More Firsts!!

click image to enlarge


Packing the essentials for school-- a tea set!!






Today was Emma's first day of preschool. I guess at this age it's really more of a Mom's Morning Out, but to make it sound smarter- we're calling it preschool :) To be honest, it didn't seem to phase her too much. My mom came over before I took her to school and we tried our best to get some good pics. But I guess without Chloe standing at the door with her, it just wasn't that exciting for her. None the less, we still got some cute pics (of course they're cute, they're Emma!)


A little bored with this :)








Now she's feeling it!











Emma just loves playing with other kids. She does great in the church nursery. But she did cry when I left her today- and it pulled at my heart for the few minutes it took her to stop. As soon as her cousin got there she was good to go! Except for the fact that she then saw me (through the window) standing outside talking to Carla and Rebekah. Note to self-- do not stand in front of 1 year old's classroom window when said 1 year old is crying over your departure. She could totally see me, and I'm sure was thinking, "Are you just trying to torture me with the wondering if you're coming back now or later?!?" So sorry Emma! I promise to take my conversation down the sidewalk well out of your view :) She had a great time, and the leader of the program called me around 10 to assure me that she was doing great and had stopped crying- as soon as she couldn't see me! That is one of the reasons I love this school-- she knew I needed that call. It brought me great comfort! Apparently Emma has a knack for painting with apples. They said she dove right in-- I think they meant that literally!-- I told the teacher to be careful, and she said, "oh we had her paint shirt on." I told her I wasn't worried about Emma. I'm more worried about anyone standing within a 10 foot radius. Have you seen this kids arm? As light as paint is, I'm sure she could sling it pretty far!!

5 yr worries

Chloe's school year has started off great! She's doing a great job with her work, and doesn't complain too much about getting up early! She's made some new friends, and is very excited whenever she sees someone she knows in the halls. (several older kids from our church go to her school) On the way to school one morning (I think it was her third or fourth day) she asked about Nina. I was waiting for Nina to come up in conversation. Chloe and Nina have been best friends since they were like 2. One of my favorite pictures is of the two of them at Chloe's second birthday party sitting on a Nemo lounge chair Chloe got as a gift and laughing hysterically. I have no idea what they were laughing at, but they both look amazingly cute. Anyway, Chloe asked me (for probably the 6th time) what school Nina was going to. I told her and she asked why Nina couldn't come to her school. I told her. Then she said this:
C: "Mom, do you think she'll find a new best friend?"

I was a bit taken aback by that question. It seemed entirely too grown up for a 5 year old to be asking. But I thought about it for a few seconds and replied,
S: "Don't you want Nina to make new friends?"

C: "Well, yeah. She can make new friends just like I am. I just don't want her to make a new BEST friend."

We pulled up to school at that point so I ended the conversation with something like, oh you don't need to worry about that now. You guys will always be friends.

I thought this was too cute! I didn't have the heart to tell her that Nina (& she) would probably find some new best friends. I think it's inevitable being at different schools. But they can always be great friends. I told her they were going to get to see each other quite a bit in Girl Scouts (Daisies to be precise!), and that it would be cool to have a friend at another school. When she's older she can meet Nina's new friends too. I'm 32 and I don't have just 1 best friend. I'm lucky enough to have several. Hopefully she will be too :)

Cookies n Milk

I made cookies today for Chloe's after school snack. Emma watched Chloe dunking hers in milk and was trying to reach mine & Chloe's cup. So, her Grammy-- who always gives her what she wants :)-- got her her own milk. She didn't waste a crumb!

Chloe's first day of Kindergarten!!

Click on pics to make them larger!



Chloe on orientation day!


















Chloe's first day in K-5!

















Emma wanted to get in on the picture taking too! She was so excited watching Chloe be so excited! Love the bedhead!

