NOLA FAQs

So, while I posted the "rice in the eye" pic from Nola's nine month bday - loved it! - I neglected to write about the cutesy things Nola is doing these days....so here goes:

• She continues to take a few steps on her own here and there, but mostly finds walking on her own a bother. Crawling is still the preferred method of autonomous mobility. However, she LOVES to walk and hold onto one of our fingers with one hand, or walk behind a push toy. In fact, sometimes she will not stand for anything BUT walking - no being held, no playing, she just wants to walk, and is inconsolable unless doing so. But, as I mentioned, she likes to only hold on to our hand with one of her hands - she likes to keep one hand free for waving!
• She is such a social butterfly. She will wave to anyone she sees, and especially loves people her own size.
  
• She still has just two teeth on the bottom, and doesn't really know how to use them very well yet - as I said in the previous post - she's a choker! I've had a few scary moments!
• She loves to babble, and is seeming to be associating certain sounds with specific people or things. The other day she seemed to say "ball" at the right moments, and she can say "mama" and "dada" and often seems to know when to do so. But mostly, she just talks and talk her gibberish and it is quite cute.
  
• She can sign "milk" and "more". The only problem is, sometimes "milk" can look like she's waving good-bye, and "more" still is mainly just clapping, so when she claps, we aren't really sure if she wants more food, if she's excited, or if she wants to do Patty Cake!
• Speaking of Patty Cake, she LOVES to do Patty Cake! She squeals with delight when we start to do it, and if we're only saying the words and not doing the motions, she pulls on our hands so we'll do it with her!
• She has a ticklish spot on either side of her chest, and when we tickle her there, I cannot contain my own laughter, on account of her so-adorable face and her scream laugh!
• She cracks herself up! She'll be sitting and playing, and just start giggling - it's so funny!
  
• She has begun flopping her head back, leaving her neck exposed, so we'll either tickle or zerbert that spot. When she started doing it, it reminded me that Emmerly used to do the exact same thing. I love it just as much now as I did then! Adorable!
  
• She LOVES her sister! If she hears Emmerly, but does not see her, she will look in every direction, searching her out. And she still responds every time Emmerly starts to sing to her, either quieting down from crying, or just smiling her big smile. I love it!
  
• She's a snuggler. We absolutely adore this. Few things are better than that little head snuggling into the crook of my neck when she's not even sleeping - just to give a little love!
• She likes to move it move it! Any time she hears music, she either starts bopping her head or her whole body - she definitely got the rhythm gene!
  

PS - Just now when I was nursing her, she looked up at me, signed "milk" and then clapped her hands with a huge smile - I think her message was clear - Woo hoo! Dinner!

Happy 9 Months Nola!

A few days ago, Nola celebrated her nine month mark with a big plate of rice - FUN STUFF!! I know it doesn't sound like much - she should be eating much more by now, right?? Well, she chokes very easily, so rice was a big step for us!! We can't believe she is already nine months old! Just a few more months before the big ONE!! WOW!!! How time flies when you've got two adorable kids and are having just too much fun!!

Pumpkins, Poodle Skirts and Pom Poms

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting our Halloween pics.....sorry! We were in Las Vegas with the Melvin-Richards-Wiseman clan and I just didn't get it together before we left. We had a great Halloween this year, having two little trick-or-treaters, and Halloween definitely took on epic proportions in our house.....no really! It literally lasted the whole week! From Sunday to Friday of Halloween week, we had six Halloween events! Yes, six! We had a marionnette show, a class party, a friend's housewarming slash Halloween party, a birthday slash Halloween party, and we went trick-or-treating at a "place for lots of grandmas and grandpas" and finally, not too Halloween'ed out, on Halloween night itself, with a bunch of kids from Em's school. All of it quite fun, but it made for a long, sugar-filled week! Here are some pics of our fifties girl and our little pumpkin/cheerleader....I had a warm and a cold outfit for Nola, and she was able to wear both with all our events!!


The Daigle Girls' Party

Em's very excited about her goodie bag!
Halloween Marionnette Show - it is really very cute - all the kids wear their PJs and bring blankets and pillows to sit on while they watch they show, and they get hot chocolate and cinammon toast - as evidenced by Em's chocolate goatee! Em is with her friend Lillian, enjoying the show.

At school, all the kids dress up and get to walk up the ramp and show off their costumes. Then they have a parade outside around the playground. So adorable! I was working that day, so I got to dress up too! And Nola got to join us for some Kodak moments.

We went to the assisted living facility, or "the place with lots of grandmas and grandpas" with Patti and Ralph and Grace. Penguin Grace and Pumpkin Nola were not quite sure what to make of each other!
Finally Halloween! Trick or Treat!

OMG Are You Serious???

Just another Manic Monday

Does this really need an explanation?! Enjoy!!

