giveaways and i'm going away

first, my friend kim has a pretty cool blog. there is a link to it on the side of my site, but i also wanted to tell you about it. she does all sorts of stuff on it (not just writing about her kid, which is what i do). she does reviews of products and has all sorts of free give aways. she tests out different cloth diapers and different "green" products. this week she is doing tons of give aways. you should go check out her site at www.dirtydiaperlaundry.com and enter yourself in one of her giveaways! i know i am!! who doesn't love free stuff and winning things?!?!

also, we are headed back to gloucester tomorrow. we are picking up brads mom at logan airport and spending a few days in gloucester with her, showing her all the sites and taking her on a boat tour and other neat things. she has never been to the north east before, so it will be cool to show her around. also, i think she will get along well with my parents, though the accent difference will be interesting! it will also be her first time getting to meet emerson and bradley. she is going to be beside herself...especially with emerson! this is her only grand daughter....out of 9 (soon to be 10!) grandkids! so...although i would love to get together with other massachusetts peeps, this vacation is going to be pretty much strictly family. weird. hehe.

it also should be interested driving back to ny for 6-7 hours with me, brad, brads mom, bradley and emerson in my tiny honda fit....along with all of our stuff and her luggage. i should take pictures of us in the car...because i am sure its going to look like a clown car!

anyway, go check out kim's site for the giveaways...and also check out some cute pics of her son fletcher. there are even pics of emerson and fletcher on her site. they are gonna get married someday! hehe...

catching up..

its been a while. i know. well, here is the skinny on what has been going on lately. i haven't actually read my own blog in a while so if i repeat myself, deal with it. hehe. okay, to update on the height issue with emerson...she grew 1.5 inches, so i guess we are all good. she was just holding out on us!

we just got back from a weeklong visit in gloucester. the next post has lots of pics. while i was home, i let emerson break the news that brad and i are expecting again. emerson had a cute shirt she was wearing when they came home...it said on the front "guess what a little birdie told me" and on the back it said "i'm going to be a big sister!" it took my family a long time to catch on, and ashley finally had to help tip them off. it was pretty funny.

but anyway, the visit went well. better than expected. obviously there was some apprehension with how the family would deal with my news, and also with having a 6 year old constantly around. although they could have been a little quicker to pick up on my news, they dealt really well with brads son, which was great. also, for most of the trip, bradley had really good behavior.

of course, that all went out the window today once we were home. haha. today we dealt with him wanting to watch tv all day (it was beautiful outside!) and asking numerous times if he can play video games. we also dealt with tantrums at target and the grocery store (most 6 year olds dont like running errands, but hey..they have to deal with it or we will never have food or household supplies!) we did go to the park today. it was hilarious. bradley was afraid to climb any of the climbing parts of the playground. there was a pirate ship that he had fun in, and he went down the slide a few times. i convinced him to come swing with me and emerson and it turns out he doesnt know how to swing. i tried teaching him but he didnt quite get that you had to lean your body back to go up. he would just look up to the sky. he was too afraid to lean back. brad came over and gave him a good push....which resulted in bradley crying and screaming because i guess he is too afraid to actually swing. its funny because it is totally the opposite of how brad and i were as kids. we are trying so hard to let him have fun and try to expose him to new things, but are shocked time and time again by the results. i hope that some of it soaks in and he can appreciate that we arent just trying to be "mean" by not letting him play video games and watch tv all day. i hope that he will see that we were trying to help him by making him be more active and also hopefully help him to fit in better with other kids once he goes home so they dont make fun of him as much. my mother had a good idea to write in a book..i think that brad is going to make a scrapbook of pictures and short stories of this summer so bradley can take it home with him. that way he can remember what he did this summer and also remember fun times with his dad and sister.

anyway, on to emerson. she is doing the army crawl and is probably days from crawling. i need a baby proofing fairy to come to my house. i also need a magical fairy to make me a basement to put all the extra crap in my house. she is starting to pull up on things and is super funny. she blows kisses but doesnt get the right motion, so she sucks in her lip instead. it makes the same noise but looks hilarious.

anyway, this post and the following picture post has taken me about 2 hours. i am done. heh. happy robin?? haha

photo craziness...

okay...here are lots of pics and some descriptions to go with them!

bradley and emerson's first train ride...into boston!

emerson loves to hold onto poles. notice a theme in the pics. hehe.
excited on the pole

here is a bubble pole at the childrens museum..and emerson standing on her own!

making her "mad" face...hahaha

i think brad liked the bubble room as much as bradley!

bradley under the turtle tank

butterflies landing on brad

emerson's first subway (T) ride. she knew exactly what to do so she wouldnt fall!

auntie kia (chocolate auntie) with baby camden and us!

brad and emerson looking out into the ocean in gloucester..

letting emerson get her feet wet.

bradley and emerson getting to see boats go through the bridge for the first time.

emerson riding a squirrel at stage fort park

emerson and daddy on the squirrel

emerson loved swinging!

emerson likes sean's box better! at sean's 1st birthday party!

