Traditions

With the Holidays coming, I have been thinking a lot about family traditions. There are many that we have that I will pass onto Emma, and mnay that PJ remembers too! It has been fun to think about them all, and I got to thinking--I wonder what other people's family traditions are, as I'd love to add to our many wonderful memories in the making.

I would love to hear your traditions--if you read this and want to share a comment, or email me, I'd love it!

Here are some family traditions of ours:

*Open 1 Christmas gift Christmas eve. Then Christmas day, my grandpa had a bell, and the first grandchild to wake up got to ring the bell on top of his shoulders and wake everyone up!

*Your typical ones:big Thanksgiving meals and family walks after supper, Easter egg hunts and decorating the eggs, making Christmas cookies, Apple and Pumpkin picking--and making the pies, etc., Trick-or-treating

*They came out with an Advent Calendar for dogs with bones inside--this is great, and I have an Advent Wreath with bible verses, prayers or activities for each day

*Eating dinner together as a family each night

*Operation Christmas Child-shoe box gifts and now we also do the Advent Conspiracy through church!

Some that I want to start:

*Work a soup kitchen before the christmas season

*Special birthday dinner--your choice

*Each child gets a day alone with mom/dad

Well, hope this finds you well!

Fall is in the Air

Sorry it has been so long--we had a cold go through our house and, fingers crossed, are all finally over it. Emma was dedicated on October 10th, and it was a lovely service at church. She and 28 others kids were dedicated, all in a one hour service! We had a lunch afterward..and truely lovely day with family and friends! This weekend was Homecoming in Madison and a big game against Iowa--the game wasn't much fun to watch, but Emma and I got to hang out with Jazz, what a blast!

Today was a perfect fall day-crisp air, clear blue skies and a high of 60 so I decided it was the perfect day to go to the Apple Orchard, get some apples, my favorite apple butter--yum-o, and some pics of Emma! We got our apples the easy way (pre-picked and pre-washed) and I spent most of the time in the orchard trying to find perfect lighting to take pics. I plopped Emma on a blanket and got on the ground myself and shot away. It was so fun! Then there were a bunch of pumpkins leaning against the barn with a bushel of hay, so I sat Emma amidst them and started taking some pictures of her. 2 little girls came out of the barn and saw that I was taking pic

tures and got behind me and started dancing and waving to get Emma to look at them. It was so darling--then they said "we love babies, we love to take care of them!" What sweet girls, what a great day!

Dream Come True

What a week! Emma turned 7 months old on Sunday--such a big girl. Monday-after many attempts, we found our dream home! God works in amazing ways! It is everything that we wanted and more--we are so blessed. We sigend the papers on Wednesday evening--so now it's officially in escrow. Now as for Emma....

Emma has swimming lessons on Wednesday mornings, and she absolutely loves it-she's like a fish. Goes under the water, kicks a bit, so cute. Thursday, I go to a group at church with women, and they have daycare for the 2 hours-and I had my eyes on the nanny light the whole 2 hrs...but she made it, I was so proud of her! That afternoon she played with a Halloween Jack in the Box type toy, and the first 2 times it just kind of surprised her, but the third time, it freaked her out and she was crying-oh so sad. Today she discovered that her voice echos in our room, so she kept playing this screaking game over and over. Along with the echos--she has discovered she has a tongue and makes may lala, mama, dada, baba, noises! A new food was introduced yesterday:pear. I have heard that pear flushes babies out, and let me tell ya--it's true. 5 poopies today when she normally takes 1 a day...hmm, maybe I should pair pear (hehe) with something binding next time! We are looking forward to the "Border Battle" this weekend! Madison vs. Minnesota, and then Packers vs. Vikings--GO Badkers!!

