A sight you don't often see...

EMMA IN JEANS!

My poor daughter is cursed with the same problem I have...long skinny legs and no butt or tummy (okay, you can quit laughing now.) I have not been able to find a pair of jeans to fit her in like two years. If they fit around the waist, they're too short. If they're the right length, they fall off.

I saw these Disney Princess capri jeans at Macy's yesterday. They're 3Ts and I thought they might fit her and it wouldn't really matter if they were a bit short. I wasn't sure if Emma would go for them because she's worn knit pants for so long, I thought she might not like the stiffer feel of denim. But she was so excited and insisted on wearing them right away.

I think she looks pretty cute in them. Plus, I got the pants and shirt for $7.00!

P.S. just to reassure you, Emma did not fall right after this picture was taken! It looks like she's about ready to tip over!

Summer must really be coming to an end...

...because we had our last outing to the pool yesterday. Although the water was a little brisk, we had a great time.


We always seem to run into someone we know at the pool and yesterday was no exception. Emma got to hang out with her pals Jia and Ella...


Even though autumn is my favorite season, I'm always a little sad when summer is over. Work and school suddenly take on a more serious tone. But we've had a pretty good summer and I am looking forward to fall and cooler temperatures. Emma's already excited about Halloween and, heaven help me, Christmas.

A mommy and me day

Well, I guess I've somewhat recovered from my lousy Friday (or more likely, I've just decided not to dwell on it this long weekend). Since we've been majorly busy the past couple of weekends, Emma and I spent the day together, just the two of us, on Saturday.

She had been pestering me to take her to one of those "edu-tainment" kids places that we hadn't been to in awhile. So we hung out there for like four hours. Here's Emma having some fun in the ball pit...


We came home and rested up a bit and then headed to a popular outdoor shopping area. We managed to hit both Gymboree and Children's Place, which were both having sales. I'm starting to buy fall and winter clothes for Emma...it's always kind of fun to start buying stuff for the new season. What's I need to do in the next few weeks is start weeding out Emma's old summer clothes. It's hard, because it's still warm and probably will be for the next few weeks, so I can't toss all her summer stuff. But both her closet and dresser are bulging with old summer and new fall clothes. So something's got to go pretty quick.

Anyway, church this morning and we may try to hit the pool one last time today. The water is probably freezing, but it's supposed to be close to 90 today, so we'll see.

Enjoy your weekend, especially those of you that have Monday off too!

Crummy day...

Okay, yesterday was really not a very good day for me...

First, my car, which has been giving me loads of trouble lately, broke down on the way home from work. Fortunately, it stopped working right in front of Emma's friend's house, when I picked her up after school. But I had to have it towed to the shop and then deal with the hassle of getting a rental this morning. The car guys just called and said they think the transmission's bad. Gee, what will that run me...like $2,000?! I don't know what to do...I just paid off this car last month. It's like Daimler-Chrysler got the last payment and pressed a button on some remote control computer and fried my car so I'd have to get a new one. Dang!

Second, I got a letter from my former health insurer that they weren't going to cover a recent health test I had to have because they claim I was no longer being covered by their insurance, even though I was still under their plan. So now I have to go through the hassle of somehow proving to them that they were covering me, while trying to fend off the hospital, which is pressuring me to cough up $1,200. I despise the insurance industry so much...don't even get me started.

Them last night, Emma's kindergarten teacher called to tell me that he's having major problems with Emma talking in class all the time. I was so shocked, mainly because Emma is usually very quiet and shy. Apparently she's coming out of her shell, because he says she won't stop talking with her classmates, even after he has told her to. She apparently spent some time out in the hallway yesterday because she wouldn't pipe down. He was really nice and said Emma's a very sweet and intelligent child, but it's something she needs to work on. He just didn't want me to get freaked out if Emma came home saying she had to stand out in the hallway. So I tried to talk to her about it after I got off the phone. She just started crying and said she wanted to go back to her other school. I know that's not true, but she was upset. I just told her she needed to concentrate on not talking while Mr. Thomas or one of the other children are talking. We'll see...

