Daddy's on his way home! Yay!

Whew! We have had our moments but we have survived just fine the past few days without Daddy! We miss him like crazy but it's amazing how each day gets a little easier. Emmy really is such a good girl though so that makes it much easier on me! We had friends over for a playdate yesteday which was a blast! For some reason I keep forgetting to get out the camera at our own playdates. It's been a good week overall but can't wait to see DADDY!

I have been experiementing with chlorine free diapers (better for baby, better for the environment too). I wish I could talk myself into cloth diapers but I'm sorry, I think it's nasty to have to wash diapers (I know I know, what did we do before disposables...whatever). Anyway, I had really good luck with 7th Generation. I bought a pack of those and then a pack of Earth's Best. I can't say I like the EB ones as well. They are very stiff (which I really don't care that much about) but they don't fit as well AND they leak if too full. Emmy woke up with very wet jammies and I felt really had for her this am! No wonder she was crying for me! Who wants wet jammies! So, I am going to try one more brand and then decide which ones I like best between those and the 7th Generation diapers. They have a subscription service you can do on amazon.com and it really makes it a great deal. I think that is what we will be doing once I decide on which diaper I like best. Emmy's bottom looks better already. She would always have just a little rash and I think it was the diapers! Don't ask why it took me this long to try something different in the diaper department.

We have a few more busy days this week. We have a playdate tomorrow am and then a dr's appt for me in the afternoon and then kindermusik! Whew, Thursday will be busy. On Friday, Daddy gets the day off for working so hard at his conference! He made a really funny " The Office" parody video for the conference and then did a bunch of video work while he was there too. He was very busy-we barely talked to him all week! I think he will be glad to come home so he can rest after all his hard work! We have Emmy's 1yr check up on Friday am and then some things to do in the afternoon. I think we are going to hang out with the S-mans on Friday night. Saturday night we have Kate's bday party-the big 3-0! Guess we will be busy little Klitzke bees!

Have a good rest of the week. We will post Emmy's new stats after the appt on Friday!
love
Erika and Emmy

Not me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net">her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Well, you have all been waiting oh-so-patiently for the wacky things that did not happen at our house over the past few weeks. Here goes:

I did not have Emmy undressed in the bathroom last night while I was getting the tub ready and she totally did not pee all over the rug on the floor. No way. Why would anyone let their 1 yr old be naked while getting ready for bath?

Then, while taking said bath, she did not proceed to poopie in the tub. This has only happened twice at our house and only to me. This is funny because Matt usually does bath....what are the odds that it would happen to me while Matt is OOT?????

This one dates back a few weeks but I couldn't share it then. Matt did not ask me whether or not he was dreaming one night or was I really eating a peanut butter sandwich in the bed in the middle of the night???!!! Only a pregnant lady could fess up to this one and maybe get a small amount of sympathy :)

Here's another one that had to wait a few weeks (actually, more like many weeks but whatever...)I did not take 5 pregnancy tests (all of which came back positive BTW....but the 1st was a "faint positive"......there, that was my justification for the 2nd...what about 3-5????) just to "be sure" it was true! And then when we told my parents, my mom didn't say "Already????" (followed quickly by a congratulations but still, mom, come on!) Nope, I am not a maternity nurse and have no idea how these things work......nope, not me!

Then, last night (remember, Matt is OOT), I did not get up at midnight and decide I HAD to have an English Muffin with peanut butter and then justify it by telling myself "I really only had soup for dinner, no wonder I am starving!". I then I most certainly did not eat said English Muffin in bed while watching the Simpsons. No way. Not me!

And then this am, I did not attempt to put Emmy in bed with me and bribe her with Sesame Street because I was too tired to get up before 7am! And then when she was acting tired again I most certainly did not put her back in her crib and she did not pass out for another hour and then I did not pass out for another hour too. Nope, not me. Not at this house! We do not value sleep that much!

Last but not least, I do not continue to have dreams about my sister's baby who is due in a week. I do not keep having GIRL dreams about this baby and dreams about she names said GIRL (June last week, Erin this week). I do not keeping harassing her about what she is naming my niece/nephew!

Now it's your turn. Make sure you copy the above link and picture to post on your blog too. If you are having trouble, refer back to www.mycharmingkids.net for better instructions (and check out her blog too......you will not be addicted quickly like I am....no way!)

Have a great week! What did you not do???!!!!

Erika

While Daddy's away, his girls will play!

