The rarely photographed second child

What they say is true: you will never take as many pictures of your second child as you did your first. But I finally got around to taking some of photo-deprived Miller yesterday. The lighting's kinda weird but I thought he looked cute.



Now if only I could get his announcements ordered...

Costume Time

Emmylou's Halloween school party and parade were yesterday. I can hardly believe that she never changed her mind and went as a pumpkin as planned! Here are some photos:






And here was the funniest costume we saw at her school:



How does a 4 year old kid know who ZZ Top is? And he likes them so much he wants to be one for Halloween? Maybe he's from La Grange? (Ha, ha!) [Note to Gary: You singing that song every time we pass through La Grange has finally come in handy-I never would've believed it.]

And here are the funniest costumes I've seen in a long time on my friend LuAnn's boys:





If you need to see the original skit (quite possibly my very favorite aside from the Jeopardy skits), you can link to it from this post HERE. Also, I was just reminded of this related post from Dave and Bethany, the Swayze-O-Lantern!

Happy Early Halloween, everybody!

Let's not go there yet...

This morning in the car...

Me: "Old MacDonald had a farm, ee-i, ee-i-o. And on that farm he had a..."

[Pause; waiting for Emmylou to fill in the song]

Emmylou: "A cheeseburger!"

Well, I guess in a round-a-bout way, yes...

At the pumpkin patch

Man-handling Tripp:




Gently holding her baby brother (this was right before she shoved him towards me and said "I'm all done holding him"):


Happy Halloween, y'all!

What's better than sassy hair and shoes?

A couple of firsts for Emmylou around here:

Emmylou's First haircut at Birds Barbershop...






And her first pair of cowboy boots from PawPaw and Nana!

Do you guys remember how I wrote about how Emmylou (Frick) and her friend, Tripp (Frack), are basically the same kid but in male and female form? Further proof: Tripp just got a little sister two weeks ago and just like Emmylou, he's also really interested in how to feed a baby:

They never knew boobies were so useful!

Last Saturday Emily took Emmylou, Miller and me to Maker Faire, a festival for all things crafty, imaginative and inventive (a.k.a., NerdFest 2008-- mostly in the robot section). Here are a few of the more interesting things we saw:

A life-size Mousetrap course (as I've mentioned before, this was my favorite game as a child):




Some doohicky-thingamajig:

A giant Dr. Seuss-like riding instrument (you pluck the strings that stretch across the back of it to resonate sound through the cylinder):


A community project that Lou also contributed to:


And there were lots of art cars, this being Emmylou's favorite:

It had an unbelievable amount of synchronized singing and dancing lobsters and fish (remember how everyone had a Big Mouth Billy Bass? Finally something to do with all of those cast-offs!):

Oh, and there was also this little armadillo car she liked:


Thanks for a fun day, Em!

When they start smiling it's suddenly all worth it...

Dear Emmylou,

Happy belated 31 month birthday! Of course I'm a little late (yet again) but at least I'm writing to you this month! Last month I was too busy having a nervous breakdown from adjusting to being the mom of two kids that I just couldn't get it done. But we definitely made a point of celebrating with you as it was kind of a milestone: two and a half! We talked a lot about it and you practiced answering "two and a half" when we asked you how old you are since saying just "two" doesn't sound nearly as important.

Wow, have things changed since I last wrote! Not only are you two and a half, but you are a big sister! Whenever we ask you about your brother, you say, "I wuuuuuv him!" I'll remind you of this in about thirteen or fourteen years, earlier if need be. And although you're really sweet to Miller 99% of the time, could you please quit poking him in the eye or pushing him when I turn my back for two seconds? I'm pretty sure you're not doing this maliciously (unless it's subconscious), I think you're just testing the physical boundaries of how far you can go before breaking him. So could you PLEASE STOP?! We had to have a talk a couple of days ago about what bones are, and I really don't want to get to know anyone from Child Protective Services anytime soon.

Now that you're older, you've gotten picky and are not afraid to tell us what you don't like at all: pretty much everything. French fries? Nope. Wearing what Mommy picked out? No way, Jose. Sitting in your booster seat at the table? Uh-uh. Usually you're somewhat diplomatic: "I don't like this [very sophisticated-like: crinkling nose, slowly shaking head]; Mommy you take this off my plate?" But other times you think you need to throw a fit to get your point across and I'm doing my best not to let this technique work for you. A few days ago you seemed to think crying would get you out of your nap (among other things) but my response must've worked because I overheard you telling a friend that "[eyebrows raised, nodding] sometimes fwying (crying) helps you get tired to take your nap so you can go to sleep." Ah, who knew crying was so useful?

