I love long weekends...

We were off Monday for Columbus Day so we enjoyed a long weekend at home, for the most part. On Saturday, we had a yard sale. Emmy got to enjoy some good quality time in her Pack-n-Play on the front porch. Then we went to Cafe Ole to spend our profits. Sunday we lounged at the house and then Monday went to see Papa. Here is Emmy "rocking out" at home. You can't see her shirt but it says "Heavy Pedal" and has a tricycle on it and her shoes are Vans skateboarding shoes that one of John's coworkers gave her when she was born. So fun to dress her up sometimes...
On Monday night, we went to see Lucas. Linda made some Christmas outfits that she needed someone to model so Emmy and Lucas so kindly volunteered. Here they are playing after our photo shoot. Emmy still had her tights on of course. She cracked me up later on when she was sitting on the floor and pulling at her white tighted foot trying to get them off of her. I told her that I had waited way too long for a little girl to wear tights and she was going to have to get used to that! And yes, Emmy spilled Cheerios all over AunTee's floor but we are so proud of how well they play together.

It's a beautiful morning!

Today is a new day and we are putting aside any sadness and grumpiness and moving onward. This is much easier for me to say because in the attempts to Ferberize the tiny munchkin into her bed, we got the screaming down to 8 minutes last night before she slept in her bed all night long. All night. And then was startled when I woke her up this morning. I love this kid. I love this day. I love this life. It's going to be a great weekend!

Election results

My new mayor is... my old mayor. It is just different this time, seeing someone that you don't want to be elected actually getting elected is not the same feeling as it was before when someone I didn't want to get elected won the race. It's different when it is local and it's such a crucial part of your entire community and the well being of your very close personal space and safety. And it is all different when you have a child to think of now. I think I knew in the back of my mind that Herenton would win but it is just so sad tonight to see the numbers on TV and see that it is a reality again. Memphis is my home now and to see this happen is just quite heartbreaking.

Election Day

Please, please, please pray for all of us that live, work, or visit Memphis today--it's election day. It's scary and it's upsetting but also a little exciting to think that we actually have a candidate within one point of our mayor in the polls. Today's results will make a dramatic difference in the lives of all of us but most importantly in the future of our kids. This election is not about Democrats or Republicans but about hope and the future for our city. Please pray that everyone gets out today and votes to help Memphis be the best it can be.

Here is Emmy on the 4th of July but it's appropriate today as well.

I'm home! I'm home! I'm home!

So, John was so very proud of all the new tricks that Emmy learned while I was gone. This one happened to be one of his favorites. She likes to now crawl up the back of the couch and watch the dogs in the back yard. She will wave at them through the window. It's quite comical. In the video, when she is standing, that is not on the seat part of the couch but rather on the back of the couch. Tonight we are going to start practicing the "bottoms down" method of sitting properly on furniture but it was really cute.

I knew that she didn't wear anything but a diaper from the time she woke up Sunday morning until I got home last night. And the only reason for that is we had to go get something for dinner and I couldn't just put her in the car seat in a diaper. She got a little fussy about 8 and John looks at me with every ounce of sincerity in his body and says, "do you think it's the clothes that are bothering her?" I am absolutely sure that it was exactly that.

I'm gone

I am packing up and on my way out the door for my trip. Please keep me in your thoughts while I am gone. I know that John is a fantastic father and will do a wonderful job taking care of Emmy while I am gone but I still worry. He should have a mother or a mother in law to call while I am gone!! But he doesn't and I have to go. Fingers crossed that I can keep my mind on what I need to accomplish while I am working and that I won't be too distracted to be able to contribute.

Guilt

I can't imagine all the things that I will have guilt over during Emmy's life. Right now, I feel guilty that I have lead her to the Hogs. I know the heartbreak and torture that comes with being a Razorback fan and I hate that I have done this to her already in her short life.

I will be leaving Sunday to attend my company’s strategic planning session. We have been going for the last few years to a resort outside of Hot Springs, Mountain Harbor. It’s a fabulous place but we really put in long hours so we don’t get the chance to take advantage of the neat amenities. But, it’s really a lovely view as we sit at our table working until 10pm. This will be my first time away from Emmy overnight and of course, I am nervous. John is going to take off work next week since he has to be at work at 7am and getting her to the sitter would have been a nightmare. I was afraid to make too many changes to her routine and throw her off kilter since I am sure she will be a little out of sorts not seeing me. But, maybe not, she might thrive in her new set up. Who knows???

