Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Sad Morning

I left the house this morning being upset with Emily Grace. We had said our "goodbye's," gave kisses, shared "love you's" and snuggles. But, she likes to close doors (as you read yesterday) and today she tried to push the door shut to the garage with me on the other side, which knocked me off balance and caused me to fall down the stairs. I opened the door, yelled at her not to do that and then went to get in the car.

I didn't even tell her that I love her after that. Lord, please let her know how much I love her and that I wasn't really that mad. I can't believe I left the house like that. I feel awful...

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Adventures in Babysitting

I haven't blogged in a while- I know- bad mommy. We have lots going on- most of all though is the monogramming! I'm drowning in it! Anyway, I'll try to be a better blogger.

So this weekend, Chris took me out for an early birthday dinner and movie. We went to see "The Blind Side" (which I highly recommend!) and to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner (and peanut butter pie!), Lucky 32's. We went to the movie first and then to dinner so that our baby sitter wouldn't be out too late in Saturday's nasty weather/threat of snow.

After the movie I called Jenna to see how things were going. She didn't answer. I thought maybe she and Emily Grace were off playing and couldn't hear the phone or they were busy and she just didn't get to it in time. We completely trust Jenna with Emily Grace so worry never entered my mind.

Well, as we pulled up to the restaurant, my phone rang and it was Jenna. I happily answered- "hi there! How are things?" (in a sing-song kind of way). I was astonished to hear her shaky, frantic voice on the other end. She was almost crying! The poor thing- what had happened? Well, being the good and thoughtful babysitter that she is, she decided to let the dogs out since they were whining and scratching at the door (most likely to go chase a bunny into the woods, not to actually use the bathroom). As poor, barefoot, Jenna went onto the deck to watch them, the door shut and locked behind her. (We forgot to remind her that it does that- so we're really to blame!) She tried knocking on the door to get Emily Grace to open the door, but the knocking only scared her and made her cry. So, Jenna tried singing and talking to her which calmed her down but could not get her to open the door!

Jenna ran next door to the neighbors (who do not have a key) to see if they had a key. They ALL came to our back deck to try to find a way break in and to keep an eye on EGU, just to make sure she didn't lick an electric socket or something awful like that. Then one of them remembered that the neighbor on the other side had a key. Guess who wasn't home? That's right! The people with the key were gone too! So, the new neighbor across the street (who coincidentally is deaf) has a key to the neighbor's house who wasn't home. So, all of the neighbors went traipsing over to explain to the deaf neighbor that they needed a key to the house that had our spare key. I would have loved to see that, had it not been an emergency. Once they got into that house, past their dogs and to the key there, they were able to get into our house. By this time Jenna is freaking out because she had been following Emily Grace around the house through the open blinds. That kid is into everything so Jenna kept moving from room to room keeping an eye on her via the open blinds! Then she disappeared! Emily Grace went to play in her room and the blinds there were closed. Jenna couldn't hear her or see her and really started to lose it but that's when the neighbors came to the rescue. I have no idea how many people were actually in on everything but it sounds like the whole street was trying to help poor Jenna get to our child! Thank you neighbors!

I think we owe everybody a big plate of cookies! What would we do without good neighbors and such a thoughtful babysitter. And yes, we absolutely will use her again. We'll just have to remember to remind her that the door locks behind you. I am so thankful that everyone was ok!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Working for the Weekend

I'm so excited about this weekend that I can hardly stand it! I have so much planned!!!! We're finally here for a weekend without a full schedule. Fhew- what a relief! My to do list:

1-I have to get the orders out to people from my new Etsy site. I'm not making MILLIONS or anything but I've had quite a few orders and interest emails over the last week. YAY!

2-We are going to the Dixie Classic Fair tonight. Chris has been out of town and EGU and I have been a little mopey without him. So, I'm counting down the minutes to pig races and funnel cakes! I'm probalby more excited than Emily Grace. I've been telling her about the animals and the big slide and the pig races-but I think my enthusiasm might be a little higher than hers! I can't wait to see how she does!

3-Tomorrow I've made time for some fall decorating. I have a few projects in mind: (thank you Better Homes & Gardens!)

