So Long, Booker Boy

Yesterday we drove to Virginia to take my sweet Booker man to his new home with Paul's cousin Lorrie's family.  It was such a hard day!  I know that he will live a much happier life with Lorrie's 2 boys, especially because Emily didn't even really play with him- she mostly stayed angry at him because he would knock over her toys when she was playing.  We don't have enough time to devote to him and luckily they do....Booker is going to love having Jack (who is 4 in September) to play with every day!

But...it was ROUGH- Paul and I both cried like babies, and then on the way from there he looked at me in the car and said, "I loved him." and I busted out crying some more. But I got a great email from Lorrie this morning saying that they had made a video of Jack getting B yesterday and that Jack had already planned to spend the entire day today in the yard playing ball with Booker.  Booker may have finally met his match!  Also, Jack wouldn't stop petting and loving on Booker and woke up this morning and yelled, "I LOVE MY DOG!!!!!!!!!!!"  So in the end, I still agree it was the right thing to do. However, like I said yesterday in the car....sometimes doing the right thing means doing the hardest thing.  But I am so happy my dog has a happy home, even if that home isn't with me. It's going to take some adjusting for sure.

33 Months Old!

It's time for the monthly update again!  Time is truly flying by.  How is it the end of July already? 

Emily continues to do so well.  She has had a great month filled with fun things to do and new developments each week (sometimes each day!)

- She is starting to enter into a developmental phase where nearly everything is black and white.  Sometime this is referred to as "splitting".  It is a very important phase for kiddos to go through, but difficult for those around them.  Basically, Emily is hung up on Right V. Wrong right now.  For instance, sometimes she will yell something at us like, "I want ___(ice cream, candy, Barney, etc.)"  It's not so much what she is saying as much as it's her tone that we don't like.  So we address it and remind her, "We don't yell at Mommy and Daddy.  We use nice words and a calm voice."  But the tables all turn when I, for instance, open the door to call for Booker and Katie to come inside....she will come up behind me and scold me, saying, "NO Mommy, we don't yell!  We have to use nice words. It's not nice to yell."  She's missing the part that sometimes yelling is necessary.  At any rate, it's a stage and we're going to get through it (all of us!)  But it sure is funny sometimes to hear how upset she gets over us "breaking the rules"!

- She L.O.V.E.S. school.  I mean, loves it.  I am so, SO glad that she has made friends there and likes her teachers.  About a month ago the assistant position opened up in her classroom and I was nervous....you never know who will get hired and I was concerned that we wouldn't like this person, etc.  However, they hired a wonderful young girl named Malarie and she is great with the kids.  She seems like a really sweet girl and Emily likes her so much so I know it's a good fit.  Thank goodness!
  Her favorite days at school are usually Monday (I think because she is excited to go back after the weekend....if only we were all pumped for Mondays, huh?!), Thursday, because it's Show And Tell and the day the ice cream truck comes and she gets to spend her own dollar on a popsicle, and Friday because it is Book Day and (for the summer) Water Play Day.  She looooves water day for sure!  They always ask us to send a towel and by the second week her teachers were remarking that, "Emily sure loves water doesn't she? She gets SOAKING wet during water play!"  All I could do was laugh...this is the same little girl who "swims" (complete with bathing suit!) in my bathtub several nights a week.  She's definitely a little fish!

- She is getting more excited about Audrey each week.  She has stopped with being very rough with me (we went through a spell where she would really test limits and try to hit or kick my belly) and now she is so, so gentle.  She tells Audrey good morning and good night every day and is constantly putting her eyes up my belly button...I think she thinks Audrey lives inside my navel.  It's so cute. 
   Over the weekend some friends brought over their 2 year old girl, Brielle, and their newborn, Caroline (or Baby Carowine, as Emily called her).  Sunday night I was tucking her into bed and asked her what her favorite part of the weekend was.  She answered, "Baby Carowine."  I melted right there and asked her, "Oooh Emmy, Baby Caroline was your favorite thing about this weekend?"  She looked thoughtful for a moment and then took it one step further and said, "No Mommy, Baby Audrey is my favorite."  It was SO precious.  I am hopeful that things will continue to go this smoothly once Audrey is actually here and taking up a lot of Emily's Mommy's time!

-  She is learning to write more letters. I don't know if it was sheer coincidence or if she really knew how to write the letters, but the other day she wrote E, I, H, T, O, L and the number 7.  I was BLOWN away!  She isn't interested in learning them every day (and I don't even ask her every day) but her retention is incredible and we really only have to show her a few times before it's sunk in.  Smart girl!

- She has started to love dress-up again, which is thrilling to me because it's just so much fun!  She puts on these ridiculous outfits and saunters around the upstairs.  She does my makeup with some spare brushes I gave her and wears large amounts of kid jewelry.  I love it! 

