Wall-E

Last night we took Emma to her first movie, Wall-E. I got the tickets for ordering so much from Disney (summer clearance). We figured with free tickets it was a good time to experiment. We took her portable high chair, snacks and juice. When we got there we saw they had Dibs, the ice-cream pieces you eat with your fingers so we got her some. She was mesmerized, especially while the ice-cream lasted. We learned to hold off on the ice-cream till the previews are over and bring more juice from home. She almost lasted till the end of the movie which we thought was wonderful. She was a very good girl and I think she enjoyed the movie and only missed about 15 minutes of it.

Finally getting there

February
March
April (before I started)
June (got to buy a new outfit at least)
Last week at the zoo when I hit 28lbs

As most of you know I have struggled with my weight for alot of years now. When I was in high school I had it very easy, snickers and coke for breakfast, Mcdonalds for lunch and pasta anything for dinner every day. Since high school that has changed, If I look at pasta I gain a pound or 3. I have tried everything and anything. The dreaded Metabolife years ago, Weight Watchers countless times, the cabbage soup diet and of course the SEE diet, everything you see you eat. I could never bring myself to put the money out for nutra-system or Jenny Craig, but judging from the people at work who have been known to give away their nutra-system meals and eat Jack in the Box after spending hundreds of dollars on Jenny Craig I don't think those work either.

I found about something called SoloSlim thru someone very close to me. It is basically a non prescription appetite suppresent that doesn't contain Ephedra or Caffine. They said how amazing it was and so many people at work were losing gobs of weight. I definately wanted to be on that train!! After checking with my doctor (who gave it a double thumbs up) I jumped on it at the end of April and haven't hit the final destination by a long shot but I am headed in the right direction. As I write this I have now lost 28lbs and counting. I have no idea what is so special about these pills but they have been the best thing I have ever found. There are countless fellow employees that have been taking them too with amazing results. One person I work with has been able to cut his diabetic meds in half and he looks like a new person.

No matter how well this works, I still need help and encouragement along the way, because pasta has been my best friend for so long it is always hard staying away from good friends. At least I eat alot less of it nowadays. Anyway, I included pictures, hopefully you can start to tell the difference. I will keep you updated because putting it out there now definitely makes me accountable to many. I have hit my first goal, my wedding weight, the 2nd goal Shawn and Wendy will be able to verify or not when we get to Mexico in December. The 3rd goal, well that is my personal secret, even from my husband.

County Fair

Thank God for Shout!
Jaida and Emma enjoy the ice-cream

Today we went to the county fair, it is one block over from us so we can just walk and not have to wait in line to park. The family next door joined us and we all had a good time. First we perused the animals, while trying to get from one building to another Neil our neighbor took his stroller thru a narrow opening that wasn't really an opening. I was ready to just go thru the building and walk around the right way but Archie and Amanda decided to haul our stroller over a 6ft cattle fence instead, without Emma in it of course. After dropping stuff out of it, and having a not so easy time hefting it over a older guy walks over and says well there is a gate right there, 10 feet from where we were all making a spectacle of ourselves. We enjoyed looking at the backsides of all the big sized animals while Archie and I both were afraid to turn our backs because of what might come flying out... Seriously I thought I saw muscles contract every time I was within face range and kept imagining what I would do if some cow or horse was having stomach issues that day from being around so many people in the heat. Ugh... Why don't they make the stalls so you can see the animals faces? I saw this family of kids posing by a bull and thought oh that is nice they have one turned around, nope as we got closer they were all posed by the butt, what a family picture. Usually that is what I am trying to keep out of our pictures, my butt. On that note after the elephant ear and ice-cream I am going to be keeping it away from the camera for a while longer. Ok one more mishap and then I am done. Every year they have the County Dairy Women's club sell ice-cream, it is wonderful. I was determined to have some before we left, so Amanda and I stood in a very long line waiting for ice-cream. I got a chocolate shake for me and a cone for Archie and Emma to share, I walked over to Emma bent over and tipped the cone toward her to take a lick and all the ice-cream fell out on the ground in one big glump. Luckily the ladies were very nice and gave us a replacement for free without having to stand in line, remember always keep your ice-cream in the upright position!