4- Game NIGHT! Tomorrow night several couples from church and our neighborhood are getting together at the Lee's for game night. We have so much fun when we do this- which is rare, so I'm so glad Emily suggested it!

5-Get ready for Halloween! Emily Grace is a piggy this year. This in itself is going to be it's own project. She hates the costume. It's ADORABLE! But she hates it. So, for the adult parties that we have to go to, I thought we could coordinate. Therefore, mommy will also be a piggy. I know you're thinking what have you done? Chris and I are going to be Kermit and Miss Piggy to help Emily Grace see that dressing up is fun. But no worries- I will not be parading around the neighborhood on Oct. 31 in a Miss Piggy get-up. This is soley for the parties that require a costume and for the encouragment of a strong-willed 2-year-old.


We hope you all have a happy weekend!







Tuesday, October 6, 2009

I picked a little pumpkin

Emily and I took Crawford and Emily Grace out for some pumpkin patch time this past Saturday. We did this last year too and had so much fun! Emily found the best little pumpkin patch in Winston Salem- it's so picture-esque! The kids had a good time- Crawford is SUCH a boy and Emily Grace is such a girl...

Crawford kept picking up the biggest pumpkin his little two-year-old arms could manage. It seemed he was doing it just to show us how much he could handle. He's such a handsome little guy! On the other hand, we handed Emily Grace a nice little balloon sized pumpkin (you know, not too big, and not too smal) and she dropped it like a rock! She looked at both of us like we were nuts and we had gotten her dirty and stomped off to find herself a little pocket-sized pumpkin instead. Can we say sassy? It was a fun morning!
Here is the link to Emily's photo cards on etsy!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Looking Back

I was looking back through old pictures tonight and stumbled on this one. It's my absolute favorite picture of our family. I need to work on getting more family pictures taken but until then, this is is going to grace my desktop for a while. Emily Grace was 9 months old here. I forgot how chunky those cheeks were!


Here she had her favorite toy "mingo." Her nursery is all "mingo's" but she LOVES this one! We've had to rescue it from Kiwi a time or two as well...

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Blog Buddies expecting Babies

HOLY COW! I have found more blog buddies today that I've missed so much: people who I catch glimpses of over Facebook from High School and College. And half of them are pregnant! YAY! I was feeling a little blog-stalker-ish until I stumbled onto this wonderful news!!!!!!!!!!

Anne- SO MANY CONGRATULATIONS! I'm so sorry I missed the fact that you're having a baby NEXT MONTH. Where have I been? But, no worries, I'm on it- the gift will be monogrammed and in the mail. Please send initials!

LIZ- WHOA! I'm so happy for you! Is this what Brooke facebooked that she had been praying for and finally got good news about? It's really none of my business what that matter was, but I'm slowly putting it together. Wow- just a little over 9 years ago (I'm sorry that makes us sound old- but I digress- Back to your news...) we were Freshmen at Clemson coordinating purple and yellow comforters with cork board treatments... and look at you now! YAY! I'm so happy for you too! Please let me know when you have a shower- I want to pat the belly!

Congratulations to you both- did you plan this? :) Chris, Emily Grace and I are just too excited to meet your new little tigers!

I love BOO!


As if she couldn't get any cuter!

Emily Grace says "I love Boo Mommy!" "I love Boo Daddy!" Either she can't say "you" or she's picked up on our pet names for each other around the house- "boo."

It's fitting since Halloween is just around the corner! YAY! It's my favorite time of year!

Duckles

Chris taught Emily Grace to give nuckles. She walks around saying it or from the back seat of the car she says "Daddy- duckles!" "Mommy- duckles!" And then we have to give her nuckles. I love it!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Fashion Sense

Yesterday morning Emily Grace went running into her room yelling for me to follow her- "Mommy mommy mommy mommy" and tried to tear off her pink lady bug jammies and said "mommy dress!"

So, I picked out two outfits, one polka dot dress and a green monogrammed dress- both go with the same pair of pink leggings. She yelled and ran away afterI got the leggings on her and ran to where we had her laundry folded (and not yet put away) on her bed. She pulled out this apple tee shirt that she has worn every week for the last six months. It is adorable but it's a tee shirt, not a dress. It doesn't really go with leggings, it goes with pink capris. It's extremely worn, yet she carries it around the house like it's a snuggie. It's faded, wrinkled and not the best option these days as it was a gift that she got LAST CHRISTMAS. Sweetie- it's time to retire the apple tee...

