Home Sweet Home

Tonight, a mom is taking her kids to their new home. I want to tell them that they are pretty darn lucky. If they get half the love, the joy, the excitements, even half the groundings, I did in that house, they will know it is a wonderful home.

I can't imagine what someone else will do in MY house. I should warn them that I never snuck out of there successfully. And the walls are pretty thin and my brother carved in the ceiling when he was on his top bunk bed. And that the back yard is a great place for a fort. And there is so much love already there and all they have to do is tap into it.

We Had a Holly Jolly Christmas!

We had so much fun this year! Emmy Ruth wasn’t sure what exactly was going on but she was very aware that she was getting lots of presents. I thought we did a good job of not getting too much for her, but apparently that was not the case. But, seeing her little face when she discovered the giant Minnie Mouse sitting on her tricycle or the kitchen that she can crawl into or the Aquadoodle where she can color, really brighten up any grinch’s day. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the girl. Of course, even after getting so many gifts, she still found time to play with my plastic bowls!!!

 

What a wonderful Christmas!!!!!

Oh we had such a great time!!! Emmy loved her kitchen that Santa brought her and so many people that love her gave her food and accessories for her new kitchen. She got lots of great toys and gifts but more than anything got lots of love. We are so happy and lucky!

A Week of Christmas Celebrations

Emmy is not going to know what is going on when the holidays are over and she isn’t getting presents all the time anymore! She had so much fun this weekend. On Saturday, we meet Julia and Joy for lunch and saw Mrs. Pat. Of course, Emmy got and gave presents. Then, we went to AunTee’s family Christmas party in Beedeville. Emmy and Lucas had so much fun. She was NOT impressed with the big guy in red however. She screamed when he came in the door and literally quivered until he left. Even after she got her present (twin babies! a boy and a girl!) she was beside herself. Lucas’s MiMi gave Emmy a baby doll set too, so she spent the entire night carrying all three babies around with her! This baby cries and on the way home Saturday night, Emmy was asleep but as she slept, she would squeeze the baby and that darn thing would cry out. The first time it happened, I almost jumped out of the car.

 

Then on Sunday, John’s family came to visit and brought her a Yo Gabba Gabba explosion. Not only did she get the Dancing Brobee, she got two new t-shirts, a hoodie, a hat and gloves. And she insisted on wearing all of them at the same time, hence why she looks so disheveled in the pictures. There is a picture of me somewhere when Grandma Jackson made me six new pairs of shorts and I insisted on wearing them all at the same time. I know that Momma is chuckling at our little Emmy Ruth right now. Her granddad got her a tricycle too. Of course, she is wearing all of her layers and carrying Baby while learning to ride it.

 

These pictures are some of my favorites from the weekend. In one of them, she is talking to Baby and saying “Hello there, Baby!” and in another, she is addressing her Christmas cards.

 

Ah, what a silly chicken she is. I can hardly wait until Christmas morning. John and I are just giddy to see what she thinks of what Santa Claus is bringing her. I am going to get off early on Christmas Eve so we are going to bundle up and stay at home all night and then all day Christmas Day. What a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Christmas this will be!

 

Baby

Oh how Emmy Ruth loves this very ugly baby that was mine when I was little!!

Twenty Two Months

Oh, my Sweet Petite….  What a month this has been! Emmy Ruth has changed from a baby to a little girl right before our very eyes. And, amazingly enough in spite of the example she got from me, she is a wonderful little mommy. All of her babies get love, they get diaper changes, they get feedings and they all get put down for night-night. It is the absolute sweetest thing to watch. The funniest thing is Emmy with her phone. She cracks me up talking on it! The other night, we were in the car and I heard “Becca? {pause} Awe, man!” I am not sure what her Aunt Becca is telling her on these calls, but it must be wonderful because they “talk” all the time!

 

This weekend, she was sitting in Daddy’s lap with a swaddled Baby and Rudy climbed up in the chair and sat on Baby’s head. Emmy LET.HIM.HAVE.IT! She pointed at that cat and all we could make out was when she pointed at his tail and exclaimed “That’s where Rudy boo-boos!”. Such the overprotective mommy. How dare the putt his booboo on her baby’s head??? I don’t blame her one bit. I would be upset if someone came and sat on Emmy’s head as well.

