Baby of the Week!

Emma is baby of the week in one of my groups on Cafemom. I just wanted to share that post on here!! :)

My name is.....Emma Mackenzie



But my Mommy has a nickname or two for me. She calls me Emmers, Sweetie, punkin, cookie monster

My Mommy is named...Heather

My First Birthday was on June 3 and we celebrated by having a princess party at home!



When I was born, I weighed 6lbs., 8 oz. I have grown so much and now I weigh 18 lbs.



Some things I do well are........running, talking, opening cabinets & doors, making messes, holding mommy's hand when we go for a walk, and listening...most the time :)

I am still trying to: use a spoon/ fork when I eat. (I can move it from the bowl & put it into my mouth, but mommy has to get the food on the spoon first). I haven't mastered it YET, but I am working hard at it!!!

Some of my favorite things to do are play outside, read books, take a bath, GO (anywhere), and play with shoes, but being tired & not getting my way will cause me to tantrum.



I can say a lot of words now.(Mommy doesn't know how many...) My favorite word to say is dada. I love my daddy!



Favorite song is Ring Around the Rosy (I love when 'we all fall down!') Favorite Book is Bad Dog Marley. Favorite toy is the Crawl & Cruise Musical Jungle...I've been playing with and dancing to that since I was 6 months old!



I sleep very well-12 hours a night. I love to go night night. I have a favorite thing to sleep with. It is my paci, my 'silky' blankies & my fav. stuffed animals: puppy, Elmo, & Pooh.

There is no such thing as a "typical" day with me, but if I described one then it would go something like this.

I wake up around 8 am; sometimes I play in my bed & let my lazy mommy sleep later :) Mommy gets me up and I have breakfast-usually oatmeal & fruit or yogurt, & milk. Then mommy changes me, gets me dressed & our day gets going. We either have a playdate or run errands in the morning. Lunch is at 12, then I go down for a nap around 1:00. I sleep till 3, sometimes 4, then it's playtime again. I have dinner with mommy & daddy around 5, then we play outside, or go for a walk. I take a bath at 7, then brush my teeth, read a book and go night night by 8.

Some of my bad habits are: being much too curious! I am into everything! I am working on it!!!

One word that best describes me is: sweet....I give hugs and kisses to everybody & everything :) (This is Emma leaning in to kiss the golf man at Grandpa's office):



Some challenges my Mommy faces with me are......staying healthy! I was never sick until this fall. Now I catch another cold every couple weeks :(

Brag about me Mommy!!!! Emma is a very sweet, happy, little girl. She is a great sleeper, a great eater, and just a joy to have! She has spoiled us by being so well behaved-we can take her anywhere! She is the sunshine in our home!!

The big news of the month!

We're expecting a new addition to our family sometime around July 10, 2010. We are SO excited!! We were hoping to have another one shortly after Emma's second birthday (June 3) so the timing is just perfect! We are so blessed and excited to go through this amazing process again! I think I'm even more excited this time around because I know what to expect...and I know all the wonderful things to look forward to! We also found out this weekend that close friends of ours are expecting a baby just days after ours, so that makes things even more exciting! AND, lol, another good friend is due just a couple months before us. It will be so fun to share this experience! (We're all on baby #2!)
I actually found out really early on that I was pregnant. The line was so light on the test (cause it was EARLY...I still can't believe the test even picked it up) that I ended up taking a digital to make sure. After I took the test I told Mikey that I thought Emma was going to be a big sister. The smile he got on his face is something I won't soon forget. My sister and I went to the mall that day and got Emma a t-shirt that says "Big sisters are the coolest".
We dressed her in it that night when we went to dinner at Mikey's parents house, and it was so fun to see his parents reaction to Emma's little message. I also took her down to my mom's office in the same shirt and shared the news with my mom that way. Such fun times and wonderful memories! Emma also wore her shirt to church yesterday to let our church family know.

A quick recap...

I got a bit behind in my blogging last month. Let's just say I had other things on my mind :) (Refer to the previous post :)) So, now I will play catch up and post some pics of us at the pumpkin patch:




And some of Halloween:

Emma is...

