Photo Friday

Not much new to report today. I actually managed to shower, throw on some clothes, put make up on and head out to meet a client. I am feeling A LOT better!

We got Emily some new toys today and got her an activity table which she loves!

Since there isn't much to report...I'll leave you all with these pictures of Emily and her new table and make today "Photo Friday"! :)

Oh the anticipation of the new toy...



I am not sure what this contraption is but I think I am gonna like it...



Even Mommy plays too...



And so does Daddy...



Cheese!



This spoon is fun because it makes lots of noise!



I am having a hoot! :)



Yea for toys!!! :)

Still Thankful...

Just had to come and add this video of Emily sitting up all by herself for the first time! I was beginning to think she'd never be able to make herself sit up and I am very thankful she figured it out! YAY!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Thankful Thursday (long blog today!)

Well it's Thursday and I felt what a great day to be thankful for everything in my life!


As crazy as it sounds - I am thankful for being sick. I am thankful because I am still breathing and still able to move around and am alive one more day on this planet - even though I am sick. There are people far worse off than me so I am thankful I am well enough to be here writing this blog.


I am thankful for my husband. Without him, I don't know where I'd be! He is such a great husband and such a great father. He is an excellent provider for our family. He works harder than anyone else I know and I truly admire that in him. Emily is so lucky to have a father like him and I am so blessed to have him by my side. He has taught me the important lesson (or rather, I am still learning it) of patience. He has taught me responsibility in areas I wasn't so responsible in before. He has taught me to trust and to learn to depend on him - especially when I was VERY independent before. He has taught me a love I have never experienced and he has made my life so much richer by being a part of it! I truly love him!





I am thankful for my friends - all of them! I have been so blessed with great friends. I have friends that would stop at nothing to help me out if I needed it. I have friends that have been there through everything. I have friends that would break into my house to bring conditioner to the hospital because I forgot to pack it. I have friends that remind me to slow down and just have fun. I have friends that are there to let me cry on their shoulder when life gets too hard. I have friends that have introduced me to the importance of tuna and egg sandwiches with champagne! I have friends that remind me that Presidente Margaritas are great. I have friends that are there to make me laugh so hard I cry. I am truly thankful for them. I am thankful for new friends, the ones I am just getting to know. I am thankful for my old friends who have come back into my life and I am getting to re-know. I am thankful for all of you!


I am thankful for my precious precious daughter. Everyday she teaches me new things. When I feel icky and stressed and tired, all I have to do is look at her smiling back at me to realize that is what life is all about. SHE is what life is worth living for. I am looking at her right now as I type this and she is just smiling at me and squealing and looking right into my eyes. It's so precious!


I am thankful for all her kisses she has given me lately. I think she's learning how to kiss and enjoying it! LOL! She sure was kissing her best friend, Baby Tad, a lot yesterday. I'd say "can you give Tad some kisses" and sure enough...she would...





I am thankful for $.59 paperclips that keep Emily occupied as I write this blog (and any time really).


And I am thankful for baby mohawks that make me laugh (and her laugh too!).


I am thankful for her laughter at silly things...



I am thankful for my parents. Without them, I would not be alive. I am thankful that they gave me life and have taught me so much. I can't even put into words how much they mean to me - my mom, dad, and step-parents. I find myself tongue-tied a lot when I go to talk about them because the love I feel and the admiration and honor I feel for them could never be expressed in words.





I am thankful for Erik's parents. Without them, he would not be alive. His sister, who is one of my best friends would not be alive either. I am so thankful for all the times they have watched Emily so we could do whatever it was that needed to be done. I am thankful they are in my life and I think I am one of the few that actually likes their in-laws! :)





I am thankful for my brother and his family. I miss them dearly and haven't seen them in a long time. They haven't met Emily yet and I can't wait for them to! It's hard when they live in Illinois and we are out here in California. But there is not a day that goes by where I don't think about them and pray for them and miss them and love them. I miss them more than they will ever know and I love them more than they will ever know! It would be so much better if they were closer - but I understand that is where there home is - just sucks sometimes ya know! I am just so thankful for the time that I do get to spend with them when they come out! I can't wait to travel with Emily and Erik to visit them as well!



