E.L.M.O.

Yesterday, I bought an Elmo at a church rummage sale in my neighborhood. I got it home and Emmy's face literally shot sparkles and stars from her eyes and mouth. She has only recently started reaching for toys and until now, Lulu and her dog, RuffRuff, have been the only things she cared for and reached to hold. And then there was Elmo. John was beside himself with delight as he wanted a Tickle me Elmo for years and well, I have to draw the line at something. But Elmo didn't work. We replaced the batteries and tried to get him going, but he didn't do anything. But sit and look cute. Emmy knew no different and would have been just fine. John and I knew. We knew the joy and excitement that Elmo could bestoy on her so we headed out today to get Elmo. I thought there would be fifty or so different Elmo's from which to choose but there was only a giggle ball with Elmo on one side and Cookie Monster on the other side. This wasn't what we had in mind and then John found the last Elmo TMX in the back of the shelf behind all the other toys...marked down to $35.99 from $39.99 for a limited time only. But, it is the best overpriced stuffed red monster that screams and giggles that I have ever seen...

Miss America

Emmy still hates to take a bath. Hates. It. I have started singing to her when we get her in the tub to try and distract her, if nothing else, she might think, "man, I really hope I got Daddy's musical talents instead of That Woman's". (Sometimes, I am certain she refers to me as That Woman--That Woman that cuts her nails, That Woman that makes her sleep in her crib, That Woman that gives her baths, That Woman that puts her in the car all the time... ) Today when she was getting her bath, I sang the Miss America song to her and told her the story of her Papa singing it me when I was a kid. Every morning, he was sitting at the kitchen table facing towards the hallway, reading his paper, and would sing, "there she is, Miss America" when I walked down the hall to get my morning coke. I am sure that I was such a little shit that I actually snarled at that but when I think of it now, it is one of my most special and treasured memories. I hope that one day, Emmy remembers goofy and silly things that John and I do to her, and I hope she does them for her little princess and I hope that she tells her that she knows that even though Daddy and Mama were goofy sometimes, never once did she doubt that we loved her, just like me now.

Stop that! Stop It Right Now!

The girl is growing too fast. My friend Theresa gave me their ExerSaucer at Griffin's birthday party at the end of May. It was set to the lowest height and Emmy was completely dwarfed in it. I had to put receiving blankets in it with her because she was so tiny in the seat. I keep it in the basement in my closet so I can have Emmy downstairs while I am getting dressed or down there working on my craft stuff. I noticed this morning that she was already too tall and we have to move the seat up a level. She has to stop growing so fast!

No, for real, this time!

Emmy is asleep in HER bed and has been for about 30 minutes. I am heading to bed right now just in case it doesn't last long!!!!! Weeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess who slept in her bed, for a few hours at least...

That's right... ME! Emmy, John and I all piled into our bed last night and I got about 2.5 hours of sleep with little princess booties sticking in John's side and the occasional whimper in my ear.

Traveling the Music Highway

The stretch of I40 between Memphis and Nashville is known as the Music Highway and we headed there for the weekend. Two of my friends were in town for the Sigma national convention so we all headed to visit with them. Andrea and Tracy and I, along with three other recent grads, traveled for the sorority the year after college to collegiate chapters across the country. It was a strange, strange time, living out of a suitcase for a year, but it was one that I would never trade. I got to visit lots of places and met lots of people. Andrea and Tracy are still very active with the National Organization and were in town for the national convention. I figured this might be one of the last times I get to see them, especially together, so I convinced John that we needed a mini-vacation to Nashville. We left out yesterday morning and got there around 1:30. Emmy and I went to the hotel to meet them and Emmy was of course, an angel. She was quite charming to everyone. She got to meet not only Andrea and Tracy but Jane Kinderman, who was an fixture at the national office from my chapter, Margaret Fields, who kept us all in the loop when we traveled, and Jeannie Johnson, who was the Collegiate Vice President when I traveled. John, Emmy and I went out for a bit in the afternoon and then he stayed home with The Girl while I went to dinner with my girls. It was so wonderful to see my friends. I am so very lucky to have incredible women that want keep in touch with me after all these years and keep being MY friends!

