Emmylou seemed to be feeling better today so we (finally!) got to go on our first neighborhood walk. We found the park/playground by our house which happens to be next door to the school where Emmylou will eventually be going!

I took Emmylou to the pediatrician today and just as I suspected, she is not on her deathbed but in the throes of recovery from a rather bad case of the common cold. I did hear that there is a nasty outbreak of RSV in Austin and I was a little worried that she might have strep throat because every time she coughs she cries like her throat is killing her, so I'm glad that both have been ruled out and we can resume normal lives soon. Thank God, because if I watch another episode of the week-long America's Next Top Model mega-marathon on VH-1, I'm going to permanently alter my IQ to that of the mostly brain-dead contestants (excluding smarty-pants Elyse, my favorite contestant from season 1 who is the girlfriend of Marty from The Shins).

Anyway, I'm definitely eager to get on with what will be our normal life here in Austin or at least get a feel for what it will be like living here minus unpacking from a move, preparing for the holidays, or getting over Lulu's and my colds. In one last hurrah for Christmas, we got a package from Auntie Lauren yesterday filled to the brim with presents for Lulu, Gary and me. One for Lulu was even called 'Lulu the Letter-Spinning Spider!' She thoroughly enjoyed and inspected each toy and has played with each of them today. Here are some pics of her opening them... Thanks, Lauren!




Oooh, gotta go-- Top Chef is on! (Yes, I know, I'm pathetic.)

Here's Emmylou with her new little friend, her adorable frog humidifier.



How do I know it's adorable? Because it says so on the box:



Yes, she's still sick and I couldn't be feeling more guilty for dragging her downtown New Year's Eve when I thought she was on the mend. I guess I was trying to not be that mom who freaks out when her kid is sick, so I've learned my lesson now. Poor baby. As you can see, I've gone out and purchased every available medication for her in the hope that she'll be able to breathe through her nose and quit coughing in the near future...

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Last night Gary and I went downtown with Emmylou, Grammie, Keith, Ashley and Cole to see Lizzie's performance in the First Night arts festival. Since Grammie came up to Austin to see Lizzie, she volunteered to babysit Emmylou and Cole back at our house afterwards so we could all go out and celebrate. We hit a few obstacles that were probably expected when you don't make plans for New Year's Eve until an hour or two before going out, but our night ended up fun at a party at Keith's sister's house, fireworks included. Emmylou was asleep when we got home so I wasn't able to see the new PJ's Grammie put her in until I went to get her this morning-- so cute (can you see the '2007' on them?)!



We had a lazy day around the house and after having no fever at all yesterday, Lulu seems to be feeling worse today. I'm sick, too, so we are a pretty pathetic bunch. Gary was able to buy a PlayStation 3 this morning, his Christmas gift from Mimi and me, so he's been spending the day alternating between salivating over his new Tiger Woods game and taking care of the babe.

It's been a while since I've posted, so let me get you all caught up on Emmylou's latest adventures...

After a couple of fun Christmas parties in Austin, we headed to San Antonio on the 22nd. We stayed with Grammie and she watched Lulu while Gary and I turbo-shopped to buy all of our Christmas presents within about 4 hours (success!). We left the camera with Grammie and here's a pic she took of Lulu in the bath:



On Christmas Eve we made our annual gingerbread houses, with Emmylou getting to participate for her very first time. It was fun knowing that Lulu will continue to enjoy this tradition for many, many years. Emily, Lizzie and I have been making them every year since we were 6! Gary has also become a big fan of decorating the gingerbread houses and helped Emmylou put her hand print (literally) on the Stephens' house.





The best part: getting to eat the candy! Emmylou finally got to put those two teeth to good use!




That night we went to church (here we are all dressed up), and then Lulu got to open her one present for Christmas Eve (with Lola's help): Surprise! It was pajamas! Daddy got some, too.





Emmylou slept well that night and Santa came, just like we promised. Here she is with the tree and opening a few presents. Her favorite? Shredded tissue paper! And although Gary and I did get her a few real toys, we also gave her a box of straws and some Gladware because we knew she'd love them.





Then we went to Lynn's house to celebrate Christmas with Mimi and the rest of the family. Here's Emmylou with her stocking from Mimi and some of the many toys they gave her, all of which light up or talk in some capacity.







