Our Journey to Emma: May 2011

Well, I am late posting about April! I can’t believe we are already into May. We have had a busy month. Emma Kate and I went to visit my Douglas, Erica, Will and Katie early this month. Then all the girls made a trip to visit my mom and step father. We went out to eat some lunch and do some bonding over shopping. It was a nice trip and Emma Kate did really well in the car and visiting. She seems to adapt so well to different situations. I am so thankful for that!

We have had such beautiful weather this month (except for the crazy storms that we have had that usually happen during the overnight hours). To enjoy the outdoors before it gets too hot here, we have been trying to do more outside. We have gone to various parks to play on the equipment or play with a ball or bubbles in the grass and we got a zoo membership so we have been there to see all the animals. Emma Kate seemed to enjoy the zoo. We also celebrated Easter and the Easter bunny! We did several practice runs of egg hunts so that Emma would know what to do. She was a little slow figuring it out but finally got the hang of it. We have also been taking Emma Kate out more in the jogging stroller. It is one thing to jog but it is very different to try to jog while pushing a stroller. I struggle just getting out of the neighborhood!

Now, about those crazy storms! We had one night that we went out for a quick bite to eat. While we were eating, we could see the wind blowing the trees but it did not seem too bad. On our way home, Calvin said, “This is perfect timing! We can get home, give Emma her bath and then off to bed.” We got to the road that our neighborhood is on and we saw a tree had fallen over the road and taken down some power lines. It looked like it just happened. We turned around and drove all around to get to the other side hoping we could access the main road to get home. There was a very unfriendly policewoman who told us the road was closed and we would just have to find someplace to go. Nice! By now, it is getting later, we have a baby in the car that needs to go to bed and a dog at home that is afraid of storms and probably needs to potty. We went to a hotel and checked in and when we were just getting into our room, our neighbor called saying we could get to our neighborhood by going through another neighborhood. Now the police officer had told us the road was closed so we did not think this was an option. Calvin ventured out in the car to make sure that was true while Emma and I stayed in the hotel room. She let me know she needed a diaper change so I changed her. I then realized that was the last diaper I had in the bag. About 5 minutes later, Emma lets me know she has another dirty diaper! UGH! I really wanted to go home! Calvin called to say we could go home but the power was out and we might be more comfortable in the hotel. I told him I thought we would really do better at home. He came back and took us home and the power came on about 11:30 pm that night. What an adventure! Emma Kate was a real trooper through the whole thing. I was the one that was upset!

Emma Kate had what some might call a baby mullet going on with her hair. We decided to take her to get her haircut. I went to this cute little place that caters to children (my neighbor told me about them) and they did a great job! All they really did for Emma’s hair was to cut the baby mullet off. It looks so much better now!

Easter weekend, Emma Kate was quite the social butterfly! She had 2 birthday parties to go to; one on Saturday and the other on Sunday. She had a great time at both of them. The party on Saturday was for my dear friend Heidi's little boy Max. He turned one! He had a rough start when he was born being born 3 months early) but you would not be able to tell that now! He is growing and he is such a sweet boy! It was a thrill to go help him celebrate this milestone. They had his party at a park so there was lots of playground equipment for the kids. I will include some pictures from the party. I did not get a picture of Chris, the proud dad. He was busy taking photos and making sure everyone was having a good time. The second party we went to was for our neighbor’s Sarah and Mike’s little boy, Ellis. He also turned one. They had an egg hunt for the kids, which was so fun! Emma Kate had a little help finding eggs from Ellis’s grandfather!

Emma Kate is still not saying words yet. She will say "Hi" while she waves but that is about it. We have taught her a variety of signs which she will do. Sometimes she will need to be prompted. She knows signs for more, all done, yes, no, please, and thank you.