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.

 

What a weekend!

When I picked Emmy Ruth up on Friday afternoon, she was throwing up. We got home and spent the rest of the night with a sick little girl. She seemed perfect on Saturday so we figured it was just a bug and went on with our regularly scheduled fun times. I brought a huge box home from work and Emmy had a wonderful time playing in it on Saturday, when I got home from my walk, she had Dadoo inside of it! I had some things going on Saturday afternoon but she and Dadoo had the best time and all was well.

 

On Sunday, we got up and went to Batesville to see Richie and LynnLynn. When the weather is nice, they like to go walking at the Lyon College campus and feed the ducks so we headed out there after lunch and Emmy got to meet some ducks up close and personal. It was a really beautiful day and it absolutely warmed my heart to see Emmy Ruth have so much fun with them. She had a blast! On the way back, we stopped to visit some of John’s family and then headed to see Maggie Grace while she was visiting Wynne. As we turned up Killough Road, Emmy threw up everywhere. I called Neall and asked if he could please help me so he got Emmy cleaned up while I cleaned out the car. I ran in to say hi to Maggie Grace (and Mary Margaret of course!) while Neall and Emmy played in the yard and Becca snuck out to help clean out my car.  I wonder what in the world I would do without those two.

 

Our sweet girl is home with Daddy today and hopefully finally on the mend.

 

And of course...

Emmy got a sticker for being so good at the doctor’s office and she immediately lifted up her shirt and put it on her belly.

 

Almost One Yard Tall

Yesterday, had her two year checkup, just a little late, and she was 35
inches tall and 29 pounds. Dr. Frizzell told her exactly what I like to
hear: she's perfect. I really like our doctor, and he is very highly
recommended. But he's a Tennessee fan, so as Momma would have done, I
always mention something about the Hogs or try to dress Emmy
appropriately for visits. For yesterday's visit, I tried to get Emmy to
call the Hogs for him, but she wasn't in the mood. We talked about if I
had concerns over her development, and as always, I said I was a little
concerned. I know that my concerns in ridiculous but Lucas is a tiny
little genius boy and I do get worried when I try to compare Emmy to
him. (I know I have to stop and I am better than before. I just don't
want to be one of those parents that is oblivious to problems and I am
compensating in the wrong direction.) Anyway, I mentioned my concerns
and Dr. Frizzell said, "well, all that means is that little boy will get
to go UT and Emmy will have to go to Arkansas". Of course, we are
looking for a new doc now. Kidding, of course, and I get his point and I
am chilling out on my worries about Emmy's development. She's perfect.

Even if she apparently produces more earwax than any other child. Ever.

Weekend fun

The weekend was so much fun for us! We played outside a lot and apparently paid for it, since Emmy Ruth ended up with a nasty cold Sunday afternoon and a fever Monday. But, she had such a good time. She took my frogs from the flowerbed and moved them to the sidewalk and I think had  a really nice chat with them. I love to hear Emmy say something is “heavy”; it comes out more like “haaaaaaaaaaeevy”. Usually, her shoes are too haaaaaaaaaaaaevy to wear or something along those lines but the frogs were really haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaevy too. And we flew kites! Well, Victor ran down the street trying to fly the kite; obviously, since John had to hold Emmy and I had to take pictures, he had to run down the street.

 

On Sunday, Tara and I went to see Legally Blonde the Musical. It was adorable! When the announcer was discussing the emergency exits, we noticed that we were sitting beside one and Tara leaned over and said, “So we can be safe”. Anyone not engulfed in Dora the Explorer would not understand, but I did and I almost couldn’t stop laughing. We had a wonderful girls night out, even if it was John’s birthday and he was at home with The Girl. When I got home, he told me all the fun things that they did—including Emmy asking Victor to take her to the bathroom and peepeeing in the potty for him!—and I was a little sad that I missed it. Just a little… When Tara showed up at the house to pick me up that afternoon, Emmy Ruth ran outside and looked around her and said, “Where’s Lulu?”, devastating her AunTee.  I guess she wanted me to feel her pain since when we got home, she said since Emmy was asleep she was going to go on home instead of coming inside. 

