Thankful

I am so thankful for many things but here are a few things I am thankful for the most this year.

* a husband who puts up with my moodiness and spending of his money
* my job
* my incredibly smart daughter
* my mom who is my best friend
* new friendships and old ones renewed
* Tuesday night Bible Study
* my adorable cuddly son
* Fringe
* my dad who is the hardest working person I know
* freedom
* grandparents for the kids that love spending time with them
* play dates
* In-laws who have welcomed me into their family like I am one of their own
* nieces and a nephew who play so wonderfully with their cousins
* My God who loves me even with all my faults

Fever

I can't believe that I haven't blogged about Emma's mysterious fevers yet, the stupid things!

It started back in February when she had a random high (almost 104 degrees) fever with no other symptoms for about 36 hours. After that, the fever made its reappearance in March while we were in California but this time it was accompanied by pneumonia so, I thought nothing of the fever because she was truly sick. Then, the dumb thing came back in April, May, and June. I took her to the doctor every time worried that something was wrong, but the doctor kept telling me she was fine. By June, I was fed up with the doctor's attitude toward the fact that my daughter each month for the past 5 months had had a 104 degree fever for 36 hours straight and that they were so raging, I had to piggyback Tylenol and Ibuprofen every 3 hours or she was burning up. In the feverish 36 hours, she doesn't eat and her sleep is affected (which is the most awful part because Emma requires a great deal of sleep to be a pleasant being).

After the June fever, I sought out a new pediatrician for the kids and ended up finding one who got us in soon after to discuss the situation with me. I felt so welcome at this new office, the doctor listened to every concern I had and made my concerns feel valid instead of ridiculous. He ordered a complete work up on Emma and happily everything came back negative. That was in July and then the fevers seemed to go away.

That is, until last month. :o( The stupid (how many times can I call fever a name?) fever came back last month and just again this weekend. The poor girl, I feel so awful for her, she is truly miserable when she gets them and nothing I try to do helps. I guess it's back to the doctor for us and hopefully this time around we can find out what is going on, for Emma's sake and mine.

Ketchup

After 20 months of life, Josh has discovered the goodness of ketchup. At first he wasn't too sure, but after a few tries he decided he was a fan. By the end of his meal, fan status was upgraded to obsessive as he licked his plate absolutely clean of all ketchup and then proceeded to beg for more.

Crazy kid!

Apple Picking

On Sunday we left Asheville for Sky Top Orchard for apple picking. I am not sure who was more excited to pick apples, Emma or I. I envisioned huge trees full of apples but I quickly learned that most of the ideas my little sister had planted in my head about this trip were not true.

After driving another hour to get to the orchard we reached our destination and grabbed our baskets to begin picking apples. Unfortunately it was hotter than (well you know) and we were all in sweaters and pants (thanks to Dani who told us it would be cold). That was the first bummer, the second was that the apple trees had been pretty picked over. We walked the entire way down the orchard in the heat to finally find apples and by this point we had all turned on Dani and her fantastic apple picking idea. Luckily Emma didn't care about any of this and was happy to climb up in the trees with Dani and get apples to fill her basket. She had a great time and in the end it's all that matters, even though Dani is officially banned from planning our trips.

Dictionary of Josh

Josh's language has really exploded over the last few weeks and it is so fun to hear all of the new things that he is saying. It has been very different than when Emma began speaking because she picked up words and phrases almost perfectly from about 13 months old. I still have people that cannot believe her age because of her fantastic vocabulary, while Josh on the other hand takes a little deciphering. Here are some helpful hints if you need them.

Mee Mouse=Mickey Mouse
Boo Boo=Iyla (his littlest cousin)
Bawnee=Barney
Ween oh=window
Moan-ee=Manny (Handy Manny to be exact)
Seuss=shoes
Side=outside
Bee=bear
Ba=bath
Gammie=Grammie
Woof=dog
Stina=Christina (a neighbor)
How=house
Eee=eat
Jama=pajamas

I am sure there are plenty of others not coming to mind right now but you get the idea. I love listening to the little guy talk, he is such a sweetie!

