We're Back!

What a terrible blogger I've been! To make up for the long hiatus, here's an adorable video of Easton and Macey. Lately, Easton loves knocking stuff off of his high chair. We're easy to amuse around here, but you have to admit...his little giggle is contagious! Warning: Macey's laughing gets loud sometimes. :-)

Future Cheerleader?

We love our Memphis Tigers around here, including the kiddos!

Take a look at Macey doing the Tigers cheer (well...part of in anyway.) She then starts an impromptu melody of some of her favorite songs, but that's just extra fun!

(FYI...she's definitely outgrown the high chair, which is now Easton's, but I guess she likes to feel like a kid again.)

The Vintage Pearl Giveaway

I am a huge fan of The Vintage Pearl jewelry. Everything's beautiful, and what mom doesn't love their kids names on stuff!?

Here are a few of my favorite items:

They're having an awesome giveaway RIGHT NOW! Visit The Vintage Pearl site to enter for your chance to win one of five $100 gift certificates. Winner will be chosen and announced on  Christmas Eve. Good luck!

Macey "Resting"

We've had a busy day! I took the day off, and we went to the Enchanted Forest and saw Santa! So much fun...and now miss priss wants to skip her nap. :-) Here's a funny video of her showing me how she rests. We were just chatting, and I said, "Macey, you need to go to sleep." She said, "Ok!" And started closing her eyes, laughing of course. I thought it'd be a funny video...

Lately...

Hanging out with daddy!

Pretty girl!

Easton's first Tigers game!

Macey's friend Averi sent her stickers for Christmas! I think she liked them!

Notice the shoes...with her pajamas. Yes, she also slept in them!

She Cracks Us Up...

Macey and I were upstairs watching Jungle Junction (a new favorite) when we heard Greg laughing downstairs.

She looked at me and said, "Daddy so crazy."

Love her!

T-I-G-E-R-S

Saturday, we took Macey to her first Tigers game of the season. As I've mentioned many times, she's a very active girl, so we chose a game that was expected to be a blowout (which it was) just in case she wanted to leave early (which she did). She seemed to love the craziness of it all, walking down Beale on the way to the game, dancing, music, cotton candy...but I'm almost positive she didn't even watch one play of the game.

Our seats are kind of high up, so I wonder if she could see so much in the surroundings that it was hard to focus on the actual game. She was great though, but she definitely won't be tagging along to any nail biter games, haha.

Check out my Memphis glasses!

Cotton candy! Which she hardly ate. Is this my child?!

And by the time we left, this is what she was more interested in!

We saw lots of bar-hopping Santas on the way to the car!

Lots of walking equals a tired girl (and daddy!)

I'm Not a Runner...but I want to be.

Next December (as in December 2012), I want to run in the St. Jude half marathon.

That sounds absolutely terrifying, but let me explain. Over the summer, I decided to train with the Couch 2 5K program and run in a local 5K, probably an easy feat for many. Greg agreed to do the same thing. I did both of those things, but I was disappointed in my lackluster commitment to the challenge.

For the first few weeks of the 9-week running program, I did great! I even went and bought new running shoes because my sore legs weren't helping. Around week four, Memphis had record-high temperatures, and the weather men were all, "Don't go outside. You'll probably die because the sun is literally touching down on Memphis soil," or something like that...Greg kept up his regular runs, but I didn't I mean the weathermen said not to, and who am I to argue WITH SCIENCE?

Well, the next week I got a summer cold and didn't have the energy to even consider running. By the time the next week rolled around, I was over it...didn't run again for about a month! And that was the day of the 5K I had signed us both up for! Needless to say, I wasn't pleased with my race performance. Greg did great, had no trouble, blah, blah, blah. (Love you, honey!) :-)

But today, which is the day of the annual St. Jude 5K, half marathon and marathon, I know many people who got up and RAN first thing in the morning. Me? I made waffles. They were delicious, but that's not the point. Soon, I'm SERIOUS about starting the Couch 2 5K program over again, running another 5K (with a better performance!) AND THEN continuing that training for a half marathon.

Wish me luck!

I can't help but agree with the chicken on the right...

WHAT a Day!

Man oh man. Sunday afternoons after church are always our lazy days, but yesterday was the exact opposite.

So, some of you may know that Macey has complained of her tummy hurting off and on since September. In October, her pediatrician thought she had gastritis around her bellybutton area and prescribed Zantac for a month, which really seemed to help. Well, last week the complaints started again. Then Saturday, the complaints were frequent, and she started holding her right side. I immediately thought it could be her appendix and starting Googling (bad idea). I read on multiple sites that the telltale sign of appendicitis for young kids is pain that moves from the bellybutton to the right side, and that 80% of cases in children younger than 4 end in a ruptured appendix because their symptoms are so hard to miss. I told Greg, "Well, thankfully she's not running fever or throwing up, so hopefully we're OK." I spoke too soon...

About an hour later, she felt hot (we have no reliable fevers anymore!) and then while I was downstairs feeding Easton, I heard Macey calling for me, and it wasn't the normal "mommy, mommy." I ran upstairs, and she looked strange, then started throwing up. It was pitiful. I called the doctor's office, spoke with a nurse and headed to urgent care. We got there, and after 45 minutes hadn't even been able to check in yet it was so crowded! After we heard that the wait would be more than 3 hours, we just decided to wait it out at home and if things worsened we'd go go LeBonheur. Macey slept in our bed that night because we both wanted to be RIGHT THERE in case anything happened.

In the middle of the night, I woke up sick as a dog. I was up all night with the stomach bug, which Easton and Greg also had a touch of. It was awful and obvious that we weren't going to church that morning. Macey slept really, really late the next morning, and about 45 minutes after she woke up she complained about her tummy hurting again, so we got right in the car and went to LeBonheur.

They were wonderful, and we were in a room immediately. Then we went off to do x-rays. As I was sitting in the x-ray room, I started to feel really hot and queasy. Before the x-ray started, they x-ray techs asked me to stand behind a partition. As I stood up, I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't really form the right words to tell them I was about to be sick. The next thing I know, I'm on the floor, and the x-ray techs were shaking me awake. Apparently, I had passed out and hit my head on some equipment and the floor on the way down. I can't even explain how weird I felt, but that's an entirely different story. They got me in a wheelchair, and BAM...passed out again. They wheeled me to a children's trauma room...keep in mind, now I am a patient at a children's hospital! It took a while, but they finally got fluids in me, and after I was stabilized they had to transfer me to Baptist. I don't want to be mean, but I'll just say it was TERRIBLE there. AWFUL. And I was a big fan of that hospital after having Easton there...I guess I still am, but just had a bad experience.

After 5 1/2 hours and a ridiculous amount of tests (most of which were already done at LeBonheur), I was able to go home. During this time, Macey was released from LeBonheur because (thankfully) she was perfectly fine, just the really bad stomach bug, too. They're still not sure what's been hurting for so long, but they were able to get a good look at everything, and she's great. Greg brought her to my new hospital, and traded with my mom, who took Macey to their house. Then Greg stayed with me. By the time we got home, we were beyond exhausted and very thankful for wonderful parents who had both of our children for the night. I slept GREAT and feel better this morning. Lesson for the day...if you get sick, drink lots of fluids!

Emily's Custom Art

It's official! I have created a Facebook page to sell paintings. Check it out and hopefully you'll "like" my page!

Click here to visit Emily's Custom Art on Facebook.

I'm constantly thinking of new ideas! I'm hoping to try out some new Christmas-themed paintings, as well as a sweet little Memphis Tiger soon.