Emerson’s Birthday Week!

We have had a busy week!  We kicked it off with Emerson’s birthday party on Sunday afternoon (preparation on Saturday and Sunday).  My parents stayed in Birmingham for a few days and just left this morning.  Phillip and my father went out and about on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to visit customers.  As Phillip says, he thinks he saw most of the tornado ravaged areas (April 27th) in the past 3 days.  I have really only seen parts of Tuscaloosa and Birmingham.  Craziness!  I spent most of those days with my mom running errands around Birmingham.  But I was able to take a nap (gasp!) on Monday and Tuesday.  It was the highlight of my day. 

Here are a few pictures from Emerson’s birthday party on Sunday afternoon…

A picture of the Lemon Love cupcakes from Dreamcakes.  I didn’t get a picture of the Strawberry Milkshake or Blue Moon cupcakes before they were in the process of being devoured.  Phillip and Emerson…That cupcake and ice cream must be yummy!

Yum.  Yum.  Cupcake.  Look at Madison eyeing that cupcake…So funny!My mom trying to coax Emerson into eating something…most likely fruit.  But who wants fruit, when you have a cupcake?It was H-O-T.  But baby Barrett came anyway.  He looks huge in this picture…But I think its because Rachel is so tiny.  Poor little guy!

My sweet friends!  Catherine (came all the way from Mobile) and Sara (a recent relocation from Mobile to Birmingham).  They braved the heat just for Emerson!This is a picture of Reagan (my sister-in-law) feeding Emerson to her dog, CoCo.  CoCo said Emerson tasted like cupcakes.  Fortunately, we were able to rescue Emerson from the dog soon after.  ;)The cupcake aftermath.  It doesn’t look like Emerson ate very much.  But it sure took her long enough.  Well, I apparently did not get a picture with Emerson unless it is on my parents’ camera. :( 

Wednesday was Emerson’s birthday!  She is officially T-W-O!  We went to Flip Burger Boutique at The Summit and then ran a few errands (including a box of cupcakes from Dreamcakes).  For Emerson’s birthday dinner, we went the The Cheesecake Factory with both sets of the grandparents.  Emerson has learned exactly what the Dreamcakes box looks like because as soon as she sees it, all we hear is “cupcake, cupcake, cupcake”  (sounds more like “tuptake”).  So as soon as we sat down for dinner…

“tuptake.  Tuptake.  TUPTAKE!”

Who can say no to the birthday girl???  So it was tuptake before dinner!  (We brought the cupcake because we can’t chance the dessert at restaurants for possible peanut contamination.)  A grilled cheese (and chewable lactaid tablet) and banana was dinner of choice.  And then a bowl of whipped cream with a pink candle for dessert.  :) 

Emerson got a few presents (haha!).  Most notably the Fisher Price toddler skates (she knew what they were immediately somehow?) and a Leap Frog Tag Junior Learning System (she will love it when we finally get it all working!). 

 

Emerson will be going home to Mobile on Saturday.  She has her 2 year old check-up appointment on Monday morning (stats to come then).  And she has MDO at St. Luke’s Tuesday-Thursday.  I know she will enjoy some normalcy.  She won’t be at “home”, but LaLa’s is almost as good.  :)  We will miss her, but I know she will be fine and it will be great for her to sleep in a real bed (not a pack-n-play), have her toys and own things, and just be back to “normal” even if for just a few days.  Plus, I need some quiet time.  It’s been almost 3 weeks in Birmingham with Emerson for 2 1/2 weeks of it.  I am exhausted.  And I am still supposed to be resting.

Still here. For now.

Day 10. Food is running low. Ran out of apple juice and milk yesterday. Diapers are next to go. Must go to store and stock up again. Although morals are still high, energy is running out for everyone but Emerson.

