(i)Phone Spy: 2.5 Years - Emery

On Sunday September 6th, my precious first born turned 2.5, which completely blows my mind.  I swear it was just yesterday that I was googling miracle products for screaming infants.  I will save the verbiage for my Emery Tracker post but man oh man is this kid a treat.  She is absolutely one of a kind and I could not be more proud or thankful to be her Mama.

Mom, have you checked out these nutrition facts?  No no- not the fat, the serving size.  I think you and Dad are shorting me.

You want me to brush my teeth?  Nah, I'm good.  Why don't you brush yours?

Pre-work/school reading.

Dad, I see you getting closer to my donut.  That doesn't make me more likely to share with you.

Clearly going to be a basketball star.  I think Sheryl Swoopes got her start in sparkly boots just like this.

Uma and I are just contemplating life over here.  Can I help you?

All hail Princess No-Hugs!

I don't think maroon is her color.

What is the over/under on when she first uses this to "run away from home?"

I believe she is demonstrating her "jjjjjjump."  If you're thinking that I caught this on the landing, think again.  This is pretty much all there is to it.

I just can't even today, Mom.

It's so rough constantly having the paparazzi on your tail.  AmIright, Bella?!

I don't know how to turn this sideways because we know I'm not technologically gifted, but omg, how cute is my kid?!  Totally unbiased, obviously.

I don't think she realizes that cupcake jammies aren't the same as camo.

You're not getting a bag for yourself?  This one is mine.

This was the week Ryan was burying the cable line ATT came out and re-routed.  I can't even express how cute Em was.  She had her own little shovel to "help."

Color Wonder markers are the best invention ever.  Ever.

In our house we like to start with the classics- you know, like Rachel Ray's 5 minute dinners.

Her Daddy has this same zoned out look while brushing his teeth every morning.

Swinging in the swing that Pawpaw made her.

Packing to go to school for the day clearly requires a great deal of things.

Here we are jumping again.

I think this is one of the first times I put her hair in a real ponytail and I just couldn't get over the cuteness.  So cute that I couldn't stop myself from taking a picture of her in our disorganized hot mess of a cupboard.

#FlexFriday.  #FitFam.

Where else would they go, Mom?!

Creeping on Nonnie reading to Em before bed one night.  Be still my heart!  We love our Tuesday visits.

I need this child's misuse of sleeping equipment documented.  For at least a month solid she utilized a pillow as a blanket and completely ignored her actual blanket.

Everyone knows women are multi-taskers.

Does she look about 16 to anyone else?

Bella is the only one who gets any cuddles.

In the middle of a shopping trip this kid had a wardrobe malfunction which resulted in her looking like this despite our best efforts to keep her from flashing HEB patrons.

Forever and always my cupcake.

Day of the Labor 2k15

This Labor Day Weekend we broke our standard pattern of heading straight up to Conroe as soon as humanly possible.  Em had swim lessons on Friday evening and we needed to install a new pool cleaner at the house on Saturday morning.  My Dad graciously volunteered to come help us out because we had no idea what we were doing.  This seems to be a common theme.

Thankfully under his tutelage we successfully got the cleaner installed with none of those pesky "extra parts," Ryan swears are a real thing. We celebrated with an inaugural swim in the pool which Em capped off by introducing herself to the neighborhood.

Don't let the tutus and pink booties fool you- they are tough bosses.

Hellllooooooo world!  I'm here.

In order to avoid a visit from the HOA we decided to call it a day on productivity.  Ryan had plans to grunt swear drink beer watch the A&M opener with some of his guy friends, so my Dad was kind enough to shuttle the girls and I up to the lake so that we wouldn't have too many cars on the way back home.  

If you thought that the weekend couldn't get more exciting than installing a pool equipment and nudity, you were sadly mistaken.  Within 30 minutes of our arrival at the lake, Emery tried to eat ant poison and Brynn succeeded in swallowing a mouthful of dirt.  Clearly the ideal adult to child ratio is higher than 3:2.  Thanks to a turkey baster, some water and a cold beer, these situations were remedied without having to call poison control.

Luckily the remainder of the weekend was a little less action-packed.  We checked off all the standard weekend at the lake To-Do items: we swam, we laughed, we watched football, we took turns being manipulated by my offspring, we ate too much, we laughed some more.  So, in summary, it was perfect.  

Thank you VERY much to my parents for hosting and taking such good care of us.  There really aren't adequate words in the English language to properly convey our gratitude for this and so many other weekends.  We love you so much- almost as much as Emery likes to de-robe after swimming.  As any reader of this blog the last few weeks can attest- that's quite a bit.

Why do you people keep cramping my style with all these "doors" and "boundaries."

Oh, you don't want me to eat dirt Mom?  Fine.  I'll eat this bean and I'll scream about it while sister cries over the loss of that delicious looking nectar you kept calling "poison."

Who us?  Nope.  Didn't do it.

Guppin' It Up

This year I had great intentions of signing Emery up for swim lessons during the summer prior to our trip to Florida.  Then all of a sudden I looked at the calendar and was shocked to learn it was late May.  Apparently all of the other Katy parents were not so shocked because when I called to get something set up there weren't any spots available.  Whomp whomp.

After watching a child that inherited my grace run around the deck of the pool at our new house I had a restored commitment to getting her in some swim lessons.  A few calls and an awesome stroke of luck later we signed Emery up for a 2 week Guppy class starting on August 31st at Houston Swim Club.

If you're wondering how on earth we could manage to get Em to class every day straight for 2 weeks when I can barely manage to remember to clean out the lint trap in the dryer, you aren't alone.  The answer is simple- Nonnie to the rescue.  Between Ryan, my Mom and I we split up evenings to accompany our little Guppy.