Somehow, this then morphed into a tearful conversation about how she doesn't like being the smallest one all the time. She's really at that age where kids are excited about being the biggest and weighing the most (that will end soon enough!) But for right now, it really bothers her being so tiny. Her friend Emme was over yesterday and both girls got on the scale. Emme weighed 52 and Emma just 30. She was not happy that 52 was more than 30. I kept telling her that she was growing and would catch up with her friends. At one point, she said "I wish I wasn't Chinese...then I'd be bigger" which made me sad.

Anyway, a very emotional day for both of us. I mean, compared to say, refugees facing genocide in Dafur or something, it wasn't really a horrible day. But for me, not my best...

Crazy Saturday

I think I've mentioned before that, when it comes to our social life, it always seems to be feast or famine. We either have a long weekend ahead of us with absolutely nothing to do, or we're booked from sun up to sun down. Well, yesterday was definitely one of our feast days. We left the house at 10 am and didn't get back until almost 8 pm.

First we went over to Emma's friend Helen's house because we hadn't seen them in awhile. The girls played out in the back yard for a little over an hour. Then we went shopping at Macy's for about an hour because they were having a big sale and I had a coupon burning a hole in my pocket. I bought a few things for myself, including one of those baby doll tops that are suddenly all the rage. It really is kind of stupid that I lose a lot of weight and then go out and buy a shirt that makes me look six months pregnant. Oh well. And I bought Emma a couple of new dresses, one of which she insisted on wearing out of the store.

From Macy's, we headed over to Macie's...Emma's friend Macie, that is, who was having her 5th birthday party. I have to say, it was one of the nicest birthday parties we've been to. For one thing, there were just three little girls invited, which was lovely. I don't know if I can take another party where there are 25 screaming kids running around like maniacs. This was perfect because all four girls are great friends and know and love each other. Here are Pacey, Emma and Macie...


And here are the girls, along with Logan, clowning around with their ice cream cones...


After the party, and a quick clothes change for Emma, we raced across town to a park and met our friends Kay and Jenna. We haven't seen them in awhile and Kay had recently had some surgery, so I wanted to see how she was doing (fine). The girls ran around the park for about 90 minutes while Kay and I caught up on things.

By now, it was 7 o'clock and Emma and I hadn't even had dinner. On the way home, we stopped at McDonald's (YUM!!! Mommy's favorite place!) Snapped this picture of Emma chowing down...


Then it was back home for a quick bath and I put a very tired girl to bed. Even though I was pooped, I stayed up late to watch my Netflix movie "Hot Fuzz" which I have to say was pretty hilarious.

We have a much less hectic day on tap today...Sunday school and church and then some grocery shopping and house cleaning (or chores, as Emma calls them.) Less fun, but we definitely could use a more laid back day.

I am the mom of a kindergartener

Today was Emma's first day of kindergarten. We were so thrilled when we found out at the open house yesterday that Emma would have her summer school teacher, Mr. Thomas, for kindergarten. And a lot of her friends are in her class, so that's great too.

Although Emma had been talking about how nervous she was about going to kindergarten, she was all smiles this morning before we headed out.




When I dropped her off at school, I gave her a quick kiss and hug at the classroom door (as we were advised to do by the principal) and that was that.

I was totally shocked when I started crying out in the parking lot and bawled all the way to work. I had been telling myself the past week or so that going off to kindergarten just isn't the milestone it used to be, because most kids are in daycare and preschool these days. But it was obviously a bigger deal than I thought! The sight of Emma in her little plaid jumper and brand new mary janes was very emotional for me.

Emma didn't have a whole lot to say about her first day when I picked her up. This was her first day of total French immersion, so maybe she didn't understand much of what was going on. But she mentioned how much she loves her new school, so that's wonderful. We'll just have to wait and see how the year progresses...

I have no idea what's going on here...

Bowl-a-rama extravaganza

One of Emma's little friends from school had a birthday party this afternoon. Thankfully, it WASN'T at Chuck E. Cheese...it was at a local bowling alley. So Emma got her first bowling experience. Here she is all decked out in her multi-colored clown bowling shoes, ready to hit the lanes.