-  She is really loving car rides right now- suddenly she's very aware of trucks (especially dump trucks and semi trucks), school buses, motorcycles, etc.  It's really funny to drive with her now because she points out everything she sees.  She also is starting to remember where things are-- there's a restaurant close to us that we go to for breakfast some weekends and it's also on our way to her school in the morning.  She will see the restaurant and ask if we have time to go to breakfast today.  She knows the road to Miss Jamey's house and looks for "Miss Jamey's cows" (they aren't Jamey's cows but they do belong to the farm close to her house).  She LOVES to ride next to McDonald's right now because they have a huge, inflatable Ronald McDonald and she likes to see the "giant clown".  This morning it wasn't up yet and she told me he was still sleeping.  So precious.

That's about all I can think of for now.  I'll be posting an update about our pregnancy within then next day or so.  Thanks for checking on our sweet girls!

Baby Audrey/ Ultrasound Update

We had an ultrasound today to check my cervix for changes and I met with my doctor afterward.  My cervix was measuring 2.6cm, which is a large improvement over my 30 week cervix with Emily, which was 1.5cm.  I was pretty much so thrilled!  The technician was SUPER nice and let us sneak a peek at Audrey girl (who is still a girl, by the way!) even though we were really not supposed to be looking at her at all.

So after the ultrasound poor Paul had to go back to the hospital- they have been SLAMMED lately and he was getting page after page.  I waited to see Dr. R.  When she came in she was not super happy about the cervical length like I had hoped she would be- she said the normal range for 30 weeks is 2.5-3.5cm, so me being at 2.6cm wasn't exactly what she wanted.  She is not making a huge deal about this though.  She is having me come back next Thursday for a fetal fibronectin test which will give her a clearer idea of whether my body is actually preparing for labor, or if I just happen to be someone whose cervix thins out a little earlier than expected, but is not ready for labor.  I am confident that things are OK- I am not contracting this time nearly as much as I did with Emily, and while Audrey is head-down now (we saw on the ultrasound), she is not engaged in my pelvis like Emmy was.  So I'm hoping for good...no...great news on Thursday. 

In other news, on Saturday we took Emily to Charlotte to do a little shopping.  We stopped at the Carter's Outlet and bought her a few things for fall and one precious outfit for Audrey.  We also found an adorable pink giraffe "silk" that Emily instantly proclaimed belonged to her.  However, Saturday night she said I could put it in the room with Baby Audrey's things because it was for her little sister. I just about melted right there. 

Except then Sunday morning rolled around...and Emily saw the silk in the basket with Audrey's stuff.  Up pointed that little finger of hers and she said, "MOMMY- what is my silk doing up there?! That's Emily's giraffe silk!"  I reminded her that she had said it was for Audrey and she looked at me with stony eyes and said, "That silk is mine" and held out her hand.  Looks like Baby Audrey lost out on the giraffe silk after all!!  :)

"You Haffa CHOOSE, Mommy!"

This morning Paul had to round at the hospital so I had sweet Emmy girl all to myself for the morning.  After playing with EVERY single toy she owns, I think, she found a set of mini-hair claws that I recently bought.  It's a 16-pack: 8 tiny black claws and 8 tiny brown/tortoiseshell claws.  Here's what our conversation sounded like:

Emmy:  "Which one you want, Mommy? You Haffa CHOOSE!"
Me: "Oh...I think I'd like a black one."
E: "NO- we don't have black. Which one you want, Mommy? You Haffa CHOOSE!"
M: "Oh ok...then I guess I'll have brown."
E: "NO- we don't have brown.  Which one you want, Mommy? You Haffa CHOOSE!"
M: "Well, I guess I'll have black."
E: "NO- we don't have black.  We just have brown and brown and brown and brown and brown and brown and brown and brown. "
M: "Then I guess I'll have to have brown."
E: "NO- we don't have brown.  We just have black and black and black and black and black and black and black and black. Which one you want, Mommy? You Haffa CHOOSE!"
M: "I don't know.  Which one do you want me to have?"
E: "You can have black."
M: "OK- black then."
E: "WE DON'T HAVE BLACK!"

FINALLY I got her away from the hair clips, only to have her come back to me with them a little later.  You'll never guess what she said..."Which one you want, Mommy? You Haffa CHOOSE!"
Oh. My. Goodness. This girl is a riot!

Mail Time!

Emily and Audrey got a special surprise in the mail yesterday- a fantastic package from one of my closest friends, Corey!  She sent Audrey 2 adorable pieces from BabyGap and also a sweet, cuddly stuffed pig from Jellycat...it is PRECIOUS!  I just love it and can't wait to tuck it into her bed with her.

She sent Emily a fantastic purse (pink with little rhinestones!) and it was filled with lots of goodies- 2 different shades of color-changing nail polish, a 3-pack of Jolly Rancher lip gloss, and perhaps the creme de la creme of the whole thing.....SILLY BANDZ!  Emily was SO cute with them- she knew right away to put them on her wrists and then she kept taking them off, noting which shape was which (hers are sea life creatures) and then putting them back on.  It was too cute!  I painted her nails tonight and of course, she picked the new pink polish for 1 hand and 1 foot, and the new green polish for the other hand and foot.  That's my girl!

