Tea Party!

Nana purchased a tea set from an antique store and let Emily play with it. Emily LOVED the tea set, and even convinced Jason and Grumpa to join her for tea.

"Cheers!"

There was lots of slurping.

Life Walk 2008

Yesterday was the LifeWalk. I didn't walk, since just walking around Target makes me hurt. But I was able to take some good photos of the family members that were able to walk.
Nick knew what he needed to do to make it through the walk.

Michael handed out the t-shirts they give you when you register. I want one...
And Kelly snuck into the shot. I swear, she acts like a middle child. And she's not. I am. She's the baby. Kelly, you're a baby. Neener.

It was warm in the sun, so we gathered in the shade. These boys look like they've already walked!

While everyone walked, I sat at a booth that had chairs available. I also watched some guy's dog while he met the pizza man at the front of the park. It gave me a chance to people watch. And then nineteen minutes into the walk, the first runners crossed the finish line. I seriously thought it was just a walk, but what do I know?

I waited at the finish line for some familiar faces...and I saw THIS!

Jason finished with Michael! I was so proud! He wasn't going to walk because he thought I would be lonely. Sweet guy. But I was just fine and I'm so glad he walked!
Then Tammie and Eric crossed the line! She looks HOT! Looks like Eric slept through the whole thing.

Look, Carter and Nick made it! They look tired, but I bet they're glad they walked!
Um, you're NOT the middle child, ya goof! Kelly looks like she just walked to the corner and back. No sweat off her brow, right? I'm sure she could have walked again, with all the energy she has.

Aaron carried Corgan across the finish line. How's your back today, Aaron?
Awww, sweet shot of daddy holding sleeping monster baby.

And then Rob and Emily cross the finish line.

Michael and Jason are searching for something smart to say. I don't think they found it.
I was talking to Mom the other day and she said that she was very sad that she didn't get to participate. But, she had a great idea! She's going to walk on the treadmill, and for every mile she walks she's going to put a dollar in a jar and use that for her registration and donation for next year's walk. So I was thinking...you guys wanna do it, too? Exercise and donate a certain amount of money for your registration/donation next year? It wouldn't have to be a dollar, it could be more or less, and perhaps if you don't want to walk but you want to do aerobics (gag) or some other form of torture exercise, you could donate by the hour. Is this making sense? Oh, and then, to keep us accountable, we could have a chart with our progress. I'd start another blog that we could all have access to in order to chart what we've done.

So, whaddya think? Vote now!

Some More

I forgot to post these other photos. Emily loves her uncles. She totally has them wrapped around her little finger, probably because she's the only girl on my side of the family. She's definitely a princess.

Uncle Michael and Emily on the swings.

Uncle Jason. I do love how she is looking at him like he hung the moon.

I need some recent photos of Emily with her Uncle Aaron. I know he's been BUSY and I heard he was sick recently (good grief, who isn't with all the stuff in the air, right?). But we'll get together soon.

Elizabeth was at our house the other day and the girls were playing "train". Then something on the TV caught their attention and this is how I found them.
Elizabeth is plugged in and Emily takes full advantage by talking her ear off. It reminds me of this.

Miss Emmy

This photo reminds me of this.
She loves her shadow.
She looks like she's up to something...

She sure is a funny gal. The other night after I turned the lights off after she was in bed, she said, "Oh, dark! I can't see my finger! I can't see my forehead!"

And then the other day, we had gone to the mall and had parked under the shade of a tree and when we got back to the car, there were birds just chirping away in the trees. I said, "Listen, Emily, those birds are warning us to move our car or they're going to poop on us!" She thought that was the funniest thing! Later that night, I told her to tell her dad what birds say, and I'm sure he was expecting her to say, "Peep, peep," but instead, she said, "Gonna poopoo on your head!" and then she cracked up!

Belly

This hurts my eyes. It's blurry. I'm going to have to re-do my belly shots for this week. But here it is:
So the first shot is out of focus, and the second is out of frame. I need help.
You can still see my mush marks from sleeping on my right side. I slept on my right side too long and now I'm crippled. Invalid, I tell ya! The moaning, the groaning, the stuggling to get up. It's like I'm a turtle that got turned over on his back. Arms flail, legs kick. It's ugly. And kinda funny. I'm supposed to sleep on my left side for my blood pressure and to give the baby better circulation or something like that, but I always end up on my right side. I think because Avery is camped out on the right side and it's just more comfortable for me on my right side with a pillow under my belly for support. Emily preferred that side, too. I'm curious, is my liver that comfortable?

This pregnancy has been interesting. Different in a lot of ways, and the same in a couple. The head in the ribs and the feet in the...southern region...is getting on my nerves. The stomach muscles right below my sternum feel as though they're all stretched out. I tried laying upside down to get her to turn, and she did and I was comfortable for about ten minutes, but she turned right back over. Emily was the same way, upside down, sideways. Ugh and UGH! Oh, and the kicks and punches to the kidneys, not so fun.

