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We are excited to let everyone know that Emily is going to be a big sister! Yes, we are expecting our second child. We are extremely excited and blessed. I am due on July 10th which is the day after Emily's 2nd birthday and 3 days before Kevin's 33rd birthday. We may need to change the name of the blog to House of Four Krause's :).

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Big Sister Em

Thanksgiving 2011

We were with my family this year for Thanksgiving. It was a special year because my cousin Erich and his wife were here from North Carolina. We don't get to see them very often so it was nice to catch up. They brought their 2 kids Caden and Alayna. Alayna is about 9 months or so and it amazes me how much older Emily seems. I mean I understand that she is older but I continue to forget that she really isn't a baby anymore. Emily, after a nap, had a blast playing with the kids. Caden would chase her around the house and she would dissolve into giggles. It was so fun to watch.

Em got to spend Friday with Daddy and Papa (my dad) while my mom and I went out and did a little shopping. She had a great time. She enjoys her walks with Papa and having him read to her. Once we got home we packed up and headed home.

On Saturday Emily's cousins came for a visit. Brynn, Brielle, and Bennett had yet to be to our new house. Grandma and Grampa Krause watched all four kids while Brian, Beth, Kevin, and myself went to the Badger game. It was a great game and the kids had fun together too.

It was a long and exhausting weekend. We have so much to be thankful for. We are truly blessed with great family and friends. I am looking forward to another year full of blessings and good things.

October is Over?!

October was a crazy busy month for the Krause family. Kevin and I had a couple of wedding celebrations and there are several family birthdays to celebrate as well. Plus we were fortunate enough to attend many of the Brewer playoff games. Because of all of this I haven't blogged in awhile.

Emily continues to be a happy go lucky kid. She loves to run around outside and explore things in our house. She can say many words and can be quite demanding when she wants something. Em hates hearing the word no and it has brought on a couple of tantrums. But overall she is doing great!

We were able to squeeze a late visit to the Pumpkin patch right before Halloween. We went to the same patch that we went to last year. I think Em could have done without the corn maze but she loved running around the pumpkin patch picking out our pumpkins. I am looking forward to this being a family tradition of ours.

On Halloween this year Kevin had to unfortunately be out of town for work. My good friend Aubree invited us to go trick or treating with her kids. Emily was so cute dressed up as a pumpkin. She liked to grab the candy from people and put it in her bucket. But I am pretty sure her favorite part was the wagon ride. A fun time was had by all.

Look how tall I am!

Picking out the perfect pumpkin with Daddy

My little pumpkin

Going to get my candy

Enjoying the wagon ride with Tae

Wisconsin Sports Baby

It has been a crazy time in Wisconsin for our sports teams. We were lucky enough to take Emily to a Badger game at the end of September. We went to watch Kevin get those knees up with the UW alumni band. We had a really fun day but it was very windy in our seats so we only stayed for the first half. Emily loved clapping and cheering for the Badgers though!

This past weekend Kevin and I were able to go to the Badger Nebraska football game. Thanks in part to my dad who was able to babysit on a Saturday night! Emily had a great time with Papa reading about Choo Choos and listening to his Donald Duck impression. Bucky did not disappoint. Badgers beat the Huskers! Kevin and I had a great time.

The next day we took advantage of Uncle Brian's playoff tickets and went to the Brewer game. We had a ball. Emily did great tailgating and had a pretty good time at the game too. Thanks to Grandma and Grampa Krause who helped keep her entertained! We will continue to cheer on the Brewers as are hopefully headed to the world series.

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Walking on Sunshine

Emily started walking last week. On a random Tuesday she must have decided that she had had enough of cruising and crawling. And she has never looked back. When I picked Em's up from daycare that random Tuesday they told me that she had taken about 8 steps. Which is more than she had ever done before. She did the same thing a couple of times at home that night. Wednesday morning came and I was a little concerned that maybe she had forgotten how in her sleep. Boy how wrong was I!?! Now her favorite thing to do is walk laps around the island in our new kitchen. She even believes that she can almost run. Which often results in a lot of falling. She loves chasing too. It is so fun to chase each other around the kitchen and listen to her giggle. Emily is a ball of sunshine these days. You can see on her face how happy she is that she is now upright and moving more quickly.

