In honor of Great Gramma

My mother lived in MuuMuu's. Each trip to Hawaii, a yearly vacation for some 12 years or so, she would stock up. She had fancy ones and everyday ones and rarely wore anything else.
John and I were shopping last week and we still have a tendency to look at baby stuff. We..both of us...spotted this adorable little dress, fell in love and bought it. Becky says it looks like one of Great Gramma's MuuMuu's and she also loves it. We did not even think of it until she pointed it out and now we smile even bigger when we look at it. My Mom would also love it.

Mom would also have loved the raspberries I am getting while I take this picture.

Memorial Day

We had a wonderful holiday. All the usual suspects joined us for swimming and barbecue ribs. Family and friends brought sides and desserts. Everything was wonderful, including the weather. The kids had spent a couple hours swimming before dinner and just about the time dinner was ready it started to darken and the wind blew in. We were prepared and quicly dragged chairs and tables from the yard into the garage. The wonderful cool breeze kept it nice in there...door open...and bad rain never came. Just a little drizzle. When we were done eating the kids sang Happy Birthday to me and blew out candles on cupcakes. The sun did not come back out but many of us went back in the water. It was a good day. Regretfully I did not bring out the camera but Becky took a picture of Em in ONE of her bathing suits.

Da Da Da Da

First Words

Today I walked in far too quickly to get Emily up from her nap. She was making noise and my usual is to stand at the door a second, then knock, but I needed to get her up because Mommy was coming to get her. As I opened the door and walked in I started to think she was saying Da Da Da Da, but it was all too quick to be sure. I told Becky about it so she could confirm...or not. About 30 minutes later Becky called and said it is definitely Da Da Da Da and she said it ALL the way home in the car and has not stopped. LOL. Another step forward.

Needed a change.

So I made a change....in the colors at least. Google needs to get more templates.

And another 1st

We are not crazy....letting her choke. A baby has to LEARN how to handle food when it "gets stuck" so we always give it a beat before we help. She is doing excellent. Cheerios are just around the corner.
Then goldfish. YEAH!!! Life becomes REALLY easy then. Time to breath between meals.

And sweeter

Life with Baby gets easier.

Roller Coasters

I used to love roller coasters. Going to big parks was not a thing my family did growing up so my experience is small but the few times I rode them I liked it a lot. Some jerked me around too much but all in all it was a fun experience. Caring for a baby is like a roller coaster sometimes. Actually I think a current mother or care provider for an infant/baby/toddler would probably agree it is ALL the time. LOL.
Our angel baby today is in a bit of a snit. It just figures. I went out shopping this AM after laying her down for what is usually a 2 hour or more nap. She woke up after an hour. A usual day, when she gets up, she will play for close to an hour in Papa's office and be perfectly happy. Not today. My poor angel was fussy, so when I came home Papa was feeding her lunch a half hour or so earlier then the norm. We have to assume these bad days are teeth pushing their way through but I sure wish they would pop. It is so sad to see her fussy and not be able to do much about it. Today I resorted to Tylenol. Usually the homeopathic teething tabs and gel works fine but not today. She is asleep again now and hopefully will take a long afternoon nap.

Monday night I finally got to meet "The Usual Suspects". A group of people John works with on a regular basis who have also become close friends of his. 2 were in from D.C. One from OK and the other lives here in Dallas but the opportunity never came up to meet her. It was great fun to put faces to names. Greater fun to enjoy in person the personalities I have heard so much about. We, well they, had drinks in the lounge of the hotel the out of towners are staying at then we went to dinner. Pappadeaux's Seafood, my absolutely favorite fish place. We did not get home until after 10 PM. Absolutely unheard of hour on a week night. I felt like such a "BIG GIRL" being out with adults. If your reading any of the "suspects", it was great to meet and spend time with all of you. I look forward to doing it again sometime.

Big post to catch up.

First off....John is doing great. They did put a stent in, but the rest of his heart looks good. He had to escape from the hospital because he somehow got dropped off the rounds list by the partners. That would be a first person I know to do that, even though I know many people who threatened it. He just grabbed his bag after about 6 hours of waiting past the time someone was supposed to be in and left. The doctor had already called in all the prescriptions so he figured to hell with this.
One of the scripts they had him on was Lipitor. A cholesterol med. One that is famous for the horrible aches and pains. Been there, done that myself. He took it for 4 days and quit it. He felt like he had been run over by a MACK truck. The other meds are all fine and we saw the doctor last Friday and dropping the Lipitor has been approved. He is good to go until August. Then he goes in for a recheck.

We have been sadly dismantling our pond. The liner was very old and had too many cracks and leaks to repair right now so we have had to give it up. It is pretty sad right now. Filled with bricks and sand and looking very ugly but hopefully soon we will have the time to get it looking decent. It will make a great spot for the grill in the future but not having the waterfall is a killer. It was a GREAT noise barrier. Now we hear everything going on outside the yard. I am also still in the habit of walking out there and going to see the fish. Now I see an ugly hole. I am happy to announce though, that the fish have a wonderful new home.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. Despite the horrible forecast we ended up with a lovely day. We had warmed up the pool and just about the time everyone got here the sun started coming in and out and the drizzling stopped. Even Emily got to play in the pool and Nick, Elliot and Maggie were in for hours. It was a great day!!!

Emily just keeps growing and far too fast. The video is her new "trick". What a hoot it is. I keep working on Papa and she just clicks away and smiles at me.

No more dragging that heavy carseat with baby into the stores. YEAH!!! In fact John and I put our big girl carseat in the car this past weekend.


This shelf in the pool is just the greatest. It is Lucy's play spot or laying spot and comes in real handy for making sure Em was not going to freak out. Even if the little ones love a bath the pool can be overwhelming but she loved it. Nicholas, Elliot and Maggie are looking on as Em experiences the pool.


In her floaty.


"Papa got me all wrapped up in a warm towel when MOMMY was done in the water. I would have stayed in MUCH longer." Emily was a delight yesterday. It seems she is over her "stranger" stage. At least for now, and since she was "home" she took two great naps.


After Emily was done swimming she played outside for awhile on the mats. The big kids are more fascinated with the baby toys then Emily is. LOL. And in the picture below is Lucy taking advantage of a soft surface to lay one. Spoiled ROTTEN dogs.

Big BIG Girl.

At lunch time we join Papa and have a bagel.