My LSU TIGERETTE

October 1, 2011 was a good day not just because I didn't have to work on the saturday of a home game, but also because we were going tailgating with Erich's parents. I was so excited to dress Emily up in an LSU cheerleader uniform and introduce her to LSU football. Well we were just about to leave to head back to the car before the game started, when a older woman walked up to Erich and asked him if we were going to the game. He told her no and we didn't have tickets. She said well do you want my 4 and we told her we didn't have any money and she says; "No, I am trying to get rid of them. I will give them to you for free." Then I jump in the conversation and say "Sure!" SO we go through the gate and had no idea where we were about to sit. It turns out we were in section 405 which is the South Stadium en-zone, and 15 rows from the bottom, smack dab in the middle with bleacher seats that have the backs. It was amazing!
But the most amazing part of it was how Emily reacted to the whole event. She sat in her seat and watched the game. She clapped for LSU and was completely glued to the field during halftime. It was so nice to have a fun family outing. Of course, it would just not be Emily if she didn't wave at everyone and play with the lady behind us.
The day was  beautiful and not to hot, Emily was in a great mood and did not get sun burned, and she was completely worn out by the end. She fell right to sleep. It was so nice to do something fun and have things go so smoothly. The best part was...... IT WAS FREE!

NO & UH OH

I feel like my last few entries have been really depressing, so I need to write on the lighter side.
Emily is one person who will always brighten my day. She is walking now and talking a little bit. She is very aware of everything you say and understands without fault.
The only thing is this smart adorable and sassy little thing loves to say NO and UH OH... we go all day with her throwing things on the floor or rolling her ball under furniture just so she can say UH OH. Well I am trying my hardest not to let her see me laugh, but her daddy is not amused, he gets so frustrated when she throws things on the floor so she can say this simple phrase that it makes me laugh even more. (Just so we are clear I do correct her when she throws food or tries to go after things she can not have, this is only in regards to her toys or things we let her play with) Granted it is not good that she runs away from us when we want to change her diaper, but if you can picture this petite little thing turning her back to you yelling NO and twisting her butt as she scurries off. This is why I have such a hard time getting angry, she is not trying to be mean, she is just being a prissy little toddler.
In daycare, the teachers are doing lessons with them and she is bringing home pictures with scribbles on them. She learned the colors Red and Blue, she learned the Letter A and she learned apple. I of course think she is the most fabulous artist known to man and that she will aspire to genius. What mother doesn't think that of their child? But sunday daddy, mommy, emily, and ma mere were at Olive Garden. Emily is jabbering non stop and coloring her picture when daddy asks her. Emily are you going to be an artist, she says no. Then he asks her if she is going to be a dancer and there is no response, he also asks her if she is going to be an astronaut and she glares at him. Then he asks are you going to be a lawyer, she looks up at him smiles big and nods her head yes!We all died at this point. She was to funny and b/c of our laughter she laughed and clapped for herself. My precious baby girl is miss personality plus. We can say she gets it from mommy, cause you know its true.

Buried In My Heart

We met when I was 8 and I took her home to love. With my mom and dad, she became apart of our family. She alerted us of every possible sound in the neighborhood. And ran and jumped high for her ball. She stayed by my side when I wanted to be alone and outside my house. She even helped me open gates and played tag. She waited excitedly at the door after her walks for a treat from mom. And brought her ball to dad when he got home. She loves being brushed and hates sharing my attention. She met many of my friends and boyfriends over the years. She saw me grow up, have a baby and marry my high school sweetheart that I didn't even know for half her life.
Now at 13 God decided that she needs a new home. Even though she is in so much pain, she never cries. She never cried as a puppy. Like other close and very special family members she has cancer that will take her from her family. I never really believed in a heaven for dogs. And I am not sure that I do now, But to think that she could ever be gone is the hardest to accept. In her last weeks she will be comfortable. We will not let her suffer. She gave us her heart and she will live forever in ours. I love you Friskey and I will promise to keep you happy and comfy until your last breath.

A Child Needs a Home

I read blogs about amazing people who give their lives to taking care of babies who have horrible diseases. I read about the slim chance that their children have of making it to their next birthday. When I read about these people, I see how much God has done in the world. He blessed these children with unselfish parents to care for them, and he gave the parents the beautiful gift of seeing miracles every day in their ill children. I wish I had the faith and selflessness to choose to care for a child with a terminal illness because their own family refuses. I wish I had the strength to even give a child who had a disability a home, but the truth is I am way to selfish.
I have not done enough to even support charities who fund places and families. I fuss constantly about the time I dont have to do homework, work more hours, cook dinner, play with my little girl, or spend time with my husband. THen I think, well then what the heck am I spending all my time doing?
What am I doing that is so important that it takes so much time away from my life? The truth is I may have a busy schedule, but I also complain about having to change a dirty diaper, constantly hold or entertain my own child when I am home.
These are all reasons why I am selfish. I know no one really reads my blog. Its not that fancy and I dont really have a lot of interesting things to say. But I would like to point out that there are so many children who need our love and care. Even if we can't adopt a child we can volunteer our time.
I want to make a personal goal to stop complaining about the time I dont have to spend on things and enjoy to extra time I have to dedicate to helping children who need special attention and love. God knows it will not be easy. Especially for a complainer like me, but maybe through prayer and effort I can help make their little world more comfortable.

