Pioneer Woman - Take 2

The fab Gina told me that PW is going to be in Atlanta on December 7th. Oh yeah baby! 2.5 hours vs. 6.5, I am all over that idea! So, I am changing my mind. Anyone in the Atlanta area (I know there are a few out there) want to meet Emi and I there? Meet before for an early(ish)dinner? It's still an overnight trip for us (no way am I loading Emi into the car after that for a three hour drive home).

It's going to have to be a quickie. Drive in Monday afternoon, see PW, sleep, drive home the next morning. We move into our new house on Nov 24th ... I am going to have so much to do! But, I'd love to hook up with any/every one who's interested!

Halloween

So, a week late but thought I should post "What We Did for Halloween". I've read all the cute posts, seen all the cute pictures on the blogs and thought I should share. Except.

• Emi didn't go trick-or-treating
• Emi didn't wear a costume
• Emi handed out candy to exactly ZERO kids*

Yeah, Halloween wasn't thought out very well this year. We completely blew it. We did, however, manage to buy Mama something totally outrageous and awesome.

2010 Honda CRV.
Oh, baby.

Not the greatest picture, but I will get more soon (ha, trust me on that). Jeff wanted a Prius, or even an Insight. I wanted to rock and roll, have a hatch back of some kind (yes, both of those do have one) and sit up a bit higher. This is totally a fun, we don't need something this big, kind of thing. There is zero reason for this, except I wanted it. (smile)

Poor Jeff.

But, ooooh, I am loving it. Well, except that we drove up to Drew's yesterday. 3/4 of a tank of gas later ... ouch. But it was worth the drive, Emi loved seeing Drew (she woke up yesterday at SIX am, stop laughing mom, and her first word was .... DEW?!). Yeah, there's some hero worship going on there. Helps when he lives 2.5 hours away and never has to say no to her. No wonder she thinks he's so wonderful!

So, how does this all tie into Halloween? This is what we did for five hours on Halloween afternoon. We missed the first wave of trick-or-treaters (the cute ones that Emi and I would have enjoyed - we put Jeff on door duty after our first attempt).

We needed to go back on Sunday to pick up Mama's Sweet Ride. So while Jeff was moving Emi's car seat from the Ford to the Honda, I needed something for Emi to do. While she and I were transferring stuff from one car to the other, we came across my umbrella. That was the end of Emi's help. But, she had a complete blast and I took about 40-50 pictures!

Special Announcement: The dealership is closed on Sundays so we had the place to ourselves (that tidbit is for anyone about to give me grief for allowing her to run around in the parking lot).

Just running around, chasing the wind-blown umbrella

Hiding Emi, love the toes ... love her peeking out!

My favorite

THANKS HONEY!!!



*Only because the first kid to knock on the door scared the @&%# outta her. Maybe if kids are old enough to dress up that scary, they are too old to be out? It was pretty scary, and bloody. I didn't blame her.

Pioneer Woman

I stumbled across her FB page (have no idea how, must have been linked from someone else's - I am so clueless when it comes to FB!). It seems she has a book signing scheduled for December 8th in Nashville. That's a short six hour drive from here. I was going to be good, no 'adventures' until after the holidays - but what if that's it? What if she doesn't get any farther east? Plus, I've never been to a book signing, it sounds like fun (and a lot of standing around waiting). Also, I'd need to bring Emi (oh, that sounds fun ... yikes).

So, anyone out there tempted? It would have to be an over-night trip for me.

(Pssst, Gina ... this could be our chance!)

Anyone else? We could storm the place! (Of course, I'd need to find a way to squeeze this into the budget, but for a group of us going I could make it work --- I think!)

Ree Drummond

The House Hunt

(Note: I started this post back on October 9th, and never got around to finishing it. I am going to post this now, but at some point, re-date it to the 9th so it can be in order.)



Yes, I know I haven't finished blogging about our trip East. But I've been busy ... house hunting! After many days (and two very patient Realtors), Emi and I found our house. Whew. I have to say, she's been a champ through all this. I wish I had more pictures of her seeing houses but well, I was busy looking - very carefully - at the houses too. She really got into it. Inspecting closets, bathrooms, the kitchens. She really inspected things like other children's toys! We went back and forth, older or brand spankin' new. I had it narrowed down to just two, finally, when I just needed to jump and make the decision. So, I hope it's the right one ......

Front of the house ~~ Emi running around in the backyard
Both still need sod, the backyard needs the fence

Now the real decisions begin. I need to pick out paint colors, carpeting, hardwoods, and (probably) many other things. I am excited about it, but a bit nervous too. I've never done something like this before. We are hoping to be in the house by Thanksgiving, but more realistically, we have been told that it will be more like the end of November. But, I am holding out for earlier, we need to get OUT of this rental apartment. It's just really tiny, and both Emi and Max need to be outside more than we can get them there.

P.S. Jeff did have a say in the houses. With the new job keeping him hopping he only looked at a couple, but he trusts me (yikes, no pressure!) and knows I will find the best house I can for our family. He also said "if you are happy with whatever you find, I will be too". Oh melt my heart. There's many reasons he's such a keeper, comments like that one are WAY up on the list.

Fun at the Public Health Department

Yes, I am terribly behind. Yes, I owe emails. Sooner or later life has to slow down, right? (It's okay, tell me it will - I am gullible and I will believe you.)

So, I had to share this because, frankly, I am still flabbergasted that ALL this happened to us in the span of about 3 hours. However, it's quite long - even with lots of editing - grab a cup of coffee or something!

