Getting Settled In

We are continuing to get settled in to our new home and community. I have been busy organizing and waiting around for contractors to show up (and they are never on time!) Last weekend we went to a crawfish boil at our neighbors house and met many of the homeowners in the neighborhood. There was a pool at the crawfish boil and Emma had a great time swimming with her new friends. Mommy and daddy spent most of the time chasing her around and making sure she was safe in the pool. She is at that busy stage where we never get to sit down - especially when water is involved.

We are getting ready to celebrate her second birthday, which is coming in just a couple weeks. Grandma is coming into town to help celebrate and we are looking forward to seeing her. She will come on Wednesday night and leave on Sunday - a quick trip. I think we may head to the zoo on Saturday if weather permits to celebrate Emma's birthday. I bought an Elmo cake pan and am going to try my baking hand at making her an Elmo birthday cake - it could be scary!

Emma continues to be in LOVE with Elmo. It is the first word out of her mouth everyday - and "Goger" and "Cookie" soon follow for Grover and Cookie Monster. Her vocabulary continues to expand daily. She can ask for "mana" for banana and "gogur" for yogurt (this can also be confused for Grover at times). She also says "sun" and when we were at Toys R Us she recognized "Dora". We never watch Dora at home, so I am thinking she has watched it at Miss Nettes house. Just yesterday she pulled out one of her dolls and out of nowhere went and got a baby wipe and started wiping her bottom and tried to put a diaper on her! We couldn't believe it!

I have continued to have episodes of being lightheaded and dizzy, although they are much better. It tends to be worse in the mornings and I have to eat what feels like a ton of food before it goes away. It can be a bit frustrating when I want to run errands in the morning (since Emma has been sleeping for almost 3 hours every afternoon!) and I am not feeling the best. I guess baby #2 is right at home in my belly and loves eating! I do have my first OB appointment here in Katy on Wednesday, and we are hoping she will give us an ultrasound to find out boy or girl. I am dying to know! I already called the office and they do give the ultrasounds right in the office. Cross your fingers.

Enjoy the pictures and videos - there aren't too many of them this time.

Emma putting diaper on her baby

Emma and Avery in front enjoying the pool

Showing off her dance moves

Changing baby's diaper

We've moved!

We have finally made the big move from Beaumont to Katy. It was much harder than I expected to leave Beaumont. Here are just a few reasons why it was hard to leave:
1) We loved our home, especially the back yard. It was very relaxing to sit on the back patio and watch the golfers, the ducks, and all of the activity on the golf course.
2) We hated to leave Miss Nette who was Emma's very first babysitter. Emma loved going there 3 days/week and loved playing with the other girls there. I can still remember Miss Nette giving me a hug the first day that I dropped Emma off because I was so sad to leave my baby as I went to work. It was also extremely sad to hug goodbye to her as she took such wonderful care of Emma. We will truly miss her!
3) I had such a great setup working 3 days per week. I loved my job and it was a nice balance to be able to work a little and stay home with Emma too!
4) We had wonderful neighbors who we will really miss.
5) Lastly, it was a home and a town that held many special memories related to the birth of Emma. It was the first home that we brought her to. We also LOVED my OB and are sad to have to find a new one for the birth of baby #2.

With all that being said, we are looking forward to settling in to our new home in Katy. It is very evident that we have chosen a family friendly neighborhood. There are kids playing outside everywhere. There are also lots of trails and sidewalks for biking and walking. Also lots of playgrounds and pools for summer fun! Our friends Brian and Jamie live only a block away and we are already having a good time with them. Their daughter, Avery, is two years old as well and her and Emma play together really well. One cute story is that Avery is potty trained and while Emma was over at their house Emma watched Avery go on the big girl potty and get an M & M as a reward. Apparently, Emma wanted to try so Brian put Emma on the potty and she went tee tee! She was rewarded with an M & M! Looks like potty training is not very far off in the future (I was waiting for her to be a bit more dry at night). They have also been super nice to watch Emma a couple days while the movers were here getting us settled in. They also have a 4 month old little boy, Brady. We are excited to find out if Brady will have a little boy or girl playmate come September!