Considering it was her first time, she did pretty well and really loved it. Of course, I held my breath everytime she lifted up her 8-pound bowling ball (bright pink). I was so sure she was going to drop it on her foot or some other kid's head. But that never happened. Here's my pint-sized Dick Weber and her friend Pacey watching their bowling ball S-L-O-W-L-Y make its way down the lane...


The most pins Emma knocked down on one throw was seven. I think that's pretty good. But then, I once bowled an eight...and I'm not talking about when I was a child. Another time, when I was an adult, I went bowling with my eight-year-old nephew and he creamed me. And, oh yeah, he had a broken leg at the time.

But I digress...here's Emma with her friends Logan, Macie and Pacey, and one of her with the birthday boy, Christopher...




We had such a good time that I think we can safely add bowling to our list of things to do when the weather isn't ideal for outside activities. Of course, it will be a little embarrassing if my five-year-old beats me at bowling! A real possibility, trust me!

Our wild weekend

We were very excited because we were supposed to meet my sister from Boston, her husband and their two kids in St. Louis this past weekend. After work on Friday, I rushed to pick up Emma from school and hit the road for the four hour-plus trip. About 10 miles out of town, our car's electrical system suddenly failed! That means no radio or DVD, no opening the windows and locks and, most critically, no air conditioning. I was in a total panic. I pulled over and restarted the car and the system came back on, but kept fritzing out. I knew there was no way we could go so I turned around and headed back home.

Emma started crying and wailing "But I want to see my cousins." And I did too, of course. So on the way back home, I called the car rental place near my house (unfortunately, I have them on speed dial.) They had one car left. So we raced over there, drove our car home, with the car rental guy right behind us. Dumped all of our stuff into the rental car and took off again for St. Louis. The trip was fairly uneventful until we hit a blinding rain storm about 30 minutes from our hotel. I mean, a traveling-20-miles-an-hour-on-the-interstate rain storm. And, of course, with a rental car, it was fun to try to figure out how to work the windshield wipers and all that stuff in a torrential downpour. It was past 9 pm when we finally got to the hotel...we were so happy to get there!

After a good night's rest, we revved up for a day of fun with Emma's cousins. Since it was 100 degrees over the weekend in St. L, we decided to forego the zoo and other outdoor activities. We spent a good part of the day at the Science Center, which the kids loved. Here are D.J., Emma and Brennan goofing around...


The next morning, we checked out of the hotel and decided to brave the hot and humid conditions and go to Grant's Farm, which is always fun. Emma was excited because she got to pet one of the Clydesdale horses...


I think what excited Emma more than anything was eating her first snow cone!


Anyway, after a long morning at Grant's Farm, we had to head back home. We hadn't gotten very far at all when Emma started wailing that she didn't have her khaki (blanket). I pulled the car over and tore through the car looking for it. I just KNEW I had put it in the car when I packed up everything that morning. By now, Emma was crying and I was pretty close. I'm sure all of you with kids have had that moment of panic when your child's most prized blanket/stuffed animal, etc. goes missing. So I called the hotel and asked them if they had found a child's blanket in our room. After an interminable wait, the girl gets back on the line and tells me housekeeping had the blanket and they would hold it for us. So I turned back to St. Louis to get the blanket. I don't know who was more relieved...me or Emma!

So we're back after a nice weekend, despite all the little bumps. Now I'm dealing with car repairs and rental cars, school and work...back to reality!

Random photo

Yesterday, I had a photo shoot rescheduled at the last minute and I had to run and get Emma before I headed out to the shoot (yes, it's fun being a single working mom at times!) Anyway, we were working with this really great photographer Kenny on this shoot. While they were setting up the lighting, Kenny turned a took one quick snap of Emma. He sent it to me this morning...I think it's such a nice picture...


I'm amazed at how talented professional photographers can be...the guys I've been working with the past couple of weeks have taken some fantastic photos. They really are in a different league than us amateurs.

