Emmylou's new favorite spot: on top of Lola!



Actually, it's even better on top of Babo, on top of Lola.





Ahhh... just right!

Since I haven't posted in a while, here's what we've been up to lately...

Last weekend we went to San Antonio to visit with lots of family who haven't seen Lulu in a couple of months. Here she is with Kirk, who was in town from Minneapolis, and playing with bubbles at Lynn's house with Lynn and Granny (and Mimi, regrettingly not pictured):





Emmylou also got to visit with Pawpaw and Nana, getting to ride around in some kind of crazy all-terrain vehicle (what was that?) to see their property and where they'll be building a new house. Emmylou loved it! I'm so mad I forgot to take pictures while we were there!

We stayed with Grammie, so of course Emmylou got to see her and do all of her favorite activities at her house like playing the piano, reading her "Hamilton Duck" book and trying on a variety of shoes.

This week we've been hanging around the house, going to the gym and Town Lake (oops, I mean Ladybird Lake) and trying to help Emily with her house renovation when we can. Here's a pic of Emmylou doing some clean-up work at Em's new house:



With my superb example of housekeeping, I'm not surprised at all that she already knows what to do with a broom (Gary, stop laugh-snorting, please).

...And, Gary and I want to say thanks to Em and our friend Leslie who babysat for us last night. It was the first date night Gary and I have had in a very long while. We got to go to Jeffrey's, one of our favorite restaurants (yes, we got the crispy oysters on yucca chips if you checked out the link- still YUM after all these years!) and went to the Alamo Drafthouse to see a movie. We saw "King of Kong" and we highly recommend it! In case you haven't heard of it, it's a documentary about two men competing to be the world champion at Donkey Kong, the classic video game. I laughed, I cried. Seriously, it was really great. Here's the trailer if you're interested:

MULTITASKING...



Remind you of anyone?

Dear Emmylou,

On Tuesday, you turned seventeen months old. I have to confess that I had to go back and count on my fingers to be sure just how old you were! That should tell you how big you're getting. In fact, that's what everyone says when they see you now-- how much you've grown and how you're not a baby anymore but a little girl. While I do miss that little baby, you sure make the transition easier for me by being so much fun to be around. Maybe I shouldn't tell you this, but I've never been much of a fan of toddlers. Listening to the whining, tantrums, and exhaustingly chasing around a 2 foot tall human tornado just never appealed much to me (maybe that's still coming?). So I guess that's what has been most surprising to me these days: that I actually LOVE to hang out with you! That you don't hamper the good times but actually make them better! I can't tell you how thankful I am that you were on your best behavior on our big trip. Actually, I don't think it was your best behavior, I think you were just being yourself. Anyway, I was worried for weeks that it was a mistake to try taking a one and a half year old to Europe, but I couldn't have been more wrong. I can honestly say it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without you and your humor and enthusiasm. It's too bad you won't remember the trip, because believe me, you had a great time. Your favorite things on the ship were the bank of glass elevators (those never got old for you: "oooh, oooh, oooh!" [pointing/running/getting on the wrong elevator]), seeing the live music every night (especially the trombone and drums in the Big Band orchestra and going to the piano bar) and the never-ending pounds of blueberries and watermelon brought to you by the waiters. Out in the cities, your favorite things were seeing various European dogs ("woofs"), eating lemon granitas, and running your own cross-continent spaghetti/pasta taste test.

Now that we're home, you're back to your usual favorite antics: wearing whatever shoes are laying around the house (you've even figured out how to put flip flops between your toes the right way by yourself) and trying to call foreign countries on the phone when I'm not looking. I figure you might be bored without having a new European country to explore each day now, so I've been trying to take you out as much as possible. Yesterday Grammie came in and we took you to Barton Springs where we watched the swimmers, played on the playground and then shared snowballs on the train ride around the park. Before we went, we had lunch at Shady Grove where (I'm embarrassed to say) you sat on top of the table-- we tried a booster seat rather than a high chair but it wasn't so effective because you just climbed out-- but you impressed me as you dumped out all the sugar and Sweet 'N Low packets from their holder and then restocked them, sorted on your own by color. Where did you learn to do that? And a few days ago you matched animals in a book, sliding open a window to reveal an animal and then pointing to the same animal on the facing page. I'm just wondering-- are you like a genius or something? Anyway, I'm so proud of you and all of the new things you're learning.

What a fun month this past one has been. Maybe it's sweeter because I didn't expect it to be like this, but I simply couldn't ask for more. I love, love, love being your mom and I know getting to your eighteen month milestone will be a blast.

Love you,
Mama


Probably calling Azerbaijan...




Trying on a couple pairs of shoes...

Okay, I finally decided to try to make a slideshow of our vacation photos to post here, but with the quality of YouTube, it didn't turn out so great. Here it is anyway, in case you still want to try to read the subtitles and make out the details in the pictures, but I'll try making an album on flickr or something in the next couple days so they're easier to see. Also, these are only my photos (which aren't so great because I was counting on just getting copies from a certain professional photographer who was on the trip with us) and I forgot my camera in Dubrovnik, Croatia so that part is missing.

