Well, since it is coming up on "mid-January" and we've started to finally dismantle the tree, I thought it might be a good time to update the blog... :) We had a wonderful holiday season, the girls absolutely enjoyed just about every minute of Christmas, although I can't say they really cared too much about New Year's, (at this age I suppose they're following their parents' lack of really caring too much about that one...) but for sure they have enjoyed having that tree up! We put it in our new bedroom this year, since we spend so much time in there, playing on the comfy carpet... and I will say that I personally LOVED having the tree in there with it's colorful lights on! Even if it was top-heavy with ornaments... :)

We had a visit from Mimi and PopPop shortly before Christmas, and we managed to get the girls dressed in the little outfits we had intended to use for holiday visiting (before we had to start the "isolation" time due to Emma Kate's airway not being ideal), and we let them each open 2 gifts so we could get pictures. A few came out really cute, especially if you can get past Emma Kate's wonky legs bending all over the place in most of them! That girl has rubber band legs for sure! They both enjoyed opening the presents and got several very nice gifts! We do wish we could have visited more but we are holding out hope that next year will be more "normal" for us all.

Gretta has perfected her walking by now and never really needs any assistance, except when walking in the field where the ground is fairly uneven- she rarely crawls any more unless she is playing! She has started making several different sounds in the last few weeks, and she is clearly saying "up" now, and seems to apply it correctly- either wanting up on the sofa/the bed, or wanting to be carried. She also clearly says "uh-oh" at appropriate times. She is also doing little hand motions that indicate twinkle twinkle little star, and it makes her so happy to hear it sung when she makes the motions! She has really taken to carrying around dolls, clutching them against her shoulder, and I think she tries to imitate a bit of what Emma Kate does with her dolls. Gretta has developed into quite a good little helper, just like her big sister- they still love to do the laundry (if we aren't able to get to the laundry before nap or bedtime, Emma Kate will say very firmly that mommy and daddy are NOT to do the laundry until she is awake!), and we've had nice enough weather lately that the girls both have enjoyed putting laundry out on the line to dry as well as taking it down and folding it. Gretta has also followed right along Emma Kate with the dishwasher- it's a bit of an obsession for both girls now. If the dishes are clean, you'd better look out because both girls will attack it, ready to put it all away! (the glasses require help of course...) Gretta can *almost* reach the silverware drawer, so she will carry an item over to it, open the drawer, and reach up as high as she can, trying to drop it over inside the drawer- this of course does require help as well, but not for much longer!! :) Gretta also seems to have started "cleaning" things using a small blanket or towel, today she was cleaning my leg with a napkin... it's pretty darn cute. I still can't tell for sure what her hair wants to do- when it is dry it seems pretty darn stick straight, but when it is wet, the hair at her neck will curl up into little tendrils! When we wash her hair, it will stay curly at the back when it dries, but laying her down to get her dressed for bed usually undoes it and it's nearly straight again by morning. I don't know what to make of it! She is growing some significant teeth too- her first premolars are slowly working their way in, and the other day I thought I saw the beginnings of a couple of canines starting, but it may have been my imagination... She is finally starting to listen/understand when we tell her not to do something- well, really this only applies to the cat litter and the hot wood stove- she will motion to them and make this sort of little growling sound similar to what we say repetitively, either "owie owie" or "yucky yucky" in reference to these two things, so I think there is finally a little understanding. Of course we're not taking chances with the wood stove, but it's been a good while since she last went "digging for treasures" in the cat box... :)

Emma Kate is still holding her own, and also continues to be very helpful, she has really taken to feeding and brushing Snowy, and has been a tremendous help in picking up manure! :) We are continuing to do her "vapors" twice a day, and we're still working on her speaking... she's still a bit difficult to understand and there are several sounds she has trouble making, but she seems to be making progress at least. The two girls have their moments of course, but the most precious thing is when they snuggle or hug or give "kisses" to each other- it is so sweet.