Things I've decided to be crabby about

Here are a couple of things that are making me cranky this week:

#1

After starting and sticking with a diet for more than six months, I've lost like 35 pounds. However, I haven't lost any weight in more than three weeks...nothing, zip, not even an ounce. Sure, it could be that I've hit that dreadful dieting plateau where you can't seem to lose anything, no matter how hard you try. But I think it's more likely that I've gotten a bit fast and loose with what I'm eating. I came to this epiphany while eating some of Emma's nachos grande at Taco Bell the other night (something I normally wouldn't touch - I don't even like them that much!) So I need to re-commit myself so I can lose this last ten pounds.

#2

I have come to the conclusion that Emma has developed a case of the "gimme gimmes." I should preface this by saying that in the past, Emma seldom, if ever, has demanded anything. On the rare occasion when we were at the store and she asked for something, if I said no, that would be the end of it. But lately, I'm noticed little signs that this is starting to change. A couple times when I've picked her up from school, she has asked "did you buy me anything today?" And she's starting to see commercials on tv and asking if she can have this or that. I really think this is more of a mommy problem than an Emma problem. I have probably been buying her too much stuff lately and I need to stop. I just love getting her toys and clothes. But I'm going to cool it before it gets out of hand and I end up with a spoiled, demanding child.

#3

I feel like one of my best friends and I are drifting apart and I'm not sure why. Maybe we're taking our friendship for granted and neither of us is putting any effort into it. But I'm going to try to be better about emailing and calling her and getting together with her and her daughter.

Things I am actually happy about this week:

#1

After sort of feeling lost the first couple of weeks, I'm finally settling into a groove with the new job. I've been insanely busy the last two weeks trying to get a magazine out, but it's been kind of cool running all around for photo shoots and working with the writers. I really think it's going to end up being a great job for me!

#2

We're meeting my sister, her husband and their two kids this weekend in St. Louis. Emma adores her cousins, who she only seems to get to see 2-3 times a year. So we're looking forward to this. Hopefully we'll have a wonderful time, despite the predicted 90+ temps.

So, like most people, some good and some not-so-good going on in our lives. But I guess all things considered, we're doing pretty well and I shouldn't complain.

Fun Saturday

We've had a lovely day. One of our playgroups that meets every month had an extended get-together today because several of the families in the group had traveled together and were celebrating their gotcha day. We all met at this private country club pool where one of the moms is a member. It was nice to go somewhere new, but honestly, I like the public pool we frequent much better. Regardless, all the girls had a blast. Emma discovered the fun of floating around on a noodle and was in heaven. Here's Emma with her friend Allison, who just turned seven the other day.


After the pool outing, we all headed over to one of the mom's homes for a cookout. All the girls put these big bows in their hair and we took a striped couch photo (as opposed to the famous red couch photo.) Here are Laini, Laura, Rachel, Allison, Emma sitting on Elena's lap and Erin. They are all such beautiful (and tanned) girls!




We didn't get in until 9:30, which is obscenely late for Emma, and pretty close to my bedtime as well. Emma's sound asleep already and I'm afraid I'm not too far behind...

Christmas in July

Before I got Emma, I was pretty much a wait-until-the-last-minute Christmas shopper. But that has changed in the past several years. Now, I usually start looking around for possible gift ideas and bargains as early as summer.

Yesterday, I bought Emma's first Christmas present for this year. It's a Disney Mix Max video/mp3 player. It's pretty small (the video screen is like 2.5 inches) but it plays movies and video and mp3 files. You can buy what are called Disney Mix Clips - movies and music that look like little memory sticks and just insert them in the player. But you can also download sound and video files from your computer.

The one I got Emma is the High School Musical Mix Max, with her favorite movie (HSM) included. This thing retails for $120, but I got it for less than $50 on Ebay. I think it will be a nice thing to have to entertain her on car and plane trips, when I don't want to drag a portable DVD player around.

