13 Months

Wow. How did this happen? How did she get to thirteen months old so quickly? We just celebrated her birthday and now it has already been a month. Last year Tara and I were at the mall with the kids so that Lucas could get his photo made with the Easter Bunny and we got this great picture of them on a bench there. So, last night we were at the mall again (seeing a theme here?) and I wanted a picture of them on the same bench, one year later.
Now that they are mobile, picture taking is getting more and more difficult. Sweet Emmy is doing so many new and interesting things. We still have not figured out to get her to take a bath without screaming for dear life. I am hoping that once summer gets here and we get to swim lots, she will feel better about it. Fingers crossed. She is eating all she can get in her little fingers. We have yet to find anything she doesn't like to eat and we are letting her try to self feed with a fork and spoon. She doesn't do a great job, but it's not a horrible job either. And she laughs with glee whenever she puts her spoon or fork into food. Apparently, that is really funny stuff.

Oh and the A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E! This morning, I was going to let her walk in to the babysitter's house but she refused to hold my hand. I told Mimi that was obviously something she got from her, certainly not me or John.

She has gotten really clingy to us lately and will hold on for dear life when she is up in our arms. I am not sure if that is because she just loves us so or that her teeth are hurting where these vicious molars are trying to completely arrive. Lucas got a chair this weekend when we were shopping so of course, Emmy had to have one too. She loves to do whatever he is doing and just lights up when she seems him. This morning, she wore her "Mommy's girl" shirt but I think she was a little fussy because everyone knows that she is really her Daddy's girl.

Tomorrow morning we go for her surgery on her ears. My sweet baby at 13 months is having surgery--neither John nor I have even had surgery yet and here she is having to go through it. We are confident that she will be just fine and we should be home before 9am.

Mornings!!

This morning as we did the frantic dance to get out the door, I asked John to put a coat on Emmy. “Which one?” he asked. Seriously, any of the ten on the mudroom bunch will do—just get her coat on her and out the door, I forgot to give the dog her Xanax! This is what he put on her! Her Sunday coat for church. At that point, I really couldn’t change her without risking hurting his feelings. In her little grubby hands, she has her toothbrush. We brush her teeth in the mornings and she gets really upset when you take the brush away from her so that she can’t continue doing it herself (I am not sure what Uncle Neallio has told her about this brushing stuff) so I just bought another one to keep in the car so that she can brush the whole way to the babysitter’s house. Each morning, we leave and take Dadoo to work and then head to West Memphis to take Emmy to her sitter. I don’t like to get her there before 7:30 and John has to be at work at 7:00 so we have a little free time. Emmy and I like to get as many of our chores done as we can during this time, like going to Wal-Mart or Walgreen’s, but that can get expensive so we are looking for other ideas. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know! Here are some of the things we have done:

• Go to the park (when it is warmer)
• When she was smaller, I would strap her on my chest and we would go for walks
• Take my laptop and sit in the Krystal’s parking lot and surf the internet because they have free WiFi (so does McDonald's)
• Get breakfast at Sonic and sit in the backseat with her and share our breakfast burrito over a good book (my personal favorite)
• Run the car through the carwash

We had the best weekend. The snow didn't really hamper us since it was actually all snow and no ice! Emmy wasn't too thrilled with it at all--she is her Mama's girl. She was out there for about 2 minutes and decided that was too cold and wanted to go back inside. On Saturday, we got up and headed to Sonic to pick up breakfast and I convinved John I needed to just run by the Salinas's while we were out. Two hours later, we finally let them get back to their day after the kids had a big time playing together. We brought Lucas and Emmy an order of CiniBites from Sonic so they both have icky goodness on their little faces in this picture. On Sunday, Emmy and I met the Salinases again for church and then spent the afternoon buying Emmy's swingset that her Aunt Cathy and Uncle Ted got her for her birthday. We ate lunch and Emmy insisted on actually feeding Lucas herself. Those kids... :)

Newest tricks...

... Emmy insists on putting her own straw in the HiC juice box and can do it! It might take her a minute but those tiny little fingers of hers can make that little straw fit in that little hole.

...Emmy gives kisses on demand! Not all the time but if you tell her you want a kiss and pucker up, she might just plant one on you.

