So, since Easter/the end of April Charles and I sang with Mack Wilberg (director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir), Emmy turned two, Joanna got married, Will turned two, Emmy and Stella got to hang out in Spartanburg where we also saw Caitlin graduate from Wofford, Lucas, Lisa and Will came for Memorial Day, Aunt Sarah and her sister Bethany stopped by for supper, I taught crafts for Bible School, we went to Blackshear to the farm (where Charles' dad grew up), we've gone to the lake a few times (including for the 4th of July), Charles finished up his spring semester and started the summer semester with class 4 nights a week (yuck!), Emmy finished her first year of "school" and has had several weeks of CMO Camp, Charles has gutted the master bathroom to the studs and subfloor, Cathy and Rafal came to help start putting the bathroom back together, and oh, yeah, we've had two trees fall from the neighbors property onto ours (okay the 2nd one wasn't the whole tree, just a part of a tree, but it did damage to our house). Also, and I quit my job, effective Aug. 31st. It's been a fun start to the summer, but busy! The stuff with trees and house and neighbors has been very stressful and it still not resolved. I'm ready for the carnage to be removed, the holes to be fixed, the foundation to be repaired, etc. but for now, we wait. Needless to say, we're not a fan of storms around here and since a 3rd tree is still leaning over our house, I get nervous each time one blows in.
Emmy spent last week with SuSu and Big Daddy and we missed her a lot! I think she grew while she was gone and she's talking even better it seems to us. She got to see lots of friends and family during her week at "Camp SuSu-Big Daddy." Charles had lots of class and we were getting ready for Cathy and Rafal's visit so we didn't do anything exciting while she was gone, but it was a quiet week at home.
Here are a few funny Emmyisms from the last few weeks. More to come soon!
- Watermelon sounds sort of like "money-money"
- Banana peels for a while were called banana covers
-Orange juice is called apple juice. Not sure why, but she asks for apple juice when she sees the orange juice in the fridge, and it must be drunk from one of our little juice cups, not a sippy. She's doing well drinking from a regular cup, we just can't let her tote it around the house.
- She has started singing a lot, which we love, love. Her repertoire includes: Rock-a-bye Baby, Row, Row, Row Your Boat (probably her favorite), ABCs, The Hokey Pokey, the Caterpillar Song (taught to her by SuSu's friend Mrs. Payne), and several Kindermusik songs. She's really into her Kindermusik CD from the summer session she attended and she will do some of the motions. She has an electric keyboard she received from our neighbors, Ms. Betty and Mr. Frank, for her birthday. It plays several songs with words, and several songs without words. The other day she started singing/saying something and we finally realized she'd stopped on the tune of "The Hokey Pokey" and she was singing "you put your right foot in" while wagging her right foot around. I didn't know she'd recognize just the tune! It was hilarious.
- She loves her baby and the poor baby must have some sort of gastrointestinal disease because we change a LOT of diapers. Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Joel kept her a couple of weeks ago while Mama was in Atlanta for work and Daddy had class. Aunt Mary Ann said she changed about 7,000 stinky diapers and suggested we get that baby checked out! Haha. She will put on a "clean" diaper, then immediately say "ohh, shoo-whee, stinky diapey" and proceed to change her again. She prefers her babies naked and will hug, kiss, and rock them very sweetly.
- A hug/kiss to a baby, Rags, etc. is usually followed by her uttering "Aww, so sweet" so we must say that a lot when she gives hugs.
- Everyone must have a hug and a kiss, and often a pat on both shoulders. When we left her in the church nursery last week, she cried until she could give us both a hug, kiss, pat, "other shoulder". Then she was fine!
- Unfortuantely she is in a bit more clingy stage and hasn't been overly fond of baby-sitters or being left with anyone, even people she knows and even if we just walk to another room. I know that it is a phase that will pass, but ugh. Upset crying for Emmy often leads to puking, and I'm really tired of puke.
-We think that she's close to ready to transition to a big girl bed, but sleeping is way messed up from a week away last week. She refused to sleep in her pea pod so SuSu put her in the big bed and would stay with her to go to sleep since there were no side rails and she thought that was great, so she now does not want to go to bed easily like she has for months and months. We are not sure what to do...try to get back into the regular routine with her crib and then transition to the big bed at home, or go ahead and go to the big bed here. So frustrating!
-She's doing some better eating veggies. She likes roasted red peppers and sometimes she'll eat cooked onions, celery, or other things out of soups/casseroles. She loves mushrooms (I mean LOVES mushrooms) and her love of pickles, olives, yogurt, and most any fruit continues. She's really into humus these days so that's a good snack or protein at mealtime. She loves boiled peanuts and at Joanna and Justin's rehearsal dinner proceeded to hand anyone near her a peanut to open for her. If she liked the way you opened it, she'd hand you another one. She ate a lot of peanuts that night! Overall for her age, we're pleased with her eating habits and we hope the more we expose her to things the more varied her palate will be!
-She likes to spin around and hang upside down. Daddy is a really fun playmate.
-She loves to swim and will ask to go to the lake or go swimming in Ms. Betty and Mr. Frank's pool. Fortunately Ms. Betty and Mr. Frank love Emmy and love us to come swimming, so that's win win for all of us! Their grandkids live in NC and Emmy's grandparents of course are not in town, so it's nice for everyone that we have each other next door.
-We're spending the summer wearing tons of bug spray so we can play outside, swing, slide (April/May activities also included a good pressure washing and sprucing up of the playset that's been here since long before we bought the house), pick tomatoes in the garden, water flowers, and pick flowers at least for a little while each day. It has been so hot!
More to come soon!