Settling In

The move is over! I am so happy to write those words. It has been an extremely stressful, crazy whirlwind summer of showings, appraisals, and closings. Now we are working on settling in. We have a good majority of things unpacked but still have a long way to go. I continue to dig through the mountains of boxes in our garage to find things. But it is all worth it, I love our new house! I can't wait to watch Emily grow up in this house. Speaking of Em--she has done great with the move. Besides being a little more clingy to mom she is her same little self. She has adjusted to her new Tupperware cupboard and continues to investigate things. I am secretly hoping one of the first things she learns to do in the new house is walk. I hope to post some pictures was the mess of boxes is a little more manageable.

Every day is a new day

Lately I have been noticing how Emily absorbs everything around her. Every day it seems like she has learned a new word or skill. She loves to say hi and bye to everything. She knows where her nose is and likes to poke mommy and daddy's eyes when you ask where her eye is. Lately she stacks cups in order of size. When she is finished she gets a big smile on her face and claps. On our drive yesterday I noticed that she started "dancing" in her car seat to the music I had on. Now when I ask her to dance she swings her body back and forth. Its pretty cute. It is very apparent that she is constantly learning and taking in everything around her.

Hanging in the playhouse, talking on my phone!

Moving on Up and Walking?

As most of you heard we were lucky enough to sell our condo very shortly after putting it on the market. After accepting the offer we started scrambling to look at house. With the help of our excellent Realtors we found a newly constructed house in a neighborhood in Verona that we have always wanted to be in. It is very close the elementary school and has a lot of kids in it. If everything continues to move smoothly we will be moving at the end of August. Kevin and I will be sad to see the condo go as so many wonderful things have happened to us there. But we are very excited about our new house.

In Emily news she has started standing all on her own and has even taken a step or two here and there. She has not quite figured out the walking thing but it definitely won't be long. More than likely by the time we move she will be walking all over the place.

First Birthday Fun!

On Saturday July 9th Miss Emily Ruth turned 1 year old! We spent most of Saturday as a family of 3, running errands and hanging out. It was great. On Sunday we celebrated the 1st year of Emily's life with family. It was extremely hot but we all managed to get by thanks to air conditioning and sprinklers.

Emily did really well at her party. She sat on my lap while we opened presents. Every time something new would be opened she would drop whatever she had in her hand to grab the "newer" present. She wasn't really into unwrapping but then again it was about nap time. After a short nap we had cake. Em wasn't a fan of everyone singing to her. She had her very own little cake that I thought she would eat up. However I had to cut it up for her and even then she only ate the cake part. She was not a big fan of the frosting. If she is anything like her mother that will change very soon. All and all we had a great time celebrating. I can't believe that my baby is cruising into toddlerhood.

Enjoying lunch in my decorated chair!

Cake is ok I guess

Yeah I am 1!

Happy 4th of July

We had a very enjoyable, busy holiday weekend. Em was a trooper and had a lot of fun with family. She loved just about everything except fireworks, drums in the parade, and motorcycles. But for her first 4th of July she did great!

Happy 4th!

Watching the parade with Grandma Krause

Not a huge fan of the all the noises in the parade

Swimming with Auntie Beth

tuckered out after a VERY long weekend

A Year Ago

A year ago at this time I was 5 days overdue with a baby that I would have sworn was a boy. A year ago I was scared that I wouldn't be able to handle this mom thing. A year ago I didn't know they type of love I could feel for someone. A year ago I didn't understand that we were about to jump onto a rollercoaster that never stops. A year ago I didn't realize that I was born to be a mother to Emily. A year ago my life had yet to change in ways I can not describe. A year ago I didn't realize I would have to wait a week and a half to meet my very independent, stubborn, beautiful, amazing daughter. It was all worth it...

New Teeth and No Sleep

We are coming off of a pretty crazy but fun weekend. While Kevin and I headed up to Lambeau Field to see Zach Brown Band and Kenny Chesney (amazing by the way!!), Emily went to Uncle Brian and Auntie Beth's house. She had a great time hanging out with her cousins and going to Bennett's final soccer game of the season. Unfortunately the day before she finally caught the case of pink eye that has been going around daycare. The nice thing I learned about pink eye is the nurse will just call the prescription in. Saving time makes me happy. By Saturday the pink eye was doing much better.

