Emma's First Prayers

I have been trying to catch Emma on video saying her prayers, but every time I go to try she catches me and stops! Finally got her to kind of do them today, so sweet...Jesus and Mary must be all smiles hearing little chilren say their prayers!

A Fun Frog Song

Interpretation:
There once was a green little frog, frog, frog
Who played in the wood on a log, log, log.
A screech owl sitting in a tree, tree, tree
Came after the frog with a screech, screech, screech.
When the frog heard the owl in a flash, flash, flash,
He leaped in the pond with a splash, splash, splash.

Sarasponda

Interpretation:
Sarasponda, sarasponda, sarasponda ret set set.
Sarasponda, sarasponda sarasponda ret set set.
A doray-oh, A doray boomday-oh.
A doray boomday ret set set, ah say pa say oh.
Boom-be-da, boom-be-da, boom-be-da, boom

Angel loves this song and when she asked me what it meant, I had no idea!! Apparently you can check HERE, but not much! Just a fun sounding song to sing!

Emma Bemma Boo

Emma is definitely not my "little baby" anymore. She has gotten so big...think she will be wearing mostly 2T clothes in no time which Angel took a long time to do. We call her our little monkey-do because everything that Angelica says, does or goes....Emma is right behind doing the same thing, or at least trying to! She has a huge desire to be just as big and able as her older sister. This little girl has the sweetest nature and loves to snuggle and give kisses and always wants to have attention on her and words of approval! On the other hand, this little one has the strongest will and temper...and I thought Angel had one! She doesn't give up and fights for her cause. I am learning how to effectively handle her melt downs and avoid them in simple ways as well. She is getting better with "obeying" and manners and apologies etc.

We are still waiting on her last first molar to come through and hoping the other teeth are soon behind....she has been a very slow teether...which I am telling myself is a big contributor to her pickiness with foods. So different than her sister who ate everything we eat since she was little and still does today. Emma would rather have her cheese, yogurts, applesauce, STRAWBERRIES or fruit of any kind all day. Although she will eat chicken nuggets, teriyaki chicken and hot dogs of course. She wants to hold the big girl cups ALL by herself, she is doing better eating cereal like a big girl with milk (although she likes to drink the milk before eating the cereal), and loves peanut butter and jelly and would eat peanut butter all by itself. Hoping that her food selections start to widen though as dinner times can be a little challenging!

Emma wants to get into her car seat and buckle herself because "Gel-Ka" does it. We have taught Angel how to buckle herself completely in her car seat so when we move her to the back of the van when the baby comes she can get in and be a big help to mama! So Emma can get in the seat, but the buckling isn't happening and she isn't pleased with us helping!

She loves animals....she loves to chase birds thinking she can catch them, she loves to pet dogs, she LOVES BEARS and would spend all day at the zoo. So far doesn't have much fear.

The big accomplishment of yet though has happened this week. Emma has been a co-sleeper since she was basically two months old and gave up the bassinet. She was a very avid nurser and like Angelica would always pinch, touch and twist my neck while she nursed and in order to fall asleep (so weird and hoping it isn't a genetic trait we have going on here). So in order to fall asleep she needed mama's neck....believe me I have tired to come with inventive ways to make a fake me neck! Starting at the end of July, I was able to just open my door and tell her to go night night for nap time....she would go get in my bed and fall asleep!!! This got me thinking that maybe we just needed to bypass the whole sleep training in the crib thing and go right to the bed. Again, so different because we just moved Angel out of a crib this year as well!!! But after so many attempts of 6 hour screaming sessions in the crib.....I decided to give the bed a try. We found an exact match to the one we got Angelica for $5 at a yard sale on craigslist. So Monday I got it all set up and nap time put her down. Monday was a rough day and night and she did end up back in our bed around 1am. However, Tuesday was better and Wednesday even better. Today it only took 5 minutes for her to stop fussing at nap time and hopefully tonight will be easier as well. Last night it only took about 30 minutes or intermittent crying and she stayed the whole night again for the second time in a row. I have been amazed at how she "loves" the idea of the big girl bed but cries when she knows she doesn't' have my neck to hold. When I go in to check on her she immediately reaches out her little hands to grab it. I do admit that I miss my cuddly little bed buddy, but very thankful that she will be sleeping on her own before this baby arrives. The next step is to move she and Angel in together...one step at a time though.

