Thursday

Yesterday started out slow but by the end of the day I was WORN OUT but I was super productive so that made me feel good. 
Ellie slept until 8am and Emmie slept until 8:30. I, on the other hand, was awake at 7:15...the time when my girls are USUALLY awake. I couldn't believe I was awake but it was nice to be able to just laze around in bed for a bit!
After breakfast I finished unpacking the girl's things from our trip to Greenville and got them repacked to go to Summerville next week and then put Ellie down for her nap. While Ellie was napping I got everyone's food ready for our picnic at the Children's Garden.
I woke Ellie up at 11 and we headed to Stride Rite to get Emmie some white church shoes and some white sandals. I think I'm going to have to break a Southern dress code and put Emmie in her white church shoes before Easter...eeek! I know it's horrible but if you could see the state of her black shoes you would understand. They look ROUGH! I'm just glad Easter's early this year so I'm only breaking the rules for a few weeks! When Emmie got her black Sunday shoes (sometime around Labor Day) she measured as almost a 6. I figured she'd be around a 7...nope...right foot is a 6 and left is a 6.5. The way she's going she's going to be a giant with teeny tiny feet...haha!
After shoe shopping we met up with Cathy and Mikey and Lacy and Lindsey and Mason at the Children's Garden. We had a great time but it was HOT...high 80s in MARCH!!

Turtles! (and lots of pollen)

Ellie, Lucy, and Mason

I just LOVE this picture of Lindsay with Mason and Emmie.

Super Cathy! I took a turn later pulling the kids down the hill and it is HARD WORK!

After we left the Children's Garden we ran downtown to pick up my contact and glasses and then headed home for "naps". Emmie never did take a nap (or if she did it was short one) and it took me awhile but I finally got poor sweet Ellie to sleep. She's had a runny nose for about a week and it has turned into a really congested cough. I think we're right on the line of needing to go to the doctor so we'll see what it does in the next few days. She got a cough at the end of her last cold and it cleared up after a few days so I'm really hoping that's what this one does. It just sounds so pitiful and I think she's right on the verge of having some wheezing if she gets real active...really hoping it starts clearing up tomorrow!

After naps I cleaned up in the kitchen some and thinned out Ellie's closet a bit (not that you can tell at all!). Then it was time for dinner and after dinner we headed out to take Franklin for a walk. Paul was cutting the grass when we got back and Emmie was super fascinated by the whole thing so we went and got her lawn mower and she helped. She kept wanting Paul to fill up his lawn mower with her little gas can...so cute!

Paul was still cutting the grass when it was bathtime so I got the girls bathed and in bed...Emmie was kind of a handful all day but luckily she went to sleep very easily tonight...when I tucked her in and told her to go to sleep I think it was the first time all day she had listened to what I said!

After the girls got in bed I cleaned the kitchen up a bit, sterilized bottles, swept, boxed up the clothes I'd pulled out of Ellie's closet and set Paul to work picking up toys...and then I collapsed in a heap! By the way, it really undid Franklin that I didn't come sit on the couch right after I put the girls down like I normally do...he looked so lost and out of sorts!

*Funny Emmie story of the day: She was sitting on her little potty and had already peed but was reading a book. I was in the den and she came and got me and said something about her panties being wet and falling in the potty...WHAT? I knew she hadn't had an accident because I was in the bathroom when she peed. So I headed into the bathroom and her panties were on the floor SOAKING wet and there was water all over the seat of the big toilet (fortunately she hadn't dumped her little potty in the big one yet so it was just toilet water). I have NO CLUE how her panties ended up in the potty but they did...I laughed for about 5 minutes!

Fun with Friends

Last week we had some nice days so we went to the zoo with Marie Louise and her girls, Evelyn and Libby. Evelyn is about 4mo older than Emmie and Libby is about 4mo older than Ellie so it was really fun and I love that both girls have a friend to play with...sometimes I feel like we always do things with Emmie's friends and Ellie's not ever really around kids her age (I know that sounds wierd since Ellie's only 8mo old but Emmie always had little friends her age that we would go on "playdates" with). All that to say we had lots of fun at the zoo!

