In which my daughter looks like a boy.

This teeny tiny baseball cap used to be Rob's when he was little!  I dug it out in honor of the Gators basketball team making it to the Elite 8 and put it on Em.  Rob was pretty excited.

The hat made her look like a boy.  And it didn't help the Gators win the ball game.  So.

Guess my daughter, like me, is the kiss of death for sports teams.

I have to hand it to her, she's got that sports-watching face spot-on.

And you'd better watch out if you block the TV!

Bells participates in Easter.

Yesterday Rob had to work, and I decided to have the Castello girls (and Steven) over for egg-dying!  I would have done it a little closer to Easter, except we are now all well again and will be traveling for the next THREE weekends.  

I boiled 12 eggs, laid out blankets on Emeralds new play mat (more on that later...) and got all the tablets and solo cups of vinegar ready.  The eggs were left in a plastic bowl on the play mat.

Unfortunately,  I also came down with a killer headache yesterday afternoon and decided to lay down for a bit while Em was napping.  I was in bed for about 1.5 hours.  When I got up, there were NO EGGS left in the plastic bowl.  In hindsight, it was dumb to leave a bowl of boiled eggs on the floor.  But anyway.  

So I get to looking around.  I find an egg on the couch in the front room and two on the movie room couch.  A couple in Ems room, on the deck, and some in the yard.  There was also one on Rob's pillow on our bed!  I can't believe Bells hid all the Easter eggs!  That's better than eating all of them.  They were completely unscathed!

Everyone had a great time dying eggs ... after I hunted them all down :)

Lily and Addi

Again, like herding cats.

Em played "attack the pig" instead of egg dying. The pig in Steven's hand.  Not Steven.

Em also got a new play mat this week!  She always gets stuck on her belly on our hardwood floors and can't roll back over!  So hopefully with some traction she will get the hang of it soon.

I underestimated the amount of floor space a 36 square foot mat would take up!

Ok, I'm off to spend some time outside on this beautiful day!!

Passive Aggressive Feedback. Or, Aggressive Feedback.

While perusing Passive Aggressive Notes, I found this lovely bit of "constructive" feedback that someone was given by a classmate.

Sometimes I wish it were acceptable to give feedback like this on some of the stuff I have to grade.  Alas, I guess I will just have to live vicariously.

Happy...

...Anniversary to my parental units!  They have been married 14 years and going strong.

A fine example set for all us kids.

They are the bee's knees :)

Another Gratuitous Baby Post

I can't help it!  Watching a "little" grow is an amazing thing.

And my blog will be printed into a book every year, which will serve as our family album and Em's baby book.  Because I would rather be eaten by a dragon than compile a baby book. So these things have to be documented somehow.  And my family lives so far away, it's good to update them.

But let's get real.  I just love showing off my kid.  Guess I'm one of those. 

It's been a good Saturday, despite the fact that Rob has to work and me coming to the horrible realization that I put the hydrogen peroxide contact solution in my regular contact lens case with my contacts last night.  Rude.  Awakening. And melty eyeball.

Also, while Em has mastered the art of rolling from "back to belly", she routinely gets stuck on her stomach.  Mostly this happens in the middle of the night, which ticks her off to such extremes that I have to go in her room and roll her over.  So, that's how she rolls at the moment.

On Christmas, my mom wanted to get Emerald her first baby doll.  She couldn't find one that fit her high standards for her tiny princess, so she got Em a Mississippi State Bulldog Pillow Pet instead.  Em is starting to notice her toys in her room, and was quite interested in it last night.  So we staged an impromptu photo op. And by we, I mean me. Fun on a Friday night.

Hello Bully!

Making TummyTime more interesting.

Em seems to like books.  I don't know if she actually likes them or if she is just used to them since I started reading to her when she was 6 weeks old... An overachiever in the making.

Anyway, this book, "Hello, Bugs!", was given to me at my shower by Christine.  Em is especially intrigued by the super contrasty patterns.

My little scholar.

