Jemma's Dollhouse

About a month ago, we were purging all our toys at work since we are being renovated soon, and I was able to save this lovely wooden dollhouse from the garbage can.



It needed a lot of love, but I thought it would be great for Jemma. I have wonderful memories of playing with our dollhouse at my Grandma's and ours at home, and it was always so fun. I knew Jemma would like it. Every girl should have a dollhouse! It needed a lot of love though - sanding and painting. My youngest sister spent the weekend with me a few weekends ago, and she helped pick out the paint and we got started! We did a lot of sanding and smoothing and then all the painting started. We wanted it to be bright and cheerful. This is our finished product. I'm so happy with it, and Jemma seems to enjoy it so far! She tried to climb in, which is pretty fun. I also found a little bunny and bear family to live in it, although she still puts her big babies in it :)

The Littlest Robben :)

I'm so proud to announce Jemma has a new baby cousin! Her name is Ella Grace Robben, and she was born today weighing in at 8lbs, 4oz and 21 inches long. Mommy and baby are doing great and recooperating at Bethesda North hospital. I am so excited to have a beautiful little niece.




This is making me feel quite sentimental abour our own little bean. She has gotten so big, and is turning into such a toddler. It's so hard to believe she was so small once, too. We are so blessed to have these 2 beautiful little girls in our lives!!

A Day at the Zoo!

3 month hiatus...sorry :)

As you can imagine, we are quite busy with our lovely little lady. So much has happened since my last post!! We had her a simple little birthday party with just family at hour house. She had fun, but she wasn't really into the cake so much.

She is soooo close to walking, but mostly just stubbornly refuses to do it (hmm...I wonder where she gets that from). She's taking around 5-8 steps most of the time if she doesn't realize she is walking. She can walk all over holding your hand, but the second you let go, she sits down and crawls. She'll get it soon though. She loves using her push toy. Here's a picture from us walking outside with her push toy today:





She also LOVES outside. It is her new favorite thing. She loves to walk around and point to everything. We just got a zoo pass so we're looking forward to lots of fun trips this spring and summer.

I promise it won't be another 3 months before I post again, but off to get the munchkin to bed.

Our growing little girl

I was home sick with Jemma today (I am sick, not her...at least so far!) and I was reflecting on how much she has grown and how different she is. It is amazing how fast they change!! Corny, I know, but I had little else to do other than watch TV on hulu :p

For instance, we have had this little child's chair in our living room since she was about 4 or 5 months old. We originally used it like a bouncy seat, then as a feeding seat, and she had pretty much ignored it for several months until she recently decided it was perfect for climbing on! Today she climbed into it with her snack and sat there while she ate. It is amazing to think that a few short months ago we were placing her in the seat and now she gets in and out herself.

And just so you have a visual, here is Jemma at 4ish months (this was the first time she held a rattle)






And here's her today at snack time...









I can't believe our little girl is going to be 1 in less than a month!!

Things Jemma Says...

I was talking to my grandma the other day, and she mentioned that one of her nieces (or maybe a nephew...I don't remember) had made a list of all the things her baby was saying. I thought that was a cute idea, and thought I'd share Jemma's current vocabulary.

Uh-oh (this is what she says most)
Mama
Dada
Oof (woof)
Og (just starting to use the D)
Mow (meow)
Hi
uh-uh (usually after we tell her no...)
Wow
Look (sounds more like ook, but she gets the L sometimes)

I think that's it...I'll add more if Tom tells me I forgot something!

My first snow

Since there was such a fabulous snowfall these past few days, I had to take Jemma out for her first time playing in the snow! Much to my dismay, I realized we did not have a sled, nor a snowsuit or even baby gloves...so we made do with a laundry basket, wrapped Jemma up in several layers of clothes, her coat and her daddy's coat with socks for gloves :) Our front yard has a little hill which was just perfect for baby sled riding! She had a lot of fun and we got a good laugh.