This week we spent a few days in Greenville with my parents because Paul was working up there Mon-Wed. While we were there we got together with Kerri and Ivy. It was so much fun to hang out with them...we hadn't seen them since they moved in January and Emmie missed her friend (she still talks about Ivy a lot!). I had told Emmie the night before that we were going to see Ivy and as soon as I got out of the shower Monday morning she looked at me and said "can we go see Ivy please" in the sweetest, most hopful voice...precious. We met them at the Children's Museum at 10 and the girls had so much fun and we finally dragged them out at 1:45...Kerri and I were desperate for some lunch so we went and grabbed some Chick-fil-A. It was so much fun seeing Kerri and Ivy!

The wind tunnel was probably one of Emmie's favorite things. She just laughed and laughed!

Emmie's big into playing Dr right now so the Teddy Bear Hospital was right up her alley!

It's important to cuddle after giving shots.

The girls really liked the bubble that they could get in that had water flowing over it.

Emmie and Ivy are apparently headed out to work on the roads with their daddies!

8 months!

I am 8 months old!

• I weigh somewhere between 16 and 16.5lbs (Mommy weighed me on her scale the other day and I was 16.5lb but it's not as accurate as the baby scale.). When she was my age Emmie weighed about 18lb!
• I wear a size 6-9mo (although a lot of those outfits are a little small) or a 9-12mo and a size 2 diaper (I'll probably go to a size 3 once we use up all the size 2s).
• At night I sleep from 7:30ish-7:30ish. I take 2 naps a day...one at 10 and one at 2. The morning one is usually around an hour and a half and the afternoon one is usually around an hour.
• This month I stopped nursing and started on Similac Sensitive. I take 5-6oz at 8 and 12, 8oz at 4, and 5oz at bedtime.
• I eat my baby food 3 times a day. I'm very particular about what foods I eat but I always love yogurt! I've been working on eating fingerfoods and I love cheerios but I'm still not sure about picking up sweet potatoes and putting them in my mouth!
• Sometimes when I eat cheerios (or sweet potatoes) I will hold them down for Franklin.
• I'm turning into a blond!
• People always comment on how easy-going I am...Mommy agrees with them!
• I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to play peek-a-boo. I will use toys, blankets, my hand, etc to cover my face and I just laugh and laugh when I peek out!
• I'm getting pretty good at army crawling backward and I can turn in a circle but I get very frustrated that I can't go forward and I will holler and hit the floor with my hand.
• I'm pretty good at standing up while holding on to my Mommy's fingers. I can stay standing while leaning against the ottoman for a minute or so.
• I sometimes lift my hand and say "hey" when someone walks in the room.
• I can say "da-da" and something that sounds like "dog" but still haven't said "ma-ma". When Mommy asks me to say "ma-ma" I  just look at her and smile. The other day I said something that Mommy, Daddy, and Gran are sure was "blueberry".
• I love to clap and then raise my hands up like I'm saying "horray!".
• Emmie and I now ride in the wagon for walks. It's sooo much fun being a big girl!

• I've been on lots of picnics at the Children's Garden this month and it's always so much fun!

Will is always so sweet to me!



• I give the sweetest kisses! If you ask me for kisses I'll either lean in so I can get one or I'll grab your face and give you a big, sloppy, open mouth kiss on the cheek!
• This month I went to the zoo. The animals were neat but I really enjoyed watching the other kids.
• I'm pretty easygoing and aggreeable. For the most part I just go with the flow!
• I got to toddler storytime with Emmie and I just sit and listen to the books like all the big kids.
• My sister plays with me some now and I just love every second it!
  
  

Emmie at 8mo.

Sunday Style Section

Plaid Day! Love Emmie's cute plaid pants and Ellie's sweet overalls.

Love these outfits! It's not the best picture but Emmie was picking her nose in the good one.

Doesn't she look so grown up?

Busy Day!

Yesterday was a busy busy day for us. Tuesday night Ellie didn't finally get settled for good until about 11:30pm after lots of up and down and finally a dose of tylenol. She woke up yesterday morning with a bit of a cold and drooling like crazy so I think some combo of cold and teething is what kept her up. She seems fine most of the day but you can really here the congestion when she lays down. So, needless to say she didn't nap very well either. Emmie was up at 6:30 in the morning and decided she would sit on the potty for 45min. and read. As soon as Ellie woke up Emmie was ready to go back to bed...grrrr. We had My Gym in the morning and Ellie took a little nap after that but it's gotten where Ellie doesn't stay asleep in the carrier long once we get out of the car. It was so nice outside that we played outside for a bit before lunch and then we had a picnic. Emmie actually took a little bit of a nap she was so tired and Ellie took a short little nap. After naps we took Franklin for his walk and then some crazy urge to wash the cars took hold of me. So Emmie, Ellie, Franklin and I washed BOTH cars! Franklin was so well behaved...he just sat beside us and kept guard. He even behaved when the school bus dropped the kids off in front of our house. Ellie sat on her blanket and supervised while playing with her toys. She was really good until the very end and then she got cranky. Emmie was my little helper. We had mainly stayed outside so that she could ride in her little car but as soon as she saw there was a big cleaning job to be done she was right beside me! She was a good little helper. When I was growing up and we washed up the "rule" was that mom always got to be the sprayer. I'm thinking before long Emmie will be trained well enough to wash the WHOLE car and mom can be the sprayer..haha! Emmie got a little carried away with washing the car and started washing herself as well...so funny...her arms were covered with soap!

