And We've Been...

...busy, but with fun things! My niece Kaitlin flew down from Ohio to visit for a couple weeks and we have been having a blast! I'm so glad she braved the trip all by herself. She is so sweet and it has been so fun having her here, thanks lady bug! Here's our happenings lately:


Emilie and I went to Phoenix to pick up Kay-Key from the airport. We made signs to welcome her and Em did a pretty good job of holding hers.

Well, she might have eaten a bit of hers, but she still held on to it!


The brave girl stepping off the plane.



We've been hitting the pool a lot. There's not much else to do when it's 115 degrees everyday!

Keith and Holly, friends we made in California, came and stayed with us a few days on their way to Texas and then to Germany. We played some Rock Band and just hung out. The house was a bit full (six people, two cats and a dog in a two bedroom house, yikes!) but was so much fun to have everyone there! We miss you already guys and can't wait to do it again.

Emilie has found her passion, the drums! She found the Rock Band drumsticks in the morning and was so cute with them. Just don't take them away if you want to keep her happy!

Okay, this is such a goofy picture I had to post it. She was mid jump and making her squishy nose face and full gum (and tooth) smiling. The combination is pretty funny looking, but you can see her first little tooth.

I know I'm going to hear from Emilie's WaWa and Gamma for posting a sad picture, but you can see both of her little teeth. She was only sad because I was trying to hold her lip down to get a picture, sorry Em :(

Em has officially decided she no longer needs to be swaddled. I think it is so funny because now she sleeps with her arms straight out as in some sort of rebellion. I swear I only swaddled her as long as she wanted me to!

Em loves to splash in the water!

Here is my little turkey jump, jump, jumping as we call it. You can catch her random coughs for attention (seriously, like she is doesn't get enough!) in this video.

Em has become interested in crawling. I would really be okay with her slowing down this whole growing up thing she keeps doing.

I Got Tagged!

Four Jobs I've had

-BBQ Restaurant Manager

-Catering Manager at Jason's Deli

-Bank Teller

-Server (as in a waitress)

My favorite? Waiting tables by far!



Four Movies I've Seen More Than Once

-Pillow Talk (get your mind out of the gutter, it's with Doris Day)

-Elf

-Zoolander

-Mean Girls



Four Places I've Lived

-North Pole, Alaska

-Corpus Christi, Texas

-Perrysburg, Ohio

-Monterey, California

Favorite? O-H-I-O



Four TV Shows I watch

-The News

-Baby Einstien

-Reba

-How Clean is Your House? (When I have cable!)



Four Places (regions) I'd like to Visit

-Japan

-England

-Ireland

-Hawaii (I don't get out much, okay!)



Four People who Email Me Regularly

-My Mom

-Grandma Call

-Aunt Christy

-Kaitlin



Four Places I've Been

These are lame so don't laugh!

-Kansas City, Missouri

-Newark, New Jersey

-Denver, Colorado

-Canada (like, all over it)



Four Favorite Foods

-Taco Bell pepsi

-McDonald's ice cream

-Anything Cheesy

-Yogurt



Four Things I'm Looking Foward to This Year

-Watching Emilie Grow

-Christmas

-NOT MOVING!!!

-Getting eight hours of uninterupted sleep at some point (please, Em!)



Four People I tag

-Holly (when you get settled)

