Tuesday, December 8, 2009

18 Month Milestones and Memories

Here are some of the McCulloch happenings for November...and part of December. I was sewing an apron one warm day while Emma was playing in the back yard and I went out to check on her just as she was going down the slide. I'm glad I didn't miss it! I was very cute and she looved it. This playground set came with the house and the slide is lopsided so she almost fell off several times but it was fun to watch. Too bad it is freezing in Albuquerque now! She'll have to wait until Spring to get back down the slide.
The first weekend in November we went to Kingman for Skye Lee McDaniel's wedding. It was such a fun wedding. Here is Skye with the groom... just kidding, her dog Brule that walked her down the aisle.. Emma loved playing with all the many pumpkins that were there. And she loved playing in the dirt the most!

Congratulations Skye Lee! We love you! It was sooo good to see Stacy, Skye and Brandon. I love those guys!

We were able to see my dad on the way out of town. He leant me a fun little Danish cookbook. I've made some Danish meatballs for our ward's cultural dinner and some shortbread. I want to try a few more before I send it back to him. We also were able to see Duke, my Dad's boxer dog that we got when I was about 15. He died about a week after we were there. :( Emma's best friend Lana (who she calls "Nana") had her second birthday and we were able to join in the celebrations a little.
Emma turned 18 months herself this month. She is a very energetic, fun, smart and special little girl. She loves the Nursery. She loves other kids and new people. She loves books, especially turning the pages by herself. She loves to color very much and is getting pretty good at it. She still uses both her left and right hands to draw and eat. She loves to try to say new words all the time. Some of her favorites are: milk, mama, daddy, shoes, poo poo, diaper, ball, book, cheese, yep, nope, hi, bye, night night.... she know where her eyes and nose and ears and hair and teeth are and loves to give hugs and kisses. We love her so much!!!! She also loves to make smiley faces! We went to wonderful Panguitch, Utah for Thanksgiving. We picked up Megan in Flagstaff on the way there. Emma loved the company in the back seat! It was such a fun trip. I really enjoyed seeing my grandparents (Frandsens) and my Great-Grandparents (Proctors) who are in their 90's. My sweet great grandma has Dementia and Great-Grandpa has cancer so it was very important to me that we were able to see them and spend time with them. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures with them! Of couse after our big meal on Thursday (I made a big yummy waldorf salad, a pumpkin cheesecake and a fruit cheesecake) and after some pie we went up to the mountains to get some Christmas trees. Bob and Amy got one, as well as my Mom and Amber (even though Amber did not have her own car to transport said Christmas tree). .. Yes, my mom has a puppy in her pocket.
Meet Samwise, the newest member of the Shupe family.
Despite John's cheesey smile.. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture.
Emma and Robby, he's wearing Emma's fusia jacket. It was pretty cold up there.
Emma loved the snow and pine cones! Joshua

I'm part of a play group that meets once a week and I usually can go once a month. This is at our little aquarium. This is Emma Jane and Bailey Munns by the sting rays

we love turtles! Emma climed up on this little bench seating area in front of the big aquarium and had a laughing and squealing party. When she gets really excited and is having a reallly good time she screams! Lunch with the play group.. Otis, Olivia, Emma and Bailey...As Emma turned 18 months I thought I would try her on regular cow's milk (she has been drinking goats's milk for the past six months.. and I am still nursing her a little). Things were okay for the first few days and then she started getting diarrhea again, so I switched her to Lactose Free cow's milk.. and I think it is the answer! She had a pretty bad diaper rash last weekend but she has very sensitive skin and gets them with any new food. Poor thing. I have heard that even more people are Lactose sensitive than they realize. I loooove my dairy!

Also, Emma is still sleeping in bed with us! I love it and it has been very easy and natural for us.. but our bed is getting pretty crowded so I'm going to start putting her to sleep on her own bed. Any suggestions or experiences with that? I also have been thinking more about potty training. I think she is getting close to being ready.. scary! I'm not looking forward to it!!

