Dinner Out

Our favorite restaurant is a greek place near our house. It has the best, reasonably priced food and Emmy loves it too which makes our lives a lot easier. She loves her "ziki (tzatziki) and pita" but also will eat falafel, veggies, chicken, etc. You name it, if it is served at the greek place, she'll eat it. She is such a crack-up too, she has the bussers fill up her water cup when they fill ours and gives her plate the the server when she is done. You can tell she enjoys the whole experience :)

Playing with her stickers





My mom is not the only one in the fam who can knit! I knit Emmy this scarf months ago and she wanted to have nothing to do with it until this past week. She had to throw her scarf around her neck before we left for dinner, such a diva.

Visit

Last week Josh's parents came down to visit with their new puppy Piper. Emmy had lots of fun catching up with Grandma and Grandpa. She kept them busy - Emmy style. She doesn't stop these days, she is constantly jumping, running and singing - so much fun.

Playing Golf with Grandpa






I think she has about 12 babies now, putting half of them to sleep




I love her face in this one....

Potty Training

Emmy was a pretty early eater, walker, talker, jumper, etc, so I had thought that she'd be potty trained pretty early as well - the pattern stops here. Yes, she is still pretty young but I see no toilet in sight for a while anyway. The first time we put the potty on the floor she peed it in. She knows what to do and when to do it but refuses to go anywhere near the damn potty. She thinks it is yucky and gross so I have not been pushing it for fear that I completely turn her off of it altogether. She we have been waiting patiently, talking about it asking her if she wants to go, etc.

Well, today Josh picked her up from daycare. When we do she likes to show us around and tell us where she ate and what she did. Today she took Josh into the bathroom, stood in front of the urinal (there is also a potty for the ladies), dropped her drawers and said "Emmy go pee pee". One step closer? Sort of?

She sure does keep things interesting around here!

Fun Day!

Today was one of those days that remind me of why I do all I do and why we pay so much to live where we do. Emmy and I had a great trip to Sea World today! Despite some challenges in the past few days, Emmy was a complete angel, such a good girl. We checked out the penguins, seals and of course Sesame Street Land. The characters were out in full force dancing and singing. I thought Emmy was going to pee her pants (I am sure she did) she was so excited. Then she got to give Elmo high 5 and is still talking about how he tickled her. She is so cute and so full of personality these days. When we were leaving she looked back at me while in her stroller and said "that fun" with a big smile. It just melted my heart and reminded me of what really is all about.

Our Trip

We had such a great trip to New York last week. It was so nice to be able to catch up with Marc, tour around NYC and have a little break from parenthood. We stayed with my brother at his apartment which was awesome. He was kind enough to give us his bed and sleep on the air mattress so we slept in comfort :) We had a great balance of touristy activities along with a tour from a local, lots of good food, drinking, shopping and WALKING! We had a few hilarious moments that involved a lot of wind/rain/umbrellas, a woman's long disgusting hair and learning about a statue of my brother somewhere in Florida! We also were frequent riders of the subway, Josh even found our way home by ourselves! I was so proud. I don't know if I could ever live in a a major city (at least not now with kids) but I sure do love visiting. There is something amazing about bundling up and hitting the streets with millions of other people. I love it!

A few pics of our fabulous trip:

Times Square




We went to the top of the Empire State Building and it was snowing! It was brutally cold and windy but magical!






The subway master




Can you tell we are related? I swear we did not purposely pose to sit in the exact same position



It only rained one day but that didn't stop us hiking around the city. I thought it was amazing to see these old churches in the middle of so many high rises. I love that I caught Josh in this pic holding my umbrella :)



Outside my brother's pad in NYC. I still can't believe he has been there since July!






We got home Saturday night and if you can believe it I had to leave first thing Monday morning for Missouri for a client meeting. I have never left Emmy for so long, the second trip was rough, I missed her so much. Let me tell you I went from a busy city to the middle of nowhere in less than 48 hours. It was exhausting to travel to another different time zone in the midst of the time change! Always interesting traveling stories, this trip involved some sort of huge bird....

The lovely view from the Holiday Inn in Kirksville Missouri (that was the main drag).

It has been a long few weeks...

I think we are all beat, even Emmy! Here she is eating, dropping crumbs on her big belly and watching Barney...






Josh and I both took new positions within our current companies. Well, Josh took a promotion and I am taking on a lot more work since a number of people are leaving. Needless to say, we have been busy, overwhelmed and tired. Hopefully once we get through these next few months, things will get easier.

In the meantime, we are going on vacation next week. NYC HERE WE COME! Josh and I are going ot visit my brother and Emmy is going to hang out with my mom. I am so excited to have a break I can't wait! If anyone has recommendations of where to eat, shop and drink, please send them my way!