Amy

Emma turned 3 yesterday. I can’t believe it. Even more surprising is she’ll be 4 next year! That is realy weird! So we had her party yesterday. We did the Princess theme although about two weeks before her party she wanted to change it to Dora although I had already bought everything. So the family came over and ate spaghetti casserole and then hung around until the other kids got there for the party at 3. Belle called at 3:30. Emma sort of got frozen when she called but you ask her what she says and she says, she says I’m 3 now. We did the pinata next and she pulled the last string and it came down on her head and she cried. The other kids liked it though. They were grabbing up candy and eating it. So we got her to quit crying by saying she could open her presents. Actually, we said she could open them after she did her (Princess castle) cake and she like ran over there and tried to blow out her candle before anyone even sang to her. She almost cried again when we were done singing but she held off. She ate without saying a word and then ran over to her presents. It was pretty cute. She is in love with her Dora house we got her. She woke up at 7:15 this morning wanting to go to the living room to play immediately. I think Lexi liked all the Dora stuff as much as Emma. She was just a snooted and laughing and patting everything. It was cute.

Lexi was sick with the croup and we had to take her to the ER on her birthday. When I took her to the dr. last week, she was terrified. We couldn’t even get her weight because she wouldn’t let go of me to sit on the scales. She said she was about 50% on everything though. I asked about how she couldn’t walk in shoes and he said it didn’t matter. So I guess I need to buy her some more Robeez. They aren’t the prettiest thing sometimes but she can walk in them!

A couple “Emma moments” the past few weeks I forgot to mention…
Skyler and Emma would not share the Dora doll. I gave Emma a big speech about how it made me sad and Jesus sad that she wouldn’t share. She never would share so I put Dora up. The next morning Dora doll was out and Lexi picked it up. Emma ran over to take it from her and then decided to share with her. She came and crawled up on the couch with me and said to me, Are you happy now? I about busted up laughing.

There were more moments but unfortunately I’ve forgotten them and haven’t had a chance to write them down.

Lexi is becoming such a ham and pretty demanding lately. She likes to yell where I really don’t remember Emma acting like that. I mean, she was impatient but I don’t remember the yelling and growling. She still isn’t saying anything very clearly. But the dr said as long as she could understand what you were saying, she probably was fine. She follows commands like come on or go get your blankie, etc. so I’m pretty sure she’ll have no problems. I think it’s just because Emma talks SO much she can’t get a word in edgewise.

Lexi turned one on Thursday. I was so excited to turn her seat around. I have no idea why but I was and it is so weird now to look back and see two kids starting at me. Weird. So we had her party planned for Saturday but then Mom was talking about coming over on her birthday and I was thinking MIL would want to come over so I just thought hey, we’ll just have it Thursday. I made sure D’s mom could embroider Lexi’s outfit in time and made sure the cake lady could make the cake and then we were on! I ended up making a pork loin for dinner and everyone ate there after work. It actually turned out really nice. EXCEPT that Lexi was sick all day. She had a fever and was coughing and had a runny nose. She still enjoyed her cake and the bubble machine very much. But she was tuckered out by 7:45 and went to bed while everyone was still here. She got worse pretty quickly and Scott and I were listening to her breath very hard and very fast. She ended up waking herself up because she couldn’t even breathe. At point I wasn’t sure if she could even get a breath in. Scott left for the ER about 11:30 or so and didn’t return until 3. I stayed home with Emma and slept so I could take care of Emma in the morning. The dr. said she had croup and took x-rays to make sure she didn’t have pneumonia. She did have one spot that looked suspicious so while she was there she had Tylenol, steroids and antibiotic. I took her for a recheck today at the ped and they said she did not have pneumonia. So she slept with us Thursday night propped up. But last night she slept in her crib all night by herself without coughing. That was good. Today was pretty fussy and seemed to have another fever. She perked up after I gave her some Tylenol and the Robitussin type stuff. I think her second front tooth is getting ready to come in. She got her second eye tooth about a month or so ago and got her front tooth I think last week sometime. The other gum feels pretty swollen to me but she hates for me to put my finger in her mouth so it’s hard to tell. She is still not good at saying anything very clearly. She can say da-da and momma (but doesn’t really say it very much). She says duck as duh. But she can growl like a lion with the best of them. I think she might be the kind that lets big sister talk for her. She walks and sometimes even almost gets in a little run but she is clumsy as I don’t know what. She is still a mommy’s girl pretty much. Daddy puts her to sleep well but she wants mommy for most other things. She loves people coming over to the house and shows off, running around and jabbering with a big grin on her face. She loves her Pappy. Thursday at her birthday party she was even reaching for him. And she loves Dwayne. She always shows off for him and was just laying on him tonight when they were over. She is such a sweetie and everyone falls in love with her. Her hair is so long. Check out pictures from her birthday party:

