Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday morning I was greeted by this. Thanks, Kurt. :)

Since I'm still on this whole cake making kick but was in the mood for something a little different, I decided to try making a cheesecake.

Naomi "helped".

For dinner, Kurt and I went out for Indian food. Yummy! We left Naomi with our friend, Rebe. Thanks, Rebe! When we got to the restaurant, we discovered it was balloon making night. I guess on the last Thursday of every month a guy comes in that makes balloon animals, paints faces, and does magic tricks. And kids get half off their meal. I guess we should have taken Naomi after all! In this picture, Naomi is posing with her balloon apple. The balloon guy insisted she would love it. He was right.

The guy also gave us a rainbow and a "hat" for me since it was my birthday. I think business was a little slow...
I meant to get a picture of Kurt and I at the restaurant, but oh, well. I guess we were too distracted by the delicious food. :)

Kurt bought me these beautiful roses. Aren't they pretty?

And to finish it off, we ate that lovely cheesecake. The Moores came over as well as Celeste and Kira. I wish we could have invited more people over, but the cheesecake was only so big! Sorry for the lack of people in the pictures. I didn't really get any good people pictures. I'm only used to photographing Naomi. :) But do you see anything different about these candles? Their flame matches the color of the candle! I thought they looked pretty cool.

It was a great birthday. Thanks everybody for the birthday wishes!

Solids

Naomi and I fed Emma some "solids" the other day. She had some rice cereal mixed with a little formula (I always take the free samples at the doctor's office).

I'm not sure how much she liked it. I think she was frustrated at the slow delivery. Naomi insisted on helping, but she took her sweet time delivering the goods. I'd like to try again sometime when Naomi is asleep...

Family Secret

Last night when Kurt got home, he asked me if I wanted him to dump the body. What? What body? I then realized he'd asked if I wanted him to dump Naomi's potty chair. Yes. Please. We'll save the body dumping for another day.

Camping at Watkins Glen

This past weekend a group of our friends went camping at Watkins Glen, so we decided to join them! Most of my pictures are from hiking the glen the next day, so here's a beauty from our first day. The dad of one of Naomi's friends had a birthday Friday, so their family brought cake and cupcakes for everyone. Naomi carried around a cupcake and it didn't all make it into her mouth. I suddenly feared I had not brought enough shirts.

Naomi loved camping with her friends. She had fun running around in the trees with everybody. She didn't really sleep the greatest, but we made it through. :)

Saturday morning we went hiking. Kurt strapped Emma onto his back for the trek.

Naomi wanted a hand to hold. After her friend, Megan, turned her down, James was kind enough to oblige.

The hike was really beautiful, with lots of pretty waterfalls.

Emma decided her thumb was very interesting. She remained calm the entire hike.

Nothing quite like playing garbage can drums while hiking.

A couple of the waterfalls came right over us.

Another highlight--frogs! There was one crevice that was just teeming with little frogs! It was quite the hit with all the kids there.

A quasi-family picture. Emma is strapped on Kurt's back, out of view.

She had fallen asleep.

I had to adjust the backpack a few times to support Emma's head better. She didn't seem to mind.

Naomi loved the tunnels.

I'm not sure how that's comfortable, but Emma kept on sleeping.

The drive to Watkins Glen passes by Seneca Lake. It's a really beautiful drive. On the drive home, Emma started screaming and I thought she needed a new diaper, so we started looking for a place to pull over. We saw a sign that said, "scenic overlook, 1 mile". Kurt and I both assumed it was a scenic view of Seneca Lake, but when we got there, all there was was this farm. We both laughed. Very scenic.

For Megan

Kurt's cousin, Megan, picked out these cute outfits, so we did a little photo shoot.

I love Emma's expressions (or lack thereof).

Emma doesn't always appreciate Naomi's love.