And...AND!! It's Em's first St Patrick's Day today!  She is wearing this adorable onesie that her Aunt Rikki sent :)

"Me First St. Patrick's Day"

People will surprise you.

This past weekend, Amy and Steven held a "Reverse Yard Sale" for the victims of the fire last week.  The idea was that people could drop off their donations between 2 and 4, and then the fire victims could come get things they needed.  

The response blew me away.  There were TONS of clothes donated (Spring is the best time to clean out a closet, after all), as well as linens, new toiletries, kitchen stuff and other things.  There were way more donations than there were people to donate to, so a lot of leftover things went to Goodwill.  Either way, lots of people in our community came together to do something good.  And it was great to see, considering that all I ever hear are stories of hot-headed idiots doing mean and stupid things.  People will surprise you though, just when you need to be reminded that not everyone is a terrible person. My heart has been sufficiently warmed.

Even Em got in on the fun-she relaxed in the jogger while we sorted through donations!

It was all very exciting to her until she fell asleep.

Sorting the many donations. 

We had to lay clothes out on the ground on sheets and blankets because we ran out of table space!  

Can you spot Amy?  "I AM PREGNANT I CAN HAUL STUFF"

More and more things kept arriving.

The ladies' clothing donations were overwhelming.  

Guess an entire population needed an excuse to go to the mall this weekend.

Steven talks to (glares at) the news guy.  

In all fairness, he only looks like he's glaring suspiciously.

But this is the only picture I have of the organizer-in-chief.

Almost ready for the masses.

Exhausted from a day of volunteering.  

This is how she sleeps every night...

and if I try to move her hands she presses them tighter against her face! 

Happy Tuesday!

Inferno

This past Tuesday, an apartment building caught fire about two blocks from our house.  The smoke was stifling and the flames were sky high.  I feel terrible for each occupant of the 27-unit complex-their lives have been totally uprooted.  It was shocking and amazing to watch the fire consume the building.  Our street was blocked off for several hours, and the firefighters worked all night and into the next day.  Luckily no one was hurt or killed. I may have had such a strong reaction to it because of my experience with my family losing everything in Hurricane Katrina, or maybe I'm a nicer person now that I have a kid.  Whichever.  Either way it means that I'm cleaning out our closets and linens to donate anything we don't need to people that have lost everything.  

At any rate, I'm still just jerky enough to take pictures of someone else's tragedy so I can share them with you.  All of these shots were taken from our front porch, two blocks from the blaze.  You can see the fireman tower and tons of smoke. It was amazing, and took out two buildings with a fire wall in between.

Sleeping on Bathroom Floors.

You might wonder why in the world I would title a blog post about our first family trip as I have.  Well, my dear 3 readers, be very patient and the answer will come to you.

We started off on a 4 day adventure to Jacksonville then Gainesville, FL.  We were going to visit Lori and Jeff (Rob's bro and sister in law) and our nephews Cooper (age 3.5) and Jake (age 9 mos).  The plan was to stay with them, do a super late Christmas (later named "Marchmas" by Lori), then move on to Gainesville to visit with Rob's parents (Gigi and Deets, you may recall), and grandparents (Granny and Grandpa).  This was generally what happened.  

We had a nice visit with everyone.  Cooper loves his cousin "Baby Emerald", and wanted to introduce her to everyone.  It was adorable.  She also met her great grandparents for the first time. Nick and Ashley brought their 9 month old son Jaxon over to visit, and Lori's friends April and Jarrett brought over their 2 year old son Jackson over too.  We had a great Saturday at the park and by the pool.

Em was very patient in her carseat on the way there and on the way back.

We got to our destination and Jake, who was "fussy from his shots, right?" 

was learning to stand on his own.  

This is the first time he stood by himself!

Jake had some stomach issues on the second day, but still we thought it might be from getting shots.

Foreshadowing:  It was not the shots.

We did presents with the Jax Mans Family-Cooper loved his 

Melissa and Doug wooden car carrier.

"IT WAS JUST WHAT I WANTED!"

He is too adorable. 

