home sweet home

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. We travelled to Great Falls last Friday to watch my brother Sam play in a tournament for his baseball allstar team. Unfortunately they lost in the championship game, but don't be too concerned. Sam started football camp the same evening, so he'll stay occupied.

Sam's allstar team from 2007

Since we have a family reunion this coming weekend, I decided Emma and I should just stay here in Great Falls this week. So we've been having fun hanging out with grandpa and grandma and all Emma's aunts and uncles. So far we have gone to visit the ducks at the duck pond park (otherwise known as Gibson park), I've rediscovered how much I suck at Guitar Hero, still waiting to try out my skills at Dance Dance Revolution (I have a feeling this is more my style), and have played in grandma's pool. I've also (tried) to devote a good deal of time to studying as I finally was able to register for my certification exam which I take August 1. So it's down to the wire!

Having fun at the duck pond

I can't believe how big Emma is getting. Sadly, my favorite pair of Emma shoes no longer fits her.

These shoes are going in the too small pile

She is walking better however. She now spends about 50% of her time walking and crawls the other 50%. She will get up and start walking on her own which I think is good progress. She also has been discovering more words lately. This is her current vocabulary:

• hot
• cold
• bath
• down
• hi
• bye
• go
• barney (my family dog's name)
• ben
• ma ma
• da da
• uh oh

One thing that's fun about being home is looking through old photos. Here are some old pictures of me. I wonder where Emma gets her good looks?!

Baby Miranda about 15 months old

Baby Miranda

Happy Birthday Josh!!!

Here's a shout out to Josh Meunier on his 23rd birthday from all the way in Montana! Have a great night you crazy guy! We love and miss you!!!

the zoo

Today we went to the zoo. Zoo Montana to be exact. This is the only zoo probably within a 500 (maybe even more!) mile radius. So we're lucky we actually live here. After visiting lots of other zoos, I have to say it was a little disappointing, but Emma seemed to enjoy it and we had great company. My Aunt Janet and her kids Paul and Katie joined us, along with Kody (Aunt Janie's son), my Grandma Sharon (Emma's great grandma) and Grandma Kale (Emma's great great grandma). We saw peacocks, eagles, bighorn sheep, a grizzly bear (who looked so cute and cuddly), a tiger, and a wolf. We then went to the barn area where there were goats and chickens and beautiful, huge Belgian horses. Emma was enthralled with the horses. They also had a nice garden area where I got some good landscaping ideas.

A bald eagle. I always forget how big they are. A truly magnificent bird

Bruno the grizzly bear. Isn't he cute?!

Jake the horse. He was so loveable. If I had room, I'd have 2 or 3 horses.

Mr. Jake, the gentle giant as they call him

We decided to go early so it wouldn't be so hot, but it was still pretty warm. And because we went early, Emma didn't get her usual morning nap so she was a little cranky on the car ride to lunch, probably both from lack of sleep and have to sit for so long. After lunch, we got about 2 blocks in the car and she was all ready past out. I'm sure Grandma Kale wasn't far behind her. What a busy morning!

i think i'm in love

Yesterday Emma gave me her first hug. It was one of the most amazing moments in my life thus far. One of the reasons it's so incredible is that she's not normally a cuddly kind of girl unless we're reading a book or she's tired. When the hug happened, none of these things were taking place. We were sitting at the table, Emma was in her highchair. She's been doing this thing lately where she reaches out for my face and then when I get close to her, she softly brushes my cheeks with her hands. While she does this, she often whispers in her Emma talk. It sounds strange, but it's almost a spiritual thing for me. I of course can't understand what she's saying, but it's like she's praying for me - like she's saying "peace my child". The instructor becomes the instructed.

Anyhow, she did this reaching out motion and touched my checks and then put her arms around my neck. Could my heart get any bigger?! Such a perfect angel, who depends on me for everything and struggles to make sense of the enormous world around her, was saying thank you to me without saying a word. With such a touching moment, I was inspired to write. I'm posting it here with warning that I am incredibly self conscious about my writing. I have convinced myself that no one reads this blog anyway but the poem will be a good memento for Emma to have. So please, no harsh comments.

Love lives in the ballerina movements you made in my belly. In the salt laced tears I looked through to see your face for the first time. In the peaceful worry of your first nap.

Joy dances in the sparkling brilliance of your ocean blue eyes. In the calming cadence of your pure laughter. In the graceful silliness of your mannerisms.

Beauty sings in the strong softness of your face. In the tranquil eye flutters in your sleep. In the lovely pressure of your hands.

I completely and hopelessly love you, Emma, for all the rest of my life.

parade of homes

Our weekend was again busy even though we weren't on the road. Saturday we looked at a few houses with our realtor and found a house we like and made an offer. More on that later. We then went to my grandparents house to do some laundry and then back to the real estate office to sign some paperwork.

