Emory is Two!

 On July 31 my little Emo turned two. He had a great birthday with great friends. He picked out his own theme, the sock monkey. I had lots of fun planning it. Joe and I made him his very own sock monkey and he loves it. We had lots of fun playing on the slip n slide, making sock monkey puppets, taking photos, shooting water guns, and eating delicious monkey themed food- monkey bread, banana leaf tamales, monkey poo, monkey vines, and lots more. 

 

Delicious fresh strawberry cupcakes with whipped cream cream cheese frosting

                                                                                                        This is the sock monkey we made him

                                                                                                                      Below is Emo with his Babbo

Finally and update about life

First, and most exciting, we are expecting a little baby girl in November. I am five months along and expanding more and more everyday. I think I am almost as big now as the day I delivered Emory, i'm sure my memory serves me incorrectly. We are very excited that finally a girl will be joining our family. I was terribly sick for 12 weeks, lying in bed or throwing up was all I could do. But once week 18 came I started to become alive again and oh how I appreciate feeling better. We are really liking the name Fedora Miko. Fedora is Joe's grandmothers name and Miko is what my dad wanted to name me but my mom refused :( Growing up I always wished I had been named Miko so hopefully my little one will love it as well. Who knows if that name will stick in the next four months but for now that is who she is.

Second, we bought a new house in Orlando. I love it and it is treating us well. Here are some pics:

This is my living room. Yes, I know my collage is unbalanced but I need to get a few more things to add to it :)

 Still my living room

Love my kitchen

Family room

 Sewing corner

Emory's playroom/back porch

This past weekend was my nephew Joben's birthday so we celebrated with them at the Nickelodeon Hotel. It worked out perfectly because we wanted to take Emory there for his birthday, which is next week. The room was Sponge Bob themed and we got to eat breakfast with all of favorite characters : )

 For the 4th of July my mom rented a condo for a week on Delray Beach. It was beautiful and tons of fun but very tiring. It was a quaint  little place and had big lizards running around outside that Emo loved. We got to spend aat alot of time with my nephews. Joe only got to stay a couple days before returning to work but we got to see the fireworks together.

 This was a cool looking flower we found while on a walk. It was on a vine all alone so we brought it home and Emory kept it company all day long.

I'm a sewing machine

I had never sewn in my life until this year when my mom got me a sewing machine! I have always been very intimidated of this complicated looking device. To my surprise, and Joe teaching me, I find sewing to be very entertaining and not at all as technical as I once thought. I began practicing sewing paper. I figured it would be cheaper and easier to throw away when I messed up. I started first with patchwork quilting. Joe bought me a couple quilting books that were educational and lead me, so kindly, step by step the while way through from cutting squares to the finishing binding. My first project was the below quilt and I love it!! The colors and flowers turned out perfect and I was pretty impressed with my beginner skills. 

 Then I decided to make another quilt for my baby girl on the way. I wanted it to have a bit of Asian influence because her middle name is Japanese inspired, a gift for me and my dad!

My next sewing project is going to be adorable baby girl cloths and shows to match her blankets! I have some material left over so it will be the perfect solution.

Christina Perri - Arms (Official Music Video)

I'm not a huge fan of music on the radio but every so often I really fall in love with a song. This happened to me two days ago. The song is Arms by Christina Perri and it totally reminds me of me when I was dating Joe. If you knew Joe and I when we were dating you know Joe totally wasn't ready for a serious relationship and my dating history had closed me up and I didn't feel like I had a lot to offer. I was in the biggest slump of my life. We broke up way too often and got back together immediately. Joe was young, had just turned 22 and I was 25. I never thought we would happen long term but here we are 4 years later :) He has his special ways that I love and has helped me more than he knows. Fall in love with the song too! Listen now! The video isn't great but the song is.

So it's been three months...

and a lot happened. I wont bore you with every detail, just the big ones that really arent that big. The biggest one, Joe got into both graduate programs he applied to :) Im really proud of him. He is working so hard. He decided to go with an online program hoping it will work out better with work and family time. He is doing Human Computer Interaction. He just started yesterday and so far so good.


Two, I am now babysitting an 11 month old named Teagan. He is precious and seriously one of the best babies I have met! I got super lucky. Emory is learning to share and socialize. I am seeing lots of growth in both of them. It is fun to see. Im teaching Emory sign language and he understands amazingly! he catches on immediately. I just started this a couple days ago and he already signs please, i love you, and yum yum on a regular basis. In the words of my father "he is too cool".
Three, Josh, my brother, got married to his beautiful Daniela. We couldn't be happier!!

Christmas was awesome. Emory is obsessed with Toy Story. So of course being the enabling mother I am helped in his addiction by getting everything Toy Story I could find! He watches all three movies everyday and he has ALL the characters from the movies. We got to go to Disney and meet the real Buzz and Woody!

That is all for now. There is one more big event that is in the making. Its not official so I wont give details....yet!