Christmas morning was a real treat watching Emma's eyes light up at the sight of her first car. I found this adorable pink push car at www.babystyle.com


After opening a few gifts at home we got dressed and headed out for Grandma and Grandpa Litzenberg's house. There they had a wonderful rocking Giraffe that drew Emma like a magnet and with in a few moments of getting to the house she was rocking away with a bit of help from her very excited Grandma. Grandpa had seen the rocking giraffe at Nordstrom and knew she would just love it, and he was so right! Every morning since Christmas she has wanted a ride before breakfast.

She was all smiles on her new toy

It was time to get down to business and do some gift giving and boy did Emma have a blast eating up all of Grandma's famous sausage rolls and mini quiches. She loved playing in all the wrapping paper and gift boxes. It wasn't until later that she got excited about all the wonderful toys and gifts her Auntie Andra and Grandma and Grandpa gave her. Boy is she one spoiled little girl. But it just goes to show how truly loved she is.

Can you spot Emma in the picture above??

The night before the night before Christmas Emma's bath was loads of fun. Godfather Michael requested Emma to have a faux hawk. I was quick to see if we could make it look good.

In the end Emma was quite pleased with the outcome.

On Christmas Eve the Chargers were playing so Emma was dressed for the occasion rooting on her and Daddy's favorite team.

After a nap and a bit of a wardrobe change Emma was ready for Christmas Eve Mass and ready to play with her cousins Cynthia and Briana that were visiting from Colorado. They gave her a lovely Madame Alexander Doll to play with.

Cynthia with Emma and her new doll

Emma very interested in her cousin Briana's art work

Emma's first drawing lesson.

A big kiss for Godfather Michael before leaving for Church

Donald, Michael, Emma and I all went together to Christmas eve mass. It was so crowded. We stood in the back and I mean way back of the church with about 200 other people. It was quite magical singing carols and watching all the children playing with each other and making new friends, but we didn't make it to the end. It just was getting way too late for Emma and we knew after about 45 minutes of standing in the back that it would be at the very least another 45 minutes just to get communion. So we left, but were glad we gave it a shot just the same. Going to mass on Sundays is way easier when you have a comfy seat.

We need to do a bit of catch up due to all the Christmas festivities, so for the next couple of days we will go back in time to see what Emma did over the week of Christmas.

Helping mommy wrap the Christmas presents.

Coming for the camera

Grandma and Grandpa arrived the Thursday before Christmas
and it was time to play a bit with Grandpa and his hat

Was having a bit of fun with Emma and my camera a few days ago and thought I would share a few images that make Donald and I smile instantly every time we look at them. They are a bit odd, but really fun images of our little girl.

I caught her in the middle of blowing "raspberries" at me

Here she was crawling up my lap to get a closer look at the camera and how it worked

Just a wonderful profile of those amazing cheeks!

Donald, Emma and I just spent a week in Grand Junction Colorado visiting my mom, dad, my sister Linette her family and my sister Bernadette and her family. We had a great time! It's been 5 years since I have had Thanksgiving with my family and it was wonderful having us all together. Emma loved all the attention, and my nieces couldn't get enough of her. I didn't take near enough photos, but here are some to share

My youngest niece Sarah(turns 12 tomorrow) holding Emma after a wonderful Turkey Dinner

Emma eating her first Thanksgiving meal, I don't think there was a food she didn't like.

Emma playing with my sister Bernadette

Bernadette's two girls Briana, and Cynthia posing with Emma

My sister Linette's two girls Sarah and Victoria posing with Emma

All the grandchildren playing Apples to Apples at Grandma and Grandpas house

Playing "I'm a Little Tea Pot" with Grandma

Just a few more pictures of Emma as the little Lady Bird

May everyone have a happy and safe Halloween

Emma always wakes up with a ready smile and in a great mood. Suzanne caught that wonderful demeanor on tape when she went to wake Emma on Wednesday.

Suzanne caught some great footage of Emma laughing. Suzanne was going through some old magazines and every time she tore out a page, Emma would burst into fits of laughter. A quick scramble for the video camera means we get to share.

Guess who's 9 months old!!

That's right our little Emma. Who isn't so little any more she is now 29 1/2 inches long and weights in at 17 lbs and 13 oz. The Doctor is so proud of all her new developments. She crawls, sits up on her own, loves to stand with some help, is babbling like crazy, and has two teeth. She gets to eat finger foods now, but I am not rushing out the door to purchase them. I am too afraid of choking. She gets to start the stage 3 foods and is also in her 9 to 12 and 12 month old clothes.

Well we are home safe and sound and Emma is thrilled, she has been smiling non stop and exploring every inch of our home as she crawls like mad to show me what a big girl she is. Our place is smoke free, but we are still not going out unless we have to because it is still smoky outside. We will be going out tomorrow as Emma has her 9 month check up and I can't wait to see what the doctor thinks of her progress.


Here we are on our way home with the car stuffed silly full of our things and Emma is still having fun. She is playing with her butterfly toy that Donald's coworkers in London got her before we moved back to San Diego. Yes, we tried to pack everything we could for Emma just in case we could never go home.


On the way home I took this picture of Mt Woodson burning up in Ramona as we were passing Rancho Bernardo on the 15. It's not a great shot, but you can see the smoke on the side of the mountain.


Emma sleeping at home after a few very exhausting days

Suzanne, Emma and I were driving the back way from Mission Valley up to Hillcrest today and saw a truck in front of us that perfectly sums up the last couple of days. We had the camera with us, so had to take the chance to share. Click on the picture to enlarge it and see the license plate clearly.