The overall move was a whirlwind. The movers came to Beaumont at 8am last Monday. There were 3 guys that came. They had our entire house boxed up and on the moving van by 3:30pm! I couldn't believe it. They were literally running in and out of the house. They delivered our stuff in Katy at 8:15 the next morning and were done by 11:30am! We were left to pick up the pieces and unpack everything. We have gotten a ton done over the past week - almost all boxes are unpacked and rooms are in order. We need to go through garage stuff and hang everything on the walls. We have ordered blinds to be installed in the next week or so and I also got Emma signed up for a Mothers Day Out program in the fall. Once baby #2 comes, it will be nice for Emma to get out 2 days/week from 9 to 2:30 with kids her own age. Not only will she have fun playing with other kids, but it will be a good little bonding time for me and new baby (and also errand time with just 1 child instead of 2!)

Emma's vocabulary has been greatly expanding this past month. It seems that she learns a new word every day! Lately she LOVES Elmo. She asks to watch him on TV probably 50 times a day. When it gets closer to night time we have to say "Elmo went night night" just so she will stop asking for him. She loves to look at the picture of her with all of the Sesame Street characters from our Beaches vacation. She can name everyone in the picture including: mommy, daddy, Emma, Elmo, Cookie (for cookie monster), "O-E" for Zoe, and "Ash" for Abby Cadabby. She is also very fond of "Goger" also known to the real world as Grover. She now says open and close and hot. She knows that her oatmeal in the morning is hot and she sees me blowing on it to cool it down. It didn't take her long to pick up this habit and she will say "hot" over and over and blow on it to cool it down. I posted a video of this below. Yesterday out of nowhere she said "Gama" for Grandma! I was shocked and not sure if she really meant Grandma or something else. So I pulled out the camera (she loves to look at pictures) and the minute a picuture of Grandma came up she yelled "Gama" so she was using it right! Now we need to work on Grandpa, Nana and Papa. She also loves the stairs in our new house. It didn't take her long to learn how to use them (thankfully) and she goes up and down a million times a day. At the end of the day when she is tired she likes to be picked up and carried.

It was so busy with the movers that I didn't get to take very many pictures. Enjoy!

The moving van

Just one room of boxes
Our new house was seriously lacking in junk drawers!! I eventually found a place for all of this (most of it ended up in the trash!)

Emma blowing on her oatmeal to cool it down - how cute. She loves to feed herself now and will rarely let us feed her. She is actually getting much better day by day.

Jamaica

We recently returned from our week long trip to Jamaica. We went to the Beaches resort in Negril. We went for my brothers wedding and for a family vacation with my brother and his family, along with Grandma and Grandpa and my Aunt Jenny, Uncle Gary and cousin Evan. The resort was absolutely beautiful with a ton of activities for adults and children alike. It had Sesame Street characters including Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Grover, Zoe, Bert, Ernie, Count Dracula, and Cookie Monster. They had all sorts of organized activities with the characters along with many different stage shows. The resort also had multiple pools, waterslides, a lazy river, and beach fun. This included snorkeling, waterskiing, sailing, huge sand/water tricycles, water trampolines and glass bottom boat tours.

Emma had a GREAT time! She spent most mornings playing in the water and at the beach. She would come back to the room for a nap and then go see one of the Sesame Street characters. She was very scared of them at the beginning of the week, but slowly warmed up to them as the week went on. She LOVES Elmo, and he is by far her favorite character. By the end of the week she was gladly giving hugs and high fives to the characters. She also learned who Cookie Monster was on the trip and can now point to him and say "Cookie." Grandma and Grandpa set up for everyone to go to the Character Breakfast. We got to see all of the characters there as we ate breakfast and have many photo ops. Then Emma got to go and dance with all of the characters. She was in heaven! She had so much fun playing with her cousins and seeing all of the family throughout the week.