...If she sees a hairbow, she knows that it goes on her head. She might not let you put it on for her, but she will hold it up to her hair and smile. Of course, you know this just delights me!!!

And on just a weird note... our dog Bill has some real seperation anxiety issues. It really has nothing to do with me, but she does love John and is distraught when he leaves. I asked the vet about it and she gave me some articles on seperation anxiety. And Bill got some Xanax. I told the vet that I need the Xanax dealing with this nutso dog but she gave it to Bill anyway. Yesterday, I gave it to her right before I took her outside at 6am and we leave at 640am and there was not difference, she was still a basketcase. When I say "basketcase", I don't mean she is a little upset or whiny. I mean, the back of my front door is going to have to be sanded because of her trying to get out. I mean that she bites John's feet on the way out and that you have to run out and slam the door to get away from her barking and begging you to stay. This morning, I gave it to her at 530am and my heavens! Bill stood in the dining room when we left and seemed to say, "hey, check you guys later, I am going back to get in our bed. Have fun at work!" My day is already better for it.

The dreaded stomach bug...

John was sick over the weekend and being the loving wife that I am, I pretty much told him to suck it up and he was fine. But, then on Monday, I got sick and I knew that death was pretty much imminent. In the middle of the night Sunday, she puked all over us. Because she seemed okay that morning, I went ahead and took her to the sitter on Monday and I went to work. I somehow trudged through the day, but got little to nothing done as my computer does not stretch into the office bathroom. Then, Tuesday morning, she puked on us again. All three of us stayed home and cried of our misfortune. Then, Wednesday morning, she puked on again in bed. We are running out of sheets at this point as neither John nor I can quite get the physical strength up to go downstairs and wash any sheets. John went to work Wednesday and I was better but the girl was much worse. She threw up all day and showed off how she knows to shake her head no every time I offered her juice, Pedialyte or water. But, around 4pm, she started to turn for the better and now she is doing much better, although she still is scared to eat or drink anything but HiC punch or potato chips.

This was Sunday before the Stomach Plague of 2008 invaded Walker Street.

It's that time of year again...

Girl Scout cookies!!! Emmy likes the Thin Mints.

Hold my back, will ya?

When I was little and spent the night with Grandma Ruth, I would always ask her to hold my back. That was my way of asking her to lay behind me with her arms wrapped around me. It was wonderful. I never felt so protected. Before Grandma Ruth went in the nursing home, I spent the night with her every night. I would go home and get ready for bed, then walk across the street to her apartment, then in the morning walk home in my PJs, get ready for school, and then Momma, Neall and I would go back to Grandma's. We got her breakfast and got her ready for the day. Then Momma would come home at lunch and then after school we did the same. My sweet Momma. When I think of all she did for her mother, I just want to cry. I would go out on dates or to do stuff with my friends and come home at 9 at night to help Momma put Grandma to bed, then go back out and then come back to her apartment at curfew. I loved her so much. I just loved her. Everything about her. She was so sweet and so giving and so thoughtful. I loved my Grandma Ruth like I don't think that many love their grandparents. But, that is because of the love in my mother's eyes. I learned from her. I can remember so many details of my grandmother--so many little lovely things.

Now that Emmy is big enough for me to hold her back, I hold her a little tighter because I can almost feel Momma there too. I can almost feel Momma there betwen us and I can almost feel Grandma Ruth behind me holding my back. It is pretty special to have loved someone like I loved Grandma Ruth. I hope that I can somehow explain to Emmy all the love that she and Momma would have had her for her. They would have just been smiten with her sweet smile and the way that she just toddles around now. When she pulls open the cabinet and drags all the Tupperware out, they would have just oh'd and ah'd. When she babbles in the backseat, they would have been there babbling with her. And somehow, I have to put all that in words so that she knows how very loved she is, even if they are not here to tell her.

So I hold her sweet little back and I will tell her about how Grandma Ruth held my back when I was her age and I never, ever felt quite as loved as I did then.

Men say the dardest things...

So, when I told John that they wanted to put tubes in Emmy's ears, he said, "how far will they hang out?"