Anyway, until I can do better, here's our trip in 5 minutes starting with Emmylou on the long flight over there:




[Ed. Note: That would be the Pantheon, not the Duomo, of course, and the one I didn't know is simply called the St. Mark's Clock Tower (thanks, Andrew!)]

While I'm waiting to gather photos from my mom, Emily and Lizzie from the trip so I can post the best ones here, we want to send our congratulations to Alison and Craig in Scotland. While we were away, little Isla was born! Isn't she absolutely adorable?!



On Monday night I put Emmylou in bed with us when she was having a hard time sleeping because of the jet lag and I woke up a couple hours later because she was kissing me! It was such a sweet moment and I can't wait to hear all about the wonderful times and experiences Alison will have with her own little girl. I know you'll enjoy every moment, Alison!

After two weeks of cavorting around Europe, we are finally back, happy, safe and sound, in Austin! Here is a picture I took of Emmylou the night before we left that I meant to post then, but couldn't quite find the time what with all the packing I had to do and my slow recovery from the concussion and staples in my head I got 3 days earlier. But we made it to Barcelona very smoothly and had an AMAZING time in every city we visited. Every day just got better and better, even when we didn't think it was possible! Emmylou (who did not actually have to travel in my suitcase but got her own seat on the plane) was more flexible and easy going than I could have ever imagined and became something of a legend and superstar on the cruise ship. I'll start posting some of the stories and photos of the vacation tomorrow, but for now I'm going to bed! As Emmylou would say, "night-night."

Dear Emmylou,

On Saturday you turned sixteen months old. This is getting ridiculous! What have you done with my little baby? No more bottles! You want to use utensils! You communicate with words and signs! Pretty soon you'll be asking to borrow the car and wanting to get your belly button pierced (please, not that). The other day your dad walked in and you said, clear as day, "Hi, Dada" like you've been saying it for years. What is that all about!? That's all I'm saying this month. Nothing mushy, just wanted you to know that if you want to slow all this down just a little bit, that'd be fine with me...

All my love,
Mama

Emmylou reading her favorite book, "The Wheels on the Bus." I'm afraid "Pride and Prejudice" might be next...

I continue to be amazed every single day by Emmylou's development. Not only is she insisting upon feeding herself (and doing a pretty good job at it) and opening every door she comes across, she is a sign language fool! She's like a little sponge when I show her signs and now consistently uses the ones for "more," "all done," "milk," "water," "open" and "eat." She also can make the animal noises for dogs, horses, sheep and cows. When does Harvard start taking applications?

Lizzie and I finished the Iron Chicks Triathlon on Sunday in New Braunfels at the Texas Ski Ranch and Emmylou and Grammie came out to cheer us on! Everytime I wanted to stop I just thought about seeing Emmylou at the finish line! Thanks for the motivation, Emmylou!

Hi everybody! Emmylou would like to introduce you all to Gustafer Yellowgold, her new favorite kiddie character. Aunt Lizzie found out about him at the Children's Museum last month and got the DVD for her. Isn't he so cute?! He's kind of like Wilco-meets-The Shins-meets-The Wiggles, singing silly songs like this one about his eel friend:



They had me at the opening lyrics: "Up through your pant leg and out through your collar..."

When Gustafer performs live, it's a group of 3 (pretty cute, according to Lizzie) guys who play the music in front of a big screen with Gustafer animation. They're from New York and she says they're coming back again in December. We can't wait to see them!

Emmylou's impression of Paris Hilton:

Happy Fourth, everybody! We took Emmylou down to our neighborhood parade this morning and in our infinite wisdom, decided against bringing an umbrella. Sometimes I do wonder if we might be unfit parents. Of course by the end of it we were all completely soaked to the bone but still enjoyed it and warmed up quickly with baths back at home. The parade was fun but wasn't much more than a bunch of families with decorated strollers, bikes and scooters going around the block following a fire truck, and us pulling Emmylou in the wagon Eric made for her. I would've taken pictures of the actual parade, but I was keeping my camera in my pocket so it wouldn't get ruined from the rain.




I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture, but the wagon says "Fleet Flyer" on the side-- we lived on Fleet Street in Baltimore! Adorable, Eric.

Last week Emmylou created her first work of post-modern abstract surrealism* that I like to call Happy Face in (Mostly) Primary Colors: The Early Years.




Really, I was just glad she didn't eat the paint (not that she didn't try), and, yes, I did help a little here and there.

*That combination isn't even possible, right, Alex?


On Wednesday we went to visit Alyssa and her big brother Joshua at my friend Lizette's house. We had so much fun playing and Emmylou could not tear herself away from their piano!




And since things have been so hectic lately and I didn't get around to posting a pic of Emmylou and her daddy for Father's Day (which Gary pointed out the other day), here are a couple of photos I took today of them together. I hope all of you have or will get to see them together for yourselves- the smiles, giggles and full-on hyena laughing never stop! For either of them!

Emmylou's been all smiles lately because we just got her this castle climber (of course I put it inside because it's so dang hot and muggy outside all the time). I'm happy to report that there have been no serious head injuries on it as of yet.





Grammie picked up these crazy tie-dyed bandanas somewhere and everyone wanted to try them on (even Lola!)...





Grammie also made some yummy yogurt popsicles that Emmylou loved and Lola admired from afar...