I've already decided Emma's big present this year will be an American Girl doll. Part of me totally rebels at the idea of paying nearly $100 for a doll. But Emma has suddenly become doll-crazy and loved it when we went to a special American Girl doll exhibit at a local museum a few weeks ago. I also like the philosophy around American Girl, unlike Bratz or, even to a certain extent, Barbie. Emma likes the AG Kit doll, so I think that's what she'll be getting from Santa this year.

Anyway, it's nice to kind of get the Xmas shopping underway. Do you have your shopping done yet?!!

One of the big talks...

Yesterday after running a few errands, Emma and I were eating lunch at our favorite local sub shop and without warning, our conversation took a philosophical turn:

Emma: Momma, when I'm a grown-up, will you be dead?

Me: (trying not to choke on Sun Chip) Well, I hope not. I'm a grown-up and my mom is still alive.

Emma: When you die, do you just float up in the sky?

Me: (now wishing I had bought book on how to talk to your child about death) Well, no one really knows. The only people who know that are dead and they can't tell us. I don't think our bodies float up in the sky, but I believe our spirit does.

Emma: What's a spirit?

Me: (starting to sweat a little) Well, it's what's inside of us and what makes us who we are.

Emma: Inside of us, like our brains?

Me: (I'm blowing this) No, more like our personalities and our thoughts and the people and things we love in life...that's our spirit. I think that's what goes to heaven.

Emma: Can I have one of your pickles?

End of conversation (thankfully) But I'm sure the topic will come up again, so I better do a little more reading on the subject. I'm a firm believer that you can learn everything there is about parenting in a book or magazine (I WISH!!!)

Anyway, other than discussing matters of life and death, it's been a pretty laid back weekend...we hit the pool yesterday and I took a picture of Emma and her friend Cassie.


Just trying to get revved up about the week ahead...it's a busy one for both of us!

Woe is me...

I might be biased, but I have to say that I have been blessed with a very sweet and well-behaved child. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have her moments.

On the rare occasions when Emma does decide to throw a little tantrum, she always does the exact same thing. She marches down the hall (usually with blanket in tow) crawls into the stairwell that leads upstairs, and closes the door. This is meant to be her official sign to me that she's really mad.

Anyway, this is what it looks like...






As you can see from this last photo, pouting can get to be mighty boring if no one is really paying any attention to you (which is my general reaction to all this drama.) Usually she sits in there for a few minutes, and when I fail to appear, she'll come back into the living room or kitchen or wherever I am and just pretends the whole thing never happened.

I guess after watching a few episodes of Supernanny, I can't really complain about Emma's version of a temper tantrum!

Give me an "E"!

Some of you might recall my dismay at Emma's growing fascination with cheerleading. I'm sure there are some very nice people out there who have been cheerleaders...but I remember when I was in high school, the cheerleaders were the most egotistical and shallow girls at our school.

But you can't always choose what your child becomes obsessed with...and Emma's interest in cheerleading has even surpassed her love of all things princess.

Gymboree has had a cheerleading outfit for sale for a little while now. Every time we have been in there the past couple months, Emma has BEGGED me to buy her that outfit. I haven't caved in (a) because it's never gone on sale and probably never will and (b) I secretly kept hoping she'd forget about it. One night last week, I was on Ebay looking for something else and I typed in "Gymboree cheerleading oufit 3t", hoping 0 matches would come up. Alas, there were several. In a moment of weakness, I made a ridiculously low offer on the cheerleading outfit Gymboree sold last year (I actually think this one was cuter.) Shockingly, the seller accepted my offer.

The outfit got here today, and to say that Emma was in heaven when she opened it would be an understatement. She does look pretty cute in the outfit, especially with the pom-poms the seller threw in...




I told Emma that this cheerleading outfit is also going to double as her Halloween costume and she seems cool with that (at least until fall when she sees the Disney Princess costumes, no doubt.) But she seems to love being a cheerleader right now (sigh!)

The constant gardner

Earlier this week, we were at Target (big surprise there) and they had all their kids' gardening gear marked 50% off. Since it was pink and cute, suddenly Emma had an interest in gardening. Hey, at least someone in the family has the potential to grow things...when it comes to gardening, I have zero ability!

