All up in the kool-aid, dont even know the flava

WoW

Oh. My. God.

Emma just laughed.

For the 1st time.

Ever.

Technology is out to get us

So, our computer monitor died yesterday. It had been making popping noices for a while and then, as Jason watched in horror, it died. With a big pop and a fizz. (Apparently).

So how am I posting? Magic. Without the moniitor, I cant see what I am typing, so I am hoping that I am doing ok here...

Just kidding. Not about the dead monitor though.

After we had Emma, we decided to run a cable from our computer to our TV. This ( plus a wireless keyboard and mouse) would enable us to sit in one of the living room chairs and use the computer just as if we are sitting down in front of the actual computer. Im ALWAY S in the living room rocking or nursing Emma and this way, I could surf the internet and your blogs while I rocked. Pretty neat huh? I LOVE it. So, here I am right now, sitting in my living room big chair, with my keyboard on my lap, typing up this post. Im about 10 feet away from the TV screen, but I can increase the text size on the page and see what I am doing. That's how I  can read your posts from so far away to. Just go to View (top of your screen) then down to text size, then over to increase size.

I doubt we will be replacing our computer monitor anytime real soon. I know they are cheap, but every dollar counts right now.

This isnt the first time technology has gotten the best of us. Two years ago, our living room TV died. In a puff of smoke. Seriously. We saw sparks, then it popped and fiizzed and then just smoke. It was very sad.

AND, three years (well, almost 3 years) ago, on our Wedding Night, we killed our camcorder. The camcorder we saved up for and bought RIGHT before our wedding so we could record the ceremony and reception and then our honeymoon. But, very tragically,  we broke the camera that night. How you ask? It fell off the bed. Id love for this to be a funny story about taping our wedding night ( well, if it was, I  wouldnt be sharing that with yall anyway!), but the truth is, we had set the camera down on the bed to change out the tape. Jason plopped down on the bed next to the camera, and in slow motion, the camera jumped up and sailed thru the air, and fell on the floor.

When we got back from our honeymoon, we took it to a repair shop. Somehow, the damage we had down was going to cost $500 to repair, when the camera itself? Was only $300. Totally not fair. See, the camera is still slightly usuable, but you cant put a tape in to record anything. BUT, you CAN hook the camcorder up to a VCR, with a blank tape loaded, and record that way. Yes, it is a hassly, but Dammit, we arnt dropping another $300 for a camcorder when we can get this one to work. Kind of. Of course, it means that all the video of Emma so far ( and there isnt very much) is taken in the living room, within a 4 foot radius of the VCR. Sure, we could unplug the VCR and camcorder and take it to a different room and record  Emma, but that is a lot of work.

And you know what? We still havent seen our wedding video. It's a High 8 camcorder tape and the only way you can watch those (apparently) is to play the tape thru your camcorder and watch it on TV. Well, the part of our camcorder that is damaged is the part that holds tapes, we cant watch the dang thing. And with High 8 tapes, you cant get one of those converter tapes to play it in your VCR. One of these days, Im going to go to one of those companies that can restore your old home movies and see if they can make us a normal copy of our wedding video for us. Id love to see what is on it!

Rock THe Vote

Ok, people. I need your help. Vote for your favorite photo from the photos below. Be sure to enlarge pictures (click on them) for a better view.

Choice A

Choice B

Choice C

Choice D

Thank You!

When is Daddy coming home?

It's tough work waiting for Daddy to get home....

Where is he?

Wait! Was that a car I heard???

DADDDDDYYYY!!!!!!

Kisses please!!!

Ah. Im better now.

Making up for the lack of pictures in the Weekend Recap!

So, Tuesday Jason had the day off (comp day) so we drove up to see his parents and his sister (in town from Florida) and Uncle (in town from Kentucky).  And luckily I remembered my camera so I could take pictures!!!
               
The weather was SO nice, so we sat outside for a while.

We brought all the dogs with us because the weather was so nice.

They arent allowed inside Jason's parents house, so they only come up with us when the weather is nice.
Here they are wishing they could come inside....
                
Jason and his family had Chicken Curry for dinner and I had black beans and rice.

Emma enjoyed hanging out with her Aunt and Nanna.

And sometimes she just needed some Mommy Time...
                        

