Emma's 1 Year Stats

Emma had her 1 year checkup and vaccinations this week. Like all proud parents, we couldn't wait to get her statistics. Andres guessed that she would weigh in around 24pounds. I secretly agreed but not to agree, I laid my bet on 25 pounds. It takes some serious effort to lift her these days. We were both wrong. Not only is she not 25 pounds, she's not even 24. She weighed in at exactly 23pounds. While she feels like a ton of bricks to lift, apparently she is actually dropping down the curve. From her all time high of 99th percentile at 1 and 2 months of age, she now is at the 77th percentile. At this rate, she will soon drop out of the upper quartile entirely!

Her length is (give or take how accurate a squirming child is stretched out an a placemat measuring tool!) 30 1/2 inches or just over 2 1/2 feet. That puts her just below the 90th percentile for height. I'm really happy that she's tending toward the tall side.

Just for the sake of comparison. At Lorelei's 1 year appointment, she weighed just under 20 pounds putting her almost in the bottom quartile (26th percentile). Her height was 29 1/2 inches - a full inch shorter than Emma is now putting Lorelei at about the 60th percentile. Their head circumferences are exactly the same - 45 cm -
50th percentile.

A Birthday Resolution

This is the year that I reclaim my own physical fitness! Not since Lorelei's birth have I consistently done any kind of exercise that might lead to what one would call fitness. I have far more constraints on my time now then I did 3 years ago, but I've got to make it happen!

I recently read a tiny little interview article with Brooke Shields. She said that she believes in not wasting energy worry about something but putting that same amount of energy toward doing something about it. So, I'm trying not to put negative energy out there beating myself up about what I'm NOT doing.

I woke up on Sunday morning, and to commemorate my 32nd birthday I decided to go run for 32 minutes. Not a tall task, but I have got to say not such an easy one either. I did rather enjoy most of the run (although 25 minutes would have been just perfect). At around the 25 minute mark, I remembered that to commemorate my 23rd birthday I had gone out and run 23 miles. My how far I've fallen. From miles to minutes. Next I'll be down to blocks!

It certainly helped that it was a Sunday and I could go run at 6 am. I also just magically woke up that morning before anyone else and this idea was just lying in wait. I continued to be enough inspired to then do 32 situps.

Monday I tried it again, this time after work, after getting home with the girls and having supper in the making. It was harder to run at that time than in the morning - but I did it. 32 minutes. Followed by 32 situps.

Tuesday I did a fast walk pushing Lorelei around the block for maybe 10-15 minutes while Andres finished preparing dinner. Then I did a few (and I really, truely mean a few) arm exercises with hand weights and finished off with some abdominal activity. Yeah for me. I feel happy to have done something. It is funny how making the effort at this point counts for so much more than the actual workout itself!

Emma Turns 1!

My baby girl is no longer a baby. After completing the first year, not a baby anymore. Her attitude and spunk certainly deserve more than baby consideration. Emma is super hard headed (I think I've mentioned this before). She is not easily distracted from her missions and desires. I now see flashes of what my parents have described as my own behavior as a young child - the outright repeated defiance - on a regular basis with Emma. Through the looking glass it feels.

One of my favorite moments in the day is either picking Emma up from daycare or when Andres and the girls get home because Emma is absolutely giddy to see me (and Andres too). She giggles, squirms, arches her back all to be able to say hello and get a kick snuggle in. It melts my heart to goo. Emma is working on her kissing. She isn't one for command based anything, but when she's in the mood she'll give the wide open mouthed kisses that have us all on edge for fear of being bitten. Still very cute.

Emma is also independent. She is willing to accept help only if it is the last resort and she only wants just as much help as she needs and not an ounce more. She is quick to show her irritation with us when we either try to help her when she doesn't want it, or when she wants something that we haven't yet deciphered. That impatience must come from Andres!

Emma's hair is growing mullet style - longer in the back. It is still very fine and straight. We are waiting to see if her hair will start to curl up the way Lorelei's did between her first and second birthdays. She's got 6 teeth - four on top and two on the bottom. She will visit her pediatrician tomorrow for the official weighing and measuring, but overall she's a solid chunk of girl that can do deadlifts with my 5 pound hand weights. She is thinner than some months ago, but I expect she'll still be at least in the 80% percentile for her height and weight. I am now anticipating with great interest the moment when Lorelei and Emma will be the same size. Emma has already been throwing her weight around more and more with Lorelei and refusing to always be run over. Once Emma really starts talking, the gig will be completely up for Lorelei and her claims of, "I didn't (insert here a variety of things such as: push, shove, knock down, pick up, write on, hit) her.

At this very early point in her life, it seems that Emma takes after the Pfefferkorns physically and perhaps sides more with me in terms of her personality (God help us all). It is an interesting foil to Lorelei that takes after me physically but is much more like Andres in terms of personality. In any event, we are bound to have two strong little ladies in our household!

Pfefferkorns in Mexico

We had such a lovely, relaxing time in Mexico. I have never been able to travel at off peak times of the year living the life of a teacher, but taking the week off to go on our family vacation in September was fabulous. When we looked for a place to visit, we basically thought about a locale not too far away and one that we would be taking advantage of by our present location. So of course Mexico was ideal. I looked in our timeshare book at places and Los Cabos appealed to me becuase it is at the very southern tip of Baja California. Would I visit there if I lived on the east coast? Probably not because I'd have to cross the entire country of Mexico and pass by lots of amazing other Mexican cities to visit. Plus it seemed to be less about partying and touristy type and more laid back family friendly.

The whole week actually exceeded my high expectations for a week at the beach. I can't think of many times were reality EXCEEDED my hopes and expectations. It was really a 10 out of 10 for me. Each day the major decision was whether we would go to the beach or the pool first. The resort was perfect and only at 25% capacity so we practically had the palce to ourselves. Lorelei and Emma also enjoyed the ocean, the beach and the pools. Andres and I certainly would have spent more time submerged in the ocean if it weren't for the rather rough undertow with the girls, but all in all the girls liked being in the water too.

Los Cabos is an area that is comprised of two cities - Cabo San Lucas and San Jose de los Cabos. They are 15 ish miles apart, but attitude wise a million miles apart. Cabo San Lucas is for those who want excitement (like wet t-shirt contests) and a mix of lots of nationalities. San Jose is a Mexican pueblo. Next time around, and oh yes there will be a next time for us in Cabos, we'll be spending more time exploring the quaint town of San Jose. I'm missing the beach and the carefree days already!

Testing?

I have spent an hour this morning trying to figure out the email feed. Is it working yet?

Does Complaining Work?

So apparently I just had to complain that I couldn't load the video and then it did. Well I have another complaint then. I can't get Feedburner onto my blog!

Summer Summary - Long Overdue!

Due to my level of irritation and frustration at not being able to load videos into my blog they way so many other people seemed to have managed - caused me to not post of whole lot of anything over the summer. Two highlights 1. Emma started walking 2 days shy of 10 months. 2. The girls and I went to Iowa for 2 weeks and got to visit with lots of my friends and family members. We loved seeing all the kids!