants to bet half the people on my address list don't even read all these musings and therefore never see that I just typed this........ I bet a get a hundred e-mails the first weekend in May asking where the album is.
AND A COUPLE OF LINK TO SOME RECENT PAGES I CREATED THAT I LIKE:
1. ALL GIRL
http://www.image4u.org/disneydream03/AllGirlcopysized.jpg
2. ANDREW AT 6 MONTHS
http://www.image4u.org/disneydream03/AndrewAt6Monthscopysized.jpg
3. BABY FEET
http://www.image4u.org/disneydream03/BabyFeetcopysized.jpg
4. KING OF THE ICE
http://www.image4u.org/disneydream03/KingOfTheIcecopysized.jpg
5. NATURE LOVER
http://www.image4u.org/disneydream03/NatureLovercopysized.jpg
6. UNSPEAKABLE MEMORIES
http://www.image4u.org/disneydream03/UnspeakableMemoriescopysized.jpg
Thanks for looking and have a great week! :):):):):):):)
Happy Spring!
Wondering what The Millers have been up to lately? Here are some highlights:
~Vinny and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary today! Since he had to work tonight, we had our official celebration last night. We went to dinner at Singleton's (I love their food more and more each time I go!), shopped around Best Buy and saw a movie. We (well I) strongly do NOT recommend you see Sin City (unless you are in the mood for truly bizarre viewing). I let Vinny pick the movie since he promised me a new digital camera. Here is the one I got http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=5992848&type=product&productCategoryId=cat04008&id=1061769822853
(it's so shiny and purty.... it's my new baby! Vinny said I would probably get it for Mother's Day but he left this morning and came home with it this afternoon!!) and I think it was a fair deal - a $20 movie for him and that camera for me. ;)
~Our house is coming along....slowly but surely! Everything that belongs in the kitchen is in the living room. Everything that belongs in the living room is in the living room. Are you feeling the claustrophobia of it all? In the living room we currently have: 27 boxes of kitchen cabinetry, a stove, microwave, dishwasher, two couches and three pieces of furniture needing to be built. Anyone doing anything this Saturday? :) The cabinets are being hung on Thursday so once they are in, we get our counter top on order and the floor gets laid down. Then it's a matter of odds and ends getting done. My Dad and Vinny have been working their butts off (I must give credit to my dad and say he is working more of his butt off down there then anyone else) in the basement with the sheet-rock. Rooms are being built, pipes are being run for my washer/drier, cement has been poured for the stall shower they are putting in.................... moving right along! We did pay our first two bills up there; mortgage (yuck!) and oil!
~We got our bedroom set delivered last week. I think that is our first completed room (well, we still need to order a comforter set, courtesy of my Grandma!) Our room, if I may brag, is GoRgEoUs!!! We have very pale yellow walls (more like an off-white I'd say), a "ruby quartz" rug and dark chestnut furniture - and a LOT of it! We have 5 pieces, NOT including the bed with headboard/footboard/posters. It's King sized and Vinny and I canNOT wait one second longer to sleep on this thing!! I just can't wait to lay under the big posts and feel like a Princess. :)
~This is kind of long-term but I am so psyched that I must share!!!!! We are planning a Disney World vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We wanted to go there for our honeymoon but that didn't pan out with my doctor not even wanting to let me travel to Pennsylvania at the last minute! I know I'll take my kids back again and hopefully, again, when they are older. And sure, they will be 1.5 and 2.5 years old when we go and will most likely not remember a thing in 20 years ( or will they... due to my detailed scrapbooks :) ) But when we are there, their faces will light up at the characters! the light parade! Dinner with Mickey.... breakfast with Donald! I am so so so excited not only for me, but more so for my kids and the looks on their little faces!!! AND.... I might be most excited for Vinny! He was there when he was 2 years old and doesn't remember one thing about the place. He really doesn't have the biggest interest either but I told him that will all change after he goes. After all, Disney IS the most "magical place on Earth". :) Vin thinks I'm a cheeseball. I say he'll come around! Anyway, we are going to go in the Spring, possibly for Easter like we did when I was a kid, and we are going with my parents so we have some extra babysitting hands.