I am thankful for my grandma. She is not doing too well right now and it worries me but I am thankful she is still here. I am thankful Emily has got to meet her and she has got to meet Emily. I am praying really hard that all that she is going through can be fixed. I love her more than she'll ever know.



So that's my thankful thursday thread for today. I am sure I forgot some people but just know that I am thankful for every single person in my life - in whatever capacity they are in my life. My life is truly blessed and I couldn't thank everyone enough! I will do this thread each Thursday and if you are not mentioned every single week (which some weeks I am sure will just be silly posts (like the baby mohawk) - just know I am thankful for you!

Love you all!

Coughy Cougherson....

So again, I am home trying to get over whatever this is that has settled into my chest. All I do is cough, even with cough medicine in my system! The cough medicine does help though. My ribs ache from coughing so much and so does my throat. Sigh. I am ever so thankful that Emily allowed me to sleep some today! I woke up feeling SO weak that I wondered how I'd make it through the day. I think she knows mommy doesn't feel too great because she is giving me a lot of hugs and more kisses than normal. It's very cute! :)

I just wish Erik was home to help with Emily - and to baby me! I am a big baby when sick and just want someone to hold me! LOL! It would be nice to have him here - especially since he was gone for so long at work and then the fire. Having him home for 1.5 days isn't enough! But he'll be home on Friday and HOPEFULLY he'll come home to a wife that is completely better!

Got a call from my mom earlier that my grandma has to have another blood transfusion! I have no idea WHY they can't find out the reason she is losing blood. It irritates me. It makes me sad she has to go through this and I hope she'll be back to her normal spunky self after this procedure. They have run 532723095820935820358 tests and can't find where she's losing blood from and I just find that amazing - especially with all the medical advances we have! But alas...I just have to let it be in God's hands and pray that all will work out!

So that is all I have to report today. Still feeling weak and still feeling crappy so I am going to end this now and go lay down on the couch and watch Emily roll around and squeal! :)

Blah!

Not much to write about today because I woke up feeling wayyyyyyyyy worse! I am exhausted, my chest is heavy and I feel weak. Erik has been great helping with Emily - basically doing everything which has been awesome!

So not much to report, I am going to go lay down some more and hopefully will feel up to writing more tomorrow!

Homecoming, Spoon Play and the Itsy Bitsy Spider

So I am please to announce that ERIK CAME HOME TODAY! YEA! I know I am thrilled he is home and I know Emily is happy he is home too! I think he's happy to be home as well! :) He's pretty tired so he is napping as I write this - poor guy needs it! He's only home for today and tomorrow and then back to work for another 48 on Wednesday!




When he came home the three of us headed out to the Olive Garden for some ever so yummy lunch/dinner (well lunch/dinner for me - probably just lunch for him). Emily of course played with her spoons and had all of them on the floor by the time we left! Awesome! :)

I got hardly any sleep last night. Emily coughed from about 9 to 11 or so which had me worried. There isn't anything I can do but just make sure she's okay. I actually manged to suction her nose in her sleep. I was SHOCKED she didn't wake up! After she was done coughing I managed to probably fall asleep at 12 only to be woken up by major coughing around 230. I coughed and was miserable all the way until about 6. I think I finally fell asleep at 610 only to wake up a half hour later to Emily talking to herself in her crib! Fun times! So I managed to get up out of bed, BEYOND tired, and make my way into her room for my good morning smile and squeals!



We played a bit this morning before her first nap. I finally decided to get the camera out and shoot some pictures of her kissing herself in the mirror! I think it's the most adoreable thing!