On the 26th we went down to the riverwalk for dinner with Grammie, Emily, Lizzie and Khanh. Here are some of them on a bridge in front of the lights:



We went to Port Aransas to see Pawpaw and Nana on the 27th, and Emmylou enjoyed hanging out with Nana and Pawpaw's mom while the rest of us went fishing on Thursday. After catching a ton of fish (who knew fishing was so much fun?!), we took some to a local restaurant which will fry, grill or blacken your catch. Emmylou loved the fish and I told her that was good because I'm sure a whole lot of fish sticks are in her near future. Unfortunately, that night Emmylou started running a fever and we had to cut our visit short and head back to Austin early the next day. Gary and I were freaking out watching the thermometer climb up to 103.7 but tonight I'm happy to report she's almost back to normal. Since we had to leave so quickly I didn't get any photos of Emmylou at the coast (but I'll post some if anyone has any to email me) but here's one of her cuddling with her dad who took turns with me taking care of her in the middle of the night when she was so sick:



Aside from Lulu getting sick, I must say we all had a wonderful Christmas even if it was a little hectic. We want to send everyone a big hug who made it so special for her and us!

Right now I can't think of a word better than "overwhelmed" to describe how I'm feeling, although another good one would be "over-stuffed" considering Gary and I are turning into our own versions of Morgan Spurlock by overdosing on fast food and restaurant meals. In fact, I think it's probably been a month since I cooked a meal or even poured a bowl of cereal. Gross. Our house is still a complete disaster area with the organization of our household contents hinged upon an Ikea wardrobe/pantry that has a door that just won't hang straight. Not knowing whether it'll be staying or getting returned (I'm supposed to get a call within 48 hours from Ikea with my options, but really, don't get me started on that), I still can't fill it up and make room for us to walk from one room to another. Agggh! As you might expect, Gary is about to lose it and has declared war against the Pax Hakadal-- here's what it's supposed to look like:

Honestly, I'm just amazed that it's still in one piece and not a giant pile of splinters on the living room floor.

And as if that's not bad enough, I just started my Christmas shopping tonight. I put Emmylou to bed and escaped to the mall with Lizzie for a couple of hours until it closed at 10:30 tonight. I got a few things done but I think it also, unfortunately, pulled me out of my denial that Christmas is in a mere 6 days. Oh. My. God. Six days! That's it-- as soon as I'm finished writing this post I'm curling up with my computer for some much needed Cute Overload therapy.

At least tonight when Gary got home from Dallas we went to our favorite restaurant, Musashino, to have some yummy, healthy sushi. Emmylou likes to chew on the empty edamame shells so I took a picture of her doing that next to her daddy's plate:

Yum! Sayonara, I'm off to bed...

Saturday night we all went to Keith and Ashley's house for their Christmas party which was a great time. We got to see friends we hadn't seen in at least a year and there were tons of kids there! Who knew we'd all end up being such great breeders! Emmylou enjoyed getting passed around from person to person and Gary and I had fun with the white elephant gift exchange, where the funniest present was probably a set of three urinal deodorizer screens (I didn't even know those existed- and where exactly does one go about purchasing them?). Here's Emmylou being held by Jen with Ashley and Cole at the party:


And we finally got to see a very tan Emily yesterday (I'm so jealous) since she's back from her cruise. Here she is with Lulu and the adorable Mexican dress she bought her. It has a peacock on the front that is sooo cute! Thanks, Em!


Back at the house things are still a mess but it does feel like we're making some progress each day. We can't wait to get back to a normal life that doesn't include eating out every meal or moving huge piles of clothes to get into bed at night. And Christmas shopping? I'm sorry, but is there a holiday coming up? I hadn't noticed.

Dear Emmylou,

Today is December 14, 2006, which means you are 9 months old now! Can you even believe it? I certainly can't. This past month has been insane with all of the changes we've thrown at you, but you've continued to be one of the happiest and good-natured babies on the planet. Honestly, I'm a little worried that you're saving all of the difficult times for your teenage years because you're just so easy right now. But just because you're easy doesn't mean you're lacking in personality. You've really started to show us yours, and it is sweet, friendly, funny and determined. Go figure, the perfect combination!