Emily also has about 3 teeth all coming in at the same time. Mostly they don't really bother her. For some reason this weekend they were really bugging her. So it has been tough to get her to sleep and she has been extremely whiny. After our long weekend with very little sleep we pulled into Verona around 10pm. She had slept all of the way home and I was hopeful for a smooth transition from the car to the crib. Boy was I ever wrong. She woke up and stayed awake until about 11:30. Everything we did to make her feel better didn't work. Eventually I think she passed out from shear exhaustion.  I do love seeing all of those teeth in her mouth but boy oh boy do we suffer for them.

This weekend was also Bennett's 5th birthday. Which reminded me at how quickly the time goes with kids. I remember going to the hospital the day after he was born. We are looking forward to celebrating Em's first birthday in July but there are days I wished things moved a little slower. Oh well c'est la vie. Now if we could just get a full night of sleep...

Emily's First Brewer Game

On May 22nd we took Emily to her first Brewer game. It was a Krause/Mulder (my sister-in-law Beth's  family) affair. I was a little anxious leading up to the day. How was I going to contain my ever curious, ever mobile child for a tailgate and an entire game!? Emily however did fantastic despite the heat. Did I mention that it was HOT!? It was above 80 and there was no lake breeze. The one time that I wished for a lake breeze there wasn't any. Anyways, Em did well sitting in her walker during the tailgate and ever got to take a stroller ride with Grandma Krause.

Then it was game time. I put her in the pack and hoped to lull her to sleep while walking into the game. I forgot that my child loves to people watch. It wasn't until I had the brilliant idea to turn her around and cover her face with her sun hat that she finally fell asleep. After about a 20 min nap I decided to take her to our seats. Hoping that she would remain asleep. Our seats were in direct sunlight and heat. So needless to say she did not stay sleeping. Thank goodness for grandparents. Kevin's parents took all 4 grand kids and sat in the shade for most of the game. Em did seem to enjoy herself. All and all it was a good day. Oh and the Brewers won!!

Lunch at the tailgate



Walking partners Brielle and Bennett



Enjoying our sunny seats

Is She a toddler!?

This week Emily officially moved to the toddler room at daycare. Because of the influx of babies they are moving her a couple of months early. She loves being with the toddlers. They have fun toys to climb on and read a lot of books. She gets to go outside everyday and plays with her little toddler friends. The older ones in the class are already excited when "Emmy" shows up in the mornings.

I am amazed at how well Emily gets around. She isn't quite walking but she does "cruise" around very easily. She has even figured out how to steady herself with one arm on the walls in our house. Her favorite activity is pulling herself up on something, taking a few steps, kneeling down, and then doing it all over again. If Emily had her way she would be outside running around with the other kids in the neighborhood. She likes to believe that she is older than she is.

I can't believe my little baby is not a baby anymore. She is definitely moving into toddlerhood. We both love seeing her grow and change every day. It is fun to see a light bulb come on when she figures out that the cupboard doors don't only open but they close too. Emily is a true blessing in our lives. I am excited for the upcoming stages as a mommy of a toddler!

My new favorite place to pull up on. Mommy doesn't like it.

Mother's Day with Mama and Nana

Check out the 2 new top teeth!

Playing under Auntie Beth's piano

Reading with Daddy

Easter Sickness

Emily's first Easter will not be forgotten. We were hosting my mom, Kevin's parents, and grandma. First off when we got home from church we found a lake in our kitchen. Turns out some of the pipes were backed up which made the dishwasher emptied all of the water on our floor. Also Em had been spiking fevers since Friday. I had called the nurse on Sunday assuming it was another ear infection. They told us to wait until Monday since her fevers weren't that high. We have her some ibuprofen and she was a trooper on Easter. After some initial clean up we were able to sit down and have a nice dinner. Then Kevin and his dad spent the remainder of the day declogging the kitchen pipes.