It was a great day!!! One day I hope we can live near Jason's parents. Dont get me wrong, I realize we are very lucky to live only an hour away, but I would love to live next door to them or at least very close by.

Question for you. If you have children and you've chosen someone to be their guardian in case anything happens to you and your spouse, how did you go about asking them?

3 months

Dear Emma,

Today you are 3 months old. When I hear 3 months, it seems so old. It's the length of a season. You've lived thru your first summer and we are know beginning to enjoy Fall.

When you were first born, I loved you because I had to. You were my daughter, and instinctively, I loved you immediately. But now, I love you for you. My love has grown for you a million times over in this past month. You are my EVERYTHING, without you, I would be nothing. It's as if I was always meant to have you. Sometimes I am shocked at how much I love you. It's overwhelming.

You have changed SO much in this past month. You are very animated now. You are full of smiles and various expressions. You are especially happy first thing in the morning when you haven't seen me for several hours and you wake up and seem so excited to see me again. It makes my heart melt. You love it when I talk to you and blow raspberries at you. I can often dissuade you from crying by talking and singing to you. You seem comforted by my voice. I can tell you love me too Emma Bean. If someone else is holding you, and you seem a little fussy, if I start singing or talking to you from across the room, you immediately settle down so you can figure out where I am. You love your mommy. And in this past week, you've really enjoyed your special time with mommy. Sometimes when you are nursing, you will stop, pull away just a bit, and just stare up at me as if you are trying to memorize every inch of my face. Then you burst into a big smile. There is nothing more rewarding. I am so glad made the decision to nurse you. Although, it doesn't seem like there was even a choice to be made, nursing you was the right thing for both of us. ( But boy am I glad those rough first weeks of nursing are over!!!)

You've also discovered "the lip" look. When someone else is holding you and you aren't comfortable or you miss your mommy, you will stick out your lower lip. It is so precious and makes me want to cry. Even though we know you are unhappy and thinking about crying, everyone's heart melts when they see "the lip". You are so adorable!!!

With in the past week, you have successfully gotten from your tummy to your back and you knew what you were doing. For several nights, you would wake yourself up in the middle of the night by rolling over, but I guessed that you didn't know what you were doing. The other day I had you on our bed while I was getting dressed and I watched you, wide awake, get your little legs underneath you, push off with one leg and roll to your side. Then after a bit, you swung your arm over your head and landed on your back. I could tell you were proud of yourself.

You have become much more alert and calm in this past month. You are very content to sit in your boppy, or on our bed or in your swing and just look around. I can see that you are taking in the world around you and processing everything. You have also started to really find your hands and you love to suck on your fingers and your blankets. Again, it is very cute, but everything you do is cute.

Emma, you have so many wonderful friends and relatives that care about you and love you so much already. We are both very lucky and blessed.

I love you little Emma Bean. You are my everything.

Love,

Mommy

And now for the Weekend News!

Hello!

Friday
Friday night Jason and I hung out at home and watched some new tv shows ( Grey's Anatomy and Men in Trees) while Jason went out to a bar with a friend. And hey! He came home at midnight instead of 3am!!! ;)

All week long I had been waiting for the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy and at 10pm on Thursday night I switched the TV on.... and saw the closing credits. MAN, was a upset. I thought it was on at 10pm, but apparently it was on at 9pm. THANKFULLY, a quick search on the internet told me that I could catch a repeat Friday night. THANK GOD ( I say as if TV rules the world...).  I'll do a new show recap later this week and we can talk all about it....

Saturday

Saturday Jason had a job in the morning, came home for a few afternoon hours and then had to go back. It was Military Appreciation night at the football game and he plays in a pre-game concert and a half time show every year. So, while he was home in the afternoon, we decided to take Emma out for ice cream!!! Ok fine, the ice cream was for us, but in all fairness, she did get her fair share later. :)  As luck would have it, last Sunday's newspaper had a Buy One Get One Free Coupon for Marble Slab ( ice cream place). So it was a great deal!
After Jason left to go back to work, Emma and I bet my friend Sara ( old college roommmate/sorority sister who moved to Columbia in May)  and her daughter Gwyn (3 years old) at the local Starbucks. I know what you are thinking. We are big spenders! BUT, you might remember that one of the gifts I recieved from my work baby shower was a gift card to Starbucks! ( I still find that amusing) SO I used it to buy a Carmel frappacino. It was ok. I didnt realize that if you want whip cream, apparently you have to ask for it, and I didnt. So sad.  Anyway, Gywn was pretty antsy so we didnt get to hang out long, but it was nice to get together with her. It sure is interesting reconnecting with a friend from college now that we are both married with kids. We vowed to start getting together more often. And I think we will.