emerson sitting in the sand at stage fort

me and emerson on the 4th of july! she is a party animal!

emerson and cousin hayley in the pool

playing in her baby pool on the 4th of july

busy busy bee

i know i have been neglecting the blog and many have mentioned the lack of posts lately. i have had a hard time finding time to blog. anyway, school is almost done and with that comes.....SUMMER! woot woot! i am excited to get to spend the summer with emerson and also do fun things with bradley and brad as well. its gonna be a busy last few days, and bittersweet as well, since i wont be returning to teach at the same school for next year. i have applied at so many schools but havent heard anything. i could be living in ny or maybe massachusetts, rhode island or even texas! we will see! of course, i might end up sitting on my tushie collecting unemployment if i cant find a job, but we will make it work.

anyway, to those of you have havent seen emerson lately, you are missing out big time! she is sooo funny! she still screams for fun and blows rasberries at you, but she makes her "mad" face all the time. i dont know if she is actually mad or not. she is picking up little puff baby food and getting it into her mouth.

she pulled herself up to standing on 6/16 when i was giving her a bath. she just pulled right up on the edge of the tub and grabbed a shampoo bottle and threw it on the ground. and so the destruction begins! i need to hire someone to come to my house and get rid of the junk and organize things.... MOM??? seriously, if you havent met my mom, she is possibly the most organized, neat, clean-obsessed person in the world. i, however, did not inherit that trait. that becomes obvious the moment you walk into my house. hello clutter city! it probably doesnt help that my house is only a measly 864 square feet. yeah....its tiny. without a basement. not sure how to even begin to de-clutter and organize this place to make it crawl-safe! hehe.

anyway, moving on.....to bed. well, i might sneak a few bites of my ben and jerry's first, but then off to bed. 3 more days of school left!! (and i think i am bringing emerson on wednesday!)

here ya go!

the past few weeks have been so crazy so i havent been able to find the time to post. and now probably isnt the best time since i am tired and its late and my brain is fried. but if nothing else, you get some new pics of the cutest baby in the world. hehe. she is doing well and has recently decided that 3 steps away from her is too far and she will cry. extreme seperation anxiety i guess. emerson is definitely extreme. hehe. she also says dada, nana, mama (though not often) and baba, which she just added yesterday. tonight she was talking to a horton the who stuffed animal (thanks robin!) and having a whole conversation and was actually mixing up the different sounds...it sounded like she was having a gibberish conversation and she sounded mad and was yelling at horton. i'm not sure what horton did wrong but if he understood her, i'm sure he will never do it again. she just discovered today that she likes him. i think because he has an elephant trunk, which fits perfectly in emersons mouth to chomp on. also he has a fuzzy tail, which i think makes emerson think of the cats tails, which she sooooo loves to grab. i think by the time she learns not to rip out dante and ophelias fur, the cats wont have any left. also, horton has fuzzy eyebrows, which emerson likes to touch and occasionally licks (weird kid!)

anyway, here are some pics...first pic is of emerson on the new couches! yay! thanks mom and dad! i get to try out the sleeper part tomorrow night because brads son is coming tomorrow. i'll let you guys know how comfy it is!

see how happy she is that she has new couches??
going out for a walk in a cute outfit that aunt ashley bought her. the hat almost doesnt fit cuz emerson has such a big head!

emerson and daddy reading together...

her first biter biscuit. and possibly her last. it was MESSY!

okay...now i am going to bed! one of these days i am going to start posting more (probably when school is out for the summer!)

randomness and the infamous nerd bangs

nerd bangs after cutting them! i should have left them alone!

the bangs the day before...looking scraggely
looking cute in her bathing suit.

eating prunes

me with a sleepy emerson

i was told that i needed to update the blog...and so, here i am! lets see...what has gone on lately? well, in the biggest news of all, (not really emerson related), brad's long lost 6 year old son is coming to live with us for the summer. a little crazy and boy is life gonna be different (i might have to actually cook and stuff!) but i am really happy that brad is getting the opportunity to see his son again and bond with him.

emerson is doing well. she is getting better at sitting and not tipping over. she rolls everywhere and can change directions to get what she wants but has no desire to get up on all fours and make an attempt at crawlin....which is fine with me for now anyway. she says da-da and na-na all the time. so far no ma-ma :(

we got her this alligator xylophone the other day at target and its her new favorite toy. apparently we need to get more interactive toys instead of the boring handheld toys. i want to get her something so she can stand up holding onto something. my house is starting to become over run with toys! hehe

video time

first she had her 6 month dr appt the other day. she is almost 7 months though. here are some stats:

weight: 16.6lbs (43rd percentile)

length: 25 inches...same as at her 4 month appt. (12th percentile)

head 17.3 (79th percentile)

thats right! she is a bobble head! hehe its amazing she can sit up and balance that noggin!

anyway, here are some cute videos from the past week.

emerson has a new face that she makes...she has anger issue..hehe.

this is emerson and i at her 2nd swim class. shes a natural! ps...pay no attention to my cleavage.

this is a video of emerson sort of enjoying the swings/holding on for dear life. hehe