We got up Sunday morning and went for a swim, then went to Music Row and then headed home. First, we got ready...

And then Mama wrapped me up in a hooded beach jacket for the walk from the room to the elevator to the pool...

And Daddy held me in the pool...

And Mama and I dried up after our swim...

Then we went to Music Row to get my picture made by giant guitars for Johnny Cash and the Carter Family...

Then I was soooooooooooooooo excited to head home!

Princess Picklebritches is Four Months Old Today

I don’t want to say that Emmy or I are getting better as I don’t feel like either of was especially bad, but we are starting to get the hang of this thing going on now! The other day, Tara said how she couldn’t believe that Lucas and Emmy were this old; I told her I could, but only because I can’t remember what it was like before they were here. Emmy is starting to develop her own little personality. She’s quite a character. She smiles a lot but she has only laughed a real, hearty laugh a few times now. Sunday night, we were eating dinner with friends and watching the Sopranos finale and she woke up from a brief nap. She just laughed and laughed for no apparent reason. It was quite comical.

I am always one to multitask and having Emmy has made me tone that down. I used to be in the habit of being on the internet or watching TV or reading a magazine while I was feeding her but I have stopped doing that so much. The other day, she grabbed my finger with her entire little fist while she was eating. I started to move it and then it dawned on me that she won’t be doing that much longer. It was almost like she grabbed me and shook me, saying “Mama, please look in my eyes—watch me do this! One day you will wish you could hold me like this again”. So now, I just look into her giant blue eyes and hope that you are getting all this; hoping that you can see all this happening.

While I would love to say that I am putting Emmy in her crib every night, it would not be true. She usually starts out there but comes to bed with us to have her 3 AM feeding and stays with us the rest of the night. Some nights, if she is really having a tough time going to sleep, I just put her in bed with us from the beginning. Really, I just don’t think we can spoil her too much. Bless her little heart, she has had to teach John and I so many things already in her four little months, we can pamper her every now and then and it will all be okay. She will curl up in John's arm at night when we sleep together. On one hand, I want to be jealous that she wants to curl up with her daddy and not me, but then, I just turn over and get some sleep for a bit. Horrible, I know, but I have to take advantage of these times as they come at me. Last night, I heard her fussing through the baby monitor around 3 but before I could get up to get her for her feeding, she went back to sleep. She did that twice more; we got up each time to go check on her to make sure she was breathing and she was just back to sleep. I was so proud and think that we count this as sleeping through the night for the first time. My little grown up princess.

There are so many little things Emmy does now. She rolls over and then is furious that she is on her belly and screams. Sometimes, I can quickly shove a crib mirror in front of her face and she will let it go for a bit, but usually she is just ready to get on her back again. She loves her swing and I sit on the floor and talk to her when she is in it. I will take a deep breath and then 'eat' her toes and kiss the bottom of her feet. She will just scream with delight!!!!!!!!! It's hysterical.

My sweet, sweet Emmy. I can never thank John enough this Father's Day for my sweet, sweet Emmy.

Back in the Day.

There was a time when John and I would gripe about Bill (the dog) and how she slept with us. She would get on one side of the bed and stretch out sideways and John and I would be perilously laying on one end of the bed. Now, Bill sleeps at the foot of the bed in a perfect little circle, just thankful that she still is allowed in the bed at all. This morning, I woke up to Emmy turned completely sideways. She had her little bitty feet stuck in Daddy's side. I wanted to take a picture, but then realized that John would not be thrilled for me to put a picture of his hairy back on the Internet. But I am sure he has no problem with me talking about it...

Check it out..

Does this photo look like two well rested Burton girls or what?Sweet Patootie Britches went to sleep in her crib at 8 last night and slept there until 3 this morning. I put her in our bed then and she ate 4 ounces and the cuddled up with Daddy until 6:15 when Mean Mama woke them both up to go to work and the babysitter. They crack me up when they wake up--both of them will streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch every muscle in their bodies and then raise their eyebrows as if "do I really have to get up right now???" But then she giggles and smiles. John doesn't.