Making Memories

I got to put both of my babies to bed tonight... and I cried. The tears were not tears of sadness, despair, fear, or even joy. To be honest, I'm not sure how to categorize these tears-- I guess maybe just love.
Emma has- for quite some time now- been extremely easy to put to bed. We walk in her room and she lunges for her crib with her blanket and Kitty Kitty and snuggles in to her crib as if to say, "Ok, you can go now. I'm good here." Micky and I were so pleasantly surprised when this started a few months ago. And I'm not saying that we don't still enjoy it. But sometimes I just want to hold her, sing to her, rock her-- just feel her warmth against me and breathe her in. Hopefully that doesn't sound too crazy, but the thing I miss most when we leave the girls (for a weekend or just a night with grandparents) is their smell. Just breathing them in calms me and brings an amazing peaceful feeling over me that I can't describe or do justice with words. When you feel it, you just know it. It's love! So tonight I did hold Emma, I did rock her and sing to her and I breathed in her goodness with an even deeper thankfulness in my heart. Because in the room across the hall, my other baby--is no longer a baby. She's grown in to an amazing young lady. And she is who I credit for first teaching me how to love like this. Chloe will always be our drawing board. We learn with her and we try it on Emma. Trust me, we learn plenty from Emma too-- they are by no means one in the same-- what worked for Chloe may not work for Emma, but Chloe will always bear the brunt of being the first. So that means we get to make our "first" mistakes with her!
Chloe was already in bed when I went to kiss her goodnight. With this being such a big night (Kindergarten starts tomorrow), I asked if she'd like me to lay with her and rub her back. She of course said yes, and was asleep in minutes. I stayed there for many more. At first I just stared at her beautiful, sleeping face-- having little trouble recalling what it looked like as a baby-- and I just watched her. Then I started looking around her room. It still has the same blue paint and flower border trim that was on it the day she first came home from the hospital. But it is no longer a baby's room. The crib has long since been replaced by a big girl bed. The knick knacks around the room are no longer things I picked out, but have been replaced by her favorites. Hello Kitty dolls, snow globes, Mickey Mouse ears from her first trip to Disney, tea cups from her first tea party, etc. Not to mention the numerous pictures that she has chosen to have in her room-- pictures with family, Christy, Tyler, Jenn, Jess and at least three with her and "her Nina," a picture of her, me, and Micky the day she was baptized, and Emma's picture from the hospital. And as I lay there looking at all of her treasures, I realized she's already doing what so many of us sometimes forget we're supposed to be doing-- Making Memories.
Micky and I were fortunate enough to get to go for a short weekend trip recently with our great friends Misty & Lee. And in the car on the way to Litchfield Misty and I were laughing about something silly and Lee asked what we were doing and Misty replied, "Oh, just making memories!" I actually paused for a minute when she said that, and I know it's a moment I will never forget!
I hope Chloe and Emma's lives are full of memories made and treasured. I know they're too young now to remember this night when they get older. I don't remember my night before Kindergarten started. But I do remember feeling loved, and feeling secure. I pray that they will too.

Big Night!!

We had a big night Monday here at our house-- we celebrated my mom's 29th birthday :) , Chloe welcomed her new pet guinea pig into the family-- Ol' MacDonalds, Mac for short, and Emma had her first bathtub pony! The first two things were celebrated and fun, the last made me a little sad. I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up! The fact that her cute "baby mullet" can now go in a ponytail makes me smile and at the same time makes my heart a little sad. Micky & I are about 99% sure that we are not going to have anymore babies-- and I'm ok with that, I think. It's just hard to think that the first time I see Emma do new things will be the last time I'm watching one of mine do something for the first time. Is that confusing?
So, as much as it is cool watching and learning with Chloe as she still masters new skills, it's just as cool watching Emma because I know I better savor these moments. If I blink too fast, they'll be gone.
I love my babies and I love my life!

