Pickled Okra

By now most, if not all, of our 5 readers have heard the news that we are expecting baby number two this summer, dubbed "Pickled Okra" by Charles.  We are obviously very excited to share this with the internet, in case anyone out there hadn't already heard. :)

This baby was a bit of a surprise as we had been going through infertility treatments off and on again for over two years (moving put a bit of a kink in the schedule) and we though the last round of medication before we left Kansas had been unsuccessful.  However, much to our surprise and delight, indeed, I left Kansas for Colorado almost 7 weeks pregnant.  Yes, 7 weeks, right around the magical time when you start to feel awful. Nauseous, tired, and all that fun stuff.  Needless to say Charles really bore the brunt of the work for this move and I was constantly reminded of what a lucky lady I am!  The adjustment to the altitude also proved to be difficult for me, both those first few days we were here in December, and then, unfortunately, again when we returned after our trip down South.  But slowly I have been feeling better and finally this house is taking shape!  (More on that to come...I promise I do have pictures, people).

A little over a week ago we received some not-so-great news. I heard from my doctor that my quad screen results came back with elevated alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels again.  This is the same result that came back with Emmy, and resulted in my being sent to the Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) Specialist and ultimately being diagnosed with having a severely growth restricted baby (IUGR), put on bed rest, and eventually delivering Emmy at 33 weeks.  AFP is a protein made by the baby and actually the levels are tested for in the quad screen test because high levels can indicate a neural tube defect, like Spina Bifida. AFP is found in high concentrations in spinal fluid, which in the case of a neural tube defect would be leaking into the amniotic fluid and causing higher levels in the mother's blood. In Emmy's case, my doctor said she believed the AFP levels were elevated because her blood was mixing with my blood when the blood flow through her umbilical cord would reverse flow through the cord in between heartbeats.

At least, that's the best I understand it.

Now for the good news: today I was scheduled for genetic counseling and a second level ultrasound today at the Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist office (off post) and the baby looked great, even measuring a few days ahead of the estimated due date.  (When Emmy was first measured at 22 weeks she was measuring already a week behind).  Right now, there's no cause for concern.  We are HUGELY relieved. We spent the past week worrying the bed rest could be in the near future.  And, while they couldn't be 100% sure, both the doctor and the ultrasound tech were both fairly certain that it is another GIRL!   

There's still a chance a chance we could face growth restriction issues again so they will monitor her growth every few weeks for now, and weekly the closer we get to the due date in early August.

I spent the week making a lot of preparations "just in case" so the good news is our freezer is full of meals, Emmy has a new dresser (so her old one can go into the nursery), we picked out a crib, and we found a couple of baby-sitters.  We are actually ahead of the game! 

Thank you all for your prayers for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby!

Aaaannnnd, we're back

Please pardon the long absence.  Y'all know I don't do well with blogging when I'm working. And we've been moving. And it's been a crazy few months.  I kept intending to back date updates and well, life got in the way.

We're now residing in Colorado, as of mid December. We had about 4 days with our household goods before we headed South for the holidays, so it was a crazy week.  As the few of you who read this blog probably know, we flew out on Christmas morning, so Santa came on Christmas Eve. Charles called in the special military clause, and Santa of course accepted and agreed to come a day early.  Emmy got a baby doll car seat (her number one gift), books and a sled from Santa, plus her stocking with some movies for the trip, bubble bath, crayons, and her favorite stocking stuffers, clementines and an apple. Seriously, she loved that Santa gave her clementines.

Needless to say it was a strange holiday season for us.  I didn't cook or bake. No one came over for dinner or brunch or anything. We didn't go to any holiday parties.  We were so busy getting ready to move, packing out, and saying good-bye before we left Kansas.  Then we arrived here and were trying to visit preschools, get ready for the movers and find our way around.  It finally felt like Christmas when we got to my Mom and Dad's!  But Emmy had so, so much fun this year looking at Christmas lights and decorations and "activity" scenes (nativity) scenes).  She was so excited when we finally got to our new house so she could decorate the 4 foot artificial tree.  We had to put it up as soon as we got to our new house and we were up at 6 am the next morning cramming as many ornaments as she could onto the little tree. It all makes me more excited for next year with her when we can go all out for Christmas again.

