Halloween photos are here! Here is her first costume- we decided to work with the orange nose and make her a goldfish...




And, as I mentioned a while ago, I just couldn't keep from dressing her up as Suri Cruise...


I had to trim the wig because here is what it looked like before-- a cross between Elvis and Farrah Fawcett...

Yesterday was Gary's birthday so Emmylou helped me make this Rice Krispie treat cake for him!


Today we're getting ready for Halloween and Emmylou has two costumes, so stay tuned and we'll post some pictures of them shortly!

This afternoon we went to the Howl-O-Ween Dog Costume Competition and Baltimore Dog Festival! It was in our neighborhood a few blocks down so first we went to the Austin Grill for lunch and then checked out the costumed canines. Unfortunately, Miss Lola was not allowed to go because she doesn't have the best manners around other dogs. Here are some photos from the afternoon:

A dog-loving singer-songwriter...


Scooby and friend moonwalks...


A medieval princess...


Yoda, Darth Vadar and their nerdy but enthusiastic owners...


A lobster...


Dorothy...


My favorite, a schnauzer dressed as Baltimore's most famous author, Edgar Allen Poe (complete with a black raven on his collar-- look closely), with Emmylou...


An inmate out for the day...


A hula-pup...


A hot dog...


And a weiner-witch!

Grammie came yesterday and brought Emmylou her very first baby doll! She got it at the ultimate toy store, FAO Schwarz, when she was in New York last week. Emmylou loves it, especially chewing on the top of the baby's hat.


Also, here's a close-up of how Emmylou's teeth are progressing...

Isn't Emmylou getting so big?!

It's been a while since my last post because we went to New York with the Barnes family for the weekend! We got back last night from Geneva, New York (their hometown) where we went for a wine tour along the western side of Seneca Lake. We had a great time and the weather and scenery were beautiful! Here are some photos from the trip:

The group at our favorite winery, Heron Hill: Kristen, Aaron, Missy and Eric. Emmylou stayed with Eric's mom for the day while we took a limo for the tour and drank as much wine as humanly possible...


Idiots in the limo (Aaron actually packed a cooler of beer for the wine tour if that tells you anything)...


Emmylou and Alyssa playing at Eric's mom's house...


Emmylou standing on her own (she got her first shiner a few seconds later)...


And here is some not-so-great video and photos of the scenery (the video was taken through tinted car windows), but it was beautiful and I wanted to share it in case you live someplace that only has green and brown trees (uh-huh, Texas, I'm talking to you). The song is Brandi Carlile's 'Fall Apart Again' (Get it?-- Fall Apart Again?)...


We had such a great time on the trip we decided it would have to be an annual event. We can't wait 'til next year!

Last night I went to the National Geographic headquarters in DC for a lecture (part of their Masters of Photography series) given by my friend Penny. She gave an amazing presentation of the work she's been doing over the last four years documenting the often overlooked diversity of the people living along the Texas-Mexico border. Her 20-page photo story about the high society of Laredo will be published in the November 2006 National Geographic magazine (coming out in the next week or so) and I highly recommend that you pick it up. You'll be surprised by what you see! Anyway, since I was in DC last night, Emmylou had her first experience with a real, live, official babysitter. My friend Nikki, who was my former student when I worked at Towson Univ., came over and stayed with Lulu. Although it sounds like Emmylou went to bed pretty quickly, I think they had a good time together.



Here are some photos I took this morning when I brought Emmylou into bed with me when she woke up. She has taken a real interest in Lola lately and always reaches out to pet her when she's around. Similarly, Lola has taken more of an interest in Emmylou, but that's mostly during mealtimes when she's hoping Emmylou will drop her cookie.

Because Gary's in Austin for a few days, Emmylou got to go over to Hope and John's house yesterday while I went to work. Here are some pictures Hope took of them:

Playing with the very best-est toy in the whole, wide world...


Making sure their remote control tastes as good as ours...


And looking oh-so-comfy-cozy in John's crib...


While he slept on the floor!


Many thanks to Hope and John for taking such good care of Emmylou!

Dear Emmylou,

You turned 7 months old yesterday! Sorry I'm a day late with your letter but we went to the drive-in with you last night for a double feature and didn't get home until very late. You slept the entire time we were there and although I had planned to lay you down on the back seat to let you sleep, your daddy and I ended up taking turns holding you for the 4+ hours because it just felt too good snuggling with you in that cold car, watching movies.

This month you've made one big change: you have gotten very, very quick in all that you do. You can grab your food bowl out of my hand and turn it upside-down before I know it, and you can now race from one side of the room to the other in your walker in seconds. My hair is up for grabs (literally) all the time and when you decide you want it (or anything else, for that matter-- the remote control when I'm trying to change the channel or the grocery list when I'm trying to shop), you go after it with admirable persistence. I actually hope you keep that up throughout your entire life!