Zoo Zoo Zoo

Tuesday we went to the, you guessed it Zoo. We met Kelly, Kaylee, Colby and cousin Rilee. It was a bit chilly but we still had a great time. We were on the fast track thru the sights because we had an appointment to make in the afternoon but still managed to see the important highlights which included the Elephants and the lorakeets. The lorakeets were a little disappointing because there were so many people in the enclosure with the juice to feed them that they wouldn't come by anyone because they were full already. You had to watch out because if they did get close, ummm you could tell they had way too much to drink. The elephants were cool but Colb decided he wanted to look only and not take one home since the poop was way too big to pick up on a daily basis. We need to make a date to go back soon because one thing we never got to was the Dinosaur exhibit which looks very cool.

Ice Cream at the picnic table
Entertaining herself while I washed dishes
She put herself in the tote to play puzzles

At Kellly's playing with her benches, perfect shirt too. About to find out Dad made it a water slide.

Going backwards.
Trying to figure out how to escape.

This has been a lazy weekend for me and Emma but a productive one for Dad. We have been playing inside and out as the pictures reflect. Archie got the kitchen and dining room textured. While that dries he has been working on the backerboard for the tile. We are getting closer and closer to a finished product.

Emma's sleeping has been getting better this weekend too. I layed in her room for an hour the first night and since it was my 1st day off and I had only slept 45 minutes during her nap, I was exhausted too. So I got up told her to go to sleep and went in my bed. I heard her by the gate for a while, but no crying. When I got up later to check her she was asleep in her bed where she stayed all night long! Sunday she napped for approximately 1 1/2 hours, then I put her in her room stayed for only 20 minutes this time and then shut the door for her to go to sleep (same routine we had when she stayed in the crib) She only was up and around for a little bit and when I checked, again in her bed all night long. Today her nap lasted 2 hours, getting back on track! Keeping my fingers crossed that tonight will be easy again.

Zzzzzzzzzzz

Ok, so bedtime has been a nightmare for I can't tell you how many days running now. Monday night I put Emma to bed at 7:30pm because we all had to get up very early for a dotor appointment for Archie. She let me rock her or lay with her it is all running together now but she went to sleep fast. I got quite a bit done that night and headed for the shower at 11:30 ish. I kept hearing noises but wasn't sure what it was and Archie had the baby moniter in the bedroom so I figured if it was her he would get up. Well I kept coming out of the bathroom to listen but wouldn't hear anything when I opened the door. I finally get in the shower and hear and unmistakeable BOOM. I jump out of the shower grab a towel and run in her room, dripping. She is standing at the door saying, "hi". Jeez! I open our door and ask Arch if he heard her, he thought it was me because he kept seeing the light from the bathroom everytime I opened the door. I threw her at him and got back in the shower to finish. When I got out Arch was still contemplating changing her clothes in addition to her diaper because they were wet, well that was because I dripped all over her.... So anyway we try to all lay in our bed and that lasts for about 20 minutes, every time she starts to fall asleep she wants to cuddle with the other parent. So I take her in her room, it is now midnight. I rock her she falls asleep, I put her down, she is wide awake. I lay with her in her crib, she falls asleep, I move my now numb arm, she is awake. We lay on the new mat, she falls asleep, I move, she is awake. When I say awake I mean using her bed as her personal trampoline, trying to play with her toys, standing on the rocker, or trying to rearrange my face in that oh so cute baby way. This literally went on until 3:45 am, when I think she just passed out from pure exhaustion. I got to bed in time for Archie to get ready for his doctor appointment. Her and I had to get up at 7 and she tried to lay back down when I got her up, Oh I don't think so little girl!!! Needless to say it hasn't gone much better in the nights to follow, we considered putting the crib back together and putting one of those nets over it but I seriously doubt it would keep her contained for very long, if even one night. She is way too determined and smart for that, so we will keep chugging and bumping along till we find a way that works.

