Swimming!

Today we took Esme swimming for the first time. Grandpa and Grandma were staying at the Comfort Inn in Plymouth. The swimming pool was a little cold, but the hot tub was just right. No one had been in there and the bubbles weren't going so the water was warm, but not hot. Just like bath water. Perfect for Esme! Turns out she really likes it!

It looks like we'll have to look into swimming lessons for her!

First Christmas

Esme's first Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma Barb's and Grandpa Dan's. Jodie, Steve and the girls and Uncle Eric were there and Grandma Jackie and Grandpa Rex came too! Here are the three granddaughters.

Esme got the most presents of anyone which wasn't a surprise. The funniest part, which I'm sure any parent could have told me, is all we really needed to get her was some paper and a box. :) That was her favorite part!

Merry Christmas Esme!!!

Christmas Party and Santa!

Esme went to her first Christmas party this weekend. She had a great time hanging out with Joyce. Who knew xylophones taste so good!


Oh and Santa too!


Santa has a nice beard to pull!


I think she asked Santa for her own xylophone!

Cousins!

On Sunday Esme, Annika and Laurel helped Grandpa set up the train under the tree. They had a great time!


I love this picture of Laurel!

Teeth!

Esme's got 2 teeth now. When she smiles, you can often see them. Even in pictures every once in awhile!

In these pictures, you can only see the first tooth. We'll try to get some with both soon!

Early Christmas for Esme

Esme loves the Johnny-Jump-Up at Dan and Barb's house. She can jump in it for a long time!


We don't have anywhere to hang one at our house, so we got a Jumparoo for her for a Christmas present. We couldn't wait to give it to her and since she doesn't know any better - we didn't!

She obviously enjoys it!

I wonder if they make one in adult size? It's got to burn some serious calories!

Making Grandpa proud!

Esme's got a new style going. Maybe she could get a job as a model for DSG???


She says "Just making sure you're getting my good side." :)

Thanksgiving 2009

Esme had a little bit of a hard day on Thanksgiving this year. It started the night before.

Aunt Jodie and Uncle Steve have a party every year the night before Thanksgiving. Esme had had a stuffy, runny nose for about 3 days before the party. She was having so much fun at the party that she didn't get an afternoon nap and fell asleep late for her, about 8:30. Bedtime is usually 7:30. She slept in her pack and play in Laurel's room.

About 10:30pm Esme cried and so I went to check on her and she sounded awful, like her whole cold had moved into her chest. It was a little scary sounding actually. So we took her to urgent care. They closed at 11pm and we showed up at 10:58 pm. I'm sure they weren't super happy with us, but they were really nice and we were the only ones there, so we were in and out which was nice.

Turns out, Esme had croup so I'm glad we decided to take her in. They gave her a shot of dexamethasone and that took care of the bark-y cough and the wheezing sound. Unfortunately, it didn't take care of the runny nose. Oh well.

For Thanksgiving, we went to Mike, Karen and Sam's house. Donna and Gary were there as well. We hung out most of the afternoon and Esme wouldn't take a nap to save her life. She was more fussy than I had seen her in a long time. As usual though, when she wasn't actually crying, she was smiling. And you could get her to smile in mid cry if you tried.

Here is the one picture that we took. Sitting with Grandma and Grandpa.


Once we got home, she went to bed pretty easily and slept great. The next morning she woke up talking and smiling just like always, although she still had a runny, icky nose. I brought her downstairs and got some breakfast ready for her - banana's, her favorite. She still wasn't super interested in eating so I started feeling around in her mouth just to check and see if she had a tooth and guess what? She did!!! She's been drooling and gnawing on things for 2 months already and the pediatrician's all said that she could do that for months and months before she actually got a tooth. I've checked for a tooth many, many times, but today (or maybe yesterday) was the day!

It makes me even more impressed that she was still happy for the most part yesterday. Croup and teething at the same time. That could have been a dangerous combination!

It's super hard to actually see her tooth because her tongue is in the way. There's no chance that I would get a picture of it. But here is the first picture of her smiling with her new tooth. :)

Sleepy time

Everyone's sleepy and they all want to be on my lap!


All I can say is that I'm glad the German Shepard didn't decide to try to join us!!!

Toes are yummy!

As I mentioned earlier, Esme has fallen in love with her toes.


I was changing her diaper and she wouldn't stop chewing on her toes so I could pick her up. So I picked her up just the way she was. She didn't seem to mind at all, she just kept munching away!


When she's not chewing on her feet, she's usually smiling. I've never seen such a happy baby!

Hanging out with Daddy

Here are some pictures of Esme and her Daddy hanging out together.


Aaawwww! How sweet!

Esme's bling and more

Ok, so when I was pregnant and we found out it was a girl one of the first things that I said I was that I was going to pierce her ears as soon as I could. When we went for her 2 month doctors appointment, the doctor said we could do it anytime. It took me 2 1/2 months to really decide to do it.

Aaron and I took her in to the jewelry store the same day that we went to the apple orchard, but Sheila wasn't there. So I took Esme in on the Monday afterwards and we did it then. I have Emla cream for when Esme gets shots so I put that on her ears. It's a prescription cream that makes her skin numb. So she didn't feel anything on her right ear. Her left ear she felt a little bit, but she cried for a total of 30 seconds.

Now she's a bling girl!


Notice that Esme's back in her exersaucer.


Also notice the colors of Esme's eyes. When we were driving to and from Colorado in August, one of the things that we did was make predictions about Esme. Aaron thought Esme would continue to have blue eyes, like me. I thought she would have hazely-green eyes like Aaron does. Guess who was right?


The other thing that is new with Esme this week is that she has found her feet! And she can almost put all of her toes in mouth at one time.

In the last picture, you can also see Esme's long, curly eyelashes. I hope they stay that way as she gets older!

Esme the party girl!

It's Saturday night and Esme's 5 months going on 21 years!


A few minutes later, this was Esme. In her tell tale "C". Whenever, she falls asleep really hard, she curls up into a C shape. That's what beer will do to you!


Hopefully, she learned her lesson! :)