the end of speech therapy

a few months before emma turned 2, she started speech therapy. we were so lucky to be assigned mindy as our speech therapist. we all instantly loved her. she came to our house once a week and emma loved it! mindy was wonderful at making it fun, pushing emma in the areas she struggled, but also knowing when to back off if emma stopped responding. and i loved mindy, not only as a speech therapist, but also as a friend and looked forward to seeing her every week. emma was so excited for speech and she and logan would watch out the window for mindy. as soon as they saw her car, they would start yelling her name out the door until she finally arrived and then she was greeted with hugs. our services with mindy ended when emma turned 3 and her last appointment was the day before her 3rd birthday. emma has improved a lot and although there are still some sounds she struggles with, she is a great communicator and quite the chatterbox. i had to take a few pictures to remember our wonderful time with mindy. 

reading a book about emotions and making faces in the mirror to represent those emotions.

emma loved the art projects that mindy would bring. she loves to do arts and crafts!

emma made this card of her and her cousin kate (kate is the the blonde girl). and kate got the big crown because it happened to be her birthday that day.

saying goodbye :(

 

 

i had to include a picture of this card mindy sent to emma months ago. i don't know if you can tell, but it has been loved. for awhile, emma slept with it and carried it with her everywhere. she loves mindy so much and loved this special card from her. 

celebrating emma!

we celebrated emma's birthday with our families, cupcakes and pink lemonade. i think it is the simplest party we have ever done and the birthday girl was thrilled with it, so we consider it a success. 

i love her face!

i was a slacker at the party and didn't take any pictures (besides of the birthday girl, which of course is the most important). these are the only two i took!

a little bling for our birthday girl

the night before emma's birthday she got her ears pierced (her present from us). although she was excited (as you can see below), i think dave and i might have been even more excited! we just thought she would look so, so cute! the only thing that wasn't great was that there was only 1 person doing the piercing and so she couldn't have both ears done at the same time. she was sure brave when it came time for the second ear. both times though she screamed so loud that people walking by the store stopped and stared (the chair is right at the entrance of the store). but she recovered fast and was so excited about her earrings!

dave cleaning the first ear before they pierced the second one. poor thing. you can tell she was crying.

an action shot. doesn't her face just kill you! pain for beauty!

this might be one of my favorite pictures of these two ever! 

connor: 9 months

when i took these pictures on saturday, it seemed silly because connor is closer to 10 months than 9 months, but i wanted to do this post anyway because i love having a record of what my baby does each month (and i definitely can't depend on my memory, because it has proven to be horrible)! so even though the pictures aren't quite an accurate depiction, at least i wrote down the things he was actually doing when he turned 9 months.

connor:
is laughing spontaneously

is moving more - he scoots backward and spins around while sitting. he seems to want to crawl, but just hasn't quite figured it out yet.

has the cutest scrunchy smile that i still need to get a picture of

has another tooth coming in - his 3rd one on the bottom, bringing the current grand total to 7 (people always comment on his mouth full of teeth)!

says dada, baba

knows who mama and dada are

loves to kick (in his car seat, bed and when he's laying on the ground). he especially kicks when he's excited

loves to eat

is our little peanut, although he is starting to chunk up more

he prefers toys that are not baby toys (or things that aren't even toys). which just confirms to me that baby toys are mainly a waste of money :)

he likes to play in the jumper

he loves my necklaces. especially sucking on them!

random squeals

he will mimic our sounds 

he gets so excited to read books. it makes me so happy!

he likes to pull to standing while holding our hands

at his well check. 

his stats are:

17 pounds 6.5 ounces - 14th percentile 

26.5 inches - 2nd percentile

45 cm - 52nd  percentile

1st time in the grocery cart 

he loved the seahorse (pictured above) and i am so sad to hear that some of them have been catching on fire!! needless to say, he's not sleeping with it any more. but it's sad since he loved it so much.

shades! i could barely capture this picture before he ripped them off.

holding his bottle like a champ

emma's three!

last month emma turned 3. it seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye. she is absolute sunshine and has brought so much happiness into our home. 

 here are some things about her right now that i don't want to forget:

