Gymboree

Well, Brad's back at work. Emma and I were on our own again for the first time today. It's been a great day, but the little monkey is going to have to get re-accustomed to being sat down every once in a while! She's been spoiled this summer having both of us here to entertain her and she hasn't been in "the pen" or in her crib very much. Now with Brad back in school, if I have to fix her lunch, go to the bathroom, wash my hands, etc. she has to be put somewhere, which she doesn't like. She was absolutely fine with that before the summer, and I'm sure she'll get back in the swing of things again soon. ;)

I had a great birthday. Amber and Jason came and spent the day and we had a great dinner while Emma played at her grandparents house. Amber gave me the most incredible gift ever - a scrapbook of Emma's first year (and my pregnancy). It's gorgeous beyond words and had me in tears by page 3!

Brad has been dealing with bronchitis, which he then passed on to me. I'm now working on getting over it and praying that Emma doesn't end up being the next victim.

We decided at the last minute to go visit Amber and Jason in Carrollton one last time before school starts back up. Brad and I really needed to de-stress and were really happy that they don't mind us inviting ourselves over every few weeks ;) Emma loves their house because it's like going to a petting zoo - they have chickens, roosters, ducks, cows, and a goat. Oh, the goat. She has looked at him from a distance before, and even gotten quite close. This time, however, she was scared to death! He is really friendly and was in his fence. He came over and started "meeeeehhhhing." He kept wanting to give her kisses and as soon as he'd get close, or LOOK like he was going to get close, she'd grab onto me REALLY hard and yell! It was hysterical! I'm a horrible mother :( After some gentle coaxing, she was much better with him.

We had a lot of excitement on Monday. Amber found out that she's pregnant! Seth is SO excited to be a big brother! I'm so excited for her. Maybe it will be us soon enough. It was so awesome to be there with them when they found out. In fact, she told me before she told Jason ;) Just had to brag!

We also had a few firsts this week. Emma gave my mom a black eye for the first time! She's got quite a temper (Emma, not my mom) and has really gotten into stiffening up and throwing her head back when she doesn't get her way. Well, my mom's face got in the way when I told Emma that it was time to go. I feel horrible - she's on vacation this week and I'm sure my Dad's getting the side-eye because it looks like he beat her. Wow.

We went to Gymboree for the first time today too! She had an absolute blast! As soon as we got in and I was sitting our stuff down, I sat her down as well. She made a beeline and was across the room with the other kids before I knew it! She loved climbing on the fun equipment and playing with the other kids. It was so much fun! Every 5-10 minutes the "teacher" would have a different group activity that the kids could do in the middle of the room (banging on a big drum, pushing a huge padded "log," etc.) There was lots of singing, bubbles, and dancing too. Emma loved it, but after the last 15 minutes of sitting down and singing, she was almost over it - but she held it together nicely! She was so funny. She didn't want to have much to do with me once we got there. She was too busy playing with other kids, taking their toys, throwing balls, and climbing through tunnels. Once they pulled out the parachute, she was a mama's girl again! They had us all get under it and make a big tent. She enjoyed that, and crawled over to the teacher (across the group from me). As soon as she got over there, the teacher had the adults get out of the tent and make it go up and down over the kids. Emma freaked! She found me and I got to hold her for the rest of the class. Poor baby. She did SO well, especially considering that it was during her nap time. We're going to try to go this weekend when they have Open Gym so that Brad can come play too - it was SO much fun!

Once we got back from Gymboree we ate lunch and Emma had another first - she signed "more" for the very first time! I tried signing with her a few months ago and she really just didn't get it. She would watch me do it, but make no attempt to imitate. Today she was doing it over and over again - even when I just would ask her if she wanted more! She's getting so big!

Sorry there aren't pictures to this post. I'll try to upload some soon, but it's quite a chore and I just honestly didn't have the energy this afternoon. I'll try to catch up next week!