Emily

As I was going through and getting out Emily's summer clothes, I found this apron! Now she can help me when I'm cooking and maybe I won't have to change her when she's done!


How beautiful!

We went to feed the ducks and she loved it. There were also a bunch of a fish and a bumblebee so it was very exciting for Emily.

Emily and Daddy feeding the ducks. They actually ate out of Matt's hand!

Emily's newest thing is puzzles! She has three others (a monkey, an elephant and a lion) and we do them at least 10 times EACH a day. Today she actually did the monkey one all by herself! This one is the easiest because where the pieces go, there are actually indents, but the other ones are just like normal puzzles. I was impressed!

Emily

Here are some pictures of Emily because she's beautiful!

Great video!

Saw this on YouTube and it's great!

If it's not showing the whole side, here's the link for the video on YouTube.

Spring, spring, spring!

Every morning I wake up to this. Matt's allergic to dogwoods, but I can heartily appreciate them and breathe it all in.

This is how Emily eats "piggies-in-the-blanket". Here I cut up the piggies and she removed all the hot dogs from the middle.

My beautiful daughter! 20 months old.

She loves to "heppe mommy" or help mommy. She "heppe push" and "heppe disses" (dishes) and "heppe keen" (clean). The wagon is a little heavy for her though so it usually takes a little bit for her to get started and then she can move easily.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I love spring! I especially love spring in the Midwest. Sure, it's been rainy for most of this week but now everything is GREEN! The dogwoods have bloomed and are now almost all green, the tulips and daffodils are up and other things are starting to bud.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I was able to finish spring cleaning today (YAY!) because it was nice enough to clean the windows. Ironically, I finished spring cleaning just in time to clean my house for it's usual cleaning. Woohoo. A mother's work is never done.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I'm officially FULL TERM (as of the 13th). It looks like the baby is going to hang out in there for a few more weeks, but I'm a little worried because my Dr. will be out of town the last few days of April.......and Matt has two big finals while my Dr. is out of town. Knock on wood.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------P.S. Does anyone know how to format the pictures so I can write above them instead of below them?

Busy updates

Well, I know that I've been slacking...but we've been busy.

Spring Cleaning: has been going on for two weeks. People say, "Oh, you're nesting." But I think that nesting implies a motivation and frantic desire, whereas the spring cleaning has been the bane of my existence for a month. However, I'm ALMOST DONE! All that's left is cleaning the inside/outside of 5 windows and scrubbing the kitchen floor. After wiping down all the walls, moving all the furniture and vacuuming behind it, wiping down floorboards, wiping down EVERY shelf in our apartment, cleaning out the freezer and scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing, I admit that I'm relieved it's done.

My mom used to do a spring cleaning (and I think a fall one too) every year. I don't remember much except that my job was to do all the windows. I hated this job because we had the oooooold windows with three panes. Between each panes spiders would live and lay their eggs in the winter. So as I took out each pane, I had to use a knife to fling the spiders and their egg sacs outside. More than once the spider decided to crawl onto me, or the egg sac exploded with baby spiders. Definitely NOT my favorite job, and quite possibly the reason for my hatred of spiders to this day. But the principle was not lost on me--do your spring cleaning and you won't get more spiders! So now I spring clean. Thanks Mom!

Easter: was wonderful. It was busy as church and I am grateful to Matt and my in-laws for taking care of Emily while I played the organ for multiple hymns. We had a big Easter dinner with yummy yummy ham my mother-in-law made. My parents gave us some wonderful gifts which I'm so excited to use, because I got a cake decorating kit! Emily got bowling pins in animal shape. Will put up a video of those soon.

Getting ready for baby: Although spring cleaning counts as part of this, I've also been trying to get rid of things to make more room for the baby. Also I've been trying to plan ahead, so I'm pre-preparing lessons, activities, buying diapers and getting LOTS OF SLEEP. I still have to get out the baby clothes though...

Matt's been really busy with school too, and it's going to get busier so Emily and I spend a lot of time outside to give Daddy time to study.

One last thing--I'm 37 weeks today! Last week I had an appointment and she was estimated about 7 lbs, head down but "sunny-side up" and I was already dilated 2cm. So we'll see when she arrives, although secretly I'm hoping it's not until I'm around 39 weeks so I have a few more precious weeks to spend with my little sweetheart, Emily.

One month left to go!

Emily being my big helper and, as she puts it, "Dishes, help?"

Emily in her beautiful dress. She was having a toddler moment, hence the frowny face.

Matt and Emily right after she woke up from her nap. It's not often that Daddy is there to cuddle with her so we all enjoyed the moment.

Emily this morning. I just think she looks cute!

Emily practicing being a big sister. Her baby doll now has to have its diaper changed (I put it on, she takes it off, I put it on again. Repeat 10 times). I also have to swaddle the baby and we have to put the baby to "seep" (sleep) on the nearest pillow or blanket. Good practice for the new baby, although I'm not sure I'm going to let Emily drag her little sister around by the hair as she does her baby doll.

Life

We haven't posted pictures lately because Emily (through me) cracked the LCD on our camera so we ordered a new-ish one. Same camera as before. Anyway, I thought I'd catch you up on photos.