Boston - July 2014

Had to take a business trip.  My first since Emerson joined us. Still nursing him, and was dreading having to pump around the clock for three days.  So I had a brainstorm and decided to bring him along!  Elina was happy to come along and see another American city, so we all flew to Boston.

Such a sweet caregiver

Not sure 'bout this airplane mamma....

sleepy boy ... even in the rental car

We added an extra day to the trip so I could see family -- we drove in to see my Grandma Katie and my cousin Erin and her two boys.  Was so great to have that time with them.  And my Aunt Peggy took good care of me, ensuring I knew where to go and coordinating a dinner downtown with Jonathan, Uncle Jim, Jesse and Kurt!  We ended up having a bit of a dramatic dinner, unfortunately -- Emerson was steadily getting droopier (and his temp was rising) and I had directional-disorder and was so super late for dinner. It ended up a bit rushed, and Uncle Jim ran out on foot hunting for medicine for poor Emerson (he was burning up by then....).  Love my family - they were nothing but patient with me.  And Elina was a trooper - she just went with the flow.  I was nervous about the trip home - but Emerson rallied and did okay. Took him a week to recover from his awful virus, but he's back to his happy self now.

With GiGi !!

"Guitaring"

Tag has been dedicated to teaching himself guitar. It's awesome.

He practices every day, picking up the guitar whenever he passes it, going on-line to check for songs and techniques.  He has special sessions where he plays it for Emerson.

And Emerson Adores it.

One of a Kind

Evey-isms:

"But I won't be abley to go!"

"I need that pick for my ukelady!"

"I wanna go to Old McDonalds!"

"Poppa we need to do some guitaring."


She has a real penchant for the number 3.  Some examples:

"mamma mamma mamma!"
"poppa poppa poppa!"
"I don't wanna take a nap I don't wanna take a nap I don't wanna take a nap!"


I feel like I run in circles most days, and I worry that I am missing too much.  I try to ignore the smelly dogs, the looming piles of dirty laundry, the gritty floor, the weedy gardens, the disorganized refrigerator, and just sit and hang out with my kiddos.  Ev suffers a bit of baby envy, which often makes it difficult for the three of us (Em, Ev and mamma) to just hang and play.  It becomes a wrestling match, ending in me ordering Ev off to go play elsewhere and "stop pulling / poking / grabbing / punching your baby brother."

So Ev and I took Sunday afternoon for just the two of us, and snuck in a wonderful pedicure.  Darcy & Lilly love this place in Collierville that has a "princess chair" for little ladies.  What a great call that was -- Ev was absolutely glowing the entire time.  She soaked her feet, got a foot scrub and a leg massage, had her finger nails painted and her toes painted (with a flower on each big toe).  And "can you believe it mamma?!" her chair even had massagers in it.  She was sparkly from head to toe (Head:  stole my sparkle headband that really I never had a chance at keeping anyway.  Toe: sparkly flip-flops that she selected the other day at the mall - they glow disco colors when she walks - hilarious).  When we walked into the nail salon, the proprietor asked us to select our nail color, so Ev dashed over to the polish selection and picked, not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different polishes.  She was very prescriptive during the pedicure, "These are for my finger nails, with the sparkles on top, and these are for my toes, with the green sparkles on top."  This girl knows what she wants, and she ain't afraid to say.  I love watching her in action.  She's truly beautiful.  So strong, so healthy, so stinkin smart.  Watch out world !