When life hands you pancreatitis...

...make jello molds. I have eaten my weight in jello the past two weeks so last night Emmy Ruth and I worked on molds in the shapes of Spiderman, Shrek and Cars. They didn't turn out so well but the jello was just as good. I am really looking forward to eating again!

So, this is ER's last week with MeeMee. I am so excited about Emmy starting school at Idlewild, mainly because I can't wait to see how much she learns! Of course, the idea of not driving a hundred miles a day is quite pleasing also. But, the idea of leaving MeeMee is just torture. I can never thank her enough for all she did for us, when we needed it most. I dropped this sweet girl, at six weeks old, off at her house for the majority of the day. If I do say so myself, she has done a wonderful job of raising our brilliant girl. I am so sad to leave, uh, I mean, for Emmy Ruth to leave, but I know this is for the best and that she will be so quick to bounce into her new routine. Let's hope Mama does as well!

Daddy's Girls

So, a sweet Emmy Ruth came home today. I was so happy to see her and Uncle Neallio, Aunt Becca and Joy all said that she had been asking for me. ME! It had been a day longer since I had seen her than her daddy, and I just knew we would snuggle up on the couch for some much anticipated Dora and Yo Gabba Gabba! I was wrong. She got out of the car and gave me a quick kiss and immediatley went for Daddy. Even when he was cutting up strawberries for her to snack on before dinner, she would have nothing to do with me, only her daddy.

I can't get too upset since another Daddy's Girl spent the day with her dad today. For the second time in three days, Daddy drove all the way over her to just check on me and help out with that important stuff that I could never do alone and that must be done while sick, like grocery shopping.

We are both so lucky to have such good daddies.

Note...

Before Tuesday morning, the only other time I drove myself to the hospital was when we came home with sweet Emmy Ruth. I am thinking that trip was a lot better than this more recent drive I made. I got up after midnight and was quite certain that I was passing a kidney stone or perhaps having an ectopic pregnancy. I have never hurt so badly! It literally was worse than the labor pains pre epidural. There was no way that I wanted to get Emmy Ruth up and out in the middle of the night so John had to stay home with her while I took off. I am pretty surprised I didn't get pulled over on the drive there, but I arrived okay, and took off towards to the ER. I must have looked pretty rough since they got me back there pretty quickly and off to do an EKG and CT scan. I was admitted and limited to a diet of ice chips only.

I am so thankful for friends that take care of me, a husband that loves me and was literally shaking with worry, a brother and sister in law who jumped over here as quickly as they could to take my girl so I wouldn't need to worry and friends that kept me in their prayers, made visits and called to check in on me. I was lucky that this wasn't a big deal, and I am going to be okay. Praise God.

And now, three days later, I am home with a diagnosis of acute pancreatitis due to a gallstone. It was much more fun coming home with Emmy Ruth!

Such a lady

And here we have Our Grace riding along with me.

Another phrase she has learned is "daddy where's the remote?"

Jesus Loves Me

Emmy Ruth is in the habit of making a statement and asking a question at the same time lately. We listen to our Sunday School music CD in the car and after Jesus Loves Me, she looked at me said “Jesus loves me?” I told her He did more than she could ever imagine. But, He was surely not happy to see her throwing her sippy cup at me while I was driving.  

 

The other day, she kept saying “That way!” when I was getting on the interstate to drive home. She was correct in the direction we needed to go back to Memphis but I had to turn left to get on the ramp to get back that way and Emmy Ruth was not happy until I was going east. Last night, she kept saying she wanted to see AunTee and told me to turn “That way”, again, correctly. I was really thinking it was all a fluke until this morning, she said “MeeMee lives that way” and again pointed accurately. I am amazed! And can say without a doubt that she did not get this astute sense of direction from her Yia Yia who got lost when she left Wynne.

 

And last but not least, Emmy Ruth said her first sentence! I can’t be sure that she hasn’t said sentences before but this was the first that John and I both stopped and looked at each other and realized it. She said… “Bill ate my dinner!” after Bill ate her chicken taco while ERB was watching Dora the Explorer.

