That favorite time of the year

Well, here we are on actual Halloween and Emmy is in her second costume of the year (Minnie Mouse) and has succesfully worn all of her Halloween t-shirts and onesies. We took today and yesterday off from cardigan duty so that we could get her outfits worn. So cute. We will be starting on her Christmas outfits any day now...

It's an early Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!

I knew Wednesday night would be too dark when I got home for us to visit everyone for Trick or Treating so Emmy wanted to have her first party. Being the cool mom that I am, I agreed. Everyone was on their best behavior and a fantastically spooky time was had by all-after the party, there were wagon rides for everyone. And here we go with the pictures. What is amazing to me is that when you get a group of kids together, they still all play so independently sometimes. Emmy was a spider, Lucas was Yoda, David was a dinosaur, Griffin was Spiderman, Janey was Tinkerbell and Ian was Thomas the Train but refused to wear his outfit.

I made a spider cake and Natalie was beside herself to get into the pudding goodness... Here she has already dissected to the legs off one side and is waiting on all the kids to get around so that she can dig in....

This one is the most special of all to me... Since Emmy was a spider, I was little Miss Muffett and wore a dress of Grandma Ruth's that was blue with a big floral skirt and I needed a hat of course! I wore Emmy's Yia Yia's red hat for the occasion and this moment of Emmy putting it on almost brought me to my knees.

TGIF

Well, Emmy and I are always up for a challenge. What started out as wearing clothes that she has not worn and making sure we get one good wear in them has turned into a real predicament. Now, I have discovered that the girl not only has two Halloween outfits for this year, but also a number of Halloween onesies and t-shirts. I didn't buy all of them, some of them were gifts, some I did pick up and some were hand-me-downs. So, we are doing double duty.
It seems that almost all of her recent pictures are of her staring straight at me smiling so I was only going to do the above 'toe grab' pose but I just love that smile and had to post it again. She was so funny this morning grabbing at the little balls on her sweater. Her jeans are long enough for her when she is standing... it's just the sitting that draws them up higher!

I also discovered that while I thought giving a dog medicine was a challenge, giving a 8.5 month old liquid medicine is even harder!

Rain, Rain, Rain...

Still raining. When we left the house this morning at 640, it was pitch black. By 730, it had brightened up a little bit so that was good. Emmy went to the sitter today. She, of course, had on a cardigan but we made sure it had a hood to cover her little ears. You always hear that babies are very emotive. In this one, you can tell that Emmy is really feeling for me and seems to be saying, "No, Mama! I want you to stay home with me today again!"

But then, when I told her she could talk on my phone and call whomever she wanted, she was back to smiles.

Emmy is just on the verge of walking too. Here she is pushing her Care Bears scooter. It plays a lovely little ditty, "the Care Bears are coming to your town, they'll pick you up when you're feeling down, they're smiling down from up above, filling your heart with caring and love!" that Lucas played one thousand and four times the last time he was at the house. But, she walked behind it from the living room to the dining room. John said she did this for the first time on Monday when he was home with her and now is proudly proclaiming that if one day at home with Dadoo can get her almost walking, imagine what she could do if he was home with her all the time! Obviously, whatever she was doing would involve one sock.

urgh...

Emmy Ruth hasn't feel very well since Friday but we thought she was getting over her cold. Her babysitter often says that Emmy has the toughest time with her teeth and I keep saying that I just can't believe how hard her teething has been. Last night, she was really fussy and had her fists crammed in her mouth and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her pull her ear one time. Just once--in the whole time, this is the first time she has pulled her ear. So, I decided to just take her to the doctor today, just in case, to make sure she didn't have an ear infection. Bingo. We got our prescription for Amoxicillin and headed home, stopping on the way to get our antibiotic filled.

It's been raining this week here so getting out and about in this rain has me really nervous. I stopped using Walgreen's pharmacy because you always have to drop off your prescription and pick it up three or four hours later. Like if you are really sick, you want to get back out and pick up your medicine. The Rite Aid pharmacy was good the last time I used it so we tried that again. When I dropped it off, Emmy Ruth was screaming in the back seat and they told me that it would be ready in 30 minutes. That I could deal with--I drove around Midtown for 30 minutes, stopping to get me breakfast at Danver's. I told them that I wanted it flavored cherry in hopes that it would help her take it. When I returned to pick it up, Emmy is still screaming in the back seat and we headed home.