Caterpillar spring... Nature Scene style

We were invaded about a month ago. By caterpillars! We were all playing in the backyard one day when Chloe shouted, "Mom, this tree is growing baby sticks!" Well, as you can see in the picture, the baby sticks are indeed caterpillars. Tons of caterpillars. They had nests on both of our crab apple trees and there were about 20 other nests on the trees at the back of our yard and in some of the limbs that hang over our fence from the woods behind us. It was amazing! I couldn't stop taking pictures of them, and watching them grow was pretty cool too. (Did you have to watch "Nature Scene" in elementary school science? I did. And at the time I really didn't appreciate it, but now I love that kind of stuff.) All I could think was, this would make an awesome "Nature Scene" episode! Chloe really got into it too. She learned how to very carefully pick them up-- so she wouldn't get their "guts" on her- they actually excrete something (guess what) if you startle them too much. She counted and guesses we had at least a gazillion caterpillars in our backyard. We've been waiting patiently (somewhat) for the gazillion butterflies that should follow, but so far have only seen two. Needless to say, Chloe hasn't been too pleased with that ratio!
Here are a few pics of our little friends (notice they've sucked the crab apple trees dry!) and also Chloe's own "Nature Scene" video is at the bottom. We'll let you know if we see anymore butterflies!
Click on pics to make larger

Just for...

Let me apologize to my mother and mother-in-law for not updating sooner. I have to place the blame completely on my friend Heath who somehow put FACEBOOK on my iphone, and the time that I used to spend here has been replaced by confirming/adding "friends" on facespace. I have no idea how many "friends" I have (I'm sure someone is keeping count and if there is indeed a competition I'll pick up the pace and start adding everyone I ever shared a fudge round with--millions) but needless to say I have become what I dreaded- an addict. I very rarely comment or add stuff, but love to look at everyone's pictures. Although, I must say some people need to filter a little bit better. I really don't need to see you taking your 10th shot of the night or seriously do I need to know that you went to work, then the grocery store, the gym, then home? But that doesn't stop me from reading it, or at times adding my own silliness to the mix. And that's what I think it is-- silliness. And you know how I love good silly fun! So, while I'd like to say that I'm cooler than that, you know I'm not! Which is why I'm a big addict!
Anyway~ didn't mean to give facespace so much time here, but Susie and Carol have been wondering why I haven't posted about Chloe's preschool graduation! It was last week and it was awesome! They did their singing program first with all of the kids ages 1-5, then the 4 & 5 year olds graduated in cap & gowns! Too cute! I can still remember her first program (18months) when she just stood their staring at this huge crowd with a deer caught in the headlights look. Didn't make a sound, we were just proud she stood up there. And then this year to watch her singing and doing all of the motions and being in the "big" class just makes me wonder how it happened so fast!-- time flies and they change so quickly. Next year she'll be at high school she likes to say (actually elementary!) where she'll have to make new friends, meet new teachers, eat lunch!-- but we know she's ready. She's very excited and ready to get on the "huge" playground. I'm not so sure that I'm ready-- but here it comes! Her teacher sent this poem home on their last day of school and I wanted to share it. I'm not sure who the author is, but I like it very much.

JUST FOR

Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you to the park to play.
Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together.
Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles.
Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck and I will buy you one if he comes by.
Just for this afternoon, I won't worry about what you're going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to fix them.
Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born and how much I love you.
Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry.
Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch and count the stars.
Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favorite TV shows.
Just for this evening when I run my fingers through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that GOD has given me the greatest gift ever given.

And when I kiss you good night I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then, that I will thank GOD for you, and ask Him for nothing, except one more day.........

Happy Mothers Day!

I want to thank my beautiful girls for what has been a GREAT Mother's Day! They are so sweet and definitely give the BEST hugs!! Also, I want to thank Micky again--without him I wouldn't be a Mom!
And here it is, to wrap up the 3 days worth of quotes, my favorite mom quote:

~If you want the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain.
-Dolly Parton

Never thought I'd be quoting Dolly -unless of course some beautiful redhead named Jolene tried to take my man!- but reading those words made me smile and remember that sometimes I just have to breathe and remember how lucky I am!
Hope you all have a Happy Day-- I know you deserve it!

Mothers Day-- day 2

~A mother's hand brushes hair from your eyes, tears from you cheek, hurt from your heart.
-Lauren Benson

~Show me a woman who doesn't feel guilty and I'll show you a man.
- Erica Jong

~Being a full-time mother is one of the highest-salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love.
-Mildred B. Vermont

~Childhood is short; regret nothing of the hard work.
-Doris Lessing

~Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.
-Phyllis Diller

~The phrase "working mother" is redundant.
-Jane Sellman

~There's nothing wrong with teenagers that reasoning with them won't aggravate.
-Anonymous

~A mother's arms are made of tenderness, and children sleep soundly in them.
-Victor Hugo

~Be good at "letting go."
-Marsha Sinetar

~Govern a family as you would cook small fish-- very gently.
-Chinese proverb

TOP 10 THINGS HANDED DOWN FROM MOM TO MOM (I have done every one of these!)

