MNO

My fellow momma girlfriends and I had an MNO (moms night out) this weekend and it was so much fun.!! We had an amazing dinner at Hondaya in Fullerton and went to karaoke to sing, dance and let loose.  It was so therapeutic to enjoy dinner with great uninterrupted conversation and incredibly stress relieving to belt out songs from way back when and dance like no one was watching.  I absolutely cherish this time with girlfriends that I can lean on, vent to and share this experience of motherhood with.

There was more amazing food but I got too hungry and excited to take more pictures.

Hello blog!  Keeping up with this blog has proven to be challenging in these past few months.  Multitasking as wife, mom and daughter has kept me pretty busy and it's become easier to share daily memories on Facebook and Instagram (my recent fave).  Emily is just shy of 18 months and it's incredibly amazing to watch her blossom into a sassy, funny, strong-willed and smart little person.  I can't get enough of my (not so) little bundle of joy!

We took a recent trip to San Diego and visited Sea World.  It was the first time for both Jason and I and Emily had lots of fun with her Grandma.  Our past few weeks have been spent trying to beat the heat and finding fun things to do to keep Emily engaged and interested with her growing curiosity and independence. 

She knows a handful of words now and clearly expresses what she wants at any given time.  She's also quite the drama queen and can cue those tears at the drop of a hat.  She's still very clingy to me and will often cry when I leave the room, especially if she's tired or hungry.  She LOVES to "play" with the dogs and we are constantly teaching her to be gentle.  They make her laugh so often and my heart explodes with joy every time Emily wholeheartedly laughs at anything. 

16 Months

It's been awhile since I posted an entry.  A lot has been going on and I'm keeping busy chasing Emily around.  She loves being outside, playing with water and has a lot more tantrums than before.  Ah the joys of toddlerhood!  With FB and Instagram, blogging has become a little neglected and honestly hard to keep up, but I'll try my best since I want Emily to look back on this someday. 

Happy Birthday Hubby and Emily is 15 Months

It's Hubby's birthday and we're so lucky to have him.  He's pretty darn amazing.  I love you Hubby <3

Emily turned 15 months on the 24th and had her doctor visit with three shots.  At 15 Months she is 23.6 pounds (79 percentile) and 31 inches (66 percentile).  She says about six or seven words and loves to point at things.  She'll sometimes point at things just to show she's into it.  She gets super excited when she sees any balls, balloons or bubbles and will point and shout "BALL, or BU-BBLE!"

Happy 15 months Baby!

Bathtime

Tonight was Emily's first bath in the actual tub and she wasn't afraid!  She had a blast with all the bubbles.  These little subtle changes may seem insignificant, but to me they're huge indicators that my sweet baby is growing up SO fast.  There is something new literally everyday.  She rarely crawls now and when she does, I suddenly miss my little baby so much.

During open play at Gymboree today she went and laid down for almost a full minute and I thought she was going to take a nap! HA! She just needed to recharge before taking off again :)

The "funny" mirror.  She thought this was the funniest thing, EVER.

Don't grow up too fast my baby

A great meal idea

Emily isn't big on meat so she doesn't enjoy meatballs, especially the homemade turkey ones I made awhile ago.  My fellow mama friend Jane gave me a great meal idea a few weeks ago and they've been a hit!  Small rice patties/balls!  They're perfect bite size and since Emily LOVES rice she gobbles them up so quickly!  After mixing rice with veggies and a little tuna or meat, shape them into bite size balls, dip in egg and cook them in a little olive oil!

I ran out of eggs this morning so for today's lunch I just cooked some rice with frozen veggies and spam and once it cooled off, I rolled them into little bite size balls.  I rolled some in Japanese rice seasoning since she loves seaweed too.  This is such a quick and easy meal and it's always a hit!  I love the organic frozen veggie medley from Costco.  It comes in so handy for a lot of my dishes.  I put the veggies in a food processor to grind them up a bit so they mix better with the rice.

Emily enjoying her lunch of rice balls, tofu and miso soup:

Tuesdays with Grandma

We spend Tuesdays with Grandma and Emily always has the best time ever.  Her face lights up when Grandma walks through the front door!  Today we ran errands and went to walk around the mall.  I got Emily the child safety harness backpack after a 10 second scare I had last week at the mall.  She's not full on running yet but I don't want to take my chances since her growing curiosity means wandering and hiding.  A lot of people have their opinions about the safety harness, most without children or without a scare, and I have to admit I used to think they were silly and felt a little sheepish today but better a safe child than a lost child and frantic parent. 

Little troublemaker

I love how her creative play is starting to blossom

More ice cream!! Grandma never says no

On sale???

Developing her love for shoes early :)

She got upset that we walked past the cars without taking a ride so we took a picture instead

She thinks it's funny when her shadow waves back at her haha

Not diggin' the restriction...