I ignored her request to wear the "apple sauce" as she calls it and continued on with the monogrammed dress. No go- so I said "oh, you must want the Polka Dots." I tried putting the polka dots over her head- wrong move. She kicked, screamed, and in one quick move, got out of the dress, away from my reach and was pulling the apple sauce shirt over her head. I tried to take it off because it didn't match and she would not have any of my attempts to make her match. She ran out of her room, down the hallway and into the living room yelling "apple sauce! APPLE SAUCE!"

Fine, mommy is late, wear the leggings and the blasted tee shirt.
I came home last night and there she was wearing that faded tee shirt. We went inside and I picked her up and she laid her head on my shoulder and said "mommy- apple sauce."

I can't put into words how much I love her.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Big Girl Panties


We're experimenting with Big Girl Panties. This is one of the funniest sights I've ever seen!

Emily Grace LOVES wearing the big girl panties but since I make her sit on a towel all over the house when she's in them, she prefers to opt out of the towel routine and run amuck around the house with the panties on over her clothes instead. A few nights ago she had on her diaper, a long sleeved pink polka dot onsie and then elmo panties on top of the onsie. Picture it for a second- What a sight! Oh, and daddy helped her make a hat out of a pair of Dora Panties. He's so helpful- At least he's having fun with her...

Tonight she told Chris when she was outside helping him grill that she had to go pee pee (everything is pee pee right now). Sure enough, she went poop on the potty. She got 3 reeses pieces and man was she ever proud of those little candies! She held onto them and kept showing them to me like they were a little secret treasure. She even said bye bye to the "pee pee" as it flushed- Do I say bye bye when I help her flush? I don't know where she got idea to tell it goodbye but at least she's not afraid of it. Hooray!

Side story:
She also got a mini cupcake after dinner and I think she wanted to offer a lick to Bailey. But instead ,that greedy dog took it right out of her hands! I swear- you'd think we didn't feed those animals! Poor kid- when you're that low to the ground you have to learn to eat fast.

Happy Labor Day

Before our Labor Day Celebration we went out to Old Salem to get a few pictures of Emily Grace and Crawford. We got a new (gently used and amazing) camera a few weeks ago and Emily and her son, Crawford, helped Emily Grace and I learn how to use it.

This was funny- Emily Grace and Crawford kept running around this little fence chasing each other- it's a miracle that I got even one picture (and that nobody had any skinned knees- including me!) Needless to say, after chasing both of them back and forth around the fence, mommy needed a little sip of mommy juice!

I don't have this talent yet... but what an amazing picture! Someone apparently lived in the house behind her here- I could hear them walking around inside- whoopsie...
HUGS! Emily Grace and Crawford played pretty well together. They even used the sun flowers that I bought to sweep the ground. So much for reusing them as fall decor. What cute little buddies! We'll have to make another play date soon!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

She's got the look

I did it- I mastered the look... You know- the mom look- the death stare that says "if you throw one more raisin..." I never wanted to think about what came after the dot dot dot but it was bad.
Anyway- I did it. We were 2 minutes and 45 seconds from our house, backing out of the crowded parking lot at Target and Emily Grace kept screaming for Nemo on the DVD player. IKm sorryI that is a treat and it's for long trips. So instead of yelling or even saying a word I whipped around and gave that dot dot dot glare and it worked. I'm really a mom now.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Happy 2nd Birthday Emily Grace!

Happy 2nd birthday Emily Grace! This is extremely belated but Happy Birthday little princess! She turned 2 on June 27. We had a sweet treats party where we invited all the kids to come decorate their own cupcakes. It was quite an afternoon!

Happy Girl!





Daddy, EGU and Mommy (Bailey and Kiwi had to make an appearance in the family picture too)




Getting ready to blow out the candles- Grandma Dance made the giant cupcake!

The singing startled her- poor little thing. I couldn't help but giggle a little at the fact that she cried on her birthday. It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to!


Whoops- Mouth full of cookie- she was so cute: she kept dipping her cookies in the icing on her giant cupcake.