Avery had the hiccups last night! It was funny. I was wondering why was she kicking in such a rhythmic way, and then I remembered that they get hiccups in there. That means they're growing! Anyway, it was cute at first, then after about an hour, I was like, "Boo! Did I scare ya? Are your hiccups gone? No? Well, poo." Then I rocked her and she fell asleep and the hiccups stopped.

I'm measuring three weeks behind, which is no concern since my babies are apparently small and tend to hug my spine. And it's kind of fun to watch people's reactions to me saying, "I'm seven months along," and then they're eyes get big and they say, "No way! You're tiny! No fair!"

Jump!

It rained a lot yesterday and Emily wanted to blow bubbles. So we went into the garage and blew bubbles and just had a good time. She wanted me to blow "big bubbles", but Nana is the only one that can do that, so I think it's time we went to Camp Nana and Grumpa!
She's been working on her jumping skillz this week. I borrowed Grandma's little trampoline for me to use since I can't really walk far any more, and Emily has been practicing jumping. She used to make large motions of jumping, but usually only one foot would get off the ground. Now she catches air!
I just love these pics. Her hair (yes, not combed yet) flows with each hop and jump.

Look how her mouth contorts in concentration. Love it!!!

Jump, Emmy! Jump!
Look, she even cleared the broom handle!

Simply amazing.

Anatomy of The "Cheese!"

1. Say "Cheese!"
2. Really mean it. Feel the cheese. BE the cheese.

3. Check your face for the smile.
4. Make sure your teeth are showing, too.

5. The cheese is good.

Pregnancy Update

I went for my monthly visit to the OB on Friday. And I took Emily with me! Some of you know that she has a ridiculous case of White Coat Anxiety. She freaks out at her own doctor's visits and she even freaks out when I take her with me to my appointments.

She knows what's coming as soon as she sees the waiting room. She clings and cries and screams. We took her to the sonogram appointment where we found out we were having a girl. We were prepared with snacks and toys and books. And she handled the visit like she'd done it a million times and it was no big deal. Surprised us all!

So now she has been along with me for two additional appointments and she has done well. The one before this last appointment went okay; she did kinda get scared, but she was rewarded by the nurse with a lollipop. All was well after that. If we hadn't had to wait nearly an hour in the waiting room (they forgot I was there), I think Emily would have been fine. But near the end of the wait, she was getting antsy and wanted to do something other than sit and read quietly.

When I decided to take her to this recent appointment, I was nervous since it was a regular check-up plus a glucose tolerance test. That's where you get to drink the lovely uncarbonated orange beverage that coats the mouth with it's sugary-ness. And then you wait in the waiting room for an hour before they take your blood. I thought for sure it'd be a mistake to take Emily, but this time she was a pro!

She didn't cringe at the site of the waiting room. She didn't even flinch at me getting my blood pressure taken. And when the doctor came in to see me, she actually conversed with him! Talk about progress! She was very good while we waited for my blood to get drawn. And when it was time to leave, she took off down the hall towards my doctor asking for "Grumpa?" I mean, he kinda sorta maybe looks a little bit like my dad; he's a slight man with glasses and basically no hair and an awesome bedside manner. So I can see how she thought it was her Grumpa. What really touched me was when he came out into the waiting room after I had wrangled her and handed her a lollipop. How often do doctors peek out from the deep halls of exam rooms?

And now Emily asks all the time to go to the doctor to see Avery. "Go to doctor? See Avery? Now?" Um, not for another couple weeks, Hon. How funny is that?!?

Oh, I passed the glucose test. But my blood count is low so now I'm on an iron supplement. And I'm measuring one week smaller. So all is good. Except for the insomnia and the pain in my hips.

Some Cuteness

The other day we made brownies and I had put one on a plate to cool for Emily and set it on the coffee table. Meanwhile, as it cooled, Emily had gotten into something and messed up her shirt. As I took her shirt off, I asked her, "Hey, did you see the brownie on the table?" She looked down at her bare chest and proclaimed, "Not brown. White!" Very observant.

She now watches Sponge Bob Square Pants. She loves "Bob-Bob Fware Panns." There was an episode where Krusty Krab had changed his restaurant into a hotel tower. She ran up to me and said, "What happened to Fwappy Fwab?" meaning, "What happend to the Krusty Krab?" She has troubles with her 'k' sounds, apparently. She can't say "cracker" (sounds like "facker"), but she can say "cookie".

And now for some photos...

New Breed of Tomato!

Fresh from our garden...

A new tomato variety that we have named "The Caper Tomato" (since it is basically the size of a caper. I got to eat it and let me just say, this thing had a very large taste in spite of it's size. Yummy!

*this is actually a cherry tomato that is just super duper tiny.