big girl

cody has said a few times that he feels like in the week he was gone, emerson grew a month's worth. she's been having a bit of a language "growth spurt." here's some of what she's picked up lately:
-she will sign "O," say "Cheeo," and point up at the cabinet where we keep the Cheerios when she wants some
-she has started signing "eat," although it's not usually to say she wants to eat, just while she's already eating- not as helpful!
-for a long time, she's been waving bye-bye and saying something like ba, but now she's gotten really good at saying "bye"
-she will hold her hands up near her eyes, open them up and say "Peeboo"
-she says "baby," which was her first word, but now she actually says it right, and she signs it now too.
-she makes all kinds of animal noises, anytime she sees or hears the right animal: dog, tiger, owl, monkey, and most recently elephant.
-she says "oui oui" to talk about these little french books we have, versions of the little miss/mr. books. she also says "Ba Boo" for Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?, "Boo! Boo!" for "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom," "High" for "Higher Higher."
-she says "uh oh" ALL the time, whenever something isn't quite right, whether she drops something unintentionally or on purpose, she is listening to music and a song ends, or sometimes just if she wants something.
-speaking of wanting something, she also taps her chest ALL the time, her version of signing "please." she also says "Day-koo" (thank you). what a sweet, polite little girl!
-BUT she also has figured out "NONONO" and shakes her head if she doesn't want to do something. also, if you ask her a question, whether or not she understands what you ask, she will shake her head yes or no.
-this week she also started trying to say "water" and "Rory"(our cat's name), but the way she says them is hard to decipher which is which. another tricky one is "Deeta," which is "Lights on."
ok, i'm sure i'm missing stuff, but i'm already going on and on bragging about my little communicator. she's just too darn cute!

survivor

well, i made it- cody was gone all last week, leaving me alone overnight with emerson for the first time since she was born, and we both survived! he went to dallas with his group from work to do some user testing, and he seems to have enjoyed the trip and the work. i was nervous about him being gone, because even before we had emerson, i did NOT do well when he traveled (i get scared and don't sleep well at night). i was especially nervous this time about what would happen if emerson had one or several bad nights of sleep. there have been many of those types of nights when the only saving grace has been to wake cody up and ask him to take a turn! but thankfully, both of us girls slept just fine with him gone. but i did realize that even though on a typical weeknight, cody only spends about an hour and a half with emmy, i myself need that time and greatly missed it last week! i love my little girl more than words can express, but mommy needs a break once in a while! so welcome home, cody!

Plagued

Man oh man, our house has been plagued lately! Emmy started with a little cold a couple of weeks ago. When she was just about healed, she took a turn for the worse and got a fever and a nasty cough. Later that night, I started feeling flu-like symptoms of aches, chills, and nausea. Emmy and I quickly recovered and felt much better, just as Cody's nose started getting stuffy. About a day and a half later, my throat started feeling sore, and for the past 3.5 days, I've been so stuffy and out of it. I love my baby girl, but I hate all the extra germs we deal with because of play dates and things!

Fanciness in the kitchen

Just wanted to brag about what we've had for dinner the last two nights:
Sunday- inside out bacon cheeseburgers with roasted purple (!) cauliflower and homemade sweet potato fries.
Tonight- filet mignon (!) with twice baked potatoes and roasted asparagus.
Lots of deliciousness:) We tried the purple cauliflower because it was on the reduced produce rack last week. It was really good, I just coated it in olive oil and Paula Deen's house seasoning and roasted it, then tossed it with Parmesan. Even Emmy couldn't get enough of it! Then tonight's filet was also due to a good sale price; we had already decided to order in tomorrow for valentines day, but I couldn't pass up the deal I got, so I just made us a fancy dinner a night early. Sadly, though, I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have because poor Emmy was sick and needed to be held while I was trying to eat. Hopefully she'll be better tomorrow, since we're supposed to host a big play date on Wednesday!

weigh-in

boo. apparently all that southern food has not been kind to me. since last week, i gained 1.1 pounds, meaning i still have 26 to lose. i've been snacking a lot too for some reason, and it's often mindless, eat because there's something in the cabinet to get rid of snacking, so i really need to cut that out. curses on cody for finding the huge jar of peanut butter filled pretzels we had left over from our Christmas party!

Southern yumminess

Apparently I've been missing home particularly much lately, because I've been cooking lots of southern dishes- the jambalaya last week and last night, Brunswick stew. With bacon cornbread. I realized today though that I was using a bizarre source. Instead of one of the 5 or 6 specifically southern cookbooks in my cabinet, both recipes came from rachael ray, a lifetime new yorker! But both were pretty good and pretty easy, which is my favorite things about her.but next time I will definitely try the "real thing."

gleanings project

for a long time, i've been contemplating the whole Biblical concept of gleanings. God's people were told not to harvest all the way to the corners and edges of their fields, but to allow the needy among them to come and take what they needed. a while back when our small group did the truth project, we encouraged each other to figure out our own gleanings based on our profession; for example, a doctor could offer free medical advice or an accountant could help others with their taxes. i never did make a plan and get to it at that time. but now our church just finished a short series on generosity, which has made me think more about it. and sunday, it came to me. i have decided that every time i go to the grocery store, i will buy one extra of something and donate it to a local food ministry. simple, easy, and cheap, and yet in this way i can hopefully provide for others for whom a can of beans or a box of pasta is a lot harder to afford. so i started today, and i can't wait to see what God can do through me!
cody and i also decided to take our church's 1% challenge, which is basically to give the church just 1% more than you did last year. it could be your first 1%, or maybe a step closer to tithing the full 10%, or maybe even above and beyond. one of the ways God has gifted me is with a giving heart, so tithing has never been a problem for me, but i was really excited when Cody was the one to suggest participating in this challenge and upping our giving to 11% (ladies, isn't it exciting when your husband fulfills his role as your family's spiritual leader, especially when it means he's doing something he's uncomfortable with?!)! the same day we committed to this, we finished figuring out our taxes, and we can already see God rewarding us- the refund we're set to receive is much more than we expected! so now it's up to you: are you willing to trust God and "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need." (Malachi 3:10)?

Cross references:

1. Malachi 3:10 : [Prov. 3:9, 10]
2. Malachi 3:10 : See 2 Cor. 9:6-8
3. Malachi 3:10 : See Gen. 7:11