I got this little dress for her before she even arrived and she wore it this week finally. CEO stands for Chief Executive Offspring. Ha, ha. I got Lucas a blue hat with the same logo thinking we would have a great picture of them together—we’ve yet to do that of course. So, picture the ottoman as a lectern and can’t you just see her leading her own strategic planning session one day?

Cooper Young Festival

Every year, our historic district has a festival that brings thousands of people into our tiny neighborhood. On Friday night, there is four mile race that winds through all the streets. We always put out the eight foot inflatable Razorback and sit out front and cheer for the runners.
This year, Daddy and Linda came to the festival with us and Emmy was just precious. All day, people pointed and talked about the adorable baby we had.
Todd and Beth brought David to the festival too. He and Emmy had the same due date but he actually showed up on time.
We ran into my cousin Harrison there. Harrison's grandmother is my Aunt Ruby, Grandma Ruth's sister.
And then the girl was exhausted.

MiMi

People often ask me if I feel comfortable with the person keeping Emmy during the day when we work. I cannot say it more emphatically that I totally trust Missy and I have not ever felt the need to call during the middle of the day just to check on her. (Unless she is sick.) I know that Missy is taking great care of her and if she needs me, she will call. Besides, if I started that calling junk, I would not stop. I know me.

And then, there's this: She's a Razorback fan. How could I not feel good about leaving her somewhere that has a playroom with these two framed prints... the '94 championship team and the Southwestern Conference family portrait???

Of course, Emmy has on Razorback stuff for today so here she and MiMi are in their pink razorback gear.

Seven months old

How quickly seven months have slipped by us. Emmy is a crawling machine now and is already pulling up to standing. She can't stand on her own yet of course but she pulls up and moves her feet like she is ready to take off walking. Every day is just amazing. That smile. That smile makes all the crummy things seem just a little better. Almost like she is laughing at the crummy stuff with me. Then I have to wonder what is crummy to begin with anyway.


Tonight we went to visit Sol again before he went home to Wynne. He, of course, was just precious and Emmy was pretty excited to see him. Here she is flapping her arms with joy!

Tara and Lucas went with us to visit Sol, Neall and Becca. They are doing wonderfully and we are so happy to have Sol!

Then we went to eat at Moe's. Lucas and Emmy had fun and sat like little puppies begging for food from AunTee. By the time we got home, she was pretty thrilled to see Dadoo so that she could curl up and conk out. It's been a pretty fabulous seven months.

And then there was Sol

Solomon Clark

8 pounds 9 ounces

20 inches

September 12, 2007

We sure do wait around here a lot

As the days got closer to Emmy’s arrival, I envisioned myself sitting in my hospital bed with a little sleeping angel writing a post about how seeing her only made me love my mom that much more. I was going to go into all this detail about how the love for her just swept over me and my life was instantly changed forever and how that I now understood that pained look in your eyes when you realized you were going to die. It was a look of just sadness. The night before we went to the hospital for your surgery, you cried, “but what about my grandbabies?” and I told you that you would meet them, that it was going to be okay. Well, the hospital didn’t have wireless internet and the little angel didn’t sleep much so the post didn’t get written. I didn’t have that feeling of just instant motherhood that flooded into every ounce of my being and pushing me into this great new direction of life. I felt remarkably like I did the day before but there was this really, really, really beautiful baby and I was amazed that she was mine. The first few weeks, maybe even months, I worried that it would never kick in like it should. I had read that some women didn’t get the automatic motherhood feeling and bond, after all, this is a lifetime relationship you are going to have with this person and it may take a while to really form. I tried not to worry but I got scared when I saw my husband go from this wild and crazy dude into the most amazing father. He had it. I saw it the day we were in the hospital with her, he had it and he loved her so much that it scared him. I could see that on his face every time he looked at her or talked about her. One day I woke up and it was there though. I don’t think it was an all of sudden revelation I had about her, but more like a gradual effect. And now I literally ache to hold her sometimes.