Carving and Caramel

Over the last few days we have had a bit of fall fun in our house - carving pumpkins and making our own caramel apples - yum! I just wish our weather was a little more fall-ish!

Sassy, revisited...

Dates with Daddy

On Saturday night the girls and Scott went to the Daddy Daughter Dance at Mater Dei. They looked absolutely fabulous and had a great time dancing the night away. Daddy and Emmerly even won the dance contest! I think there were definitely some cute points at play in that decision!


Then, last night, Emmerly and Scott went to Em's school for Dad's Night. It is so cute (well, I can only imagine it's cute - no mom's allowed!!) - they do a mini-session of what a normal school day looks like - circle time, songs, stories, sensory tables and art projects. Oh, and snacks! The kids also get to show off and do a trick with their dad - last year, Em walked up Scott's front and stood on his shoulders. This year, she added a flip down - ooooooo. Last year, one of the little boys in Em's class got up to do the trick and before his dad could get up too, the little boy turned to his dad, held up his hand and said, "I got this Dad." How funny is that?? :) Anyways, so fun for the girls to get a little quality daddy time!

The sculpture and handprints Daddy and Emmerly made at Dad's Night....
The avant-garde version of the photo, as requested by Em...

Science Experience

Recently, Em was in the kitchen mixing together a concoction of glitter, glue, water, pieces of pancakes from that morning's breakfast, and some feathers. Then, she was looking for her little saxo-flute. When I asked what she was doing, she said making an experience. "An experience?" I questioned. "Yeah Mom, you know, a science experience!" Oh! An experiment! Got it! I then questioned her need for the flute. Em proceeded to explain. "I already put in some glue and glitter and some other stuff. Now it just needs a little music. Then my science experience will be ready!" So, we found her saxo-flute, and she added a little music - too cute!


Since then, she really loves to do science experiences. We have done the mentos/diet coke thing about ten times! And we had an ant farm and are going to be getting butterflies soon.....too fun!

Sassy!

In a nutshell, that is our Emmerly - sassy to the bone! She is much more too - sweet, thoughtful, compassionate, hilarious, but certainly sassy! She even has a pair of underwear that say "Sassy" on the bum and she likes to strut her stuff, stick out her bum and proclaim, "SASSY", of course with a little sass in her voice.

Em turned 4 in August and it is so hard to believe that our baby is no longer a baby! Where did that baby go? She has become such a person! She can say yellow now instead of lellow, and Las Vegas instead of Las Besas and elephant instead of ephalunt - when did that happen? When did she become so funny? When did she start to think for herself (in the womb, I know!)? It's so fun to see her come up with original jokes and ideas about the world that aren't merely a repetition of things we have said.

Some funnies from Em lately - "Mom, I'm going to call you Mama. That means the same thing as Mommy. No, I'm going to call you Bama, like that guy Rocco Bama." I said, "His name is Barack Obama, honey." "No, it's Rocco. Rocco Bama." Have we been watching too many debates lately? Another funny - Our rule is that in the car, when we are driving on the freeway we leave the windows up. The other day, we saw a car with the windows down on the freeway. Em: "Mom! That guy is in trouble! Look, his window's down and he's putting his hands out!" I let her know he may not have the same rules for the car as we do. She proceeded to say, "Wow, that is a lucky man!"

Some more 411 on Em - She is the queen of dress-up - especially very eccentric outfits. And she loves to dance. We have dance parties pretty much every day, and she is often nudie for these dance parties! She has no fear, and she absolutely LOVES bugs! For her birthday party we had a bug party and she held a scorpion and a tarantula and a bunch of other creepy crawlies! A few firsts for Em in the last few months - she rode the Matterhorn and Big Thunder Railroad at Disneyland, she put her head under water and started swimming without a floaty, she went on a zipline with Scott - scary! - and she got a big girl bike and has recently started learning to ride without training wheels! Like I said, when did she get so big?? Like her little partner in crime, she, too, is a bundle of fun and definitely keeps me on my toes!

Again, I've posted some photos to get you up to speed....also, for more photos from Em's birthday party, visit the Spada blog. Patti is always much better about getting my own kids' photos up on her blog or facebook than I am!


Sass with a capital S

Creativity - yes, that is a foam crown that one should wear on one's head. Em is naked other than the upside-down crown around her waist - and very proud!!
Finally 40 inches! Em's first rides on the Matterhorn and Big Thunder Railroad!

Em's first day of dance class (posing with sass, mind you!)
Happy Birthday Em!

Zipline!! She climbed to the top of this wall and then zoomed down the zipline with her Dad! Brave girl!

First Day of School (this was her "first day of school pose")

Furrowed Brow!

Em and her friend Ryleigh - cutie patooties!

At the pumpkin patch with school

Her first time ever riding without training wheels!! Woo-hoo!!