~Vinny played in a King of the Ice hockey tournament for the FDNY yesterday. He's been playing once a week for a while now it's just a "for fun" league with some work buddies. Apparently, his Engine/Ladder was in the final 32 or so teams (whittled down from the original 110 teams or so!). I went to the game yesterday and they lost. But it was fun. Vinny was a little pissed off but that's men and their sports. I told him, and I am not just saying this, he is their entire team! he does every face off, had the puck for 98% of the time and scored their only goal. He said a lot of the guys do it for fun but Vinny really was great out there! I got some crappy pics (thanks to my old digital camera) but I'll scrap them for sure anyway.
~I took the kids to the mall last week with my Mom to buy them new Spring wardrobes. What fun!! Emily is in 2T and Andrew is in 18 months. They really had both outgrown everything so between my Mom and myself, we really bought everything two little kids could need to look hip and fashionable, all while being comfortable, this Spring and Summer. We got everything from tops, jeans, shorts, dresses, & Spring jackets down to socks, hairbows, baseball caps and shoes!! I know I am a Mom now (well, I knew that the first time I got peed on and pinched for no good reason) because I could care less if I have cute, new clothes. It's more fun having two kids that are dressed up adorably everyday!
Ok friends, that might be it in our neck of the woods for now. Read on for some Andy & Emmie updates. :)
THE KIDDIES
Hi family and friends. I thought I'd make this entry all about the kids since they are up to so many new tricks lately!!! Hmmm.... lets do this in alphabetical order this time, shall we?
ANDREW
...aka "The Little Beast" aka "B" aka "The Nudge" aka "Holy Terror" aka "Budrick" aka "Beatrix" (don't ask)
Andrew is 6 months old (well, 6 months and about 10 days now!) and weighing in at almost the same as his big sister! At our last doctor's visit, he was in the 90th% for both height and weight: 28" tall and 19.5 lbs. I would venture to say he has reached the 20 pound mark since that doctor's visit was over 2 weeks ago. He is teething like mad! biting everything in site, drooling all over and spitting up on every inch of carpet and couch, giving me something to clean & scrub down every single night (thanks Buddy!) Vinny jokes with him that "normal" children teeth on toys, blankie and rings. Our little monster? Well, his favorite is to RIP the baby gate OFF the wall and teethe on that. LOL! If that isn't available, he will happily grab his rocking chair, practically lift it with one hand to his face and gnaw on that for a bit. We suspect teeth will be popping in anyday now! (the first two showed up for Emily at the 6.5 month mark).
As far as activities go, he is definitely getting more and more active with each passing day! We are at a 90% crawl I'd say. he can get around all over the room and get up on his hands and knees but it's a half-crawl, half-scoot. I would definitely say he is mobile however. He also spends time in the walker. Not as much as his sister did because all he does is run her over. Try explaining to a 20 month old why her little brother keeps barreling into her with his walker.... she doesn't get it. It's hard enough trying to get her to understand he "doesn't mean it" when he yanks a chunk of her hair. teehee Emily took her time in the walker - first she stood still, then she slowly moved back and then she quietly explored her room surroundings. Andrew? From the very first time he used the thing, he started hauling ass down the hallway, knocking everything over in his path! Yup - he's our little beast. ;)
He loves to watch videos with his sister - they watch everything together. I would say one of his favorites is Bear in the Big Blue House - he usually cracks a smile at the music. He also loves Baby Newton, which teaches all about shapes.
Food-wise, we've been exploring some more options with Andy. At 6 months old, Emily was eating fruit puffs that dissolve quickly, plain pancakes, jelly sandwiches, etc. For some reason, I don't feel "ready" to do that with Andrew yet. I think it's because he's my allergy kid. I have dug out the mesh feeding net however and he has been getting fresh fruit chunks in that. He LOVES banana (it's a total PITA to clean out of the net though!) and peaches in there. He also has had a few tastes of pastina swirled into baby fruit or veggies. He can polish off a Stage 2 jar with the best of them. i think his record-breaking time today was about 2.4 minutes. He downed a whole apple-sweet potato mix. He can eat all of the baby blends except I don't give him straight applesauce because that tends to bother him and he had a mix with strawberry in it a few weeks ago and that gave him a rash. So no more berries for this kid just yet.