And today we wait again and I wonder what I am going to think when I see my precious nephew, Solomon. I think of how I am going to see so much of you in him and hope that I can help him know you in his own very special way. The excitement and joy of knowing that sweet Sol is on the way (today! whether he likes it or not!) makes me think of you even more than usual.

I know that I wasn’t lying to you when I said that you would meet your grandbabies; I know that you played with each of them and got them ready to come to Neall and I. You told Sol and Emmy all about us and what to do to endear us to them from the beginning. You told them both how Neall does that quirky little thing to his ear and taught them how to do it too. Emmy does it when she is sitting and Sol did it in his ultrasound video. You just had to play with them for just a while before they got to meet us and we can’t wait to meet Solomon today. And the look in your eyes... Well, that look is engrained in my memory forever and now I understand that it was a pain that you won't see these things, a fear that we won't love you, a worry that we won't be okay and to all of them... you are here, we love you and we are wonderful.

Fun Saturday night

I finally managed to rent a steam cleaner to take care of our living and dining rooms carpet. It was quite embaresing to see what all came up! I did the dining room first and finally got started on the living room around 8pm. Then the power went out. Until 3am. We sat on the front porch for a while and then finally conked out on the living room floor. It is hard enough feeling your way around a dark house but then all of our furniture was piled up in the dining room! Somehow I managed to get the Pack-n-Play out and onto the porch. Fun stuff!

Rub a dub dub

Emmy hates taking a bath--just hates it. Last night, I decided to try her in the bath seat in our bathtub instead of her bathtub and while she didn't love it, she didn't scream for the entire time either. It was almost... relaxing! Then, after she fell asleep we put her into her bed, where she slept all night! She did wake up once but by the time I got in there, she was already back to sleep. I ended up staying awake for another hour or so, I guess I am so used to my sleeping intervals that I don't know what to do with myself.

Elmo and the girl

The video isn't the best ever, but you can see that she gets a little excited with Elmo.

The lake

A coworker of John's invited us down to his family house on Moon Lake for the holiday weekend. We went on Saturday and spent the night and had a great time.

Here Emmy says, "you guys stay here, I am going to find a TV to watch the replays of the Appalachian State and Michigan game".

This Old House

I often say that we cannot move from Memphis unless we move our house with us. I know that could imply that I have a lot of stuff, which I do, but mainly it's just that we love our house so much. It has a basement! A full basement! With lots of stuff in it! I sometimes think that when our house was built, a young Moses was frolicking around the neighborhood. So, when they put the tile in the kitchen, Moses was about to enter high school. So, they just went ahead and put in that same tile that is in every high school cafeteria in America. I am sure it is great tile if you have a janitor with a buffer that comes by once a week but in a kitchen, not so great.

I have bought stripper and worked on this floor, I have scrubbed on my hands and knees with a Brillo pad, but it always still looks dirty. I want to put ceramic tile down, but then there is the stove and the cabinets are built around the stove. So, when it goes out, which with my luck, should happen next week, I will have to totally remodel the kitchen anyway so there is no point putting ceramic tile down now only to have to get it up later. Because I cannot deal with that floor anymore (seriously, when everyone was here for Daddy's birthday, I just shut the kitchen door and said it was off limits), I went the peel 'em and stick 'em route. I have tried this before and it looked awful but Tara did it in her kitchen and it looks great. So, we I got the exact same tile and we I put it down starting Saturday. The key is to buy the most expensive one and to get the darkest color out there. I might never mop again as this floor is looking fabulous. Emmy was very helpful.

First, I took all the stuff off the floor in the pantry and in the midst of this, was when I screamed, "get in the car, we are going to Home Depot!" and started the project. After I finished, I realized that I could not put all that stuff back in the pantry so I decided to just clean it out. I woke up around 330 Friday morning not able to go back to sleep so I figured that was a great time to start. Among the random things I found in the pantry so far:

4 crock pots. Four. I don't cook but I make a mean Rotel.

A sickle, yes a sickle (it was here when we bought the house, honest!), a sledgehammer, and a key to turn off the water at the meter. A box of grout, two orange extensions cords and a drill that John swears I never gave him.