A friend, to remain nameless, had to take his dog to the vet. His wife told him that he could just take the poop so that they didn't have to do a sample. So, he took a bag of poop. And no dog. He sat in the waiting room with a bag of poop. When the doctor called him back, he asked what he had and he told him he had doodoo and he, of course, had to go back home and get his dog.


What in the world would they do without us????

Always good reading material at the doctor's office

Emmy has had ear infections pretty steadily since October so when we went to her twelve month checkup, the doctor referred us to an ENT. They have decided it is time to give her tubes for her little munchkin ears. Friday, we went to the ENT and the surgery is scheduled for March 14th. We are pretty nervous, but hope that her speech will just blossom after this. We shall see.

I told Emmy when we were in the bathroom at the doctor's office that her Yia Yia would not have let me do this to her. When I was her age, the doctors wanted to take out my tonsils and Momma refused because I was so little. Later as I had so many bouts of tonsillitis and strep throat, I always blamed her. Momma told me once, jokingly of course, that she wanted to wait until I was able to pay for it myself so that I could really appreciate it. Hysterical! I wanted to go ahead and do this so that she doesn't have trouble later and wish we had helped her in this way. But we can't help but be nervous. She's our munchkin. Our tater. Our doodoo. We love her so much.

Good kitchen help is hard to find

Emmy was hanging out with me in the kitchen last night while I did the dishes. While I certainly enjoyed the company, she was not the most helpful as everything that I put up, she took right back out. She is looking at me as if "What? You have a problem with me pulling everything out of the cabinet so that I can sit here?"

"But this is so funny!!!!"
"And I know our dog Bill would love for me to put this colandar in her dog bowl. See?? It fits perfectly."On Saturday, pre Wedding Activity, we ate lunch with Tara, Jorge, Lucas, MeeMee and Grandpa Jim (Tara's parents). The kids always have to sit beside each other in high chairs so that they can share off each others plates and try to feed each other.Lucas does love some pudding.

Wedding Bliss

Last night, our friends Beth and Todd got married. It was a beautiful wedding and the reception was great. Leading up to a wedding can always be so stressful but it was a great time and John and I both were delighted to hear so many people tell us how beauiful and charming our Emmy Ruth is. She and David rode down the aisle in a wagon--both holding on for dear life! It was just precious.
This reminds of Cinderella playing with the bride's shoe.

And not that there was any doubt, but this photo of Emmy and her Dadoo only shows how much they look alike.

Emmy wanted to make sure that Dadoo got enough to eat too.

What a fun, fabulous night we had. We are so lucky to have so many friends to enjoy such fun times together.

The Day Before The Biggest Game EVER

I can appreciate what it would be for this city to win the National Championship and how incredibly cool it is for #1 and #2 to play each other in the same state--it's only happened in three states (N. Carolina, Ohio and now Tennessee). I can appreciate how cool it would be for a team to "run the tables" and be undefeated all the way through the season but does it have to be a John Callipari team? I love the Tiger football team--mainly because I love DeAngelo--but I just cannot stomach the basketball team. I can't stand the message that he sends by not disciplining his teams, year in and year out, they are always in trouble. Over half of this team has a police record. This team alone is keeping the Plush club up and running. It is ridiculous. I know all teams have disruptive players, but come on. As if this city doesn't have enough going on, we don't need this attached stigma.

So today I wore orange. I feel really dirty and cheap in it too. Like a big fat hairy man in fishnet stockings. I am leaving Emmy completely out of the Memphis/UT drama. She got to wear her standard pink today.

This weekend is also Emmy's first wedding! Our friends Beth and Todd are getting married tomorrow night and Emmy and David are going to be in the wedding. The plan was for them to walk down the aisle in front of the flower girl and ring bearer but David isn't quite walking yet, so they are going to ride in the wagon, like they will in LynnLynn and Papa Richie's wedding in May. So, we are getting some good practice in this weekend. I can't wait to see her in her little frufru dress. Hopefully we can get some good pictures of she and I since we don't have any so far.

Birthday Picture

Celebrating President's Day

Oh, I do love a long weekend! I think the holidays are quite possibly one of my absolute favorite things about my job. We spent the weekend pretty low key around here. On Saturday, Emmy and I went to visit Papa Richie and had lunch with Solomon, Uncle Neallio and Auntie B. It was fun. She and Sol are so adorable together and had a great time saying hello to everyone at the restaurant. We were going to go to church Sunday but Emmy had a runny nose and I didn't want to be THAT mom that took her snot nosed kid to the nursery so we just played it close to home again.