Oh Emmy

What a mess you are! Every day she rolls over and then she gets mad that she is on her belly. So we roll her back over on to her back and she rolls back over to her belly and gets mad all over again. It can be quite funny sometimes to torture her! She does love her daddy though--last night she was upset and when we finally got her calmed down we put her in bed with us. When I woke up, she was facing Daddy so I placed her on her back just to make sure she didn't smother. She promptly started wimpering and then turned back over to nuzzle up to daddy. Who is this kid?

I always thought that I would be the best mom ever. Now, I just hope to make it through the day without hurting her or running off my support system. I had no idea how hard it would be to raise a child... much less raise a child without without a mother there to tell you what to do or to call to ask questions. There are things that go on that I am not sure I am doing right, like is she getting diaper rash? It is horrible not having a mom to ask about this things. I am scared more of hurting Emmy from lack of know-how than I am of anything else. I have this strong need for her know all of your friends; anyone that was close to you, I feel like she can feel your presence in them when they hold her. Maybe I am crazy but I just want you to be a part of her life and I don't know how else to do it. How am I ever going to make sure that she knows about you? And not just knows who you were but knows who you ARE. Your spirit. Oh, Momma...

Barbeque Time

Things have been so busy here!! By the time I get home from picking up Emmy from the sitter, it is after 6 and we get stuff ready for the evening. It seems like we have little time to spend time with Emmy before it's off to bed (and the subsequent 2am and 4am wakings). Then of course back to work. It's just going to take some getting used to for all of us. She is doing so much better at sleeping in her crib, even if it is only for half of the night.

Over the Memorial Day holiday, we BBQ'd and Emmy had this outfit that her AunTee got her and it reminded me of the outfit Samantha wore in Sex in the City for the BBQ she threw to make up with her neighbors. Cracks me up...

Daddy Daycare

Emmy was so upset about the Griz getting 4th pick in the draft lottery that she had to stay home from the sitter’s yesterday. Actually she had a cold and a little bit of a fever so we went to the pediatrician’s office (just in case!) and John stayed home with her. This is what I came home to yesterday afternoon. I asked why the chair was moved in front of the couch and he said it was so they could sit side by side and it was easier to hold her hand this way. What in the world??? Where did my John go? Who is this person??

Well, crap

I had hoped to have a photo of Emmy in her Grizzlies outfit but she was too overcome with sorrow at the outcome of last night's lottery.

Cross your fingers!

It’s NBA Draft Lottery Day! Not that I am the biggest Grizzlies fan, I can appreciate a game or two, but I have to have all my fingers and toes crossed for this one. Our city has a lot of good but that doesn’t always shine out among the bad stuff going on here. However, if we get the 1st or 2nd pick tonight, everything could change in a second. Having Greg Oden or Kevin Durant here could give this city the push it needs to be excited about something, even if it is just basketball. The money that would pour into downtown is mind boggling. Here’s to the ping pong balls bouncing in our favor!

Thirst for knowledge

This must be what they mean when they refer to a thirst for knowledge. Just look at how she is reaching out for her Miss Circle book.





Emmy has hated tummy time so much but all the books say that you need to have them on their bellies for at least ten minutes per day. Putting the crib mirror in front of her has been the only way to get her okay with it--if only for five minutes!! I know she is saying, 'what a beautiful baby!'

Three months

The little girl’s three month birthday was on Mother’s Day—how appropriate. This was such a very bittersweet Mother’s Day for us knowing how much you would have loved Emmy. She reminds me so much of you sometimes, just the way she holds her little mouth and the little expressions she makes. I can see you dancing around with her now and “shush-shush-shush”-ing her when she is fussy (which, let me tell you is quite often). We are so lucky to have our sweet little Emmy. She has started smiling big time smiles now. We spent the night with Daddy on Friday night and when she was in her swing, he would “play” patty-cake with her and she just laughed!!! That Papa, he’s a funny, funny guy! All of her little sounds are so sweet—she is trying to so hard to talk! Imagine that!!

