Packing up baby stuff....

 

...has been kinda sad and fun for me. Fun in that i see how much Emma has grown and sad that, well, she's not a baby anymore. I have loved each stage of Emma so far, but i tell you, as she gets into being two years old and quite chatty, i've noticed that she can be a drama queen when she's tired. ;)

So many little socks, so many outfits that i 'had' to have for her. Little hats, baby toys, bibs...you name it, i still have it. I found a friend in my MOPS group who can use the 9 month to 12 month stuff so i've passed it on to her. And yes, that was after i picked two outfits to keep: the one that she is wearing in this photo (we had our first meal as a family in Guatemala when she was dressed in that!) and her Guatemala dress that we had her first photos taken in.

AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! My husband just called me to give me some 'wonderful' news. The movers that he told me were coming NEXT Friday? THEY. ARE. COMING. THIS. FRIDAY.

Well, enough of my trip down baby memory lane...i gotta get packin'!

Who is that??

 

BEEP!! BEEP!!! A DORA UPDATE!! BEEP!! BEEP!!

Thank you to my friend Amy who sent me this story from yahoo! We can all apparently relax now! Here's what the article on yahoo said:

Mattel and Nickelodeon both say there are two major misconceptions about the new Dora, which is not replacing the "Dora the Explorer" cartoon, but will be a new interactive doll aimed at 5- to 8-year-olds.

"People care so deeply about this brand and this character," Leigh Anne Brodsky, president of Nickelodeon Viacom Consumer Products, says. "The Dora that we all know and love is not going away."

"I think there was just a misconception in terms of where we were going with this," Gina Sirard, vice president of marketing at Mattel, says. "Pretty much the moms who are petitioning aging Dora up certainly don't understand. ... I think they're going to be pleasantly happy once this is available in October, and once they understand this certainly isn't what they are conjuring up."

Part of the confusion stemmed from the silhouette that was released, which made Dora look more like a Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan than a young girl. For the record, the doll does not wear a short dress, but a tunic and leggings. And while she looks older (she's supposed to be about 10), with longer jewelry and longer hair, she doesn't have makeup and seems pretty much like a 10-year-old girl.

Nickelodeon and Mattel say that as part of unrelated research, they found parents wanted a way to keep Dora in their children's lives and have their daughters move on to a toy that was age appropriate.

"The idea is Dora for more girls," Brodsky says. "The whole point was this was created because moms said help us."

But the new version is a significant switch from the Dora many preschoolers have known, aging her so the kids who tend to drop Dora once they hit kindergarten and first grade remain connected to the new character, who has a new group of girlfriends to go exploring with (Sorry, but Boots, the Map, Swiper and other characters from the show didn't make the transition)."




Since becoming a Mommy, my TV habits have changed. I didn't watch a lot of TV, but i love the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, and of course, my all time fav~The Food Network Channel. Yep, it's like porn to me. :) Give me a Chef baking something or a Food Network Challenge, or better yet, "The Ace of Cakes" show, and i'm in heaven! But since Emma, well, the TV is rarely on and when it is on, it's to watch Dora. I have to be the oldest Dora fan in the history of the Dora Show. I know ALL of the characters (Dora, Boots, Tico, Benny, Isa, Swiper...you get the picture, right?), can sing ALL of the little songs ("SWIPER, NO SWIPING!!" & "I need YOUR help!"), and can sing all of the Spanish parts! Emma and i, well, love the show.

Until i heard the horrible, terrible, upsetting news....they are changing my little Explorer, Dora.

She's apparently growing up....you know, that pre-teen thing? Only, i've never seen a "pre-teen" look like this photo of the "new" Dora. They've not released what Dora will look like...giving us only this shadow photo. I'm heartbroken as Dora now looks like a freakin' Bratz doll. (You know, the hooker-look-alike-doll?) Dora will now live in the dang city, and will still 'explore'. Yeah. Sure. Explore what? The subway system? No word yet on her best bud, Boots, but somehow, wellll, i don't see Boots being a part of this new gig. Which is also very sad....Boots may be unemployed. No word on Tico the squirrel, Benny the Bull, Isa nor Swiper, either. I just don't see how a story line can work with Benny the Bull in the big city.

Why can't they just leave things alone? Apparently, this change is so "Dora can grow up with her friends". If you read between the lines, what the change hopes to accomplish is to get folks to spend MORE money on Dora stuff as she is now suppose to appeal to a larger, preteen audience.

I don't like change. Especially this one.

I'm sad now....good thing we have oh, about a gazzillion (not to be confused with "Trillion" that is the US deficit...) Dora movies to watch over and over....and over again.