So today, Emma ventured out into the yard to water the new little shrubs we planted last weekend. She seemed to know what she was doing...




Of course, as always with Emma, just because you're doing a dirty job, there's no reason you can't be stylish...hence the high-heeled sandals and ankle bracelet.

Balloon heaven

We had to attend a rare weeknight birthday party for one of Emma's friends tonight. It was actually a bit of a drag. Emma was the only child that wasn't in this girl's class, so all the other kids knew each other and pretty much ignored Emma, who is on the shy side anyway. She finally seemed to hit it off with one little girl. And, of course, except for the birthday girl's mom, I didn't know any of the other parents - who all knew each other very well. So they pretty much ignored me too.

The highlight for Emma was that the world's greatest balloon animal maker was the featured entertainment at the party. I kid you not...this guy is a balloon animal genius. We've seen him at a number of events around town and he can create just about anything with a balloon. He made Emma this incredible princess crown and she was in heaven...


Balloon crown aside, I was relieved when it was finally time to go...I was pretty cranky by the time we got home and put Emma right into bed. I'm probably not too far behind.

I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday!

Happy Independence Day!

From Emma and baby Annabelle!

Mission accomplished

I know...no posts for more than a week. I'm a pathetic excuse for a blogger. It's been such a busy week, with getting used to the new job (I think I'm really going to love it, once I figure out what the heck I'm doing) Plus, my parents came for a visit this past weekend, so we were on the go quite a bit.

I know many of you are probably dying to know if I EVER finished putting together Emma's new kitchen. I'm happy to say, with a tremendous amount of pride, that I put attached the final piece last week. It is no doubt the most complicated thing I've ever attempted to put together. But it looks great in Emma's playroom and she loves it!


Needless to say, I'm going to try to avoid any home improvement or assembly projects involving screws and drills for a little while!

Back to reality...

Well, it's late on Sunday evening...we're back from our short jaunt to St. Louis and I'm trying to get revved up about starting a new job tomorrow. I'm kind of excited, but very nervous too. You always fear that after your first day, the guy who hired you is scratching his head and going "what was I thinking?!" I'm one of those people who veers back and forth between total confidence in my abilities and total despair that someday someone is going to see that I have no redeeming skills whatsoever. But we'll see how it goes tomorrow. I suspect I'll spend most of the day filling out paperwork and trying to get used to a new computer.

Anyway, we had a fabulous time on our little vacation. The weather in St. Louis was very hot - near 100 every day - but we managed. We spent a day at Six Flags Over St. Louis (huge theme park) and stayed pretty much on the water park side most of the day. Here's Emma...ready to jump into the wave pool...


Then we spent a day at the world-famous St. Louis Zoo...I've been there many times, but this was the first time with Emma. For some bizarre reason, Emma has decided that snakes and reptiles are her favorite attractions, so we visited the Reptile House twice. I loved the penguins the best and the big cats. Here's Emma trying to catch some cool in the shade...


Unfortunately for my wallet, the zoo has a special Build-A-Bear Workshop on the premises. That place is like a crack house for Emma. But we were on vacation, so I caved in. Meet the newest member of our family...Pam the Panda!


Our last day, we went to a children's museum called The Magic House. By this time, we were dragging a little, but Emma still enjoyed it...


I have to say, we didn't go all that far from home and didn't spend a ton of money, but it was still a nice vacation. I think at this age, your kids just want to spend time with you and don't care all that much where it is, which is nice. I'm sure that might change when I try to drag Emma to Colonial Williamsburg a few years down the line (a painful rite of passage many children have had to endure, including me!)

Anyway, have a fantastic week...hope everyone is enjoying the summer!

De-stress

First of all, thanks for all your posts and emails regarding my last blog entry. I'm relieved to report that the test I had on Monday was negative. I burst into tears when the doctor came in with the good news. I have to have another test in a couple of weeks, but I'm not as wigged out about that one. Even if it turns out to be something, it wouldn't have been as dire a situation as the one I was facing earlier this week. So enough about that...

