Friday, March 30, 2007

SEPARATED AT BIRTH?



It may just be a coincidence, but both the girls at the gym child care center and Emily have begun calling Emmylou "Little Emmylou-Who," a reference to little Cindy-Lou Who from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." All she's missing are the antennae and bows! At least she doesn't look like the Grinch...



*Thanks to Emily for the nifty photo-shopping!

Wednesday, March 28, 2007



Here's Emmylou with the monkey Alex and Carlo gave her for her birthday. We were sad to tell them goodbye on Sunday as they are in the process of moving to Las Vegas. Alex got a great job there after finishing her Master's-- she'll be the assistant curator for the newly-expanding Las Vegas Art Museum! We'll miss them terribly but I'm pretty sure we'll be visiting soon (I can already hear the 'ring-a-ling-a-ding' of the slot machines in my head). Good luck, y'all!!!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Now that Emmylou is literally off and running, we've entered a whole new world together. The times I used to spend writing blog posts have been replaced with things like chasing her down the hall, trying to beat her to the bathroom before she unrolls ALL of the toilet paper, or picking up approximately 30 DVDs that she takes one by one out of the cabinet in the living room on an hourly basis. She is sooo much fun (I actually mean that), but it sure takes a lot of energy keeping up with her. Before I ever had a baby, this was the part I was always scared of. Would I have the energy to keep up with a toddler who was constantly exploring, grabbing and tearing things apart? Of course, I also always worried about how Gary would handle the interruptions in neatness, but luckily I've worn him down over the years so that he hardly notices the (slight?) increase in messiness around the house (yeah, right). At least he hasn't complained too much so far, and since Emmylou's a great sleeper, I think I might make it through this phase more gracefully than I ever anticipated since I'm not having to deal with sleep deprivation. Thanks, Lulu! They may be fewer, but I'll continue trying to squeeze posts in here and there to keep y'all up-to-date with the goings-on of the little monkey. Here are a few recent photos:

As Nerdy McNerdison in my glasses...


In the bluebonnets!


With a blue tongue after drinking my Gatorade I got after finishing the Capitol 10K this morning...


And with Emily a few weeks ago (a cute pic I never got around to posting earlier)...

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

As most of you know, Emmylou had a little birthday party on Saturday. Here is a slideshow of photos Emily took:



Thanks to everyone who came- Emmylou (and the rest of us) had a great time!

If there's trouble with the video, try clicking HERE.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007



Dear Emmylou,

What a milestone; you're a year old today! Of course I could say that it has flown by in the blink of an eye, but that can't even begin to describe what it's been like watching you change from that little critter of a newborn to my toddler with her newly-discovered strong will. I remember the first time I saw your face, shocked that I was now the proud owner of a real, live, actual baby. It's funny, because during the pregnancy I couldn't visualize what you'd be like, what I'd be like with a baby, and of course, now, I can't imagine life without you.

Your daddy and I were talking today about that morning one year ago when you came into our lives and how we'll never forget that hospital room in Baltimore, those moments spent meeting you for the first time and then getting to know you, both of us wondering how to hold, feed, clean, and comfort you-- without breaking you. It amazed me that they let us take you home from the hospital without some sort of certification course or licensing, but I guess we knew what we were doing since we've managed to keep you alive for one whole year, and better yet, you seem to be thriving. I can't exactly pinpoint the date when we finally stopped checking every 30 minutes while you slept to make sure you were still breathing or when we decided that the 5-second rule was a fantastic idea for our household, but I guess we both gained confidence in ourselves and each other and things somehow sorted themselves out.

It's been unbelievable how much you've changed in only the past few weeks. It's almost like you knew you had a special birthday coming up and were preparing for the occasion! You are walking all over the place, although you still like to crawl when you really need to get somewhere in a hurry or if you're wearing socks or something slippery on your feet. You're talking up a storm and singing, too. You have about 7 words now, your latest being "ma" for "milk" and "nigh-nigh" for "night-night." I've been trying to practice 'b' with you lately because when you try to say "Babo" you say "Dado" and when you try to say "ball," you say "dall." It's actually really cute. What's not so cute, though, are these new mini-tantrums you've been throwing lately. You are getting really frustrated and I am too because I can't figure out what it is you want half the time! I guess the best answer would be that you want to do it yourself. I guess I need to just hand over that spoon to you and not worry about the gigantic clump of oatmeal in your hair or the number of cookies you intentionally feed to Lola rather than eat yourself. I suspect that the next few months (or 17 years?) will be quite interesting.