Emily and I took Matt to the airport early this am. So, we started our little adventure as "just us girls". We came home and had our usual morning routine-breakfast, play and then nap (and shower for Mommy). We ate lunch and did a few things at home and then headed to the mall and and Target! Along the way we stopped in to see cousin Connor and Seth and Kate. Very impromtu but fun as always! We really didn't get anything at the mall but we did return something and then did lots of fun "looking" (promise Daddy!). There are so many fun spring clothes out there right now! I guess I need to get on some extra shifts so I can indulge in the cuteness (for Emmy, not me sillys). We went to Target to pick up a few essentials and then came home and had dinner, bath and bed for Emmy! Stay tuned for a possible "Not Me Monday" post tomorrow...we had just a FEW of those today. Yikes.

We miss Daddy terribly and can't wait to see him Wednesday! It's going to seem like forever even though it's just a few days!!! We love you Daddy/Matt! Can't wait to see you soon!
love
E and E

Happy 1st Birthday Emily Ruth!

Oh where to begin.........

On Wednesday, February 11, our sweet Emily Ruth turned 1! Wow. We can't believe it!!! Seriously, we really can't believe it. We really feel like she was just born and we were coming home from the hospital with our new little girl. Now she is our "Big Mommy" (as we call her...don't ask....) and turning into a little toddler before our eyes. She is such a loving and happy little girl (even though she is starting to have a little stranger anxiety, which is of course, very normal for this age and seems to be all about her mama too...I think I've just been spending so much time with her lately because work has been so slow and this has more to do with her preference than anything else). She is so close to walking but no "1st Birthday Steps". I feel like one day she's just going to stand up and walk!

So, on her birthday we had a "onederful" (ha ha) day! She woke up and we ate and played at home. I tried so hard to keep her up until 10:17 (the time she was born). See the picture below:

Yes, the clock is upside in this picture. Oh well. She had a hard time understanding what I wanted her to do! I had this picture in my head and wasn't able to recreate it.

After nap and lunch, we went to a playdate at Ashley and Abby's house! It was so much fun spending time with our new friends on her birthday. We even sang "happy birthday" to her and had a candle to blow out there too! Emmy seemed a bit confused but enjoyed a preview bite of banana cake! Yummy!

Emmy is clapping and excited here....couldn't get her to look at me though. Something about watching all of her friends playing was too exciting, which means mama with camera=unexciting! Thanks moms and babies for making Emmy's day so special!!!

After our playdate we stopped at Grandma J's for a bit. Emmy opened her Valentines from Grandma J and played with her new little purse for awhile before we headed home for dinner and cupcakes.

For dinner, Matt and I made steak, potatoes and salad. We thought Emmy should have the same, so she had a jar of savory beef, potatoes and carrots and ate some of our potato too and also had some strawberries and blueberries (a staple at our house these days). Then we brought our the cupcakes! Emmy's face lit up with excitement when she saw the yummy pink cupcake all for her!

Right before we gave her the cupcake....


Digging in!

Sugar Drunk!




Try some, Mama, you'll like it!

I must get EVERY LAST BITE!

Emmy very much enjoyed her cupcake, so much that she was even picking the last bites that she had dropped in her excitement into her high chair. We went straight to the bathtub after her cupcake and then off to bed. She slugged down her milk and passed out! We were a little worried that all of that sugar was going to keep her up but she was out!!!

Here are some pictures of Emmy on Friday...just being her big girl self. She is really into feeding herself these days so we are trying find things that are nutritious that she can feed to herself. She really can't use a spoon effectively yet so it has to be finger food. I think Emmy could eat banana after banana and never get tired of it. She can eat a whole banana plus some other things for breakfast in the morning. She likes toast and eggs but I think her fav is probably still oatmeal! I think breakfast seems to be her best (and favorite) meal of the day. I guess she is just like her Auntie K!

Feeding herself berries! Yum yum. She's checking the bowl to make sure she got it all.

New big girl shoes!





New monkey hat! It's the same as her friend, Dani's. Very cute! I ordered it on Etsy.com from a lady in Canada who hand (and custom) makes them. I don't think this picture even does the hat justice!

We did have Emmy's big birthday party yesterday but you're going to have to wait for another edition of the Hawkeye Klitzke Blog for that story and pictures. I'm all blogged out for now!

Have a wonderful day! We are so thankful for all of our friends and family who helped make Emmy's day so special. We are so blessed to have such an amazing and loving daughter who we love so much!!! She is the light of our lives!

