Update

Wow!  It feels like it's been a while since I've actually written about anything!  So here goes an update in our lives...
1)  Last Tuesday while I was at work Emmie started taking steps on her on!  My mom was quite excited to get to be the first one to see it and I think even more excited that Emmie did it for Paul again that evening (proof that it really did happen).  Paul was excited to have seen it before I did...usually I tell him about all the great things she does and then it's a few weeks before she'll do them for Paul!  Kind of like when I was pregnant and I'd say "oh, the baby's moving!" and he'd put his hand on my belly and she'd stop moving.  Anyway, I was sure that Emmie would NOT walk for me on Wednesday morning (I only work 2 days a week and she picked a day I was working to start walking...the little rat) but she did!  She doesn't walk a ton and she's still very unsteady but she gets sooo excited when she does it!  At first she would only walk to a person but today when she was playing she was standing up and wanted to get to a toy so she took 3 or 4 steps over to the toy...yay...and then she did that a couple more times today.  She's much steadier when she's walking to a toy...she just gets so excited when she's walking to a person that she almost runs!  I can't wait for her to be a real walker!  People told me I wouldn't like it when she started crawling because she'd be harder to keep up with and into more stuff but I LOVED when she started crawling.  She was so much happier because she could get to where she wanted to go by herself.  Before she started crawling she wanted you sitting beside her all the time...just in case she needed somehing...once she became a crawler she became much less codependent.  Plus, she could follow me around the house while I was doing chores!

2)  Paul and I went to Savannah this past Thursday - Saturday to celebrate our 3rd anniversary!  It's so hard to believe we've been married 3 years!  Oh, how our lives have changed!  We met Paul's parents on 95 Thursday morning and gave them Emmie and Franklin and then we were off!  It was sooo hard to leave my babies...I cried for a few minutes after we left but once I got past the initial drop off I did much better!  We had such a nice time in Savannah.  Thursday we checked into our hotel and then slept most of the afternoon (you're going to notice a common theme to the trip).  It was so nice to be able to sleep without having to listen for a baby or watch out for the dog when I rolled over in bed (and we had a king sized bed so I didn't even have to watch out for Paul when I rolled over!).  Thursday evening we went to Chart House for our anniversary dinner.  The atmosphere was wonderful and the food was delicious!  We ate until we were absolutely stuffed!  Friday we walked around the river front in the morning...after sleeping in until about 10:30 of course...and found a yummy place to eat lunch and then headed back to the hotel for another nap...well I napped, Paul watched TV.  Friday evening we had Paul's company christmas party which was fun and we got to hang out with friends all evening!  Saturday morning we got up and headed back to Walterboro (our meeting point with the Edwards) and got the babies back!  I was sooo excited to see Emmie and Franklin.  I'm pretty sure, however, that they didn't miss me as much as I missed them.  They were too busy being spoiled by their grandparents!  All in all, it was a great trip and I'm so glad we were able to get away for a few days...the first time we'd gone anywhere just the two of us since Emmie was born!

3)  My mom was recently diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  When Emmie was going through her collarbone pinching stage my mom was rubbing her collarbone after keeping Emmie (and being pinched all day) and found a lump which is what sent her to the doctor.  At the time I could see no reason whatsoever for Emmie to be pinching people...especially since I was still breastfeeding which meant I got pinched a lot...but now I see she had the best reason in the world...helping her Gran!  From everything I've read and everything the doctors have said this is a very treatable AND curable cancer so for that I'm very greatful.  My mom started chemo this past Monday and she did great, plus her nurse was a 13 year Hodgkin's survivor...what a great encouragement that was for all of us!  If you'd like to keep up with my mom's journey her caringbridge site is http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/janerainey .  We really appreciate all your prayers...they definitely make a difference!


Anyway...that's what's been going on in our lives lately...oh and Emmie is turning 1 on Friday!  So needless to say it's been a busy few weeks at our house!