A Mile A Minute

Where oh where to begin? I guess the first thing to share (now that the cat's out of the bag) is our happy news that Baby #2 in on the way. As of today, I am just over 14 weeks and officially in my second trimester! My Itty Bitty One is due to make his or her appearance on New Years Eve. What a fantastic Christmas present for us all!

Emma is more of a monster than ever and is all over the place all the time! For the first time in about a week, she finally slept through the night last night. Thank goodness! We moved out of our house in Williams and are now renting my parents' house. I think the move plus more teething (does it ever end) made for some long nights for my Pumpkin Pie. Not to mention, Emma HAS to be attached to my hip at all times. I guess she suddenly realized Mommy is just the most wonderful person ever! Things are starting to settle down a bit now, so hopefully Emma settles down a bit as well.

The one thing Emma really, really loves about her new house is her new giant bathtub. To conserve water (since we had to pay to have it hauled) we were still using Emma's baby tub at the Williams house. Now that we have community water, Emma gets to take a bath in not only a full size tub, but a giant jacuzzi tub! She splashes and squeals and has a fantastic time. She gets a bath every night, and it's really her happiest time, I think!

Emma also really likes having a little yard to play in. She like to dig in the rocks and put them in buckets. She also loves to share her rocks with me. We have a little patch of grass, but Emma prefers the rocks. Go figure. I'm trying to grow some flowers in a little flower bed, and Emma was great help with weeding. She wasn't very happy when I took her shovel, but I made amends when I offered her the weeds I was digging up. She put them all in a little bucket for me. When I have the sprinkler going, Emma likes to go out and stand in the water. And when puddles start to form, Emma is in heaven! Afterall, there's nothing better than splashing in puddles!

Over the long weekend, Emma and I went to Phoenix to spend time with my parents, Sam and Larry. Paul couldn't go, because he was working. Emma got to swim in a pool for the first time, and it did NOT go well at first. By day two, she was doing better, and by day three, you would think she was raised in a pool. She was floating in her life vest, jumping off the steps for us to catch her and I was even able to dunk her under without her freaking out. Progress indeed!

We had been watching Biko and Zoe for Mom and Dad, and Emma and I brought them to their new house over the weekend. It's kinda sad not having them around anymore. I've been begging Paul for a new puppy, and now I really, really want one!

Emma is a little talking machine now! She just turned 15 months, and it's like she finally discovered words! She'll try to mimic just about anything we say (which gets me in trouble from time to time), but there are several that she will say on a regular basis. Emma's all time favorite word (for how many months now?!) is still "uh oh!" She can say "mama" (sometimes "mi mi") and "dada" or "dad". She says "gook" (book) and "zeus" (shoes). She says "hi", and will even say it when you hand her the phone. She says "gog" (dog). Every couple of days there is something new to add, but those are her favorite words. She was saying "help" the other day when her arm go stuck in her shirt, but she has yet to say it again. However, she has yet to get stuck in her shirt again, too. Emma uses her "more" sign language sign when she is eating, and she has her own rendition of the "all done" sign. But it works for us, so I don't complain. She knows to shake her head "no", and she is just starting to nod, but I don't think she quite understands what it means yet. Emma is very good at following commands, like "give the book to Mommy", and she loves to help clean up her play room. If Emma takes toys out, she will usually put them away when she is done without even being told to. We still have our battles with the entertainment center and DVDs, but those are really small issues in my book. though I will admit it gets frustrating to have to pull her away over and over and over...

The funniest thing Emma does right now is chew people out. She will go out of her way to tell her Papa when she is not a happy camper. She will babble in a sassy little tone, swing her hands all around and shake her head. She's also done it to a few strangers while we were out and about. Emma's babbling is almost constant, and I would love to know what she is trying to say!

So basically things are just as busy as ever in Hancock house. Oh! I did have my first night away from Emma. It ended up being only one night instead of two. It went well on my end. I just stayed busy and went to bed early. I did have a hard time sleeping, but it went well for me overall. Emma gave her daddy a hard time at bath time, but she's never really been given a bath by anyone other than me, so that was to be expected. I feel more comfortable going out of town every now and then, and I'm even going to be staying over night for a meeting this coming Sunday night. I think Emma and Paul will appreciate being able to spend some time together without Mommy hovering overhead.

Emma and I both have appointments at the end of the week. I hope all goes well for both of us! I will post again when I get a chance.