Love

Erika, Matt and Emmy

Importance of Rear Facing Car Seats

Hey ya'll! I usually don't use my blog to post things like this, but think this is SO important that it just can't go. PLEASE check out this link to learn about the importance of keeping your child's carseat rearfacing (and then there is a link afterwards to learn about 5 point restraints for the older child): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo

We had a wonderful weekend and there are sure to be more updates as our week continues! Emmy's 1st Birthday is Wednesday-we can't wait!!! Emmy has been enjoying learning to feed herself more and has been loving it! This morning she ate 3/4 of a banana, prunes and some waffles! She fed all of it to herself except the prunes...that would have been more of mess than I was willing to deal with!

Have a great week and please just check out the link......not trying to preach, just want you all to know the safety info!
love,
Erika

One Year Ago today......

One year ago today was my due date with Emily. She, however, decided she was not ready to be born for 6 (count 'em.....6) more days!!! So, 6 more days until my beautiful angel turns one!!! We love you baby girl and are so proud of the big girl you are becoming. We see wonderful changes in you daily and cannot believe that one year ago, we weren't even born yet!!!! You drink from a cup, you like to feed yourself, you love to play toys and read books, you can almost walk and you love to talk! What a miracle life truly is. Love you angel!!!!
Mommy and Daddy (aka Matt and Erika)

Fun times in the Klitzke house!

This has been a very fun week so far. Emmy got to play at Grandma J's on Monday afternoon while I worked for a bit. On Tuesday we went to a playdate at Dani and Lynette's house. We had a wonderful time. Then yesterday, Emmy's friend, Addie, came over for another playdate! Wow, what a fun week. We have kindermusik tonight, which we always look forward to.

Emmy is obsessed with standing these days. She is also obsessed with toilets. Go figure. Whenever I have her in the bathroom with me, as soon as she spies the toilet, she makes a bee-line for it! It's all I can do to keep her out of it and convince her it's nasty! Gross Emmy! Emmy also got a new phone (she's obsessed with ours so why not get her her own?!) Just kidding, it's not real! Just an FP (that's baby speak for Fisher Price). She enjoys "talking on it", which basically means she picks it up and yells "HI!". She also holds in on her shoulder...pretty funny. She has also been enjoying her little activity table that I picked up for her quite awhile ago...she didn't think it was that great then but loves it now!

We have also been working on some more table foods. We are at such a crossroads...in between baby food and table food. We have found she loves to eat chunks of banana...she can't shovel it in quick enough and then grins at me with a mouthful of banana! I have also found she loves scrambled eggs and toast. We shared them again this am.

She continues to be a little chatterbox. I think she has almost 10 words now! She FINALLY starting calling me "Ma" or some version of it at least. She also said "book" yesterday. Emmy loves her books. Wow, she could just sit and "read" books and be pretty content for quite awhile. She also loves to say "Go"! When we were at our playdate on Tuesday, she and Dani were racing up and down the hallway and Emmy kept saying (or yelling....) "go!!!".

Have a good weekend!
Erika

Turning the corner......

I think we are finally almost better. I am the last to get better though, and I think Friday was my worst day. Emmy seems fine and Matt is pretty much fine. I haven't had a fever since Friday night so I guess that's a plus! We did make it out of the house to our neighbor's for a few snacks and drinks last evening. It actually felt good to get out of the house (even though it was just next door and for only about an hour) and then come home and crash again! I think Emmy was asleep within 15 minutes of getting home! I guess she'd had enough.

There are pretty much no new pictures from this week since we have all been so sick! I am just so happy to be on the mend and hopefully this week will be a better one for us!!!! We have some playdates scheduled for this week and a few days of work for me.

On an exciting note, we did have our new dishwasher installed yesterday! Whooo-hooo!!! Our DW has basically been broken for months and our sweet family (Matt's dad and step mom) decided to step in and help us with a new one!! Thank you very much! We love not washing dishes by hand (does that make us lazy, or what?!) Emmy also got a new carseat for Matt's car (we have had the one for the volvo since September...good BRU sale, what can I say) from Papa Mike and Gran Diane for her birthday. Matt installed it yesterday afternoon with only a small amount of difficulty. We haven't taken it for it's maiden voyage yet...basically because we haven't been able to go anywhere yet! Maybe later today or tomorrow we'll try it out (she did sit in it in the family room so we could play with straps etc).

Anyway, have a great week. We are looking forward to Emmy's one year pictures being taken on Saturday am by one of our favorite Grayslake photographers (she has photographed Emmy since she was a newborn!), Leslie Lipps. Hopefully we'll get some good shots!

love
Erika