This is so Emily Grace. A little princess, who doesn't sit at the table but helped herself right onto the table and had herself a cookie or ten... We should have made her get down but this was just too cute.


She loves balloons! PS-here is an idea for an easy outdoor table for kids: We used four cynder blocks with a piece of plywood on top and wrapped it in wrapping paper. It was easy to assemble, sturdy (lay the cynder blocks on their sides, not upright), low to the ground for little ones, and quick clean up!



We didn't get a good picture of it but we had a tent in the back yard and the inside was filled with balloons. Emily Grace loved it!



Home grown Hydrangeas- it was a last minute touch that really worked out!



This was so easy- I found a similar one on Etsy for about $30. But you know me- I can make that- and I did! Scrap book paper, a color printer, some ribbon from the dollar bin at Michaels and a scrapbook circle cutter and voila! And the nice thing is we can use it over and over. :)

And the grand finale: a pink hot wheels mini cooper- just her size but not her idea of fun right now. She has to grow into it- the loud noise it makes when you push the gas pedal scared her and she climbed out while it was still going! So, little Avary Anne tested it out for Emmy Gu. She's such a sweetie and she had a big time in that car!
Happy birthday little princess! I hope you enjoyed as much as we did! Love Mommy and Daddy!!



Friday, June 12, 2009

Lip Marks

So when I was little I called my mom's lipstick "Lip Marks." Yeah- this morning Emily Grace had "Lip Marks" EVERYWHERE! She got into my makeup case and pulled out a gloss compact. I figured she'd never figure out how to open that and since she saw me getting ready, I thought it was cute that she was trying to be like Mommy.

She got it open. My bad. But, she knew exactly what to do with it- she dug her FINGERS into it (ruined it) and put it all over her lips- she did a pretty good job too- Aside from getting it under her fingernails and rubbing her glossed hands on her pretty clothes. It wasn't that bad of an episode- we were close by- but we failed to get pictures. I didn't want to ruin any more fabric or walls so I skipped the photo opp and ran for the baby wipes.

We have a girly girl for sure...

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Life without dogs

I can't do it. I miss the dogs way too much. They're spending one short week with Mimi and Papa since we left their house on Monday and will be back on Thursday. We all agreed that there was no point dragging them on the four hour trip back and forth.

We got home on Monday and Emily Grace kept saying Abbie- Buster- Bailey?!? Kiwuiesth?!? (she can't get Kiwi yet) I think she was looking for them. Abbie and Buster aren't ours but she loves to pull their fur anyway.

I went to the door Monday night and said "Come on girls- let's go out..." nothing. They weren't there. Duh- how hard is it to remember that they aren't there? Habit I guess. I love those little rascals so much. My feet have been quite cold the last two nights as there was no Kiwi-monster sleeping on them keeping them warm. And as mad as I get at Bailey, I miss the drool stains on my jeans/shorts/skirt every morning. She goes and gets a gulp of water and every morning wipes her mouth on my pants. I run from her, I yell at her- I swoop Emily Grace up and save her from an early morning drool shower- we all giggle and everyone gets a cookie. It's just a few days, I know, but I miss the girls.

There is nothing like the love of a dog. And we're lucky enough to have two.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

POO POO IN DA' POTTY!

OH MY! This weekend Emily Grace told Mimi "poo poo" and patted her hiney. And, our genius child had in fact told the truth that she had poo poo'd. YAY- what a great start!

So this morning she came running up to me and said "poo poo" and patted her hiney. This child takes after her daddy so I could smell it from up here without bending down to check. We held hands and walked to her room to change the poopy diaper, and I praised her and congratulated her the whole way. But, what to my wondering eyes should NOT appear- there was NO poopy!

Like a flash, I ran with that naked little baby clear across the house back to our bathroom where the pretty potty was and plopped her down. She stared at me like I was crazy. Then she started acting bashful. I asked if she wanted me to leave and she nodded. So, I walked out of the bathroom and pulled the door behind me. Within seconds she started grunting and there it was, the brown gold (as Chris calls it)! SHE DID IT! Of course, we had a lot of clean up on Aisle 7 but YAY! Our child is brilliant. What do I do now- this could be a fluke- any suggestions?