My tiny son has managed to kick me out of my bedroom. I have officially taken up residence on my couch (which really bites when Vinny is home b/c then I get the smaller couch and it's all downhill from there!) Vinny can sleep through a tornado if given the chance. Me? I wake up if you breath funny. So does "B". So him and I are constantly waking each other up all night; wether it be because I turned on the light to read a magazine or he rolled over and sighed. God forbid one of my bones crack or I have to sneeze. Then we are both wide-eyed and staring at each other. Cute - but not really at 4am. So it is just easier for me to sleep in a different room with the TV on. And he has been waking on and off all night because if teething pain so if we slept in the same room, I'd think it would be fair to say I'd get about 3 hours of good sleep each night. if you know me, you know I'd never be able to function on that piddly amount!
Overall, Andrew is growing up to be an awesome little boy! He is becoming so much fun because he is interacting with us more. He interacts with his sister daily - he stares at her and gets up on his hands and knees and tries to crawl over to her and her toys (or he tears into her with the walker but we visited this scenario already). He loves the fresh air so we go for lots of walks. He loves car rides. He still is pretty good about sleeping "on the go" so we don't have to plan much around his nap times (3 small naps a day).
EMILY
aka "Hollywood" aka "The Diva" aka "Brat" aka "Emmie Pie "aka "Little Lady" aka "Missy Moo"
Emmie is turning 20 months old (sniff sniff.... isn't she still a baby?!?!) on the 22nd of this month. She is actually quite the little peanut. She tips the scales at 23.5 lbs and is 31.5" tall (50th% for both). She has really gotten taller lately because while everything is still big on her skinny waist, she needs larger clothing for the length in her legs.
Her sleep schedule has been kind of odd lately. She is still an awesome sleeper at night (gives me the same old 11-12 hour stretch) but every few days, she decides she doesn't want/need her nap. Some days, it's a 2 hour nap and some days it is non-existent. Weird. I wonder if she is going to cut out napping anytime soon? It doesn't matter one way or the other to me really because she is pretty independent in the house so it isn't like I need to entertain her during every waking moment.
We have been on a mission to "eat healthier", as far as Emily's menus go. She has always loved a variety of things; veggies and fresh fruits being some of those things. But the constant asking for "cookies!" and "cake"! was getting a little overwhelming. I brought her to the food store the other day and we picked up a bunch of new things that she has been enjoying. Plus with the nice weather, we are getting more fruit in season so that is always a plus. I came home and right away I washed, cleaned and Tupperware-d everything for easy access in the fridge. It's so much better that way and now when she wants a snack, we reach for a fruit instead of a cookie. Here are some foods that are frequent players in our house: (as stated before, this is mainly for my August moms since I know distant cousin Ned isn't interested in this cr.a.p LOL)
...Breakfast: pancakes, yogurt, chocolate chip waffle sticks, french toast, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes
...Lunch: Lunchables, bologna & cheese, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese
...Dinner: chicken & cheese taquitos, whatever I am making for me and Vinny, Lipton noodles sides, soups, pastina and other pastas......
...Snacks: she loves oreos but ONLY the cream in the center (typical kid LOL), Goldfish, fruit puffs, fresh fruit (bananas, grapes, berries, cantaloupe, apples, pears, yadda yadda yadda......)
...Drinks: water, milk, orange juice & any of the following watered down: fruit punch, lemonade, apple juice, cranberry and grapefruit juices
.........she really will eat anything. I'd say there is one day a week that is a "non-eating" day where she picks like a bird. The other 6 days she chows down all day. With every main entree (for lunch or dinner), she always gets veggies on the side (beans, corn, carrots, etc) and a starch (rice, pasta, crackers, potatoes, etc).