Seriously, we were able to go out and about yesterday. We had lunch at Urban Cookhouse in Homewood yesterday. I highly recommend the Berry Good Chicken Wrap. Yum yum yum. I am going back very soon. I know my Mom will love that place. :)

Then we hit the local toy store just down the street (not a chain type). I highly underestimated Emerson's interest in trains. [She has the Mickey Mouse train which "disappears" from time to time because we just can't take it anymore.] I almost bought her a wooden train set that was on zulily the other day. I am regretting that purchase since it was really discounted (birthday, future Christmas present, etc.?). Ugh. Oh well. I did some research last night and found some really cute and fun generic train sets that work with Thomas the Train and the other popular sets. I don't think she cares or will care about that kind of thing, but its nice to know that they can work together. We will see how much the interest keeps up. Thanks, Chuggington! I took other's advice about keeping her far far away from Thomas & Friends cartoons only to have you come along on the Disney Channel. Leaving that toy store was apparently a horrific experience for all of us.

On to Dreamcakes. Cupcakes for Emerson's birthday party ordered. We taste tested the Strawberry Milkshake and Bananas Foster cupcakes. Emerson too...They are very careful not to cross contaminate with just about anything if it isn't in the ingredients (which are all listed with the flavor). We decided on Strawberry Milkshake and Lemon Love for Sunday. :)

Then it was on to Gardendale for a visit to the splash pad. Since we had avoided a nap all day, Emerson was already a little worn out which made the visit short. But she had a great time nonetheless. Somehow, she avoided a nap the rest of the day too...So it was bedtime as usual at 7pm (thank goodness...we needed to get back on schedule). Hopefully, we can continue that from now on.

This morning, we had a visitor around 3am. She crawled out of the pack-n-play...again. :( Some Baby Einstein lullaby music seemed to get her back to sleep in our bed. And then Phillip decided to move her back around 5am. Mistake. I found him asleep on the other bed with 2 baby quilts (that were originally his by the way) draped over him...and Emerson jumping up and down in her pack-n-play (anything within arms reach thrown across the room and all the reachable drawers to the dresser open).

As for "Bobby", we are still waiting. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow so I will post an update then. I am still hoping we can get an inducement date out of them (they didn't seem too concerned about all that last appointment) so we know if all else fails when we will meet this baby.

And life goes on...

Memorial Day weekend is over! I know that is terrible to say, but it was beyond exhausting. And not to mention...Annoying since it seemed every single person that posted something on facebook was somewhere on the water this weekend. It was 97 degrees yesterday. But only 87 degrees in Mobile. Ugh. I am sure 87 felt pretty hot. But not as hot as 97.

Yesterday, I realized what has been bothering me so much lately. I have probably said "no", "stop that", "put that down", "leave that alone", "be careful", "don't drop that", etc. more so in the past week than all of Emerson's life. I randomly read parenting articles as I find something that interests me (i.e. I am not by any means researching these topics). A while ago (way before this was even an issue), I read an article about always saying "no" and trying to be a more positive parent. I really took it to heart. I try (I definitely haven't perfected this...at all) to use positive reinforcement and distraction rather than the constant "no". At our house, we have put up/removed anything that is either 1) dangerous, 2) breakable, or 3) something that we don't want played with, broken, or destroyed. It wasn't hard. We just removed it at various stages as Emerson discovered it. I would rather remove it rather than ALWAYS asking her to stop doing whatever I don't want her doing. Don't get me wrong...We are still teaching her what "no" means, but how do you teach that some things are okay and some things aren't (that look almost identical to a child)? "You can read and touch THIS book, but not that one." It doesn't make sense to me so how do I explain that to a 2 year old? It's so hard being away from home for a long period of time. Nothing is like home. We have definitely been struggling with touching things that we shouldn't this week. And on top of that naps are almost impossible (a small pack-n-play does not contain her plus it doesn't get very dark in her room), bedtime is torture, eating anything normal has been stressful, and her energy level is at all time high for some reason. I think we are all ready for us to go back to a more normal schedule/routine.

This week will be spent resting. And doing a few things "in town" (lol). I am actually excited for my doctor's appointment this week. Maybe I can actually get something out of it.

Plus, Emerson's birthday party is this Sunday! It won't be much, but we will have peanut-free cupcakes and lots of ice cream (it will apparently be very hot again)...plus just a few friends that we know in the Birmingham area. [If you are in the area and want to come, please let me know because we would love to have you.]

Tomorrow is finally June 1st! I have never been counting down the days more than right now!