Almost...

It amazes me that Emmylou can get on my computer (on noggin.com) and play for what seems like hours without any help at all. Yesterday I showed her how to enter her name for one game and here's what she was able to do without any help today:

So close! What a smarty pants. Here's another example of how she thinks outside of the box (by getting inside the box):

And when she isn't busy being (almost) completely brilliant, she enjoys jumping on the furniture with her brother.

Happy Birthday, Eeyore!

Alex has been in town from Vegas for the past few days and we've had a great time hanging out with her. Yesterday we went to Eeyore's Birthday Party! This was the 46th annual party and I really can't believe I've never been before. Actually, I take that back. I think Emily and I tried going one year in college and turned around after being scared off by all the um, interesting people we encountered. I guess now I've just been in Austin long enough to embrace these folks.

Turns out the festival caters to two very specific demographics: fairy-costume-wearing-hallucinogenic drug-lovers and kids! Perfect!

First things first: Alex treated Emmylou to some face painting and even got beautified herself:

After a little while, Emmylou's new friend Rhea came too! She asked for a beautiful mermaid on her face. 

Just a sampling of Eeyore's "colorful" friends:

And here's what Miller thought of the party:

In other Alex-related news, I've been meaning to post a link to her new blog, Recession Recipes. Alex and Carlo are fabulous cooks and they've been making some awesome looking dishes that I'm dying to try. What a bonus that they are super-affordable! If you haven't seen it yet, CLICK HERE!

New tricks

Guess who's getting his crib lowered tomorrow?

So proud of himself! (He actually sleeps in the Pack and Play in the office so don't worry that he'll be falling out tonight.)

Oh, and guess who suddenly wants her picture taken as soon as Miller's getting his taken? Notice how she skillfully blocks almost every bit of him.

And this last photo is for Bethany because she commented about Miller's hair in the last post. I seriously wish you all could rub his head. In the last few days it has really puffed up and is so irresistibly velvety soft. 

I invite you all to participate in a virtual head-rubbing:

Ah, now don't you feel better?

Miller-Bobby

Since Gary's in Alabama for Talladega this weekend, I thought I'd post a pic of his son driving his own little (NAS)car.

Gary texted yesterday to say he was heading to the winner's circle to give the winner a computer. I had my camera all set up to capture it but it ended up not being televised. :-( Maybe we'll get a shot I can post later.

And more big news for Miller: I think he's close to crawling and he's really starting to pull up! He loves to be on his feet. 

Big guy!

Explanation

So, you probably know by now that when there hasn't been a post in a while that means things are probably, um... not going so great. Let me try to sum up the past few weeks.  

First, Miller spent an entire week really fussy and not sleeping through the night because he was getting his first tooth. And as soon as that tooth came in, he spent the following week getting his second tooth. Good times.

Within minutes that Miller got over the second tooth, Emmylou surprised me with a 101 degree fever out of nowhere and continued to run between 102 to 105 for FIVE days straight, culminating in (yet another) trip to the emergency room- taken by Gary- which I only heard about as I was driving home through torrential downpours to and from Conroe for my grandmother's funeral. The hospital sent Emmylou home saying it was just a virus (which is what the doctor had said when I took her in on Wednesday) and that she'd just have to weather it out. They took a chest x-ray "just because she was there" but didn't see anything on it.

The following day the ER called to say they had changed their minds and that Emmylou did, in fact, have pneumonia, could you please put her on antibiotics strong enough for a horse? So she finally started to get well again as Gary and I tag-teamed caring for her and Miller over a family reunion weekend filled with all kinds of activities. 

Now Miller's sick.

Luckily, he seems to be getting better already and hasn't had a fever higher than 100 degrees. 

And, with all my complaining, we really have had some fun times lately. Emmylou loved Easter and the family reunion was a blast. I'm also thinking my sanity might improve soon because I just quit my job on Friday- I had picked up a couple of home health patients over the past six weeks. 

I promise to post some more photos soon, but for now I'll leave you with some Easter pics... Thanks to Mimi for the cute personalized jammies and to PawPaw and Nana for the fancy-shmancy duds!

The Skipper

Here's Miller out on the boat at Grammie's lakehouse, where we spent the last few days. I have lots more photos to post but they'll have to come later when I get a little more free time...

Our little patient

Another souvenir Emmylou brought back from the beach last week was a nasty infection in a cyst she's had on her wrist since she was born. According to the doctor these things just happen and aren't caused by anything in particular, but it did mean she needed surgery to remove the infection. After a trip to the pediatrician followed by two trips to the surgeon between Monday and Thursday, the princess was in surprisingly good spirits at the surgery center on Friday when it was time for her procedure.

