Our little lady's birthday fell on Father's Day. Daddy (and Grandpa) are super chill and had no problem letting her day shine bright. We kept gifts really, really simple with some homemade cards, a paint-with-water book, and homemade play dough. And Emilie was thrilled with everything! Her own request for the day was blueberry cheesecake. Emilie ended up liking the whipping cream and berries that were a "side" to the dessert better than her cheesecake, which she scraped all the blueberry pie-filling off and kindly offered to someone else. The cheesecake was delicious!

At three, Emilie is sweet and sour. We've been laughing of late at the drama of little girls. She whines and cries and flops on the floor, but she'll squeal with delight and offer her fake little laugh to make everyone happy. 

Emilie's favourites include singing "Hold My Girl" and "The Cat and the Hat" (Daddy's own composition) with her Daddy, reading The Cat and the Hat (which she calls Duh Hat and Duh Cat), playing play dough, cooking and baking with Mommy, watering flowers, outings to the park and grocery store, and all the simple little things of life. We're quite enjoying the funny things she says - three is a great age for laughs! 

More than anything, Emilie is looking forward to being a big sister. She loves babies with a passion! Seeing babies is the highlight of any outing for her. For a long time, she's told us that we're having twins because she and I are both having babies, apparently. More recently, her bear has become her baby of choice and she often takes it to bed to nurse. 

Emilie is a feisty little girl, always ready to defend her cause with screams against a brother who just won't listen to her. But she's a little tag along with most of the boys' games, ready with her gun and a "pow pow" to get right into their more serious wars. Emilie is special friends with John Paul and calls him her "buddy boy". Often she'll give him crushing hugs if he's sad or hurt and when he comes to see her after her nap she wraps her arms around his neck. 

This little princess keeps us on our toes with her antics and drama, but she's everyone's little favourite. We're excited to see her in her new big sister role and growing up while three.

Emilie Marie: 2 years old

Oh Emilie, you are so sweet, you are the one I want to eat...

I sing her the song Daddu made up for her when she was a baby every night. When I get to the "eat" part, I say "mun mun mun" and pretend to eat her. She loves it! If I forget or leave out the eating part, she tries to eat me. 

This girl. This sweet Emilie turned 2 on June 16th. Oh me, oh my. 

 

In our family: boys be boys, and girls... be girls. But not too girly. Emilie has no problem joining in her older brothers' Lego and sandbox adventures and wielding a sword or donning a police officer uniform for dress-up. But she sure likes dresses and pony tails and pretty bags. 

It might be that three kids is just kind of busy, but somehow Emilie got to be the quiet, sneaky toddler. If it's quiet, you know she is getting into some mischief: lathering ointment or cream or Daddu's deodorant all over herself in the bathroom; climbing on the boys' desk to colour pencil crayon all over the bookshelves or reach the scissors for herself; taking all the heads, legs, and hands off all the Lego guys; taking out the toilet cleaner and brush to "clean" for Mommy; helping herself to "nacks" of fishes, trail mix, or crackers in the kitchen.

Speaking of "nacks," this girl is always hungry. She is positively hangry first thing in the morning and woe to the parent who doesn't skip to it and make her some breakfast pronto. Emilie's favourite is when she wakes up in time to join Daddu at the breakfast table to eat all his toast and drink all his milk. Of course, that's just first breakfast...

Living with a bunch of brothers, Emilie has to be tough. Sort of. We regularly have John Paul coming to tell us her latest escapade: "Emilie fell off a chair in the kitchen and she didn't even cry" "Emilie ran into a wall and she didn't even cry". But despite her toughness of sorts, she's a little stuck to her Mommy: she loves to be wrapped in a blanket, held close, and tell us she's a baby. And, she's a bit of a whiner, wanting lots of attention.

After waiting and waiting, we are finally starting to hear some words from our little sweetheart. She calls her daddy, Daddu. She's starting to put two words together. "More Pees!" and stuff like that. Her favourite: "Hi!" She'll saunter into the room, set up a pose, and say "Hi". It's a slow start.