Run away, Dora....and take your friends with you! Stay in the country (or is it a jungle??) with your friends and keep being the Explorer!

We closed!

 

 

 

 

Today went well...the walk-thru at the house was fun for Emma and i, who chased and played while Robert and the builder did the work. The closing was, well, not exactly "fun" since you're signing your name about a hundred times, but Emma was a doll and so well behaved today. Emma played chase with one of the men who were working on finishing the punch list at the house and was even great at the closing. Of course, she had crayons, Little People to play with, snacks, her stuffed animal, and books. Oh, yes, i was prepared. She saved her melt-down for us when we were on our way back to the house, lol...

Here's what the new home looks like...the photos really don't do the light of the house justice. My favorite room? The bathroom where the tub is...and of course, the laundry room. :)

Now comes the hard part...finishing the move.

Seriously? Snow??

 

It's snowing. Here. Did someone forget to tell Mother Nature that i was expecting Spring and not more of Winter?!?

I have to say, though, it's beautiful. Big, fluffy snowflakes....i'm sure that it's going to stop soon, but for now, i'm enjoying the snow. You know, inside with a cup of yummy hot chocolate while my little one is at her Mother's Day Out class. This photo was taken last year when it snowed...it's one of my favorite photos of little Emma looking out at her favorite window.

We close on the house tomorrow. Robert is so excited that he can't stand himself. And i'm sick to my stomach seeing how much i have left to pack! Really, how can two adults and one little child have so much stuff?? The little child has a lot more stuff than i thought....but i've managed to find someone who was thrilled to have Emma's 9 month and 12 month clothes so i did clear out a lot of stuff. Emma can still wear 18 month clothes so i'll hang on to those for now. Lots of things have been donated, lots of things have been given away. I am hoping that we will be totally in the other house by the end of the month. I'm happy that this new, large backyard of ours has a wonderful black iron fence~i think that we'll be spending a lot of time out there...

I thought that it was interesting that we are closing on this house on Friday, the 13th. We also came home with Emma on a Friday, the 13th. I guess that's our new lucky day? ;)

Off to pretend that i don't have a lot to do....hehee...

Better late than.....

 

 

 

 

...even later. :)

Here are some 2nd Emma birthday photos. In all of my rush to pack the house for moving day, i managed to pack the camera. Which is insane as i have the camera near at all times. You know, just in case something happens or my cute little 'terror-tot' does something REALLY special that only a photo could capture!

Today was Emma's second year wellness doctor appointment. All went very well...she's 33 inches tall (35%) 22.8 lbs (21%). My favorite part of our appointment is when the doctor was looking in Emma's ears and Emma asked her "What are you doin'?" I could barely stop my laughter. Emma was chatty and interested in the room and in the toys that they gave her to play with. The best part of the appointment was finding out that we (okay, that "I") was apparently incorrect about Emma having a lazy eye. It seems that when a child has a broad bridge nose, that it sometimes appears that they have a lazy eye. Our doctor had a flashlight thingy that she spotlighted on both of Emma's eyes and the white dot was in the middle of both of them! Yeah, there is a really fancy name for the optical illusion of the lazy eye thing, but i can't remember it. It seems though, that this happens with many Asian and Latino children. So, good news for us...but we are following up with an eye doctor at Vanderbilt at our doctor's request.

Of course, i was chastised (and rightly so....sigh) about Emma still having a night-time bottle. Yes, she can drink from a sippy cup....she does it all during the day and at preschool. But i haven't stopped the night-time bottle. I did, however, get praise for Emma's teeth brushing routine (in the am and in the pm after the bottle) so it wasn't a total 'bad Mommy' visit for me. Emma even showed the doctor how she brushes her teeth! :) Robert or i read to her before bedtime and then she cuddles on my lap with a 6 oz bottle. She holds my hand, pats my face, looks into my eyes...afterwards, we cuddle for a bit on the big rocking chair and then go brush teeth. Then it's off to bed. I have to admit, it's one of my favorite parts of the day with Emma....

I really thought a lot today about why i haven't changed our night time bottle routine. I finally realized that i so want to enjoy and remember every single moment that i am holding Emma back. Emma will more than likely be my only child-but i'm not doing my job by not letting her advance the way she can. I remember growing up, my Mother always wanted me to slow down, to stay home with her or to not do something that i thought would be so 'great' to do. Now i see why...but my job as a mother is to prepare Emma for the world and not keep her in a glass house. I am sometimes breathless when i look at her little face--so innocent and beautiful. But by keeping my arms around her tightly, i fear that i will make her be like how i was growing up--always fighting for room to grow. Or maybe that is just how children push away from their parents to learn how to grow into young adults and towards their own lives?

Lots to think about....