My vacation, on the other hand, was less than stellar. The very first day in Jamaica we spent the morning at the beach and went to eat lunch. I started to not feel well as I was waiting in the buffet line. I decided to go back to the table and sit down and right as I got to the table I fainted and fell to the ground. I went to see the resort nurse and she found that I had really low blood pressure and blood sugar. I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in the air conditioned room and drink a lot of fluids. The next morning I was still very light headed and dizzy. I went back to the nurse and decided to pay to see the Jamaican doctor. (At this point Jay and I are not too happy that I am pregnant, sick, and in a third world country with no health care!) The doctor said that I had even lower blood sugar and was dehydrated. She stressed for me to stay out of the sun and to drink as many fluids (including Pedialyte at the cost of $25 per liter) as possible. I spent the rest of the week in the air conditioned room feeling light headed and dizzy. I didn't get to go to the beach much at all or enjoy all of the activities. I was feeling a bit better for the big wedding on Tuesday. ( More on that later) Since I have been home (thank goodness for the USA and its good healthcare) I have seen my doctor and she said that I am hypoglycemic. Basically, baby is eating me out of house and home and leaving me with nothing. I have started eating the recommended 6 meals /day with lots of carbs and protein. It has really helped me to feel better, although I do still have periods of being lighheaded.

Jay had a good time overall, although he is happy to be back in the US. He was heard to say "Just get me back to the US" maybe a thousand times or so over the week. I think he was a bit worried to have his sick, pregnant wife having troubles in a third world country. He did enjoy some waterskiing, running on the beach, and a few (too many I am sure) drinks. He also went with the family one day to Margaritaville. Although I wasn't there to say if it was fun or not, the demeanor of everyone once they returned told me that they all had a good time!!

Ryan and Becky's wedding was beautiful. It was under a gazebo overlooking the beach and water. They had a steel drummer during the ceremony, which was really nice. After the wedding we walked over to a little hut on the beach and had a private dinner with a three piece Jamaican band. We danced a bit in the sand, ate lots of food, (and everyone else got to celebrate with lots of drinks!) Everything turned out so nice - the ceremony, the pictures, the food, the celebration. I am very happy to "officially" have a new sister in law and two nieces, although they have been part of the family for years!

Since we have been home we have already closed on our new home in Katy. Jay has also started his new job and has been in Katy all week. This will be our last weekend in Beaumont as the movers come on Monday. We will officially move into our new home on Wednesday. We have been extremely busy and will be very happy to get settled into our new home. I am trying to take one day at a time and not get too overwhelmed with everything that is happening! Wish us luck on the move and my next post will be from our new home!




Emma preparing for the trip with her painted toes

I tried her sun hat on her when packing and she wouldn't take it off all morning!

One of the stage shows

Emma atop the man on stilts - I was a bit hesitant to hand her to him. It would have been a long fall down to the ground!

Playing at the beach

Swimming with Kennedy

Ryan, Evan, Jay and mom bellying up to the swim up bar

Emma at Elmo's storytime. Notice she is leaning away from him. She was still a bit scared of him here.

She was more than happy to wave goodbye!

Hand in hand with gramps

Dancing with Zoe

Intently watching the Sesame Street stage show with mom, dad, and Grandpa

Having fun with her sand toys

Oooh grandma, I don't know what I think about the spraying water!

The new cousins!

Aunt Jenny and I in the lazy river

Playing in the kiddie pool

Last picture together before the big wedding

Wedding day! Darian, Kennedy, and Emma

The beautiful bride walking down the aisle

Ceremony

Emma acting like her crazy self

Our family

The new family of four!

Champagne toast

Emma dancing with Uncle Ryan

Aunt Jenny and Evan showing off their dance moves

Emma tired out at the end of a long day of fun in the sun!

Big John and Uncle Gary with the three piece band

Posing with Abby Cadabby

Emma talking with Zoe
Sesame Street and the Davis family

Our yummy dessert from the wedding

Aunt Jenny, Uncle Gary and Evan

Darian, Kennedy and Emma with some of the Sesame Street characters

Grandma and Grandpa posing with Sesame street! I guess you are never too old for them!

This picture was mid week of Emma and Oscar. She was scared to death of him at first and slowly warmed up to him throughout the week. Every night she would say "night night" to Oscar. We couldn't get her to stand in the trash can next to him though. Apparently she did the very last day and I didn't get to snap a picture of it:(

Hi Grover!

Can you see Emma in that big bear hug from Grover?

Emma laughing at Darian and Kennedy

The bride and grooms first dance together

Playing in the water