Presents Completed!

Today we finally finished opening all of Esme's presents and she's been so excited to have new things to play with - her shopping cart, her pretend fruit cutting set, Mrs Potato Head, lots of puzzles, Duplo Lego bricks, Play-Doh, and so much more.  However when all was said and done she was pretty excited just to play in the pile of wrapping paper and throw it up in the air.

 

Then when she finished with all her playing she decided to take a little break and rest on the stairs and in her new recliner chair.

 

Esme's daycare has been closed all week so mommy's been home with her the whole time.  We've had lots of fun playing with all the toys, singing, dancing, going for walks, having playdates, etc.  Esme is catching on to words at an amazing speed right now.  She still loves to say "What doing?" to figure out what's going on.  Now she's even saying catch-phrases such as "Oh my goodness!" and "Oh man!"  She misses all her friends at school and is constantly talking about them. 

 

We put all the Christmas cards we received this year on the fridge and one of Esme's favorite daily activities is to look at each card and name all the kids and dogs in the cards.  If she doesn't know who it is then she asks "Who's that?"     

Merry Christmas





Phew, what a day!  And the crazy part is that we didn't even go anywhere.  We purposefully planned a day at home so that Esme could just relax and enjoy all her new toys and gifts.  She woke up and was surprised at the gifts waiting for her under the tree from Santa.  They weren't wrapped so she was able to dive right in and play with them.  When she got bored we switched to our stockings while I made breakfast.  Once stockings were over we took a break to eat and then Esme played with some of her new Santa toys again.  Every so often she'd open a new present and then take a break again.  This is how our day went amidst naps, snacks/meals, and some outside playtime.  Now Esme's tucked in bed, fast asleep, and we still haven't finished all her presents under the tree.  We figure we'll just let her open the rest whenever she wants in the next few days.  We even started opening gifts one at a time before Christmas but we still couldn't finish it all today.  And thankfully we didn't have any meltdowns today either so all in all it was a great day.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Practicing "cutting" fruit

Pushing her new shopping cart

Playing in her new tunnel/playhouse

Hugging her bear and taking it for another ride :)

Halfway There - Baby Shih #2

 

I keep telling Esme about the baby in my belly and then she points to her belly and talks about the baby :)  We went for our 20 week ultrasound today and everything looks great - all body parts are present and all organs are functioning normally so that was good to know too.  Baby weighs 12 ounces which is within normal range and was super active during the entire scan.  We even got to see the regular ultrasound images and then some 3D images.  One thing we did notice was the baby seems to have mommy's nose again.  We noticed that on Esme's ultrasounds too and it turned out to be true.   

 

I've been feeling baby move very slightly but no strong kicks yet. The fatigue has started to set in during my daily routine, like trying to get out the door with Esme. I feel winded just coming down the stairs with all of our stuff for the day and trying to help her at the same time. It passes quickly so I just have to take it slower. I'm still exercising and feeling good otherwise. My belly is definitely showing now and I'm in that weird transition between normal clothes and maternity clothes. I got my maternity bin out from last time to refresh my mind on what I have when I'm ready for it. 

 

Baby was crossing its legs and so we got a foot imprint

The baby's profile shot

The 3D image

Esme-isms

Esme's been talking up a storm lately especially with all the new words she's learning this holiday season.  Allen put lights up inside the house and she makes sure to remind us all that they're "dada's lights."  She loves to point to the Christmas tree and name off the things that she knows - tree, lights, ornaments, presents.  And then she points out the window and says all the neighbors names when she points to their lights.  She's a very particular girl...and also VERY bossy!  She loves to tell Allen and I what to do and she prefers when we copy her faces or movements.  If we don't, she stamps her foot and says "do it!" Esme definitely likes being in control.  She narrates whatever we're doing throughout the day and then when she doesn't know she asks us "what doing?"  She also likes to help, even if it does slow us down.  It makes her feel soooooooooo important. 

Last weekend we went to a small birthday party and midway through Esme turned to me and said, "mama, I tired."  I didn't truly know if she knew what she was saying but then just 30 minutes later she looked at me and whined "mama, wanna lie down."  Luckily we were just a few doors down from our house so I immediately took her home and put her down for her nap.  It was the most bizarre thing!

Her favorite song right now is Baby Beluga and she can sing most of it by herself.  However she prefers to dance and sing to it at the same time.  When she requests it she says "Boo-guh-la."  She's also got a huge pike of favorite books and loves to recite the words she knows when Allen reads to her at night before bed. 

Esme's getting pretty good with feeding herself with her silverware but she prefers asking Allen or I for our fork, spoon or chopsticks and then she tries to give us hers in exchange.  Thankfully she's still a really good eater.  As for potty training, she continues to go potty with all the other kids at school but she also goes in her diaper.  And just in the past week she's been requesting to go to the potty at home but only after we've just changed her diaper.  She's getting there I guess :)

Here's a pic of her visit to Santa last week.  As you can she she wasn't happy to be out of her mommy's arms :( 

Holiday Happenings

 

We were doing laundry this weekend and Esme usually likes to help us transfer the clothes from the washer to the dryer.  She's never done this before but all of a sudden she just climbed in the dryer and thought it was so funny.  It even brought out her cheeser smile :)  She really is a goofy girl, at home and at school apparently.  

 

 

 

 

Nana sent Esme her very own holiday dress so she was excited to wear it to her first holiday party this year.  We usually leave her at home with a babysitter since her bedtime is 7pm but since the party we were going to was early - 6pm, there were going to be lots of other kids, and we weren't planning on staying late we decided to take her.  She had a blast with the other kids and playing with all the new toys.  She became attached to the doll stroller and we had to peel her out of it by the end of the evening.  She also discovered olives and how to stick them on her fingertips like she usually does with raspberries.  Prior to this she's never liked the taste of olives but obviously that's changed now.    

 

I took this last picture of Allen and Esme and as soon as I saw it I thought, "wow, this is how Esme is gonna look when she gets older."  I just felt like she looks so different in this pic as compared to others. 

The Holidays Are Here

 

The Christmas tree is up and decorated, Christmas cards are sent, the shopping is all done and so now we're ready to celebrate!  Esme likes driving around in the evening and seeing all the lights on the houses in our neighborhood.  We even took her to a downtown tree lighting and I think it was more overwhelming than anything.  She just kept staring at all the lights and the other kids.  I gave her a candycane to hold and was surprised that she wanted to open the wrapper and eat it.  I didn't think she'd like the taste but she fooled me.  So far she hasn't shown any interest in taking the ornaments off the tree or trying to play with it so we're happy with that.  

 

Helping decorate the Christmas tree

 

Esme continues to love to dance and sing whenever she gets the chance.  Her next favorite activity is making faces and looking at herself in either the mirror or pictures.  We took family photos last month and here's the face she kept making whenever the photographer would say smile...

 

 

This was Allen's vote to go on our card this year but I couldn't do it.  Here's some other runner-ups that didn't make the Christmas card either...