AWESOME NEWS!!

The Colby family (see last post) has had a couple of good days. Xander is doing better (check their blog for details) and they just found out that his dad is a match for his liver!!! Looks like Xander will have a brand "new" liver very soon! This is the best news they could have hoped for.

Thanks for those of you who prayed, thought about and/or sent positive energy their way.

The Power of Prayer

Your prayers are needed. Some good friends of ours are currently watching their baby son battle for his life. Xander has biliary atresia. He was born with this condition and since birth, he has struggled through constant medical problems and procedures.

I have known his mom, Blair, since her first son Lincoln was a few months old. He and Emma are the same age. She has remained unbelievably strong and positive throughout everything. She is amazing. And Xander is, too. If you'd like to read more about amazing Xander and his family, check out their blog. Blair's done a great job of documenting the trials and tribulations they've had to endure, as well as, happy moments in their lives.

I truly believe in the power of prayer, and this family needs all the prayers they can get. Please keep them in your thoughts, hearts and most importantly, your prayers.

One more thing, if you haven't already, become an organ donor. It only takes a few moments and could possibly save a life...

First Day of Preschool!

Well, today was an emotional day for me and David (probably for Emma too! haha). It was Emma's first day of preschool! We have chosen a wonderful preschool for her here in Fort Myers. I have heard, and continue to hear, nothing but rave reviews about it. It's definitely one of the best in the area. Emma started off there by going to Mommy and Me (of course w/ her mommy) last Fall when she was 18 months old. I really think that prepared her for her first day (along w/ LOTS of books about preschool!).

Her first day was a fairly good one, with just a little crying off and on throughout the morning. I think it really kicked in later that afternoon when she was home though. Her behavior was a little "off" and she kept saying "mommy and daddy always come back to get you" (yes, she still calls herself you!). We will see how Wednesday and Friday go! She will be attending Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. She even eats lunch there and has a little lunch bag!




Check out the back of her dress...I love it!

SOME RANDOM PICTURES
...Sunday was laundry day and Emma was being SO good. She decided she wanted to "help" and climbed into the basket. She wanted to be pushed around! Silly girl. It's actually a GOOD workout for the person pushing!


Emma LOVES to go into our closet and put my heels on! They HAVE to be heels though. She doesn't bother w/ the flip flops. She also loves going into my jewelry box and wearing my jewelry. Her new thing is carrying around her play purse w/ her necklaces inside! She HAS to take it everywhere!

I have to say, she chose my HOTTEST heels! Good taste, my little girly girl!

Michigan Trip

This is LONG overdue (as mentioned before) but here goes! At the beginning of July we took a family trip to MI to visit Mimi and Papa (David's parents), Great Grandma (David's Grandma), Aunt Gale and Uncle Bob (David's Aunt and Uncld) and David's cousin, Jennifer. David's other cousin Andy, and his wife Brynel flew in from CO as did Uncle Jay (Uncoo Jay as Emma calls him) and Uncle Michael. Emma loved meeting and visiting w/ everyone.

Over the 4th of July weekend we had some parties. We had Baggo tournaments, drank, ate, swam and relaxed. GOOD TIMES for sure. It might have been the best Dodge party ever. ;)



Here are some pics to recap the weekend:

David's dad FINALLY retired (ok, well at least partially) as did his Uncle, we got this VERY classy cake for them--it was delicious!

Bob (Uncle Bob the Builder as Emma so affectionately refers to him) and Dick aka Dumpy aka Papa waiting to dig into the cake.

Some of us were more excited than others for the cake...you know who you are girls!

Michael and Bry enjoying their delicious cocktails (thanks Jason!)


Let the pool frisbee game begin (yes Jason caught BOTH frisbees):

So did David...

I liked the cool backlighting in this pic...Bry joining in the frisbee fun


By the end of the night, we were all tuckered out, so we built a fire, roasted marshmallows and made s'mores and drank some beer.

Andy and Bry

Bob and Gale


GREAT times! Miss you Dodges! :)

Emma-isms and other stuff

Yes, I know I know. It's been TOO long w/out a post. I promise I have a ton of pictures from our MI trip to share as well as recent pics and video of Emma that is just too much.

Until then, I'd like to share some recent expressions or thoughts that have exited Emma's mouth.

Emma: You want this. (remember she refers to herself as YOU)
Me: You want what?
Emma: This...that....thoooooooose! (imagine the end of those going up in inflection)

Emma (while looking for something): OH NO, I can't find my (insert thing), it's gone, it's lost, I CAN'T FIND IT!!! --this seriously happens several times a day...she is SOOO dramatic

Tonight as we were leaving Mimi and Papa's condo, Emma was rubbing Mimi's cheek and said, It's ok Mimi, we'll help you go bye bye to Florida. HUH? Of course we laughed.

