October update in November

I'm happy to have a few minutes to update on October before November passes us by, too! I just looked back at my calendar and of the 31 days in October, we only had 2 (TWO) days empty. Needless to say, we had a very busy month. We were busy babysitting, going to MUMS, attending small groups/Bible studies, visiting the local orchard, celebrating birthdays, and enjoying the beautiful fall weather. Emily is keeping us busy, too, but we just LOVE it! She brings so much joy and laughter to our home and we are so blessed to be her parents. She has been talking a lot lately, which has proved very helpful in understanding what she needs/wants. It is also fun to watch her communicate with us on a totally different level. She is becoming such a big girl and we enjoy watching her learn and grow!

I'll let the following pictures and captions explain the events of the month.

Emily loves her baby dolls and loves feeding them a bottle. I love watching her give them snuggles and hope she enjoys being a big sister someday!

One afternoon we took a family trip down to High Bridge to get out of the house and give Viktor a break from studying. Emily was so curious about the trees underneath us.

Enjoying watermelon at Mimi's birthday lunch.

Playing with Pop and Mimi.

Mimi and Emily on a little singing nature hike. They walked all around singing songs and talking about sticks and leaves. It was precious.

Emily loves reading...good thing Mimi is a retired teacher and loves reading, too!
Here is Emily trying to teach Mimi "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear."
Emily loves to turn around and touch her toes on cue.

Our little Buckeye at the Orchard.

Our little fearless child was running on the pavement and face-planted, landing right on a pebble. The pebble got stuck in her forehead, but it hardly phased her. She cried for a minute (maybe) and then wanted to play. Unfortunately, she had quite a gash that was bleeding all over the place. It has healed up, but sadly I think a scar may remain.

Trip #2 to the Orchard with my MUMS group. Emily got to actually pick a pumpkin from the patch during this trip, along with pet the animals at the petting zoo. She loved it!

Cruising around at Emmalynn's 1st birthday party.

These girls are going to be t-r-o-u-b-l-e! I'm so glad Emily has a good little buddy she can play with. Emmalynn is about 3 months younger than Emily, but they play great together. Of course, it helps that their mothers are good friends, too! :)

And, this was a common occurrence around here this month. We had such a busy schedule, and Emily transitioned to one nap, which made for some very sleepy lunchtimes.

Our little ladybug! Thanks to our friend's, Matt and Sara Beth, for letting us borrow this costume. It was so cute! We enjoyed meeting up with friends and going to Treats on Main again this year. It's so fun to see all the creative costumes and many friends out and about. Emily, little miss social herself, LOVED being with all the people.

There you have it! Bits of October in a nutshell...maybe I'll be a little more on top of things and blog more often in November (probably not)! :)

so much to say....

Emily has started saying a few words lately and we wanted to share with you! Actually, she has been mimicking everything we say for a while, but lately, the words she says are beginning to sound more like the real word. There is rarely a quiet moment in our home. She has also been using sign language for "more" and "milk," and lately she says the word and signs at the same time. It is becoming so much easier to know what she wants as her language vocabulary develops. She is also understanding commands (sit, stand up, put on your shoes, let's get a new diaper, let's get some milk, brush your teeth, etc). When we say these things to her she will go off and attempt whatever it is we've said. She amazes us everyday. For our Buckeye fans, she is raising her fist in the air when we say "Go Buckeyes!" (We're still working on the words, but she is trying). Hope to have a video before the end of the season! :) And, this is how our prayer time before a meal goes:
Daddy or Mommy: "Let's pray...Dear Jesus..."
Emily (immediately after "dear Jesus"): "emen" (Amen)
I guess she likes them short and sweet.

We have been playing outside a lot lately--trying to take advantage of this beautiful weather. We cannot even mention "going outside" until we are ready to walk out the door, because she gets so excited and literally fusses at the door until we go. Her current favorite toys are sticks and leaves...she cannot get enough of them. She walks around the yard picking them up, dropping them, picking up others, etc. It cracks us up. (And, Viktor was afraid he couldn't take a girl fishing...I'm pretty sure this girl will love fishing!).

Emily is working on teeth #12, 13, 14 at the moment...which sometimes makes for a miserable baby girl. All three have popped through, so hopefully some relief is coming for her.

Enjoy this video of her saying a few words... (btw, banán is Hungarian for banana...it is officially her first Hungarian word)

lil miss independent

We were getting ready to leave the house one day and I said to Emily, "Let's go get your shoes on." I walked into the other room and when I came back she was sitting on the floor trying so hard to get her shoes on, all by herself. This is just one of many tasks which she has now decided it is time to master.

discovery

August

The month of August is FLYING by! However, I have been dreaming of wearing jeans, a hoodie, and socks while eating a bowl of chili for some time now. I'm so ready for cooler weather and the fall season in general. I'm happy to have the windows open this morning and enjoying a cool breeze...I believe it is a sign of good things to come! :)

We have been super busy since our last post (hence the lack of posting!). We had a garage sale the weekend immediately following Emily's birthday weekend and it was a great success! It's always good to clean out the little space we have in our tiny apartment and now we have some extra money to get some fall clothes for Emily!