We spent a few days in the Upstate with my family. My sister was down for Christmas so we had a good time with her. Then Charles and I headed for our annual New Year's weekend with our college friends.  After 3 days of R&R with those crazy fools, we came back to my parents' and headed out early the next morning to Alabama to visit Beth and Griffin and to meet our new baby niece, Caroline, who was born Dec. 23rd.  A little Christmas baby!  DeeDee and Granddaddy met us there for a quick visit and we celebrated Christmas all together. Of course we are all in love with the newest family member, and Emmy loved holding her and loving on her...and playing with all the baby stuff.  Emmy's love of all things baby/baby doll related has not lessened since I last updated, and she spent oodles of time putting her baby dolls in Caroline's car seat, bouncy seat, etc.

From AL we headed to south GA to celebrate with the rest of Charles' family on the family farm. Emmy was delighted with the attention from Uncle Robert, Aunt Mary Lou, and Jenny and a few other friends and relatives that came to visit, and she loved running around, picking up pecans and pine cones. My mom's extended family is very scattered, and while we did see some of my dad's extended family on occasion growing up, to go back to the place where Charles' dad, aunt and uncle and grandfather grew up is always a little awe inspiring to me, to have that sense of family history.

From Blackshear we headed back up towards Augusta where Emmy and I dropped Charles off for his 2 week course back at Ft. Gordon where he learned, in his words, how not to get fired from his next job.  Ordinarily, we would have headed back to our new home, but there was really no point in Emmy and I flying home without Charles to a new place where we didn't have any roots yet, so we opted to stay around. We spent a couple more days with my parents and Mom took some time off to hang out with Emmy, which helped me get my work done.  She and I did go back to Augusta for a long weekend, stopping to see Aunt Lisa, Uncle Lucas, Will and Henry along the way.  We spent a couple of nights in Daddy's hotel room and a couple of nights with  Aunt Mary Ann, Uncle Joel, and Josh. Her old baby sitter came over one night to watch her and Josh, which she loved, and that meant the grown-ups had a date night with Pam and Steph. Woohoo!  It was a good visit, though never long enough.  I sang for the funeral of a dear man who was a longtime member of our church there, we visited with other friends and we went to church on Sunday. Next time I need to wear a shirt that says "we're just visiting this time, we aren't moving back." Everyone keeps expecting us to come back immediately, which won't really even be a possibility probably for at least 4 years. And while we miss our friends and church, it has been nice to experience Army life on other installations.

Emmy and I went back to G'Vegas for the next week and spent more time with Grandma and Pop, CC, and lots more friends and family in the Upstate.  Even though we had a long visit, it is still never enough time to make it everywhere we want to go and be.  Sigh.  We just keep trying, but man it's exhausting! :)  We had a great time, but needless to say, we were ready to back "home" to CO and to get into a new routine.

We've been back since the 20th, and slowly our house is starting to take shape. I have had a rough time adjusting to the altitude (I was super tired when we first arrived before Christmas and this time coming back from SC, I had a headache for about 5 days) but finally my energy is coming back.  Charles has in processed at Ft. Carson and jumped right in to meetings and a field training exercise with his new unit, where he is the Signal Officer in charge of the Signal functions for the brigade (phones, internet, radios, etc.). His predecessor did not leave large shoes to fill, so everyone seems genuinely glad to have him around and willing to do the job right.  I think he'll do great, but of course I'm biased.

Our cars are now registered in CO, Emmy started preschool, and already we've had our heat repaired and will be waiting on the dryer repairman this week. It's always something! There are tons of little projects around the house we want to do, so we are going to have to prioritize time and money.  So far Charles has been spending the last 2 weekends putting together Emmy's new swingset that was her Christmas gift from us.  He's also replaced once faucet in the main floor bathroom, with new faucets to go on all 3 sinks upstairs, too. Getting them done in the bathrooms Emmy uses the most has been been a must because she is not able to turn on the old pull up style of handles that were in the house, which means she can't go to the bathroom by herself (which she's perfectly capable of otherwise.)  Poor kid!  She loves having a playroom downstairs, and so do I because all the toys are out of sight.   I was a little worried about the steep stairs, but she navigates them better than Charles and I do, and she's fast!  Like I said, there's still a ton to do to get things organized and decorated, but it's slowly starting to feel more like "home".

We had snow this past week, and it was a new experience for things to run on normal schedules, despite 2+ inches on the ground.  Driving Emmy to school was a little bit harrier than we expected getting out of the neighborhood, and we got stuck behind a snow plow, but they definitely get the roads cleared fast.  The sun here at the higher altitude is much more intense, so it helps met things faster, too.