http://www.sabennett.com/gallery/index.php?album=lexisbirthday

I went to my first class as the Y tonight. It’s called Rock Bottom. Heather walked out of it 5 minutes into it when they had us against the wall doing squats with our big ball. I don’t blame her. It hurt. My legs and butt are hurting but unfortunately but abs are not. That is really what I want to work-out. I guess it will come. I’m just really proud of myself for not only going but wanting to go so much. I think I appreciate the alone time to myself a lot more now and I am more motivated to change my body after having two children. I have no desire at all to lose weight, it just needs proportioned correctly. Heather kept working out though when she left class and went and got on the elliptical machine. I’m proud of her for signing up and going with me too. Hopefully we’ll both keep it up. Scott is loving it too. He went a ran this morning and then sat in the sauna. Lucky. Maybe that’s what I’ll do in the morning if I can even move. Tomorrow night is Cardio Dance and I can’t wait.

Emma is still sick with the croup. I’m calling the dr. in the morning to see if that’s normal. Lexi picked up a runny nose. I had to sleep in the recliner with her for 3 hours last night while I waited for Benadryl to kick in so she could breath. She was having a really hard time poor thing. Emma missed all her school this week. Tomorrow is their fall festival and we are planning to go now but we’ll see.

We joined the YMCA Monday night. Heather signed up too and said she would go with me to the classes. We didn’t make it tonight to a class because Brian is leaving back for Afghanistan tomorrow and we ate dinner with them. We went and Heather did the elliptical machine. I did that, the treadmill and bike. I just kind of wanted to try them out to see how I liked them. I felt like I completely left my upper body out of the picture so maybe next time I can do some of the other machines. I’m just proud of myself for getting out for 30-45 minutes and “blessing my heart”.

OK, so my tirade the other day was soothed overnight. I got busy at work again and calmed down and started enjoying life again. For some reason though, I can not get to sleep tonight. In fact, the past few nights I have had trouble going to sleep.

Emma was incredibly cute tonight. Earlier today I let her help me hold Lexi’s bottle. So tonight she did the same and she kissed her on the forehead and said, She’s precious. With that little lisp she has. It was SO. CUTE. I think she heard Scott’s mom calling Lexi precious. I’m not sure but I know I’ve heard her call her that. Man, they pick up everything you say. In this case, it was adorable. Earlier today I took the girls to Target. I really needed to get out and also wanted to see if they had the knock-off Robeez there in Lexi’s size. We went by the Halloween display and Emma says, That’s aMAzing. Huh? Not sure where she got that one from. Today she was talking to Mom on the phone and she tells her, I want to make cookies at your house because that’s what I like to do. Or something like that. She says it so matter of factly she sounds like she like 7 years old or something.

Lexi has been doing not so good at night. OK but not great. Last night she didn’t take her bottle so she woke up at 1:15 and demanded a bottle – don’t ask how an 11 month old can do that. Then was up again at 6:30 for another bottle. The good news is she slept until 9. Emma climbed in bed with me about 8:20 or so and watched Disney channel until Lexi woke up. The norm for Lexi at night though is to go to bed at 8 or 8:30 and then wake up some time between 4 and 7 to eat and then sleep until 7:30 or 8. Which is definitely better than 6 months ago. Lexi is walking everywhere. She still falls quite often. She is NOT good in shoes. The Robeez is the only thing she can walk in successfully. She is still not saying any words very clearly. Momma and da-da and every once in a while gets a sort of bye-bye. She is really into dogs lately. If she sees one or even hears one in the neighborhood she stops to listen and starts babbling. No idea what she might be saying.

Lexi finally slowed down eating a bit. She still eats way more than Emma, but she does have a stopping point at dinners. She starts throwing her food on the floor when she is and Mattie is usually there to pick it up. Her little pincher grip is finally working. She is starting to pick things up with the end of her finger and thumb instead of side of the finger and thumb. Hopefully she’ll get better and better at feeding herself. I tried to hand her a pop-tart today to eat on her own but that didn’t go over so well. She chewed a whole bunch up and then choked on it.

Scott has been working a lot this week. He got a new police car Wednesday and had to go to Columbia on his day off to get it so he has been gone a lot. Scott said he had to go to work tomorrow and Emma said, again?? She is even noticing. The good news is they are going to give him his time back from going to get his car. The bad news is the weather here is so rainy, I seriously doubt it will be this weekend.