Hasn't everyone in the world taken amoxicillin (except those that allergic to penicillin, like John, which makes me nervous)? It's that pink nasty gunk that we all have taken forever, so when I get home and open it, it's powder. I pulled the label off and it says to mix it with water. At first, I thought that maybe I was just out of it and so old and that this was the new thing. I went ahead and called the pharmacy and the pharmacist was upset that they didn't mix it and told me to bring it back. So, I had to put a screaming Emmy Ruth back in her car seat and went back to the pharmacy. I pulled up and told the technician that my medicine wasn't right and I had just talked to the pharmacist and she says, "what's wrong with it?" I swear to you that when I told her it wasn't mixed, she just walked away. The first time she comes back and says, "I know you wanted it cherry flavored but it is already grape flavored it that okay?" and I told her of course it was okay. Then she comes back and says, "Actually it was bubblegum flavored, is that okay?" No kidding it is bubblegum flavored--it was bubblegum flavored when I took it in the 70's.

At first thought, this just annoyed me that I was getting out in the rain again to get what should have been done right the first time. Then, I got irritated thinking that you know, someone could have actually given their child 2/3 teaspoon of the powder and really overdosed him or her. Now, I am still a little perturbed but mainly just thankful that my little monkey just has an ear infection and will be better soon. And thankful that we were able to go to the doctor when the girl was sick--I can't imagine not being able to see the doctor when I worry about her, either from having no insurance or having to wait weeks. I just can't imagine. Gotta go--the girl is sleeping and I need to get her out and cuddle with her for the rest of her nap.

Baby, it's cold outside!

Well, some may not consider it cold but for us, it's pretty darn cold! I am thrilled to get some Octoberish weather since we are over halfway through the month. But, of course cold weather means sniffles and snot so Emmy was home yesterday with Dadoo with a runny nose and low grade fever. She is much better today and ready to resume our cardigan progress. Her shirt says "I love my Mummy" as we gear up for Halloween. I cannot WAIT for our Halloween party Sunday afternoon!!! Can't wait to have lots of pictures to show from that--we finally decided on a family costume. Emmy is going to be a spider, I will be Little Miss Muffett (now I have to find a tuffett) and John is going to be a spider web (appropriately holding Emmy tightly in his arms!!).

Oh my boy!

So, now we are getting into the real nitty gritty of our kids growing. Sweet Lucas will be turning one on Wednesday and his birthday party was today. Emmy has been sickly--just a cold and with no fever--so we went today and they had the best time. I love Lucas as if he were my own little guy. He's a lucky guy--he's got his fabulous mom and dad but he also has his incredible Mimi and Grandma Jim and Nana and Papaw. I think about the day that Tara told me he was coming. I was so raw (not that I am not now) after Momma's death. It was only a month after she died and we were at Wal-Mart and walked by the baby section and, as usual, I remarked on the cute baby clothes and Tara remarked, "well, you will have to buy me that stuff soon". I hugged her almost instinctively but could not get out of that store and away from her soon enough. I wanted so badly to be pregnant and I was so happy for her and so sad at the same time that it wasn't the other way around. I got in the car and couldn't call Momma. I did the next best thing and called Pat. I was in tears and she said the perfect thing: Oh Yeah! I am so happy for them! I will never in my entire life forgive myself for the guilt I feel for ever even letting my selfishness take away from the most magical moment in Tara's life.

And then I got pregnant. I ran to her house and jumped over Jorge, tripped over the dog and waved a pregnancy test in her face and she cried. Like a sister should have done. But I didn't do to her. Not like I should have. And then the fun started. We bitched and moaned together---pregnant and ready for a good drink over the next few months.

On the 23rd of October, I got back from lunch to see that I Had a missed call from Tara and when I finally got Jorge on the phone, he said she was at the hospital. I grabbed my stuff and left right then proclaiming to everyone that "I am off to be an aunt!!!!!!!!!" and I was. We sat in that delivery room with her parents and Jorge's parents and waited. Tara was, as always, the champion of things that suck. Instead of being honest of how bad the labor pains really were, she only looked at me, with a little tear in her eye and said she didn't want to scare me, it wasn't that bad. Okay, come on, T2, I know that labor isn't going to be fun--it's going to hurt!-- and I am WAAAYYYYYYYYYYY pregnant, no need to pretty it up for me. When the doctor came in and said that they were going to do a c-section, I thought all was good. But, when we left her in that room, on her way to the operational room, I almost lost it. I knew that she would be okay, I knew that my Lucas would come out with his little perfect noggin because he didn't have to fit through that tiny little birth canal but what if??? What if? I sat in that waiting room with her family and Jorge's family and I waited. FOREVER. Finally, at 3am, they let us see them. I went in and told them how happy I was for them, there were so many family members there, and I left after only a few minutes--they knew I was there and they knew that I loved him but it was their grandbaby and I had a lifetime to show him how much I loved him--even if we had none of that silly blood between us.

