Blowin' Bubbles with Daddy

Emma had got bubbles in her stocking and we've got them out several times, just not outside and with a camera handy.

She's very interested in them and can't figure out where they go.

Mommy was getting dinner prepared for Daddy's birthday, so Daddy was on baby patrol. Bubbles was a good way to be outside and keep them both entertained!

Actually, bubbles would be a good idea for this afternoon, as well. I have been taking her outside most days and sitting in the grass. We take a ball or other toy with us, as well as the ol' camera. I just want her to get used to the feel and sight of the grass. She isn't too sure about a lot of textures and for now she refuses to crawl on the grass because of how it feels on her skin! She'll sit just fine and play with the grass or leaves ( and even try to eat them), but when you prompt her to crawl... no way!

Martin's Birthday

Martin celebrated his 44th birthday on March 10th. I guess I'm running a bit behind on the ol' blogging. Sorry Babe!

Here is Martin with his birthday cake. He asked for Black Forest Gateaux, which is his favorite cake in the entire world. So, I searched the web for Black Forest Gateaux recipes and then Black Forest Cake recipes and finally settled on one.

I made him Chocolate Chip-Banana Muffins for breakfast. He does love him some muffins!

I had found the recipe on the flour bag and it sounded yummo (and it was).

Chocolate Chip-Banana Muffins

2 large ripe bananas

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

6 tbs melted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup buttermilk

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Mini chips)

3/4 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350. Ina medium bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Add sugar and eggs and mix well. Stir in the melted butter and vanilla.

Add the flour, baking soda and buttermilk. Stir with a fork just enough to combine. Stir in choc. chips and nuts.

Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups (either line with muffin papers or spray with non-stick spray), filling almost full.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden. Let muffins stand for 5 minutes; then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

*I made mini muffins and it made approx. 30. Baked approx. 12-14 minutes.

Here I am after slaving for a large portion of the day over this birthday treat. It had 4 buttermilk devil's food cake layers (spritzed with coffee), with buttercream frosting (had cherry syrup and coffee in it) and cherries in between the layers and real, whipped, heavy cream frosting with shaved chocolate over it, along with Maraschino cherries. It was also the first time I got to use the black transferware cake stand that Aunt Ruth had bought us for a wedding gift! It was actually quite delish! I am not a big lover of fruit in desserts, but I did help eat our way through this cake!! He enjoyed it so much that he just might want it again every year!!!!

Dad & Mom came to eat dinner with us and enjoy his cake. It was so nice out that we ate out on the porch. I made Bruschetta chicken, pull apart bread w/ onions & garlic, cauliflower w/ cheese and Mom brought the salad. I set the table with red & black place mats, red dishes, black napkins and red & black beaded napkin rings.

Here is a picture of the inside of the cake. Between what we ate that night and what we sent home with Mom & Dad and for the Grandparents, there was about half of the cake left. Martin proceeded to eat a chunk of cake for any and all reasons that he could think of over the next 2-3 days. For breakfast. I took out the rubbish and now I need a treat. For lunch. I put away my laundry and am now famished. Might need another bit of cake. :) I do mean any reason he could come up with for needing another bit of cake, he found or invented it! Anyway, I'm happy that he liked it!

Trying Out The New Car

We found a Playskool car/push toy at a yard sale recently and Emma is trying it out:

I paid $1 for it, as it was in great shape, other than the little "hood" type flap was missing. Because it was missing, I did not know at that time that it was a name brand toy. I also didn't realize that it was also a car/vehicle. It was set up as a push toy and I was willing to pay $1 for that. Once we got it home, Martin started messing around with it and found that it had a button to push and it collapsed down and became a vehicle! She's not quite ready for the push toy, so a vehicle made it usable right now.

Later that week, the new Toys R US leaflet came and Martin looked through it and exclaimed "here is Emma's car. On sale for $24.99." I couldn't believe it! It was Playskool and it was a $28 item and we paid $1 for it!!! Thank you, Lord! She needed different, big girl toys and that one day of yard sales we found about $125 worth and only paid about $12.

She wasn't too sure about that car at first, but after a few times of trying it out, she now loves it! She is slowly learning that if she moves her feet, she moves the car. Come on, girlfriend. Going fast is fun!

Oops! Also learning that if you lean too far over, you fall off! And go Boom!

Emma Learned to Crawl...

I should have posted these along with the Learning to Crawl video clip. But, here are the pictures taken on the Sunday that she really learned to crawl. When I left the room she was at the blocks in the center of the room and a few minutes later when I returned she was over at the bookcase!