Praying for the baby I dont know

When I look at my beautiful family, I can see the blessings God has bestowed upon me. He gives me what I can handle and opportunities that are better then what I could plan for my self. I know it may be hard to follow right now, but for the past year I have been following this blog about an amazing baby boy and his mother. The baby's name is Tripp Roth, he has EB, which is a rare desease that causes babies not to live to their first birthday. His mother Courtney Roth has the strongest faith, her son is over two years old and she has trusted God through everything.
The reason I am telling you this is because I want you to remember them in your prayers, before you go to bed, when you wake up in the morning, or before meals, whenever you pray. This beautiful baby boy has really touched my heart and I want this baby boy and his mother to have every opportunity in the world for God's will to be done. It is really hard on the family now because Tripp is pretty bad off. If you want more information about Tripp and his amazing mother go to the blog "EBing a mommy." WHen I look at them it makes me want to grab my baby girl in my arms and hold her so tight, and protect her from everything bad in the world. I can't thank God enough.
When I was prregnant I was worried about my child having a mental disorder, or some kind of handicap.  Looking back I feel so selfish for those worries, because I never thought of how it would impact her life, just mine. I am thankful for her health, because I can not imagine seeing her go through something as terrible as what Tripp has to go through.

The new room

We moved into our new apartment this past weekend. It is great and big, its two stories with two huge bedrooms. The days moving in were hectic and long and hotttttttttt. When we finally got Emily home I was so excited for her to see her new room. I worked so hard to get it organized and very appealing for a baby to love to play. Well can I tell you the hard work paid off. She crawled over to her new toy tub of toys found her favorite winnie the pooh stuffed animal and squealed so loud full of excitement. Then she ran to her book shelf and pulled out her books and then she saw it, the most amazing toys ever, the greatest thing she has ever received. She totally went wild and laughed so hard when she grabbed hold of her three little pigs toy set. She brought the wolf or a pig with her all around her room and crawled into the closet and laughed and laughed. Who knew closets could be so funny. 

Tantrums

Yesterday I decided to have a mommy daughter day. I do this every week if I can on a day that I am off. I was really looking forward to this particular day because we were going to visit someone close to me that I haven't seen in a log time. Unfortunately, Emily was not in the same spirits, the short visit was the only part of the day she decided to be calm happy and cute. However, I could not get anything done that morning, she kept screaming and everything I did did not work. She ate two bowls of oat meal and then was calm for about 5 minutes, enough time for me to blow dry my hair. THen the screaming started, she wanted me to pick her up then she squirmed for the floor, I cahnged her diaper it was dry, I tried to play with her and she turned me down. I checked her temp and she was normal, then I realized she was teething, so i gave her tylonal, didnt really help much though. Oh well maybe today will be better, she is going to daycare after all.....haha, she loves playing with her friends, hopefully our next mommy daughter day will be better.

She makes me smile

I love looking through all the old photos and seeing how much my baby girl has grown. She has gotten so big and even though she is not walking, she moves so quick and tornados through the house. It is so cute to watch her during bath time play with her toys. She loves to play in the tub. I love watching her little personality come through her solo play time. The other night she was walking around the bathroom (hold on the surfaces) completely naked. I had the radio on and she was shaking her little bare booty it was so funny we just had to laugh. She also decided to be super cute the other day at PF Changs and the manager got hr a free PF Changs baby onsie. She also stole the hearts of some sales associates at Anthropoligie and I was like keep working your magic baby and get mommy some discounts. Of course they cant do that, but I can dream. she loves to sing in the car and put her foot to her mouth and make noises. It is really entertaining but very weird. She has no problems what so ever with putting her feet over her head and sleeping. She is such a happy little girl I could not be any more blessed. Well I take that back because I have the best future husband to go along with her. And we only have 5 and a half weeks until we are officially a family.