10. The loud finger snap that will stop kids dead in their tracks.
9. The "I'm not angry, I'm disappointed" speech.
8. The fine are of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
7. The ability to separate mixed modeling clay colors.
6. The rule about not mixing the modeling clay colors.
5. The keen sense that a child is probably sitting too close to the TV.
4. The "How do you know you don't like it if you haven't tried it?" line.
3. The appropriate amount of time to spend in the corner.
2. The various comebacks to "But all my friends are doing it."
1. The terrified look that follows the question "Where do babies come from?"
-Dee Ann Stewart

Mothers Day-- day 1

In honor of Mother's Day, and all of the fabulous women I love(mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, mom-to-be's)over the next few days leading up to the big day- I'll be posting some quotes from a Mothers book I read recently, titled "Wit & Wisdom of Mothers". Some serious, some funny-- but all will make you smile. Enjoy!

~There's no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.
-Jill Churchill

~A mother's hug says to the heart what a lifetime of words can never say.
-Mary Miro

~A rich child often sits in a poor mother's lap. -Danish proverb

~A mom will sit in the rain in the bleachers to watch her kid sit on a bench.
-Bill Gray

~A mom's love waits up when the rest of the world has already turned out the lights.
-Diana Manning

~A mom's heart is a lot like her purse. It holds everything a kid could ever need-and a little bit extra. -Linda Staten

~Mom's hugs are like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches... they're sweet and they stick with you a long time.
-Kay Andrew

~Few mistakes can be made by a mother-in-law who is willing to baby-sit.
-Anonymous

~What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.
-Mother Teresa

Croc love!

So~ I know it wouldn't taste very good (and I'm pretty sure my small intestine would object!)-- but I'm dying to take a bite out of these cute Crocs on Emma! Maybe just a nibble?!?

Adam should've been the girl

On the way home from dance class,

Chloe: "When we get home can I play Adam & Eve?"

me: "How do you play that?"

Chloe: "you know, like when they ate the fruit from the bad snake in the good garden. But can I please be the girl?"

me: "Sure, you can be Eve."

Chloe: "But I wanted to be the girl."

me: "Eve is the girl Chloe."

Chloe: "Oh......."

me: "Remember in the Bible story, Adam is the boy and Eve is the girl--I promise."

Chloe: "Well, I don't think Eve is a good girls name. I think Adam should be the girl and that's who I'll be. ok?"

me: "Good luck with that."

Chloe: "Oh, and Emma can be the snake! That'll be great!"

Happy Easter!

Deja Vous!!!!

A few weeks ago was Dr. Seuss' birthday. They celebrated for a week at Chloe's school-- making green eggs & ham one morning and inviting parents, grandparents, etc. in to read Dr. Seuss books to the class. The kids really seemed to enjoy it, and since then Chloe has gotten even more interested in reading. Micky found her like this the other day-- with all of her animals arranged, including Clyde of course, and she was playing "teacher" and reading to them. When he showed me the picture I couldn't help but be reminded of his little sister, Christy. She was 4 almost 5 (exactly Chloe's age) when we started dating. She would arrange all of her dolls and animals on their back porch and "teach" them for hours--it was quite cute! She is now in her second year at Clemson studying to be a teacher! If Chloe turns out as great as Christy I'll sleep very well at night!!!

DUCK....DUCK....DUCK....Cyde!

