Sleep Deprivation and Sharing

I think my body has decided that it'd like to be an insomniac. The past few nights I have had such a hard time falling asleep, despite the fact that I'm exhausted to the point of headaches during the day! I went to bed at 8:30pm tonight, thinking that I'd fall right asleep and yet here I am at 11:00pm still awake. I came downstairs after tossing and turning for a while and did the dishes, swept and mopped the floors, did the downstairs dusting and organized the clutter lying around. Ugh. Any suggestions to help? I'm thinking of taking a calming bath tomorrow night before bed to help me relax and if I'm desperate I'll have to break out some old college textbooks to bore me to sleep! :)

Twice this week I got the pleasure of babysitting some kiddos for friends and Emma thoroughly enjoyed having some interaction other than her Momma. Here she is showing Mr. B her doggie. They literally sat at the door for about 10 minutes and giggled and squealed until Daisy got bored and walked away. 

So after this week of lots of interaction, we've discovered that our little angel actually has quite a stubborn little will. It was pretty clear she needs a few lessons in not coveting thy neighbor's things after we watched her steal everyone else's toys over and over again! She wasn't even interested in really playing with them...she would just notice that they had something and she'd crawl right over, take it from them, and throw a little fit if they took it back or we took it from her! At first it made us laugh, but now we're wondering...how do you teach a 10 month old to share??? I'm hoping (ok praying) that we don't really need to worry about it at this point and we can cross that bridge when she can understand the concept more.

Well, I think I'm going to go work on my knitting a little and try to get some sleep. (Speaking of knitting - it's not going quite as well as I'd hoped. :( I have to focus REALLY hard and can't have distractions otherwise I mess up. It's kind of stressful and slow going so I'm not sure my dreams of making cute things to sell on Etsy are going to become a reality anytime soon. After I finish this baby blanket...which may be in 2014, I'm going to frame it and never let anyone touch it because it may be the only thing I ever knit....we'll see.)

Think sleepy thoughts for me! :)

Dear Baby Gibson (a letter from Emma)

Dear Baby Gibson,

Seeing as you're going to be born tomorrow and all, I figured I'd better fill you in on all the important things you need to know. I'm almost 10 months old now which pretty much means I've got this baby thing figured out. 

First things first, you have GOT to work on your bottom lip. Getting a really pathetic sad face will work wonders on Mommy and Daddy. Stick that bottom lip out as far as you can, make some whimpers, and if you can....try to make tears. Works like a charm. Here's what mine looks like:

I've been practicing for a while so you won't be perfect like me at first. Keep practicing though and you'll be really good at it too soon! Once you get that down, you'll be able to do all kinds of fun things like playing with sticks! 

  I can't believe it's taken 10 months for them to show this toy to me. Mommy keeps saying "no eating sticks" but she obviously don't know how good I think they taste! Your mommy might let you put more things in your mouth. Mine says "no no" all the time these days! Doesn't she know that I'm trying to grow some teeth??? Another thing I like to do is play with my doggy. Do you have a doggy at your house? My doggy's name is Daisy and she's lots of fun. She even lets me put my fingers in her mouth. Mommy was saying "no no" again, but Daddy was quick and got a picture. 
Also, Mommy's going to try to get you to drink milk ALL DAY LONG. It's pretty yummy, and she says it's good for me and helps me grow. It gets a little boring though so crawl over to your daddy and pull your lip you've been working on and he'll let you have all kinds of yummy treats. Here I am drinking my soda and wearing Daddy's hat. Maybe your daddy will teach you about plumber things!

 Well, I guess that's good for your first lesson. I'll be coming to visit you in a few days and we can talk more then. I can't wait to meet you!

Your friend,

Emma

**I feel like I should put a disclaimer saying that Emma really didn't drink any of that soda, our dog is very good with kids and Emma is the sweetest baby you'd ever meet and would never (please Lord) take advantage of her parents with her cuteness! 