Should have figured that Jake would have been happy with just the ribbon...

Em is impressed with her new personalized backpack!
I think we'll use it for her daycare bag, since her current one has her name 

handwritten/scrawled on it in black magic marker.  

The color black, not actual black magic.  But if there IS such a marker...

Jake likes his "Spill and Fill" Picnic basket...Em has one too. 

You might have noticed there were no adults in the preceding pictures.  That's because Lori had, in her opinion, crazy hair, I had just come back from a very humid run, and Jeff and Rob were not showered either.  Suffice it to say we all had fun and the kids are cuter than any of us anyway.

After presents, we got dressed and waited for Nick, Ashley, and Jaxon to arrive, then we went to the park. We grilled burgers and hot dogs, and the kids (Jeff, Rob, and Cooper) played by the pool. Jeff's BBQ cheeseburgers were delish, even if the buns suffered a little in the process. 

Jax and Em meet for the first time.

Photo op at the park:  The Gettino Family

Photo op of Em's first trip to the park!  

Maybe she isn't quiiiittteee big enough for the umbrella stroller.

But she survived.

The kids at the park.  The look on Jake's face should tell you he is not feeling so great...

Taking a decent picture of a 4 month old, 2 nine month olds, and a 3 year old is like herding cats.

That night we visited with Juddy and Erica, but I didn't take any pictures.  

Lori called the pediatrician because Jake was not himself. The pediatrician said it was probably a virus.  But still none of us were really THAT worried.

Sunday morning:  Rob is puking, among other gross things.

I spend the day taking care of Em, taking care of Rob, and helping Lori the best I can since she has a sick baby and a 3 year old. I pack up the car, and Rob and I go to Gainesville as soon as he feels like he can drive 1.5 hours.

Rob goes to bed and I visit with Gigi and Deets.  There was wine.  We were happy.

Em and Deets enjoy deep philosophical conversation before bedtime.

Gigi made these Victorian Bunnies when she was a little girl and passed them on to Em!

I am sure I've mentioned about a bazillion-factorial times how much I love homemade items, especially when they are made by family.  I'm sure Em will love playing with these one day.

See how surprised she looks.

Saturday night:  I get sick.  I had a lighter version of the vomit nastiness than everyone else.  I was mostly just extremely nauseous for 24 hours, and only got sick a couple of times. It was enough to make me wish I was dead. I spent some time sleeping on the bathroom floor at Gigi and Deets' house.  Good thing they are clean people.  But I doubt it would have mattered if they were rat hoarders at that particular time.

Sunday morning:  We hear that Lori, Jeff, and Cooper are all vomiting.  And that Jake is still sick.  

We still don't know if any of the other people we saw on Saturday ever got sick.  

Rob is feeling better by Sunday, just a little sore throat ("TOTALLY from the pollen, right?"), so he takes Em to meet Granny and Grandpa.  I stay away just in case.

More deep philosophical conversation, with Granny Mans.

Fun with great-grandparents.

Em took a little nap in Grandpa's lap.

And after the visit, Rob had a mini birthday celebration with his parents, because they had not given him his gift yet.

Please please please don't set my baby on fire.

What a cake Rob's mom made for him!  

He has requested that I make tiered cakes...But I might just let Gigi handle it still.

So then we left.  We didn't get home until about 10 p.m. Monday night.  I was exhausted and nauseous, and Rob was feeling crappy from his "allergies".  Em was thrilled to be home.  You  might have noticed that she DID NOT come down with the Violent Vomit-itis.  

Monday Morning.  Rob wakes up with a sore throat and a fever.  It was not, in fact, the pollen. I take a sick day, to keep an eye on Em and take her to the pediatrician for a checkup and shots in the afternoon. Rob goes to urgent care and is treated for Strep.  Thankfully Em does not have any signs of throat irritation or fever as of now.  Neither do I.

This Saturday we are driving to Nashville (a much shorter trip) to visit with Aunt Denise, Uncle Doug, and Em's great grandma McMillan.  

And the beat goes on.