Emma's 4 month checkup

Emma turned four months over a week ago, but I haven't really had a chance to post about it yet. She had her check up a few days ago. Unfortunately, the nurse didn't give me a printout with all her stats, just the charts, so I'm going to have to give approximates for her stats (I know you're all dying to know the exact ones, though!).
She's about average for her weight and head circumference, but for height she is apparently "off the charts". Well, she's 97th percentile, but the chart only goes to 95th. :) If you look at the above picture, she is wearing an outfit intended for a 6-9 month-old. Yeah, it fits her pretty well.

My best guess for exact numbers, based on her chart:
weight: 14 lb, 4 oz, or 57th percentile
head circumference: 16 1/4 in, or 54th percentile
length: 26 3/4 in or 97th percentile
That seems about right.

Everyone comments on her big, blue eyes. Hmm, I seem to remember another little girl who got the same, frequent comment... (It's Naomi, in case you couldn't figure it out.)

At four months, Emma is still the smiliest little girl you could know. She is very curious about the world around her. She likes to grab things and suck on things. She is showing interest in that thing we like to call food. Last night I ate a cookie while holding Emma. She looked at it very intently and kept reaching out, trying to grab it. I, of course, held it out of her reach. But she was so mad she couldn't reach it! She got so frustrated, I finally let her grab a little corner. A piece came off in her hand and she seemed pretty pleased until it crumbled and fell on the floor. Emma also loves standing up. I think she likes being able to see what is going on and really wants to move around to explore. She loves her exersaucer, especially when she can make things move herself. She is still a great sleeper and a joy to have around.

James's Birthday Party

Naomi was invited to a birthday party yesterday. She had fun playing with her friends.

They played a game where you would roll a die and then move forward that many spaces on your bike or trike. Naomi didn't completely get it, but she also didn't get that she didn't get it, so she still had fun. :)

There was also a delicious cake there... If you'd like to see what it looked like before, you can check out my cake blog!

Emma looked so cute chillin' in her car seat. We had fun at the party. It was great to get out and see people! I feel like I never see people anymore and we were indoors a lot last week with Naomi potty training. But she's doing really well, so we're starting to venture out to the world of people again.

Nightmares

The last night we were in Utah my family watched a kid's movie starring Jackie Chan (Spy Next Door), which Naomi found rather terrifying. We left before it was over, but not before Naomi had seen enough to really freak her out. Since then, she refuses to go to sleep unless one of us is in the room with her. We have to lie down next to her bed and wait for her to fall asleep. Then sometime between 2 and 5 am she will wake up frantic and won't go to sleep until we put her in our bed. I wish I knew how to help her, partly because it makes me sad she is so scared and partly because we aren't getting any sleep!

Potty Training

This week we started potty training Naomi. I think she's been ready for a while, but we were waiting for me. :)

Naomi is sporting her prize for going in the potty--a Dora backpack! When she saw it, she gave it a hug like it was a long lost friend. I'm not sure what qualifies as being completely trained, but Naomi is doing very well in the day time. She still hasn't gone an entire day without an accident, but yesterday was pretty darn close. I think if I'd done better at reminding her when she was outside she would have made it. We are very proud of her.

Naomi gets a prize every time she uses the potty five times. This has been a hard concept for her at times, especially at first. Her second prize was these pony stickers. As soon as she got them, she put them on her face and came roaring at me like a monster.

Little Cutie

I love how Emma holds her hands. She is such a cutie.

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Water Party!

We had several days of 90 degree weather, which is very hot for Rochester. Keep in mind the humidity adds at least ten degrees and noone here has central air.

Our neighbors threw a water party. Naomi watched me put on mascara before we left and wanted some for herself. Can you tell? (Think water plus mascara. If you look close you can see it running below her left eye.)

Emma and I hung out in the shade.

These boys were killing me. After everyone took all their water toys, there was one little kiddie pool left and they all piled in it.

I thought this was a really cute picture of Naomi.

Okay, this picture doesn't fit, but I thought it was really cute. Naomi wanted to hold Emma so I took some pictures.