Don't worry- I didn't photograph it. :)

Monday, May 18, 2009

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We had a big 3-0 party this weekend! The cups said "Chris is turning 30 and now he's OLDER THAN DIRT!" HAHAH! I felt so clever! But, I'll be there soon enough so I needed to watch myself. The big 3-0 officially hit last week. Monday was his birthday- Happy Birthday Chris! But we had the party this past Saturday. It was a lot of fun! Emily Grace was in full force- she knew something was brewing- presents, cake and lots of people to show off in front of. She had a big time- just like her daddy! And thank heaven's the clouds parted, the rain ceased and we had a beautiful evening for a birthday bar-b-que!

Emily Grace chased multiple guests around saying "peas, peas, peas..." for their cupcakes and honestly ran herself ragged playing with the other kids in the back yard. Avary Anne took her cupcake and ran. Poor little thing- the icing was up her nose! We have some good shots of it! I'll post pictures soon.

Next stop- Kate's Bachelorette Weekend in Charleston- Yippie! Does life ever calm back down?

Monday, April 27, 2009

Elivs Lives!

Pictures from Las Vegas:

Elvis Lives- I found him standing on the street corner!



Chris did not love being touched by the big hairy Elivs...


Clemson Shout Out in front of the Bellagio- the camera guy didn't get the best angle...





One last hoorah for the flight home. :) I had just won big at Casino War and black jack! Isn't that ceiling amazing?


Tuesday, April 14, 2009

He Has Risen!


We couldn't ask for a more beautiful Sunday to celebrate Easter!


This took about 4 tries with the auto feature. Kiwi and Baily were oblivious and Emily Grace wanted to crawl in the mulch. Oh what a day! Needless to say, we changed before going to brunch.


"CHEESE!"


Whoops- there went the hair bow again!


Alan and Emily Lee joined Main St. UMC on Easter Sunday, as Chris and I did two years ago. It was sort of special to us. :) Our friends Donnie and Andrea came to share in the special day as well. They went to their church at 8 and ours at 11- way to go Hulke's!


"Mommy- I don't know what this is but it will make me look funny and I will not wear it on my head." Dang- she figured me out.


The Easter Bunny Strikes again!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Monday, April 6, 2009

I'm in LOVE!

Yes, you read that right. I love love love love love my husband for such a wonderful surprise! (I loved him before that- he knows that, but this surprise calls for champaign!) I walked in last night excited to see the new paint in our living room and halls (yes, i'm the dork that looks forward to new paint) and I was stunned to walk into the laundry room to find two giant new appliances all shiny and white and clean and begging for some grimey laundry! They're so beautiful.

Let's all have a moment of silence to say good bye and farewell to a long past of laundry night mares.

Gone are the days of pushing the washer back across the room to it's original spot. Gone are the days of fearing being squished between the washer and the walls as we fought to open the lid. Gone are the days of doing three cycles in the dryer to get one pair of blue jeans dry enough to wear, yet still a little damp. Welcome to your new home Whirlpool Duet. I love you and the wonderful man who brought you here!

Friday, April 3, 2009

Oh the drama....

So, we're walking and talking and learning about everything! (Learning is code for destroying but we can fix most of what gets destroyed, and to Little Miss Thang, it's a learning experience so I'm staying positive and keeping my comments to stern, constructive ones about being nice and cleaning up behind ourselves while she destroys our house.) I've heard about the terrible twos and I've always thought, well that won't happen to me, I'll just explain to my not quite two-year-old that we can't always have our way. Then we'll eat ice cream cones and hold hands and skip away into the sunset. Ok, so control your snickering...

Emily Grace is all girl and LOVES accessories. I came home the other day to find ALLLLLLL of my jewelry on the bedroom floor. Every morning she follows me to my jewelry box and watches me accessorize for the day. She then says P! (Please) and I hand her a chunky set of beads that is indestructible and she plays dress up before she goes to school.

So, for a split second, she snuck away and with the advantage of height, was able to reach to the back of our dresser and pull down my jewelry!?!?!? (THAT KID IS TOO TALL!) So, trying to show her how to clean up our mess and how not to make a mess in the first place, or how not to lose mommy's diamond earrings (through gritted teeth), she melts down and we find ourselves in full on Hissy Fit Mode. WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!?!?!? I took a necklace out of her hands- I knew I shouldn't have done that, but I'm mommy and what I say goes- why the fit? Just say OK and move on. I don't understand. So Chris comes in and I'm doing everything I can to hide my laughter at such an absurd fit and the more I laughed, the more she cried and oh, it was exhausting and ended in a little cuddle fest. I didn't give in and let her just have the jewelry (fhew, right!) but is this a sign of things to come???