I am very excited for Christmas this year! I love having all the beautiful decorations up in our home (even though Emma has broken at least five ornaments already!) and I love Nativities and Christmas music and movies! We had our Stake Nativity Open house and Handel's Messiah concert last weekend and then were able to watch the First Presidency's Christmas devotional. We had a dinner at our house and invited three families over to watch it (The McCrakins, Formisanos and Dunlaps). It was a lot of fun albiet distracting at times with the three little girls! (Lana, Olivia and Emma). John and I are hoping that this Christmas season we can lose weight instead of gaining it! I took a couple month off .. but last week I started working out again! I need to learn how to stay consistent! I have lost about a pound and a half.. not the 10 I was hoping for.. but I'll take it! I'm trying to form a true habit by exercising every day in December (expect for Sundays)... I've missed a few days but it's definetly become more part of my routine. Exercise is sooooo good for you! Someday I WILL run a half marathon!

8 comments:

Rob N Amy said...

It would be so cool to have the last name McCrakin, like the "Crakin" on Pirates of the Caribbean. With the bed time stuff, what has worked for us, is letting them cry it out for 10 min. Then go in and lay them down and walk out for another 10 min. and repeat until they are asleep. They will fall asleep. So don't give in. It can take 3 days to a week for them to get the hang of where they sleep. But it will work. The most important thing is to pick what your plan will be and stick with it. If you are not dedicated, just wait until you are and then do it. Good luck. It will be so hard those first few times you let her cry it out. You will probably cry. But she will be just fine. Lots of people do this. Loved your post. I am so happy it came so much sooner than I was expecting. Love ya!

Jacquee said...

So fun to hear about all of Emma's skills. I think "Poo Poo" is one of my favorite words to say,too.

Adam Jensen said...

I agree with Amy! that has been my method as well with getting kids to sleep thru the night etc :) So great to get an update! I can't believe how big Emma is! Lately we have been getting "raw" milk. Like unpasteurized milk from a local family. I wasn't searching for it, but someone suggested it to me and we tried it and loved it. Since then I have researched it a lot and sometimes unpasteurized milk is better because it still contains the enzyme that breaks down the milk... I don't know a lot about it, but I like it and so do my kids. And you can make cheese curd, buttermilk for baking etc. I am new but liking it. You can usually find someone word of mouth or look online. anyway :) I really need to call you and catch up!!

Skye said...

I feel special since you blogged about me. It was really so great to see your lovely little family at our wedding. I miss you!

Deborah said...

Love the update. Emma still looks the same but she has changed too. It is amazing to see how she has grown but the smile and eyes are Emma. Fun to read about all that you have had going on.

We did as Amy recommended for Ben. Becca we were too afraid she would wake up Ben - big mistake. While she will stay in bed once she goes she still doesn't know how to go to sleep. I really think it is because we held her while she went to sleep and then put her to bed. Steph & Jess are another story. They had each other, chatted and still do. Rad jokes that he will tell their fiance that they better plan on talking at night because that is what they have done every night since they were a baby.

Love you.

Angela said...

well...I will probably not do the cry it out method.. maybe I will, but I have always been so opposed to it. We have done it for just a few minutes several times before and she got the message but we'll see..
also, I heard that unpasterized milk does have some health benefits but also a lot of risks.. like harmful bacteria.. ecoli! a friend of mine almost died from ecoli from upasterized milk!

Steinwaywolf88 said...

Angela......I love you! You are so cute and a wonderful mom. It meant so much to me that you and your family came to the wedding. I did not use the cry method I would just go lay down with Skye in her bed until she fell asleep. It worked. :)

3 under 3 said...

Why Hello Cute Cousin :) I cant believe I found your blog Grandma told me you had one and I have been searching for a minute. Wow I can not even begin to believe how big Little Emma Jane is getting... What a doll she is anyway so we need to keep in touch better k. Love you tons!