Emma was forced out of her typical routine today. San Diego is on fire. Not parts of San Diego, this is the Great London Fire (Or Chicago Fire or San Fran Fire) kind of fire. Again. Rancho Bernardo has had homes burning less than two miles from where my parents live right now and the fire closed to within 2 miles of our home before moving on. We knew that fires had started out in Ramona, (about 30 miles east of San Diego) when we went to bed last night around 10:30. At 2am, both Suzane and I woke up out of a not so sound sleep and decided we better check the news to see what was going on. Instead of two fires burning huge sections of the back country, we were informed of 6 fires all over the county.

And the annual Santa Ana winds were not relenting, so the fire was being fed by 40-70mph winds. We called a friend that lives about 6 miles west of us and asked if we could evacuate to their house, they agreed, and we loaded up the car with all the essentials... You know, Emma stuff and the hard drives that hold all our pictures. And a pair of clothes each. After a couple of hours watching the sun turn unbelievably red and dim, we decided that maybe we should move south where the air is cleaner. We headed down to the boat and found it quite pleasant. Almost like the entire county wasn't burning. Andra offered to give us a place to stay for the night in completely unaffected Mission Valley, and as interesting as cramming the three of us into a berth on the boat sounded, exhaustion was kicking in and we decided that it would be better to partake of Andra's Tempur-Pedic bed instead. My sister rocks!!! My parents yacht club fed us a free meal as we were bedraggled refugees, then we headed over to my sister's place and gave a very exhausted, yet very brave young lady her bath and let her fall asleep in her play-pen.

As of now, over 600 homes have burned. And in less than 36 hours, more than 100,000 acres have burned. It is a miracle that only one person has died at this point. Signing off safe and sound for now.

Here's a picture I took of the sky around 11am this morning.

As our loyal readers know (yes, all both of you), Suzanne and I talk a lot about change. How our lives changed when we moved to London ( www.imcrossingthepond.blogspot.com ) and how it changed when we moved back, and of course, our most significant change to date, Emma. Well, here we go again, everything just changed this last week. As you can see in the video (warning, it is 7 minutes and 22 seconds long), Emma has made a couple of significant strides in development. She has begun crawling forward, which means that she can now identify a target and head straight for it. This is pretty scary for first time parents who have not childproofed to their own satisfaction. She can open cupboards now. Time to install the latches to keep her out of the sink cupboards. And she has confirmed her first crush. For some reason, she LOVES the opening credits to the show Stargate SG1. She has no interest whatsoever in the television unless the opening credits are on, then suddenly she stares in awe. At first, we thought it was the flashing screen, or perhaps the music, but as you can see by her smooching the Stargate DVD cover, it is really all about Richard Dean Anderson. As always, comments are very welcome, and since I haven't done it in a while, I will beg for some now. Not only do we crave feedback, but we would love to be able to show Emma how much she is loved by showing her what people had to say during her early years.

Grandma came over late Sunday afternoon for a dance and a cuddle from her little one. They had a wonderful time.





Tuesday was filled with lots of new things, sitting up for the first time by herself, learning to open the cabinet in the intertainment center, and there was more forward movement then ever! Which led to really rubbed red knees. After so much learning before lunch it was time for a well deserved nap

Emma is still working on the crawling, but doesn't like the burn on the knees so is staying on toes for right now. We get forward movement sometimes, but it is still mostly backward.

Suzanne and I want to be the best possible parents we can be. And like any parent, we want nothing but the best for our child. This desire was behind the Mothercare all in one cloth diapers. A product that I think has had a profound effect on the sanity of Emma's parents, as I attribute them in no small part to Emma sleeping through the night, having no issues with diaper rash, etc. Our desire for "good parenting" status is also behind our very regimented sleep schedule for Emma (much to the chagrin sometimes of friends and family, as it means that we often leave the party early) and it is behind one of the most difficult decisions, breast feeding. Suzanne (God bless her) has made considerable sacrifices in order to make sure that Emma received the best possible diet on earth, mother's milk. In the beginning, there were issues with infections galore that caused her considerable pain, in addition to the agony of Emma's incredibly developed suction muscles. So it was with much trepidation yesterday that Emma received her first bottle of formula. I was worried that she would not take it after 8 months of her mother's milk... And apparently was worried for no reason, as she sucked down the bottle like it was going to be ripped from her grasp at any moment.

Emma discovered her nose today with her thumb (yes she is her daddy's little girl). She is also trying really hard to crawl, but she is trying to do it on her toes not her knees. It looks here as if she is doing press ups.

Emma has recently learned to scoot. Backwards. She gets excited and reaches forward, but when it comes to actual locomotion, she's straight backwards like a shot. I tried to capture this on video to share with all of her adoring fans, but she decided that she wanted to put on a bit of a show instead. (By the way, can you tell it was her daddy who made the bed?)

Last Sunday I discovered a tooth in Emma's mouth. I am always checking her gums to see if she has started cutting any teeth and to my surprise one of her lower teeth was poking through. Wow, I must say it went much better than I thought it would. I expected to be up all night, with a cracking, crying little one. Instead, it just sort of appeared. Have I mentioned how blessed Donald and I are with such a wonderful little lady? Well we are! I didn't get a shot of her tooth yet, it is just barely pocking through. So instead I am posting a picture I took when we first moved to London (I was thinking at the time of doing series of illustrations of children's toys). It was taking November 2005 in Hyde Park near Edinburgh Gate. Donald and I would love to move back with Emma and play with her in the park, we talk about it all the time and this is just a little inspiration for us.

We took Emma over to the pool yesterday just to see how she would react. I was surprised at how much she really loved it. Next time we go back it will be to really get in and play with mommy and daddy.

checking out the pool before taking the big plunge

splashing around with Daddy
getting to sit pretty in the cool water

a big smile for mommy after getting to splash in the pool