Thanksgiving Part 1

We had an awesome Thanksgiving! It was nice to relax and spend time with our families. After a weekend preview of family fun, we kept rolling through Thursday as we spent Thanksgiving day with my mom and sister. After our meal, we watched movies, Erika napped, then we headed down to Corvallis to spend time with Matt's family (those pictures soon to come). I love Thanksgiving! On Friday morning, Matt, Sarah and I headed out to buy Christmas presents for Erika. It's way more fun to shop for a child then for adults so this Christmas present buying experience was very enjoyable! I was quite impressed with Sarah, who had almost all her Christmas shopping done by 9am on Friday morning. Way to go Sarah!

Erika enjoying the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

...And the Dog Show after the parade.

Sarah and I...and puppy.

Our Thanksgiving meal...Matt the camera man also was there.

Erika eating her first Thanksgiving meal....last year she only had baby food peas. This year, she just had a roll, mashed potatoes and one bite of stuffing.

Pre-Thanksgiving Family Fun

We started our Thanksgiving family gatherings early, which is totally fine with me because I love Thanksgiving and enjoy stretching it out as long as possible! On Friday night, Erika's Grandpa and Grandma Hammar came to Newberg for dinner and to visit (and bring presents!). On Saturday, Erika's Grandma Parnell came to visit for the weekend. My brother and his wife flew in from Memphis on Saturday and spent Sunday and Monday morning playing with Erika. She loved her Aunt Lisa...she warmed up to her Uncle Jacob. Aunt Sarah also was here on Sunday. It was a lot of fun being with everyone and makes me excited for the "real" Thanksgiving day and spending more time with our families. Here are some pictures from the weekend.
Enjoying some raisins.

Aunt Lisa, Erika, and Uncle Jacob. Can you see why she didn't take to him right away?

Again, crazy Uncle Jacob!

Parnell side of the family.

For some reason, Erika doesn't like ice cream. So, she had a fruit leather while the rest of us had the good stuff!

A book is all that's needed to win Erika over. This was the turning point in her relationship with Uncle Jacob.

Reverse rolls...Sarah sitting on Erika's lap.

Grandma Shirley and Erika...and pregnant Mommy in the background.

Aunt Lisa and Erika.

Mommy and Erika spinning...her new favorite dance move.

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Sometimes, Erika is strange. In this video, she is watching a video of herself laughing and she kind of freaks out a little. Weird child...must be Matt's!

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Erika likes to show everyone how much she loves Wyatt!

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For any Amazing Race fans out there, this video of Erika might remind you of Dan trying to march with the Russian army from this past Sunday's episode. For everyone else, I included the video from the Amazing Race so you can make comparisons! Hopefully Erika finds her coordination sooner than Dan!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H62VUclX6mI&feature=channel

Erika went to her new doctor today and she continues to be quite healthy! She weighs only 26 pounds, which is fine, but I thought for sure she weighed at least 35...that's what she feels like when I pick her up. She is in the 75th percentile for weight, which is the highest she has ever been! She is 32 inches tall and in the 50th percentile for height. Finally, all those other 18-month-olds have caught up with her for height! Our new doctor is great and has two daughters of her own so can give me lots of advice with my list of questions I bring to every appointment!

At Erika's last doctor's visit, she was unable to get two of the shots she needed so today was a shot day. Yuck! She really doesn't like them, but as soon as they are done and I can pick her up again, she's totally fine. We brought Baby with us, and the nurse was great about first taking baby's temperature and measuring baby's height before doing the same things to Erika. I think it helped her realize what was coming next which made it less traumatic.

Erika and Baby.

Perfectly healthy (and cute!) 18-month-old!

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On a different note, I think we might have traumatized Erika from one of the most important future decisions she will ever make in her life. At church last night, an elderly gentleman was baptized. As the congregation watched, I thought Erika would like to see what was going on, so I stood her on my lap so she could watch. As the man was lowered in the water, Erika shouted, "Hi!" to him. The way in which we were sitting and the way the baptistry is positioned, she didn't quite see the man come back out of the water. Plus, the curtains were closed pretty rapidly after he came back up. Anyway, Erika was terrified! I don't know if the terror came from the man not responding to her "hi", or the fact that she didn't think he came out of the water. Whatever it was, she had on the most concerned, scared face I have ever seen. She kept pointing at the baptistry and saying, "oh no!" The people who were sitting around us thought it was quite funny, which it really was. Hopefully, in the future, she won't be so scared of baptism, though!

18 Months

Erika is 18 months old today. It seems like these last 18 months have gone by very quickly! We were discussing last night all the things she's learned from the day we brought her home from the hospital until now and were just amazed! I'm looking forward to being amazed by a little one all over again!

We had chocolate chip cookies to celebrate her 1.5 year birthday! She apparently does not take after her mother in the chocolate-liking department.

Imitation = Flattery?

They say imitation is flattery. I guess it depends on what characteristic or action someone is imitating!

Pridefully, I can think of many of my characteristics Erika can imitate that would make me very happy. Maybe she could sit down and solve a complicated engineering problem. Or whip up some delicious cookies in the kitchen. Or demonstrate some early soccer skills. I would love for my daughter to imitate me in these ways.

But what has she decided to learn from me? How to pick up dog messes with a plastic bag. Lovely.

Our small rental house in Newberg does not have a yard for Wyatt to run around in so Erika and I take him on daily walks. Of course, walking a dog comes with the responsibility of cleaning up after him. For two months, Erika has watched me pick up after Wyatt almost daily. This is what she wants to learn from me. Not the educational, or homemaking, or athletic skills that I dreamed of. I guess there is still time to teach her those things. If she doesn't become too enraptured with this current skill she has.