Sunday
Sunday we went to church! For the 2nd time with Emma! And what did she do? She passed gas *loudly* during a prayer! Twice!! Jason and I could barely keep from laughing out loud.  After church, we got together with some of the other young adults and headed downtown for the Annual Greek Festival. Yummy! Thank GOD ( and Sandy!) for the Baby Bjorn, because as always, it was PACKED and it was much easier to carry her around in that than to might the crowds with a stroller. Jason got a gyro and I got spanekopita and greek potatoes and we split a piece of baklava. A new couple came along with our group and they seemed very nice. Hopefully they will start coming to some of our young adult get togethers.

Sunday night Jason and I continued our Redneck Wine Tasting from last week. If you will remember, we were comparing Abor Mist's blackberry Merlot to Wild Vines Blackberry Merlot. This week we tried the Wild Vines version. Our conclusion? Wild Vines was better because it was...

• more winey
• less fizzy

Yep. Those are technical wine tasting terms.... We are SO classy.

Monday
Today, we went down to Charleston so my God Mother ( well, techincally she is not my God Mother, but she doesnt have a "label" but that's kind of how I view her. She went to the church I grew up in and I lived with her my Senior year in high school. I consider her family). She runs her own antiques business and it keeps her pretty busy so us going down to see her was easier than her coming up to see us.

Emma did GREAT on the two hour ride down. We got her up early and left at the time she would normally take a nice long nap. So she basically slept the whole way down. Of course when we got there, she was pretty fussy for about an hour so everyone ate lunch without me while I nursed her and tried to calm her down. It was great to catch up with Cam ( not her real name but  close).  The ride home was not so good. We stopped TWICE, so I could feed Emma and calm her down. She was NOT happy about being in her car seat for such a long time. When we did get home she just wanted to sit in my lap and make smiley faces at me. It was SO cute. SHe obviously needed Mommy Time.

Did you notice all the pictures in this post? No? No pictures? That's because I am an IDIOT, who didnt think to take a SINGLE PICTURE ALL WEEKEND!!! AAAAHHH!! How nice would it have been to have a picture of Emma at Starbucks? Or at the Greek Festival??? Or meeting my God Mother in Charleston???? Or pictures of the gifts Cam and her parents gave Emma??? But no, I didnt even THINK, to bring the camera. I am CRAZY.  But, I will take pictures of those gifts and post them later this week. And maybe talk a little bit more about Cam and her family and our relationship. Or maybe not. We'll see!

Links!!!

Pug People

Priscilla
Sandy
Lisa
Ali Cat
Nicole and Sadie
Punchbugpug
pughugs.blogspot.com
Leah and Jason
lifeofapug.blogspot.com
Goodboy Norman Featherstone
Kara
Bubu the Pug
Shelby the Pug
Shannon
Bam Bam The Pug
mypugsblog.blogspot.com
Amanda and Minus

Not much to say

So far its been a good weekend. Well, mostly. But Jason is off tommorow ( b/c he had to work Saturday) and we are heading down to Charleston to show Emma off to my God Mother.

I'll leave you with my favorite picture (thus far) of Emma. YOu can see more by checking out my flickr page, linked on the right...

Back Yard

Well, I dont have the best or most accurate pictures of our back yard, but here's a few.

This is the main grassy part of our backyard ( looking off the back deck). To the right is lots of plant life and trees, to the left is the pool and more plants and trees. It's a pretty big yard.

This is looking out from one of the deck extensions to the right side. That fence gate leads to the side of the house and out to the front.

This is from the back door area.

And the other corner of the deck:

Its a nice backyard, but it is a LOT of work. And unless you are prepared to work every week in the yard, it looks rough. :( The couple we bought the house from was retired so they had lots of time to tend to the yard. Silly us!