say what?

mama mama strikes again...

...with another beautiful dress she created. Once again she picked the most challenging pattern she probably could have chosen - some Spanish thing (as in, from Spain) that was so poorly written she had to have someone with her practically translating the instructions. In any case, and despite the tears, hard work, and countless ripped out stitches the girl looked beautiful for a little playdate she had today with Hayes and Kate.

My model is reluctant to stand still, thus the slightly blurry pics. Must switch camera over to "sport" mode!

and behind this door we have...

...guess who! No longer content to simply take out the tupperwares and pans in "her" cabinet, Emilia discovered a new game... crawling into the cabinet. I didn't grab the camera fast enough to get the picture of her closing the door behind her!

maybe she'd like to sleep there?

DISCLAIMER: Dog bed was completely washed, sanitized, dried and perfumed!

One of Emilia's favorite things to do right now is to jump on pillows. Marcus is always making little piles of pillows for her to throw herself on and she typically will stand up on our bed and throw herself on the pillows on our bed (the day she misjudges the distance between her head and the wall is coming I know). As a result, it was only time before she discovered Chola's dogbed. Fortunately I had just washed it, as noted above. I was putting something away and when I came back I found the girl throwing herself on the dogbed. If I had been thinking I would have taken a picture of Chola's face which was something akin to "what-the-hell-now-i've-got-to-share-my-bed-with-the-little-noisy-thing?!" Priceless.

winter sweater

The hat and sweater set.

So I'm forever knitting and starting new knitting projects. Just ask poor Marcus who often has to dig the TV room sofa out from under a pile of yarn and is constantly looking for bigger and tidier baskets I can store my yarns in (good thing he hasn't found my secret stash yet! :)) He's always grumbling about the amount of yarn in the house, tripping over scraps of yarn and pulling knitting needles out of my ponytail (my usual storage spot when I'm working), and complaining that I've never made him anything. While I start tons of projects, the number that actually reach completion is not nearly as impressive. Anyway, I'm proud to say I finally finished an actual project. This one flew by (done in under a week if I had knitted it straight through, but I started it on the way up to DC and then put it down to start another project and just got back to it a couple nights ago - this is why few projects get finished!) and I so enjoyed making this for a certain someone, even if she was a reluctant model.

My reluctant sweater model... always on the move! (Forgive the hair - this picture was taken early morning - you would not have wanted to see my hair!)

Finally still long enough to get a better picture of the sweater.

friday morning with papa

Her first school lunch, complete with her first school lunch note. I did the math - I'll write something like 1200 lunch notes in the coming years. Her lunch, btw, was soy cheese quesadilla bites, mango and mandarin bites, and some sweet potato sticks. She ate almost all of it!

So this past Friday morning I went in to TES to sub so Marcus was in charge of getting Emilia ready for school and on her way. I was more than a little worried about how it would go and in my own OCD way had to write everything down and leave everything out for them. Of course they did fine - she got to school in one piece (though Marcus apparently dropped one of her shoes on the way in and had to go back to the car to get it) and enjoyed her first "full" morning at school until 12:30, complete with lunch.

My list for Marcus. I think I did a good job because I got it down to just one page! :)Her outfit for the day that I laid out for Marcus (yes, her shoes are on top of the diaper genie). This outfit came straight from Finland and the Marimekko shop. So continental! :)

por Dios mama - comprame pantalones!

I swear that's what Emilia has been saying to me for the past few weeks... please Mama - buy me pants that fit!

My friend Caitlin and I have been taking our two girls to Childwatch at the Y. Since we go early in the morning (ugh) I don't bother bathing Emilia or really combing her hair so she goes kind of scruffy looking to the gym. I figure she doesn't smell that badly and if I had to go to the trouble of bathing her and everything, well, I'd never make it to the gym. Besides, it's not like she's going to school or even to playgroup. So in the mornings I just throw some clothes on her and dash out the door.

Well, the other day it turned cooler here and the girl definitely couldn't go in just a onesie - she needed some pants. Now she has jeans from the winter that fit her perfectly now (they were too big then) that she wore in Quito but they were too much of a hassle. So I put her in her pink pull up pants... we bought them in the Spring. Judge for yourself if they were a complete fashion faux pas.

Rest assured - we were at Gymboree today - the girl now has pants that fit her lengthwise!