For Emilie's birthday, we had a simple celebration at home. She got my old, sparkly backpack from when I was little, plus a sparkly purse, sunglasses, and Smarties. Can you guess what she was most excited for???

 

Emilie loves, loves, loves Smarties and M&M's. "EMIMEM!!" she yells and squeals. Truly, the way to her heart.

 

Terrible twos?? The boys would tell you they're here with a vengeance. And it's kind of true. Emilie is both sweet and sour. She's got a smile to melt the hardest heart and a scream to put chills down your spine. She laughs with a hearty giggle and has melt-on-the-ground temper tantrums. She is a force to be reckoned with, no doubt about it. 

But we love her to pieces and love the little lady she is becoming! 

  

  

Little Trouble

It's time to take down the Christmas tree. Do you know how I know?

Because of this little troublemaker. See that tree? See how there are no decorations on the bottom half? See how the lights are burnt out on the bottom half? It's quite a sorry sight.

It's been a temptation for Emilie the past three weeks. Despite telling her "no," giving her little hand slaps, having her brothers yell at her... she just can't resist. Actually, she's quite fiendish the way she deliberately grabs an ornament immediately after being reprimanded, laughs in our faces, and takes off running. So, the tree's gotta come down!

But, you see, it's all part of a bigger trend...

Caught stealing crackers

Smiling cutely after stealing fishies

Found on top of the boys' school desk playing with their new art supplies

She colours on bookshelves, steals uncooked macaroni, rips books, rips paper, rips toilet paper, dumps pee, climbs on tables, destroys Christmas tree ornaments, dumps water (purposefully), dumps crayons, steals her Dad's deodorant and picks at it (eats it?). We have all our kitchen cupboards elastic-banded because of her. We have all our cereal, crackers, drinks, etc on our fridge because we can't make that cupboard inaccessible. 

But... "she's so cute," you say? Just look at this next picture of her: outside playing hockey with her brothers. She loves hockey. Just can't hold onto the stick with those darn mittens her Mom puts on her but doesn't bother putting her thumbs in. She's so cute the way she has to have her hockey stick bungee corded onto her. She loves it. How could she be such a troublemaker??

Yeah? Well, just look at this face and tell me she isn't a troublemaker. That's the face of one who was just told we're removing the tree because she can't keep her hands off of it. 

A Blessed Emilie

September 24th is the feast day of Blessed Emilie Tavernier Gamelin. Blessed Emilie was the youngest of 15 children, and was born in Montreal in 1800. She was well acquainted with sorrows. Nine of her siblings died before reaching adulthood. After Blessed Emilie married she lost all of her three children within one year of each's birth, and her husband died less than five years after they married. Blessed Emilie, moved by contemplating Our Lady at the foot of the cross, went on to found the Sisters of Providence, an order dedicated to helping those in need such as orphans, physically and mentally challenged, elderly, and many others. Blessed Emilie died on September 23, 1851. Her last words to her fellow sisters were: "humility, simplicity, charity, above all charity."

Meanwhile there's our "little" Emilie. Sorry Em, I'll lay off the fat jokes. Here she is all ready for Mass. 

Emilie is a great blessing for us. But she's also a typical one year old. She puts up a fight with most things. Lately that fight has been Mass. Some Masses she lasts until the Gospel before getting the walk of shame out to the back of the church. Once she didn't even make it to the start of Mass. Today she lasted until the Lord have mercy. How fitting. You might think we just don't know how to parent her (true). However, she's starting to discover her voice. Not cute little "goo goo" noises. Not even loud yells. Nope. It's screams. "SCRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!!!!" So off she goes to the back of the church. Oh well. One year olds will be one year olds.

Yet she show a remarkable intelligence too. Why, tonight she wouldn't go to sleep. She needed to poop. So there we found her, in the bathroom, on John Paul's potty, pooping. Remarkable intelligence.