-Julianne

-Jennifer Dennis

-Kristen McCain

BM's at IAH

For those of you who haven't been able to conjure a mental image of what a poopsplosion looks like on your own, here is a bit of help. Your welcome! So, this was the trendsetting giant poop Em made when we arrived at the Tucson Airport before we started our summer travels. It seems as if airports get things, umm... moving for Emilie. When we flew from Texas to Ohio she had a blow-out in the Houston Airport (see previous blog entry for all the fun details!) The trip from Ohio back to Tucson seemed to have the same BM inducing effect. I guess I should start at the beginning of the day. Our 8 am flight out of Detroit was cancelled because there was a problem with the cabin pressure. I thought that was understandable, oxygen is something I find necessary for survival, so we didn't leave until noon. We landed in Houston with 20 minutes to catch our connecting flight to Tucson. I was ready to dart off the plane and run to our gate when I noticed green stuff all over my shirt. Apparently Emilie had Houdini poopsplosioned and it was all over both of us! I wrapped her up in a blanket in an attempt to hide the mess (yes, being covered in baby poo in public is embarrassing to me) and hightailed it to the bathroom. I had already resolved that we were missing our flight, but really didn't care. Once more Emilie was bathed in the bathroom sinks, but I have the act down to a science now (I even packed a towel this time!) I had plenty of clothes for both of us since I have learned that babies like to share bodily fluids with their parents, so I cleaned myself up and started for our gate to figure out what to do next. Pretty much every flight out of Houston was delayed, so we actually made our flight with time to grab some lunch/dinner. Again, I am soooo grateful to Em for not pooping everywhere mid-flight. What a great baby :) So, our 8 hours of traveling ended up being 16 hours, but we made it home safe and sound. I miss everyone, but it really is good to be home. Nathan is the best husband ever, he had the house SPOTLESS for us (cleaning is my forte, definitely not his) which made coming home much less stressful. Too bad for him though, he has blown his cover. Now I know he actually does know how to clean to my standards and might get forced into helping out sometimes. For the record, Nathan will do anything I ask him to, I just never ask for help with cleaning, he is totally not a deadbeat! Oh, poor Emilie is teething terribly again. Her second tooth (bottom left) is almost through. I keep trying to get a picture of her toothy smile but haven't been able to yet. It's so cute, she looks like a country bumpkin with just one little tooth! As soon as I get one, I will post it, but in the meantime here's a billion other pics!





Little Benjamin :)





Water+Dish soap= hours of fun Cousins! Emilie, Macy and Hanna (Jade and Laura's girls) Michael and Benjamin.

Benjamin and "blankie blankie." He is so adorable, he wads the whole thing up and carries it around!

This is one of my best friends, Casie. No joke, she was actually in labor in this picture (early labor.) Emilie was convincing the baby to come out and I guess it worked because two days later...

...Tucker Lee made his debut! I am so glad he listened when I told him he had to come before we left for Arizona! He is so precious, congratulations Casie and Chad!

Me and Little Man Tucker. Yep, I cut all my hair off!

She still loves her first changing table!
Emilie now gives kisses if you ask for them, so sweet!
Em and Aunt Jenny

Michael went to the bathroom and came out like this. Too funny not to post, even if he will hate me for it later.

Okay, Emilie isn't really standing on her own, she is propped against the chair but it looks like she is standing. I love her little converse high-tops. Her first time to sit in a highchair at a restaurant. She loves sitting up!

Sweet Michael, he loves Emilie so much.
Watching the bath water with her WaWa
Her first toothbrush and toothpaste. She loves to brush her tooth.

Sleeping on the airplane on the way home.
Her first time to sit in the grocery cart. It was so nice not to carry her in the Moby Wrap

for a change! Sadly, this is the best picture I could get, she doesn't even have shoes on. Oh well, she is still the cutest little thing ever!

This was so cute. Benjamin was playing with Em (or the toys she was playing with, whatever) and would dance to the music of this little book. He is such a baby sometimes. I love it when he freaks out and squawks like a monkey.

Emilie was so cute on the flight to Tucson. Luckily no one was in the seat next to us so she got to sit and play. She does her newest "trick" in the video. She takes whatever she is playing with and holds it over her head, only her arms don't reach because she's a baby and babies have big noggins! So cute!

Do You Smell That?

What is this face? Em has been doing this thing where she scrunches up her little nose and breathes funny, like something smells bad. She does it when she's happy, upset, tired, excited, really anytime with no rhyme or reason I can tell. I don't know why she does it, but it is so funny. She kept doing it during her bath tonight, so after she was dressed I got it on video. She wasn't shy tonight and did a little act with her tongue too. Oh, how I love my goofy girl!

In Ohio!

