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.

I'm home! I'm home! I'm home!

So, John was so very proud of all the new tricks that Emmy learned while I was gone. This one happened to be one of his favorites. She likes to now crawl up the back of the couch and watch the dogs in the back yard. She will wave at them through the window. It's quite comical. In the video, when she is standing, that is not on the seat part of the couch but rather on the back of the couch. Tonight we are going to start practicing the "bottoms down" method of sitting properly on furniture but it was really cute.

I knew that she didn't wear anything but a diaper from the time she woke up Sunday morning until I got home last night. And the only reason for that is we had to go get something for dinner and I couldn't just put her in the car seat in a diaper. She got a little fussy about 8 and John looks at me with every ounce of sincerity in his body and says, "do you think it's the clothes that are bothering her?" I am absolutely sure that it was exactly that.

I'm gone

I am packing up and on my way out the door for my trip. Please keep me in your thoughts while I am gone. I know that John is a fantastic father and will do a wonderful job taking care of Emmy while I am gone but I still worry. He should have a mother or a mother in law to call while I am gone!! But he doesn't and I have to go. Fingers crossed that I can keep my mind on what I need to accomplish while I am working and that I won't be too distracted to be able to contribute.

Guilt

I can't imagine all the things that I will have guilt over during Emmy's life. Right now, I feel guilty that I have lead her to the Hogs. I know the heartbreak and torture that comes with being a Razorback fan and I hate that I have done this to her already in her short life.

I will be leaving Sunday to attend my company’s strategic planning session. We have been going for the last few years to a resort outside of Hot Springs, Mountain Harbor. It’s a fabulous place but we really put in long hours so we don’t get the chance to take advantage of the neat amenities. But, it’s really a lovely view as we sit at our table working until 10pm. This will be my first time away from Emmy overnight and of course, I am nervous. John is going to take off work next week since he has to be at work at 7am and getting her to the sitter would have been a nightmare. I was afraid to make too many changes to her routine and throw her off kilter since I am sure she will be a little out of sorts not seeing me. But, maybe not, she might thrive in her new set up. Who knows???

I got this little dress for her before she even arrived and she wore it this week finally. CEO stands for Chief Executive Offspring. Ha, ha. I got Lucas a blue hat with the same logo thinking we would have a great picture of them together—we’ve yet to do that of course. So, picture the ottoman as a lectern and can’t you just see her leading her own strategic planning session one day?

Cooper Young Festival

Every year, our historic district has a festival that brings thousands of people into our tiny neighborhood. On Friday night, there is four mile race that winds through all the streets. We always put out the eight foot inflatable Razorback and sit out front and cheer for the runners.
This year, Daddy and Linda came to the festival with us and Emmy was just precious. All day, people pointed and talked about the adorable baby we had.
Todd and Beth brought David to the festival too. He and Emmy had the same due date but he actually showed up on time.
We ran into my cousin Harrison there. Harrison's grandmother is my Aunt Ruby, Grandma Ruth's sister.
And then the girl was exhausted.