But, Monday! What a day! AunTee and Lucas came over and we went to Sekisui for lunch. Lucas and Emmy had the pork dumplings and didn't try the sushi quite yet. Then, we all went to the Children's Museum. It was so much fun!! I think we are going to try and go next Sunday with Dadoo and go ahead and buy the family membership. There were so many fun things to do there. They have a little Kroger store where you can pick out items and then use the cash register. Here, Emmy and Lucas discuss the best type of condiments to purchase.

Then, Emmy enjoyed looking at herself in the mirrored disco room. She and Lucas would dance very briefly!

One of the best things is the airplane area. There is a part of a FedEx plane there and cubbies with pilot jackets and caps to put on. Not that you can tell, but this is Lucas getting ready to take off.

There were lots of cars (sans doors) for the kids' entertainment. There was a mini-van in the AutoZone area and a police car and firetruck. Hopefully, this is the one and only time we will see Emmy and Lucas in the back of a squad car.

And this is just rotten. She loves to get into the tightest little spots she can find. It took me forever to unwedge here from this spot. And that sweater! I found it and thought we would try it on to wear yesterday but it was too short. She ended up just wearing it around the house so that I could say that she at least wore it once.

Amazing stuff

Tara kept telling me that I would be amazed at the things Emmy would start doing at a year. She said that things just start clicking then. Well, last night we were trying to get some photos of her and she started playing with her baby doll that she got for her birthday. I never thought she was old enough for a doll yet, but not only does she love on her and enjoy playing with her, she got the baby's pacifier and tried to put it in her mouth! Emmy never even took a pacifier--not once!!--so I was so impressed that she knew exactly what to do with it. I am so proud of our little munchkin!

Bohemian Rhapsody

Today is officially a LynnLynn day. Emmy is wearing the adorable jacket that LynnLynn got her for her birthday. I think she looks just adorable in it!
You can see the tent is still in the dining room with the table pushed to the side. We can’t stand to take it down—I think it would break her heart! We are going to have to clean the basement so that we can leave it up all the time down there.

And she is officially riding forward facing! Her new car seat has a cover that was made especially for Emmy by LynnLynn (you can tell it is just for her because it has her monogram on it!) and she is enjoying it immensely. At first, she cried a little but I think that was her thinking that Mama was driving backwards. Once she realized that we could make faces at each other in the rear view mirror, she was much better and very giggly. The new seat is so big though and she looks so tiny in it. I am sure she feels like she is in a LaZBoy compared to the rear-facing seat. At one point, I looked back there and she was sitting with her legs crossed--"Indian-style"!
Thank you, LynnLynn! Not just for my cool clothes and carseat cover but for everything!

Twelve months

I can’t believe it. Twelve months. Momma used to wake me up every year on my birthday singing “Happy Birthday” to me. And after I moved out, she always called me at 8:32, the exact time I was born. She was a great mom. And I am so lucky to have a great daughter. I ran in this morning singing to her and she slept through it, I got her just about changed and she slept through it! The girl really has a problem with mornings! Just like her dadoo! But, after we sat and snuggled for a while, she was up and ready for the day. I got this picture of her eating her cereal bar at the table that Papa Richie got her for her birthday. I am afraid that we are going to have to get rid of our dining room table. Emmy loves her Fashion Show tent that we got her for her birthday. When we brought it in from the party, we just stuck it in the dining room since the table was already moved out of the way for the party. Now, she runs in there and squeals with delight! She never gets tired of us peeking in from one side or the other and just giggles as if it is brand new every time. I love that giggle. So many things are changing so quickly with Emmy. She had the most adorable laugh and she has already outgrown it into a more grown up laugh. When she was smaller and would laugh, her whole little body would shake with joy. Now, she laughs more like a normal person—a good hearty laugh but her toes don’t get into the action so much as they used to anymore. It is so exciting to see her grow into a little person but so sad to see her grow from a baby to a toddler. She is a toddler now! It feels like tomorrow we will be picking out prom dresses! I think her top molars are trying to come in now too! Bless her heart but she will be ready for a nice steak any day now. For now, she really likes guacamole. We had some the other day and she ended up just dipping her fingers in the bowl to get all of it. Of course, it was all over her by the time she was done. I think I am going to stick with just giving her avacado slices for the time being!