And now he is one. One year old. How is that??? That little guy is a year old and he is walking. Walking!!! A boy! He's no longer a baby, he's a little boy. Momma always said that she would be "Yia Yia" which is Greek for Grandma so I felt it was only natural for me to take the Greek name for aunt, "Thia" for Lucas. I had my dear, dear friend Joy make him a blanket that reads "No one loves me like my Thia" and it is so true today. No one loves him like I do. I might not have a blood relation to him and I have chosen to love him. My little one year old guy. The little one year old that shares his wagon with Emmy at his birthday party. We are all pretty lucky to have him in our lives.

Nellie

I am about to bust just waiting for Em to get enough hair to wear bows. Last night, I made her a few that attached to little clips so that they will fit in her oh so fine hair. But, they are just a bit too big--she looks like Nellie Olsen. No, I didn't make her wear it and check out Friday's cardigan! We had to take off yesterday since it was so hot and we were out of crocheted, cooler cardigans.

And then there was this... not only is the sign misspelled, but there are two signs--one on the other side of the building and they are both spelled wrong. And have been up there for months spelled this way!!!!!!

The Giggle

Emmy has the sweetest giggle in the world. Just absolutley adorable but of course we never get it on video. Tonight Dadoo was giving her a bath and I ran to get the camera when she started doing it. Ignore the way that the camera keeps moving around, that's where I was trying to 'hide' and play peek-a-boo to make her giggle. I think we got one good giggle on there before John started sounding like Woody Woodpecker.

This heat!

Emmy and I are not easily deterred. We started Cardigan Casual wear when the temperature dipped down and now it has gotten back up into the 80's. So, we are improvising. We are wearing the coolest cardigans we have this week. Here are Tuesday and Wednesday's cardigans, respectively.

(did you notice, there are no hands holding her up in this one???? The girl can stand! Not for long, but she can do it!!! We are so proud!)

American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Walk

Emmy and I will be walking Saturday morning in the ACS Breast Cancer Walk. I absolutley hate soliciting people for donations but if anyone is interested, here is the link to donate.

Monday's cardigan

We went to Fayetteville for the weekend to visit friends. If I say that we went to see a certain sporting event, I will get all riled up again, so it is best to just let it be. Emmy was so lucky to get to spend some time with my friend Rhonda and her husband Lee and daughter Becca. They were so nice and kept Emmy so that we could go to that unnamed sporting event. We had lunch with my college friend Trisha and her family (and of course, I forgot to get photos of the girls together) and then yesterday before we left town, we saw my college friend Stacy and her family. It was really nice. On the way home, we stopped at UCA to get photos of Emmy at my alma mater. This is an especially special photo since it is on the steps of Main, where I spent almost all of my time. The math department was in Main but I think they have their own building now. It was this building when on my last week of college, I was walking up these stairs and someone tapped me on the shoulder to tell me that my skirt was tucked into my backpack--after I had walked all the way across campus. Fun stuff. And here is today's cardigan. We took the weekend off of cardigan duty so that we could dress appropriately for a certain unnamed sporting event but are back to it today. I had to set Emmy on the floor and in order to entertain her, I just gave her some things from my purse. My business card holder and two wet wipes. I just realized it looks like she is playing with something else, but they are wet wipes, I promise!David was at the house Friday night and Emmy has gotten into this habit of getting up close and personal with all of the other kids. She likes to kiss them and while I am sure she is intending to caress their faces, she seems to poke their eyes. It's a challenge to get her to keep her fingers out of other kids' eyeballs. Here she is lovingly holding David's cheeks and looking at us like, "can I kiss him? Please let me kiss him."Then she is saying, "come on David, it's just a kiss, one more". David was not amused.

