Road trip pictures

The life of the party, this lady can hang with the best of them

Playing with Hannah and Harley

With Daddy

Eric and Karen

Her new best friend Sadie


The birthday boy

This group knows how to do it

Everyone hanging out in the gorgeous weather

Eric and Chris

Just chillin

With Grammie

My mom and a few of her high school friends

The family


Eric and Josh

Her other new best friend Jake

Chasing her woof dog

Wondering where the woof dog went

Road trip

This weekend we headed to California for our first road trip as a family of four to see old family friends and to celebrate the 80th birthday of a man I have known my whole life. Those of you who know Emma well, know that she is NOT a good car traveler, never has been. She just gets so restless in her car seat and even when she is tired, she refuses to sleep (which is unusual because she is normally a terrific sleeper) so she just cries instead. Josh on the other hand does pretty good in the car. He will sleep when tired and generally plays happily in his seat.

Things definitely did not go as I thought, but they did not go badly either. The ride to California started off good and both kids fell asleep right away! Unfortunately we had to stop and pick up my mom at her house. That woke both kids up right away but they behaved pretty well. Josh slept on and off in the car and Emma did eventually fall asleep for about 45 minutes. We made it to Temecula around 6:30-7:00 and after meeting the Maurice and Tusler clans, Josh went to bed for the night. He slept like a rock and after playing with David and Chris' dog Sadie, Emma went to bed around 8:30. We hung out for a few more hours and then it was time to drive up the mountain to Anza where our friends Eric and Karen Tusler live. The drive is about 45 minutes from Temecula and I was afraid waking the kids from bed would end horribly but both transitioned back to bed wonderfully.

The next morning Emma was in heaven! Eric and Karen have 5 dogs and a number of horses (Karen is a professional rider). Emma fell in love with their new Great Dane, Jake and loved walking around the back as Karen tended to the horses. She thought it was fun to chase their huge (I cannot even remember what breed he is) dog Murphy who is a very shy dog and wouldn't let her get close. She nicknamed him woof dog because he had a great time barking at her as she ran around. After playing outside, we lounged around the house for the rest of the day until it was time to return to Temecula to celebrate Dave Maurice's birthday. As we went down the mountain, we noticed smoke and as we got closer we realized the smoke was a fire. We kept traveling hoping that the fire was not near the road and that we could make it down but not so much luck. We were turned around and took a detour because the fire was right at the side of the road. It was amazing seeing the flames and being so close to them, Eric was mad because his camera equipment was in the back of the Tahoe and he couldn't document it-crazy guy!

When we finally got to Temecula we started the party and it was great seeing more old friends that hadn't made it the night before. Both kids went down to bed and slept like champs (Thank you Baby Wise!) despite all the people, drinking, and general loudness of the party. To end the party, Dave's family and friends got up and shared stories and love they had for him. It was touching to hear what was shared and to realize how this man has impacted so many. I don't think their was a dry eye in the place and I know that I felt incredibly fortunate to be there.

The drive back to Anza that night was hard, we had to go a very long way around because of the fire (which was still burning) and were in the car from midnight until 1:30 am. Again both kids did terrific and slept but Eric and I were exhausted, especially Eric since he was the one doing all the driving. On Sunday, we again lounged around and left back for home around 3 pm. The drive home was long and tiring but Emma got the fantastic car rider award (we even told her that) because she was so good and actually slept a majority of the way. Josh had a mini melt down because he was so tired and couldn't get to sleep but finally he passed out and stayed out even as we transitioned him at home to bed for the night.

I am glad that we went and I am glad that we are back home. We had fun and even though both kids did better than I could have imagined, I think that our next road trip to California is not going to be for a little while!

Silly girl

Emma has officially hit a silly stage in life. She thinks everything is funny including fake crying, tooting (as her and her dad call it), and wearing things that don't fit her. Right after Josh was born she discovered the sunglasses we'd bought for her when she was an toddler.


After months of begging to put them on Josh (and months of us telling her that he is not old enough yet) she decided to wear them herself. As you can see, they are a bit small for her head but she had a blast (notice the milk dribbling out of her mouth because she's laughing so hard) parading around in them.







Emma is even a character in the bathtub! Ever since taking swim lessons this summer, the girl loves taking baths. She begs for one almost every morning, even when she has had one the night before. I think she feels like the garden tub in our bathroom is her own little pool. Yesterday while I was washing her hair I ran my hands through it and this is what I got.


Emma thought this was the most hilarious thing she had ever seen and laughed and laughed. After I got my camera, she begged me to do her hair again. Several styles later she finally seemed satisfied and continued on with her swimming adventures.

Adjustments

It has been three and a half weeks since Josh got his band and I am happy to say that he is doing great in it. Today we had a routine check up and the therapist was pleased with his progress. His forehead is really starting to round out and the back of his head is no longer noticeably flat on the left side. Josh looks adorable in his band and when we take it off for his bath (nightly because he stinks like no other) he looks like a totally different kid to me. Hopefully he will not need to be wearing it for to much longer though!

While Josh has been adjusting to the band smoothly the general public has not been adjusting as well. When we first got the band we were given an article written by a mom whose baby was in a band. In the article she tells of how her baby went from being cooed at and talked to in public to being completely ignored. At the time, I knew the article was given to prepare us for the same but I figured since it was written over five years ago that maybe times had changed. Well I was wrong! No longer do people ask me what Josh's name is or how old he is. People don't smile at him or talk to him anymore. The cashier at Sprouts yesterday was visibly excited to see the baby I was talking to in the car seat while I was in her line and once I got up to her, she took one look at him in his band and then didn't say a word to me about him. I know that people have no idea what the helmet on his head is for and most people probably think that he is sick or handicapped. I just think that would be more of a reason for people to be nice and talk to parents about their baby, but I guess people are just scared and don't want to offend. Oh well, I know my baby is adorable and hopefully by decorating his band people won't be as afraid to talk to us. I may just start talking to people randomly when I see them staring, it could be fun!