And, guess what... she chose the blue book! Notice that it was the blue block that she took most of the way with her.

She does love to look at books! We have been reading to her since she was a newborn! ("Natalie" bear is on the lower book shelf. From Aunt Ruth. Bought from Harrods in England.)

We have been teaching her some simple signing, as well. She knows the sign for MILK and I am trying to work on 'please, all done, drink and eat'. We'll see how long it takes, as she can be quite stubborn!

I fed her the bottle, put her down again and left the room. I returned a few minutes late to find her over at the dresser and ready to pull out the shoe basket! She's a quick one! Our life has changed so much since learning to crawl!

Beach Walk... Or Beach Blow Us Away

At the beginning of March, when we had a several day cold spell, Daddy insisted that we go to the beach while in Hobe Sound one day. :( He wanted to walk on the beach, but it was so incredibly windy. I had been out to lunch w/ Mom & her sisters and had no jacket. I borrowed one from Mom and we did go down to the beach and took some pictures. It was so cold & windy that I would not take off my jacket in order to get a picture of me & Emma. I just played photographer! About a week or so later when it was nice & warm, we did go to the same beach and took pictures. I'll post them later on.

Daddy is telling Emma how she will swim in the ocean someday.

Check out her cute little pink Crocs/ Polliwogs from Auntie Ruth. She bought them for Halie, who passed them on to us. We are about to outgrow them and I just found a new pair of hot pink ones today in her size!

Daddy let her stand in the sand and she wasn't too sure about it and how it felt (even coming in through the holes in her shoes).

Posing on the ramp at Hobe Beach.

Do Ya Think Emma Prefers The Color Blue?

We were at Wal Mart and Daddy took her to the toys to get a ball. He showed her a pink one and this blue one. They returned to me with a blue one and I was a bit perturbed w/ Daddy's color choice. But, he quickly corrected me and said that Emma had chosen it. I'm thinking "yeah, right. She's 9 months old. How did SHE choose it?"
Later that week, we were playing in her room and I realized that she did prefer the blue toys. You will see her here with blue shape blocks.

And here she could have chosen any book off the shelf and she chose the big blue one, which was on the far left and not the easiest to get out.

The video is taken when I had realized that she preferred the blue blocks and had tested the idea out several times and now we were showing it to Daddy. (remember to double click on the arrow to start the video)

So, what do you think? Does Emma prefer blue? Daddy is happy. He says this just proves shes gonna be a tomboy and like to do outdoor stuff with him someday! :)

March 1- 9 Months

Posting this a bit late, but late is better than never I guess.

Emma dressed & ready for church. Mommy was rushing around trying to get it all together, for church, lunch and the long afternoon (My Mom's sister's were here that weekend). But, I made sure we got pictures of Emma before we left! I want to be able to do a scrapbook page of her monthly "birthday" pictures. Quite a lot of them have fallen on a Sunday it seems.

Emma loves to clap her hands now! Or at least she did in these pictures! She is refusing to do it right now, as she has other skills that are newer and cooler to her.

Posing with Mommy before church.

Posing with Daddy, as well. Notice how we coordinated today? We try to do that each Sunday. Her dress was white with pink trim & pink and light blue embroidered flowers. So, Daddy wore his pink shirt & tie and I wore the light blue. What a cute family. Don'tcha think???

Jumpin' Emma

Several of you have asked if Emma still enjoys her Johnny Jumper, so here is a lil' video clip that shows that she definitely does! Now, she does not like for you to walk away from her while she is jumping tho'. Needs an active audience, I guess.

Miso Cute

While my aunts were all here for their Sister's Week, we went out for Chinese. This gave Emma the prime opportunity to wear her "Miso Cute" onesie that Aunt Stephanie made/gave her.

Mom & Dad acting silly at China Garden.

Emma keeping us all entertained. The waitress and the host talked to her every time they walked by! She did pretty good for being out well past her bedtime and having teething issues.

Having my eyes closed again! I'm too good at closing my eyes for pictures!

On a Hike

One of the many hobbies that my hubby enjoys is called Geo Cache. You use a handheld GPS to find a "cache" or a treasure, of sorts. The co-ordinants are entered into the GPS and you hike around a park's trails in search of the cache. We went to a local park and went searching... and searching... and searching... but to no avail. We just could not find the cache even though the GPS said we were within 8 feet of it and after 15 minutes of scratching through scrub and undergrowth we called it off. The worst news was that the Geocache website described this 'find' as relatively easy and we knew somone else had found it within the last few days. Maybe we will try again another time, or just find another cache (there are certainly lots to choose from).