Charles' birthday was Friday so we did the best we could to celebrate. Unfortunately he had to be up early to head to the field, so he left at 5:30 am and we didn't get to see him until he came home. At least he got to leave a little early and was home around 4 pm.  Emmy was super excited to give him her singing card (she is obsessed with cards that play music) and she picked out one with a chimp on it wearing a speedo ("The monkey is wearing panties!" she said)  that played "I'm too sexy".  I died laughing.  Unfortunately Miss E's mood deteriorated quickly Friday evening and the place we picked for dinner was too crowded by the time we arrived, so we ended up back at home eating takeout.  Poor planning again on my part, but we still are figuring out where to eat and what places are closest and best for taking kids. Saturday we continued the "celebration" and went to get the car washed (one of Emmy's favorite activites), visited Charles' new office, and then picked up his birthday present from us: a trailer for his bike for Emmy to ride in.  I'm not sure who was more excited, Emmy or Charles. After nap time yesterday they headed out for their inaugural ride to the park nearby.  I see lots more bike rides in their future.

So there's a quick update on roughly the last month for the Pickle Jar.  There's lots more to tell, but that will have to wait for another day.

More May Fun

Here are a few more photos from May, after Emmy's birthday and before our big trip home to SC and GA!

Dancing in the rain with Sophie

Sweet friends

Relaxing on the porch and happy Daddy is home!

After supper at Homer's Diner.

She fell asleep on her new birthday carrot pal. We were dropping Rags off to be boarded while we head to Omaha for Mother's Day weekend!

We checked in to the hotel Friday night and while we were unpacking and getting things ready for bed, Emmy sat herself down to open a few birthday cards we'd forgotten to hand her from the mail. The whole ensemble/pose just cracked me up.

First day at the zoo!

Cool statue outside the aquarium

Taking the train around the park (she's getting sleepy).

Holding her new penguin pal she named Mumble, after the Happy Feet character.

Cheesy grin after the train ride.

Lunch at a delicious brewery, then an attempted nap, and back to the zoo!

I think the gorillas were Emmy's favorite. This one had a boo-boo on his foot and she was so concerned about him.

I loved this view of the tiger gazing down into the "moat" that separates him from us. Omaha is interesting the way it's built with the hills so you can view animals from different levels. Obviously here, we are looking down on him.

Petting the goats!

Carousel ride!

Happy Mother's Day!

Rags and Emmy were so happy to see each other!

Picking strawberries

Supper at the Weston Brewery

Back again another day in Weston for supper with our neighbors before we all leave for our 2 week break!

That wraps up May before we head out for our big trip.  All of the photos (and more than you could ever want to view) are in the May Picasa album.

Emmy's third birthday bash - the rainbow party

We celebrated Emmy's birthday on the Saturday before her actual birthday, which happened to be Cinco de Mayo. We had decided to have a rainbow themed party, which Emmy was super excited about. And of course, I was too, because I love planning a party with a fun theme!   While planning the menu, I realized that a rainbow theme would lend itself well to Mexican food, so we could celebrate Cinco de Mayo, too!  But more about that later.

Our dear friends April and John (AA and Uncle John) came up for Emmy's birthday. That's been one of the best things about being in KS, they are stationed only about 4 hours away in MO.  We decided to give Emmy her big gift from us on Saturday and AA and Uncle John gave her their gifts, too. 

We spent the morning doing some last minute  party prep and then we all went to lunch.  While Emmy napped, we finished getting ready for the big par-tay!  I'm sooo thankful for John and April's help.  We would have never gotten everything done without them!  It was a fun party and I think Emmy had a good time with her pals.  We just had three neighbor families come over to enjoy the afternoon with us and we missed having all our loved ones in SC and GA get to come this year.

Here are a few photos from the weekend, more are posted in Picasa.

 

 

Fabulous invitation, thanks yet again to the talented Aunt Sarah.

Checking out the "guest book" about rainbows in her super cute rainbow party dress.

Taste the rainbow of fruit flavors!

Our Mexican feast.

 

Frozen water balloons to keep the adult beverages cold.

Ribbon wands. I have no idea what I thought the kids would do with them, bu they seemed like a fun idea.

Party guests!  5 kids under 5, this is as close to a money shot as it gets!

Post party, she sat in John's lap and alternated between chips full of (super) spicy cheese dip and ranch veggie dip. Smart girl!

April and I celebrated a fun party with a Cinco de Mayo tequila shot.

Emmy's Three!

Emmy turned three on May 8th, and then this blog turned three the next day!

