Baby McScreams Alot

Emmie has always been the most amazing sort of baby...the sort that does not cry unless it's something really bad. How could we be so lucky? Like, when she wakes up in the morning, she just hangs out and talks to herself. Then she pounds on the mattress until we go get her.  She's always done this, even in the old bassinet days.

Oh but this past week...she started a new thing. A screamy shrill cry with crocodile tears at anything and everything kind of thing. I'm not sure what it's all about and it's kinda freakin me out - but it makes me laugh at the same time. Naturally, I blame daycare. She's like the kid that cried wolf...I have no idea if she has a broken arm or dropped her paci. Like did I accidentally pinch your finger in a drawer and are you bleeding - oh no, I'm just changing your diaper. Sorry.

Which brings me to a question. At what age do these babies figure out that their head leads their body in crawling and that if you're headed to a wall, chair, sharp corner etc...your head is getting there faster than your body? Oh man that poor forehead of hers is getting a workout these days.

floats, frogs and friends

Yep, I changed the blog layout again. I think this one is a little less jazzy, a little more me. Hopefully I'll get some new family photos to upload to the page in a couple weeks when we have Emmie's 9.month.photo.shoot. 9 months!

So this weekend we sent the dog to the kennel and headed to GF to spend the night with the Deeres. The boys golfed, the girls pedi-ed and the kids played.  We also walked around the mall. No, I mean we literally walked AROUND the mall. Liz had packed up the double stroller for Isaac and Emmie and well, it didn't fit through the doors to get in the mall. Seriously! Don't worry, everyone stood inside watching us struggle, never offering to help. Liz finally spotted a double door at JCPenney and we were able to stroll right in.

We had nice relaxing day topped off by an amazing Root Beer Float, adult style. You would never even know there was alcohol in it! (Sorry to spill your secret recipe Liz, but sharing is caring!)

•1 oz Galliano
•1 oz vanilla liqueur
•1 oz cream
•root beer to fill
•whipped cream

And then, we crafted. Barrettes and headbands - using the fabric from bloomers - you know how you get a pair with every single dress and then you have a drawer full of them and no idea which dress they belong to? Just cut and they're the perfect length for a flower!
 
 

Would you believe this girly girl spent the evening catching frogs?

Oh and here is Emmie during her pack'n'play nap this morning. We weren't sure she'd fall asleep but after a bit of chatting to herself, this is what we found:

If you can't tell, she's laying ON her seahorse this time. You can also see her rib cage sticking out of her jammies because that's how far she's arched over...uncomfortable much?

more photos

And it's another edition of Emmie and Olivia take photos together.

let's talk

Shall we discuss a few things.

First and obviously foremost, the blog layout. Like? I can't decide yet. As shocking as this may be to you, I'm kinda picky, and blog layouts are no exception.  It takes a really long time to find one that is decent and after a while I just kinda give up. I like the color combo of course, but it might be a little busy. We'll see if it grows on me.

Second. It was a rough day in the land Emmie this Wednesday.  We got our first "incident report." Emmie's forehead versus chair...chair won. She also had a run in with her own fingernails and along with my skin tone, Em unfortunately inherited my under eye circles. Poor kid!

Oh and also on the Emmie front, I found navy blue leggings. This might not be a big deal to you...but it was my Everest. I scoured the cities and where did I end up finding these precious little gems? Freaking Herbergers.

And well, I guess that's about it. We'll chat later.

guess what i'm doing.

That's kinda my classic lead in to a funny and or random story of what is currently taking place. I also use this phrase when trying to tell you something ridiculous...like: guess what Andy's new favorite tv show is. No seriously, guess.

So I asked Kristin to guess what I was doing twice this past week.