You are One today

Dear Emily,

It has only been a year, but so much has happened in that short time. It seems like it was yesterday when i held you for the first time. You were red, screaming, and absolutely perfect. I loved the faces you use to make at bath time, it was as if you were saying "Im naked as a jay-bird mama, cover me up." I can't believe I was ever worried about you crawling, because now it seems like you teleport from one place to the next. You make me laugh when you dance to music and sleep with your legs straight up in the air. You are such a little doodle bug, and a sneaky one. Now you are pulling yourself up and trying so hard to walk. You will get there, I am not worried. I love when you splish and splash in the tub. You crack me up, even though I would prefer you didn't splash to the point of soaking me, it is still fun to see your face. I love how happy you are. I will always be here for you baby. I love you so much.

Love,
Mommy

burned out

While one grows up they are often encouraged to go to college and pursue an awesome career. Well this is very difficult. Especially when the natural order of things goes off corse. Even though having a wonderful healthy happy baby is amazing; you tend to teeter between regret for not being there enough and regret from not spending enough time on school work.
I hate it when I am away from my baby, but when I have to do homework i can not seem to get away fast enough. I love being around her and being involved in every part of her life and be able to witness every milestone. Unfortunately I can't. I have to work and go to school and study. I am not saying all this to complain. I am trying to get my point across stating there is a reason parents instill the natural order of events.
you go to school, go to college, get married/get a job, then have babies. God did not just put this in place to teach us patience and good morals, there was a reason behind it. It was to allow us to be able to enjoy our whole family, not deal with the stresses of being unmarried and in school  and having a job. Having to go through everything at once is overwhelming at times and causes you to sacrifice your time with your little one and your significant other.

The happiest person in the World

Every morning I have the pleasure of waking up to a beautiful baby smile. SHe wakes up every morning with this wonderful outlook on life. "I have nothing to fear because mommy is here with me and will take care of me, then I get to go to daycare and play with my friends." She has nothing to stress over. SHe knows she will be fed, comforted and entertained. SHe has nothing to worry over, nothing to bring her entire day down.
If we woke up in the morning with this same general outlook, we would be never have a horrible day, just unfortunate moments. If we wake up thinking today will be great because my basic needs will be met and I will encounter different people along the way. We can't do anything about people hurting our feelings or if we obtain an illness, but we can control our reactions and our thought process.
A baby will get hurt or hungry and cry but then it gest better and they soon forget what happened to make them sad in the first place. I am also not saying my daughter is without a doubt the happiest person to ever exist, but she only knows her thoughts and at this point in her life, as in any baby's life, she is the happiest baby in the world.

Dropping off Daycare

Today, when my little one woke up she was in the best mood. She was laughing and playing to entertain herself. She decided to grab a huge stack of papers off of the coffee table and spread them all over the floor. I had to laugh because she doesn't even crawl yet and yet she manages to get into everything. 

When I brought her to daycare this morning I put her on the floor to play with another baby girl. The other baby was sitting in a bumpy and Emily went straight for her toes. Then the other baby began to jabber to my little one and she looked at the other baby girl, waved and said bye bye. 

Then they began to dance to the music and shake their rattles to the beat. It was so cute, I didn't want to leave. It is days like today, when the weather is beautiful and my baby is happy and ready to play that I just want to stay home and play with her, and take walks outside. 

My few minutes of joy

I love spending time with my little girl. She brings so much joy into my life. I love reading her bedtime stories and then snuggling with her before bed.
Last night I had so much homework and it makes it very difficult to be a good mom. I often wonder if I made the right decision to go back to school, but then I think about how things will be better once I am done for school and can help my future husband support our family. Therefore, it was a real treat to have the opportunity to cuddle with my baby in the bed until she fell asleep.
Even though I have to spend a lot of time at school, work, and on homework; I still get a few minutes in the evening to give to my daughter. Yes, I know it is simple and may not seem like a lot to you but it means everything to me.

OMG its almost here!!!

I can't believe in less then 7 months I will be getting married! I am so excited. I love doing all the church prep and sketching out our budget with OUR MONEY! O yea that is right we will be paying our own bills and working and going to school and living together as a family with our precious little girl! 

Get this, my baby girl is already just 3 months away from being 1!!!! AAAAhhhhh How did this happen? she is growing up so fast, I can't even believe it has already almost been a year. I remember when she was waking up every 2-3 hours wanting to eat and just bringing her home from the hospital. She was so tiny, and now Erich and our baby and I will be one happy family in just a few short months!!

My little one cracks me up

We all know when babies begin to develop their personalities they will do the craziest things. Well Em-bug is no exception, she always has me laughing. Today we gave her a coke can from the frig that wasn't open she pretended to drink from it but went balistic when her daddy took the coke from her. We were fortunate enough to catch this on tape.
Peak a boo is always a way to get a cheep laugh from your little one. However, most dont realize when an 8th month old does it, it is a cheep way to get a laugh out of mommy and daddy. We have soo much fun with our little joy.
She laughs constantly and tries to mimick everything we do. I never thought I could love another being so much!