After we played for a bit it was time for her first nap. I was happy because that meant I could finish getting ready to go meet my client. I brought her in her room around 910 and started the usual routine of rocking her to sleep. She was pretty fussy, wanting to look around the room, squeal at the fan, pull my hair, all the meanwhile rubbing her eyes and doing the "I am tired" noises. I finally thought I'd sing to her because that normally makes her calm down and go to sleep. So I started with Twinkle Twinkle...didn't work. Then I thought hmmm...Amazing Grace usually works so I'll sing that. Nope. Okay...let's see...Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow...that ALWAYS works. Nope. Okay...Itsy Bitsy Spider. And there she went. She started calming down immediately. That song was over and I thought okay...what song now? I can't remember what I sang but it wasn't Itsy Bitsy Spider and that was a BIG mistake. So I tried a million other songs and went back to Itsy Bitsy Spider. Again, immediately calmed down. I tried one more time to veer away from the Itsy Bitsy Spider and immediately realized that was the only thing she wanted to hear. I must have sang that song a good 12 times before her eyes closed and she was "out". As soon as I put her in her crib and headed for the door, she opened her eyes and realized I was leaving. Darn it! After she had a break down because mommy was leaving, I scooped her up and sang Itsy Bitsy Spider again. Again, immediately calmed down. I think I sang it 8 times or so before she was out again only to put her in her crib for her to catch me trying to leave. Finally I thought I am only doing this one more time. Scooped her up...sang Itsy Bitsy Spider about 93205820358 times and put her in her crib and she was out! WHEW! I hope she doesn't grow up to like spiders because her mommy sure hates them!

After I got ready Grandma Alma came over to watch her while I went to get gas. (Okay technically I was suppose to meet a client but as I was getting gas the client informed me she needed to cancel). So back home I went to wait for Erik! Emily had fun playing with her Grandma!






That's when Erik came home, we went to the restaurant to play with spoons and then back home for nap time. I tried to nap but all I did was cough and then Emily decided to get up 45 minutes later. I am exhausted beyond belief and can't wait to go to bed early tonight!

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day! If you have a few minutes to spare, please say a prayer for all our fallen soldiers who have died protecting our freedom!!

My first entry

So I decided to start this blog so everyone can read the updates with Emily and our family! It beats sending out emails every so often with a ton of pictures that take a while to download! A friend of mine inspired me to do this and others have urged me as well so here we go! I picked the title "laughing with spoons" because as I sat here - staring at the screen with a blank expression wondering WHAT the heck to call this blog...this picture came up: And that's where "laughing with spoons" came to mind. Well actually, playing with spoons was what I wanted to call it but it was taken so I changed playing to laughing because technically they go hand in hand with her (no pun intended).


So most of you have wondered how Erik is doing down at the wildfires in Santa Cruz so I will start with that first. He is doing well. First night there he slept and then hit the fire the next morning. He was on shift for 24 hours with probably 3 hours of sleep and then off yesterday for 24 hours. He had an ABC7 news crew follow him and his partner around and low and behold...they even made it on the news! Now...it's hard to tell it's him because the clip lasted a whoppin' 3-5 seconds, but since I was able to pause the DVR (he asked me to record it so he could watch it) I was able to make out the "Napa City Search and Rescue" on the back of his gear. Cute! He is famous...well...sorta. But since it was such a QUICK clip...I doubt anyone will recognize him and he won't have to buy ice cream for everyone! Today (Sunday the 25th) he is doing "staging". That means, as he puts it, they are "hanging out waiting for a call just like at the station, minus the tv, recliners and beds!". He said they were pretty close to the fire but will just hang out until needed. No clue when he'll be home but I am guessing by Tuesday. Here are some pictures from the fire (taken off the kpix.com website): Other than that, Emily and I are doing well. We are not battling any fires - but we are battling a nice cough and runny nose. I thought Emily was just teething at first but I have now caught it. I know I am not teething so it must be a cold?? Fun times! We are both doing better than yesterday but I sure wish I could nap all day long! :)


Emily has a new pool that she was lucky enough to "swim" in when the weather was outrageously hot! She absolutely LOVES IT!!!!!!! I have never seen her have more fun! Here is some video of her that I took to send to Erik while he was at work!



At any rate, this will be a place to come and see what is going on in our lives - especially Emily's! She has grown so much and is already almost NINE MONTHS OLD!!!!!!!! Time just FLIES by! I can't believe it! Before I know it - she'll be one!



I will try and update this blog every day, but if I can't, then AT LEAST once a week! I have no idea how you "subscribe" to this blog (obviously I am new) but there should be an option if any of you want to!


Thanks for reading and we'll be "talking" to ya soon! :)