 

 

Oh so proud

This morning in Wal-Mart, Emmy saw a Razorback and said “Razorback”. I asked her what a Razorback said and she said “Woo Pig Sooie!”. I am so proud!!!

 

WPS

I have the best husband. I don’t tell him enough and I don’t thank God enough for him, but he is so good to me. We had a trip to Fayetteville planned and he even though thing after thing kept being thrown at us, he just went along with me as I trudged forward to see my Hogs and my girlfriends, and I am so glad that we did. First he got a wisdom tooth pulled, then the roads were getting pretty slick. Tara and Lucas were heading back to Memphis from her parents house and she stopped to chit chat with Emmy and I while we waited on John. Tara ended up taking ER back with them because the roads were so bad. Which leads me to wonder why there was so little concern for John and I, but I am really thankful that she did take ER for us—the kids had a great time in the snow!  We made pretty good time on the trip there, but just before we got to Fayetteville, there was an accident and we sat on the interstate for an hour and a half. The roads in Fayetteville were slick by then and it was dark and cold!!!

 

I went to hang out with the girls and John hung out in the hotel room. The plan had been for him to hang out with Emmy Ruth while I was out but since she wasn’t there and he certainly didn’t want to go hang out with all us, he was left to watching Blazing Saddles in the Super 8. Lucky guy.  But, the next morning, he got up and we put on our matching Razorback T-shirts and went to breakfast with the girls. After that, we headed to the arena for the championship celebration. I stopped to get two basketballs to get autographed (and a RazorSpud since Emmy does love Mr. Potato Head) and when we got parked, I decided to switch purses so that the mini balls would fit in there and I wouldn’t have too much to carry. As soon as I shut the lift gate on the car, I knew I had left my keys in the other purse. So, Mr. Wonderful sat and waited on the Pop A Lock guy so that I could go on to the celebration and see about getting my autographs.

 

The game was wonderful (and a great win!) and John had so much fun. I love to see the look on his face when he does something “new” and this was his first time at Bud Walton. We hurried home to get our girl and got in our little house about midnight.  We both stayed home yesterday to regroup and recover and spend time with our girl.

 

The best part of the weekend was seeing my friends from college. I think it’s funny that the five of us from UCA ended up meeting in Fayetteville for our reunion, but it was wonderful. Amanda flew in from Indiana and Trisha drove up from Conway. It has been over ten years since we have all been together but I am so very happy to have such long time friends.

Hey, I really like Dora.

Here is a very filthy little girl watching Dora in the car. Very entertained. And, a coworker gave Emmy this Dora Dollhouse. She is beside herself with glee as she plays with the little Dora house inside the big Dora house.  Lucky for us, the thing talks too!!! Last night, I was having trouble deciding which Dora voice went to the house or the episode Emmy was watching. In the picture of Emmy and Lucas, I am sure that they were just talking about Dora. Who knows? MeeMee said that if she isn’t right there whenever it comes on, Emmy comes running and says “Come on! Come on! Dora’s on!”

Time Out

The other day, Emmy Ruth really wanted to play in the bathroom by herself. She pitched a fit if I went in there, so I managed to sneak in once to get the toilet paper off the roll and hide it and then just let her play. After she was done, I found these ducks all facing the wall; I can only assume that they were bad and in time out.

I got my baby back baby back baby

I think Emmy likes to carry this baby on her back because she is the only one with hair as wild as her own.

On Pins and Needles

I am finally getting the hang of my embroidery machine so this weekend I wanted to try to applique and to actually sew. So, I did a tshirt last night for Emmy and then started on a dress, with an applique of course, that Emmy can wear for Easter. Right now, it seems that the only Easter she would wear it to is at the clown church. So far, I have discovered that a rotary cutter is a great thing but how does the self healing mat really self heal? Also, pinning on a dining room table is a pain and that I need a pub height table. And after enough of this sewing, I could use a pub style drink. Hopefully I can finish this dress tomorrow. Of course, regardless of its outcome, I will certainly post pictures.