I hosed off her arms afterwards and managed to get all of her soaking wet...oops! I striped her down at the door and she came in and put on her nightgown and Elmo slippers and got Mousie and "bank-bank" (her pink and green blanket)...I think I actually managed to wear a toddler out (I didn't know that was possible)! I fixed Emmie a bowl of cheerios for a snack and she was in the den beside Ellie and I was in the kitchen and when I went in the den Emmie was sharing her cheerios with Ellie and Franklin! While I fed Ellie her bottle Emmie sat in the rocking chair and watched some Elmo Street.

Needless to say both girls were very ready for bed and slept great!

What's going on?

(What's going on?/What's happening? is one of Emmie's new favorite phrase...right up there with "what's that" which is accompanied by a finger pointing to some object in the middle of lots of other objects...but I digress)
So, what's going on with us? Well we've been quite busy the last few days. Paul and I were woken up Sat morning at 5:30 by the wind. We turned on news and found out we were in the middle of a tornado warning and the news people kept saying to take cover and that there were "rotational winds" in our area. We debated for a minute, decided we'd rather be safe than sorry and got the girls out of bed and rounded up Franklin (who are we kidding...he was glued to our side as soon as we got out of bed) and we all went in the closet. Emmie sobbed the whole time and kept saying she wanted to go back to her bed. Ellie just laid on the floor and looked around. Franklin drank Paul's water (haha!) and whined whenever Paul would leave to check the news. Luckily we were only there for about 15min and even better the girls went back to sleep once they were in their beds again!! (Sadly they got up at the normal time...7:20am...very early when you were up and sitting in a closet at 5:45.)
Saturday afternoon GG, Papa, Uncle "Bake" (Blake), and "Lemily" (Emily) came and the grandparents watched the girls and Blake, Emily, Paul and I went to the Clemson Carolina baseball game. Despite the on and off raindrops we had a great time and it was fun to have an afternoon hanging out with adults!
Sunday, was a pretty normal day...we needed normal after Saturday!
Today I had an eye dr appointment and one of my friends was going to keep the girls. She called me at breakfast and said her mom had had a brain aneurysm overnight and so needless to say she wouldn't be able to keep the girls. Fortunately her mom is doing ok and we're saying lots of prayers that she continues to get better!
Thankfully, Christina was willing to let me dump 2 kids on her at the last minute and so I was still able to make my drs. appt. I called Christina on my way to her house and she happened to warn me that she'd just killed a snake on her front porch so make sure Emmie didn't touch it. EEEEKKKK! If you know me you know I'm PETRIFIED of snakes. We had a dead one last year on our walking path in the neighborhood and I made Paul go move it. I would hyperventilate whenever I walked past it. I HATE snakes! So that was our excitement for the morning. When I picked the girls up it sounded like they'd had a great time with Jackson and Christina (Emmie always enjoys hanging out with Jackson!). Christina got some cute pictures while the kiddos were playing!

busy little bees!

umm...mrs. christina...did you know there's an elmo in your house...because there is...and he's looking at me. I'm just sayin.

the exersaucer makes me soooooo excited!

Christina had cupcakes for the big kids...Emmie talked about her cupcake all day!

Sunday Style Section

I love this shade of green on Ellie.

Emmie's cute ladybug dress...it's a 3t and look how short it is...eek...we're going through clothes sizes left and right!

You can't see the smocking on either of the dresses but I just love this picture...they were having so much fun playing together...it's very stylish to have a sister!

I love this outfit. When Emmie put the pants on she said "look, I have blueberries on my pants!"...funny girl. This outfit is a 4t and the pants are a little long but doable :)