Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

We enjoyed celebrating Father's Day with Fouad. Here are some of his favorite moments:

Snuggle time in bed - Daddy & his girls

Emily & the cookie cake she made for Daddy at Publix

Happy Father's Day! Cookie?

Pool time with Papa

Emily loves to splash and play in the pool with her Papa! Here's a picture and video of the fun that they had:

Play time with Teta & Jido

Here's a few pictures of Emily enjoying some time with her Teta & Jido recently:

 

23 Months

We're a little late posting Em's 23 month update. What a month! We had a rough time adjusting back to reality after Cancun, and Emily had a hard time adjusting to her regular schedule after being spoiled by her grandparents for almost a week. We survived, and here are some memorable moments from this month:

* Emily has started to love the color blue. Whenever she has a choice, she always asks for "blue one!"

* Em experienced her first major thunderstorm with hail. She took it very well. We watched the lightening and hail and listened to the thunder out our back window. She would say, "Hear it? Thunder?" So sweet!

* She has started to sing entire songs including Frere Jaques, ABCs, and Baby Beluga.

* Emily had a MAJOR nap strike this month. I'm happy to say we are back on track with her sleeping, but there were times where I thought we wouldn't get there.

* Emily has learned the word "only" and uses it regularly. For instance, she will demand "Mickey ONLY!" when we watch tv.

* Some of our other favorite words this month were "maybe" "baby suit" (instead of bathing suit), and "Look at me Mommy!" Also, Emily wished me a happy birthday which was wonderful!

* Our sweet girl has started dance class and is loving it! Here are a couple of videos:

          

Conversations with Emily

Mommy: "Emily, I can't find your bathing suit or cover-up. Mommy is losing her mind!"

Emily: "Oh no! Where Mommy mind go? I find it"

22 Months

Emily has been busy this last month! Here are a few of our favorite memories from month 22:

* We are all enjoying our new fence in the backyard. It really allows us to hang out there with our dogs and Emily and feel safe. Em's new favorite thing to do outside is to yell "Hi neighbors!" to our neighbors outside.

* Emily went to the aquarium with Grandma and Grandpa this month while we were on vacation. All she can talk about is the dolphin show that she saw. She will talk to anyone about it!

* Emily has also really started to enjoy singing, and her current favorite songs to sing are Happy Birthday and Baby Beluga.

* One thing that we are really loving this month is that Em has started to say "I love you" to us. Really, she says "I you Mommy/Daddy." We know what she means, and it makes us melt!

* Emily has also started saying "I fine" when you ask how she is doing or if  you ask if she wants more of something and she is full or not interested.

* She has also started to make jokes like putting a puzzle piece where it doesn't belong and saying "Here? Nooooo."

* Her bedtime routine includes a kiss, hug, and squeeze from Mommy and Daddy :-)

* She really tries to make us proud. At dinner, she will get Fouad's attention by saying "Look Daddy!" (pronounced "yook") and showing him that she is using her fork. She also tried shrimp for the first time this month and said "Emmy like it!"

* Emily has really started to talk more about her feelings, especially when she is scared. Loud noises outside have been especially scary lately, so we always go to the front door and look at what is happening.

* She's really obsessed with shoes! She loves to try on Mommy & Daddy's shoes, and she picked out her own shoes when we went shoe shopping this month. We tried on one pair and she declared them "Emmy's shoes!" and refused to take them off!

* She's become very good at using a cup with no lid and no straw. She constantly says "No lid Mommy" when I give her a sippy cup.

* Emily really loves playing with her dolls and especially putting them down to sleep. We constantly find dolls "sleeping" around the house with blankets (or tissues used as blankets) on them.

Cancun

Mommy and Daddy got to take a vacation to Cancun without our sweet girl this month. We missed her so much, but we had a very relaxing five days. Here are some of our favorite pictures:

Our favorite hangout - The Cevicheria. Best. Fish. Tacos. EVER.

Beautiful view from our room.

Our other favorite hangout - drinks brought right to our chairs all day!

My guy :-)