Emma Bear

Emma-Jelly Beans is 3 months old. 

She smiles and laughs and still loves to be held. 

I went back to work two weeks ago. Emma was 12 weeks old and had never really been away from me or home for much longer than a couple of hours before.

She was not a happy girl.
She cried all day long for the whole week.

I felt awful. I still feel awful. I keep thinking about our poor babysitter. 

We LOVE her. 

We absolutely adore our babysitter. 

She is sweet and kind and wonderful. 

She tells my children "I love you" every day. 

Lexi likes going to her house more than staying with me. 

She is an angel and we are so lucky to have her. 

Emma is not showing her the love. 

She is having major separation anxiety issues and has huge crying fits throughout the day. 

She is a little young for this.

But I held that lil pumpkin from the moment she was born until two weeks ago Tuesday. 

She isn't used to anyone but me for whole days at a time. 

Last Friday, her voice was hoarse from crying. 

I was about in tears fretting over her. 

Our wonderful babysitter just said, "Don't worry about it - I'll make her love me." 

She is making progress, too. 

Emma cries a little less every day and smiles and giggles a little more. 

Mommy stresses a little less every day, also.

 Hopefully soon - this is the type of baby we'll have all day long - even when Mommy is at work. 

and just because she has gotten the spotlight-heave-ho, here is a picture of our dog, Roxy. 

She is going to be 6 years old next month. 

She hasn't had a birthday party since we've had kids, but bless her heart she's never complained. 

She is an awesome dog. She loves my babies - she watches over them and is gentle and tolerant and puts up with a lot of hair and tail pulling. She has never once snapped. Wonderful animal - but she sheds like you wouldn't believe! Everybody has their flaws, right?

So since I'll forget next month - Happy 6th birthday Ra-Ra! 

We love you, even if we only ever show it by feeding you leftover PB&J.

Pretty in Plaid

 I know every parent says it - but I cannot believe she is old enough to go to school! Ok, so it's three year old preschool. And it's only two mornings a week. Either way, seeing her in that little bitty uniform (cutest thing ever, right? size 2 uniforms are precious!) put a few tears in my eyes. 

We have been talking a LOT about how to behave at school with Lexi - mostly we stressed how important it was to tell the teacher when she needed to potty. But we also discussed listening to the teacher and doing what she asks, not whining, sharing with the other kids, etc. You know, the usual back-to-school pep talk.

I have been a nervous wreck the past few weeks wondering how our little lady would do during the three hours she spent at preschool. We were lucky enough to be able to get her into the 3 year old preschool class at my school so I can conveniently check up on her whenever. Unfortunately, this also means her teacher can find me WHENEVER Lexi decides to have a diva-day. I fear these will occur frequently.

 The first day of school: Lexi was HIGHLY uncooperative at home with the pictures. This was the best we could do. Awesome. 

Once we got into the building (she was excited by then, by the way) she immediately noticed that ALL THE OTHER GIRLS were wearing the same dress she was. This was NOT (N.O.T.) all right with her. In fact she went up to several other girls that were teachers' kids and held her skirt up to theirs then looked at me with the meanest glare. It was as if she was saying, "how DARE you put me in the same thing some one else is wearing!" Diva. Told ya. 

 She refused to take a picture with me. Makenna, my friend Michelle's daughter, however she was all about photo-opping with. Aren't they darling? 

Paul met us at the school (he was the good parent and took the day off so he could pick Lexi up and take her out to lunch after her first day) and we walked Lexi down to preschool together. Her teacher is darling and sweet and energetic and fun. Lexi loves her. We have been talking her up big time all summer. She has achieved a status on par with Disney princesses and Barbies at our house. It doesn't hurt that she looks like a Barbie, either. Cutey-cute-cuteness.

Lexi was pretty into the play-doh that was waiting for her. I don't think it left her hands all morning.

"The Kissing Hand" story to send the parents off. Notice Lexi chose to sit by herself. Great start. 
 

She got to bring her "Lovie" to school with her on the first day. She chose to bring her "baby" of course. This has been with her since the day she was born and she can"t sleep without it.

She made a few friends that first morning and the report we got back was ok. She was as energetic as I feared and a lot more outgoing than I'd hoped for, but at least she didn't get brought back to my classroom at any point. We've got a LOT to work on, especially in the listening department. 

And just to let you know what kind of a parent I am: This has been the first week of school and so a lot of parents have been dropping their kids off at the classroom doors. One of my students has an adorable mother that always gives her a hug and says something lovely to her daughter like "Learn beautiful things" or "Make wonderful things happen today." It's sweet and sincere and awe-inducing.

When I left Lexi in her preschool room I told her this: 

"I love you. Be nice. Don't pee your pants."

rules to live by. 

It's over already?

Well I've been off work for almost 15 weeks, Emma is almost 13 weeks old, and all good things must come to an end. The last week of summer gave us quite a send off!

Our air conditioning decided to quit on us, probably courtesy of three straight weeks of 100+ degree temps. On the day this happened, the dog also had eaten some baby wipes (why? I don't know) so Roxy was throwing up everywhere - she's fine now, btw - and a wasp had gotten into the house. The combination of these three events inside of about 45 minutes did me in. I broke down, sobbing, and called my parents and Paul to come over and help me - I was a mess.

The AC wasn't going to get fixed until the next day, so we packed up for a sleepover night at Nana and Papa's house. In all of the excitement, Lexi decided not to nap for two days. When we came back home the afternoon of our AC being back on, Lexi wanted to play in the basement and I was a super-mom and let her have popcorn for a snack. I went to check on her, and found this:

she was exhausted and slept like this for almost 2 hours!

Later in the week, we had a BIG storm. This happened to our neighbors tree (that would be our backyard):

But, it hasn't all been terrible. Emma is almost 3 months now (how can she be that old already?) and finally slept in her actual crib in her bedroom for the first time last night - she normally sleeps in a cradle in her own room - she's our baby, we indulged her, don't judge me. She was also introduced to the bouncer. She is a little small, but she LOVED it!

And to round this out - a few pictures of my little ladies:

sisters!

Alexis bakes:

I left Emma with Paul while I went shopping with my mom on Sunday. This is what I came home to: