I haven't abandoned this blog...

I promise, I really haven't.  Work keeps me busy and then I've been so far behind, I've just not had it in me to even try to catch up!  Plus, our camera went missing for a couple of weeks (one Miss Emerson had put it in the pocket of a bag in her closet) so I couldn't upload photos...

And then here we are in the middle of March. I'm sorry, I really am!

We have all been keeping busy. Work is insane and I daily question my decision to go back to work.  I'm hopeful that extra support that came on board this week will finally give me some relief.  I love the folks I work with, and this keeps me hanging on. Plus, we've paid off a lot of debt, so that's good incentive to keep on trucking for a while at least.  Charles seems to be having a busier semester this Spring, too.  The work load is a bit more intense so he's spending a lot more nights burning the midnight oil getting papers, etc. done. Needless to say, we're both looking forward to Masters Week/Spring Break!

Emmy is in a word, delightful.  She makes us laugh all the time.  She uses her little high pitched voice to keep us entertained talking all the time (surprised?).  She's repeating everything we say, it seems, and she's big into naming everything she sees and assigning ownership ("Mommy's car. Daddy's car. Mommy's seat. Aunt Mer's seat). She's a toddler, so as you can imagine there are meltdowns and tears when she doesn't get her way. She does not like to be told no, especially in a firm/angry voice and this often results in pitiful tears.  She, however, has no trouble telling us "no!".  She likes doing things herself and will gleefully announce "I did it!" when she accomplishes something. Tonight she was very proud to get her pajama bottoms on by herself.  She couldn't pull them up all the way, but she go both legs in perfectly...quite an accomplishment when you've been able to only get both feet into one leg until now.   She's starting to learn her colors better now and yesterday she pointed out the X and B on my laptop keyboard unprompted...things like this are hit or miss and we know it means nothing, but it is funny to see her absorbing.  She has magnetic letters on her easel and she loves to play with them. (She's very advanced you know...haha.)

She loves her babies and prefers them naked.  She will ask you to help put back on their clothes and take them off and/or swaddle them.   "Help, help" is a frequently used word in her vocabulary.  She makes a fantastic cup of "tea" in her kitchen, and get you a cup of "water" from the dispenser on her kitchen door. Hilarious! She likes to color and play with her crayons.  She now has a table and chairs in the den where her toys are and she wants you to sit with her while she colors. "Sit, sit!" she'll say as she pats the other chair. She's very demanding, but then of course, we almost always oblige. 

She now knows that on trips she gets to watch a movie and she loves Finding Nemo. She has a stuffed clown fish that someone gave her who looks like Nemo, so she's decided it is Nemo and enjoys toting him around.  She was feeding Nemo her cashews and turkey the other day, which was also hilarious.  We've started letting her watch a little TV and we all like Sid the Science Kid and Dinosaur Train (both PBS shows...support National Public Radio and Television!). 

Emmy loves to play outside and she will spend a lot of time going up and down the front steps (or any steps for that matter.) She likes to pick flowers and wave at cars. She's very good at telling us when she hears an airplane or birds singing.  She'll point out the clouds, moon (sometimes she even notices when we can see the moon during the daytime) and the stars. She likes to run on the driveway and to go next door and visit with Mrs. Betty and Mr. Frank and look at the pool. We can't wait for the weather to be warm enough to swim. She saw the beach towels in the linen closet the other day and said "towels, pool, swimming!" How does she remember this stuff?

Emmy loves school. Her BFF is Emma and she loves her teachers.  We're so happy that she has a great place to spend time with other kids with teachers who love her.  She also loves going to church and playing in the nursery with her friends there.  She knows she sees "Aunt" Steph (Peff) and "Aunt" Pam at church, as well as "Aunt" Mary Ann and "Uncle" Joel.  She loves Uncle Joel, but absolutely will not go to him.   It's become a running joke...he doesn't believe she really asks for him all the time!

We've had lots of visitors the last few months. Lucas and Lisa and Will have been up for a visit, SuSu and Big Daddy came, DeeDee and Granddaddy were here earlier this month, and just this past weekend "Uncle" Chase came for the whole weekend, as did his sister, Nicole, her husband, Ben, and little Amelia. Amelia is 7 months younger than Emmy...and bigger than her. It was so fun to see them together! They played so well and Emmy loved having all the extra people in the house. She's so social!  And I loved hearing her call for Chase in her very Southern drawl..."Chaaaayyyyseeeeeee!" 

We've also seen Emmy's love of music deepen even more the last few weeks. We took her to choral concert that a group Joel sings with performed.  She really was doing great and listening, but she has no volume control and when she gasped in delight when handed something, we decided to take her outside since it was in very good acoustic space and we were afraid her talking might disturb others.  Then at the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper she sat in near silence and watched the blue grass band entertainment play for about 45 minutes.  She still talks about the banjo.  She watched the handbells at church a couple of weeks ago with great interest.  She loves to have the radio on, or to hold the iPod and listen to music. 

So there's a quick update. I'm sure there's tons I've missed and surely lots more to tell. I promise I'll get some pictures uploaded...one of these days.  Hope everyone is doing well!