Forget about Ike

It's hurricane Emilia you have to worry about - at least in the kitchen. Long gone are the days when she would sit nicely on a blanket happily banging away on a pot with a wooden spoon. Now she goes from one cabinet to the other (hmm... maybe we should childproof a few of them?) seeing what she can find. I've already dedicated two cabinets to her, plus the bottom shelf of the pantry. Nevertheless, she leaves a wake of destruction behind her.
Clearly tired of opening cabinets, Emilia decides to grab a bag and head out?

Happily surveying her work.

Okay, so this was quite cool. She actually answered when I asked "cuantos anios tienes"! So exciting!! (Of course, she hasn't done it since).

Rare photo of Emilia and some strange woman.

i swear i only took my eyes off of her for one second

and this is what i saw when i turned around....

that's right - my naked child climbed on top of my trunk in the TV room/playroom. She's been trying to climb it for a few days now. Her new thing is to climb everything - the trunk, the standing toys, the door of the dishwasher (not good!) anything.

Emilia is also getting quite good as saying "byebye" when we are leaving. Whenever we start heading out to the car she starts waving and saying "ba ba" which around here means "bye bye". I'll have to try to get video of it since it's quite cute and one of the few things she actually says. Sum total of words she says: four.

She's also been hard at working cutting those top teeth. The 2nd one on the right popped through a few weeks ago but the 3 other top front teeth have been reluctant to make an appearance. They have been visible since we were in Quito (way back in July) but now they are finally breaking through the skin. It's been a pretty painful experience for her - lots of clear runny mucous out of her nose, some congestion as a result, a sub-normal appetite and lots of fingers and hands in the mouth. The only thing that seems to soothe is some homemade gelatin with fruit in it and crunchy pita crisps. Even her raspberry paci doesn't seem to be doing the trick. It's been so bad that the other day when I woke her up from her nap there were little spots of blood on her sheet. When I checked her head to toe to find the source it became clear - her little gums had been bleeding where the teeth were coming out. Poor booboo. Thank goodness for Orajel and Tylenol.

goodbye, so long, farewell, my friend..

Circa December 2007 - who is that baby??

... good bye, so long, farewell...

Finally, FINALLY put away our good dear friend Mr. Jumperoo Tita bought for Emilia back in December. She was so tiny back then we had to boost her up on a phone book. She hasn't used it in a long time but I've been reluctant to put it away. Today however, as I was making my massive list of home improvements, putting it away seemed like a small step towards getting the TV room/Playroom how I want it to look.

One last picture of Mr. Jumperoo before he went to stay in the attic.

Now, about that ivy in the backyard....

day 2 of school

Before school - admittedly not the best picture, but she wasn't cooperating very much!

Well, Emilia had a successful 2nd day of school today. We walked over to QHP - one of the many reasons I love the school - it's a 10 minute easy walk over. She went over to her teachers, Ms. Courtney & Ms. Annete easily seemed calm enough despite the fact that several of her classmates were in major meltdown mode (lots and LOTS of crying). Emilia stayed calm and cruised her way over to the housekeeping center of the room. When I picked her up at 11:45 she was still fairly happy, though she had just taken a tumble, tripping over her own feet and is now sporting a nice big bruise on her forehead. I swear it seems just as soon as one bruise on her head has healed she smacks it again and gets a new bruise! Poor booboo. In any case there were no crafts to come home today as her schoolbag stayed at school. One of her teachers monograms on the side and offered to monogram the kids bags with their names for a small fee. How could I turn up that offer!?

She already ripped her bow off her head (from the bow party I went to last night).

As a result of her allergic reaction to baba ganoush/eggplant, Emilia is still very phlemmy and congested which means the reactive airway disease has flaired up so she's back on the Albuterol which is no fun as it makes her very hyper. Dr. Walker says she should only need it for about 48 hours though which is good.

After a long day of school - she was asleep the second I put her in the carseat.

who's calling?

Grandpa sent Emilia an old phone from his house the other day because when we visited him she was absolutely fascinated with it. We "hid" it in her toy box and she found it the other day. Total love.

Look at all the buttons to push!!

Calling Grandpa to say thank you.

new "purse"

Emilia recently "added" a new purse to her collection - check it out!

Hey! Check out my new purse! It's the basket from the dishwasher!