The acupuncture went well, if a little odd. She put seven needles in each leg, four in my belly, one in each hand, one in the forehead and five in my right ear. It really didn't hurt putting them in, but there was a strange ache when I moved with them in there, especially in my leg when I moved my toes. I didn't really didn't realize how often I wiggle my toes until I was lying there with needles in my body. Nor did I realize how annoying and heavy my hair is until I had needles in my hand and ear so I was scared to move it. I have this great habit of almost fainting. A few weeks ago, I had this little thing cut off my shoulder. Of course, I almost fainted. The funny thing then was the the doctor and his nurse were African American and I looked at them and said, "am I really white?" Usually I get really pale when I get dizzy like that but I am sure they thought I was a very confused patient. Anyway... today, I was lying on the table and it was freezing so she had a heating lamp and blanket for me but I got dizzy so I asked for a wet rag and ended up having to get all that stuff off of me. She left me alone for 25 minutes with the needles and I think that was the longest 25 minutes of my life. That probably explains the majority of my headaches. I couldn't possibility just lie there and relax, I stared at the ceiling and thought of how I should be stripping the popcorn off my ceilings, I thought of the dress I am trying to make, I thought of work, I thought of John and a list of things to remember to tell him and on and on. But, I smiled when I thought of Emmy Ruth and how when she doesn't want to do something any more, like a bath or sitting in the buggy at Walmart, she screams "I DONE!". I really wanted to scream "I DONE! Get these needles out of me! I DONE!"

Intervention

We are planning a Dora intervention for Emmy Ruth this weekend. She woke up this morning and looked at me and said, “I love Dora”. I told her that there was not a doubt in my mind that she loved Dora. I was glad she had a friend. Maybe we will wait on the intervention until it is warm enough to be outside and distract her attention away from her beloved.

 

In semi-related news, I have a gift that I cannot for the life of me figure out who gave it to Emmy Ruth. It’s this really cute Keri doll that has pop on clothes that you can switch outfits for her. It’s great and we play with it every night, so much so that I am going to have to get Keri’s accessories kit for ER, maybe I will mention it to the Easter Bunny. So, if anyone knows of the giver, please let me know, Emmy would be mortified if she knew that a thank you note didn’t get out for Keri.

 

I have an appointment tomorrow for acupuncture. Interesting. I have never done anything like this and I am kind of nervous but we shall see! I have had some pretty bad headaches for a few years now and I am not going to leave any option untested in getting rid of them. I am certain they are stress related (yep, I have been to the doctor(s) and everything is a-ok up there) so I have tried all sorts of things, probably the other weird one was the Rolfing. Not sure I will do that again, but at least I tried it. Anyway, the website for the acupuncture facility said to ask about Auricular Treatments rates, and that they were usually used for smoking cessation, weight loss, etc. Thinking, what the heck, if I am getting poked with needles, why not get needles pokes to lose weight too? She said that those sessions were a group session as opposed to individual, private sessions and that they only did needles in the ear as opposed to the entire body. Of course, I asked if that meant a bunch of us fat people will be in a room just hanging out with needles in our ears? She was not amused.  Fingers crossed for tomorrow!!

Happy Birthday, Emmy Ruth!!!

What a lucky, lucky girl Emmy Ruth is to have so many friends and family that care about her! Her party was great fun… even if a little crowded. John and I had so much fun Friday night getting everything ready for her. My friend Natalie came to help as well. Emmy went to see the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse live at the Cannon Center with Mrs. Debbie, Uncle Neall, Auntie B and Solomon and spent the night with them. When the pulled up to the house Saturday morning, Becca said Emmy saw the decorations and said, “I like it!” We were so lucky to have a beautiful day so we spent a lot of the party outside, which is good because our little house was bursting at the seams!

 

Emmy was a little overwhelmed, I think, and was really clingy to John and I. When opening presents, she absolutely had a meltdown and had to take her dress, tights and shoes off. She proceeded to sit there and put four pages of Dora stickers on her naked belly. Oh well… it was her party, I guess if that was what she wanted to do…

 

Twenty Four Months--She's Two!!!