...GOING TO BE A BIG SISTER!!!! I'M PREGGERS! :) :)

Dear neglected blog,

I miss you. I have lots of great things to blog about. I just can't right now. I'll tell you why later =)

Because I'm weird like that

I love being organized. I get some type of weird rush from opening drawers and closets and seeing everything exactly as it should be. Of course, not everything in my house is exactly as I would like it to be. Somehow with a husband, dog, and baby, things have a way of becoming unorganized rather quickly. But that's ok! Cause then I get to reorganize, and I do truly enjoy it! Some of my recent organizing efforts involved cleaning out my spice cabinet and medicine cabinet and organizing them. Target has these wonderful little organizers for just this purpose. I now enjoy opening these cabinets and seeing everything laid out perfectly. =) The purpose of this post is 100% for my benefit. I'm making a 'to-do' list of all the things I want to get cleaned out and organized. If I wrote it down on paper, it'd be lost rather quickly. But the beauty of my blog is that my list will be here everytime I log in! :)
1. Reorganize hall closet
2. Clean out garage
3. Rearrange pantry
4. Organize recipes
My last item has nothing to do with organizing, but it's something I seriously need to do: put pics in picture frames! I've had a collage thing and photo jewelry box for months and I'm tired of looking at pics of strangers. I'm sure I'll be adding to my list, but hey, I've got time! This is one of the joys of being at home full time and having a baby who sleeps lots! :)
Oh...and in case anyone was wondering, I will update my previous post with pics. I'm just waiting to finish a couple little details first.

I can't wait....

...to post pics of our new and improved family room tonight!! It has served as a play room/office type of room, and I've had a hard time figuring out which piece of furniture would work best. I needed someplace other than the counter for our laptop and I wanted more organization for Emma's toys. I found a desk with hutch for the laptop as well as a shelving system with baskets to organize the toys. Mikey and a couple friends are setting it up tonight...so I will update this when it's done!
Ok, here are the pics that I took forever to get up!!
The first one is the family room before:

And the family room after:

What's Cooking?

Baked chicken with a cranberry glaze, stuffing, and green beans is the answer to that question! Being the great multitasker that I am,I am blogging and making dinner at the same time! :)
It's been a busy day, but a good day! Got the laundry washed, folded and put away, fridge cleaned out and reorganized, groceries bought and put away, and the general mayhem caused by Emma is all cleaned up (For now....she's napping :))
I've had cranberries in my freezer left over from who knows when, and wasn't sure how to put them to good use. Good ol Google came up with this recipe for me to try. It sounded so yummy I had to share.

Cranberry Glazed Chicken
By: KITTENCAL
Dec 27, 2005

This is a great chicken recipe to use up any leftover cranberries from the holidays, although you might find yourself buying cranberries all year around just to make this dish! Serve this with cooked rice. Throw in some mushrooms or chopped green peppers with the sauce, if you like lots of sauce then double all ingredients.

SERVES 4 -6 (change servings and units)
Ingredients

* 1/2 cup flour (more if needed)
* 1 teaspoon seasoning salt (or white salt)
* black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (can use more than 1/2 teaspoon)
* 3 lbs chicken pieces
* 3-6 tablespoons butter
* 3-6 tablespoons oil
* 3/4 cup water
* 1 cup brown sugar, packed
* 1 tablespoon vinegar
* 1 tablespoon flour
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon clove
* 1/4 teaspoon allspice
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen)

Directions

1.

Set oven to 350 degrees.
2.

Butter a large casserole dish.
3.
3
Combine flour with seasoning salt, pepper and garlic powder.
4.

Coat the chicken pieces in the flour mixture.
5.
5
Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
6.

Brown the chicken pieces on both sides, then place in the baking dish (do not clean skillet).
7.

In the same skillet with the drippings mix the water, brown sugar, vinegar, 1 tablespoon flour, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
8.
Add in cranberries and cook slowly stirring constantly until the cranberry skins pop and the mixture thickens (about 10-15 minutes).
9.

Pour the sauce over the chicken in the baking dish.
10.

Bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked.

(I adjusted some of the recipe...cut back or removed a lot of the butter, oil, and salt it calls for) Enjoy!

Looking ahead

I'm such a planner. I definitely am enjoying the here and now, but its always been my personality to plan ahead. When I was around 5 or 6 I decided that when I was 18 I wanted to go to college to be a teacher, then get married and have babies. =) Guess that plan worked out, huh? My current plans involve transitioning Emma from her nursery to a 'big girl' room.(Not right now, within the next year or so...like I said...I plan ahead :)) This way the nursery furniture can be moved across the hall and be ready and waiting for whenever we need it again.
I just ordered Emma's new bed from Pottery Barn Kids last night. (Note about pbk: I once looked at their prices and swore I'd never buy anything from there, but starting researching and looking into things more and found this bed at a GREAT price. A great price that would be typical of much lower end furniture). Anyway, here's the bed. I just love it!