Thursday, April 2, 2009

April Showers

Rain rain go away! The rain isn't so much fun today, but I love showers!!! Kate's bridal shower is this weekend. Kate- I cannot believe you are getting married in 8 weeks- how crazy! We're so happy for you!!

And speaking of soon- Dana's due date is approaching- oh, how I love spring. She says Caroline is burrowing. She's so cute and she's not even here yet. Babies are everywhere, weddings are approaching and spring graces us with all of it's glory. Speaking of love- check this out...Emily takes the best pictures!



This is her son, Crawford, and our little EGU. They had a fun little play date in the gardens at Reynolda Village. So, if April Showers bring all this joy and love, bring it on!
PS- Congratulations Alle and Beau! Henry is beautiful!!






Thursday, February 26, 2009

Emall Cut

Our favorite joke when we were little was :
Q:"Did you get a hair cut?"
A: "Nope, I got emall cut!"

Q: "What's emall cut?"
A: "I got them all cut!"

Cute- I know. But we loved that joke and repeated it time and time again.

So, now Emily Grace has had them all cut!!! It was getting a little curly, a little straight, a little frizzy and flat-out all over the place. So we took the plunge and cut 'em all!


As you can see from the date on the pictures, I'm about a month late posting these. Sorry about that!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

EGU's First Steps

GO BABY GO!

IT HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Drum roll please......

Emily Grace took her first steps last night! As you all predicted, it was more of a run than a walk- but I don't care- IT HAPPENED! YAY! Chris and I had tears in our eyes. Of course, I ran for the baby book to write this all down. (We're also learning to pee pee in the potty.) Man this is all happening fast! I'll try to post a video tonight of our new little walker!

Next stop- big girl bed...

Monday, February 2, 2009

Speechless

Lord, please be with the loved ones of Daniel Swanson. I want to say something profound but I can't. I'm completely shocked and numb at the fact that the person who sat beside me day after day, who shared comical or frustrating details of his life from time to time, who had a son he was proud of, who I told to have a good weekend, is now gone. May peace be with him and his loved ones on this sad Monday morning.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Things we love...

After reading Emily's blog last night and reading the blog of this family http://half12.blogspot.com/, it made me so sad for them and so proud of how strong they are, even though I've never met them. So, in light of that blog and one of my new year's resolutions (Dana, you know all about this), I thought we'd share some of the things we love.

1- Emily Grace's cute little strings of mumble jumble that she sings to herself day and night. "Martian" songs. Just thinking about it makes me grin. I find myself humming little tunes to myself sometimes too... I can't wait to get home at night to hear about her day and listen to her jibber jabber. There's no doubt about it, she has her mommy's gift of GAB!

2-The way she gets "Uh OH!" backwards. It comes out "Uh HO!" So innocent and sincere.

3-Our Faith in God, our country, and each other. I love that faith is in us. When there is nothing to grasp onto, there's always faith.

4-Mandarin Oranges. Our household would cease to survive without those little dollops of EGU- calming majic!

5-Our friends- You guys are the best. Your little comments, your checking-in emails, your phone calls of gossip or advise (Thank you so much Kim for your call last night- I needed that!). I can't tell you how much we rely on you, our dear friends. And yes, that's you, reading this now.

6- Pink pink pink (sorry Chris, but it's consumed our world now!) Monogrammed pink is even better!

7- Our WONDERFUL families. They have given us and taught us more than we could ever have asked for. We would be nothing without you.

8- Friends (the tv show). I could watch Friends re-runs for the rest of my life. I love it. And I'm grooming Emily Grace to love it too. From 6-6:30 we sit on the couch and cuddle-and she tells me about her day (Martian Talk). It's not every night but once in a while. That's our time and I love it.

