Emma's Biggest Adventure Yet Is Coming Soon

Emma's next big adventure will be happening at some point in December. A sibling!

As many of you already know, but we are expecting kid two in December. For those who are curious, this will be kid two and the final kid. We are stopping at two!  It was actually a pretty big decision for us to have kid two since we were not sure that we wanted to disrupt the new family dynamics that have evolved over the past two years. Also, this whole parenting thing is a lot of work-- more so than I ever expected. But in the end, we decided that Emma needed a sibling and heck two can't be that much more work than one, right? 

Jelly Bean (as we have decided to call it) is due December 3rd, but I'm hoping for a delivery before Thanksgiving. Mostly because I want to stay as far away from Christmas as possible and because I'm ready to be done being pregnant already. We are 26 weeks-- 2 weeks away from the third trimester already. Thank god!

I did not enjoy pregnancy the first time around and this time is just as bad. It is so much harder being pregnant with a two year old running around too. All I want to do is run around with Emma at the park or the pool, but I don't have energy, stamina, and I have too much pain for much of anything. I had morning sickness with Emma but it ended as the second trimester started. This time around it is going on six months. It has finally eased up a little this past week, but I'm sure that is just a fluke and will return in full force soon. My back pain is back, which means that I can't do much walking, lifting, bending, etc. I hate it because it means that I can't play as easily with Emma, so I leave that part to John. I don't think Emma notices, but I still feel bad about it and can't wait until December.

We had our ultrasound in July and everything looked normal and perfect at this point. They didn't give us digital photos at this one (just old school print outs), so the photos below are from our 13 week ultrasound. I'm going to post them because in reality both sets of photos look the same and I haven't had time to scan in the print outs. Also, the kid was not the most cooperative at the ultrasound in July, so the 13 week ones are actually better shots.

Two Years Old

Last month, we celebrated Emma's second birthday. It was a very laid back affair with a trip to the doctor, some swimming and "go go" of course (her word for any type of dessert). Emma is in love with Minnie and Mickey, so we made sure to get a cake with Minnie on it.

I can't believe that Emma is two years old-- it has been a crazy adventure so far. It is amazing how much she has learned and changed over the last two years. From a newborn who couldn't move to a two year old who won't stop talking and would go swimming for hours every day if we let her. I can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Obsession with the dog and cat

After a long gap in writing, I'm posting a few posts about the last few months (and other things that are interesting to me at least). This post's topic is about how obsessed Emma is with the dog and cat.  

Emma LOVES Chloe the dog and Toby the cat to the point where I would call it an obsession. Emma is two years old and this obsession has been going on for about 9 months now. At least now, she is much better at petting than six months ago. Thank goodness Chloe is such a great dog around kids (and Toby just ignores her).

Emma's first word was dog. The first thing Emma does in the morning is look for the dog and cat. Her favorite chore is to "feed" the dog and every time she sees that the bowl is empty she looks at me and does her sign for more or now she says "mo mo". She also tells me that Chloe needs more food even when there is still food in the bowl. Chloe is going to gain a lot of weight.  Emma is very good about making sure Chloe has a bone or her favorite stuffed green dog, regardless of whether Chloe wants it or not. She even likes to play "chase" in the park with Chloe 

Her word for dog is whoa whoa and for cat it is meow. She finally within the last couple weeks started being able to say Chloe and Toby, but still prefers to call them by the sound they make most of the time.

It looks we have an animal lover!

Playing in the dog crate

Toddler Conversations

Emma was slow to talk, but now that she is talking we can't get her to be quiet! It has made life very interesting and funny all at the same time. Each day her sentences get more complex and she is starting to vocalize more complex ideas too.

 Here are some of my favorite conversations and words that Emma used (she has transitioned to the correct word for most of these now though).

Gogo: started out as cupcake, but became any dessert

Whoa whoa: dogs

Meow: cats

Mingo: flamingo

doodle: rooster

Go gone: all gone

Colored Cheerios: Fruit Loops

Tummy Button: belly button 

Emma had some trouble pronouncing "f", so all words that start with f sound like s-- food becomes sood, phone becomes shone, etc. 

Here are a couple conversations that crack me up:

The "you have to work to feed the piggy" conversation:

(We wanted to teach Emma the concept of work and money, and this turned into one of our daily conversation about six months ago).
Emma: "Work"
Mom or Dad: "That's right. We need to go to work. Mom and Dad go to work and Emma goes to Grandma and Grandpa's to work."
Emma: "Money"
Mom or Dad: "Yes, we have to go to work to make money"
Emma: "Piggy"
Mom or Dad: "Yes, you put your money your piggy bank to save it.  What are you saving it for?"
Emma: "College"
Mom or Dad: "Are you saving for St. Olaf?"

This is the point where the conversation is obviously biased by her parents.

Clifford Conversation:

We have a Clifford the Big Red Dog story that Emma loves. The story ends with the main character saying something like this: "You can keep all of your white, brown, spotted dogs. I will keep Clifford. Wouldn't you?". 

Emma always ends this story by saying, "No, I will keep my white dog" and points to Chloe.

I can't get enough of her talking and how she pronounces things. I think it is so adorable!