Yep, duck is Emma's new favorite word. She is full on jabbering at you now and most sentences end with duck-- like-- gaba gaba gaba namama DUCK! And occasionally she'll throw in a reference to Cyde (Clyde)! Mind you, she is very animated and is constantly talking with her hands-- I can't imagine where she gets that from!?! But yes, Emma is in to everything now. Walking, sometimes running, all over the place. Her Nano likes to call her Fred Sanford due to her swagger-like walk, but she's progressing out of the limp and will sometimes give you a full on Frankenstein if she's coming towards you. Very cute! She's cut back to one long nap a day (has been for a month or so) and she's very flexible about when she takes it. Which has made my life of errand running, work, and chauffeuring Chloe around much easier. For awhile she would get extremely frustrated at times due to the fact that she knows what she wants or is trying to say-- but just can't say it yet. She's gotten much more patient with us on that front and is doing a better job of pointing to what it is she wants (and not freaking out if she can't have it)! For instance, after we put Chloe to bed the other night we took Emma into the playroom to keep her up until 9. (Chloe will sleep 12 hours if we let her, but we've figured out that Emma will sleep 9 1/2 to 10, so on the weekends we try to keep her up till 9:30 so we can hopefully sleep till 7:30- yep, we like our sleep!). Anyway, she found this Dora skirt and was trying to put it on her head. Micky helped her put it on right and she walked around in it for awhile. A few minutes later she walked back to me at the couch and did her best "point and grunt" act to the top part of the outfit. I wish we would have had the camera around to capture her smile when she got it on--too cute, she was beaming and I think if she could have she'd have given a little twirl in it!









Chloe is doing great. For those of you I've talked to about this, her hemoglobin and RBC levels are finally normal again. About a month ago I took Chloe to the Dr. because she was just TIRED all the time. She seemed to be getting plenty of sleep and eating right and what not, but just tired and whiny. This had been going on for awhile, and at first I though it was just a behavioral thing and she needed to snap out of it. Well, didn't I feel like the biggest jerk when come to find out she's tired because her RBC and hemoglobin levels were low, which would make anybody tired & cranky! Luckily a small vitamin with iron once a day for a few weeks did the trick! We went back last week and had another finger poke :-( and everything was fine. Still not sure why it was low in the first place, but we're gonna keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't drop again. She still loves her "school" and has had so many exciting stories to tell us about all they've been doing to get ready for Easter. Twice a week they go to "Bible class" (that's what Chloe calls it) and learn different Bible stories, songs, stuff like that. Well, yesterday in Bible they talked about the last supper and their teacher washed their feet for them like Jesus washed his disciples. Chloe thought that was sooo cool-- and here's what she told me about the meal.

C: "You first eat a small piece of the bread-- that's Jesus body mom-- then drink the wine, we just had juice though, and did you know that's Jesus blood?!? Ms. K says some people call it communion. I told her that I just call it a snack with a prayer."

Pretty much what most 4 year-olds would say I think. That didn't sound too bad to me. Last night on our way to dance class I was eating a honey bun (yes, you know I'm the healthiest eater ever!) and out of nowhere Chloe asks, "Mom, is that the Lord's body you're eating there?"
After I almost choked I told her, "No, just alot of processed sugars and fat!"
I would love to know what goes through her head all day! I'm sure it's quite a ride!

E.L. Fudge cookies, South Carolina State Fair, & "About"

