And Momma is smiling today

One of Momma's favorite people in the world is multiplying today!!!! I can remember Momma calling to tell me this or that Joy had done or something funny Joy had said to her. Momma always thought she was the best and was so proud of what a great ambassador she had become for Wynne. When Momma died, Joy was so sweet and has been so good to our family ever since. She has become one of MY favorite people. When I heard the news that she was expecting, I thought I would bust with excitement. But, then!!! Then, I got the news today that Julia Jean is on her way and she should arrive early tomorrow morning. I can hardly wait to meet her so say a little prayer for all of them today!!

So much for just one Thanksgiving!!

Thursday was such a wonderful thanksgiving. There is no way to not be thankful when we see sweet Emmy, Solomon, and Lucas. Then we can look around and see how lucky we are to have our family that is not what we had imagined it would be, but it is ours and we are so thankful. Neall's in laws have been so good to Daddy and I--they are always so kind and thoughtful to include us for the holidays. We are so thankful. It's going to give Emmy and Solomon a lot of time together over the years to come up with lots of memories. And then our friends who have become our family. Whatever would we do without them? And this year, we are so happy for Daddy and Linda--thankful that they found each other.


Emmy and Solomon got to meet their Uncle ET for the first time this weekend. He came to eat Thanksgiving with us and it was so good to see him again.


Sunday, sweet little Solomon was christened in Wynne. Emmy made it about five minutes into the service before we headed to the nursery.

Woo Pig Sooie!!!!!!!!!

Emmy is still in awe that the Hogs won! At this point, she can't be still for photos or to type an update!!!! We are so absolutely thrilled here in Memphis for our beloved HOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sol comes to visit!

Uncle Neallio and Solomon came by to visit Saturday morning and Emmy was thrilled to see them again. She thinks Sol is the coolest thing. She is right!!

It's no wonder..

... that I run around so confused half of the time. This is what I have staring back at me any time I ask that Emmy or Dadoo do something for me.

Nine months old

Wow. Here we are at nine months old--and I thought last month was fun! Kid, you are HYSTERICAL! The other day when I came to pick Em up at the baby sitter, she was playing with some kids near the door. I walked in and said hello to her and then walked across the room to get her jacket and hat. Emmy stood up and said, "HEY!" and then threw her arms up for me to get her. Ah! She missed me! This has definitely been the month that she became vocal. Of course she says, "Mama" and "Dad" but she blabbers a lot more now than she has before. "Hey" is her new favorite word. But, my absolute favorite thing that she says is when she says "bye", she whispers it. Every time! It is adorable. I think it is because it makes her sad that she has to say goodbye.
Just when Emmy was doing such a good job of sleeping in her bed, she got sick so we moved her back with us and now, I am having trouble letting her go back to her bed. It's horrible of us, I know, but I just miss her so much during the day and get to spend so little time with her; we just love our snuggle time. LuLu is still her most favorite toy but she also really likes her stacking cups. Not necessarily to stack them but just to play. Emmy also loves any of her noise making toys... like the talking kitchenette or the ball popper. Her favorite food is still anything squash or sweet potato--her little nose is yellow at the tip from eating so much of them. Her newest talent is to clap or to go from sitting to standing in one step--no pulling up on anything!! The most adorable thing she does is to pat on you. As I type this, she is standing beside me patting me on the head. I gotta go get some kisses before we have to head to bed. My sweet, sweet Emmy.

Old, um, Long Time, Friends

Today we were in Arkansas to visit John's dad on his birthday. While we were there, we took the opportunity to meet up with my good friend from high school, Leigh Brown Fowler, and her family. Her daughter Catherine is three months younger than Emmy but you couldn't tell it from looking at them together!!! It's reallly nice to have friends that have known you since you were in preschool together... and still like you!

Ah the pain of Hogdom is back...

This morning, we got up early and took lots of Razorback inspired photos as we got ready for the game. We even put out both giant inflatable Hogs in the yard. We promptly took them down. Then, Mama and Emmy took a big nap in the living room floor. We think that Yia Yia would approve of us having a good weekend at home for her birthday. If she were here, we would certainly have watched the game together and then enjoyed a good day of playing with tiny monkeys!! The tiny girl has learned to clap and has not stopped clapping all day. Here she is clapping in front of the inflatable Hog. Sadly, this was short lived.
Emmy then slipped into her evening wear. She loves this Ice Cream Truck we got her. It plays lovely little ice cream truck songs and she can walk behind it from one side of the room to the other. It is quite hysterical to see the look on her face when she is really trucking it. She will run into the couch and then be furious that she can't go any further. It seems that this ice cream truck does not go in reverse.

Happy Birthday Yia Yia

Today would have been Momma's 62nd birthday. It's heartwarming to think how much she would have loved Emmy and Solomon. More later on how we celebrated today.

Okay, for real this time, it's cold!

Bless her heart. This is one tired and cold little girl. Oh yeah, and pink. Lots of pink. Why is it that every year when daylight savings time ends, I can't believe how dark it gets so early in the evenings and how bright it is in the mornings. You would really think I could remember this from just one year before.

I'm back in Daddy's arms...

Emmy is back to being our little snot nosed baby again. You can tell she doesn't feel well but the daylight savings time change has really gotten her out of sorts as well. She has been curled up in his arms for the last hour or so.

I found this bear at Daddy's house this weekend when we were there. It was my first stuffed animal and Momma used to tell me how she sewed the ear on that bear a thousand times when I was little because I would 'flick' the ear all the time. John looked at me and said, "oh you mean this ear that Emmy is playing with now?" Yeah, that one.

Monkeys on Parade

Emmy and I went to Wynne to visit Sol (and his folks) and we got lots of good quality time. In true Emmy fashion, she wanted to bond by sticking her fingers in his eyeballs. We need to work on her kissing technique as the boys all either cry or yawn.

In conclusion...

Emmy was so excited to end cardigan casual wear that she kicked a shoe off in celebration.

One last Halloween picture

Here is Emmy as we are getting ready to go the grocery store on Saturday to get ready for our party Sunday. Apparently she is very excited to head to Schnucks. I think it is all the people telling her how beautiful she is.

Today we are rounding out our cardigan wear routine and Emmy is very excited. But as any well dressed girl will tell you, even in denim dresses, it's important to have bloomers that are specialized for you. This child will know her monogram before she knows pretty much anything else.

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!!).