I wanted to get a good photo of Emmy and I on our first mother’s day but she had a rough day—she’s teething! Already! At three months! According to folklore, babies that teeth early are more intelligent but I wonder if they are just saying that to make you feel better about it. Kind of like saying that rain on your wedding day is good luck. We are looking forward to a big weekend though as we have two birthday parties to attend on Saturday so maybe we can get some good pictures then. She’s just growing up so quickly. Already.

My little genius

Apparently, this book about monkeys is a real page-turner. And how stinking cute are those toes??? She has them curled as if she is just in deep concentration of her story. I sure do like this munchkin. Her sitter had to be out of town today and tomorrow so I took off work to spend the time with her. Then, as a coincidence, my family from Ohio ended up coming into town. It was great to see them and for them to get the chance to meet Emmy.

Luke and Emmy

Tara, being the best mommy and friend in the world, offered to let Emmy spend the night with them on Saturday night. It appears that everyone had a great time. I hate it that I missed all the fun that went on but John and I had a birthday party to attend.

No diving, No running and No horseplay

Emmy wasn't sure what to think about the pool but I think she enjoyed it!!

Ruth

Today is Grandma Ruth's birthday. She would have been 94. Every day the 3rd of May is so special to me and I think of Grandma and how much she meant to me. Even as a little girl, no matter how much pain she was in, she always loved everyone so much. I remember being a kid playing "teacher" with her and Neall singing "Elvira" into a tape player or being the Incredible Hulk when he had chicken pox. Emmy Ruth has a lot to live up to with her namesake.

Tonight we tried to feed Emmy her rice cereal. She refuses to sleep through the night--last night she got up at midnight, 2 am, and 5 am. Of course, it made for a long day today. Lots of people have suggested that we give her cereal so we tried that last night. It was pretty funny to see her little expression as she tried to figure this spoon thing out. Thankfully, Grandma Ruth was a much neater eater than Emmy Ruth!

Em's First Fundraiser

We did the WalkAmerica for March of Dimes this year through my office. As a group we raised over $7,000--pretty impressive! Here is our little fundraiser at her first event. The girl likes pink, what can I say???

And we're off!

Emmy and I tried out the carrier this weekend and it got both of our approvals!

All grown up

Last night, John was holding Emmy and I just realized how much she had grown in just the last week or so. She looks like a baby now—not a newborn anymore, but a real baby that will eventually be a child. When she is taking her bottle and I am feeling especially nurturing, I will rub her little head while she eats. Usually my hand kind of cups part of her little head but last night, I realized that I had to hold my hand differently to fit of her growing noggin. She will lay in my lap kind of leaning against my arm while she is eating—almost like she is kicked back watching television or something. Last night, she was fussy as she got into our little position and couldn’t really get into her niche. It suddenly dawned on me that it was because she didn’t fit in our little niche anymore—it was uncomfortable to her now. Already! She is already outgrowing me!!

I am going home tonight and getting out the video camera, even if is just to video her sleeping. Or crying.

Emmy's Rough Morning

Bless her heart. This morning, I got up to feed her the first bottle of the morning and was still quite asleep. I got the bottle out of the fridge, took the nipple off and heated it up and then we went back to the couch to dine. When I went to put the bottle in her little mouth, formula went everywhere! I guess the nipple fell out of the ring when I took it out and I just poured formula directly onto her little face, all over me and the couch! Poor thing, she just looked at me like, are you kidding??? What was that??? She recovered pretty quickly though. We went to a hot wing festival but only stayed about fifteen minutes. Even though we slathered her with sunscreen and had a wide brim hat on her, I was afraid she would burn. We ended up just coming home and trying out the bumbo seat. That was the success of the day.

Daddy's home! Daddy's home!!

John has been out of town all week for work and we actually made it! I was afraid we might not make it alone but we did. However, we are so very excited for him to get home today. I think he might have missed her a little bit.