You know, being the mother of a 4 year-old and 1 year-old I can honestly say that not much that they say or do surprises me anymore. I'm actually surprised if the day goes by and something strange hasn't happened. It's nothing for us to spend hours, days, or months discussing a topic. For instance, we had a sprinkler system installed last summer. Well, we did the "responsible" and legal thing of calling PUPS to come out and mark the utility lines before the guys started digging. Chloe was convinced that God had turned parts of the yard orange and yellow with special rain he sent down, and that He did this because He gets bored looking at the same color of grass all day up there in Heaven and he wanted to spice things up a bit. Maybe it was wrong of us but on day 15 of that conversation we decided to just agree with her and move on. Case closed--- or so we thought. A couple of weeks ago Chloe had a friend over for a play date and we (Chloe, friend, me & Emma in stroller) went for a walk through the neighborhood. Looks like someone else is getting a sprinkler system. Chloe saw the lines and in her exasperated tone that she can use said, "When is God gonna stop coloring the grass around here?!? I thought he had stopped but it looks like he's at it again. Can you believe that mom?" Knowing that if I didn't agree I would have to relive this story and my explanation for at least 2 weeks-- I did the weak thing and just shook my head and said, "Guess He wanted to have some fun again!"
Todays "reliving old moments with Chloe" story started with a trip to the grocery store. E.L. Fudge cookies were on sale, and pardon me but I can't pass up 2 buttery cookies with chocolate fudge between them for $2.19 a box! Who could?!? Well, Chloe asked for some pineapple and cookies for a snack. Simple enough-- or so I thought. She saw the cookie and explained (for about 20 minutes) how these cookies remind her how little she is. What?!? Exactly-- apparently they had these cookies for snack at school and "her Nina" could twist them apart "so gently" and lick the chocolate off before dunking the cookie in her pudding. Apparently Chloe wasn't so gentle in pulling hers apart and they kept breaking into pieces. She told me it was because she was so much "littler" than Nina. Well, I informed her that was silly and she just needed to pull them slowly and that she and Nina were about the same size. This started a retelling of our trip to the S.C. State Fair--in October. The height requirement for the slide ride was 42" tall. Nina walked up, measured, and was handed her burlap sack and sent on her way. Chloe however apparently measured in at 41 7/8" tall- so the dude made me go with her. I didn't mind, I grabbed the sack and rode down the slide with her-- I was actually glad he was doing his job, but really if I had teased her hair up 1/8 of an inch, the kid would've been fine-- and I wouldn't have to hear about this all the time and how that one moment from October means she is "small". So here's what she had to say regarding the cookie:

"Remember how I was smaller than Nina at the South Carolina State Fair when that guy measured me? So, I am smaller and I just haven't practiced enough with my cookies. And remember mom, about is not the same as same-- so I'm not the same size as Nina."

To which I responded, "Pardon me, but if you use that tone with me again you'll be ABOUT to get a spanking-- and that is the same as SAME dear!"

"Sorry mom." -- Kills me how cute she is even when she's being a little snot!... God help me when she's 13!!!!

Hitting the Bottle

We handed Emma a bottle the other day while she was sitting on the couch in the living room watching the Wiggles. Micky walked in a minute later and saw this...










And yes, her jeans are unbuttoned- we got nervous the button would pop off, fly across the room and hit Chloe in the head! She tends to fair better with elastic waistbands! This may sound crazy, but for some reason I couldn't help but think how cute she looks like this-- but how this same pose can look so gross on a grown-up with a beer gut! Told you, crazy. But you gotta love this pudding pop!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Shh... please don't tell Chloe that I posted this 2 days late :-(
Don't worry, I showed it to Micky on his birthday, but she specifically asked me to put it on my "computer page"-- and this is the first time I've been able to sit and do it :-)

Steroids--- not always bad....

Sorry I've been MIA for awhile. Emma has been sick for about a week. It started last Tuesday night when she woke up at 3am with 103 fever. I took her to the doctor Wednesday only to find out that yet again she had a viral infection. I soooo hate viruses-- there's nothing you can do but wait it out and buy stock in Children's Motrin! Turns out she had something her pediatrician termed "paraflu" basically a cousin to the real flu-- but a cousin that Tamaflu wouldn't help treat, so more Motrin!!! Well, the cousin lasted his 3 days as the Doc had predicted and yesterday morning she had a new visitor (I'm guessing the crazy uncle in this disease process!) a nice hacking cough but luckily with no fever accompanying it. The nurse I spoke with yesterday told me they were seeing this cough linger for about 5 days in kids who had gotten the "cousin". My first thought was, Great! Poor kid can't catch a break. My second thought was, how bad is this thing gonna get?!? At about 4am last night I found out. I awoke to what sounded like someone whistling through Emma's baby monitor. I rushed upstairs to discover that it was Emma wheezing while she slept. I camped out in the recliner in her room to keep a closer eye on her and she woke up about 15 minutes later and had apparently changed species. The poor baby was barking like a seal. For all you parents out there who have had a child with croup, I can now truly understand your misery at having to witness such a barking fit. I immediately scooped her up and took her downstairs and out the front door into the cool night air. It took a minute but it worked. However, I then got to see her gasping for breath. Something I hope to never witness again-- in my profession I've seen that type of stridor from people on their death beds and I'm not exaggerating when I say that's what it reminded me of. A truly horrific experience.
Well, I called the on-call doc and we were first in line at the office this morning. Dr. Bowtie (not his name, but dude was wearing a pretty slick bow tie-- which unfortunately I can never appreciate or buy for my husband because every time I see a bow tie the image of my eight grade English 1 teacher pops in my head, and that bald dude is not what I want to picture anytime that I look at my husband-- so no bow ties for Mick!) Sorry for the rant, but Dr. BT prescribed some oral steroid drops for Emma and hopefully all will be well in a few days. He did however warn me that it might get worse before it gets better... yeah!! Just what a mom who's pretty scared wants to hear-- but I appreciate his honesty-- sort of! So, hopefully the barking will not return and Emma will not be learning how to balance a beach ball on her nose anytime soon. Please keep Emma in your prayers tonight and hope this family of illnesses will leave her alone soon! She's entirely too cute to be sick like this, how unfair!
Hopefully the steroids won't beef her up too much :-)