We look forward to seeing how Blessed Emilie helps our little Emilie along through life. Blessed Emilie was acquainted with sorrow, but she filled this sorrow with great charity. Life is not going to be easy on our kids when they get older. Not the way things are going. May Blessed Emilie, in her charity, help our little Emilie to know and love God always.

Prayer to Blessed Emilie Gamelin

O merciful Heart of Jesus who, in your infinite tenderness for suffering humanity, have filled the Blessed Emilie Gamelin with a tender compassion for human miseries, and have raised her for the accomplishment of the designs of your Providence on the community of which she became the foundress, deign to grant us the grace we solicit through her prayers that she may be glorified on earth and that, in imitating her virtues, we may glorify you in heaven. Through Christ our Lord.

      Amen.                                     

Emilie Marie turns 1

Birth Story

After two really overdue baby boys, it was a very pleasant surprise when Miss Emilie Marie decided to enter the world just hours after her "due date" was over. The doctor's recommendation of Chinese food and red wine will be on the menu for any future Millette babies, in the hopes that that was the trick. 

Emilie arrived on Thursday, June 16th at 7:20am, after a quick 4 hours of labour. She weighed in at 8lbs. 9oz., just one ounce over both her big brothers. 

Dan jokes that he could have gone to work that day and just been a little bit tired. After dozing through some labour, I woke Dan at 4:30, wondering aloud if this was "it." We quickly realized it was and Grandma Millette showed up around 5:30 to me crazy breathing. By the time we got to the hospital a little before 6am, I was in full transition and frustrated with nurses wanting to take my weight, etc. 

I like to believe people now when they say it gets easier to birth babies, because really Emilie's was a little surreal. We laughed and chatted with the doctor and nurses in between contractions and waited it out while Emilie dropped and dropped and entered the world after a huge and hilarious water eruption. 

The First Year

Emilie eased into our family with a calm and quiet we were unused to. Frequently, in those early weeks, we would ask the grandmas if it was normal for a baby to sleep this much. Apparently, it is. We just weren't used to this kind of normal.

And while we were delighted with the addition of a little lady to our household, all the pink, frills, and cutie stuff took us by surprise. The boys like to say that Emilie's favourite colour is pink and all the other gender specific stuff that's totally politically incorrect these days. They are thrilled that she finally has a doll... so thrilled they frequently "borrow" it from her.

Emilie didn't stay little and calm forever though. 

1-Year-Old

Emilie is our chubbiest baby still at about 24lbs. and wearing 18-24 month clothing. Maybe it is the chub or maybe she is just a little more content to be still, but she crawled later than we were used to and still doesn't have tons of speed. She is happier to sit laughing if we initiate a crawling race. 

Early on, Emilie sprouted 6 teeth and she has a mean, sharp bite. But her teeth also lend themselves to a big, munching appetite. Her favourite is homemade chicken and veggie soup, eggs, and banana, and she makes "numm, numm" noises all the while eating. We are teaching her sign language for "more" and she is so proud of herself when she shows off her skills.

While we've always had mostly smiley, generally happy kids, Emilie takes the cake for friendliest. Whenever we are out, she is always surprising and delighting anyone who will take notice of her with the biggest, toothiest grin. Emilie wakes with a smile of her face if she's slept well and when she isn't quite ready to smile for me, all it takes is a brother to come by for her to be happy again. 

And she is learning to make herself heard in the midst of a loud and boisterous band of brothers. Emilie yells from her highchair demanding food or attention and is learning to give John Paul a good whack when he lays himself all over her or takes her things. She also loves to cheer, kick, and clap whenever Daddy comes home from work.

Just in the last week, Emilie has been bestowing big, sloppy open-mouthed kisses on lucky fans. Usually, this is Mommy and Daddy, but when the boys are lucky, then get a little one too. She is also chatting a lot more and developing a little sense of humour with a crazy little giggle. But her biggest new thing is trying to stand by herself. Her favourite method is for Daddy to lay on his back while she pulls herself up using him and then balances beside him. Emilie giggles and pants with excitement!