A few new items I picked up the other day that we haven't tried yet are Oatmeal Express (those flavored oatmeals in the little travel containers), turkey meatballs (for a quick, nutritious lunch or dinner meat) and a quick risotto blend (in a little travel-soup kind of container where you just add boiling water).
Emily has a complete obsession with the outdoors! You can have her outside for 2 hours and she still throws a hissy fit when it's time to come in! We go for walks in the stroller with Andrew, in the single stroller if he isn't with us, in the pink buggy, we play outside with Disney, go to the park, swing in the tree swing, go up and down Nanny's steps a bazillion times......... as long as she has fresh air in her face, my little Emmie is happy. :)
I know this next section with totally sound like I am bragging but.....oh well! That is one of the rights to being a Mom! If you don't like it, kindly skip this and visit this webiste (http://pixyland.org/peterpan/) and tell me what on Earth this man is doing?!?!!!?????????
I just found out, unbeknownst to me, that Emily can count to 6!! It was sheer accident that this even came out. Her and I were using the phone to call her Daddy at work the other day. His cell phone number is all 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s in a row. So I had Emily press each button and we said them out loud as we hit them. After the final 4 numbers of "4 4 4 5", Emily said "6". I said "did you just say 6??!!?!!!" and she laughed. So then we scratched the call to Vince and sat at the table with some counting objects. She hates the number one but loves 2. If you say "and what comes next"? she will say 3. Then 4. She kind of breezes right past 5 and then goes for 6. And then I get another 6 again so i think she knows that 7 is there, because of the "s" sound but she isn't quite at that point yet. But anyway, my little lady can count to the number 6!!!!!! And here I am thinking she can only count to 2 this whole time! LOL!!
Emily loves my computer. It was cute at first but now she is so into it that I can't even sit at it during the day (which really, is only my fault alone b/c she sees me sitting here all day, everyday!) Anyway, she will say "E...go?" at that means she wants to play Journey to Ernie on the PBS Kids website (she calls her Ernie dolls "E"). So we do that and one part is a memory card game. Emily can repeat all the objects she sees. After we play that for a while, she gets off my lap, onto the floor and says "Barney?" and then we have to visit the Barney section of the website where we play "If You're Happy And You Know It". She sings and dances the whole songs, complete with hand movements. Ahhhhh my little computer nerd. :)
When we go next door, she goes into Papa's (my Dad) office and turned on his CD player (she knows how to work that, plus our VHS and DVD players at home!) and after song #5 comes on from the Mama Mia soundtrack, she dances. At the chorus where they say "Mama Mia, I must really know, why why, did I ever let you go?" she sings right along and says "Mommy!" (for Mama Mia!) Apparently, she is a mathematical computer nerd who should be spending her free time auditioning on Broadway. :)
Lastly, Emily will talk your ear off. No joke - it's one of the first things people who see her comment on. She might babble a bunch of words but the last 1 or 2 words always make sense. I can have complete conversations with her and people are amazed I understand (I am sure all of you Moms know it isn't that hard though. When you talk to these little people all day long, it becomes second nature!) A lot of things she says are "go for a walk" (like in this sentence, "go" and "walk" are clearly pronounced) "where did they go" "are they coming back" (she might say "Daddy, back?" for "Is Daddy coming back?), she can ask for her three meals, she mumbles this whole big long sentence with "binky" at the end so that means she needs to find her binky. She will look at her brother and say "B...do?" and that usually means he spit up on the rug somewhere. haha She can tell you when she went to the bathroom, she'll go get you her socks, shoes, coat and/or hat if you ask for them, she will ask to "go for a walk", she puts her utensil on the empty bowl or plate and will tell you she is "done" and can she "get up" after dinner and then hand you said plate...... if she hears her brother crying, she will pick up a toy or teething ring, show it to me and say "B?" like "can I get B?" and when I say "ok" she will open the door, go into my room and hand her brother the toy through the crib slats.
Well, I think that's enough reading material for everyone for now!!!!! It's been fun sharing my kids with you...... until we meet again! :)