Try not to get too scared!!!

Since I posted that bit on Feb.2 about Micky telling Chloe the Golden Arm story I've received about a dozen e-mails from people telling me they remember the story and it was one of their campfire favorites, and have received just as many asking what on earth the Golden Arm story is?!? Well, here it is.... Chloe style! (please note that we have explained to her that Farmer Fred could not legally marry his sister and that grave robbery is a serious crime!)
ENJOY!! --oh, you may need to turn up the volume!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Kissing cuties!!!

Night Mices

Last night Chloe was allowed (by her father, not me) to take a cup of juice upstairs. Apparently on the way to the stairs she "sloshed" a little over the sides of the cup along about a 6 foot trail on the hardwood floor. I found the "sloshed" juice about an hour later when I walked through the den in my bare feet. Of course I fussed and said we need to clean this up now. Well, Chloe ran downstairs and this is what she had to say:
"Mom, leave it.... PLEASE!!! Don't worry the night mices will get it."

Her father and I exchanged glances-- like we often do when we have no idea what she's talking about-- and I said, "What?!?" She said, "The night mices." And she said it in the tone of -do I really have to explain the night mices to you mom?!? how lame!-
Well, here's how the rest of that conversation went down:
me: We don't have mice in our house Chloe, and if we did I'd be outta here pretty quick!

Chloe: They don't live here mom. The night mices come from all over the world to South Carolina at night and pick up whatever we drop and eat it. They love it!

me: I see. Well, I'm not sure where you got your information but we don't let the night mices in here so we have to clean this mess up now.

She proceeded to pout the entire time we cleaned up the mess. And Micky and I were trying not to laugh and were trying to figure out where she came up with this idea. We decided it must have come from the "Nutcracker"-- I took her to see that ballet at Christmas time and she fell in love with it. She got the book for Christmas and the Barbie Nutcracker movie-- so we figured that must be it. Well, I found out this morning that we were wrong. The culprit for the crazy night mices is my MOTHER!! When I told her the story this morning she got a guilty look on her face and said,
"oh, when we were at the mall yesterday Emma dropped a Goldfish on the floor and Chloe tried to pick it up and give it back to her. I told her to just leave it there because the night mice come at night and eat the crumbs-- and they love Goldfish!"

Mystery solved. Be on the lookout for night mices that love to visit South Carolina!

R U kdn me?

So, if you thought people driving while talking on their cell phones was dangerous-- how about driving while texting?!? Not saying I've ever done that (not saying I haven't). But it's time to realize that text messaging is taking over all forms of communication. It used to be that only the "kids" were doing it (like Micky's youngest brother and sister and my nieces). Well, now everyone's doing it (like me, Micky, and even his Mom!). And while I used to think it was crazy, I now see that it can be quite fun. I can't tell you how many times a text has brought a smile to my face-- well maybe not the text but the person sending it-- like Christy sending me "Dumb & Dumber" or "Christmas Vacation" quotes, or Carla and I texting silly "Office" comments back and forth. It's just fun! But it was just this week that I realized that this whole texting craze had reached a new level when Micky and I were texting each other Tuesday night (his late night at work). You won't truly appreciate what you're about to read unless you are a "Friends" fan, but just know that Micky and I used to watch that show all the time and it's being able to make each other laugh with these silly comments that makes me love texting. This is what we wrote:

me: How U doin? (like Joey would say)

it took Micky about 30 minutes to respond-- he was at work!