Sunday we met up with my Aunt Jeanine and cousin Shannon (relatives from my Mom's side of the family) at Summerfair, put on by the Yellowstone Art Museum. It reminded me a lot of Saturday Market in Portland. There were lots of cool vendors, but we didn't find anything we couldn't live without, so we went home empty handed. We then joined them later in the evening at their house for beer, pizza, and washers. My Uncle Tom and other cousin Nate decided this event was a lot less girly than Summerfair so they were there as well. Emma made a new friend with Deuce, Tom and Jeanine's cocker spaniel. Although she was very wary of Deuce to begin with, much like George, her curiosity could not keep her away and soon she was crawling (yes, not walking) towards him and petting him to her heart's content. We capped off the evening with a game of washers. Tom built his own washer "court" and it works really well. It's a fun game both to watch and play. Sadly, I am really not good at this game. You think with so many brothers I would have caught on how to throw something with some decency, but no. As horrible as it sounds, the truth is I throw like a girl.

Emma after a chocolate chip cookie

Action shot of my cousin Nate playing washers and Shannon's friend Becca looking on

Nate and my cousin Shannon playing washers

Tom, Emma, and Deuce

My aunt Jeanine

Then today we found out the offer we made on the house was accepted! Plus, they are giving us $2000 at closing for painting. Horray! Our closing date is August 15th, so mark you calendars and if you're anywhere near Billings, painting and moving party at the Meuniers! I really like our house, although it took some convincing at first. This is the house I really liked. It had everything I wanted, but much to our chagrin (and their realtor's) they were not willing to drop the price. So we found the other place, and all in all it's just fine. The only drawback for me is that it's not a two story house, but it has great details inside and really nice landscaping. And it certainly doesn't have to be our forever house.

bounce

Emma found a new hobby today - bouncing on exercise balls. I went on yet another house hunting adventure and left Emma with my Aunt Janie for a few hours. After I got back, we had a nice lunch with her family and my Aunt Janet's family. And then we discovered the art of Emma bouncing. I can't believe how much she enjoyed this! She would rather strongly protest when she wasn't on her ball and even bounced herself to sleep once I started bouncing with her. What a doll!

What a big girl up so high!

Playing with Katie (closest to Emma), Haley (to the right of Emma), Jessica, Haley's friend (to the left of Emma), and Jessica's baby sister Gracie (on the other ball)

Fell asleep bouncing

So sleepy

Nothing more precious than a sleeping baby

Janet and Janie are twins (uh, duh!) and my Dad's younger sisters.

My aunts Janie and Janet

I find twins to be such an oddity. Not in the freak show kind of way, but in the mirrors that exist in their lives. For example, Janet and Janie both have 2 kids, both have a girl and a boy. Janet's kids are Paul and Katie and Janie's kids and Haley and Kody. Paul and Haley are only a few months apart and so are Katie and Kody. They didn't plan to have kids at the same time. Haley and Katie both have type 1 diabetes that apparently does not run in the Wingerter family, but does run in both respective husband's families. Not that diabetes can't occur without family history, but it sure doesn't hurt. My aunts have even been know to get the same person the same card for a holiday without knowing it. Bizarre. I used to have a hard time telling them apart, but now I see they have very distinct personalities. I am really enjoying the extra time I get to spend with them. And I think Emma is too!

'lil shortie

Our doctor's appointment yesterday was fine. Dr. Gunville, our new pediatrician, is really nice. He said Emma is right on track with development and not to worry about the slow progress with walking. He also said not to worry about her smallish stature; she will likely remain at or near the 25% for height and weight throughout childhood. According to the growth chart, that means by age 20 she should be about 115 lbs and 5 foot 3. It's not bad, she'll just be short like her Mom. Hopefully her uncles won't give her as much guff for being short as they did me. Overall, she got a clean bill of health along with three shots. The appointment was at Billings Clinic so Nate was able to come too. He HATES when Emma gets her shots, although I think she handles it very well, he says when she cries that hard he feels sick to his stomach. Awhhh!

Today we returned to the library which Emma continues to love. We returned our overused books and got four new ones to entertain her for a few days. I love watching her thumb through the books on her own and babble along. I always wonder what kind of story she is imagining. There were lots of other kids there and Emma wanted so much to play with them, even though they were quite a bit older and didn't seem interested in her. Every time I tried to redirect her to a different area, she always crawled back to where the other kids were. She seems to be incredibly social and I think that's a great quality to have and I hate to dissuade her from interacting with the people around her. I think next time, I will let her play as she wants. I'm sure her teachers will tell me she gets along well with others but needs to concentrate more on what's going on.

Fun in the library

Playing with her shoe became more fun than looking at her book

fourth of july

We had a nice holiday over the weekend spent with my family in Helena. Sam was there playing baseball. I love watching baseball, especially with such great weather. While in Helena, we went to an indoor carousel. It was beautiful. Emma got her first ride on a carousel! She seemed a little freaked out by the various animals (including otters!) moving up and down, but was very content to sit on the bench both with me and Aunt Maddie, who I think is one of Emma's favorite people. It's hilarious to hear her squeal with delight when she sees Maddie. Here's some pictures from the game and at the carousel.

