Emma Is Two!

We celebrated Emma’s second birthday this past weekend and it’s incredible to me that this little girl has been in my life for two years now (really longer though because I felt SOO connected to her my entire pregnancy). Emma is the best thing that ever happened to me and is truly my mini-me and tiny BFF. She’s the sweetest and funniest girl. I’m not just saying that because she’s my daughter – I truly think she’s kind to others and has a good heart. I see her get upset if I hurt myself and gets sad if she sees another kid crying. She makes me and Josh laugh hysterically almost every day at the things she does and says and knows she entertaining us which makes her keep going. As cliche as this sounds, she’s truly the sunshine in my life.

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The past 2 years have been an incredible journey and Emma changes so much every month. I wanted to share a little glimpse into life with Emma right now and hope to do more of these maybe every 6 months since so many big changes are happening right now.

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[leggings, shoes]

The Most Rewarding: Seeing how much she loves me. When I pick Emma up from school she runs to me as fast as she can and screams ‘mama’ with happiness and gives me the biggest hug ever. I know that I’m her safe place and her ‘home’ and I love that. Also, seeing Emma’s language rapidly develop over the past year has been incredible. She speaks in full sentences and can fully express what she wants at any moment. We sit down to eat dinner together every night and have real genuine conversations. We talk about what we did that day and what we’re doing the following day. Another favorite part with Emma right now is how she loves snuggling up with me in her the big chair in her room at night and reading books before bed. It’s a moment I always treasure.

The Most Challenging: Emma wants to do everything all by herself, which she very cutely refers to as, “Emmy does all by Emmy’s self.” She always refers to herself in the third person haha. Anyway, she wants to put her shoes on by herself, put her bow in her hair and do every little thing. This is great because she’s being independent and trying to be self-sufficient so I encourage it. However, if she’s not able to do something she gets extremely frustrated and it leads to a little meltdown. When I say, “can mommy please help?” she gets even more upset that I even offered. Emma is also very strong-willed and hates when something doesn’t go her way. I choose my battles wisely. I must say that I felt 12 – 18 months was the most challenging part of motherhood so far. I don’t find it as difficult lately since Emma very recently began playing independently. At 12 – 18 months I needed to be playing with her every second or she would cry if I got up to walk away even to turn on the oven.

Emma’s Favorite Things: Hands down, her favorite thing right now is trains! I don’t understand it, because trains aren’t that interesting to me, but she’s absolutely obsessed with them. She LOVES the TV show Thomas and Friends and watches one episode every single day. She sleeps with her Thomas toy in her crib and only wants to read Thomas and Friends books. She has a mini train track and trains that she can play with and entertain herself with for hours. Even though I don’t find trains to be the most exciting thing ever I know she loves it so I get really into it and play with her and act like trains are the coolest thing on this planet 🙂

She also LOVES reading books. She can sit on her floor forever reading book after book. We sit in her chair together before bedtime and read books and she alwaysssss says “one more book” which really means ’10 more books’. Emma also loves going to the park, coloring, sidewalk chalk and stickers.

Sleeping & Wellness: Emma is an awesome sleeper and I never take that for granted. She sleeps 11 – 12 hours every night and takes a 2 – 3 hour nap every day. Her bedtime is at 8pm and she usually wakes up around 7:30/8:00am. She naps from 1pm – 3:30/4pm. The only time she doesn’t sleep great is if she has a cold (poor thing can’t breathe) and unfortunately since she started school she’s been getting a cold once a month. We love Maty’s all natural products when she has a cold and I truly think they help to give her relief.

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Eating: Emma’s favorite foods are definitely blueberries, banana, yogurt and pasta. Her typical breakfasts are oatmeal (1/4 cup oats mixed with 1/2 mashed banana, pinch of cinnamon and 1/2 cup milk heated up over the stovetop), cereal, french toast (I use a good sprouted whole wheat bread), healthy homemade pancakes or yogurt and fruit. She always has a huge bowl of berries for a mid-morning snack. Lunch is avocado toast, hummus sandwiches, grilled cheese (I buy organic grass-fed cheese and use a good sprouted wheat bread), organic chicken hot dogs and roasted sweet potato wedges. Dinner is usually whatever Josh and I are having, but if that fails then we can always rely on good old whole wheat pasta with butter. She’s on and off with chicken and salmon – one night she’ll love it and the next night refuse to touch it. Her favorite snacks are string cheese (which she calls a ‘cheese stick’), fresh fruit, veggie crackersbaranana, granola bites, superfood cookies, Nud Fud, puffs and my homemade healthy muffins. Emma drinks out of a bpa-free thermos water bottle that stays cold for hours – we love this one.

Emma no longer eats in a high chair (which is a huge mistake). We bought her a tiny table and chairs and she eats all her meals there (yes Josh and I sit on the tiny chairs). She loves it, but the problem is she gets up and runs around in between bites and it drives me crazy. I try to keep her seated until she finishes her meal, but it’s almost impossible. She does end up eating a lot of her meal eventually, it just takes forever. I never try to force her to finish her meal because I believe she has the ability to know when she is full or just has had enough. When she’s hungry she’ll eat.

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One of Emma’s favorite things is going down the slide… over and over and over! 🙂

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This little lady INSISTS on wearing her sunglasses every time we’re in the car. She says, “it’s too sunny”. [thermos water bottle]

So there you have it! A little life update with Emma! I’ll check in with a two and a half year update 🙂

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