Morning Glory

Usually Emmy gets up around 2 and eats and then we get up for the day around 515. But this morning, she woke up at 2 but wouldn't take her bottle and went back to sleep really quickly. I am hoping this is a sign that she is getting ready to start sleeping through the night. All fingers and toes crossed! She was hanging out in her bouncy seat this morning while I was getting ready.

Two Short Months

The little girl is two months old now. It seems like she has been a part of our lives forever and I can't imagine not having her around now. I can't imagine sleeping in my bed beside John either but that is another story. For now, there is little Emmy in between us. And we wouldn't have it any other way. She is smiling a lot now--it's just adorable. As cute as that is, I can't fathom what her first words are going to be like. When she is sleepy, she still likes to pump her fist directly up in the air--her Skynard tribute. We always know when she is really content because she holds her little fist against her cheek. But the best way to really tick her off is to put on her belly for tummy time. She can be in the best of moods and will absolutley scream like a madwoman in just a matter of seconds.

She wasn't too thrilled here either. Luke seems to be saying to her, "just be quiet for a minute and they will take these hats off, I promise!"

WalkAmerica

The March of Dimes WalkAmerica is here again and we are walking!!!!

www.walkamerica.org/taradburton

Earth Day

With Earth Day being during April, all of the magazines I get have had articles about what you can do to by proactive during Earth Day. As a joke, I bought us and my friends with kids this dolphin fountain thingy. It helps the environment since you don't use those disposable Dixie cups.
Then I bought this:

My hybrid car: the Toyota Prius. I drive a lot now that I am taking Emmy to the sitter and to me to back to work and all. On one tank of gas, I got 400 miles and when I refueled, it was 8.2 gallons! I love it! The car is a techy geek's dream!

The Tiniest Tater Tot

What a silly goose she is!! Emmy has hopefully grown out of the colic. I think the soy formula helped her tremendously. She has gone from having the crying spells every night to maybe only three nights a week, so we are thrilled. But the smiles! The smiles are the best. She just started that this week. We can pump her little legs and she just grins or you can blow raspberries to her and she smiles with the best of them. Just as I was so confused as to where she got her long legs, because it certainly didn't come from me or John, I am confused as to where she got her chipperness in the mornings. She wakes up and has to eat immediately but then she just lays there so content and smiling. Maybe it's just that she is laughing at John trying to keep his eyes open at 530 in the morning!

Back to the Grindstone...

I went back to work on Tuesday and we seemed to have all survived. John has of course been back at work for the past five weeks but it was quite a challenge to get us all up and ready and out the door by 645. That puts me setting my alarm for 515 and actually getting out of bed at 530 or so. But, Emmy being Emmy, likes to eat around 4am so, if we are up for 45 minutes to an hour, there really is no point in my going back to sleep. Tuesday went really well—for me anyway!—she woke up right after I had gotten out of bed to start getting ready and John got up with her and feed her and then got ready so we were out the door at 630. She totally skipped her 4am feeding that morning but then on Tuesday she was ready for it again and then on Wednesday, I just got up at 330. I had convinced myself that this was going to be a challenge and I would just get used to it—after all, millions of women do this everyday. However, I don’t care who does it, I am going to ever get used to getting up at 330 in the morning. Today was much better and she ate at 2am and then slept until 6 with her daddy. John and I both stumbled to the car this morning with our eyes barely open—surely we will be a little more used to it next week and won’t be quite as tired!

We are really happy with her sitter on the positive side. I take her to West Memphis to the sitter a friend of ours uses for all three of her kids. Gabby, Coen and Grace all go to Missy and when Rebecca recommended her, I felt like I really had to give it a shot—all three of those kids turned out perfect! It is a lot further for me to drive, it ends up being 70 miles or so each day, but I feel really good about it, so it’s worth it. And, all the Winter kids get to see Emmy during the day and Rebecca gets to see her when she picks up and drops off her kids—of course Emmy is the first one there and the last one to leave.

She seems to be saying, Where in the world are we going now???????

Lots of firsts...