The surgery was no big deal and only took about 20 minutes, but as you can imagine, Gary and I were a little anxious about her being put under for it.  But we needn't worry because she did great and was back to her normal self about an hour afterwards. In fact, she even went bowling later that evening (pics to follow)!

We survived Spring Break 09!

So a few days before Spring Break began, my friend Elizabeth (Tripp's mom) called and suggested we take the kiddos somewhere like Sea World for a day during Spring Break since both of our husbands would be slaving away all week. Fast forward a few hours and our plans had morphed into us taking all four kids to Port Aransas for four days and three nights. If you happen to be thinking, "Wow, that sure was ambitious of them to take 2 three-year olds and 2 six-month olds to the beach," you might want to rephrase that and replace the word "ambitious" with "stupid." 

Actually, "stupid" is the wrong word, too, because in reality we had a fantastic time and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. My mistake was solely in thinking of the trip as a "vacation" because that was exactly what Elizabeth and I seriously needed by the time we pulled back into Austin. Exhausting, but a blast. 

Here are Emmylou and Tripp during the first few moments of the drive to Port Aransas. You can't tell but the car was packed.  There was so much baby gear and kid stuff that we just "had to bring" (ok, that I just had to bring) that we could've moved to Port Aransas. 

A couple of hours into the drive we heard a weird sound from the back... 

Tripp decided to open the tent for the beach.

Do you think we pulled over to put it away? No time for that! Must get to beach!

Finally, they fell asleep. A miracle of all miracles. Or maybe not, since we told them we'd give them money if they'd take naps in the car. 

A while later we arrived at the condo.

Me: "Hmmm... You guys are exhausted after a 6 hour drive? I know! Let's go to a crowded restaurant where we have to wait 30 minutes for a table!" That was fun.

Ahh... the roommates are finally settled into their beds for the night.

The next morning:

Us: "Aren't you guys so excited to go down to the swimming pool and the beach?!"

Emmylou and Tripp: [pointing at TV] "Dora's on."

Us: "Yep, that's what we drove 6 hours for."

We finally convinced them to head out to the beach except that Emmylou refused to take off her "beautiful yellow princess dress" to put her swimsuit on. Love Tripp's pirate ensemble- skull and crossbones from his head to his toes!

So lady-like.

Jumping over the waves was fun.

The babies stayed in the condo with Elizabeth...

Flirts!

The weather was beautiful. Here's the view from the condo:
When we came in from the beach it was time for a heavy-duty bath. 

Ho, ho, ho...

All spiffed up and ready to party.

Wait, you guys are exhausted again? Perfect! Let's go out to dinner! (Some mommies never learn.)
Elizabeth and I spent most of the weekend bribing or threatening Emmylou and Tripp to behave. This surprise was one such bribe:

Remember the money they "earned" by sleeping in the car? They got to go shopping:

After perusing the shells and trying on various hats, Emmylou decided what she really wanted was this "tiny pink princess cup."

Wait, let's get a closer look at that...

For those of you who can't make out what it says, let me help. It says: "Caution: Instant sex machine. Just add alcohol."

Exactly the kind of souvenir I was hoping she'd pick out! (No, I did not let her leave the store with it, people!)

The outside of the store was an amazing sand castle so we took some pics:

Throughout the vacation Miller got some quality time to put the moves on his girlfriend Tate.

"Hey, Baby."

"Come on over here."

"Your hair is so soft and silky..." [Tate, looking a little worried]

What a shame-- as Elizabeth pointed out, every single candy machine we encountered from Austin to Port Aransas had a sign that said "I'm sorry, I'm broken!" on it. Here are Tripp and Emmylou reading it for us. 

And sleeping on the way home (we didn't even have to pay them this time)...

So yes, it's difficult taking three-year olds and babies on vacation without daddies, but we really did have a great time (and besides, being outnumbered is difficult no matter where you are). Elizabeth, Tripp and Tate were so much fun to be around and Elizabeth and I were still smiling when it was all over (the wine helped a lot) so I'd definitely call it a success. We planned lots more adventures for the summer so stay tuned for more lunacy!

And on a little side note, I have to say that I have the best husband in the world. Not only did Gary repeatedly tell me how impressed he was that we took the kids to the beach ourselves (he even said things like "I don't know how you're doing it!" when we talked on the phone), but when I got back home he surprised me with a new MacBook (!) and had already asked my mom to babysit so he could take me out for a nice dinner! So sweet! Thanks, Babe, should I leave more often? :-)