This morning, our little princess woke up to a pink balloon (which we had to carry into Walmart) and a birthday song from Mama and Daddy. I can’t believe she is already two years old!

 

I can’t be sure that she would even be speaking if it weren’t for Dora the Explorer. We watch it religiously now and we talk a lot about backpacks and maps. Her little voice is so sweet as she sings along to her Dora CD, the alphabet song, the Itsy Bitsy spider and Twinkle Twinkle are her favorites. I sometimes try to turn the radio down so that I can just hear her little voice, but then she gets upset and wants me to put “MY DORA!” back to its regular volume. The other song she sings that cracks me up is “Joy Joy” and she really relishes the “WHERE?” part.

 

The baths seem to be getting better, which is a great thing; she still doesn’t sit down and really hates to wash her hair but the screaming fits during the play time have stopped. Every day when we pull in the drive way, I ask her who lives here… “Daddy”. And? “Emmy”. And? “Bill”. And???? One of these days I am hoping that she acknowledges I live here too. Lucas was over the other night and told Tara to go bye-bye and he, Emmy and John were going to stay at our house, but that was it, the rest of us had to go.

 

What an amazing two years. We are so lucky to be Emmy Ruth’s parents.

Fully recovered

I feel safe saying now that I have fully recovered from this weekend. It was a long one, with my floors being ripped up again so that they could be fixed, I ended up with tonsillitis and a double ear infection, John has been working lots of overtime and is just pooped and Emmy is in the midst of the terrible twos.  

 

That silly girl is head over heels in love with Dora the Explorer now. Nana was so very sweet and wanted to keep her Friday night for a sleepover and as usual, Emmy came home with way more than she took. But, best of all, is a Dora CD. We put it in on Sunday afternoon and at first she was very upset that she couldn’t see Dora and there were tears. Now, there are tears, but they are mine because I hate this CD. If I hear it again, which I am certain I will today on the way home, I am certain that I am going to come to work dressed in a pink shirt, orange shorts, yellow socks, a purple backpack and a really bad choppy Bettie Page hairdo one day. But, it makes her happy, and as much as she is in the car, what can I say to that?

 

We are gearing up for our big Valentine’s Birthday Bash on Saturday and there will be photos to follow soon!!!

The Green Room

A few weeks ago, I did this little project to try to make use of the space between the mudroom and the basement stairs. I was literally at my wits end with scarves and toboggans on the table each day when I saw something in Martha Stewart Living about putting mailboxes on the wall. So, I got a couple and painted them red and put our hats and gloves in them and hung scarves and John’s baseball caps on the magazine hooks. Also, since it is right off the kitchen, I put all my canvas grocery bags on hooks (hence the name, the Green Room), keeping them off the backs of chairs. I painted magnetic paint and then chalkboard paint for a memo area for me and a play area for Emmy. A friend cut the molding that I got at Home Depot to frame the chalkboard. Emmy had fun drawing on it last night, if only for three minutes. The cork board is this really creepy monkey that I for some reason like but can’t put anywhere else because it might scare guests.

 

If you are still using plastic bags at the store, Walgreens has their canvas bags 3 for $1 this week!!!

And the words just began to flow...

Last night, we dove straight into the bathing situation. Her hair had to be cleaned so we took some of the advice of our friends, and tried the laying on the counter and washing her hair in the sink routine again. I was hoping that this time would go better. It did not. But, with John holding her down, it went pretty quickly. I told John I was done and he was double checking my rinsing technique and Emmy screamed, “Mommy said done! Done! Done!!!!!” Afterwards, I cut her nails too… bahahahahaha! Mean Mama!  

 

As we all piled in our big family bed, Emmy said “I love you, Daddy” and of course he told her too and then she said “I love you, Mama” and of course I told her too and then she said, “I love me, Emmy”. John told her he hoped she would always say that, every day of her life—who know John was so introspective?

 

This morning as we were driving, Emmy kept saying something and I couldn’t figure it out and finally the beat got me… she was doing singing the patty cake song.

 

I have been so worried about her speech and all it took was for her to do it in her own time.

and me with no camera!