A tub of soap. And a ziplock bag of guitar picks. This is when I thought it would be brilliant to make little soaps with guitar picks inside them for all of our friends for Christmas a few years ago. Who doesn't just put that stuff in the pantry???

Rock salt, lots of rock salt. And about ten packages of ice cream mix. Sunday we made strawberry ice cream and a gallon of vanilla.And now the pantry is neat and amazingly, there is food in there. Who would have thought???

Some light weekend reading

Here we go with step one of studying for the CPA Exam.

Bonding

Emmy and Rudy had a long talk last night. It almost looks like they were discussing how dirty our carpet is.

What a cute little boy!

This morning, Emmy and I had to run in Wal-Mart to get formula for Missy's. I figured now was the perfect time to try her out sitting in the shopping cart instead of putting her infant car seat in the buggy. She seemed to love it but she did hold on tightly the whole time just in case. When we left, this woman walked by and said, "oh what a pretty little boy!" Boy! Boy! This is exactly why the girl wears nothing but pink; I test the waters in blue one time and this is what we get.

Beware... they are mobile

Emmy is officially crawling and Lucas is trying to stand. Heaven help the Taras.

The Girls

Gabby has always been so very special to me and I hope she will forever let me be a part of her life. I always tell her about how we went out to eat when she was only a week old and I am sure she rolls her eyes at me now that she is so grown up and entering the 3rd grade. But, seeing her grow up has just blown me away. Last night, Emmy and I stopped by and the girls (with Gabby's sister Grace) played but little brother Coen was a little under the weather. Gabby looks at me and says, "Ms. Tara, I just can't believe you are a MOM". Yeah, me either kiddo.

Beating the Heat

Poor Tiny Tot had her shots yesterday and today her babysitter called to let me know the girl had fever. I called the doctor's office and they said if the fever stayed below 104 to not worry. 104! 104!!! If it goes to 104, we are going straight to the ER. So, the girl is stripped down and has a cool, wet cloth on her head trying to get her fever down from the 102 degrees where it was earlier today. I really, really miss Momma on days like this. I need her on days like this...

Ten things I love about Emmy

1. The way that she breathes in deeply when you play with a shirt or a burp cloth over her face, like it is really taking her breath away.
2. The way that she cuddles up at night in our bed.
3. The way that she and her daddy look lying together in bed in the mornings, both of them sleeping on their tummies.
4. The way that her little shoulders are just so tiny and how her little shoulder blades are just adorable.
5. The way that she blows bubbles without actually blowing bubbles—really just making propeller noises.
6. The way that she smiles when I kiss her little feet.
7. The way that she grins sometimes at just nothing.
8. The way that she chuckles when Aunt Becca feeds her squash.
9. The way that she growls at her toys when she is playing in the floor.
10. The way that she looks in shades.

Just your typical 6 month birthday party

Carrots, a goofy hat and mango flavored fruit puffs. Can it get any better???And Emmy can sit all by herself now! It's quite adorable.

Six Months Old

Today is our sweet girl’s six month birthday. I can’t believe it. This time last year, I was carrying beef sticks and crackers in my purse to fend off hunger and nausea strikes at any point during the day. I was going home at lunch to get quick catnaps in so that I could work for the rest of the afternoon. And look at us now. Here is our sweet Emmy. For the longest time, I wondered what in the world we were doing and if we could even do this. I still do sometimes, but now, I can't believe that we ever lived before we had her. She smiles and it just absolutely melts me. I can actually feel my knees going limp. We went to eat lunch yesterday at El Mezcal and there was a family across the aisle from us with two daughters. The dad kept staring at Emmy and I know he was thinking, yeah, my girls were that small once. I kept staring at his daughters thinking, yeah, my girl is going to be that age soon, so soon. But in an effort to keep things entertaining, Emmy promptly reached up and spilled my large coke all over the table. That's my girl... Trying to snap Mama back into reality and telling me to quit worrying about all the things that could happen and just sit here and enjoy the absolute wonder that is right now.

The poor girl apparently has no toys and is forced to play with solicitations that Mama gets in the mail...I love this photo where she seems to be staring lovingly at Daddy. I took this with my cell phone so it is kind of grainy...