So, how did it go?  Welllllll - the first evening she screamed pretty much the whole 30 minutes.  I'm talking gut-wrenching, heart-pounding screaming.  She was that kid that you heard other parents remarking about.  I was sitting behind the glass drenched in sweat.  I think I will always remember that first time she was floating on her back, looking up at the ceiling and screaming so loudly that everyone in the place heard her.  I don't believe I'll be alone in that memory.

However, as the week wore on she slowly got more and more comfortable.  Her teacher, Mr. Hassan, won her over, which, as you know if you read this blog regularly, is no easy feat.  He was truly so good with her.  By Thursday or so of the first week she was no longer screaming.  We actually heard some parents of other kids in her class remark how far she had come.

Hey, little boy next to me, why are you not as offended as I am by this whole thing?  (I apologize for the graininess of all of these photos- it's tough to take pictures with an iPhone through glass.  I trust that her emotions shine through.)

Note that everyone is watching her.  Could be because she's cute.  Could be because she's in hysterics.  It's really anyone's guess.

Testing out the acoustics in the joint.  They're stellar.

I don't think this was night one because she doesn't look completely disgusted.

I can't even bear to watch this misery.

My little pink guppy.

Week two was a bit more challenging.  At the beginning of week 2, she was coming off of a Labor Day weekend chock full of swimming with her floaties on.  Tuesday she got a little too comfortable on the ledge, forgot about her lack of floaties, exercised the clumsiness I donated to her DNA, and stepped off.  The lifeguard was right there, grabbed her and put her back up on the ledge before she even had a chance to cry or know what happened.  It was good that it was Nonnie evening because if I had been there to witness it there would have been tears.  

The rest of the week her teacher was pushing the class a little harder by holding on to their backs less as they floated.  Again, thanks to the genes I've instilled in her, Em is not a fan of things that are uncertain or new.  So she was definitely not on board.  There was a lot more screaming.  Overall though, by the end of the week she WITHOUT question is more comfortable in the water and is well on her way to learning some crucial water safety skills.  Above all we are proud of her for continuing to try even though we know she's been scared.

We absolutely adored Houston Swim Club, most especially her teacher, Mr. Hassan, and will definitely be doing more swim lessons there in the future.  We are so, so, so, so proud of our little guppy and how far she's come!

How do I know this is week 2?  Because Mr. Hassan isn't right next to her ear in an attempt to talk over her screaming.

I captured an actual smile.

Sure- I'll let you take a pic, but I'm going to pick my nose at the last minute.  I always win, Mom.

Cutest school of fish I've ever seen.

Hugs for the graduates.

Gimme that certificate- I have a lollipop to get to, sir.

Impulse Purchase

So I keep alluding to a crazy undertaking that we've been working on in the background.  I'm sure many of you have just assumed that meant I was with child again.  (Some of you have basically asked me that...)  I can confirm that my mid section is round sheerly thanks to my love of Chinese food.  No baby in the Inn.  So, what is it that we're up to?  Well- we kind of bought a house.  True story.

How did this happen?  For a while now Ryan and I have gone back and forth as to whether we would ever move.  We love, love our current house.  We love our neighborhood.  We, ok, really only I, love our oak trees.  However, as the girls get bigger, their toys do also.  We don't really have a proper playroom in our current house.  Our plan was to turn the third bedroom upstairs into a space for them at the end of the summer.  Buuuut... plans don't preclude you from having the HAR app on your phone, do they?

It goes without saying as HGTV's biggest fan that I peruse HAR on the regular.  Like- daily.  I always have just because I love looking at houses.  So you would probably assume that I was responsible for this veering off course.  Au conraire mon frere.  On July 14th Ryan happened upon a house that needed some updating and was just a shade south of the boundary I usually set for myself .  He sent me the link.  We decided since we were childless (Camp Conroe) the coming weekend that we would check it out because- why not?

Upon walking through it we fell in love.  The neighborhood resonated with us.  The fact that it needed some updating and thus we could put our own stamp on it spoke to us.  It just felt like something we needed to go for.  We figured we would throw out an offer not really expecting to be lucky enough that it would hit- but then it did.  And we went into super drive because our offer was accepted right before we left for Florida.  Our option period ended before we returned - so we basically had 4 days to do 10 days worth of work.

Throughout the course of the process we have just been trusting that if it was meant to work out for us- it would.  Luckily it has because we feel like it's where our family belongs.  We closed on Friday August 21st.

Why is this post just about buying a house and not moving?  Because our plan is to try to get all of the renovations we want to undertake knocked out before we move in.  The idea of living in a reno zone at this stage in life brings to mind visions of Brynnie eating nails and Em bossing around grown men while eating goldfish from her snack catcher.  In other words- it gives me some heart palpitations.  So- we are currently in the process of getting bids from contractors.  We are hoping to be in it around the end of the year.  Fingers, toes and legs crossed.

Ta-da!  That's what's kept me distracted from blogging.  Am I forgiven?  So wish us luck with this endeavour.  Heaven knows we'll need it.  Rest assured that I'll be documenting the good, bad and ugly here so that we can all laugh at how much easier it looks on TV.  :c)

My cutesy idea was that I was going to take pictures of us before so I could do side by sides after things were done...

.... unfortunately kids don't really care about your cutesy ideas... (This is Brynnie in her room)

.... nor do they appreciate photoshoots that interrupt dinner time. (Em in her room)

What do you think they've gotten themselves into now, sis?  (The girls in the playroom)