• how she sleeps at the foot of her bed
• she loves to dance! as soon as music comes on she starts to shake it. and boy can she move her hips! in her own words, she likes to "shake her booty!"
• speaking of her booty, since she started wearing underwear, her bum crack is always showing! we're constantly telling her to pull up her pants. 
• she loves dress up. 
• she will only wear skirts and dresses. she is quite the girly girl!
• she is generous with kisses and hugs. she went through a stage where she loved to press her cheek to your cheek.
• she loves her brothers. it melts my heart!
• she loves to do stuff by herself like putting her own covers on, turning off her light, brushing her own teeth
• she loves bagel sandwiches and has one almost everyday for lunch (and sometime for breakfast). and just to be clear, a bagel sandwich is just a bagel and cream cheese folded in half! we are gourmet! and she loves fruit snacks!
• she dislikes most of what I make for dinner, without ever trying it. i'll put something in front of her and she'll immediately say, "that's yucky. i don't like that!" even though she hasn't tried it and even if it is something that she liked previously. it drives me crazy! i miss the little girl that used to eat everything!! she used to be the best eater.
• she loves Connor and all babies. and she gives them lots of love. and she is kind of a rough lover! we often have to tell her to ease up :)
• she didn't go through the terrible twos and remained super sweet. but like logan, she's hit 3 with a vengeance. in the month that she's been 3, we've noticed an extra dose of sass and a few more meltdowns. but thankfully, she's held on to her sweetness too!  
• she is quick to say sorry and forgive. when logan apologizes to her he will stand close to her just waiting for the inevitable hug and kiss she will give as soon as he has apologized. 
• she twirls hair around her finger
• she and logan are the best of friends. of course they have their tough moments, but they are rare. they play so well together and are happy to be together. i remember seeing our nephew and niece, brandon and ava together. they are the best of friends and i hoped so much that that would be the kind of relationship logan and emma would have. and i am so happy that it happened. it brings me so much joy to see them together. 
• she loves to help and will get things for us, unload silverware, dust, clean bathroom and give connor his bottle. she always wants to help with whatever i am cooking in the kitchen. 
• she talks baby talk to connor
• she sings "roar" by katy perry all the time! it seems to be her default song. that and "frozen" of course ("let it go" and "do you want to build a snowman?" sung at hyper speed).
• everyday she has a new idea of what she's going to be for halloween. i can't wait to see what she is actually going to choose!
• her speech has improved so much, thanks to her speech therapy. but there are still times we can't understand her and we are grateful to logan for being the "emma to english dictionary!"
• she stomps her foot when she is upset and didn't get her way or if she is trying to get it to really listen to what she's saying.
• she is always into everything! she continues to be a whirlwind wherever she goes!
• if she or someone else can't find something, she go to response is, "maybe a ghost took it." it makes me laugh every time!
• she has the most contagious laugh once you really get her going. logan is the best at getting her to really laugh
• she reads books when should be sleeping
• she often dislikes whatever logan dislikes (usually without giving whatever "it" is a try). it's annoying!
• along the same lines, she loves whatever logan loves. so in addition to dress up and princesses, she also loves super heroes, legos and star wars!
• she loves to watch "jake and the neverland pirates" (she loves izzy and the pirate princess) and "my little ponies," especially the "equestria girls" movie. and like any little girl, she loves "frozen" and "tangled" (she calls rapunzel tangled). 
• she has trouble sitting still during scriptures and prayers. reverence is not her strong suit. 

a few classic emma phrases:

• "it's morning time!" said in the morning when she comes into our room. and morning is pronounced kinda like, "menning" and with lots of enthusiasm. she doesn't do this as much anymore and we miss it, so we request for it to say it sometimes! 
• she likes her music loud when we're driving in the car and so i often hear, "turn it up please." 
• she will spontaneously say "Ooh tank you mommy!" for something i have done for her and it makes me feel so good.
• she often comments on my jewelry, hair or when i wear a dress and will tell me i look beautiful. this is another thing that makes me feel good. 
• if we ask her if she's done something and she hasn't, she'll say, "not yet!" in a cute little sing, songy voice.
• we hear, "hey, know what dys (guys)?!" all the time.
• she says, "good night wolly polly" (rolly polly) to dave at bedtime, which is just about the cutest thing!

3 year stats:

34 pounds 4 ounces - 81st percentile

38 inches - 71st percentile