Also today, Emma was sitting in her high chair and had some graham crackers when she proceeded to count them in SPANISH up to the number 6!!! Who taught her this you wonder? None other than Dora the Explorer.

Stay tuned for new posts in a few days...

New Look!

Yes, the Dodge Lodge has a new look! Stay tuned for new posts! (LOOOOONG overdue!)

Emma's Daddy

It melts my heart when Emma goes over to David, gives him a kiss and/or a hug and says "Emma's Daddy", "my Daddy", "Emma loves Daddy", (or my favorite) "You make you so happy" (see last post re: how she calls herself "you"). Emma absolutely adores her daddy and why shouldn't she? He is the most patient, caring and thoughtful daddy ever. He loves to spend one on one time with her; often taking her out on his own and staying home alone with her when I go away or out for the day.

Emma and her daddy's most favorite thing to do together though, is making coffee! Emma does everything from scooping and grinding the beans, to putting the filter in and getting the water! It's the cutest thing EVER to see them making coffee together!

scooping the beans


I love to make coffee!


Getting the water


Dumping the water


Pushing the button to start it!


We are so blessed to have the best daddy (and for me, husband) ever!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAVID/DADDY!

(I made and had this printed for David)

Also, Happy Father's Day to MY Daddy! I love you!



AND also to my father in law (you know who you are, Dumpus)!!

Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful dads out there...have a great day hanging out on the couch, watching TV w/ your hand halfway down your pants!

It's all about YOU

I don't know if I've mentioned it before or not, but Emma refers to herself as "you". For example, instead of saying "I'm hungry" she'll say "you're hungry". Or instead of "I gotta go poop", she says "you gotta go poop". Which, consequently, she says QUITE often as a diversion! If she is upset about something or she is in trouble for something, she'll cry and say "You gotta go poop!". Funny? Yes, at first. Now it is annoying as well as embarrassing when we are public. First of all, she says it rather loud. Second of all, she doesn't really have to go poop, she is using it as a diversion tactic. Smart. So we ignore it and people look at us like aren't you going to take her to the bathroom? Um, no.

Don't get me wrong, the "you" part is hilarious. It's really, very cute. So much so that I started to correct her and stopped because I thought she won't be little that much longer OR saying this forever, so I let it go. It's actually a big step for me and my OCD. Hahaha.

I am sharing a little video of her singing "You Are My Sunshine". Listen carefully, she says "you make YOU happy, when skies are gray". SOOOOOOO CUTE!

Busy busy!

No excuses for not blogging lately BUT (haha), there is good reason. It's just been so busy! Besides being busy with my photography, I went to NYC w/ my mom, we had company--Mimi and Papa--and David was in China on business. AND, this Thursday we are going to visit THE BECKERS! We are super excited for that. I told Emma we were going to see Owen and she remembered him from the videos she watches DAILY. She said (she calls herself "you" not "I" when referring to herself) "you laughing in the crib at Owen". She loves to watch videos of herself, and she must've remembered this one. SO CUTE! I hope they get along that well this time. It should be interesting to see how two 2 year olds interact for a few days!

As I mentioned, my mom and I took a trip to NYC! When she got sick, I told her I would take her there when she was better. I kept my promise! It was amazing. I really wish I would've lived in the city when I was younger. I just love the energy, sounds, sights, smells, people....love it! Oh well, woulda coulda shoulda! We did lots of touristy things while there.

The obligatory Times Square shot. (does your nose get bigger as you get older??? Eek)



We did a bus tour-this is from the top of the bus.


Rode the subway. Always an adventure...


Went to Canal Street and Little Italy.


This was our dinner--Fettucini alfredo w/ crabmeat flambeed tableside in a cheese wheel...YUMMMMMMM!



We also went to Tavern on the Green and had brunch.

Also went shopping and saw Jersey Boys on Broadway...

OH! And we saw Will Smith up close and personal! yes, we were THAT close! Excuse the picture, I literally had to hold my camera up over the people (who STEPPED in front of me to see him...rude!)!


It was the perfect visit to NYC. We had a great time. I love my mama.

That's Hysterical

Emma seems to get funnier by the day. The other day right before bed, she stood up on her stool in the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror and said "You so cute". Of course we thought this was hilarious and started to laugh. Emma LOVES to repeat things she hears now, so she says--in context of course, "That's hystewical" (something I say often). Naturally we start to laugh even harder. Usually when she does something cute or funny, I will often say "Oh Emma" or "Oh pumpkin" or "Oh peanut (or peanut butter)", so what comes out of her mouth? "Oh peanut buttew". What a "hysterical" end to the day!

