Painting Progress

Steve was (finally) feeling well enough yesterday to keep an eye on the kids, but still not feeling well enough to head into work. Since his tummy troubles had turned into a surprise vacation I decided that I should get something done around the house, since going on a trip was out of the question. I knew I had to pick something I could do on my own as he was still recuperating from a yucky stomach bug and was pretty low in the energy department. What did I decide to tackle? Painting the trim in Emma's room! It had only been five months since her walls had been painted... It was definitely time. An impending visit from her preschool teachers helped push this project along, too.

Here it is after the first coat:

Emma's First Haircut

before

Emma got her first haircut today!  We went to Chi Wah Organica (just like her mom).  Salena was her stylist (again, just like her mom).  I met Salena in my first year as a coach for Brighton Rowing Club.  She did a great job, and it only took about fifteen minutes.  Emma thought she was such a grown up, sitting in the chair all by herself.  She couldn't wait to get the lolly pop at the end.

after

Happy Holidays

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  It snowed all day around the Tudor House today.  Tyler is so excitied.  This is the first major snow of the season, and only the second snow so far.  It was really cold and blowing like crazy today so we didn't go out to play.  I'm sure it will happen sometime tomorrow, either during the morning at preschool or at home in the afternoon, or possibly both.  I updated the sidebar with a picture of the house decked out in its Christmas finest.

We are enjoying opening a new door on our advent calendar each morning.  This year we have a pop-up advent calendar from Eric Carle based on his "Dream Snow" book.  We also added the story to our collection, and have been enjoying reading that.  I had the pleasure of being Guest Reader at preschool last week and "Dream Snow" was the book that was chosen for the event.  It was a lot of fun reading to the class.

Last Friday we went to a reading of "The Polar Express" at the local Barnes and Noble.  After the story Santa Claus came in and the kids had the chance to sit on his lap and tell him what they would like for Christmas.  Tyler quite enjoyed this and was happy to wait his turn so that he could inform Santa that he would "like three (more) large dinosaurs and one smaller one." 

Emma wanted nothing to do with Santa.  She started screaming when he came down the escalator, and really lost it when he walked past on his way to the chair.  Tyler will have to pass along her wish list for her this year.  We were glad we figured this out when we did and not after waiting in a long line to see a mall Santa. 

Hopefully this weekend we will finish getting the indoor decorations up.  Our pre-lit tree doesn't seem to be so well lighted this year, so no ornaments on it yet.  I did finish knitting Emma's personalized stocking, so she will have a stocking with her name on it this year, just like the rest of the family.  I'll post pictures of the decorations as soon as they are ready.

Hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas!

Catching Up

So I realized the other day when I was posting about the stitches that I hadn't posted in quite a while. Things had gotten really crazy around here! I didn't post for a while because the hard drive in the computer was full. At first I just couldn't download pictures, but towards the end the hard drive was so stuffed to the gills that even surfing the Internet was painful. We purchased a new HP Pavilion PC with a 1T hard drive during the back to school sales in early September. (Let's see how long it takes Paparazzi Steve to fill this one!)

So, what was my excuse for not posting once the computer problem was solved? I started a new job, and Tyler returned to preschool. Life got in the way! So, here is a quick recap on what we have been up to.

I was offered an assistant coaching position with Mercy Crew, which I accepted. I'm officially in charge of the novice team, but I help out where ever I'm told. I now have one-day weekends (if I'm lucky!), but have a lot of fun travelling with the team to the regattas. I'll be going to Boston for the Head of the Charles in two weeks. After that it's off to Philadelphia for the Head of the Schuylkill regatta. I'm really excited for that one because I'll get to catch up with one of my former athletes who is still rowing and a senior at UPenn this year. Philadelphia will be the novices' first trip, so that should be exciting...

Tyler returned to the Woodbury Preschool the week after Labor Day. He was so excited to be going back to school. In the last weeks of summer he noticed that a few leaves in the tree in our front yard were changing. He insisted that meant that fall was here and he should be going to school. He is in the Monday, Wednesday, Friday AM class this year and just loving it. This year's class has 14 students, 7 girls and 7 boys, all four-year-olds. The teachers for the class are the same as last year, Mrs. Maya and Mrs. Cheryl. The aide from last year (Mrs. Theresa) has taken a new position, so this year we have Ms. Marlene. There is also a student teacher for the first few weeks of school, so there are four adults and 14 kids, a 3.5:1 ratio. Charlie the Tortoise (class pet) is very active in the morning at drop off and has really piqued Tyler's interest. Tyler selects a new leaf from the backyard every morning to bring to Charlie. Tyler has already drawn some pictures at school! We will get to see them on Curriculum Night. Can't wait!