Greg had to work Christmas day, so we had our Christmas morning on Saturday, then on Sunday, I took a bad step out our back door (stupid me) and apparently tore something in my ankle. I have since been suffering with a subluxating peroneal tendon, which is not overtly painful like a sprain would be, but the tendon slips out of place and goes over the outside of my ankle in certain situations- it is excruciating when it happens. I've found a way to stabilize things and I can walk nearly normally with it all strapped down, but without any external pressure it is very difficult to walk without having it slip. I've seen two doctors regarding the issue and am waiting on the results of an MRI to help decide whether to go with conservative therapy and hope it all scars back down, or to go ahead and do surgery and nearly guarantee a good outcome after a somewhat lengthy lay-up. It's very frustrating, and I could shoot myself for allowing it to happen, but what's done is done I suppose. Hopefully we'll know soon what direction to go in- I want to be up to full capacity when the nice weather comes around again in the spring!!! Of course it had to happen shortly after starting to get back into riding as well, since I now am completely unable to hold my foot in the stirrup without the tendon slipping, regardless of how well I have it strapped up. I've continued to ride a bit but have to go with my foot out of the stirrup... I'm perfectly comfortable as long as that darned tendon stays put!

Anyhow, here are some pictures from the last month or so, with more to come!

Here are several pictures of the girls in their Christmas outfits, opening a few presents

The new hats were such a hit, we had to get changed and go outside so we could use them! Emma Kate loved her kitty hat and was especially excited about a new set of mittens!

Gretta liked her hat but preferred to look at it, she's quite the little smurfer when it comes to taking things off... but eventually she forgot it was on her head and I like to think she appreciated having a warm head and hands! :)

Christmas morning (well...er... Christmas Eve morning actually) the girls had a great time opening gifts... well, maybe I should say Emma Kate had a great time opening everyone's gifts! :) One of the biggest hits of all was this giant ball dispenser, the girls have had so much fun with that thing, although I should have noted how many balls were in it initially... we seem to have many fewer in it nowadays...

Emma Kate trying out Daddy's new mug- I promise it is not yet filled with coffee here!

Gretta checking out her stocking stuffers

Emma Kate doing the same

Gretta trying out a new flavor of Pediasure- yes, it was in their stockings... :)

Cowgirl Gretta attempting to tame the wild bucking flannel sheets :) She's on top of just about everything that height these days

Going after a stray ball... one of many! :)

"I promise I am not eating the chalk, just the markers!"

One of our two best gifts ever!

Gretta lovin' up on her new mini pillow pet

Learning how to make prank phone calls... look at Gretta's hair here- seriously, what's up with that?!?! It needs to decide whether it's going to be straight or curly so I can stop guessing which way it will go... Emma Kate went through a phase for about a week or two where she wore her hippo backpack around the clock... even for meals and potty breaks... she had stuffed some random "important" stuff in there, most of it things to take care of her babydolls... Dora maybe??

Modeling her hippo backpack and new sweater

Gretta just being silly Gretta :)

A day at the little park with new hats and new matchy matchy puffy vests!

Emma Kate is especially tickled by pockets in her coats- they come in so handy to keep hands warm! :)

Gretta in her well-planned, perfectly-coordinated outfit :) I'll give you three guesses who picks out her outfits every day...

Dirty face Emma Kate, we were playing with the camera after dinner one night, and she started flinging her head around- I was amazed at how long her hair would stretch out so........

I took pictures of it! She thought it was hilarious.

Apparently I've been wearing my panties wrong all these years???

They also make a very meaningful decoration for the Christmas tree...

Pretty stylish if you ask me, plenty of designs to choose from to match your outfit for the day

Dressed up as butterfly ballerinas, you can probably guess whose idea this was...

Peekaboo little butterfly!

Emma Kate was getting a big kick out of wearing my air cast (which didn't do squat for me anyway, so I stopped wearing it...) and she was clunking around the room in it... I went to get a picture and suddenly this half-naked baby streaked through the picture! It was a good evening full of screams, squeals, running around like crazy, and laughing... good times! :)

Getting ready to go for a wagon ride with "puppy." Notice the unzipped vest on Gretta- she has become quite fascinated with zippers lately and refuses to leave anything zipped up for more than 10 seconds...

"Shopping" in the pantry- these girls enjoyed this for hours... "buying" groceries (including scanning them across the baby gate with a little "beep"), putting them into various bags and laundry baskets, toting them around a bit, and sometimes making their way back to the pantry. The pantry will never be the same again, and I am relieved that we have a child-lock on the pantry door... :) So much fun to be had though!

Gretta gets a big kick out of Daddy's hat- she loves to put it on, strut around with a big grin, take it off, then starting all over again, such fun! :)

Good bye Charlie...