9-Clemson Sports. I don't love watching sports, but Chris does and it deserves a shout out. Clemson Sports are much easier to watch than regular sports for teams that I don't know or care anything about. Last night I was clutching a couch cushion (clutching cusions tight and yelling at the TV has been proven to make teams win...) as Clemson squeeked ahead of VT to pull off the win. What a good game! I didn't get THAT into it because we kept going back to My Name is Earl and The Office when the game was slow, but regardless, my blood runneth ORANGE! I can't wait for the Super Bowl (uh hum, commercials!)

10- Snow. I want it so badly I can taste it. PLEASE SNOW!

11-Sunday afternoons at home.

12-Babies bathing suits. They're so cute and I love the big butt daiper look!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Getting the "run" around...

So yesterday was frustrating. Our pediatrician said to call them if EGU wasn't walking at 18 months. So, we waited a month, hoping with all of our might, that she would walk by 19 months. This is the child who, for sure, would be walking as a flower girl by Aunt Kimi's wedding, last October! Sorry Kimi.
She has made a lot of progress but isn't quite willing to let go. Chris and I are fine with her development and we aren't pushing her too much, but we do walk everywhere we go, either with the one or two finger hold. She's very adventurous and I know it'll happen soon. She climbs down off the couch, wants to jump off of the bed, climbs up on every chair and stool she can find and takes quite a few spills along the way! (we had another one last night!)
Anyway, being told that 18 months was the deadline was really bothering me, so I called. Basically, I feel like we've been brushed to the side. After getting the run around with one nurse, an appointment scheduling person, another nurse, and back to the first nurse I spoke with, they said that the doctor wanted to wait until her next vist.... at 21 months. So we now have to wait two more months to talk to a doctor who told us to talk to her last month!?! I feel very strongly that nothing is wrong but why give us that time frame if you aren't going to do anything about it? I'm not worried about her, Chris isn't worried about her and everything else seems to be normal or above normal (especially that talking! Jamie says Evelyn speaks in Martian! I think that's what we'll call it too- Martian talk!) Please don't get me wrong- we are in no way disappointed in our child. I know by the time she's five, you'll never know she was a late walker. I just hope it happens before she's two!
In the mean time, I think we may start some potty training here soon! Keep checking in for that progress!
Oh, and here is a picture from Christmas. It's kind of funny- you start with a walker and end up with a walker! Dad- we love you! But it's cute that you and your grand child are both on walkers! :)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The Golden Goose Egg...Bubble Wrap- STAT!

It finally happened.... a casualty of being a little tot-the massive goose egg! Last night after dinner Little Miss crawled away for just a minute and then we heard it- CRASH, tumble, WAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Where is she?!?! That little stinker can speed crawl with the best of them. She was just right here! She's like a little speed racer! She's late on the walking side of things (very late) but she's curious and wants to try. That height just gets the best of her and she continues to topple over.

Anyway, she went around the corner, into her nursery and within seconds either pulled the lamp down on her head or tried to use the lamp cord to stand up while leaning on her dresser and crashed head-first into the dresser. Either way, by the time we got around the corner she was flat on her back screaming and the lamp was on the floor. It took a second for that bump to form, but my-oh-my what a beauty! Poor kid- as a graduate of clutz-U, I know that hurts! A little hug and the comfort of a rocking chair and a binky (and a shot of baby tylenol) and she was as good as new.

Don't worry- I didn't go snapping pictures of her prize-winning bump while she was still upset. I gave it an hour or so. But we have now survived our first real goose egg! This morning it was quite a bit darker in color and the bump was still there- that's going to be LOVELY- but kids will be kids! My heart broke for her but hopefully this NEVER EVER happens again. A little piece of me wants to wrap her up in bubble wrap before she gets any more adventurous but I know I can't. This is probably the first of many. I had my poor parents at the ER so much that the doctors there probably knew us by name! Let's hope this isn't a sign that she has my clutzy genes.





Monday, January 26, 2009

Welcome to the World Baby Kale!!!


HE'S HERE! Our friends Will and Stephanie had their adorable baby boy on Saturday! Gosh, it feels like Stephanie was pregnant forever- I'm sure she felt the same way... But he's here and now she's a mommy and he's a daddy. Welcome to the wonderful world of parenthood! We're so happy for you THREE!!


William Kale H.

1-24-09

9lbs, 2 oz, 22 inches