beach house and cat

it has been hot. like H.O.T, hot lately. actually, it hasnt been too bad outside but if you have been in my house lately, its like an oven....which is funny because we cant actually USE our oven. a little ironic. anyway, as most of you know, our central ac had to be disconnected because it was being crazy and stealing power from the rest of the house. well, it has been a mild summer, so i havent bothered to waste money to fix it. the result? it eventually got hot and we are dying. literally. yesterday i spent almost an hour laying on the floor with a fan pointed towards me and emerson crawling all over me. i didnt move for an hour. it was too hot. then i got a grand idea to walk to starbucks cuz it 1. has air conditioning and 2. has tasty frappucinos. it was a great idea....but i didnt want to leave.

anyway, i decided to beat the heat and visit my friend robin at her beach house on lake ontario. it was a multi-purposed trip. i got to get out of my hot house, go to the beach, let emerson play in the water and sand, see robin and one of the best things was i got to see her teeny baby ryan again! he is a super cutie and emerson loved his feet. hehe. anyway, the day was great, minus emerson being a crabby butt because she was on napping strike today (though once i got into the car to come back home, she passed out before we even left robin's driveway!)

here are pics from the day:

yo, what up moms?

one second before she put her sandy hand in her mouth
playing with her sand shovel

taking the sand out of her bucket

trying to cuddle with oscar

so..in addition to going to the beach today, when we got home tonight, emerson looked right at ophelia and said "cat!". i was unsure of what i heard so i said, "emerson, say cat!" and she did. i kept saying it and went to show brad, and told her to say it again and she did. sometimes she pronounces it a little better than others but she definitely is saying cat. and she looks for dante or ophelia when she is saying it. it isnt her first word but is her first noun that she is appropriately associating with the object. she says mama and dada but doesnt do it correctly to the right person and sometimes still just babbles the sounds. she has also said "stop" a few times and we are pretty sure she says "sh*t". hmm...not sure where she learned that. i wondered if she was saying that but doubted it, then a friend asked if thats what she said...so if other people are noticing it, i think she is saying it. hehe.

anyway, yay for beaches, babies and cats!

video of you know who!

rough housing with emerson. she loves it!

houston, we have teeth!

well, to be honest, there is only one teeny tip that poked through but there is more to come! i know the other bottom one will break through soon as well and they will get taller. the only way you can tell is to feel inside her mouth. as soon as you can see it i will take pics...

now, in addition to that, i believe we have an official first word. "stop" hehe. funny first word but she has said it a few times....when brad was tickling her and when i have been changing her. she does sometimes sound like she says hi or hey, and babbles mama and dada, among other things but hasnt differentiated between us. so i am officially calling "stop" her first word. hehe

now...regarding posting the pic of her in the crib and a new video. i havent uploaded the pic yet and i cant get the video to post. so i will keep working on that and post it as soon as i can...

transition from hammock to crib...

well, as i type, emerson is sleeping for the first time in her crib! woot woot! it was more out of necessity because i am washing her hammock and i knew it was nappy time, so i put her in the crib and figured she would scream. to my surprise, she didnt! i had a few stuffed toys in there so she was playing with them for a few and after about 5-10 minutes i went in adn she was holding onto a teddy bear, sleeping on it. it was so cute! i even have a picture of it...i will upload it soon and post it. i also have a funny video from yesterday that i need to upload...

so...now that i know it is possible to get to sleep in the crib, i am slowly going to transition her over. i dont want her in there until bradley leaves but i might put her in for some naps and see how things go. that way she gets used to the idea and we can eventually pack away the hammock. my goal had been to keep her in the hammock for 9 months..and she is 9 months old. if she has trouble with the transition then i guess i will take more time for the transition but i think its about time. i just hope she sleeps as well in the crib as she does in the hammock.

well...she just woke up screaming. totally different from waking up in the hammock and bouncing herself. i think she was freaked cuz she has never slept anywhere but her hammock or in bed with me. all in all it was an okay nap...about 45 minutes....kinda shorter than normal but thats to be expected.

in other news, for those who didnt know, emerson is going to be a big sister in january. thats right....we are expecting another little munchkin. weird. heh. we find out the sex next week and maybe i will update you all. hehe...

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