You're really getting taller and you can now stand by yourself holding onto the coffee table or ottoman. You haven't quite figured out how to jump yet. We got you a Jump-A-Roo a couple of weeks ago but instead of bending your knees to bounce, you keep your legs straight and stiff and just kind of wobble, bouncing back and forth from side to side, looking a little confused and worn-out after several minutes on it. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get it soon! It's fun watching the wheels a-turnin' inside that noggin of yours.

This month you started eating three meals of real food a day but I'm still nursing you 2 or 3 times a day, too. It seems like a lot but you haven't turned down a meal yet! I think it's helping you grow those new teeth and all of that fuzzy hair. You have been working so hard on those two things, you must be exhausted. Speaking of exhausted, after a couple of scary weeks, you are back to sleeping 12 hours a night without waking up. Yay! I don't think of myself as superstitious, but I have to admit that I'm starting to believe that your green fuzzy sleep sack is magic. You get your best nights of sleep whenever I put you in it. We're going out to buy 5 more today.

Your daddy and I keep talking about how fast all of this is going. We see you in every little girl we see playing outside, walking down the street or on TV, and wonder what you'll be like when you're that age. This morning I noticed the faintest little scar on your right cheek and I remembered that it was from when you scratched yourself right as they pulled you out of my belly. I didn't know you still had that mark, but I'm glad I saw it because sometimes it's already hard to believe you are that same little critter who looked up at me that very first time as if to say, "Hi, I'm here. Now what?" Now what? Well, I'm not exactly sure, but I know we're going to have a great time doing it. I think we're doing well so far.

Love you with all of my heart,
Mama

Then (one day old with your scratch)...


Now...

We just got back from a fun visit with Auntie Lauren in Virginia! I got my new Fall 'Do (it's red!) and Emmylou got to hang out and play at the salon. Here she is getting a kiss from Lauren...


Getting beautified just like Mommy... (poor creature, we couldn't resist)


And trying out Daddy's old hairstyle, the mohawk...

Interesting outfit, huh? You might think I've already started letting Emmylou choose her own clothes, but that's not actually the case. This is just what happens when Lulu spits up all over her PJs at 4:00 in the morning and all of her clean jammies are downstairs. Last night at 4am it somehow seemed a better idea to spend 10 minutes rummaging through her room for anything that would fit and keep her warm rather than walk down 14 stairs to get her clothes. People, I'm dealing with limited sleep here.

For everyone out there reading this, I want to say 'thank you' for keeping up with our adventures. This is my 100th post! I love being able to share the most amazing experience of my life with all of you and I hope that Emmylou brings a smile to your face every once in a while like she does to mine each and every day. Until our next adventure...

Now that her love affair with ceiling fans has subsided, Emmylou has moved onto another 'special someone'-- our remote control. It's not that I don't give her other toys to play with, I mean, look at the selection she has within inches of her body! At this point she could be COVERED in toys but would still use all of her might to reach out a pudgy hand and try to pry the shiny, magical remote control out of my hands.


In other news, tonight marked what is bound to be only the first of many, many meals that I'll cook which Emmylou will refuse to eat. In an attempt to relieve her of some of her orange-ness, I decided to puree some yummy rotisserie chicken with rice cereal and chicken broth. Delicious, right?! After she gagged on the third straight spoonful, I gave up and opened a jar of beef with vegetables, which in baby food-world is a deep pumpkin color. She ate the entire thing so I'm sure tomorrow her nose will look like it took an overnight trip to St. Tropez.

Today we recovered from yesterday's marathon tour of Havre de Grace. We hung around the house for most of the time except for a quick walk down to the photo shop to get some pictures made and then to Safeway to buy a couple of things we needed to make an apple tart. Did I mention that we picked 29 pounds of apples at that orchard yesterday? We split them with Missy and the kids but that still left us with tons. Our tart recipe called for 4 apples so, naturally, we used 7. Here's a photo of Emmylou and Emmy with the tart, the pumpkin we picked, and a still-enormous bowl of apples. If you haven't noticed, Emmylou's nose has turned quite orange from all of the carrots and sweet potatoes in her baby food (there are carrots in everything!), so maybe I'll try making her some homemade applesauce to dilute the effects.

Emily had to go back to Austin tonight but we sure did have a good time with her. Thanks for coming to visit us, Em-- we love you!

Because it rained all day yesterday, we had to put off our fall festivities until today. But I'm glad we did because it was beautiful! Here are lots of photos:

First, we went to the orchard to pick apples...



Then, we checked out the pumpkins:


And took the ones we picked out on a hayride...

And after eating the most delicious cream of crab soup for lunch in downtown Havre de Grace, we went to an amazing candy store (Emmylou wore her special lollipop shoes for the occasion)...

Then walked along the promenade bordering the Chesapeake Bay...