The kitchen is coming along...I have a couple more doors to hang on it and then I'll be done. I feel like I could build a house after this!

The other big change in our lives is that Emma has started at a new school. We live in a large metropolitan area that unfortunately has one of the country's worst public school systems. The downside of living in an urban area, I guess. I have always loved living in the city, but knew I would be facing some major decisions when Emma went into kindergarten. I just can't believe that happened so fast!

Anyway, attending public school here was out of the question. I firmly believe in public education, but I'm not letting my child lag behind in a sub-par learning environment. So my choices were (1) joining the thousands who flee to the suburbs; (2) enrolling Emma in a private school or (3) enrolling her in one of the dozens of charter schools here. I didn't really want to move. She was accepted in a couple of private schools, but the financial aid fell short of what I could afford. So I turned to charter schools. There really was only one I was interested in...a French immersion school that has an outstanding academic reputation. She was accepted earlier this year and started summer school there this week.

The whole foreign language immersion thing is really interesting. I mean, these kids walk in and pretty much all the teachers speak is French. But after just two days of class, when I dropped Emma off this morning, she turned to me and said "Au revoir, Mami!" Can you believe it?! So my little girl is on her way to fluency in French.

Anyway, here's a photo I took of her this morning on the way to school...


Tomorrow we leave for a four-day vacation to St. Louis...I wanted to get in a short trip before I start the new job on Monday. À tout à l'heure!

Stress

Emma has outgrown the little Fisher-Price kitchen I got her when she was three, so I decided to surprise her with a new one. I found an incredible deal on this Melissa and Doug wooden kitchen that I knew she would love. At right is a photo of how the kitchen is supposed to look...

Of course, the description of the kitchen said "easy assembly." I'm convinced if you could order a nuclear power plant over the internet, it would say the same thing. But I've developed some talent over the past several years in putting stuff together, so I threw caution to the wind and ordered the kitchen.

My first clue that there was trouble ahead was that the kitchen came in three huge boxes. After I unloaded the 39 pieces and huge bag with 12 different kinds of screws, my confidence began to flag. Nevertheless, I charged up my power screwdriver and me and my little "helper" got to work.

After three hours of work, here is what we have...


AARGH! I've never been so frustrated in my life. It's not that I can't understand the instructions...although they are a bit obtuse at times. It's just there is so much to do...the assembly manual is 30 pages long! Plus, like most kids things, this comes with really cheap screws and if you make a mistake and try to remove a screw, they get totally stripped in no time. I'm actually going to go to the hardware store and get some better quality screws tomorrow and hope I can get them to work. I think Emma was hoping I'd get this thing assembled in like 20 minutes. At this rate, it might be closer to 20 hours.

All kidding aside, this is a weekend I could have done without stress. I have been feeling a bit under the weather for a few weeks and went to see my doctor (I was due for a physical anyway.) When she heard my symptoms, she ordered a couple of tests "just to rule some things out." Some extremely serious things that have me totally totally freaked out. I have been to some really dark places in the past week...I'm not afraid of death really, but I'm so terrified of leaving my daughter alone. I get nearly hysterical even thinking about it. My first test is tomorrow morning...this is as scared as I've been in my entire life. Hopefully it will all work out, but your prayers and positive thoughts are appreciated...

Walk for Hope

Every June, our local FCC chapter holds a charity walk to benefit Chinese orphans. We've raised thousands of dollars over the years and, obviously, it's a cause close to my heart. It's always a fun event, so I was relieved that Emma's pneumonia is in retreat and we could go.

It was a beautiful morning and we had so much fun walking around the park and catching up with all our friends who have adopted from China. There are three friends of mine who I met during the long wait...we hooked up at an adoption seminar back in 2000. We have been to every Walk for Hope together since then...we even went the year we were waiting for referrals. It's been a tradition that we take the girls' photo every year sitting together on this wall. Well, we didn't do it when they were one because they were too little to sit on a wall...but every year since they were two.

