September 2014

School Picture (in Queen Elsa gown, naturally)

The movie Frozen continues to capture Ev's imagination. Her love of the Elsa character hasn't diminished at all.  I treated her to a dress-up gown that I found on-line, one that I thought represented the real Disney costume better than the crunchy, flimsy dresses we'd see in stores.  She put it on and immediately walked with a tall back and a regal smile.  Oh my.  She's an actress.  When school picture time came up she asked me carefully if she could please please please wear her Elsa dress for the photo.  I told her, "if Ms. Beaty says it's okay, then it's okay with me - but you have to bring it and only wear it for the photo, not during the normal school day."  By 11am I had an email from her teacher telling me it was okay to wear the dress (Ev never misses a beat).  It was a great decision -- the photo of Evelyn is incredible.  You can see how magical that dress makes her feel.

so in love with this happy boy

Auntie Laurie came for another fun visit

Em enjoying his mobility....my pantry doesn't stand a chance

building a fairy house

just plain lovin' being outside

early august 2014

sitting at a restaurant for a quick lunch, I asked ev if she'd like to work in a restaurant someday.  "Nope. Too many people."  would she like to have a job like her mamma, working in an office?  "Yeah, that would be okay.  that would be easy, not too tricky."

she still objects to sleeping in a room by herself.  Tag heads upstairs before he turns in each night, never certain where she's camped out (it's rarely in her bed). Sure enough, she's nestled neatly in the alcove of Elina's room, a blanket perfectly laid out underneath and another blanket neatly pulled up over her, pillow comfortably under head.  Totally crashed out.  Beats the days when she'd have carpet imprints on her face I guess.

emerson is up off the ground now - no more army crawling.  he seems to prefer all fours at this point. he's pulling himself up on everything and feeling more and more confident about his balance.  he actually forgets sometimes and lets go with both hands...which sometimes ends up as a bump on the head.

no teeth yet.  but lots of drooling, fussing and hand gnawing.  poor kiddo.

started eating food bits -- not a big fan of food on a spoon, but loves feeding himself noodles, meatloaf, cheerios, bits of fruit (if he can catch it in his fingers...).

loves the bath -- scoots back and forth in the tub, giggling and chattering all the while.

he babbles when he's happy.  "bubb bubb bubb   bobb bobb bobb"  Just happy sounds, not trying to communicate anything yet, although I swear I've heard him say "mamma" in moments of distress....

water fun on the patio

a favorite activity

goofing around at the baby playground

Naples - July/Aug 2014

We LOVE Florida.  And our friends the Sullivan's were going to be there for a short bit (back from Switzerland for a month).  So of course we planned a weekend of visiting in Naples.

Ev is such a travel pro.  Loves going places.  Loves packing her own suitcase (the blue one is mine, mamma).  She's a darn good packer too!  And she was super psyched to see her dear friend Lilly.  It was a great trip.  Emerson struggled with unfamiliar surroundings, but Darcy still got her snuggles in.

keeping busy at the airport

The ladies of Naples!

How lucky were we?!!  A day trip with Cap'n Sully!

I think she has the boating bug now...

Em checked out fast.  Wind? Weird lifejacket? No can do.

The girls LOVED flying at the front of the boat

Do you think we had enough fun?  This was the trip home...

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 !

June 2014

What do we love to do?

Emerson:

• Watch my sister.  That's my favorite thing. She makes me giggle and outright laugh.  I love her.
• Climb up the stairs.  I freak my mamma out when I do this.  I love to twist my body around every now and then and reach back to touch her face, just to make sure she's still there.  Then I giggle and get back to my climbing.  I'm getting pretty good at it.
• Blow raspberries.  I can do this for 15 minutes straight.  My parents wonder how my lips don't get tired. I love how it feels, and I like how they answer me back with their own raspberries.
• Bang things together.  My mamma gave me the metal measuring cups the other day and I sat on the kitchen floor and bang-bang-banged them -- it was so fun I just had to squeal.
• Play drums on anything/everything.  I smack-smack-smack my hands on the table, the computer, the box, whatever is handy, and squeal out my song.  I love it when my family joins in.
• Splish splash in the water.  My mamma puts a bucket of water out for me on the back patio so I can splish my hands around in it.  I end up tipping it over and getting all soggy bottom.  But I love it.  When somebody is holding me and they try to drink their water, I like to try it too -- I'll take a little sip (yum!) and then splish my fingers into their cup.  I love the bath tub too, until I get water up my nose and then I hate it.
• Stroller rides.  Actually, I'm not sure I love this at first, but then I get into it and I get so relaxed that I fall asleep.  The stroller takes me all kinds of fun places, and there's usually lots of kids. I love to watch kids.
• Play with my mamma's hair.  Play with my poppa's nose and lips.  Grab my mamma's earrings. Get a fistful of Evey's hair.  Grab the puppy's fur.  I basically love to grab stuff.  And paper.  I love paper.  I like to shove it in my mouth because it feels interesting.  But my poppa gets upset because I choke on it.  And then I want more paper again.

Evelyn:

• Getting my nails painted.
• Doing my hair in pony tails and pig tails and putting on clips and flowers and hairbands.  I can do my own hair pretty good.
• Swimming.  I love diving under the water and swimming through my parent's legs.  I'm pretty good at that.
• Riding my bike.  When I'm not grumpy.  When I'm grumpy it's NOT FUN.  But when I feel good, I'm so super fast on my bike. I'm learning how to use the brake.  And when I tip over it's okay cuz I just get right back on again (those training wheels don't always work).
• Going to Oma & Opa's for a sleep over.  I get treated like a princess when I'm there and I am the center of the universe and everything is so fun and there's so many projects to do.  And I have a Doc McStuffins sleeping bag.  I wish I could have a sleep over at Oma & Opa's every single day.
• Reading books.  I'm starting to sound out the words myself.  I love books.
• Going to the playground.  I always make a new friend or two or three when I go to a playground.  I love the swings and I'm learning to pump my legs so I can keep the swing going when my mamma gets tired of pushing me.
• Holding my brother.  He likes me.  But sometimes I'm a little bonkers and I pull on him too hard.  Or I feel like he's boring so I try to make him cry cuz that's more interesting.  I can't wait till he's bigger and he can play with me.