Good thing we have an all-terrain stroller! We did have one or 2 places where we had to lift it over tree roots or trunks. Good form of exercise, as well as a bit of fun.

After the trail, we walked around the lake and notice the lovely sign! No sign of Mr. Gator tho.

Emma was content to check out all the features on daddy's gps. I bet she was thinking she would like one of her own, if only it came in pink.

Emma's First Crawl

Emma's Crawling Video: (double click on the arrow & you might want to pause my music, as there is sound in this video clip)

Well, not exactly THE first, as she has been learning how to do it for the past several days. She finally got her arms going, but couldn't get the legs; then she figured out how to work the left leg and drag the right along with her; and finally over the weekend she got them all working in accord with each other. She did a bit of crawling on Sat. and a bit more on Sunday, and then on Monday she just took off!

In this clip, she had crawled out of her room and down the hall and was in the living room. I got the camera and sat in the kitchen floor and coaxed her to come further. This is a huge milestone for Emma and for us! Her world has just changed, but so has Mommy & Daddy's!! Lots more instructing to do now that she is mobile and wants to touch EVERYTHING! I'm so thankful that we have already begun instructing her and that she understands "no!" and the stern look that comes with it! Being human and being a newly mobile baby makes her want to push the boundaries of that "no", but she does definitely respond to the admonishment. (Oh, and being her mother's daughter might have something to do with it as well...)

You get crawling, clapping and at the end she kinda forgets that she knows how to crawl and goes back to that scoot/bounce thing that she has been doing! Cute! Cute!

ENJOY!

Gaining Some "Cruise" Control

Here she is the first time that Daddy introduced her to the idea of "cruising":

She just loves being able to stand AND still play! Daddy was so pleased with himself for teaching her this new trick, as well as being pleased with Emma for learning so quickly!

She is learning to move from one end of the crib front to the other. After she drinks her milk, I stand her at one end and go sit on the floor at the other end and prompt her to move closer and closer to Mommy. She's getting it!

Today she was sitting in her bedroom and I walked out, so she crawled out of her room, down the hall, through the living room and into the kitchen! She was going so far, so quickly that I had to put up the baby gate in the laundry room doorway (litter box is in there!!!). She is definitely mobile now!!!

Our Expensive New Toy

After emptying the latest diaper box, I put her inside to see what she would do:

She was loving it! Pushed her around and made car noises. She could be the next Pampers advertisement. Couldn't she???

These next two show her hands. She has learned to clap her hands and will usually do it on command, although I can't yet get her to clap when I sing "If You're Happy & You Know It".

Emma is just growing up so much lately! She has truly learned to crawl this past week and we'll get some video of that on here soon. She has also figured out how to pull up to standing with the crib mattress lowered (that top rail is much higher), remember she had learned that the same day she learned to sit up. She is also beginning to "cruise", which is standing by furniture and holding on and moving around. Cruising has just begun, so it is a timid thing as of yet. Got pictures of that for tomorrow. :)

The Easter Bunny Arrived Early...

I opened the front door this afternoon to get the stroller ready for our afternoon walk, only to find a baby bunny tucked up close by the door frame. It was gusty and the door slammed and I couldn't believe that it stayed right there!

I have no clue where it came from! Martin & I checked the yard and the only possibility seems to be the drainage culvert at the end of the driveway. So, I scooped it up and carried it down there and just as I was bending over to put it in there- it jumped out of my hand and hopped SO fast right back up the yard to our front door!

I had to get the mesh rubbish bin out of the car and put it in that and carry it down again. This time it hopped into the culvert and we haven't seen it again this evening. Hope he is safe! If it had hopped up here again, we were gonna have a new pet bunny to raise!!

Toys... Emma's? Or Daddys?

We bought a bag full of Mega Blocks at the thrift store last week and after being sterilized, Martin decided to build. He can't wait for Emma to be big enough to play with him and the blocks! We'll keep looking for more to add to the collection!
His Mega Blocks version of the Eiffel Tower! He was so sad when I made him take it apart and

put them away! But, we had a party to prep for and the tower could not stay on the dining room table any longer! Here is Emma playing with her new toy. She likes the caterpillar, as it makes noises and has wheels and when pushed down, it inches along like it is crawling. Because it moves, it makes her have to move around more to keep up with it.