New Years 2011

Our great friends the Penturfs came to spend New Years weekend with us. It was so wonderful to hang out again, introduce them to Emma, and show off our new stomping grounds. I've missed you all so much!

Sadly, this is the only picture I took of the weekend. For New Years Eve Bud cooked us some excellent prime rib. He's already talking about doing this again next year. We stayed up late talking every night. Kari and I escaped with Emma to go shopping and had lunch with Meredith from The Office (well, she was across the food court from us, but we were close by) :). We then showed them around the city of Philadelphia and did some stroller research at Babies R Us. Kari borrowed my kids and I borrowed Kari's research to make an informed decision on the best double stroller. It was really fun to do this together!

Thanks so much for making the trip guys! I look forward to our upcoming vacations together!!

Mmmm... snow!!

Samuel and I built our first snowman of the season last week.

Samuel really wanted to "eat snow" the whole time we were out.

He had to take a break from rolling up the snowball to eat more snow off his mittens.
And, even started to lick snow off of the snowman's "eyes and nose."
But, we (or should I say I) managed to finish the snowman.

"Cheese"...
"Ah Choo"...
[In a whiny voice] "More snow"... He wasn't thrilled about going inside. He asks everyday to go play in the snow, even though there is no snow anymore.
Seconds after we stepped inside, Clara jumped right through our snowman and completely destroyed it. Samuel told me, "Gia (Clara) Eat Snowman." He was right, she was trying to eat it! "No no no, Gia! House, Gia!"

1 Month Old

Emma is already one month old! It's hard to believe, but it's also hard to imagine life without her being a part of our family. She's been such a wonderful baby and I look forward to watching her grow up. I am taking her monthly pictures with the doggy that big brother made for Emma at Build a Bear and gave to her on her birthday.

Emma a few days old...

Emma at 1 month...

Over the past month...

- She's grown out of most of her newborn clothes and her newborn diapers.

- She's gained about 3 pounds... we don't have an official measurement until the 12th, but according to our estimates she weighs over 10 pounds already!

- She has moved her "fussy time" from between 1am and 3am to about 9pm to 11pm. Much easier to handle when Bud and I are not exhausted and trying to sleep!

- She's always been a good sleeper, sleeping in four hour chunks from the beginning. Now, she usually has at least one 6 hour sleep at night and has gone 7 hours a few times!

- Her umbilical cord stump finally fell off at 4 weeks and 1 day.

- We are working on the sleep, eat, awake pattern and she's starting to settle into this routine. At first it was impossible to keep her awake, but we now have about an hour of awake time after most feedings (until night time). She has even taken two naps in her crib today (on her pretty pink sheets :))!!

Now, for one of my favorite parts of the monthly posts... the rest of the photo shoot. I always like to see the pictures that are taken in between the good ones. I think they give a more realistic portrayal of what she's like as a one month old more than the "official," perfectly posed picture. :)

Falling over...

Pooping... probably.

Big stretch...

And, my favorite...

Top 10 of Twenty-TEN

I have had a few friends do a top ten or year in review on their blogs, so I'm copying. Thanks for the idea guys!

After the first one, these are in no particular order. But, of course the most exciting event of 2010 was Emma's arrival!

1. EMMA

We welcomed Emma on December 4th. She's been such a joy! More details about her first month coming in her one month old post later this week.

2. Finding out about Emma

In early April, we finally found out that Emma would be joining our family. After nine months of trying, we were overjoyed that God had blessed our family with this little girl in his perfect timing and in accordance with his perfect plan. The waiting reminded us again that God is in control of all things.

3. Vacation with the hubs - Philadelphia

After finding out that we being relocated to Philadelphia, Bud and I were able to take a "vacation" to see our new city without the kiddo. It was so great to get away for almost a week, just the two of us. Of course, I've already blogged about this, so you can look back at March for more details. :)

4. Watching Sam grow up

Sam has changed so much this year. I've loved watching him change and grow. He's gone from a five word vocabulary to telling "stories," given up diapers (during the day at least), learned colors, letters, etc., and so much more this year. I love watching him tell stories to his Buzz toy and using his imagination in his play. I'm planning on a two and a half year old post at the end of the month, so more details on his latest antics then.

5. Vacation with the hubs #2

Again, Bud and I got to get away to an overnight in downtown Philly thanks to Mom and Dad's visit.

6. Welcoming many babies

We had several friends welcome new babies this year and it was so exciting to celebrate with all of them! I wish we lived closer to share in the daily struggles and triumphs of becoming a new mom or adding to the family.

Here's Sam with his future girlfriend, Sarah. :)

7. Buying TWO new cars

Yup, you read that right. Moving to Philly was hard on our cars and it was evident within a few weeks of our arrival that both cars were failing us. So, within four months, we updated both our vehicles. This could be in my bottom ten as well, but it's fun to drive a new car and it will be nice to have reliable transportation for a while.

Honda Pilot

Honda Accord Crosstour

8. Watching God's hand work in every little detail of our move to PA

Although it's been hard to move away from our great friends, we saw God's hand in every little detail along the way. Everything from selling our house for the right price and quickly (especially in such a poor market), finding our housing here, and providing a church family here. Our church here has been so welcoming and we are so grateful for their generosity over the past month.

9. Vacation to Florida

In the midst of moving, we were able to get away on a vacation to Florida. We crammed a lot into a quick trip, but it was great to see family, hit the beach for a few hours, and just to get away from the chaos of moving.

10. Exploring a new city

We've enjoyed exploring the new sites and sounds of Philadelphia. Some of my favorites have been the Children's museum and the Art museum. There are still many more things on my list of things to explore in 2011!

Random Pictures

The pacifier works on both kids... :)

Doing finger plays for Emma...
Helping with the car seat...
If only it was this easy for her to fall asleep at bed time...

Samuel could fall asleep while playing when he was Emma's age too... :)

Matching PJs...

All dressed up...
Silly boy! Wearing Dodo's glasses...