Emma continues to grow like crazy. She is beginning to assert her independence. She wants to try to dress herself, particularly the bloomers she wears under dresses. She also insists on feeding herself, using utensils, and drinking from a big-girl cup. Yes, it's getting really messy around here. She says more new words each day. Right now one of her favorites is, "all aboard!" She says this whenever the show Dinosaur Train is on. We have also started going to a co-op music class together on Wednesdays while Tyler is at school. She loves to play with the instruments and dance. She even knows many of the movements already and joins in while we sing. It is really cute.

15-month check up

Emma had her 15-month visit to the pediatrician's office today. Happy to report that everything went really well. She continues to be as healthy as a horse. The kids surprised me - both were very cooperative for the appointment. Tyler had a lot of fun checking out a kids' atlas of the world that they had in the examining room (trying to remember this when Christmas rolls around).

Emma was a very compliant patient. She held perfectly still while her height was measured, and then measured again to confirm that she had indeed grown three inches since her last appointment. Yes, somehow she grew three inches in the past three months! Emma also sat nicely on the scale to determine she had gained a pound since her last check up. She was so good while the pediatrician did her exam: sat quietly letting the doctor look her over, opened her mouth when asked to see her teeth. She barely cried when the nurse administered the three shots she had to get today (MMR, chicken pox, and DTaP/IPV/Hib). What a little trooper!

Here are Emma's current stats:

height: 32 1/2 inches 95th percentile
weight: 22 lbs. 10 oz. 49th percentile
HC: 46.3 cm 51st percentile

Signs of Intelligence

Emma has begun using some "baby signs" to communicate with us. She can now express her wish to "eat", "more" and "all done" in a way we can understand, without shreiking! She usually throws in a good squeal or two just to make sure she has our attention, but this is still quite an improvement over previous methods of communication.

Look what Emma can do!

I bet you weren't expecting hula-hooping to be the featured skill...

She was having a great time with it at the Strong Museum yesterday. She is also learning a few more "regular" skills, like crawling, standing, and walking. She is finally getting a handle on a normal, forward-moving crawl. She likes to stand while holding onto things and is beginning to let go once in a while. All steps are still taken with assistance.

Daytona Beach

We've been at Daytona Beach since Monday afternoon. It was pouring rain when we got to the hotel. Tyler didn't care, he wanted to go out on the beach anyway. Steve obliged his request and they went out in swim trunks and t-shirts. Once they finished on the beach they hopped in the hotel's outdoor heated pool. Tyler complained that the water was too hot at first, but then he got used to it and had fun splashing around. Those swimming lessons sure are paying off!

Yesterday we went to the Turtle Sanctuary, caught up with my Grandma Bluett, and went on a boat ride. Here is Emma at the turtle sanctuary:

Growing

So many things are growing around the Tudor House... here's a list:

The garden! A neighbor gave us a few iris rhizomes the other day. This is the same neighbor that agreed to take our extra rose bushes back in March, so it seems we have a bit of a plant exchange going on. The irises have been added to the garden that borders our back deck. (Three of the rose bushes were relocated here as well.) I'm so proud that this garden is finally taking shape and looking presentable. The lilac bloomed beautifully in early May. Now the rose bushes are at it (only the ones that weren't transplanted). I'm hoping to finally transplant many of the perennials that I started from seed this spring into the garden this weekend. They have grown like crazy under the lights in our basement. Here's hoping they do as well outdoors.

The kids! Emma and Tyler are both growing like weeds. Emma weighs more than 12 pounds according to our bathroom scale. The accuracy of this measurement is supported by the fact that she's also growing out of the 0-3 month sized clothing. She's taken on a pleasantly plump appearance which we find adorable. She has periods of time that she's actually awake now. She likes to spend them kicking her feet and watching her big brother. Speaking of the big brother, Tyler is learning to dress himself. He can take his clothes off without a problem and does a great job pulling a t-shirt over his head. He still needs a bit of help pulling his pants all the way up and getting his shoes on the correct feet. Socks are his nemesis. He doesn't know it yet, but in a few weeks he is going to experience an intense week of potty-training while Steve is on vacation from work. Keep your fingers crossed for all of us!

She's Here!!

Emma Helen Goerlich entered the world on Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 1:23 AM. She weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches long. Even the doctor declared her "perfect".

Mom and baby are both doing very well. We were glad to be released from the hospital yesterday. We enjoyed our short walk home (not going by car really confused the hospital staff). It was such a beautiful, sunny day. After dinner we felt up to joining Daddy, Tyler and Clover on an adventure over to the neighborhood playground. The neighbors declared Emma to be the new record holder for youngest kid at the playground.

Stayed tuned for more updates from the Tudor House Family.