Asheville

The day after flying in to North Carolina we woke up and packed the sweet minivan we rented and drove up to Asheville. Dani was very excited to show us the leaves changing colors and I was equally excited to see them. Unfortunately, mother nature did not get the memo that I was coming to see the very thing I had been waiting years to see and only some trees were changing. Oh well, just another reason to go back next year.

After about a 2 hour drive we made it to the top of the Blue Ridge Parkway and had a picnic lunch. The weather was perfect in the shade but in the direct sunlight was a bit warm so we didn't stay for too long. As we drove around the parkway we made a few stops to hike (I use that word loosely) some trails. Emma was very into the idea of hiking and loved climbing the broken down trees and rocks. My dad also loved the idea of hiking but instead of following the trails he thought it would be quicker to make his own path and cut through wherever he could.

We spent sometime in the town of Asheville later on in the day. Asheville is a great deal like Sedona, it's an artist community and very free spirited. We looked around the shops, played in the town square, and ate dinner. Later that night after Emma was in bed, Dani, Kevin, Dad, and I hit the breweries, and believe me this little town has plenty of them. We found one that served Lambic so Dani and I were happy and another that served a Pumpkin Ale which made Dad happy. Around 1 we headed back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep for our apple picking adventure the next day.

By the way, I froze my booty off that night because my darling daughter stole all the covers while we slept. :o)

After lunch

The trees

Hiking


Emma's caterpillar (1 of 50)
In the town square
Eating dinner (they had the best homemade blackberry jam and biscuits)

North Carolina

Emma and I had a great time in North Carolina and can't wait to go back again next year.

We began our trip with a 6:00 am flight (not quite sure what I was thinking when I booked this) but luckily Emma was so excited that she wasn't cranky at all. She did amazingly well on the flight to Detroit and about the time she was getting stir crazy, we landed and had an hour lay over. The terminal in Detroit was so small that an hour lay over was just enough time to get lunch and be on our next flight to Charlotte. The flight to Charlotte started off a bit rough, it happened to be right at nap time and Emma was exhausted but couldn't fall asleep so she was a bit weepy. My mom and I decided to switch seats for this flight and having Grammie next to her seemed to do the trick. The flight was short and before we knew it, we had gotten the rental car and were pulling up to Dani's apartment.

After lots of hugs and opening her birthday present from Aunt Dani and Uncle Kevin (a new princess sleeping bag), Emma went down for her over due nap. While she napped, Dani and Kevin took me out to show me around Charlotte. The houses there are adorable and the trees are fantastic, it would be a nice place to live. We stayed out for some time and I was amazed that my parents hadn't called to tell me Emma was awake. The poor girl was so tired that I had to wake her up out of a 3+ hour nap so we could go to the farmer's market to pick out pumpkins and go to dinner.

The local farmer's market was huge and filled with pumpkins. Emma was so excited by all of the different types of pumpkins and I have to say that I was too. She helped Dani pick out three pumpkins for her house and my mom went nuts buying all kinds of fruits and vegetables which were all delicious.

For dinner, Dani and Kevin chose a Cajun restaurant called Razoo's. Dani was excited to go there because of their fish bowl drinks and of course we got one to split. The thing was delicious and it's easy to see how one person could knock one down alone, which I think my dad may have done because he hoarded the drink! Our food took forever to get to us but when it did, there were no complaints because it was yummy. We even ended up trying their alligator, which I can say really does taste like chicken.

After dinner we went back to the apartment for Emma to head to bed and the rest of us to get ready for our trip the next morning to Asheville. When I finally crawled into bed I was so tired, it didn't even matter that Emma was sprawled out all over my side.

Emma on the plane

At the farmer's market

At Razoo's

Look at that drink (3 people right?)
Guess not!