The Past 6 months

Well, I really could go on forever about the last 6 months, all the changes Emma has gone through, all the amazing moments we have had-the laughs, joys, the "firsts", some frustrations-but overall motherhood is the richest blessing on earth. Emma will be 7 months on Sunday and a good friend asked what she is doing now, and I realized that although pictures are fun to see of her, they don't tell the whole story, and unless I sit down to write, all the memories tend to blurr. So, I will pick up where we left off...wow, day 25!--fill in some of the blanks, and help you "see" Emma! Maybe the easiest is to start with this week. So our lives are crazy right now. We listed our house 3 weeks ago Tuesday, and have an accepted offer, so this week has been consumed with that and house hunting. Showings, house hunting, etc has started to throw Emma a bit off schedule--so she caught up today by taking an almost 3 hr nap!! We've had playdates, a trip to the capital, plenty of walks, and some nice memories at home. On Wednesday, I was feeding her lunch, and she just started cracking up, which of course, made me laugh(she is like her daddy this way) and then she started laughing again because I was laughing, and this went on a good couple of minutes-it was bliss! Today she had another funny moment--I was burping her, and she grabbed my face, which is a daily occurance, and then proceeded to burp in my ear and laugh, it was hilarious! She is getting to the point now where she really loves to be on the ground playing. When you hold her she tries to "get down" by pushing agaist you with her arms and legs, and arches her back. Then gets all excited when she sees her toys! Her 2 favorite books are Goodnite Moon and Olivia.

I will update this once a week--as to not bombard-but rather collect the memories then share more at once! Until next week.

25 days old

Wow how time flies when you are having fun!  Miss Emma Lynn Noelke was born at 6:01 am Friday February 27th, 2009.  She was 8lbs 9 oz and 20 inches long--who of you guessed right on the blog poll??  We went into labor on Thursday--while I was at work and didnt realize that they were contractions!  I even ran some errands.  PJ met me at home about 2:30pm due to weather--and then we started timing contractions about 3pm.  By 6pm they were 6 mins. apart and lasting about 30-40 seconds.  We called the hospital and they said to labor at home as long as possible.  By 11 we decided to go to the hospital--the contrction were 3 mins apart and lasting a min.  When we checked into Triage I was 6 cm diaplated.  We had an all natural birth and it was a wonderful experience.  Ama and Baba (PJ's parents) arrived at the hospital shortly after 8am, and then my mom was there by 3.  Miss Emma did not sleep a wink almost her whole first day of life.  She was SO hungry(started rooting right after PJ cut the umbilical cord!).  She had her first bath at the hospital and hated it!  I knew that Emma knew when to be born-nurse Sandy who was my guardian angel through the miscarriage was our nurse on Saturday night, and only works weekends--so it was wonderful to see her!!  Fast forward to now!  We have been to the doctor 3 times, and as they say--"she is perfect!".  My dad sister and mom were able to come up to meet Emma and while they were here, her umbilical cord fell off on her 2 week birthday.  She is now 9lb 6oz and 22.5 inches long, and the joy of our lives!  Sorry it has been so long!

It's a Start

We had a Doctor's appointment today, and though not too much has progressed since last week, we are 1 cm dialated now! So that is a start to the process, and it made me really excited.  She says this is no prediction of when labor can start--she says as much as they know about labor, they really don't know much.  But, for me, that means things are starting, so my body is doing what it is supposed to do!

Pictures

As I reflect on our due date being 8 days away--it is hard to fathom that this day is almost here.  40 weeks seems like such a long time, and though it is--somehow it is already here!  We had a great week this week.  The doctor's appt once again confirmed that there really have been no changes--but the head has now descended to -1 position.  Wednesday night, Jazz came over with her Mary Poppins bag, and a professional camera, and we had a ball taking pictures of the-well, ball of a belly!  Jazz's creative mind amazes me.  I am really greatful to have these pictures as it will be so easy to forget the amazing transformation that the body goes through when I am not huge full of baby anymore.  PJ and I have been advised to do everything that we want to do now--before the baby comes, so we had our "Friday Night Fish Fry" date night on Friday.  I am at that point beyond people wondering if it is ok to ask if we are expecting, but rather--strangers ask when we are due, what we are having and if we have names.  Pregnancy is such a conversation starter-I wonder if the baby will be too!  We had such a wonderful time--and PJ is now in the so excited emotional state.  It is hard to fathom that you will be in the world with us shortly little one!  We got the car seat all positioned in the car today--and that was the last "big" thing we had to do.  So as PJ says "come on out little baby, we want to meet you!"