Emma eating pretzels at the ball game. She wasn't actually eating the pretzels but rather sucking the salt off and putting the rest down. We didn't discover this until someone grabbed a soggy pretzel!

Mom and Emma on the carousel

Maddie and Emma on the carousel

Getting off the carousel. Nice face Emma

Uncle Jake, Emma, and the elk outside of the carousel

Over the weekend Emma also took her first steps! Although she's definitely not a full fledged walker yet, I am excited she's conquered this milestone. And even before her 15th month (barely) which was the 7th. We go for her 15th month checkup later this afternoon. I'm anxious to see what her measurements are and what her new physician thinks about her development. I'll report later. Enjoy the videos of the wobbling girl!

a day of firsts

I wish I could report this was Emma's first day walking, but alas, 'twas not to be. She seems to be getting more stubborn on the issue. Last night Nate and I were trying to get her to walk between us, but as soon as she realized dad's hand was out of reach, she promptly sat down and crawled over to him. It's too bad our children inherit our not so good traits as well as the positive. I am reluctant to say I am quite a stubborn person. But hey, sometimes it works to my advantage!

So our day of firsts included Emma's first headband. Emma's hair is getting longer but is not quite long enough to keep behind her ears. I wanted to try a different hairstyle besides the pebbles pony tail. So I tried the headband look. Surprisingly Emma kept it on for almost the whole day, but I think it was a little big for her. I couldn't find any in the babies section so I got these in the regular hair accessories. I'm sure she'll grow into them though.

A new headband

Side view

Another first was tuna fish for lunch. I wasn't sure if Emma would like it or not, but I thought tuna fish sandwiches are a childhood staple, so I had to try it. I made an open-faced sandwich because I didn't think her little mouth could fit two pieces of bread and she loved it. It was such a mess though. The tuna didn't stay on the bread very well without a roof. But most of it made it in her mouth.

For dinner, we gave Emma her new fork to try for the first time. She very much enjoyed the prospect of stabbing her own dinner. Although it took her a few tries to get anything on the fork, once she did, she wanted to keep "playing" and would take the food off of the fork. She would not put anything in her mouth and would also not let us feed her, so she didn't eat a whole lot. I love her new found independence but come on girl, you have to eat too!

Sorry the image is a little shaky. I couldn't help but laugh.

We are heading to Helena for the 4th weekend to watch my brother Sam in a baseball tourney. Hope you all have a nice holiday weekend!

busy weekends

Since we arrived here, we've had some action packed weekends. Last weekend my second cousin or first cousin once removed (I'm not sure which one is correct. She's my dad's cousin) had a wedding reception in Billings. My Dad's side of the family is a little unique in that there is a large disparity in ages. My Dad's Mom is the oldest of her siblings and had my Dad fairly young (at 18) so he was the oldest cousin. Ashely is the youngest cousin and she is 22 or 23 I think. And there's a lot in between, including Jennifer whose wedding we were celebrating. Jennifer and I were pretty close when we were younger, but as we got older we fell into our own personalities and groups of friends and didn't really keep in contact. But she looked beautiful and I was happy I was there to celebrate with her. My family also came from Great Falls which allowed for the five generation picture below. My great grandmother is 86 and suffers from Alzheimers. I haven't seen her for several years and she didn't remember me, but she was enthralled with Emma and the other babies there. She seemed to enjoy herself.

5 generations of Kale-Wingerters!

This weekend we took Emma on her first camping trip to Cooney Dam. For those of you who don't know my grandmother (pictured above) she is a state park ranger and Cooney Dam is the campground she is in charge of. She lives out there basically May-September. My brothers and I used to call her Mister Ranger Lady. Sunday was my cousin Haley's 14th birthday so my grandfather, my other cousins, and my aunt Janie all went out for the weekend. The weather was perfect and the lake was quite refreshing, but was still quite high so there really wasn't a beach at all. The other downfall were the mosquitoes. I sprayed bug spray on 3 or 4 times and I still got several bites. No fun! Luckily Emma only got a few bites. She did okay sleeping in the tent. She did fine when we put her down and she was by herself, but she never sleeps well when she can see us. She is a restless sleeper and I think when she rolls around and opens her eyes and is able to see us, she thinks she should come sleep with us. So in the middle of the night, she crawled out of her blankets and wanted to snuggle in with me in my sleeping bag. Of course I could not say no, but sleeping with me did not make her any less restless so I didn't get much sleep. Overall it was a great weekend. I've missed the calm a campfire brings. Here's some pictures.

We gave Emma a mini chocolate donut on the way to the lake. She got it everywhere!

Even on her legs and toes! Disgusting!

Fun at the lake

Staying afloat

Enjoying a snack with great grandma

Playing peek-a-boo by the fire

Tried to play paddy cake but Emma was more interested in dancing