The Girl is really getting so smart! She is learning how to put things inside other things, how to stack things and certainly how to throw things around. I have her little potty in the bathroom just so that she can get accustomed to it. For now, she likes to put her toys inside it!

My sweet, sweet Emmy. I can’t believe it has already been a year but then I can’t remember a time when you were not here.

Catch-all

Emmy is getting in her tenth tooth. Ten! She already has a molar in so this is the one on the other side and it is giving her a very hard time. I can imagine that they are painful--at least the others are more slender, those molars are just big fat things to break through the gums. So, she was up almost all night. Finally at 4am, I gave her some more Tylenol and she went to sleep at about 4:30. My alarm went off at 4:45am. So, I am a walking zombie! She on the other hand, slept so well at that point that she dozed back off while I was dressing her and getting her in the car seat. Poor thing.

There was an agreement signed with the Screen Writers Guild prior to Emmy's party that they would not picket her red carpet, just FYI.

I got my hair cut so I no longer have a mullet. That was the one thing Emmy wanted for her birthday: her mama to lose the mullet.

Today would have been Grandma Jackson's 90th birthday.

More party pics continued

Friday night, Emmy spent the night with Nana Alice, Lucas's grandma. They had great fun and it gave us time to get things together for the party. Here is Uncle Vic and Dadoo trying to get the red carpet tent (her present from us!) together for the party. After it was up, I wish I had my video camera out to record them dancing down the carpet. It was quite hysterical.

More party pics

Oh the fun!

We had our sweet Emmy Ruth's birthday party on Saturday and it was an absolutely wonderful time. She did not melt down a single time, and as her AunTee says, she really enjoys being in the spot light. It was so good to see so many of our friends and family--and we wished we could have had even more of you here!--and all of the kids were so good and so very precious. When we knew Emmy was on her way, we decided then that her first party would be a red carpet, Emmy Awards theme. I even bought the skirt was is wearing while I was pregnant! Everyone got to enjoy all the movie foods like popcorn, hot dogs, pickles and nachos. Her first cake was just like her star on the Walk of Fame would be. A gold star with her name signed across it. Always the lady, Emmy didn't so much dive into her smash cake like I expected but rather worked on it with her fork!

What an amazing year it has been! John and I are so thankful that we have been given the opportunity to be Emmy's parents. And we are especially thankful for all of our friends that have become family to us and are a part of it all.

It was a FAT SCARY Tuesday!!

We always hear about the tornado watches and warnings and they have gotten so commonplace that we often ignore them. Yesterday, they let the schools out early becuase of the impending storm and we all grumbled about "when I was in school...." and wondered what in the world they thought parents were supposed to do. Well, now, I can say that parents can be thankful that their kids weren't on schoolbusses when that crazy storm went down yesterday. I left my office right in the thick of it and headed over the bridge to get Emmy. We were on our way home and constantly on the phone with friends and John regarding the weather. As I was just about to get on the bridge, I got three calls telling me to turn around and they were all terrified. So, Emmy and I went to stay at my boss Peggy's house there in West Memphis. Luckily, there was no damage to our house, but Memphis got hit pretty hard. After John felt like it was okay to try it, we headed back home. Our friend Victor came over with his dog and we all were ready to run to the basement just in case. Thankfully, we are all okay.


Emmy did want to wear her Mardi Gras beads this morning since yesterday was Fat Tuesday after all. She wore her flashing beads with the ducks to MiMi's this morning--I am sure she was thrilled!
And I am not sure what this face is about, but it is silly none the less...

The girl has curls!

Finally, Emmy is starting to get some more hair! I am giddy with excitement at the bows that we will soon have!
It is quite hard to take her seriously when she makes this mad, upset face! Between the lip being jutted out, the little tiny nose and the big blue eyes, I end up just giving her kisses and she starts laughing anyway.
I swear to you that when she screams like this, she looks more like her daddy than she does any other time. Even when they are sleeping. They have the same furrowed little brow. Again, hard to take her seriously...