 

Flowers and Stickers

Emmy Ruth gave flowers for Easter this year. Because they would be
planted, putting them in a pot didn't make much sense so she decided to
just put Easter stickers on the green planter they were already wearing.
And what the heck? If there are stickers, might as well put some on our
belly.

Happy Easter and 26 months

There is nothing to say but, my goodness, Momma would have loved this.

Nothing like a little Ring Around the Rosey before heading to church.

Easter. At the Mall.

Of course it is time for our Annual Easter On the Bench At the Mall Picture.

 

2007. Emmy crying.

2008. Lucas crying.

2009. Emmy and Lucas won’t stop hugging long enough to take a picture.

 

 

Yep, it is all still there...

I am quite sure she was looking to see that her eyeballs were still
intact after the screaming that went on during her shampoo massage.

Last night, we made Easter cookies. That is probably a stretch of the
truth to say that we made them but it was so much fun. Emmy Ruth was
standing on a step ladder to reach the counter and as I would roll out
the cookie dough, she pressed in the Easter shaped cookie cutters. She
quickly discovered that cookie dough is the best food ever. We kept
telling her to stop eating it so she would sneak out a piece and pop it
in her mouth every chance that she got. She thought this was the
funniest thing ever and would just cackle with delight.

Me too, Emmy, me too

This morning as we got out of the car at Wal-Mart, there was a Tombstone Pizza truck within eyesight. Emmy Ruth exclaimed, “PIZZA!” and pointed at the picture on the side of the truck. Then she said, “I love pizza”.

 

Glad I got that picture

…of Emmy with the maraca! She broke it this morning on the way out the door. Last night, she found two more maracas and she had John and I join her in her playtent shaking maracas and playing the bongo drum.

While she is enjoying playing the tub, Emmy Ruth still hates the bathing process. It is really getting difficult to handle and I am not sure what the problem is or what we are going to do about it. She isn’t happy at all with the scrubbing on her body but heaven help us all when we wash her hair. Last night, we were blowing bubbles and she would say “it got me!” when one landed on her. This morning, a tiny little drop of milk from her sippy cup landed on her hand and she exclaimed that it got her too—she found this hysterically funny. That girl, she’s one silly munchkin.

This morning, she requested that we listen to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in the car. About twenty times.

Good stuff

Emmy Ruth spent Saturday night with Nana Alice and Papaw Ricky and John and I worked on getting the basement cleaned up after the flooding it got the week before. The floors are properly bleached and scrubbed and everything is now up and off and floor. Emmy’s playroom has foam tiles for playing and lots of toys in hanging baskets. All is well.

 

This picture cracks me up. Momma kept so many of my things for when I had kids and I am so glad she did and I wish she were here to see Emmy Ruth playing with them now. Grandma Jackson had a penchant for costume jewelry so I kept a lot of that knowing that one day it would be perfect for a dress up chest and how right I was. Emmy is sitting in the rocking chair that was mine when I was little, wearing two of Grandma Jackson’s necklaces and shaking a maraca that Momma and Daddy brought back from Costa Rica. Life is good.

 

 

Just like David Beckham only CUTER

So, Lucas had his first soccer game on Saturday. The coach told them the first rule of soccer was no hands and the second rule of soccer was no picking flowers. They followed each rule equally well.

 

Emmy Ruth is obviously Lucas’s biggest fan.

Sushi with Minnie

The other day, I found Emmy and Minnie Mouse having sushi in Emmy’s room. Apparently, Minnie Mouse likes her sushi with a croissant and a hot dog wiener and Emmy likes hers with a carrot and ice cream.

"Daddy..."

Last night, John was so sweet and let me camp out in the bedroom and watch the series finale of ER. I really haven’t watched it lately but I remember sitting around watching it with so many friends through the years. As I tried to watch it in the living room, Emmy got out her Yo Gabba Gabba! dance mat which made it a little difficult to hear, so John offered to entertain Emmy for me. This morning, when I got up, this was the scene in the living room after their playdate. I am not sure what happened in there but apparently there was a grocery store incident (as evidenced by the sideways shopping cart), a concert of stuffed, singing and dancing farm animals, and perhaps some role play with all of the Yo Gabba Gabba! characters while wearing a pink cowgirl hat. But, it was certainly a good time.