The Birthday Party

When you're the third child, birthdays revolve around whatever is going on in the family. Emilie's first birthday morning found her hanging out at the pool, watching her brothers' lessons. Thankfully, she happily tags alone and contentedly enjoys whatever we do.

But after that, she had to cause some trouble...


When Emilie woke from her nap on her birthday to balloons and party hats everywhere, she started saying, "Woo, woo, wow!" And when Grandpa and Grandma arrived, she tried jumping through the window to greet Grandpa.

Emilie started out very clean and tentative with her cake, but ended up pretty happily stuffing her mouth with the sweetest stuff she's ever tasted!

A baby doll from her godparents and another from her grandparents, but this girl was happily pushing around cars and trains this morning and the dolls were thrown aside. Emilie's not a girl after two brothers for nothing. She knows exactly what kind of noise vehicles make!

Happy birthday, sweet Emilie! What joy you bring to our lives!

Year of the Em

Please say a prayer for this sweet little girl who turns one year old today! Emilie Marie. I can't imagine her being this small now. Her birth was as smooth as it gets. A sign of future things to come with her. It was so great that, since she was born just after 7am after a quick labour, I was ready and able to go to work that morning. I didn't though. I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could.

Then

Now

I'm sure Becca will post party pics later. Will she be messy with the chocolate cake? Joseph wasn't. John Paul was...

10 month old beauty

Mama is terribly slow at blogging. When this began, it was titled something like Emilie at 9 months. Well, now we're a week past the 10 month mark and here we are again.

But between 9 months and 10 months, Emilie has hit some major milestones and become such a cute little chatterbox. 

Em at 9 months

Miss Emilie is truly the joy of our lives. Our being the collective 4 other people in the family. We love her to pieces and sometimes fight for her attention.

A few weeks ago, Emilie finally started crawling and now is a little moving menace. The boys are forever moving things out of her way. Next stop, pulling herself up. She is so close!

She is usually smiling, our happy little girl

"I always wanted a little doggie," Dan told her. And Emilie is our dog. She loves to go around barking, "Woowoowoo." She will kneel against the baby gate in the kitchen, looking down the stairs at freedom... and bark. She will crawl around the floor near the table looking for any leftovers dropped from her brothers... and bark. When we take her for a walk in the stroller, she will watch the houses pass... and bark. It's just the cutest! 

But her vocabulary consists of more than barking. Just this week, Emilie finally started saying, "Mummummum." Prior to this development, she would be nursing with me and pause to gaze at me while happily spouting, "Daddaddad."

Em at 10 months

Our 23-24 pounder is heavy. We are hoping that with her newfound motion, she will stretch out a bit and maybe level out her weight gain. Someone asked me yesterday, "What are you feeding her?" Seriously, she nurses and eats soup and fruit and the odd muffin. That's it. Must have really fattening milk. Or she's just been really lazy ;)

Emilie has been our latest baby for something things, like crawling, rolling, any kind of movement; but she gets the most points for timely arrival, and teething. She got her 6th tooth recently (!!) and eats like a champ.

What a beauty!

Despite having no girly toys, she has adapted to our house of boys just fine. She know exactly what kind of "brrmmm" noise goes with a John Deer tractor or truck. I'm just a little tickled that she loves and values books so much too. So far we have yet to remove our book basket from the living room completely, but it will be soon since chewing books is her new favourite. We're doing something right when she recognizes books as a prized possession worth bee lining for. And maybe we'll buy her a little doll for her birthday ;)

It's hard to imagine our lives a year ago, with Emilie still on the inside and just boys. Little did we know how a wonderful, beautiful little lady could tie us all around her little finger so easily.

Em and her buddies

Music Mondays: Northern Lights

Today's music is a fairly recent piece written by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo titled: Northern Lights. Gjeilo is currently just 38 years old. He was so taken aback the first time he saw the northern lights that he was inspired to compose this work. By all means listen while you continue reading.

This song presents a serene calmness yet the words, in Latin, speak of the "terrible" power of the northern lights. It also makes me think of our Emilie.

