We're not drowning yet

Life is HECTIC! We had a wonderful visit with our friend Amy last night. She came up for the Triad Area Clemson Alumni Prowl and Growl with Dabo Sweeny and Brad Brownell. Emily Grace got to meet the Tiger Cub (who scared her at first but by the end of the night she was giving him high fives and blowing kisses his way!)

We're gearing up for our summer time beach trips.

I'm monogramming like crazy (which is GREAT!) The blessing of the Inlet was a huge success. But I'm still recovering.

Work is beyond hectic for both Chris and me, but busy is good, right?

Emily Grace is VERY close to being potty trained. FINGERS CROSSED!!!!!!!!!

And we need a new stroller- Chris accidentally hit it with the car. Don't ask.

OH yeah, and Luke will be here on July 29th. I've decided that everything in the nursery must be HGTV/Pottery Barn kids quality (I know- anal) and that most of it must be hand made.





Our crib has been recalled.

We still haven't picked our strawberries and that is a MUST on my to-do list every May.

Elmo Live is at the Coliseum this weekend and I'm debating buying last minute tickets.

Oh yeah, and I'm pregnant. But I have a smile on my face and I WILL NOT let it get the best of me. This is life and life is good! God has been good to us and I'm embracing every second!!!

Bad Girl Daddy!

My patience has been a little thin lately and I might be fussing at the dogs a little more than usual. But hey, they started it.

They have now eaten two WHOLE boxes of Jiffy Cornbread Mix that were supposed to go feed the needy. I know, I know, they're $.88 each and I'll just buy more. But Yes, it was the powder stuff. And yes, on two different occasions. And yes, the cardboard and wax paper bag too. That CANNOT taste good! They've done a lot more than that but I digress.

So, I come home to these messes every day (Sometimes Chris beats me to them) and I immeditaly yell "BAD GIRLS!" at the dogs. There are a lot "bad girl" scoldings going on at our house- they really do get into a lot of trouble now that I'm preggo. So, Little Miss Emily Grace has picked up on the bad girl saying and now uses it every time someone does soemthing bad.

This morning, Daddy was trying to help her onto the stool to brush her teeth and I heard her yell "Bad Girl DADDY!"

I had to hide my laughter. I think he was trying to hide his too...He hadn't done anything wrong but she didn't want to be there or else she wanted to do it herself and... he got scolded. I think I need to watch how often I yell "Bad girls!" at the dogs from now on. And I think we need to work on boys versus girls. Everyone is not a girl.

That kid keeps us chuckling!

Go for the Gold!

I'm so confused. So, why wouldn't my child, who grows and learns from every move I make, not also be confused? Potty training should be simple enough, right? You feel the urge, you tee tee in the potty, you get a high five, sticker, M&M (after washing your hands), etc, flush down the tee-tee and wait for the next one.

Well, due to Santa's visit in December, the potty training went back to square uno. When the paci left, all knowledge of how to use a potty went with it. So, here we are. Shhh, don't scare it away. The urge to use the potty for Emily Grace is coming back!!!!!!!!

We're trying not to over-react- this is normal.

We're trying to encourage it, kids need encouragement.

We're trying to push it forward, but not too far, because we might fall off of the edge of the cliff again.

We're trying not to scare her. Scary is bad. Scary is two steps backwards.

And we're trying not to laugh...

Emily Grace FINALLY asked to go pee pee on the potty the other day. And while she tries, she plays with her step stool (yes, she sits on the potty and leans forward and plays with the letters in her step stool that spell her name- I figure it's never too early to learn to multi-task: learn to pee pee while learning to spell! Mommy is an ace at it (multi-tasking, not simultaneously pee peeing and spelling), why can't she be? Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!).

So while she was leaning forward, I glanced down at the stool (instead of at her) and she fell off the potty. SHE FELL RIGHT OFF- onto the floor- ON HER HEAD- with her bottom in the air! CRAP!!!!!!!! Do I clean the pee? Do I pick her up? Do I flush? DO I act like this happens to everyone at least once? What is the normal parenting move for this kind of event?????

She cried, I scrambled, we both said "eau."

There went our progress. She hasn't asked to go again but she seems not to be as scarred from the incident as I was.

Let's get out of diapers before baby #2 gets here! PLEASE!

Any suggestions?

Baby Urban #2 is on the way!

This is a little late, since the news slipped out on Facebook at 7.5 weeks, but Baby Urban #2 is on it's way!!! It is due August 5, 2010- which just happens to be Grandma Dance's birthday! The doc says the chances of a baby being born on its actual due date are around 4%. We'll take it any day.

These were 12 week ultra sound pictures. We're at 13 weeks as of yesterday, so I'm a week late getting these posted.
This is the baby's profile. You can see belly, leg, foot, arm and head in this picture (s0rt of). It measured about 2.25 inches from head to rear end. So he/she is closer to 3 inches with the legs. It was moving around too much to get a more accurate measurement.

This is the cute little picture of the baby looking strait at us. He or she looks like a cute little alien! It was very active on during this ultrasound! Isn't he/she cute?

This is the head profile. I was amazed that at 12 weeks, you could see so much detail in the face! The white stripes at the bottom of the neck were what the tech was measuring. The space between those stripes can determine if the baby is at risk for downs syndrome. If the space measures over 3mm, there is a higher risk. Our little tot measuered at 1.6 mm so we were in the safe zone. But no matter what, we'll love it to pieces!

Santa Sighting... missing Paci

Last Sunday Chris was holding Emily Grace's hand as they walked out of the nursery at church toghether. I was in front of them holding the door. An elderly gentleman walked toward us, smiling. He had on a navy blue winter coat and he had a beard that slightly resembled Santa's. Emily Grace looked up, pointed and squeeked "oh! Santa..." like she sees him every day. I'm not sure if he heard her or not but Chris and I could not hide our faces. I looked at Chris and he was trying so hard not to laugh that he already had a tear on his cheek! I would have apologized but I really don't think this nice man heard her and I was afraid he'd see us laughing. EGU went on with her babbling like nothing had happened.

I think this might be a result of Santa "taking her paci to all of the new babies in the world" on Christmas Day 2009. We've survived the missing paci for several weeks now, without much of a melt down but she does mention Santa once or twice a day with the word Paci somewhere in the same sentance. I'm glad the transition was such an easy one but I hope we haven't ruined the image of Santa for her. :)

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...

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!