 

This morning when we got in the car, Emmy wanted to watch Yo Gabba Gabba! and I told her we didn’t have a DVD for them and we couldn’t. She immediately tried to rat me out! “Daddy, Mama said we couldn’t watch Gabba!” As if John wasn’t sitting in the passagner seat and heard the entire conversation. I am not sure what this is about but it’s quite comical. Thankfully, John hasn’t turned on me to take her side. Yet.

 

The other just stinking adorable thing lately is that when we drop John off at work, Emmy says he is “going to make the money”. One day when she was upset that he was leaving I told her that he had to go to work to make money and she has held on to it. MeeMee says that all day long she will tell her that Daddy is making the money. I don’t know what she thinks I am doing all day, but I am glad she knows that Daddy is working hard to support us.

 

 

 

Apparently, she's afraid of my driving.

We went to Jonesboro Saturday to see John’s family. It was so good to see them and of course, Emmy Ruth got spoiled while we were there. Her Aunt Cathy and Uncle Ted gave her this really cool Dora helmet and kneepads and she insisted on wearing them all day. She even tried to sleep in them! We ran into Richie and LynnLynn at the mall so it was an exciting meet and greet all the way around!

 

No, that’s not Emmy’s Sonic drink, she just managed to snag John’s for a bit.

 

Our girl is getting so big. I just can’t believe it. I like to think she is just the sweetest and most caring soul. Any time you make a strange noise or grumble, she says “you okay?” Just a sweet, sweet girl. We are so lucky.

Thug Nation

Lucas came over Friday night to show off his mad soccer skills after practice. He and Emmy had to wear their hooded sweatshirts exactly alike.

 

 

Children's Museum

We had great plans to go to the zoo on Saturday with Joy and Julia but the rain kind of put a damper on that. Jane Goodall was to be there and John tried to tell me that it would be so appropriate to see gorillas in the mist when she was there, but we decided to not take the girls. Instead we went to the Children’s Museum, as did every other family in Memphis on this rainy day. But, the girls had a blast and Joy and I do love seeing our girls playing together! It’s so very precious to me.

 

Now that Julia has her running legs, there is no stopping her.  It was adorable!!

 

 

St. Patrick's Day

Poor Emmy Ruth has just had a heck of a week! First this nasty stomach bug, then last night she split her lip! We were playing in the backyard and had only been there for a few minutes when it happened. She was in her playhouse and then as she was heading up to do her first slide of the day, she slipped on the step and cracked her chin in the slide. At first, I thought she just bumped her lip but she was staring at us with wide eyes and blood gushing everywhere. John and I were each sitting in the Adirondack chairs and those things are so low to the ground that we couldn’t get up and to her fast enough.  After we rushed in and got cleaned up and had a popsicle, she seemed to be okay, even if eating dinner was a challenge for her.

 

Before the accident, she was having such a good time. She got into her playhouse and put the things I store in there outside of the house. Apparently, she doesn’t have the packrat gene that I got from Momma. It is either that or she is getting ready for her first yard sale. Luke and Anna get so excited when we come outside so they were jumping around with glee. When I sit in my chair, Luke always tries to get in my lap, not realizing that 120 pounds is not a pleasant lap dog size. I told him to get down and Emmy stuck her head out the window of her playhouse and said, “you okay, Mom?” I guess she was about to hurry over to defend me, now that she is so grown—she has dropped the “Y” and we are just “mom” and “dad” now.

 

The giant box is still in the living room and might not leave. So far, she has her skateboard, her booster seat and a few of her cardboard bricks in there.

 

LynnLynn made her this great cape and sling for her baby. Last night after she was doctored and fed, she had to wear both of them. Together. Apparently she was pretending to be SuperMom. Then, we all piled in bed to watch Blue’s Clues before bed. As you can tell by the Yo Gabba Gabba! pillowcase, she is still sleeping in our bed. J

 

 

Can you ever have too many curls?

In our family, we think not… Emmy found these curlers as I was cleaning out the bathroom closet and had to have each and every one of them in her hair. Then, she had to examine John’s work at rolling her hair.