Before I close, I want to tell you about a time in the hospital only a few days after you were born. It was just you and me and you were laying on my chest as we sat in front of a big, bright, sunny window in our room. As I looked at you and thought about all that had happened, it only took a few moments before I became overwhelmed by the most intense feelings of gratitude and love I have ever experienced and started crying. As I'm not usually (ever?) the most outwardly emotional person, I attributed the tears to out-of-whack hormones, but I have to say, I don't think it was. I think it was my introduction to a new kind of love, one I'd never known before, that only comes when you have a child. A love that I've felt every single day since, still with the same intensity. I love being your mommy and Daddy and I couldn't find more happiness in watching you unwrap the world around you, regardless of how many times you throw the stack of magazines, one by one, off the coffee table.

Happy Birthday with love forever,
Mama

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMMYLOU!

Today is Emmylou's birthday and we've had a great day so far. Grammie came up for lunch and (against my better judgment-- I know it's gross) we took Lulu to McDonald's to eat. Here are some photos:












Although she enjoyed the burger and fries, her favorite thing was the orange Hi-C drink. She HATED the ketchup!

Tonight Gary and I are going to take Emmylou to Vivo for dinner because she loves the rice and beans there. I'll try to post more later!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Emmylou had a big weekend! First, she got a new carseat since she's such a big girl now. She even gets to face forward! Here she is testing it's snooze-worthiness:

Emmylou [settling into left side of seat]: "Ahhh, uh-hmm... yes.... I do believe this, uh, seat here is just ri.....zzzz....zzzz"



Then, Friday evening, Pawpaw and Nana came over for dinner and to celebrate her birthday. Here's Emmylou with them and a delicious cake they brought for her:



Starting in on it...



Nearing the end...



And so unhappy when we finally took it away!



Pawpaw and Nana gave Emmylou some great presents, including her first cowgirl hat and the cute western dress I had wanted for her a while ago (see July '06 archives)!




So cute! Had we known what we were in for last night, she could've worn both! We went to the Brentwood Tavern for dinner and some live music that ended up being all covers of Johnny Cash, Townes Van Zandt and the like. Here's Emmylou dancing with her daddy-- two-stepping already, when she's just learned to walk!



Today Grammie came in for lunch and some afternoon shopping where Emmylou got a new pair of sandals! The man at the store measured Emmylou's feet and called them (and I quote) "tiny princess feet." Um, excuse me?! He said that most one-year-olds have size 5 or 6 feet while Emmylou only wears a 3! Could this really be my flesh and blood? Given that I have the most gi-normous size 11 feet, for the first time, I'm suspecting they switched babies on me at the hospital. Here's a pic of her new sandals (that Aunt Emmy bought for her as a birthday gift!) that she'll get to wear with lots of cute springtime outfits.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Can you hardly contain yourself? Two posts in one day! But I had to share this photo-- Emmylou climbed into Lola's bed with her. Doesn't Lola look a little worried?

I never thought I'd have to tell someone this, but today I told Emmylou, "Please don't put that cookie in your ear." Here she is with cookie everywhere else on her face...

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

After many attempts to capture Emmylou walking on camera, we finally caught a couple of steps last night. She's very cautious but seems to be getting more and more excited about what she's able to do. You'll have to turn your head sideways for the second part- I accidentally filmed it vertically (again) with my camera. Ooops.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

We spent the weekend painting Gary's office and then tonight Emmylou got to meet Ashley and Keith's new baby!


Friday, March 02, 2007

Gary says he should be the official picture-taker from now on, because he took these two photos that he thinks are sooo cute.





I kind of have to agree.

Also, remember that post a couple of weeks ago about how Emmylou makes her "cute" face on demand? It's gotten even worse and meal times pretty much look like this:



Sitting between these two grinning maniacs feels a little ridiculous at times, but of course I can't help but love 'em.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

I have to show y'all what Emily got for Lulu out of the Grammy gift bag!







I knew the Baby Beatles CD existed because my friend Yvonne had it in Baltimore, but Baby Coldplay and Baby U2?! It's children's music I can actually tolerate for more than 5 playings! And actually, these are just a few that we have-- Em got the whole set that also includes Baby Metallica, No Doubt, Pink Floyd and The Ramones! Thanks, Em!