Our 4-Year Old

September 15th marked Emily's 4th birthday. It was a very rainy foul day outside, but Pa and Grandma and the three of us had a nice time celebrating on the Saturday before her B-day. Below is the birthday girl with her presents and balloons.

Here is Em with here Winnie the Pooh cake.

Em, displaying some of her new books. This kid is a reader....and we love the Charlie and Lola books!

Below are pictures from her actual birthday. Emily requested that we go to Hacienda for dinner, so we told the waitress that we wanted them to suprise her and sing to her. We knew they would make a big deal of her birthday and sing and clap and there would be a sombrero. They also brought balloons and ice cream. When they first started singing to her, she wasn't too sure about it, as you can see in this picture.

Em and Daddy...who looks oh-so-stylish in the sombrero!

In other, less interesting to most of you, news: Emily is 41.4 lbs. and a whopping 43.5 inches tall. She is still not registering on the growth charts for her age...as in, she is still taller than the average 5 year old.

More to come soon...check back!

Busy Week

Well, it's been a busy week and it's only Wednesday! So here's the quick update.

Em came down with a cold last Thursday. On Sunday, Andrew and I both woke up with sore throats and went to bed feeling worse. On Monday, I felt like I'd been hit by a Mac truck. Fever, chills, stuffy nose, cough, complete laryngitis...but the chills were the worst. It was also Em's first day at her new preschool. Let me tell you how excited I was to have to A.) get out of bed earlier than normal and B.) pretend to be excited about the first day of preschool, and then C.) chat with other preschool parents at the orientation. But I survived, even if I looked and felt like death warmed over. Later that day, I went to the doctor and now I am on antibiotics.

So far, Emily seems to enjoy her new preschool. It is actually regular preschool this year as opposed to speech therapy like last year. She seems happy, but then again, she's still not feeling 100% and it's only been 3 days. She will get to bring cupcakes to school on Monday since it will be her birthday. She's very excited about that!

In other news, Bella has received a clean bill of health after her near-death overdosing experience. Many anxious moments, prayers and expensive tests and treatments later, her kidney and liver function tests are all within the normal ranges. She truly is a very lucky dog.

This weekend, we are celebrating Emily's 4th birthday with extended family. In a stroke of incredibly bad luck, the kitchen set that we were planning on getting for Em (it had a regular kitchen on one side and an outdoor grill on the other) is no longer being carried by Toys r Us or anywhere else that I can find. (I discovered this yesterday). So I started asking Em if a kitchen without a grill would be okay too. The answer was an emphatic "NO". Surprise, surprise. I can still find it online, but I don't think it will arrive in time and that was our main gift. Still trying to figure out what to do about that.

So that's our life in a nutshell. Busy, sick and never a dull moment.

Where I've Been

Well, once again, it has been a while since I've last posted, so here's what has been happening in our lives of late...

Emily is finally back to walking normally. After 5 long days of stubborness, I finally resorted to threatening her with medical testing and wonder of wonders...she was miraculously healed! We have got our hands full with this little girl!

We had a busy week right after that, visiting Andrew's family for the weekend, visiting grandparents and proud uncles and then we came back home to discover the news that my 46 year old aunt had died unexpectedly. So the rest of the week was busy with travel preparations so that I could make it home to Delaware for the funeral on the weekend.

On Tuesday, I got a phone call asking me to play the piano for the funeral of a man from our church who had passed away. So then I scrambled to get music together for that, learn some new music and find someone to watch Miss Em while I played for the funeral on Thursday. Once that was accomplished, it was back to packing and getting everything ready for my flights on Friday.

Friday was a flurry of activity finishing laundry, packing, running last minute errands and finally checking in and waiting at the airport for my 5:15 flight. I said my goodbyes to Andrew and Em (who couldn't wait to get rid of me!) and then checked in at the gate where my carry-on bag was basically emptied because apparently I looked like a flight risk. Yeah, me. I boarded the puddle-jumper that would take me to Cincinnati and then just as we were ready to take off, got delayed for 45 minutes, just sitting on the runway. Airtravel is fun.

I made it to Cincinnati and then on to Baltimore with no problems, even a few minutes early, which was promptly negated by my hour long wait in the rental car line while one person tried to process 20 of us, only to discover that 2 other employees were enjoying their break. Finally, at 10:30 pm, I received my very first rental car (a Hyundai Sonata) and I drove out of the rental car lot around 11:00 pm. for the start of a 2-hour drive to my parent's home in Delaware. I got there at 1:00 am.

Saturday was filled with viewings and the funeral. The viewings began for family at 10:00, for the public at noon and the funeral at 3:00. It was busy the entire time. Aunt Jeannie was well loved by many and the funeral was a beautiful, but very emotional time. We don't mourn her, as we are certain that she is perfected in heaven, but she leaves behind a stunned family, a grieving husband and 15 year old daughter and a church family (my uncle is a pastor). To say that it was a tough time would be an understatement. We got back to mom and dad's around 7:00, totally exhausted.

Sunday, we went to church and then on to the graveside services that were private for the family. It was a little less emotional, but still a sad time. This was followed by a meal at Aunt Jeannie's parent's farm with family.

Sunday ended with a visit to my grandmother and then it was time for bed, since I would have to wake up at 5:15 in order to get on the road again by 6:00 am. A two hour ride and two flights later, I returned home to Andrew and Emily around 6:00 pm. (almost as long as it would have taken to drive, incidentally) and ready for bed.

To say it was busy and draining would be an understatement. So that's what I've been up to. I'm hoping for a much calmer week this week. Next week, Em starts her new preschool and then a week later turns 4....and life goes on.