Posting goofup - duh.

The previous post was supposed to appear yesterday, but I goofed and it was posted on another of the blogs that I post on instead. Eek! It's kind of blabberdy, so here's a more brief posting with fun news!

I felt the baby move!! I was trying to get to sleep last night (it's stupid - I am SO exhausted and yet there are nights when I cannot fall asleep. it's awful!) and after I turned over, I felt a whole bunch of movement right up under my ribcage, all fluttery! I had thought maybe I felt something at pilates in the morning while laying on my stomach, but I wasn't sure. But this was definitely baby. I've felt a few other things today, which are probably just gas, but it's neat to think that this kid is definitely developing! yay!

News from my other child - Emily peed in the potty yesterday! She is really smart about knowing that the potty is for sitting on and she's starting to put together that you take off the diaper to sit on the potty. While her bath was filling last night, I suggested that she sit on the potty and see if she had to pee, and she did!! She stood up and looked behind her, as though, "what was that?? what did I do??" I am so proud of her! Today we went to babies'r'us and bought more potty training supplies, including 3 packages of big girl undies. They're so tiny!! Hilarious to see, really. I have emailed Amanda, her sitter, to see if she has any insights to offer as to when to start in on potty training, since I really don't know what I'm doing besides introducing it to her and staying 100% upbeat. I am thinking I'll try to find some good books on potty training at the library, too, and get a little bit informed before I start in. She's got such good groundwork that I don't want to throw her off track at this point!

It's been a beautiful weekend here. We were at a friend's housewarming party tonight, and there were 3 other little girls who were within 2 months of Emily's age (older and younger) and a little boy who just turned 2. She had a fantastic time, and was so well-behaved! They're all really nice kids, but Emily just shines. I know I'm biased, but she looks so beautiful and expressive and engaging, even next to these really nice little kids. I'm so proud of my little girl. :)

many, many events

A lot has happened since I last posted! I had a fantastic birthday this year, with a visit from friends and German chocolate cake to boot. We celebrated a friend's second birthday last weekend, and had a good time playing with two 2-year-olds and a 1-year-old. Emily is just as tall as the 2-year-olds, so it's weird to see people her size who are speaking so much more and clearly, although she's doing an amazing job of adding to her vocabulary. She's even choosing to use her words now over whining, which I am SO excited about!! yay!!

We went to a friend's wedding last weekend in Ames, and we were able to get a visit to Mommo and Poppo's house. Emily is quite fond of her great grandparents, and it's definitely mutual. The wedding dance was fun, too, and yielded my favorite picture of Emily with Travis, dancing on his toes. Then, this week, we drove up to Rockford for a few days to visit my parents and hang out while Travis traveled to California for work. Again, many more cute pictures! Emily was so excited to see the cows - lots of spontaneous falsetto moo moo moo-ing, even though they were out in the pasture and pretty quiet. My dad took her down to meet his most friendly cow, Norman, who has always been strangely personable. She let Emily pet her on the nose, and let me tell you, Emily was one thrilled little girl!! My mom's singing group came to rehearse, and Emily really enjoyed that. She also enjoyed the piano lessons that my mom gave; one little girl let Emily play the top note on the piano to top off her arpeggio exercises. She's had her first piano lesson!!

The thing Emily liked least about visiting Rockford was sleeping. She couldn't settle down at night and was up at the crack of dawn every morning, despite heavy blankets on the windows and a soothing windstorm that roared for nearly our entire visit (30mph sustained winds! insane!). She took pretty good naps, but I had trouble using those to keep up with my own sleep, so I am now sick this weekend. It's a beautiful day, and Trav is out biking, but I stayed home and slept for an hour and a half. I have tried so hard to stay rested and keep ahead of things that it's really frustrating to get sick anyway. I guess it's better if I get sick than Emily, although I can't remember if she's ever been sick without passing it to me, so it's better just me than both of us. Last night, we drove up to Ames to hear my mom's singing group perform, and it was a really good time. We saw some friends who have kids a little older than Emily, and we had a fun visit. I am really impressed with my mom's group, which consists of 3 other local ladies that I've known my entire life, almost. What was neatest about it was seeing my mom be so confident and successful. She would tell you that it's just a show, but when you do well at something and smile while you're doing it, it can't help but sink in a little. It felt good to see her shine!

Gardening, etc.

I planted a garden this year! Everything is in, finally, and fenced, although I need to get some stakes to replace the sticks that are currently employed. I planted lettuce, spinach, arugula, green beans, yellow squash, eggplant, tomatoes, and green peppers - of course. And one hot pepper plant, which was Travis's selection. I'm hoping that Emily will enjoy watching these things grow in the garden, and then not be so adverse to eating them. As you can see by the pictures that show dirt stuck between her teeth, she is still willing to put anything in her mouth, as long as I don't waste my time cleaning, cooking, and seasoning it. Perhaps green beans off the vine will be more palatable to her?

Emily has been incredibly charming lately. The last few days that I've picked her up from daycare, Amanda has had fun stories about what she did and how impressed she is with how she listens and follows directions, can say 2-word phrases, eats well, and has such a good time. I am so proud of my little girl!! It baffles me that she insists on climbing the stairs here when I'm not looking, and I can't seem to get through to her how dangerous that is. She even fell down a couple of stairs today, and although she was not hurt, she was really scared and I thought that might do something... nope. She was back up there 20 minutes later. Brave, I guess.

And a chowhound - wow. She ate an entire sloppy joe tonight and a decent-sized pile of mashed potatoes. She even drank out of her cup without the sippy lid on it, which she's done before but not with such an opinion about it. She's growing up so fast!! On the one hand, I want her to stay like this forever, but then again, I can't wait until her vocabulary expands just enough to make things easier. And, I'd love it if she could understand concepts like "not now, but yes later," or my explanation of why I can't hold her suspended over the drinking fountain for the entire trip to the library. But that'll come, and then I'll miss her simple innocence.

The baby is starting to make his/her physical presence known. I can feel the bump when I lay on the floor now, and it won't be that many more weeks before I might feel a flutter of activity! Exciting! Fun to think I'm starting in on this again, although I must say that I do enjoy having my sleep to myself. Okay, I still get up once a night to pee, but that's not really that big of a deal to me. I can't think of the last time that Emily was up in the night - it's been so long! She's such a good sleeper, and she's even told US that it's bedtime and she wanted to go upstairs to go to sleep!! Crazy! I didn't tell my mom that - she wouldn't believe me that a kid would actually do that, since hers never did. Guilty! :)

A beautiful evening

I am sitting out on my deck, listening to the neighborhood kids play and squeal, and wondering how long it will be before I can't convince Emily to come inside and go to bed on an evening like this. She had a lollipop after dinner tonight, and she was so sticky that she went straight into the tub, and fell asleep without any protest (after 4 books and 3 songs, of course). Anyway, it's warm and still and peaceful outside, and it feels like the kind of night that I'd spend shooting baskets with my dad when I was a kid. Do you suppose I'll be lucky enough to do that for my kids someday? Teach them a killer jumpshot or rebound freethrows until they make 10 in a row every night before going inside? Or maybe they won't be as neurotic as I was!!

When I picked up Emily from daycare today, Amanda told me that Emily is becoming quite the adventurer, and she's having to remind herself that she's not a baby, and she doesn't need as much help! Gah!! Where did my baby go? I really couldn't agree more, though. Emily is really branching out in her vocabulary, and she obviously understands everything we tell her. She can carry out multi-part instructions (get your shoes and take them to Dad), and she can SING! I pointed to the picture that goes with Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, and she sang the first four notes, very close to on-pitch! Then she nods for "yes, sir, yes, sir," which is just adorable. She loves to sing in the car, and "drive" with me saying vroom vroom and beep beep.

I read through the Johnston school newsletter (I kind of miss the ol' Warrior'O'Gram :) ), and I was impressed to see that their ITBS and ITED scores for all grades were 80th percentile and above - mostly in the 90's! Wow! I have renewed optimism that Emily will have a good experience in school. Then I saw the size of their JV swing choir, and it was bigger than my entire high school choir. I am not worried about Emily shining in her own light, so I keep telling myself that she'll be okay in a bigger school. Still, it's not something that I experienced, so I'm a little leery. I guess she stands a better chance at being pushed a little at school, and not expected to teach the rest of her classmates who didn't understand the math lesson the first time through.

I'm really showing now, though. And it's not cute yet, either - I'm just fat. Ugh :( The pilates is feeling good, now that I survived the first 4 days of being too sore to walk. How bizarre that wiggling around on a mat for an hour could make me that incapacitated. Maybe now that I'm officially at the end of the first trimester, I'll have enough energy to bike in the mornings. Or maybe Emily will just keep getting up earlier and earlier with the sun.

Okay, it really is a little bit cold outside. Guess I'll close for now.