Our latest favorite thing to do is to stroll up to Do's to eat sushi. Emmy seems to enjoy sitting on the patio with Mama and Daddy. I think she likes it to so much since everyone that walks by tells her how beautiful she is...

Little Miss Sunshine

Seriously. This kid has to sleep. As in all night. I am exhausted! John is exhausted! Bill and Rudy are tired. We are tired folks around here!!! I think she must be trying to get her top teeth in now as she keeps waking up around 2 am and is just grumpy. Not really crying but just whiney so we put her in our bed. We tried a bottle and she didn’t want it so I put it in the fridge and then we did a new bottle at 3 and she had some of it. Finally, at 430 this morning, I just put her in her bed and let her whimper. Then, mean Mama that I am, I turned the baby monitor off! Off! After my full hour of sleep, I got ready and then went to get Little Miss Sunshine up and she was terribly annoyed that I had woken her. Are you kidding ME??? I told her that was how I felt last night when I was begging her to sleep with the rest of us. By the time we got to Wal-Mart, Emmy was completely conked out. Every morning we drop John off at work but I hate to get her to the baby sitter’s too early so we go to Wal-Mart or Walgreens’ or something. I usually have fifteen minutes or so and I get a little bit of my shopping done without having to make a big trip in the evenings or on the weekends. It is kind of nice. And there is no one there that early! But, the workers at Wal-Mart all know us now and wave and say hello when they see us. So funny! Check out those fat thighs!!! She is looking more and more like me everyday!

Games I Play

I just love our DVR, love it, and I record Oprah every day. Sometimes, I like to see what strange expression I can get on Oprah's face when I pause it. Yeah, we are really boring.

Random Mommy Thought

This morning on the way out the door, Emmy spit up all over me. I was lucky enough to twist her just right so that she didn't get it on herself but only on the carpet and on my skirt. I wiped it off with a burpcloth and headed out. All day, I can smell it and think of her and wish I was home with her right now.

At The Drive In

We went to our first movie with Emmy, The Simpsons. Momma hated the Simpsons and would just about vomit every time Neall and Daddy watched it so it was quite funny to me to take Emmy there for her first movie. A few years ago, John and I dressed up as Marge and Homer for Halloween so I took the wig with us to get some good shots but Lucas was the only one that was an active participant and he (well, you know...) put it on backwards...

Favor

As you all know, Neall and Becca are expecting little Solomon Clark in only five short weeks! I can hardly believe that the time is almost here for him to arrive. We are all so very excited.

I have a very personal favor to ask of you and I completely understand if you can’t or would prefer not to do it, but I thought I would ask anyway. It is so important to me to have Emmy and Sol know about Momma and what kind of person she was and is, and the fun that they would have had with her and the love that she would have given them both. I worry sometimes that when the time comes, I am not going to be able to adequately explain these things to Emmy. So, I am asking for your help. I would like to make a book for them of letters from those that knew mom the best. If you could write one letter to both Sol and Emmy and send it to me, I would greatly appreciate it. It can be anything you want: describing mom, telling a funny story about mom, what mom was like with us, what mom might have been like with them, whatever. It can be handwritten (which will be really neat if I can scan the handwritten note and have that extra personal touch) or typed. Photos would be great—either you with mom or you now or you with your family… just whatever.

When Momma was sick, I heard so many things about her that I might have never known. I want to make sure Sol and Emmy know all those wonderful things and give them a chance to know her, even if they can’t see her. If you can think of anyone that might want to do this, please forward it to them. I look forward to hearing back from you!! My email is taradburton@comcast.net

Keep them in your prayers...

Please keep the Berry family in your prayers. Michelle (Countz) graduated with Neall and the family is at St. Jude's with their son, Garrett. They discovered on Monday that he has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. We are all thinking of them...

Emmy loves LuLu

Has a child ever loved a toy so much?? Emmy loves this stuffed LuLu like there is no tomorrow. Her Aunt Pat got it for her a few months ago and we do not leave home without it. Last night we walked up to Do’s, a great sushi restaurant in our neighborhood, and we brought LuLu along for the ride. John and I were cracking up because Emmy would just start chuckling every now and then. I stuck LuLu in the cup holder of her stroller in hopes that we didn’t lose her along the ride and Emmy kept reaching up and holding her hand. Seeing as LuLu has eight arms, Emmy would occasionally pick a different hand to hold.