Spring has Sprung! :)

Caught this little monkey breaking into her box of animal crackers this afternoon and from the looks of it...she couldn't be more pleased with herself! Now you know the reason behind those little chunky thighs (gotta be the animal crackers, not Mommy's genetics!)  

Seriously, are you not L.O.V.I.N.G this weather (for those of you who are in PA)??? A warm sunny day does wonders for my spirit. Just looking at our house and not seeing snow piles makes me want to do a little warm weather dance. (ok and the new garage doors make me want to bust a move too) Check those babies out....and don't mind the 3 bags of trash I lazily threw out on the front porch for my hubby to take to the basement/garage. (does the trash on the porch make us seem redneck farm-ish? haha)

What are ya'll doing this weekend? I'm hosting a Stampin' Up party tonight at our place and then getting together with a sweet friend tomorrow to enjoy the warm weather. Is anyone going to brave the crowds to get some free Rita's?? I'm torn, but thinking I may wait until another day when the lines aren't similar to that of an amusement park ride. yuck. I love Rita's but 20 minutes in line for my Mango misto just isn't worth it.....

Enjoy the weekend! :)

9 Months Old and Playing Catchup

A cute little pipsqueak turned 9 months old a few days ago!

What has Emma been up to recently?

-She is about 16 or 17lbs (we'll find out in a week or so the exact number, but that's an educated guess) and about still a little lady for her age.

-She still nurses about every 3-4 hrs (about 5 times a day) and we really backed off on the food this month after a very not fun constipation situation. After a doctor visit, pedialax came to the rescue and we're doing much better, but we're taking it easy and eating lots of prunes, peaches, pears, and other high fiber foods!

-Emma LOVES to sleep! Seriously, I can't believe I've been blessed with such an easy baby. She takes 2 or 3 good 1-2 hour naps during the day and then goes down for the night around 7pm. She is up at 6am every morning...almost on the dot!

-She is ALL OVER THE PLACE these days. Her little personality is coming out more and more and it is so fun. She loves to be in the laundry room so when she notices that door open, she books it SO fast to get in there. Or if she notices that we are coming after her, she puts the pedal to the metal in an attempt to get wherever she wants to be! No walking yet, but I'm guessing in a month or two we'll be completely mobile!

-She primarily wears 6-9m clothes, 3-6m pjs and size 3 diapers.

-The girl still loves to shake it and will dance anytime you ask her to. So funny!

-Out of nowhere, Emma loves a pacifier. After months of hating it (gagging and refusing it like we were offering her brussel sprouts), she pops that thing in her mouth for hours at a time! I'm still trying to decide if we should encourage this as it may be more of a nuisance later on when it's time to break the habit. Any advice on this one experienced mommy's?

-She has FIVE teeth (just cut that fifth one this morning) and it makes her look way too grown up. Now if only that hair would come in a little faster! :)

-That's all I can think of off the top of my head. So now....since it's been OVER A WEEK (yikes....sorry!) since I last posted, I figured I'd fill you in on what we've been up to!

We are loving, loving, loving, loving the warmer weather, primarily because it means we can get out and do things. Check out this little beauty all ready for some play time outside. I can't get over how big she looks in those little shoes! 

This afternoon we headed over to Daniel's Den (an amazing, local playground) to try out the swings. She had a great time and spent most of the time analyzing all of the other kids. We didn't stay long, but our spirits were definitely lifted after getting out and enjoying the first signs of Spring. I'm SO ready! 

New Camera!

After a month of our camera being completely out of commission/broken, we took the plunge and purchased a new one! Here's our new little beauty (on it's way thanks to ebay)....

I can't wait to have a much easier time taking pictures (seriously with our other camera I had to take 7 shots, just to get a decent one and I always had that panicky feeling that I was going to miss a good 'moment'). 

Other than that, I don't have much to share these days. Emma's got some sort of a cold so we've just been laying low. I'm on a cleaning spree today, hoping to get any remaining germs out of here and tempt Spring to come with my Spring cleaning! :)