We've had some great times lately, and one notable sad time... after about a year of decline, I found old Charlie horse down in his stall Friday evening. Something happened to him while we were gone with Emma Kate's issues last winter, and he was never again able to walk normally (he shifted is whole rear end to the left to keep weight off his right hind leg) and I never again saw him lay down. I had wondered for a long time what would happen if he just laid down to take a rest- if he would be able to get up again or not. Well, I went out to the barn to feed the horses after putting the girls to bed (Greg was working), and I knew something was wrong when I hear Charlie neigh as soon as I clunked the door open. I turned on the lights and when I didn't see him over the stall wall, I knew he was on the floor. Judging by the way the dust was shifted in the stall, I suspect he was sitting on the wall (like he has for the past year, to rest), and his supporting leg must have given out or something- it looked like he went down right against the wall. He had scooted himself all the way to the other side of the stall, I assume in attempts to get up. He wasn't even strong enough to get himself sternal, and the one time he came close and tried to get up, it was a pretty minimal effort. He hadn't been down for long, but I knew pretty soon that he wasn't going to get up, with or without help. Luckily I had some sedative from years ago, I went ahead and gave it to him so he would just rest and not continue his efforts in vain while we waited for one of my old associates to come put him down. He went very peacefully, and must have been ready to go, as he only took about half the dose for a "regular" sized horse and was gone. Greg and I worked Saturday getting his body out of the stall (never a convenient place to have to put a horse down, for sure), and our neighbor (who also burried Ben while we were gone last winter...) came over and buried him very nicely, next to Ben. Before he was put into the grave, I cut his tail hairs off, hoping to someday make a keepsake out of it. He sure was a special horse, who saw me though a lot of the hardest times of my life, and even as giant as he was, he was very kind and trustworthy. Looking back on some of the pictures we have of him, it's amazing that he looked like an entirely different animal just a bit over a year ago- big and round and standing normally, with his mane all grown long. When I bought him in 1998, he was supposed to be 9 years old, so I always thought of him as my '89 model- I didn't know anything really about aging a horse at that time, so I just went with it. A few years later, I came to realize that he was much, much older than I thought, and for the last year or so, I was ballparking his age in his upper 20s. My associate suspected he was into his early 30s when she saw his teeth. Regardless, he had a very long life, especially long for a draft horse, and I'm glad that we were able to give him the last 7 or 8 years in pretty darn easy retirement, with no other real obligations other than to mow and fertilize our pastures. It's very strange not having him here after all this time, I keep looking out in the field for him and realizing he's not there- it's just habit to keep an eye on the horses from the house. Anyhow, one of the things that really struck me looking back is that Emma Kate had said a few times in the past that Charlie was "having a hard time" and earlier in the day before I found him down, we had gone for a pony ride- when we came back to the barn, Charlie was hanging out in his stall and Emma Kate looked at him for a moment and then said "Charlie's sad. 'Cause he's having a hard time." Maybe she picked up on something. A lot of things have been pushing us in this direction for the last 2 months or so, so it was not completely unexpected, but still, it was shocking to have that moment finally come to pass. I appreciate that he made the decision as easy as it could ever be for me to make- there was no other alternative, no other options, no way he could continue on. I find some comfort knowing that I didn't cut his life a day shorter than necessary- he lived out every single day he possibly could, and I hope he was happy. He will be missed tremendously, my old crotchety, worthless galoot. Good ol' Charlie horse, Charles, Booda, and of course, B.C. Flappin' in the Wind. :) Lots of good memories left behind for sure. Here's a picture of Emma Kate on Charlie in late June, 2010. There is a huge grin on her face! Charlie looks great here, happily munching on his clover, with his fly mask on, living in such luxury... :)

Other than that main sadness, things have been good here- the girls are doing well, Emma Kate seems to be holding her own, and Gretta is just plain wild! Emma Kate has really enjoyed playing with her big doll and the "too small baby clothes" that she puts on and off over and over and over, apparently that doll continuously makes poo-poo diapers every time she has just finished dressing her... :) Gretta has been imitating us a lot lately- in the bath the other night she did a really good job mimicking what I had done to wash Emma Kate's hair, it was very cute. Then she was airing out and had a little accident on the floor in the bathroom- I grabbed a little towel to clean it up, and she immediately grabbed a wash cloth and started cleaning the floor under the toys and around the tub! Such good little helper girls here... :)

Emma Kate has recently taken to "nursing" her baby dolls, very cute...

Heading out to find "the perfect tree"

The girls checking out a baby tree

It was some tough terrain for a walking baby!