Last winter there was a "terrible" weekend. Becca, who was pregnant, was not feeling well. Long story short, we feared that we were losing our baby. One thing led to another and we found ourselves waking up the boys and driving 35 minutes to Nipawin late at night in order to track down an emergency ultrasound. There we sat in the van driving north. It was very sad. We drove along and prayed our rosary. As we drove an eerie green grow emerged in the sky. Soon the northern lights were dancing and shining in full force for us as we drove. Aside from the sheer beauty of the sight, the lights that night were a great comfort for us. They let Becca and I know that, though we feared the worst at that point, God was there to take care of us.

Much later that night we sat in the little room in the hospital. The ultrasound was hooked up, and we looked on with mournful expectation. The screen kicked in and there was this figure of a baby. Only the baby was not resting. The baby was dancing for us. The baby was just shining on the screen. As Becca had just finished a glass of ice water, the baby was bouncing around from the shock of the cold. It was my first time ever seeing a child of mine on a live ultrasound. The beauty of this little person dancing with life from the cold was even more brilliant than the dancing life of the magnificent northern lights dominating the sky. The Lord is the great master of the universe, and the great lover of even the tiniest of souls. He has all in His hands.

A day later we were home. I stepped out at night. There were more northern lights. Only this time they were not just green. They were red, and blue, and pink. Without a doubt they were the nicest I have ever seen. Well that was nothing. You know how sometimes when you see northern lights they dip down to the earth? Yes. As I sat staring up at the sky they dipped down. Right down into our yard! It felt like I was literally in the middle of the northern lights. My jaw dropped, and not just figuratively. It was one of the most spectacular moments of my life. And they say there is no God. But there is. The light of the world.

And months later an even more spectacular moment in my life. Emilie Marie. Our own little light.

Emilie at 6 Months

How has it been six months?! The age-old rhetoric of parents is on my lips: I can't believe how quickly the time has gone, how quickly she's growing up.

We've said it before and we'll say it again: Emilie is so sweet! She delights us each and every day.

The boys continue to dote on her and squish her in their love. And although John Paul has moments of jealousy because he doesn't have our attention, his love for Emilie and pet names for her continue to be a very strong force.

At 6 months, Emilie appears to take the prize for fattest chubbiest and largest girth of all our kids. She is at least 20 lbs. and already in 9 month clothing. She is lazy has her every whim immediately met and so until recently has had very little reason to put herself out. However, she has started to take some initiative and is rolling a bit and has been in the jolly jumper once.

The boys have threatened to put her on an exercise regime, but then are baffled by her cuteness and forget their idle threats.

Emilie is also our earliest teether and has been sporting two pearly whites since 4 months. I believe Emilie was hoping her early teething would incline me to resign my hatred for feeding babies puree and just. do it. Alas, she has only this week been welcomed to that exclusive club of those-who-eat-real-food. And even then, has been fed only squash. She quickly showed us she's boss and insisted on feeding herself.

She acts like she was made for this with a "what took you so long" look in her eyes. She has even nearly mastered giving herself a small shower drink from an open cup. 

Something I didn't count on, which happily changes the whole name of the game, was helpers in the feeding department. Joseph and John Paul think it's a great idea to feed Emilie (they've forgotten their threats to make her slim out, I guess). And with a little instruction and practice, they've succeeded, freeing me from the long process of feeding the baby. (If only they would feed themselves so efficiently!)

Emilie has by and large been our best sleeper, best traveler, least fussy, most smiley, quietest... baby. We are slightly worried things might take a turn during the teen years (*scared mom look*). She has, however, given us a little taste of her own independence recently by refusing any kind of sleeping pattern and keeping me up until almost midnight for many nights (something I clearly don't like). But in the last couple days she seems to have righted herself a little. 

I think we are still in awe that this little lady decided to join our crew. All the pink and cuteness has certainly softened us a little (but not quieted the boys). Emilie's sweet demeanor, smile, and laugh have us completely won over. When she sleeps for "too long" we are all eager for our princess to wake and delight us with her smiles. We melt before her and are completely at her service.

We just can't help it!