The first was at about noon on Wednesday, when the answer should have been something like...working?  Nope, I was heading home from Grand Forks, Red Pepper in mouth and Emmie in the backseat. I know, I'm funny. I didn't actually go to GF just for Red Pepper, this time. I went for a garage sale. I KNOW, even more ridic. Who goes to a garage sale...on a Wednesday...during work? This girl.  My friend Liz was selling off some of her baby girl clothes and I wasn't about to miss the adorable duds Olivia had worn - so off to GF I went. And because Em needed a nap, I took her along. We had a super fun morning hanging out with Liz, Olivia and Isaac...and I got TONS of cute things! Thanks Liz and Liv!

And the second time I asked Kris to guess what I was doing...Thursday night at about 7pm. The answer should have been something like...shopping your heart out with all our friends in the cities? Close. While all of my friends were shopping their hearts out...I was sitting in Brookstone in the massage chair. I know. The neck still wasn't feeling great when I headed out, minus the babe, on a girls weekend...so after a long day of shopping, sitting like a grandma (no offense Grandma) in a massage chair was just what I needed.

I probably could have used this lead in for many silly things that took place this past weekend and the answers could have been: watching Alicia lunge over everything in the back end of my vehicle to catch the door from flying opening, on 35W, in the middle of traffic or: oh nothing...just scouring the cupboards for any remaining alcohol in the house or: watching Matt make us, piles of hotmessness, breakfast while we lay around trying to come to life.

And the answer to Andy's new favorite tv show? Wheel of Fortune. I knooow. Didn't guess that one did ya?

she's moving...and not just backwards!

Here she is...not rocking back and forth, not scooting backwards, not even army crawlin' along...real deal hands and knees tummy off the ground crawling!  After a whole weekend of teasing us, I'm sure she perfected the crawl at daycare...but here is what we caught at home. And I was only pulling out the camera to catch her laughing hysterically from what I believe was pure exhaustion...sure am glad I caught the first forward movement at home!

(sorry about my annoying voice in the background...oh and yes, we're mean parents that take toys away to lure our baby to crawl...don't act like you haven't done it.)

a red and a white

Mmm....new wine. Nothing more exciting than a tasty new wine. Ok, strike that - I have TWO wines to discuss.

I love red wine. And convenient enough, my friend's husband is in liquor sales. So she brings new fun things to the table all the time.

**Ok this is going to be kind of  lengthy story that really has nothing to do with the wine itself, but it's the only I can think of any time I drink this wine and it's friggin' hilarious in a you really had to be there kind of way, so sorry that you weren't.**

So about two years ago we girls were all gathered at Laura's house. She has a dog named Josie who was running around outside. We were chatting away and kept hearing this weird squealing noise. We finally looked out the huge picture window to see Josie kind of playing with a squirrel. Then it turns out Josie is really trying to kill this squirrel. So the squirrel is kinda half dead and making this squealing noise. Kristi, being the kind hearted gal she is, decides we can't let this animal suffer a slow death and someone needs to get out there and kill it. There are no husbands around and she believes we are strong women and can do this without a man. So Kristi heads out wielding a shovel with two hands above her head, aviator glasses on her face, with the rest of us with our faces glued to the window and takes care of business. And that is the story of "the whacking".

So this is my whacking wine.

Carmel Road Pinot Noir. D-lish. In fact, probably my most favorite wine I've ever tasted. Can you buy it anywhere now? Hell to the sad faced no. So I have not had this wine since the night of the whacking and I'm still dreaming about it.

Now back to that liquor selling husband...and fast forward to a couple weeks ago when he tripped over a CASE of it in the warehouse and remembered my love of the wine!! And now, I have a case!

And wine number two.

Sampled at another girls get together sponsored by Alicia. I'll admit, I'm not a white wine enthusiast, but I won't hate until I try. This wine comes in a super fun bottle and even has directions - other than pour and drink - fancy! So you drink this wine on ice with a lime. Um, delightful! A refreshing little summer treat that is for certain.

And now I'm be packing up my bottles of wine and heading off with these friends of mine for a shopping, laking and wine-ing extravaganza!