So, what do you like these days? You are still loving school and your friends. Your daddy and Mr. Giraffe. Playing games and using your imagination. Asking "why?" a hundred times a day. Wearing Hello Kitty panties. You are obsessed with Halloween. In your bed with you when you go to sleep: Babo #1, Babo #2, Miss Piggy, Hello Kitty, your Omsorg and your "pumpkin purse" (a plastic pumpkin trick or treating bucket). You are still the sweetest thing just after waking up and, like your mom, don't want to miss out on anything.

So how are things going overall? After a couple of dark weeks, I think we're surviving this new way of life and most days now even thriving! Of course there are lots of new challenges but also new things to laugh at. And I'm trying not to forget that with everything going on, you're two years old. That alone means these won't always be the easiest of times. But thanks for doing your best to be a wonderful daughter who always keeps me entertained and a great big sister. I love you so much, Lulu!

Love,
Mommy

Miller and Emmylou just got some cute new friends from Isla! Miller got an adorable green monkey and Emmylou got Miss Piggy, who is now only second behind Babo and has slept in bed with her since it arrived. Thanks, Isla, Alison and Craig! As you can see, they love them so much!






And it was bound to happen sooner or later...



"Mommy, I have to feed my baby with my boobies."

If this blog came with sound effects, you'd hear me letting out a huge sigh of relief now that Emmylou has successfully completed her flower girl duties at our friend Taylor's wedding last night. Her only issue was not putting her hands down from in front of her face during the group portraits (sorry, Taylor) but considering she's only 2 years old, what can you really expect?! With no meltdowns or running in the opposite direction when it was time to make her way down the aisle, I was super happy with her performance.

Amelia and Emmylou-- so cute, dontcha think?!



I was even okay with the bow in her hair and the giant flower on the back of her dress. Normally I'd be breaking out in hives with Emmylou wearing such frou-frou things:





With Daddy and their grandma's:





The best part of the entire wedding? Cake, of course!



Here's one thing Taylor gave Emmylou for being in the wedding. Can you say 'excited?'



And here's what Emmylou did to herself 3 hours before the wedding while we were watching the end of the Texas vs. OU game and weren't paying attention to her:


I don't think I've ever heard so much horror in my mother's voice as when we turned around and discovered what she'd done. Luckily the marker came off easily and a disaster was narrowly avoided...

Gary took this picture of Emmylou yesterday to commemorate her first day of going to school in big girl panties:


She peed on the floor about five minutes later.

I think we've emerged from the dark side!

Miller's still a little fussy but after trying Mylicon and Gripewater to ease his colic without much success, we shifted strategies and began using something that is working: the 5 S's. The 5 S's are swaddling, shh-ing, swinging, sucking, and side/stomach positioning and are based on the theory that some infants need a fourth "trimester" and that implementing these techniques simulate being back in the womb. Kinda crazy, but at this point I'm willing to do whatever works!

I promise to post some pics of Miller soon- Em's coming over tomorrow morning for a photo shoot- but in the meantime here are a few of Emmylou we've taken recently.

Here she is in a Super Baby onesie (size 6 months) that our friends the Harris's sent to Miller from Baltimore:




And here's a preview of her current Halloween costume choice:

I say "current" because she's already switched from wanting to be Hello Kitty to wanting to be a pumpkin. I'm sure it'll be something else before the holiday actually gets here. She's so excited that she's been taking her favorite "book," the latest Pottery Barn Kids catalog with their Halloween costumes in it, to bed with her every night and asking me to read her the "story."

And here's Emmylou in her new blue tutu from the Gould family! They sent this as a big sister gift last month and she wears it all the time, even sometimes during naps.

So the last time I posted, everything was going pretty smoothly. Well...

...that was before Miller got colic.

It's been rough dealing with him and trying to take care of Emmylou at the same time. I'm hanging in there but it doesn't leave much time for photo-taking and blogging, so it might be a little while before I can post again.

I should give Emmylou a shout-out, though, because she still couldn't be sweeter to Miller and is even going the extra mile and basically potty-training herself right now! Love that girl.

Hope to check in again with you all soon!