Here is Josh in his newly (almost complete) decorated band







Before I finish writing I just want to say thank you to the father that sat in front of us at 11:00 mass last Sunday. I know you will never read this but I'm sure by putting this out there, somehow the universe will get the message to you. You made my week by paying attention to my son, your silly faces and kind words meant more to me than you know!

So tired

It's been some time since I have posted anything and I have sat down every night of this last week to blog but just couldn't get motivated enough to actually do it. It has been a crazy week and we have been tired around here! On Friday 8/24 I left for Tucson to help with the Steubenville West Conference for the weekend. It was the first time I had been away from both kids since Josh was born and to top it off I was leaving Eric alone for the weekend after getting Josh's helmet the day before. Eric did great with the kids and kept them busy on Friday by hanging out with his mom and then had friends over that night. He even braved a road trip with both kids on Saturday to come down to Tucson (about an hour and 45 minute trip) to visit me for a few hours. I was happy to have them all there and Emma did a great job helping me drive my golf cart around dropping off speakers to their locations around U of A's campus.

Josh's first few days in his helmet were definitely an adjustment. They warned us that the helmet would make him sweat and that he could possibly develop heat rash. Well that was the understatement of the year! Josh is already a pretty sweaty kid and this just made it worse. By Sunday evening he had developed a pretty good heat rash on his head and we had to take him in for an appointment on Monday so the therapist could check it out. We were told to keep it off for the rest of the day and put it back on in the evening. We did just that and that night's sleep was just awful! Josh has been sleeping through the night for a few months now but he was up every 2 hours crying because of the heat. Unfortunately Tuesday night was more of the same and by Wednesday I was running on 5 hours total sleep for two nights. Also by Wednesday Josh's heat rash had come back but in different locations so we had to keep him out of the helmet that night and thankfully we all slept. Like an idiot though I put him back in the helmet on Thursday because I thought his rash looked better. What a mistake, I ended up making the rash worse (which I didn't realize until the next morning) and he cried from 10:30pm-2:30am when I finally got so frustrated from not sleeping that I took it off of him. When I saw his head in the morning (Friday) I freaked out a bit, called the office and a few hours later Josh and I were headed back to Phoenix so they could check him out again. Because his poor head looked so bad he was out of the helmet all Friday and half of Saturday. Finally today we got him back in it for the whole day and it looked pretty good. He's now asleep with it on and hopefully his little body is almost done adjusting and we have seen the end of the heat rashes. Keep your fingers crossed and say your prayers!

You have stolen my heart

I love the song Stolen by Dashboard Confessional and as I watched Eric dancing with the kids this afternoon I realized how my heart has been stolen by these three people. Ten years ago when Eric and I became friends, I never imagined that I would marry him one day. Even when we started dating and I kept trying to break up with him because I was scared of falling in love again I never imagined that he would not let me go and that he would show me that I could trust in him. Eric stole my heart years ago and though we bicker and drive each other crazy a good bit of the time, my heart belongs to him.

Years ago I remember telling my mom that I didn't ever want kids. I was not a typical girl around babies, I didn't swoon or want to hold them and up until 3 years ago I couldn't care less about babies. When Emma was born I had no clue how to change a diaper, make a bottle, or burp a baby. I'm not sure what changed in me but one day I knew I wanted to be a mother, I just didn't expect to be this in love with my children. Don't get me wrong, I knew I'd love my kids I just never thought the love I would feel would be indescribable. How do you describe love for people who make me feel like the most special person in the world? How do you describe love for people who are part you and who make your heart melt every time they look at you? My heart has been stolen by my children, it belongs to them.

It's amazing where life takes us. I am so blessed that God has put these three people in my life and that I get to share my heart with them!

There Is A Mountain

This past Saturday Emma discovered a new song. We were watching Playhouse Disney which is our normal routine on Saturday morning and after Handy Manny a music video came on. The video happened to be the new Kenny Loggins song, There Is A Mountain which features his daughter Hana. Well Emma fell in love with Hana Loggins instantly. In the video she is dressed up like a butterfly princess and Emma just stood there staring at the TV asking me who the little girl was. After the video was over, Emma asked me to play it again (the girl only 2 and a 1/2 understands the concept of the DVR so well). I think I must have replayed the song for her at least ten times. Finally I told her only one more time and she reluctantly agreed.

An hour or so later, she seemed to have forgotten the song and we went in to her room to get changed for the day. It was then that Emma discovered the butterfly costume that has been sitting in her dress-up basket for over a year now. She begged me to put it on her so that she could be a butterfly like the little girl. I thought it was so sweet that of course I helped her. Here is Emma all dressed up.

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She stayed in costume all morning long and as we were playing Candy Land in the front room we heard the song come on the TV again. Emma jumped up and ran to the TV and stood there swaying back and forth trying to sing the words. Needless to say, she asked me to play it again and again and again.

Later when Eric came home from work she was so excited to tell him about the butterfly song and we found the full video on youtube which she watched at least 20 more times. In a few short days she has learned most of the words to the song and loves to watch it on the laptop while twirling around. Here is the video I took of Emma dancing which she didn't realize I was doing and then ran away once she figured it out.






I know I shouldn't be allowing her to spend so much time in front of the TV or computer but I just think that it's so cute that she wants to sing and dance to the song. Watch out Broadway here comes Emma Hildwine!