These days you're talking up a storm and daddy calls you 'the parrot' because you can imitate lots of things we say. I think that means it's officially time that we start watching what we say! You still aren't officially crawling yet (just scooting and slithering), but we're pretty sure you're going to skip that step altogether and go straight into walking. You've always wanted to stand up in my lap since you were, literally, only a few weeks old, and you still only want to stand, stand, stand! It's even difficult at times to make you sit on the floor and play with your toys-- sometimes I have to pull your legs out from under you to make you sit! You are still racing around in your walker and I have a feeling that if I put you on the sidewalk outside, I might find you a couple blocks away after only a few minutes.

It took a few days, but I think you are finally used to your new house and room because you slept all night last night and the night before. Either that or I have worn you out to the point of exhaustion that you'd be able to sleep on a moving freight train just the same. Really, I'm just glad you're sleeping through the night again! You have also been trying all kinds of new foods lately and I love sharing my plate with you when we go out to eat (which is all the time since we've been kitchen-less for a while). You are really liking chicken, beans, rice and french fries and are slowly getting a little better at eating avocado, something I keep trying to give you (even though you make faces) because the universe just wouldn't make sense if I had a daughter that doesn't like guacamole. You can really chew/gum your food now, which means I no longer envision you turning blue and me administering the Heimlich Maneuver each time I give you something to eat. Yay.

Daddy and I have loved watching you figure out how to do new things, but the best part, for sure, is watching your own face light up with pride and happiness when that happens. Like when you clap, you look at your hands with a smile and then look up at us as if to say, "oh my god, those are my hands that did that!" I can't begin to think of all the other firsts we'll get to experience with you and I hope you have that same un-stifled joy and sense of pride for every single one. We couldn't be prouder of you or love you even a single ounce more.

Love,
Mama

And the craziness continues... in addition to trying to get unpacked and somewhat settled, we've also been celebrating birthdays around here. Mine was on Tuesday, so we went to a casual dinner at Phil's Ice House and then had yummy Amy's Ice Cream for dessert. Emmylou had her very first taste of ice cream there and loved it-- she kept squealing after each bite until I gave her more! Unfortunately, Emily was on her cruise so we couldn't celebrate her birthday, too, but I'm pretty sure that'll happen once she gets back. And yesterday was Pawpaw's birthday so Emmylou and I went to San Marcos to celebrate at Texas Reds with the whole crew. We all put in for a new fishing rod and reel for Pawpaw and Emmylou seemed to really like it. Pawpaw promised to teach her how to fish real soon!

Even though our house looks like this...


...after 72 hours of unpacking we had to get out! Ashley, Keith and Cole invited us to the Trail of Lights with them and some of their neighbors and since it was essential that I finally get a picture of Lulu in her Christmas outfit for our holiday cards, we decided to go.

The entrance...


Where the Wild Things Are...


Candyland...


South Park...


The Grinch...


The coolest tree...


Emmylou and Daddy...


And, of course, Mexican food was involved...

I have so much to report! Not only did we close on our house today (furniture comes tomorrow!) but Emmylou is doing all kinds of new things. Clapping, talking, waving bye-bye, pulling up and trying to walk, and just keeping us on our toes all the way around. Tonight she looked at Gary several times and said "dada," then later Grammie asked her if she was pooping and Grammie said she said "poop." I came running in to hear for myself and told her to say "poop" and she said "dada." Hmmm. Coincidence? I think not! Anyway, she has been so wonderful and easy throughout this entire transition time-- I know it can't be easy for her with such an awkward schedule. And speaking of schedules, mine's been kind of hectic too, so to make up for the past few days here are some new photos...

Playing with her new favorite toy, Lola (doesn't Lola look enthused?)...


Kissing her new best friend...


Catching up on sleep wherever she can- a nap at Baby Gap...


Playing with her friend Alyssa...


And at our new house tonight celebrating the closing (everyone got champagne except Lulu)...

So Emmylou and I were just sitting in our hotel room watching a little TV when we heard about a very important birthday courtesy of VH-1's show Best Week Ever. Apparently, this week Emmylou's uber-favorite object, the remote control, turned 50 years old! Luckily, I had my phone right next to me so I could capture her picture with the segment on TV. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, REMOTE CONTROL!

Emmylou LOVES Babo, her Ugly Doll. Whenever she lays down to sleep she fusses a little bit until I give her Babo, then she grabs him with both hands and buries her little face into him and I rarely hear another peep until she wakes up.