Gretta got a big kick out of the ornaments on the tree at the farm where we bought our Christmas tree, she loved the lights!

Decorating the tree at home- the girls had a blast

Emma Kate was very determined to keep all the ornaments out of Gretta's reach- we had some "safe" ornaments on the lower part of the tree that we put there on purpose, but she kept removing them and putting them as high up as she could reach!

Pony rides! We had our neighbor friends come over to play and go for a little pony ride in the front pasture

Gretta's favorite way to "ride" Snowy- she loves to give her kisses on her round little rump!

Gretta this afternoon- she saw the camera come out and just jumped in front of it and gave me a sweet smile!

And then Emma Kate did the same... they're such hams!

The girls have been doing really well lately, Gretta is walking all over the place like a champ- she has finally decided that walking is the preferred mode of transport, over crawling! She has been quite a character lately and one of my favorite things she does is that every now and then she will stop and just do this little bobbing dance, sometimes she does it when we ask her to- it is so cute! She has been especially lovey too- she is big into giving head butts for kisses, just like Emma Kate always did as a baby too! Emma Kate is crazy as ever, she runs around the house like a wild woman most days. We found a nice little pony recently, and both girls have really enjoyed having her here- her name is Snowy, and we like to call her the "pone pone" since Emma Kate picked up the nickname. We have had fun taking her out for walks while the girls ride, and both girls have really gotten a kick out of feeding her over the stall door- we have some especially yummy hay reserved for putting weight back on Charlie, and Snowy thinks it is scrumptious! Gretta started it all on her own one day- she grabbed a handful of the hay and walked right over to Snowy's stall, held it up, and Snowy came and took it gently from her hand! Emma Kate got a kick out of it and started doing it too, then they just fell right into a routine where Gretta grabbed the handful of hay, walked it to Emma Kate, who would then take it to Snowy- they do it over and over, and they both get a huge kick out of it! Not to mention little Snowy... she thinks it's pretty awesome too! :) We've got to get some pictures of the girls with Snowy- we usually have our hands so full when we're with her that we don't have an opportunity to carry a camera.

Here are a bunch of pictures to update, from Gretta's first birthday, making Emma Kate's halloween costume (she was our cat Sophie!), Trick-or-Treating, playing at the little park, helping Daddy make the door latch in the closet, and of course, a picture of Snowy!

Gretta's one year checkup

Gretta went in for her 1-year checkup on Monday and came in at 19lbs 12oz, and is in the 50th percentile for height (can't remember the number off my head!) Everything checked out just fine, and we are to continue working with her drinking from a cup. She still chokes a little on water and juice, but it seems to be a bit less frequent, and she's doing well with a different style sippy cup, whereas before only one cup was slow enough to prevent choking. As if she was waiting for her official checkup (as opposed to her actual birthday), she pretty much started walking the next day! She is a lot more stable with it now, and seems to have improved in balance just overnight! She will walk several steps without hesitation, although she still mainly goes from point to point, rather than walking all over. She still mostly crawls to get around, but today she was even stooping to pick up a toy and standing back up with no assistance! The knees of all the pants in her wardrobe are rejoicing!! :) She is *also* finally sleeping thought the night more often than not- Greg and I finally sort of moved out of her room and are sleeping downstairs in the new master bedroom, and I think Gretta likes having the place to herself. She occasionally will fuss for a minute or two maybe once in the night, sometimes twice if we accidently disturb her while dealing with Emma Kate, but she typically settles back down easily just by talking to her and shushing her. I...am...THRILLED to say the least! It is such an awesome change, and it was well worth waiting for- she transitioned to it so easily and quickly, it took very little effort! We still end up getting woken up at least once in the night for Emma Kate, and more often it's at least 2 times, sometimes 3. She seems to be doing better about not crying and freaking out as much, most times she's calling for a potty run, or for help getting her covers back up. Seems like the thing that upsets her the most still is when Jack curls up on her bed- she wants him GONE! She loves him so much, but she says he purrs too loud and keeps her awake! :) Gretta has also recently developed a fascination for the nose- she likes to point to and touch everyone's nose... and occasionally that little finger tries awfully hard to slip into one side or the other- she finds that absolutely hysterical! She seems to be communicating somewhat as well, with her own baby babble of course, but I think we're starting to see some patterns! We still have pictures from her birthday and a few more recent shots to post, but I'm leaving it for another night... I'm off to bed while the sleeping is still good.