Emerson Elizabeth, Friday, May 8, 2009 10:07 am. 2 lbs 10 oz, 14.5 inches long.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Emmy!

Emmy has a book called "Elmo Loves You" that we've been reading a lot lately (even though it is a Valentine's Day book).  At the end of the book it asks what are some things that you love? So we've been naming things Emmy loves and I thought I'd share some of those with you.

Emmy loves mushrooms, humus, olives, pickles, candy, popsicles, spicy jalapeno chips, and chocolate covered raisins.  She still likes beans (especially in chili). She'll loves fruit and loves it when Daddy makes her a smoothie. She likes peanut butter and jelly, yogurt with peach jam, turkey, onion rings, BBQ, french fries, mashed potatoes, chips and salsa,and ketchup. She has also recently decided that indeed, she does love Coke. Her first taste at the Coke Museum in the fall didn't impress her much, but recently, she's changed her mind.  It's more motivation for me to quit drinking it so she doesn't see it and want some. I do love a good Coke, so I can't say I blame her.

Emmy loves Rags.

Emmy loves her family (SuSu and Big Daddy, Granddaddy, DeeDee, Aunt Beth and Uncle Griffin and Aunt Mer are at the top of her prayer list at night). She also loves a certain couple of members of our extended family: Uncle Josh (Aunt Mer's good friend and roommate) and Justin, my cousin Joanna's husband.  Yes, Emmy has a crush or two.

Speaking of family and friends, Emmy loves to Skype.  She thinks seeing y'all on the computer is the best thing.

Emmy loves her babies.  Her favorite things to play with are hands down her babies and baby accoutrements.  Anytime she plays at someone else's house or at hourly care, she's most interested in the babies. She's a good mommy and she changes them, rocks them, shushes them, and feeds them.  She tells me sometimes she has a baby in her tummy and she'll also nurse her babies. I'm glad she has some good breastfeeding role models.

Emmy loves her friends. Sophie and Clayton live next door, as you've seen in previous posts, and she loves to spend time with them.

Emmy loves to sing. Her favorite song is a Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" and she belts it out right along with it.  She also loves her Kindermusik songs, Wiggles, Rafi, and other children's music we listen to. But she will sing along to music that Charles and I like and songs she hears on the radio, which is great.  Oh, and she sings a rousing rendition of Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies",  which cracks us up.

She is a fun girl, for sure, and keeps us on our toes! She had a great birthday party on Saturday (photos to come later) and then today for her actual birthday I made her sausage gravy and biscuits (she also loves sausage gravy) for breakfast and she opened a few presents from family that had come in the mail and one more little thing from Charles and me.  After her ballet class, we went to supper at our favorite Mexican restaurant (she loves Mexican) and we had pink strawberry cupcakes for dessert from a delicious bakery in town.

Her big present from us was a glide bike. She has been asking for a bike, and Charles' recent bike purchase only prompted her to ask us more frequently  We went ahead and gave it to her Saturday morning before her party while AA and Uncle John were here. We thought it would be fun for her to have it over the weekend to play on.  Photos of that birthday fun to come soon, too!

Recapping SuSu and Big Daddy's visit

We had a great visit with my mom and dad! They flew out for a week and we kept busy! (Tons of pictures of the week are in an album linked at the end of the post.)


They arrived Saturday evening and Sunday we went to church and brunch. Here's Emmy and Big Daddy outside the Santa Fe Cafe, which is in the old train depot. Very neat building!


Monday, we visited the Steamboat Arabia museum, ate BBQ at Gate's, went to the Crown Center and the Hallmark visitor's center.

The Steamboat Arabia sank in the Missouri in the 1850s and was finally excavated from the middle of a farm in the 1990s. The effort was led by none other than the Hawley family...the dad and his two sons.  Crazy! We even met one of the son's during the tour, as they are still very involved in the museum.  

Arabia wreckage

The Hallmark Visitor's Center was neat to go through, definitely a walk down memory late! We saw an actual Emmy award (from multiple awards for the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies), how card dies are made, and lots of Christmas ornaments, come of which we have in our family. 

 
Tuesday was Emmy's first ballet class!  Mom and I took her and, well, let's just say this teacher has a lot of patience to try and teach two and three year olds.  Herding cats is putting it mildly.  She had fun, though she was pretty clingy and nervous in the new situation.  It's an 8 week class, so we'll see how it goes! It is really more gymnastics and ballet combined and I think it will be good for her balance and gross motor skills.