Anyway, here are Emma, Jenna, Kimmie and Christina at the WFH when they were two years old...


And here are Jenna, Emma, Kimmie and Christina today at age five...


We always try to get them in the same order on the wall, but no one ever seems to remember what that is! It is so amazing how much they have all grown.

Here are a couple more photos of Emma with her friends Amy and little Ella, who Emma considers a little sister...




Well, we're resting a bit now, but it's getting warm, so we may hit the pool this afternoon...have a wonderful weekend!

Dr. Mommy blows it

Well, Emma APPEARED to be well on the way to recovery from her weekend under-the-weather spell. She went to school on Monday and we went to swimming lessons...no big deal.

Tuesday morning about 9 am, I get a call from the school nurse telling me Emma was running a fever and wasn't feeling well. So I hopped in the car and went to get her. Although she was a bit lethargic, I wasn't overly worried. I was giving her Zyrtec for her allergies, which is what I assumed this was. Fast forward to Tuesday night...Emma pretty much coughed from the moment I put her to bed until we got up at 7. It was a sleepless night for both of us. Needless to say, at this point I thought this might be something more than allergies.

So yesterday morning, we got up early and went to walk-in hours at our pediatrician's office. The doctor looked at her ears, listened to her heart and lungs and then pronounced "Emma has pneumonia." CRICKEY!!! PNEUMONIA!!! How could I have missed that? I felt like the worst mother in the world.

He prescribed a Z-PAK antibiotic, which I have to say, is miraculous. Emma barely coughed last night. We're still home today because she's pretty tired. But hopefully she'll be fine by the weekend.

So for the first time in years, I feel like a stay-at-home mom. We've actually been having a nice time, despite Emma's condition. She's been resting and I've been reading and we've played together a lot. We made a trip to Target earlier today and I caved in and bought her a new Barbie (no doubt because of my guilt over misjudging the seriousness of her illness!)

Anyway, here's a picture of my sick little girl...still cute and cheerful, despite her mom's incompetence!

Swimming lessons

Emma was still a bit under the weather today...she's still coughing a little and isn't eating a whole lot. But she went to school and we started swimming lessons right after school/work. She really wasn't looking forward to it...as a matter of fact, she burst into tears a few weeks ago when I told her I had signed her up for them. But she really needs to learn how to swim, not just splash around in the pool. So we're taking lessons every weeknight for the next two weeks. It's a major pain, but I figured she'll learn more taking them over a period of two weeks, rather than every Saturday over a period of two months.

So here's my girl trying to get psyched up for her first swimming lesson...


Fortunately, Emma's friend Jia is taking lessons with us, so I think that helps bolster Emma's courage a little. Here are the two girls picking up some last minute pointers from the instructors...


I was a little freaked because the lessons were being taught in the lap pool at the local swim complex...the pool is four feet deep everywhere and Emma is about seven inches shorter than that. But she climbed into the pool and hung onto the side like all the other kids...


I think what made things go smoothly was that Emma's teacher was a really cute lifeguard named Adam, who looked a lot like Emma's big celebrity crush...Zac Efron from the movie High School Musical. Emma was in heaven as Adam guided her around the pool...


Things didn't go totally swimmingly (ouch!) Emma wouldn't put her head under water, no matter how much cute Adam tried to persuade her. I think the main thing I want her to accomplish from these lessons is getting comfortable putting her head under water. Hopefully, that will happen sometime this week...I'll keep you posted!

Puny weekend

Emma is sick today. She starting coughing last night and began running a fever, which I swear, she hasn't done since she was like two. It broke overnight, thank goodness. But she's really puny today...no energy and no appetite.

I'm not sure which is worse...having your kid sick during the week, when you have to miss work and school. Or having her sick on the weekend, when you're housebound during the days when you need to be out going to the grocery store, mowing the yard and doing all that weekend stuff.

Anyway, I hope she starts to feel a little better and we can get out and about tomorrow...for both of our sakes!

Here's a photo I took last weekend when my girl was the picture of health...here's hoping she looks like this again soon.