Micky: Could I BE any better? (like Chandler would say)

Yep, we're nerds. I'm just glad we get each others jokes-- makes life easy!

...so I'm back- from outer space....

Sorry for the 70's song reference, but that's where I feel like I've been the past couple months! To say things have been crazy would probably be a little too dramatic-- but if you know me, then you know that completely fits!!! From now on, no more excuses! I started this blog so that one day Chloe and Emma could read it and know how fun these times were and that we love them more than anything, (and so that when they're teenagers we can show them that at one time they thought we were pretty cool too!)-- so by damn, I'm gonna WRITE on this blog what I want, when I want-- and starting today I will do it at least once a week! (feel free to remind me of that when I start slacking off again!) So, when Chloe and Emma read this in a few years please know that my downtime from writing had little to do with the two of you-- it mostly had to do with WORK and just holiday schedules! Speaking of holidays, Christmas was AWESOME! Poor Emma woke up Christmas Eve night (Christmas morning?) around 2a.m. with 103 fever-- but she was a champ Christmas Day and still had a smile on her face for the cameras! And Chloe was thoroughly enjoying the big sister role and trying her best to explain to Emma how Santa worked and that she (Chloe) could play with both their toys, but Emma should ask before she played with Chloe's things! (we quickly fixed that don't worry!) Just teasing, they both shared everything from the start and have done great since. We'll see how long that lasts! but so far so good.
Emma turned 1 January 10. Can you believe it?!? What a year! There are times that I sit and think about how much our lives have changed in this past year-- how we've all adapted to new schedules, new sharing of our time, shifting our priorities so that we can spend Quality time together-- and you know, none of that change has been hard. Just different. I guess when you really want to do something, you just do it. And when I try to remember what it was like before Emma, I have a hard time recalling it. Part of me feels like she's always been with us. Maybe it's because when we had Chloe I prayed that was just the beginning and that we would all get the chance to add to our family one day and give Chloe a sibling-- I'm so glad she got Emma. To see how much Chloe loves her and wants to teach her things, and to see Emma's face light up when Chloe walks in gives me a feeling I can't put into words. It's just amazing!
So~ for the past month Micky and I have been asked approximately 12.7 times a day if Emma is walking yet. It's a legitimate question but after about the 6.8 time in a day I'm ready to hang a sign on my chest that says "Sort of!" Meaning, she'll take about 4 or 5 steps and then look around as if to say, "I hope nobody saw that. I don't want to blow my cover and not get carried around anymore, so I'm just going to sit down and act like that was a fluke!" It's actually a very funny thing to watch, but trust me we're in no RUSH for her to start running. She's busy enough as a fast crawler, Lord help us when she starts doing sprints through the living room!!!
I tried to capture one of her "fluke" walkings tonight on camera, but I think she was on to me so no dice. But I did get this cute clip of her playing one of her new favorite games-- "hide the magnet, then find it myself 100 times!" Maybe this is why she's not such a great walker yet. This is her favorite walk behind toy, but she's recently discovered that the seat lifts to reveal this awesome compartment so she'll spend like 10 minutes playing with that instead of walking! Kids a genius, what can I say?!? And just so you know-- we usually do brush Emma's awesome baby mullet but this was filmed right after dinner, hence the green beans on her face, so we all look a bit rough at this time of day! And the reason Chloe is saying Emma's gone is because she has been asking to hear "scary" stories lately and her father has been telling her some apparently involving alien abduction--he actually told her the Golden Arm story which she has now told to all of her 4 year-old friends. Thanks Mick-- I get to explain that to the moms at preschool! (oh, and forgive the end--it's been awhile since I filmed anything and forgot how to turn it off. yeah, she gets the genius part from me can't you tell!)