With a couple of her purses. You can also see Marcus' crutches and his swollen ankle.

nurse

No pictures to post today because Marcus' computer is plugged in as he's working from home. Why you may ask? Well, it seems my husband thought he could still play like David Beckham (if he ever did) and suffered a really nasty ankle sprain at his game Saturday morning. Ouch. He's even on crutches at this point. To add to the fun, Emilia is cutting a tooth (or perhaps 3 - I'm not very sure) and as a result is a dribbly cranky mess. On top of that it seems she may be allergic to eggs after all. She had her first scrambled egg at the Pancake House Sunday morning and today her face is all irritated and she's full of congestion. Can you tell how much fun we're having????

the very first first day of school

Entrance to preschool.

Well, we all survived (mainly me!) the first day of school. Thank goodness I managed to give Emilia her morning bottle before we left for school since they don't "allow" bottles at school. When we went into the building I was impressed that I didn't hear any babies crying. Granted for many of the classes it was already their 2nd day of school. When we got down the hall to Emilia's room all her classmates were already there, settled, and playing/exploring the different toys in the room. I dropped her off with no tears (from her or me - I managed to hold it together until I got out to the car). When I picked her up she burst into tears when she saw me but I think that was more from tiredness/realizing I hadn't been there the whole time. Her teachers, Miss Courtney and Miss Annete, both gave a great report on Emilia. She had a fine time dancing and clapping her hands when Miss Annete played the guitar and sang (imagine, the Latina likes to dance! :)) They said she was very attached to Miss Courtney and wimpered a bit when she would go to the bathroom to change another baby's diaper, but that she would bounce right back. She had a snack (animal crackers) and that was it! They have a regular schedule I'll post later but for these two beginning weeks they just spend a lot of time exploring the classroom and outdoor playground areas and getting used to it all. I'd say it was a successful (if not exhausting - the girl fell asleep in the car on the way home) first day. Bravo mi nena!

Ready for her first day, loaded down with her bags.


In the car on the way to school.




At the door of her classroom - getting a lay of the land. Dress courtesy of Grandpa. Shoes courtesy of MamaMama.

Crying when she first saw me. She didn't cry like this the whole time but once she saw me she was ready to go apparently! I'm chalking it up to a lack of morning nap.

more new fun

I mentioned earlier Emilia loves opening drawers and taking things out of them. Well today she got into both the panry and the drawer where I keep all my hair stuff. Here is the result.

Who, me?

Waving around some hair clips.

Huh! I found another piece of cotton!

Mama, quieres granola? (Would you like some granola? I brought it from the pantry into the bathroom!)

purse fettish

So we can officially say Emilia takes after me with her love of handbags. Fortunately for her Papa her tastes aren't quite like mine - no Furla, Coach and Gucci (yet!:) but Dean and Deluca, birthday party gift bags, and a shoe box. Why she loves to carry these around I have no idea but if she's crying, it's probably because she doesn't have one of her bags!




Part of her handbag collection.

Carrying around a couple of her bags.

A woman on the move.

soft as...

...cotton! Yesterday morning Emilia and I were brave and went to the Y. I went to a cycling class (ouch! so that's why I've avoided them like the plague!) while Emilia spent an hour in Childwatch, the onsite daycare. She did a great job. She barely looked up at me when I was leaving and when I came back to pick her up she just looked up at me, acknowledged I was there, and went right back playing. It was too funny. I don't think she wanted to leave! Fortunately since we went so early in the morning there were hardly any babies there. Plus, Emilia had her good friend Kyriethere to keep her company (and to comfort - poor Kyrie wasn't too happy at all).



When we were back at home I left Emilia for a minute by herself. She took off (apparently to my bathroom) and when I found her in the kitchen she was doing this...

Hmm...what are these? Let me get a workout for my quads as well!

"Talking" to the cotton balls.

bath time fun

The girl loves having fun in the bath!

party girl

Sitting pretty at Connor's party.


Emilia went to a birthday party yesterday, Monday. It was Connor's 2nd birthday. He is one of our neighbors. Emilia had a grand old time wearing a dress her Farmor bought the fabric for and her great-aunt Siv made for her in Finland over the summer. She looked super cute.

The partygoers - Graham, Reece, Connor, Meg & Emilia. Have you ever seen so many blond-haired kids?!

Playing in the sandbox. I think she thought she was back at the beach!