I'm not planning to use the comforter set in one of the pics, I just included it to show how cute the bed looks all set up. I love that this bed can be lowered for young kids and then raised for either a trundle bed or storage. I plan to buy the matching nightstand and dresser, however, I'm waiting to see if those go on sale, or if I find something on Craigslist.
As for the future second nursery...that's something I can't plan. That is completely up to God and His perfect will and timing, and won't I won't worry about it till then. =)

I just LOVE her!!! ♥

Emma is closing in on 16 months old! I can't even believe how the time has flown by! :) I am enjoying every moment with her, and I'm so grateful to be home with the little lovebug. As far as what's new with her....well, she's still running around at top speed and still into everything; however, she is really good at listening when I tell her 'no'. I refused to move all my stuff, I decided I'd rather teach her that not everything is hers to touch. And she does fine with it. Sometimes she'll point to the forbidden item, but for the most part leaves it alone. Emma's also really taking off with the talking. Her favorite words these days are still mama and dada, plus...nana, Ganga (grandpa), cracka (cracker), Wha dat, ahh done, duck, dog, and uh-oh. That's all I could think of for now. She's in love her her 4 different 'silky' blankies and still LOVES Pooh, Elmo, JoJo Bear, and now Woody. Yes, Woody the little sheriff from Toy Story. =) She will eat as many crackas (lol) as I'll give her and she is also majorly into her pink purse. She loves to open it and take out her phone, sunglasses, gum (just a package, NO she doesn't chew gum!) and Woody, then put them all back in again. And just like her mommy had hoped, she loves shoes, and shopping, and her pretty pink tiara. She asks me to put it on her and then runs to looks at herself in the mirror! Lol. Gotta love the little princess :)
As far as the rest of the family everything's still the same old though we're hoping for some changes. Mikey put in a request to move to day shift. I'm thrilled about it (more so than he is) and hoping for a miracle...(a quick move) Realistically, though, it could take several months or more. I'm praying and hoping :)
On the weekends I'm helping my family paint and get a home ready for my sister and brother-in-law. I cannot wait to have her 10 minutes away!! It's a lifelong dream come true that we will be close and raise our families together.
Well, that's about it...just a quick update on the fam. =)
Here's the almost-16 month princess!

I couldn't wait any longer!

I know it's not fall yet. We're a week away from the official start. And if we're going by the start of fall-like weather, well, I'll be waiting a few more months, lol. But I love this time of year and everything that goes with it! The shorter days, moving the clock BACK, FOOTBALL, THANKSGIVING, CHRISTMAS. It is truly the most wonderful time of the year!! :) So that is why my blog is decked out a bit early. I'm forcing myself to leave the fall decorations for my house in the garage until the official first day next week, but thought I'd at least get the blog ready :)

This is one of the many reasons

Why I love Karen Kingsbury. As most of you know, she is my most favorite author of all time. I collect all her books and pretty much memorize them, lol =) She is an amazing, godly woman, and if I could ever meet her in person, it would be a dream come true. Anyway, on the point of this post, I read this on her online journal...the link to her website is here on my blog...and I really liked what she had to say about marriage. The very last line sums it up if you don't want to read all the rest :)

"I promised I’d tell you why I fell in love with Don all over again during my trip to California. The first two days were wonderful and productive, a time to catch up with old friends and new readers! Though I struggle with any time away from home, God met me at every turn in these two days of events.

Then . . . after the work was done . . . I moved to a hotel on the beach and on Sunday afternoon Don met me there. It felt like a clandestine rendezvous, something that Landon and Ashley might do in one of my Firstborn series books. Stealing a few days from the kids and the chaos to remember why we ever fell in love in the first place.

That first night, we shared dinner at a small table near an enormous window overlooking the Pacific Ocean where the suns slowly melted into the sea. We went outside after dinner and breathed the cool, damp air, watching the lights and looking as far out to the dusky horizon as possible.

Our hearts seemed to beat in unison to the rhythm of the crashing waves.

“I’m so glad I married you,” he whispered to me.

I pressed my head against his warm chest. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

While we slept that night, we left the door of our room open to the ocean below. It felt like we’d fallen into a dream world. The next day we woke early and took a two-mile walk along the beach. We talked about the kids and how we can be better parents, more consistent, more loving. We talked about raising the bar and providing them with challenges that will help them become the responsible young people God wants them to be. We sang praise songs to our God who has – for now – blessed us with them. And we stopped in ankle-deep surf and prayed.