Emmy has had lots of new and exciting things going on as of late. Here she is with Luke before we went to shop for the day. They have been shopping together before but this was their first photo dressed the same.
Here is Em's first St. Patty's day. She couldn't have cared less if I tinted her food green.
Here is our rock star on her way to the baby sitter for the first time. We both did well.
John and I were considering a coffee table but decided a Baby Einstein play mat was much more fitting for the living room. Here is her first experience on it.

It's tough being one month old

Here are pictures from the one month old's festivities last night. Obviously, she tires easily.

Month 1 of the Rest of our Lives

Today is our sweet Emmy's one month birthday. She has had quite a busy month. I was so lucky when she got here that I felt so good and she was such a good baby, that I was able to take advantage of the time off from work and really get out there and get some things done. Now, we are cut back a little on our excursions since Emmy has a touch of colic. It is absolutley heartbreaking to not be able to help her when she is screaming all afternoon and evening. It is wild since all morning she sleeps and when she does wake up, she is just adorable but the afternoons, well, that is another story. She looks more and more like John everyday, especially now that she is making her own little faces. I tell John that she looks so much like him when she is screaming--when he is singing in his band, he has remarkably the same facial expression. I am sure that there is a photo of him somewhere singing, I need to find it and compare. I am sure he will be thrilled with that.
Already she has changed so much and is getting so big. Her little face and body are filling out--just like Mama and Daddy-and she is so alert. She is just the most precious thing ever. THIS is why everything that has happened in the last 15 months did. We just love her more than we ever imagined we could and John is a better Daddy than I ever could have imagined he would be--and I knew he would be good! This child brings out the best in all of us--there is no doubt she has a little of Momma in her. Well, maybe a lot.

Shoes

I guess it is a Wynne thing since no one knows what I am talking about when I mention these shoes, but Emmy has her personalized shoes now. I had them when I was a kid, and of course, still do, and I ordered Emmy's online and they just arrived. How stinking cute?

My new dishwasher

I know I was bragging about my fabulous 'new' dishwasher but it has gotten even better!!! No longer is it avacado green--it's black to match my other stainless and black appliances.

OH MY GOD

Okay, the kid has colic. Officially has colic. We start screaming and pacing and screaming and rocking and screaming and swinging around 430 each afternoon and continue through until about 11pm. I knew that we had had it too good to true with the wonderful delivery and the wonderful recovery and the wonderful baby with the wonderfully shaped little head and sweet disposition. Oh my God. The worst of it is when she will quiet down for about four and a half seconds and you get this little shimmer of hope that it is over and then she starts back up at full speed. One night the swing works and the next night, she hates it. Her poor little head is purple where she is screaming at full force. The damn dog is so confused that she is eating paper for goodness sakes!

Teaching Mama

I was afraid that Emmy was too small for her swing, she is only three weeks old after all!, but she loves it! Last night in hour three of the screaming, I told John to get the swing. He cranked it up as high as it would go and she quieted down immediately. We were tempted to let her sleep in the swing all night but decided that it was not proper to do so. Here we are in our swing with our boots on.

Teaching Daddy

Well, Emmy is not only showing me the lay of the land, she is showing Daddy too. Last night she took her bottle (finally!!!!) and he proclaimed that Mama was now obsolete and Daddy was back to the top of Emmy's favorite list. I think he might be right. He is so good to us and really is helping in every way he can. The other day, he asked me if he was supposed to be washing all of our clothes in Dreft. I told him that was not really necessary but he has been washing our towels, his clothes, etc. in the world's most expensive laundry detergent. Emmy and I are so lucky to have him.

Emmy's first trip to her Alma Mater

We made a quick trip to Fayetteville Wednesday night so that Daddy could go to the game. Emmy was a champ on the drive but did have a couple of little fits along the way. She was better than anyone could expect of a two week old though, so I was thrilled. Of course, mean Mama took her out in the cold to get her photo made in from of Papa's name on the senior walk. Neall and I did it when we were kids and Emmy got to do it too. Here she is in her first Fayetteville experience. Then, we went to see Grandma Jackson in Lonoke on the way back. Of course, all were smitten with the little one.