 

We were in her room playing, me sitting on the fairy toddler bed and John in the Barbie desk as instructed, and she was playing with her Justice League bop bag. She pointed at Wonder Woman and said “Mama!” and then pointed at Superman and said “Daddy!”. Of course, we told her that she was absolutely right, she did live with Wonder Woman and Superman in the very same house and she was a very lucky little girl. I am trying to teach her our names, just in case, God forbid, something ever happens. I ask what is Daddy’s name and she looks at me as if I were just stupid and says “Daddy”. I am waiting on her to add the “duh” at the end, any moment now. Last night as she was trying to go to sleep, she told me that she needed milk and that Baby needed a diaper so I asked what Mama needed. And she replied “Daddy”. How right she is… I need Daddy more than she will never know.

 

Daddy is the one that keeps us all sane around here. I scratched Emmy under her eye Friday night and I feel so very badly. Lately, she really has had an aversion to me, wanting anyone but me.  If her AunTee is around, I might as well go ahead and sit out in the front yard by myself, she will have nothing to do with me, going so far as to call her “Mommy”. At first it was cute. Now, weeks later, it is starting to really hurt my feelings. In the rare instances that Emmy comes to me and grabs my hand and says “come on!”, I just melt and jump at the chance to be the chosen companion. In my zest to make our playtime fun, I was flipping her around and she hurt something, I am still not sure what. She ran to her daddy and there were lots of tears—by both his girls.

 

Who knew that being so very happy and so very sad could come from one little girl?  She absolutely is our everything and we are so thankful and so lucky to have spent the most wonderful 22 months with her.

 

 

 

Christmas Parade

I would love to say how much Emmy Ruth loved the Christmas parade but I can’t since she wouldn’t speak to me—it was all about her AunTee. They had a great time watching the parade together.

 

Christmas humor

Last night, we could not find Emmy for a bit. Turns out, she was guarding the presents under the tree. By sitting on them. And opening all the gifts that were in gift bags.

 

Tara walked in a found Lucas unwrapping a present, singing “Happy Birthday to Me”. It was time to tell him whose birthday it really was!

 

We have had a big girl bed setback. Last night, Emmy went to sleep in her bed but fell out of it. John heard her fall and went in there and the poor little thing was just shaking, she was so scared. I am not sure if she rolled out or if she was trying to get out to come into our bed and got tangled up in the sheets. I am not sure what this will mean for tonight’s bedtime routine. Fingers crossed.

Precious Moments

Is there anything more precious than taking your princess to her first ballet? My friend Shannon works at AutoZone and they were invited to see The Nutcracker final dress rehearsal last night at the Orpheum before the show starts today. She invited Emmy and I to go along with her mother Peggy (my friend and boss and “Giggy” to Emmy). I was really worried that we might not make it through the first scene with our rambunctious girl but she was wonderful. She loved it! The entire first act, she sat relatively still and watched, pointing, “oohing” and “aahing”, and clapping at all the right moments. It was so very special. Momma used to tell me about all the times she and Daddy took me to see The Nutcracker and I slept through it. I know that Yia Yia was so proud of our girl for being so grown up last night. Of course, I sat there with Emmy in my lap, wearing her shirt with ballet shoes on it, kissing her hair and thinking of how lucky we are, and had tears in my eyes. Emmy kept whispering “No, Mama” when I squeezed her too tightly or nuzzled her neck a little too much.

 

And then we got home and she promptly ditched me to play drums with her Daddy.

 

Christmas photos

We took our Christmas photos this week and here are a few of my favorites. You can’t really see Bill in the one that she is petting her, but I just love the smile on Emmy’s face.

Burton Family Tree

The older I get, the more I feel like I am trapped in a Griswold movie.  After decorating the tree, I tried to put a rather large gift in the back and pushed it over. John came running to help and as I we lifted it up, the piece that fits in the top snapped and broke. And yes, we tried to duct tape it back together. I am sad since the tree was Momma’s and it’s a lovely tree, but it’s a huge tree and really was way too big for my living room. I have wanted a taller, thinner tree or a real tree for a while so I guess it’s not a horrible thing.

 

We are going to celebrate Christmas this year with our half tree. Emmy will always remember this anyway…

Welcome to the Wonderful World of One, Julia!

On Saturday, we went to Wynne to celebrate Julia’s first birthday! I can’t believe it’s already been a year since she arrived. Emmy had only been here a few months when Joy called with her fabulous news.  It was amazing to think that the two of us—after so long—were going to be mommies together. It’s a beautiful thing that Joy is one of my dearest friends after her mother was one of Momma’s dearest friends. Julia, Emmy is available to chat any time you are ready… We love you!