Viktor had an intensive class the second week of August. He took a Philosophy course for 8 hours a day/5 days...needless to say, he was exhausted after such a week! Emily and I spent that week in Indiana visiting with family, supporters, and friends. It was a busy week for us, too, but it worked out to give Viktor a quiet place to rest and study while we were away. At the end of the week, Viktor, and our good friends, the Bevils, joined us at my parents for the weekend on the lake. We had a nice time relaxing and the guys enjoyed an early morning (which lasted almost all day) fishing excursion.

It was back home on Monday and we hit the ground running on Tuesday with Emily's 1 year check up. She is growing great and meeting all of her milestones. It appears she is going to be one long and lean girl! She was 19# 6oz (18%) and 30 inches (71%)! We are so thankful she is happy and healthy! We had Emily's 1 year pics taken last week, too...can't wait to share those with you soon.

We have had several play dates in the past few weeks and are enjoying the new and old friends God has placed in our life. I've been training for a 5k with a group of about 9 other ladies and have really enjoyed it. After taking a break from running for almost 2 years, it feels great to get back into it. I hope to run my first 5k in October!

Viktor will finish his 3 summer courses at the end of this week. He'll have a week of rest before the fall semester starts on Sept. 7th. We are all looking forward to this time together before things get busy again. However, there are many new and exciting opportunities to get involved this year in our community and I am looking forward to things to get started this fall.

Emily and I will be babysitting on Tuesday afternoons in Lexington, starting today. The other little girl is 4 years old and just went through a second round of chemo and radiation for cancer. She is so sweet and active, and you would've never known she had cancer. She and Emily get along well and I think they will enjoy playing together.

Well, that about sums up our month of August so far!

If you've made it this far in reading this post...way to go! Sorry, no pics this time, but hope to have some up this weekend once I can use Viktor's computer to upload.

Until then, have a great week!

Emily's Birthday Celebration

We successfully celebrated Emily's 1st Birthday...and she is slowly catching up on rest and coming down from her sugar high from all of the cake and ice-cream. We had such a fun weekend celebrating our baby girl and are so blessed by the many family and friends who helped us!

I woke up not feeling well on Friday (her birthday), but I was determined to not let it spoil her special day. We took a quick trip to Urgent Care so I could get some antibiotics and then we got home for her morning nap. Of course, she ate up all the attention at the doctor, especially when they found out it was her birthday. Anyways, it was a beautiful day, so after lunch I decided to walk her to a local restaurant downtown for a milkshake. Needless to say, Emily LOVED the milkshake. It was so much fun and perhaps we'll have to make it a tradition. Due to the high amount of sugar consumed, my baby girl decided she didn't need an afternoon nap. I was a little afraid of the result of a no-nap afternoon, especially with my parents and friend, Gretchen, coming into town later that day. We strapped her in the Ergo and Viktor took her on a 20 minute walk around the block. By the time they made it back home, she was sound asleep until she spotted Pop and Mimi, who had just arrived. We proceeded to open more presents, eat her favorite meal (spaghetti) and wait for Gretchen and her girls (Amelia and Ella) to arrive from Ohio. Even though we were having cake the next day at her party, I made some cupcakes for us to celebrate on Friday, too. She DEVOURED the cupcake...every last crumb...and even licked the plate.

We had a fun time celebrating at Emily's party on Saturday. She is such a little social butterfly and loved having so many of her friends in one place. Thanks to my parents for providing a yummy lunch for all of us...and Viktor's family even skyped in from Hungary. After everyone left the party we headed home for a quick nap and then over to visit some friends who were in town from Hungary. The day didn't end there...we were off to church at 5:30pm and then out to dinner at Joe Bologna's with my parents. We finally tucked our little party girl into bed around 9:30pm...a good 2 hours after her bedtime....what's amazing about that is I can't remember her crying AT ALL the entire day. I think she enjoyed her birthday!

Emily, you are a gift!

Sharing a milkshake at Tastebuds.

Ready for her walk.

She was SO excited about the birthday plate I made for her. Well, it was probably something else that was making her so happy, but it is a great picture. :)

Making sure she gets every last bit.

Happy Family.

I'm usually not very crafty, but I really enjoyed making her birthday banner. Her month-by-month banner is now hanging in her room.

Thank you to all of our sweet, sweet friends who came to celebrate with us!

This is Emily's buddy, Missy (and my good friend!). Missy made this adorable cake for Emily, along with the cookies below. She is so talented.

The adorable tutu made by our friend, "aunt" Steph. They couldn't be here this weekend because Dan was getting ordained (CONGRATS), but Emily enjoyed showing off her special outfit from them.

A masterpiece...and can you believe, not a crumb got on the floor (don't worry, Cydil)!

This was at 8:30am the next morning. I had to WAKE her up...I'm not sure she has ever slept that late in her entire life! :)

Happy Birthday, Emily!

Happy 1st Birthday, sweet girl!

We are SO blessed by your little life and we love you SO much!