I took Emily in on Monday and discovered that she had the coxsackie virus. This virus is related to hand, foot, and mouth disease--a common, not serious childhood illness. The doctor said that while she didn't have the full blown virus she was probably feeling pretty miserable. Plus since it is a virus there is nothing you can really do but wait it out. So we started our ibuprofen regiment and waited for the best. On Tuesday I still felt like something wasn't quite right with her. So I ended up taking her back in to see the doctor. This time they verified that she did indeed have an ear infection. Turns out that ears can change quite quickly and we were too early on Monday to catch it. Now we are doing pretty good. I think that virus has run its course and we are 2 days into our antibiotics. Emily is slowly back to her normal old self. Needless to say we won't forget her first Easter any time soon. Hopefully there are healthier and sunny days in our future.
 


Celebrating Great Grandma's 88th birthday on Palm Sunday

Easter bunny from Great Grandma



         

 No pictures in her Easter dress this year.





Feeling much better



Mama

Emily started making repetitive noises about a month and a half ago. She would say dadadada while we changed her diaper and crawl around saying mamamamama. Last week while she was walking along the couch holding on for dear life and very discriminate "Mama!" distress call came from her. She waiting and after I didn't say anything she said it again. Since then Mama has become her favorite word. While she tries to climb up my legs when I am cutting up her dinner...mama,  mama. When she is overtired and goes down for a nap she screams Mama. It appears that she only likes to use her first word when she is sad or in need of something but I will take it! We are looking forward to her discovering more and more words.

Baby showers and Birthdays Oh My!

The weekend of April 8,9, and 10 we had an extremely busy weekend planned. On Friday night we enjoyed a lovely "family" dinner with our good friends the Martin's. Their daughter is almost a year older than Emily and they have so much fun playing together. Plus Taetam has introduced Emily into Chugginton. It is a great show for toddlers.

Then on Saturday Emily and I were off on a road trip to Port Washington to help shower my cousin Mandy with baby goodness. She is due with her first bundle in June. Emily had a great time charming the family with her smiles and laughter. She tried to keep up with the big kids--which is difficult when you can't walk and they can. She loves other kids. She gets so excited and just wants to play!! The nice thing was my cousin Ryan's wife Amanda was in town from California with her son Lucas who is 3 months younger than Emily. The two of them spent some time playing with each other. It is going to be so great to watch them grow up together!

After spending the night at Grandma and Grampa Mixdorf's house, Emily and I continued our road trip to Germantown. It was our niece (Em's cousin) Brielle's 7th birthday party. There are lots of little kids on that side of the family (most of them girls) and it is so cute to watch them all interact with each other. Em is the youngest but you can tell in a year or so those girls will have a great time running around and playing with each other.

We feel so blessed to have the family we do. It is great that Emily has so many fun people to play with and so many people out there who love her.

Playing with Lucas, Great Grandma, and Grandma.

Having fun with Rylie and the activity seat. I think Rylie was looking for some buckels!

Sitting with Great Grandma Wille after a long day. Great Grandma was doing her best to calm Em down.

Growing Up

Emily is almost 9 months. Which I find very hard to believe. She is definitely leaving her babyhood as quickly as possible. She is crawling all over the place investigating our house. She likes to kneel and play with her toys. She is even pulling her self up on some of the furniture. She is itching to walk. It is like she almost can't move fast enough. It is fun to watch.

Also Emily loves food. Thanks to the wonderful daycare staff at Tanya's she has been exposed to all sorts of great finger foods. The ones she absolutely loves are soy butter and jelly sandwiches (its a peanut free environment so the soy is like peanut butter.) and pasta with Alfredo sauce. She will eat just about anything put in front of her as long as everything is mixed together. If you serve her things separately she won't touch them. Em is also babbling away these days. She grunts in excitement especially at other kids and shrieks with delight while playing with her toys. She has even started to say mama and dada. I don't count these as first words quite yet because I don't think she realizes that we are mama and dada. She is a ball of energy who doesn't always want to stop to nap. I just love this stage!!

Practicing standing on my own at my activity table!

Reaching for my toys

Playing with my blocks

Too cute

My big eater

Yummy!

Bathtime is becomong a nightly ritual since I put all of my food in my hair!

Having fun playing with Dada