I told you we had teeth!

That's it! I am done!

Teresa Haynes Lee is probably one of my oldest friends and she was in town to visit her parents. It was wonderful to see her and her kids again, and of course, meet her youngest daughter, Kennedy. Her oldest, Lawson, is the spitting image of Teresa when we were young and Garrett, well, all he cared about were trains. Teresa is a photographer now and is absolutely amazing. If you ever hear that she is available in your area, I urge you to take advantage of it and book her. Immediately. She did the photos today and already sent me these two photos. I can't believe my sweet Emmy's little precious face. By the way, Teresa told me I could put it on my MySpace page, but I figure that applies to my little blog too....

Five Months Old

Oh the month we have had! Emmy is trying so very hard to crawl. She wants to so very badly and you can see in her eyes that she really knows how to do it , she just can’t quite get the hang of it yet. She will get up on her hands and knees and then her little arms just collapse under the immense weight and pressure of her little tiny body! I immediately sigh a huge sigh of relief and John says, “oh, Baby, you will get it next time” or gets on the floor with her and tries to encourage her to crawl to him. I can’t stand the thought of her growing up so quickly and he can’t wait to see every little miraculous thing she has in store for us.

When I dropped her off at the babysitter this morning, I kissed her fat little belly and told her not to do anything precious or adorable until I got back to pick her up. I am sure she paid me no mind and went on about her day with her absolute adorableness and precious-hood. She is trying to blow little bubbles with her mouth, it cracks me up to see! I bought a thing of bubbles the other day for us to play with together. We went to eat lunch with John’s dad and John pulls out her bubbles and starts blowing them to her at the table! In the restaurant! Of course, she was thrilled. Last night it was really stormy and instead of being frightened by the thunder, she would just laugh every time she heard it. This child is not right, I tell you, just not right! Of course, we have relented on making her sleep in her crib and she has been in our bed almost every night this week. It is just so cozy to wake up with her. Even if she does turn completely sideways and poke us in the ribs. Every day is just amazing. I cannot believe how lucky we are that we have our sweet Emmy.

I Love CY

We live in a little artsy neighborhood called Cooper Young. We love it so much but one of my favorite times to live here is in the summertime. Every now and then, the horse mounted police ride through our neighborhood. This evening we saw them coming down the street and Emmy and I ran out to the curb to meet them. They were so nice and stopped and said hi to us. Emmy got to meet her first horses, white, tan and brown ones, and her first policemen--I told her that police were always there to help her when she needed it. Hopefully we can get a photo with the horses next time!!!

Even Hershey’s Kisses need an update! A coworker always has a dish of kisses in her office so as I was grabbing some the other day, I noticed that the little piece of paper that usually says “Hershey” on it was replaced with little sayings. Mine say “You Rock” and I do and “I hate Mondays” and I do! Not too fond of Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays either.

All the better to eat you with, My Dearie

I am sure this is what Emmy is thinking as we discovered her first tooth last night! It's just the cutest little thing I have ever seen. Little, tiny and white. We called Dr. Jackson to make sure he can pencil us in the next time we are in Wynne. I didn't cry when she rolled over or when she smiled or laughed for the first time but for some reason, this tooth has gotten me all in a flitter. She is growing up so quickly. I wonder if her tooth coming in early is because of all the calcium she got from Mexican food when I was pregnant?

Between the A and the T

This banner is hanging downtown so I had to get a picture of it. When they asked where something was "at", didn't anyone tell them "between the a and the t"?

In unrealted Emmy news, the child is about to crawl--she is already semi crawling backwards. I put her on her pallet and she rolls over to her belly and gets mad then scoots and semi-crawls backwards while fussing. John sat in front of her in her swing today for an hour so that I could get a nap but I ended up just getting up anyway--she wouldn't hush!!! She cackled and giggled and jabbered the entire time. Her laugh is the sweetest, most innocent sound I have ever heard.

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...