Eight months old

Wow. This was the month that it all started to make sense. When I see Emmy with her first tricycle or going to kindergarten or running with her friends, this is the month that I will think of and smile. She's always been our girl and we of course adored her, but this is the month that our hearts just about exploded for her. She crawls every where and is trying so hard to be able to walk. She reminds of a Clydesdale horse when she is tromping around the house on all fours. The way that they are so ceremonial and left their hoofs up so high when they prance around--that's The Girl. You can hear her coming down the hall with her hands coming so high off the ground and then slapping back down to the floor. It's precious. And the giggle! The giggle is fabulous. It is almost like a maniacal little person in there. And the teeth! There are five and a half of them now! She will be eating apples before too long!

A few weeks ago she grew up and started sleeping in her bed. The first night was awful. She screamed for 45 minutes before she finally slept for the night. The next night it was 30 minutes and then 15 minutes and then 7 minutes and then 75 seconds. At first, it was wonderful. We were delighted that we were finally tough enough to get her out of our bed and let her cry it out. But then I missed her. She is such a restless sleeper that I thought we would all sleep better with her in her own bed. It has proved two-thirds true. She and John are sleeping through the night. I get up at 2am for our bottle and there is no one awake to take a bottle. So, I lie in bed and think. And think. And miss my girl. One night, I put her in bed with us and she of course was up in the middle of the night. I wanted to do it again but knew that it was not fair to her so I put her in her crib and she was asleep before I got back in our room to turn on the baby monitor. I wanted to sit on the bedside and cry--she already doesn't need me any more.

And then she said Mama. She said it again and again. She called the diaper, the bottle, the dog and even the stacking cups "mama". When we were driving back from Fayetteville this weekend and she was desperate to get out of her seat, she screamed "maaaaaaaaaaaaaamaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and John looked at me and said, "I hope to God she doesn't learn to say Dadoo, I can't take that".

So when my sweet Emmy is a preteen and she hates me and has horrible taste in hair, clothes and music, I will remember this. I will remember sitting here on the couch writing this and see her little nimble body standing at the doorway laughing and smiling at me with her little Jack-o-Lantern mouth, trying so desperately to hold herself up. This is the time I will always remember that Emmy turned into a little person, with her own little personality and characteristics. We are pretty damn lucky.

"Mama"

We officially have a first word! “Mama” We joked that she was so vain (she does love to look at herself in the mirror!) that her first word would be “Emmy” and I had secretly hoped for “Sooie” to be the first word, and we thought that she might have been saying “hey” a few times, but she has come through with my personal favorite, “mama”. I have thought for the past few days that she was saying it but could not be sure since a lot of times she rambles on in conversation with “maoambehaa" or "heeehooomaaa” followed by “bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb” but this seemed different. Since we only get about an hour and a half of quality time with her per day, a lot of that time is spent with her being tired and fussing about her teeth. She has been crawling into my lap and burying her head and I thought she would say “mama” but was not positive. Then this morning, after our trip to Wal-Mart, she very clearly stated from the backseat, “mama”. I have to disclose (I am a compliance officer, after all) that was talking to the Baby Einstein blue block but maybe she just wanted to get my attention so that I would see the block.

Cardigan Casual

I love a good cardigan. Love it. Maybe it has to do with the period of my peak of coolness—when grunge was all the rage and Kurt Cobain and Weezer really spoke to me. Maybe it’s because with my chunkiness, I can appreciate a piece of clothing that you don’t have to button, zip or snap. Regardless, I love a good cardigan. Emmy has several, to say the least. She has a several that were intended for her to wear last spring but she was too small for them to fit her at the time. Our usual dress code is that Emmy wears whatever during the week (usually a dress or romper) but on Fridays, it’s casual Friday for the Burton girls. We both get to wear jeans on Fridays. But Thursday, we started Cardigan Casual wear and we are going to wear a cardigan every day until they all get at least one wear so she is going to be wearing a lot of jeans for a while. Here she is on Thursday and Friday.

Denim jacket

Of course, I have several of momma’s things that I wear on a regular basis. I have her rings and a mother’s bracelet with mine and Neall’s names on it. Daddy had a extra strand added to it for me with “Emmy Ruth” on it and I wear it a lot of the time too. Sometimes, I will move my arm just right and a memory of mom will flash through my mind—of her standing there talking to someone, using her hands as she often did, being so expressive and full of life. Those are some of my most favorite memories and moments. And a lot of the still shots of momma that I have in my mind are of her when she was so thin, wearing her sterling jewelry, flitting around town, wearing a denim jacket. I am not sure why that jacket has stuck out in my mind so much when I remember her but it has. So, Wednesday the weather was getting a little chillier and Emmy wore her denim jacket to the babysitters and I thought of momma.

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.