Thank you so much Corey!  You are too good to my sweet girls!  We are super excited for next October and seeing you tie the knot! :) :)

Also, Paul and I bought Emily a little lap desk to do her "work" on....she loves it!  Aside from a few episodes of trying to sit or stand on it, she's done so well and really loves "my dessssssk!" Too precious!

28 Weeks and Our 5th Anniversary!

Today I am 28 weeks pregnant with sweet Audrey Grace.  I have to say that I am still feeling good for the most part...but I am steadily feeling worse by the end of every day.  My back and hips are KILLING me.  I was literally in tears yesterday telling Paul that I hate that this is our last pregnancy and I'm not able to enjoy it as much as I did with Emily because I am hurting so badly by the evening/ late afternoon every day.  It is really, really hard being pregnant and having a toddler too.  I don't know how people do it who have lots of children....I am not sure my body could handle another pregnancy after this one!

I had my glucose screening on Tuesday and a doctor's appointment.  I haven't heard anything from the office about my test results but they said it would be about a week or so before I did.  I really hope I passed because if I didn't, I will have to do the 3 hour screening one morning, and I really don't have any mornings free (because of teaching Summer School starting Monday) until the 1st week of August, and I feel that's a little late.  So, cross your fingers that I passed!  Dr R was glad to hear my Braxton Hicks contractions are still infrequent and set me up for an ultrasound on July 21.  I will have a cervical length measurement taken.  It was 3.5cm long at my 20 week appointment so I am crossing everything that it hasn't thinned down yet.  (For comparison's sake, when I was 30 weeks with Emily it went to 1.5cm, and then the following week at 31 weeks it measured 4mm..yes, millimeters!)  I am so hopeful that things will be different this time, especially since I don't think there's any way Audrey is engaged in my pelvis yet...she moves around way too freely, I think, to be head-down yet.  Emily was engaged by about 26 weeks and was putting a lot of pressure on me.  I am scared a little because even if I had to do bedrest this time, that would really only keep me from being at work....I still have a house, a husband, and a busy toddler to care for at home, so there would be little "resting" going on.  I am just thinking positively and hoping for good news on July 21. 

Today is our 5th wedding anniversary!  It seems so crazy to think that we have been married for five full years.  I am so lucky to have a wonderful husband like Paul who is not only so good to me but an amazing Daddy too.  Our girls are so, so fortunate.  To celebrate this milestone we're heading back to WV today to our old town-- going to hang out with some friends, eat dinner at one of our favorite restaurants (we haven't picked it yet) and look at some potential houses with one of the realtors I used to work with.  I am so excited!  My in-laws are gracious enough to come care for Emily this weekend so Paul and I will have 2 nights of uninterrupted sleep and hopefully no waking up at 6am (or 4:45, as was the case this morning, haha).  I will miss our sweet girl but she would not enjoy this trip at all.  She is so excited for her Granny and Grandaddy to come to pick her up from school today....she ran right in and told her teacher all about it this morning. 

Have a great weekend!  I'll post some more pictures next week.

Brilliant!

Emily has really started to take off with some academic skills that I didn't expect to see this early.  Here's what my smart little girl is doing:

- She is developing number correspondence (the understanding that X toys is that NUMBER of toys...for instance, when she is counting a set of objects, she gets the right number and doesn't just SAY all the numbers she knows).  Anyway, yesterday she counted objects up to NINE...which is pretty impressive considering a week ago she was only doing it to 3 or 4 correctly.

- She is becoming very aware of the world around us.  Whenever she hears a noise it's, "What was that sound, Mommy?"  and I have to explain it to her.  Or in the car she is constantly yelling out about what she sees- right now she loves all kinds of vehicles- especially dump trucks and semi trucks.  She goes REALLY wild for school buses.  She is also counting what she sees-- she'll tell me, "Look Mommy-- 2 dump trucks!"  She gets so excited and wants me to notice every single thing with her.

- She is starting to show some interest in learning to write letters....so, we're teaching her.  The thing about Emily, though, is that you only have to show her once or twice and whatever you taught is LOCKED in.  For example, she has learned to write the letters E, I, and H (trying to teach "easier" letters without curves since her fine motor control isn't perfect).  She will gladly draw these letters for you whenever you ask...and we only demonstrated how to draw them a few times! 

- Also related to drawing, she is drawing happy faces everywhere now.  She loves it!  Yesterday she drew one (and then erased it before I could take a picture!) that had eyes, a nose, ears, colored-in cheeks, and arms!  ARMS!  I was so impressed.  This is definitely more of a 3 year old skill and she's still 4 months away from that so I was pretty proud of her!

Anyway, I wanted to be sure I wrote all this down so we have an idea about how she is developing.  We are so excited to see her learning all these new things!