Bedtime

We have been trying the toddler bed thing now for a couple days. It is not as good as it could be but not as bad as it could be. We now have to lay with her or rock her to sleep first because Emma is not staying in the bed for one second if she is awake and one of us are not in with her. Arch has had some pretty late nights, or should I say early mornings trying to get her to go to sleep in the bed alone. She stands at the gate if you are in another room and says "up, up" when that doesn't work it is "up, up, teaze (please)" She is getting better at letting me rock her, she has always preferred Archie for some reason, but since this new bed thing she lets me. She has maybe fallen out once, I went in to find her with her head under the crib, I think she was just disoriented. Since then we put a nightlight in her room, of course one that screwed in because the first thing she did was try to pull it out. The safety rail didn't work for a couple reasons, one it was too high and instead of going around she kept trying to climb over, two I can't lay with her then if I need to. Her bed is so low to the ground anyway it is no big deal. I got one of those sleep/exercise/camping mats at Costco to lay next to her if she falls, it works out great because you just shove it under the bed during the day. Also her newest word is "bubbles" and "dough (no)".

Escapee

The picture I received last night while at work.

Sigh.... I thought we had a couple more months at least. I put pillows around Emma's crib the night we got home from Hermiston just in case she tried to crawl out of her crib with her new found knowledge. I breathed a sigh of relief the first night... the second night when I called to check on Arch and Emma he said he had caught her on the rail 3x. Then it was inevitable she climbed down. Then again this morning she lay talking in her bed as usual then all of the sudden she said, "Up, up" Before Archie could get in her room she met him at the door, "Hi!". We are converting her crib to a toddler bed today just on the off chance she falls while attempting her acrobatics. She manages to get down just fine like a cat landing on her feet but, just in case. And Kelly can attest, I did have the kid harness in my hand at the store but decided I just couldn't do it. Lucky we live on a quiet cul-d-sac for all the times she runs in the street if we lived on a busier street I probably would have had heart failure by now. For now we will continue chasing her, playing her game, she peeks back every now and then with a grin on her face knowing you will follow. Then again the harness was only $7.

Stars and Stripes

This weekend we went to Hermiston to spend time with Archie's daughter and her family. Emma decided she is no longer going to sleep in the car on long trips. She finds it more entertaining to keep mommy up by screaming for a toy or whatever until I wake up to give it to her. So I no longer get to sleep in the car either, which means we may have to rethink leaving right after work for me and coming home hours before I have to work or I could just get an intravenous drip of caffeine.

We went Tammy and Don's for dinner and then to the river in Kennewick for fireworks. We all had a good time and Emma loved being with all the other kids.

The rest of the weekend we spent splashing in the kiddie pool, chasing chickens and playing with the 2 new kittens. Emma also figured out that she could open all the doors in Kelly's house because they are the long decorative ones. She also tried and successfully climbed out of the pack and play at nap time, then walked out of the bedroom because she can open the door. She is a pro at the stairs now too! She also put two words together since she realized they work better, " Up, Teaze" We heard it all the way home, she wanted out of the car seat ..... because she didn't want to sleep.

Bubbles n baseball

Emma's friend Ava sent her 1/2 birthday presents and we played with one yesterday. She had more fun throwing the ball off the t than hitting it but she will get the hang of it. She loves chasing bubbles, but likes touching the bubble machine more. We have to find a way to put it out of her reach when we are playing with it. She enjoyed snacks on her picnic table with daddy yesterday too while mom tried to get a few more zzz's in. Didn't work I spent most of the time watching them out the window wishing I was out there too.

Dance, Dance

Emma has learned how to dance, I believe from her friend next door. It is way too cute, she either twirls around in circles or else she bounces up and down (baby form of the Kennedy for those of you who are familiar). All you have to say is Dance, dance and she is bouncing away. We were trying to wean her off the bottle but never really did because of convenience, she seems to be doing it herself now. She will only drink about half and then just wants to play with it and fling milk all over herself and the lucky parent that is giving it to her. She is also becoming a little girly girl wanting to dress up with hats, scarves or mom's silkies. I hear her stirring, that means I have to run and change the laundry before she is fully awake!