Our area has very (very) limited quantities of the H1N1 vaccine. Jeff and I feel very strongly in favor of getting this vaccine (and yes, all the other vaccines available). That's our opinion and I realize it's not every ones.

This week we had a window of opportunity, Monday and Tuesday from 3 - 8 p.m. Yeah, that's it. So I loaded up Emi at 2:15 so we could go and stand in line. At the public health department. In a parking lot ... with a toddler. Fun times. We finally made it in around 5pm - yes, it was a long wait, but worth it. Well, for the vaccine, not for the extra hassle I wasn't expecting.

Hassle #1: We'd been in line about an hour. Emi had charmed many folks around us, smiling and jumping and (trying) to run around (it was a parking lot, it was a nightmare of safety concerns). At that point a woman in line well in front of us saw Emi and stormed back to where we were in line. And went off on me. Basically said that this child (said with a sneer) wasn't even American and was trying to take a shot away from a real American. I informed her that yes, Emi is an American. Woman demanded to know where the child was born (same sneer). At this point, I stopped. Well, truth be told, I never started. I refuse to have conversations with irrational people, and she was ranting and raving (heck, I expected her to start foaming at the mouth at any moment). Also, by now, this woman yelling at me upset Emi to no end. Emi was a mess, crying and holding onto me for dear life. I informed this woman it was none of her business where my child was born, that I'd taken all I was going to from her and to get away from me and MY CHILD. She started all over again. When she stopped to take a breath, I told her if she didn't get away from me, I was going to call 911. At that point, one of the gentlemen standing a ways behind us stepped in and told this woman to move along. That I had asked her, nicely, to move away from me and that if she didn't HE was going to call 911. A couple of other folks also got involved, all agreeing with him (and me). So she got mad(er) and said she was going to go up to the office and complain. Whatever.

The woman in charge of handing out forms told Lunatic Woman that they didn't care where a person was born, or even if they are American. As long as someone legally lives in the state of SC and fits under the guidelines, that they are eligible for the vaccine. Lunatic Woman was even more upset at that. Tried working the crowd, telling them that this child was taking a vaccine that was meant for their child. I have to say that no one else jumped in and agreed with her. From what I could see, they all thought she had lost her mind.

Yeah, fun times.

(BTW, Emi did calm down and at some point went back to her happy self. And I am pleased to say that those around us made sure that Lunatic Woman did not get close to Emi or me again. Some people actually barred her way by continuing to step in her way.)

And no, the fun doesn't end there.

Hassle #2: We finally, finally, get up to where we were inside the building and next (thank goodness) in line. The nurse directing people as to the (next, sigh) line to get into said that didn't she just see this little girl last week? Me, thinking she must have seen us at Target or something said it's possible, we were out and about a lot last week. She said no, last Saturday at the clinic. Didn't she give Emi the H1N1 shot on Saturday? I have to admit, I just looked at her. I said no, this was our first attempt at getting the vaccine. She got pretty snotty (no better word for it) and said no, that she was SURE she had given Emi the shot on Saturday. I told her that (1) I wouldn't give my child the same vaccine twice in three days, (2) I had just spent almost three hours waiting for this one and frankly I have better things to do with my time than stand in line, over and over, for no reason and (3) Emi is 2.5 and doesn't need the shot, she was there for the mist. She was still insistent. Mad, I finally said NO she DIDN'T and that I wanted someone else to administer the mist to my child. Someone else finally (geez people, it's not like this woman was saying all of this quietly) finally came over and took me to the table to get Emi's mist.

And, that's the story of our afternoon. Frankly, by this time I was beginning to wonder if just getting the swine flu would have been easier!

I do have news on the house, that I will save for later in the week. But, we have found a house and hope to move in, in the next 2-3 weeks!

October 29, 2007

A day we will never, ever, forget. It was the day a sweet, pink, sleeping bundle was placed in our arms - a day our lives changed. Forever. That bundle has grown into the most outgoing, crazy and fun girl! Every person she meets is a friend-to-be, she lights up a room with her smile - she's contagious! While I have been a terrible blogger of late, I do want to catch up as I don't want to forget a single moment of Emi's life. We have enjoyed her, tremendously, I want to make sure that 20 years from now we have the memories, stories and photos to look back on. Even now, it's hard to remember how teeny tiny she was. She's still small for her age (well, height-wise), but it's easy to forget because her personality is H.U.G.E.

Emi's sassy side is seriously beginning to show itself. She always had an opinion, but now she's more vocal about it. She gets frustrated sometimes, as her language is still lagging, but she manages somehow. Emi is still a very busy little girl (yes, the baby and even the toddler are leaving us, she is very much a little girl these days - changing sometimes overnight!). She loves loves loves playing with her toys, and watching her pretend play with her Little People is a joy. I so wonder whats going on in that mind of hers! So much has changed for Emi in the last two years, and she's been up to the challenge. Two *big* moves in two years, but with luck this is it for awhile. She is a gal who loves adventure, who loves to travel (go figure) and new things to see and do. She also loves routine, staying home, and playing with her toys. She also loves and adores to be outside, in any weather much to my dismay sometimes.

I wish there was a way to share all of this with her birth family, her foster family, and her nannies at Fuling SWI that loved her so. She is sweet and spicy, the perfect mix (although I am already trembling in fear at the teenage years if two is any indicator!). Emi is a joy and a delight to everyone around her. And we are so very lucky to be her parents.

Happy Family Day, Sweet Girl. We love you so.

October 2007, China ~~~ October 2008, Washington


October 2009, South Carolina

P.S. More photos and details coming soon. Pictures are scattered between two computers and the BlackBerry - but I am getting more organized every day!

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