During the day we talked about our lives and how quickly the past twenty years have flown by.

“Why did you marry me?” he asked me over breakfast one morning. “I mean, okay, I know you loved me. But why? And what made you think I’d be the one for you, the one to last a lifetime with?”

It wasn’t a question he’d ever asked before, but I had an answer. “Three reasons,” I told him. The soft crash of waves sounded below and a pair of seagulls flew by our open door. “First, you loved God more than life.”

I told him how that love for God challenged me and made me question my own stagnant beliefs. “I figured if you loved God that much,” I smiled, “then you would always love me.”

He reached across the table and took my fingers in his. “What else?”

“You’re gift in working with children.” It’s always been true. When I met Don he was a PE teacher at a private school, working his way through college enroute to his bachelor’s degree in education and his teaching credential. His patience and humor and innate ability to teach were striking. Sometimes now I watch him with our six kids and I’m amazed. That same ability is why our family is what it is today. God has given him a gift and it continues to play out.

He dismissed the compliment. “Anyone’s good with kids.”

“Not like you.”

“All right, so what else?”

The last one was easy. His view on divorce was perfectly in line with mine. “People don’t just fall out of love,” he would tell me back then. “You have to work on marriage, nurture it, breathe new life into it. Every day, every season, every year you have together.”

Indeed.

I thank God for a time of holding hands and watching sunsets, of quiet conversation to the backdrop of everything belonging to God alone. I thank Him for giving us time to remember why and when and where. And maybe most importantly how. Because in the end, and now that we’re back in our routine, Donald was right about what he said.

You have to work on marriage. Nurture it, breathe new life into it. Every day, every season, every year you have together.

Thank You, God, for my Prince Charming."

New York, New York!!

My first time in the Big Apple can be summed up in one word...AMAZING!! I ♥ NY! :) It was such a quick, whirlwind trip and everything is mixed up in my mind, but I'll try my best to recap it.
Friday, Sept. 4 I left my hubby and precious girl behind and drove to my friend Kim's place. I got to see her classroom and spent the day hanging out with her.
On Saturday we were up early and headed to the airport. I was terrified of the flight, but other than a rough landing, it was uneventful. Once in NY, we hit the ground running. We checked into our hotel and headed out to eat. We found Patsy's pizzeria and ate the most delicious pizza I've ever had. The cheese and sauce tasted so fresh! From there we headed out to Central Park where we strolled around for a bit. We also walked around doing some shopping and stopped at Dylan's Candy Store...a fun place filled with...CANDY! Lol. That night we went to see Mamma Mia on Broadway. That was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. The show was fantastic!
Sunday morning we went to Battery Park where we saw the Statue of Liberty. Most of the afternoon we spent walking, first to Ground Zero, then shopping in China Town and Little Italy as well as Greenwich Village. That evening it was back to Times Square for dinner, then more shopping. (Note about Ground Zero: that part of the trip is hard to describe in words. It was sad and also a bit surreal to see that place and the events that happened there in person. Walking around St. Paul's where there is so much memorabilia was both inspiring and depressing)
Monday morning we got up and went to the taping of the Today show. That was so fun, especially since there was a concert there that morning. We walked around the Upper West side, had cupcakes at the Buttercup Cupcake Shop, and had lunch at Grand Central Station. We flew out that night.
The trip was fun, but it's great to be home. It was very, very difficult for me to leave Emma and Mikey for that long, but my wonderful hubby really wanted me to get away with friends and have some fun. Looking back, I am glad that we made the decision to keep Emma safely at home with her daddy and Grandma.
Well, as always, I'll end with pictures of the trip. The first bunch is of us at the pizza place, Dylan's Candy Shop, and Central Park.





These pics are from our night out on Broadway, as well as Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty.





The first pic is just another one at Battery Park, then a pic of me with NY's finest..."Big Dog" and his master :), us with our purchases, then ground zero, and a FDNY uniform from Sept. 11 on display at St. Paul's.





The next ones are on more pic from St. Paul's, an FDNY firetruck, us in the subway, and at the Today show, and one of me in front of Tiffany's :)





Ok, last set :) The first two are in the Upper West side of the city, me in front of the Brooklyn Bridge, and then two from our limo on the way to the airport =)