We have made it to Ohio! Actually, we've been here for over a week, I just haven't posted anything because we have been busy busy girls! We had a blast in Texas. Emilie did well at the beach, but she loved the swimming pool. It was so great to see everyone, I just wish Tonya, Michael and Tyler (my brother Brian's wife and boys) had been there too. Next time for sure guys! Em has been such a sweetheart. She was teething the whole time we were in TX but she was really tolerant considering she was completely out of her routine. The trip to Ohio was a bit umm... entertaining. Since she was teething she had diarrhea, which isn't good for travel to say the least. Right as our plane out of Houston was boarding, I smelled buttery popcorn (which some baby poo smells like that!) I hurried to the bathroom to check the damage, and well, I ended up bathing her in the sink in the airport. Well sinks, the water was automatic and would get really hot after a few seconds, so I had to bounce around from sink to sink. I got some pretty weird looks, but some sympathetic ones too. Luckily I was armed with gallon sized Ziploc bags, disposable pre-soaped washcloths and plenty of clothes for both of us (thanks for the tips Mom!) but it still wasn't fun. Funny maybe, but not fun! I am just so glad she did it in the airport and not the airplane! Thank you soooo much Emilie. The ironic thing is the next day she was really constipated, and has been ever since, I guess that's just my luck! Anyhow, the rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful, and we have just been hanging out at my Moms and Nathan's parents. Ohio is so pretty and GREEN right now. I miss grass and green things, Arizona is red and not so grassy. It's nice to be "home" for a little while, but I really miss Nathan. For those who are worried about Mr. Call, he is doing fine. He and his XBOX are holding each other together quite well. Oh, I almost forgot! Emilie got her first tooth on Sunday! I am a little sad because her gummy smile is gone, but I have fallen in love with her little toothy grin. I keep trying to get a picture, but it's so tiny you can barely see it. It's the bottom front on the right, and the left one is following soon! She keeps rubbing her tongue on it and it's really cute. Okay, enough rambling, here's pictures!

This is a video of Emilie doing her "silent talking." My nephew Benjamin did the same thing. I love it!





Here's Em sleeping on the plane on the way to Texas. We were lucky and no one was in the seat next to us!

This cutie pie is my Niece Abbie (My little brother Josh's daughter.) She was supposed to be taking a nap, but she decided it would be more fun to pull all her clothes into the bed. She is so adorable!
Here's Abbie Cakes giving Emilie "mooches"

Emilie and Uncle Mark

Emilie and my Meemaw, her Great Grandmother

My nephew Michael (my sister Jenny's son) sleeping with his "light-saver"

Emilie and her Great Grandma Evans

At the beach!

Super Em and her Gamma. That's not really a cape, it's just her bib.

Roaring like a little monster.

Snuggling with Kaitlin and her bear before bed

Watching "Blues Clues" for the first time. She had to sit up and eat because she couldn't take her eyes off it!

Sitting pretty

I made these letters for Emilie's cousin Emmalyn (Nathan's little brother Ryan's daughter) for her first birthday. I made pink and green letters for Emilies wall, but didn't do polka-dots. I think these turned out super-cute, maybe even cuter than Emilie's. I hope Big Em likes them (well really Tracy, her Mom!) Happy first birthday cutie pie!

We Lived.

We made it to Texas! It was a rough day, but we survived. I will just sum up our "experience" quickly. The day we left I woke up vomiting (NO, I'M NOT PREGNANT!!!), Emilie had her biggest poopsplosion to date as soon as we got to the airport, our first flight was delayed so we missed our connection, and the airplane had no changing table (apparently Em had a never ending supply of poo that day!) Aside from the few inconveniences, things actually went pretty well. I quit throwing up before we left for the airport which helped tremendously. We lived, and are having a great time in Texas. We are about to head to the beach houses and won't have the internet, but I will post pics when I get to Ohio. Okay, maybe I should say IF we get to Ohio. Just kidding. One kinda rough day was so worth seeing my family. Emilie is doing just fine, she is such a sweet girl. Nathan is working a ton so hopefully he isn't missing us too much. Well, I better get ready for the beach, I'm sure you are pitying us right now :)

Baggage

Aaaahh! Right now I am packing for our trips to Texas and Ohio and things aren't going well. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't overweight so I went to the Continental Airlines website to double check, and I am really angry. As of May 1st only one checked bag per customer is allowed. Panic!!!! Then I read you can check up to two exception items such as a car seat, stroller, skis or a wheelchair and felt better until... I am checking in online and putting in my one bag and two exception items and it starts charging me a fee. I call Continental to see why and the woman tells me only one exception item is allowed. I told her to get the website fixed. I refuse to pay $25 each leg ($75 since we have 3 trips) extra. I think I will just hold them to what the website says and play dumb. I know that the airline industry is having problems, but I don't think that upping rates and creating stupid fees for bags is the solution. I would bet that the CEO of Continental Airlines has not taken a pay cut since 9-11. I'm pretty sure his salary has even seen a few increases since then. I think this is ludicrous. I used to love Continental, but they are really making some mistakes (don't get me started on their frequent flyer program!) Okay, I am done venting. Well, at least until I get to the airport :)