I am drowning with work all the sudden and can’t seem to keep up. I plan to work some this weekend and even Monday, which I should be taking off. And I’m going into the office on Tuesday. Hopefully I’ll get caught up. Tomorrow I’m concentrating on cleaning the house (again!). Mom is taking Emma tomorrow so hopefully that will help. With Lexi being so mobile now, it’s actually harder to get work done. The weird part is she’s more mobile, but actually acts like she wants around people/held more. She does much better when Emma is around than when she’s not. So actually I’m not sure if it is helpful that Mom takes one without the other. But I can’t help but feel guilty even suggesting that. I really want my hair cut so I may ask her to watch them just if I can get an appointment and forget the house cleaning. It crossed my mind today to get someone else to clean the house like I used to. And then I thought my real problem is the clutter not the cleaning. Cleaning is a cinch (how do you spell that?) if I can just get the crap where it’s supposed to go.

Ok, if I don’t get to bed soon, I’m going to be an absolute zombie in the morning.

This is one of those days I feel really crappy. Emma pooped in her panties. Lexi has a snotty nose. She won’t eat good or sleep good. Emma is aggravating me. I don’t have any work to do because I’m waiting on everyone else to do their dern job they’re supposed to do. I’m washing clothes which never seem to end because oh yeah, Emma keeps messing up her panties. We’re on like number 3 today and it’s only lunch. I’m feeling clausterphobic. I don’t want to feed anyone else. I’m tired of picking up dishes. I’m tired of checking in at work. I’m tired of trying to be a good wife. I just want to lay in bed and watch tv all day or go out shopping and blow some money. And oh yeah, I’m tried of keeping up with the checkbook too. Somebody please remind me how lucky I am to have a wonderful job, two excellent children, a great house and a wonderful husband.

I’m at work today. Not much going on so I’m kind of bored.

Emma is almost potty trained. She has even gotten up early in the morning and told us she had to go potty. We still have the #2 issue though. She won’t go and I had to clean nasty panties twice yesterday. Ugh. And I have to do this all again with Lexi in a year or two. Once Emma got on the bandwagon though, she has been pretty easy. Just that initial force to wear panties and she was with it!

On the way back from Maryland Emma dropped something and Mom said O, Brother! Emma says, I’m not a brother, I’m a sister!

Mom and Emma were in the bathroom and she tore some tissue for her. It came off in a little piece and Emma says, This is NOT good!

Lexi is walking up a storm. She walked from the recliner into the kitchen where I was cooking, turned around without falling down and walked back. She is definitely a walker! I am having issues though finding her shoes that I can get on her feet. I got a pair of Robeez from my friend D and they work out well but I’d like to get her some shoe-shoes, you know? Her little (big) foot won’t go into a 3 but a 4 is too long. I think I’m going to have to take her to Stride Rite for a pair. I’ll probably get her sized and then buy some on ebay.

Speaking of which, I bought a Gymboree outfit on there and the white shirt came stained pink! I looked back at the listing and it says it was “dingy”. I don’t remember reading that part and it sure isn’t “dingy”. It is light pink! Grrr. If nothing else, I can wear the red pants on her so it wasn’t a total loss but still! I paid almost $14 for that outfit with shipping.

I bought a book in Maryland called Rekindling the Romance by Dennis Rainey. It was quite eye opening into realizing the thoughts of most men. I can kind of understand where Scott is coming from now. I had him read the first chapter of the Men’s section and I hope it did the same for him. I really think it will help us. We’ve sort of been on two different pages the past year or two. I also realized through a bible study I’ve been doing that I was holding some anger/bitterness toward him. It was all founded in truth and we talked about it. He knew I was telling the truth and said he was going to try to change. We’ll see. I know I feel a weight off my shoulders just telling him about it and being able to point it out.

Which reminds me that Starting Over has started again. The couples one seems good but a little hard to follow. I don’t think they go in depth enough or something. I haven’t watched every episode, so maybe that’s the problem. I am looking forward to the part when they get back to the women though.

And onto more new fall tv shows. My favorites House and Grey’s Anatomy started back up and they were fantabulous. Tonight is House again and I can’t wait! I about died laughing at the Emmy’s when the guy presenting with the House guy acted like he was faking his accent. The funny thing was, I was in shock after hearing him on Regis and Kelly. I had no idea he was faking an American accent. That is so weird to me! How do you fake an American accent? I know lots of actors do it, but I would like to hear us from their perspective one time.