Wednesday was Emmy's Kindermusik class, which is a good 45 minute drive to the other side of Kansas City. Mom and Dad came along and got to sit and watch the class. Emmy was excited to have them there, but still did well participating. After class, we ran a couple of errands (there are lots of stores out that we don't have close by) and then had a yummy lunch before heading home. 

 Thursday we decided to go to Wonderscope, the children's museum down in Shawnee, KS. It took almost an hour to get there and our neighbors also met us there.  The museum was a neat concept, but it was a bit tired and in need of some updates. Turns out they are planning to build a new one, so that explains it a bit. Plus, there were lots of school groups there so it was surprisingly crowded.  I wish there was a staff person in each room (each room had a theme like Farm to Farm Stand, the vet clinic, water play, the LEGO Sea Exploration, etc.) to put the pieces back together periodically because it was so chaotic, the "stuff" was all mixed up. We bought a membership cheap off groupon so to get our money's worth, we will only have to go one more time, and I'd like to plan to go on one of the "member's come early" days when we can get there before it's all messed up for the day.  Anyways, after a fun morning, we went for more KC BBQ at Oklahoma Joe's (which, if anyone cares, is our current vote for our favorite BBQ in Kansas City...but we still have a couple more to try).   Lunch was in a word, amazing.  I still love chopped pork Carolina BBQ, especially mustard based, but this is yummy in a different way.  Of course, as our friend Steph said, I haven't met many pigs I didn't like.  What makes KC BBQ unique, I'm told, is they will smoke anything.  You see pulled pork, beef brisket, ribs, ham, turkey, and sausage on most of the menus we have encountered, whereas a lot of other regions focus on one or two meats. Thus ends your unofficial and likely inaccurate BBQ commentary.

Along the river, checking out Ft. Leavenworth

 Friday was extra fun because Charles was off from class for Good Friday and we got to spent the whole day together! We had been saving a trip to the museum on post and the Ft. Leavenworth history tour for when my dad came, so we headed over to the museum first thing. It is HUGE! We could have stayed there for hours, but with Emmy, there was only so much she could take, so we headed outside to view a few of the highlights. We stopped at I think 6 of the stops on the tour and it gave us a chance to explore the post a little more. It is very lovely here!  Can't imagine what it must have looked like when Lewis and Clark stopped here on their infamous journey.

Some of the beautiful, historic homes on post in the background

Friday afternoon we drove into Weston, which is  small town just across the river in Missouri.  There is a distillery there with a store in town where you can sample their products.  We wish we had planned to eat at the Brewery there, but we'll have to go back another time! Instead, we had reservations for yummy German food back in Leavenworth. 


Saturday we drove to Legends to take dad to the Cabela's. I tell you, it's an interesting store. Like the Bass Pro Shop, but with what we refer to as the indoor zoo...a whole bunch of stuffed animals that have been hunted. I'm talking elephants, tigers, mountain lions, yaks, if it's wild game, they probably have it there.   Also, we introduced them to the Nebraska Furniture Mart, which is seriously the biggest furniture store we've ever been to.  They had the Easter Bunny there for a couple of hours so we'd planned to take Emmy. Unfortunately, we misunderstood the time and it didn't start until Noon (we thought 10). So walked around other stores, then came back and of course had to wait in line. She was so excited, though, she didn't care and she was very good.  And, she love seeing the EB, even if she was a little shy.


Lunch we had MORE BBQ at Arthur Bryant's (so we hit three of the big ones during their visit) and spent the afternoon dying Easter Eggs and getting ready for Easter Sunday.


I already posted Easter pictures in my last post, so I won't recap all of those, but we had a great day going to church, eating a yummy lunch as a family, and then capping it off with an Easter Egg hunt and potluck supper in the park with our neighbors. Lots of fun was had by all!


I had to have Mom and Dad at the airport very early Monday morning. It was sad to see them go, but we're so glad they came to see us in KS! And,we get to see them at the beach in a couple of months. Yeehaw!


Some of my photos seem to have disappeared in the transfer to the computer. Fortunately, I copied Mom's photos before the left, so I have to rely on her photos for Monday-Thursday's activities.  I have uploaded them all to a new album in Picasa and there are are almost 400 for your viewing pleasure.


Also, I uploaded several more photos to the March 2012 album, so check out the end of that album, too! 

P.S. Blogger has changed it's formatting and I'm tired of fighting with it and trying to fix these weird paragraph/photo issues, so I'm sorry, y'all will just have to live with it, lest I toss this computer out the window!