Friday, Emmy and I headed to Arkansas to remember Ruby Jewel. Emmy Ruth stayed with Sol while we went to the service. I wish I had gotten a picture when I walked in of the two of them sitting together in a chair watching Disney. It was pretty adorable. Then, on Saturday, we got to visit with my cousin Jordan and his mom Tina. It was so sweet of them to think to visit while they were in town and very special for me to see Emmy Ruth meet them for the first time.  And me… without my camera!!! What was I thinking???

 

 

It's a Sorta White Morning

We got a snow day! Well, Emmy and John did and we opened up our office at 10 so we had time to play in the snow this morning. We lingered around getting out of bed this morning and then had to drag Emmy away from Dora the Explorer to get her outside to the snow. What is up with this kid? She wasn’t sure what to think of it and she really didn’t like John throwing snowballs at her. She walked over to her little car full of snow and threw her arms in the air and asked “What happened??”.  And of course, she insisted on taking her gloves off so we didn’t stay outside too long.

 

I am thinking that coming in late and going home to John and Emmy already there is going to be a pretty fabulous day!

 

Ruby Jewel

Last night, Aunt Ruby passed away in her sleep. As sad as I am, that I will miss her and that Emmy never got to know her, I am so grateful that she is no longer suffering. She slowly slipped into dementia following Uncle Warren’s death and then quickly fell into the depths of her Alzheimer’s. It always pained me to visit her as she always asked me where Momma was and why she didn’t visit her. When she first was admitted into the Alzheimer’s unit, I would tell her my name then I would tell her I was Teri’s daughter for her to recognize me. Eventually, I would try to back into her recognition by saying I was Ruth’s granddaughter but pretty soon, even that didn’t work.

I hope to always remember her for the beautiful, proper woman she was. She always had a perfect house with the crystal tea set on the tea cart just in case it was needed! When she and Uncle Warren lived in Forrest City, the garage to their house had the neatest little sunroom; Neall and I played for hours in that building—away from adults! The “stairstep” photo was taken in their backyard with Ruby’s grandsons (Harrison on one end and Warner on the other), Neall, me and cousin T, and Aunt Glady’s granddaughter Chrissy visiting. Even after they moved to Wynne, to be close to Momma, she kept it up. The two bedroom apartment was stuffed with all of her valuables and she and Uncle Warren were so happy. When Uncle Warren died, my cousin Gary said the most beautiful eulogy for his dad. Momma and I both had a copy that we kept close just to read the tribute of such a great guy. I never had a grandfather and Uncle Warren stepped in for me there, since he had never had any little girls--two sons and two grandsons. Gary spoke of how his father would “shamelessly flirt” with his mother and I often smile thinking of them, hoping that John will still shamelessly flirt with me when we are eighty. Could there be a better husband than that? Ruby would often get the urge to move the furniture on a whim and Uncle Warren, not being able to get around well, but being a huge stature of a man, would stand behind the sofa and push it around the living room in that little apartment to her content. Momma would walk in and cry out “Ruby Jewel! What are you doing????” It never wasn’t funny. When her grandson Warner was getting married, she was so happy to be getting a daughter into their little family. But just before, I got a card in the mail that read, “you’ll always be my first granddaughter”. Coincidentally, I found that card last night (before she had passed away) as I was arranging things in my sewing room. It made me tear up a little then and of course, it does now. When her great granddaughter was born, and died only hours later, Ruby smiled and spoke of how sweet it was to think of Warren rocking Annabelle in heaven, the first little girl in three generations.

After Uncle Warren died, she never got her footing back again and she moved around and around until she finally was in a home in Memphis near her son. Here she was, finally near her boys and she didn’t even know it. But now she is with her sisters and brothers, many of whom left so many years ago. I bet Uncle Warren was just as happy to see her last night as he was that first day he fell in love at first sight with her walking across the street in downtown Wynne.

oh yeah...

And John did Emmy’s hair yesterday. I wish I could find someone like this… he did exactly what she wanted and she didn’t have to leave home. Or put on pants.