She loves to go potty before and after her baths (and would like to go whenever Angelica goes....which is actually happening more often now so keep your fingers crossed that we might be potty trained before this baby comes!)....her hair is starting to thicken and grow and she has curls that pop up in the back....she loves saying her Angel of God and Hail Mary prayers....and is also getting excited about the baby coming and wants to play with her she says. All in all....my girlies are growing and it is so true that these moments fly by and hopefully we can savor each one as they happen....and I am glad I have this blog to help me record some of them.

Sweet Thoughts

It has been awhile since I gave an update on the girls. Angelica has grown and matured in leaps and bounds this summer. She is getting so excited about this new baby coming and being a big sister and mama's big helper. She still makes it known that she will be the "biggest" but she has really been encouraging and helpful with Emma these past couple of weeks. She tried to "teach" Emma her prayers, how to put on her shoes and lots of other things throughout the day. Angelica loves to kiss my belly and has to say goodbye to the baby as well as mama whenever I go somewhere or at night time. She really likes to ask if the baby is kicking and feel my tummy and has even started to ask with her baby dolls how big the baby is.

It is so incredible to watch her imagination grow, her knowledge increase and her love of learning. She is so independent and gets so proud of herself when she does and learns new things. She asks so many questions (including still the dreaded WHY about 100 times an hour) but studies everything and really likes to rationalize things. She is obsessed with asking what time it is, what temperature it is, what the weather is like and loves to be mama's back seat driver. She always asks which way we are going, when to go at the green lights and does very well with recognizing where we are. She loves to read and is getting excited about starting some preschool this year! She has a passion for singing and really loves to learn and say all her different prayers. A few fun and sweet moments of late:

-Angelica has her set prayers we say at bedtime. Lately I have really been incorporating a time where I just let her thank Jesus and petition Jesus for special prayers...more of an open dialogue. It is sweet and interesting sometimes what she says. For example: the other night her exact words were "Thank you Jesus for helping me keep my fingers out of my nose today!"

-This afternoon she told me that at naptime today she said a prayer to Jesus to help Emma stop crying and he did!!! Ah, the power of immediately answered prayers...hehe.

-Every time Angel hears a siren or sees a firetruck or ambulance drive by, she asks to say her prayers for the people. We say a Hail Mary and Angel of God and then just ask Jesus to help whoever is in trouble and keep them safe. I was bringing in groceries the other day and was busy so she heard a siren and all by herself when in front of our Mary statue with Emma and was leading her in the prayers. Melt a mother's heart!! A funny incident: Last Sunday we were driving home from church and an ambulance went by....so we said our prayers. Then she got really upset and frantic and when I asked what was wrong she said "Mama, Jesus can't help the people and keep them safe today." When I asked why she responded, "Because Jesus is at church today!" I laughed and then had to come up with an explanation....I had just been in church explaining to her about Jesus being present in the tabernacle etc....already trying so hard to understand the mysteries of our faith!! So funny!
-Yesterday we were doing errands and I was at a red light. Angel usually tells me when to turn as the light turns green, but I made a right turn. Angel got very upset that I turned on red and I had to try to explain some drivers ed to her! She doesn't miss a thing!

The Sisters Shop

Angelica and Emma have finally been playing together...as in actually using their imaginations and peacefully playing...not the battle of the wills or the age difference being a big issue. I knew we would get to this stage and it is so fun to watch. I caught them playing store the other day (thanks again to their Aunt Ann for the gift last year) and snuck some footage until I got caught. It cracked me up how Emma was so polite and they pretended to buy and eat the foods. Fun times ahead and brings back lots of memories from my childhood!

Never too Old...

...or too young to read or be read to. So sweet!! Angel tried sitting on Emma's lap and that didn't go over so well!!

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad Hartsell (and Grammy & Grandpa!). Wishing you another year of married bliss...hopefully a little less challenging and stressful! Your love is a blessing and example to us all, wish we could be there to help celebrate. Miss and love you lots.