Of course I have to add some recent pictures too!

Mini Mommy

Everybody always says how much Emma looks like me. Now there is even more reason to say so…we got her hair cut today! It was AWFUL before; too long and straggly (is that even a word?) and hard to manage. Plus it was always in her pretty face, tangly and she hated for us to comb it because it snagged. I wanted to grow it out to put it up in pigtails and/or a ponytail and it was long enough to do so BUT it is so fine it just wouldn’t stay up! Anyway, it is SOOO cute! She took like 4 inches off or so, it was so long. You can see the before pics in my post from Easter.

Mailman

It is an understatement to say that Emma is obsessed with the mailman and mail trucks. She LOVES when he comes to deliver the mail, waves to him and wants to see the truck go by. She also likes to get the mail. So tonight, David was giving her a bath when she started singing (go figure) "Row, row, row your boat". It went something like this:

Wo wo wo you boat
gentwy down stweeeeeam
mailman, mailman, mailman, mailman
life is but a dweam.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I almost peed in my pants...

Poopy Seat

Caution: bodily functions discussed ahead!

Well, potty training is ON in the Dodge household. Emma is doing SO SO well. She is just about potty trained! We've got the pee pee part down, we are working on #2 (aka poop in our house). Emma has even been using the public restrooms! She pees as soon as I put her on the toilet. So she's definitely got the control portion of it down! I just need her to tell us WHEN she has to go more regularly. Right now, it's pretty sporadic. But as soon as I tell her it's time to go, she comes right along and produces. So I guess she is just holding it!

I would say she is pooping in the toilet 50-75% of the time. The other half is in her diaper (thank goodness not usually in her underwear...that would stink...literally). Well the rule in our house is if you go in your diaper, you have to sit on the potty (to make the connection). So when Emma sits on the potty, of course "it" gets on the seat. She thinks it's HILARIOUS, and looks at it and says "poopy seat, poo poo seat" then starts to chuckle. Silly girl.

Our Easter was nice. We had all of my family over for dinner and to hang out. Emma participated in an Easter egg hunt up at our clubhouse. She seemed to like it! (even if it was planned by 80 year olds...um, they know NOTHING about planning kids' functions)







Emma loves her bath time.




AND she loves to sing or talk...



Oh yeah, she LOVES music and dancing too! She had her FIRST ballet class the other day! Too cute.

Straight from Emma's mouth...

...to our ears! Emma says THE funniest things these days. It is not uncommon for us to look at each other and laugh hysterically while she is speaking. The best part? She starts cracking up along with us! Love it. Here are some examples:

*Tank choo rewwy much
*Nice to meet 'choo (while shaking your hand)
*How you doin?
*You gotta wait a minute! (she says this while having a meltdown)
*grrrrrrrrrrrrr (yes, she growls when she is frustrated...that might be from me...oops)
*ooh, wow...wow
*Emma wuv yooooo
*oh honey!
*You want it, drink--or whatever it is she wants (translation: I want it...she says you for I...LOL)
*That's awesome
*So cool
*How wondufu

I typed those how she says them, so just let me know if you can't decipher any! She speaks pretty clearly for her age, actually.

There are SO many others, but they escape me at the moment.

The next American Idol?? Emma's favorite thing right now seems to be singing. She also loves dancing! It is not uncommon to hear Emma singing anything she has learned or knows. She sings when she wakes up, while she is playing, when we're in the car, before her nap...you get the picture. ;) Her favorite songs include: 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive (courtesy of Aunt Laura!), BINGO, the Little Einstein's theme song, Elmo's World, Ring Around the Rosy and many songs from music class. It's SO amazing how quickly she picks them up and spits them back out. We are all so amazed by how quickly she soaks things up. She's so much fun!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, EMMA!

Emma is two years old today! We celebrated her birthday on Saturday and she really enjoyed it! Our guests comprised of mostly family and a few close friends. Emma only had one little friend attend as a few others were sick or had prior plans. It worked out just fine though--we had about 20-25 people and only 5 were not family! We had a farm animal theme this year. I think Emma's favorite thing from her party was the CAKE! Her new neat and tidy cottage (playhouse) follows close behind.

Little People Farm Cake

Um, yeah...she loves cake...what can I say?Banner

Balloons

Her new house

Playing in her new house

Swimming and playing w/ her cousins

I still cannot believe she is two years old! It's amazing how much she has changed and grown...

A few days old

A few weeks old
Six months old

One year old And today!

Happy birthday peanut! WE LOVE YOU!