Ok, so now that the serious post is over, I can happily report on our weekend. Em went to another birthday party. We did other things (I had to go to lab, Rob and I went on a date, etc) too.
The party was for Amy's 2nd daughter Addi, and it was a book exchange. All the kids brought a wrapped book, and each kid got to bring home a book.
A great idea for the kid who has got everything!
Em's contribution: "Ladybug Girl"
Making an entrance.
Birthday girl blows out the candles:
Em was less of a social butterfly and really only wanted to make friends with this giant ball:
She was a little confused about gift unwrapping:
I'll cover it in dirt!
A book! I didn't know that was there!
To keep her from eating dirt, Amy gave her a pepper. Maybe it's not as good as rocks.
And just had to show off this cute outfit that Abby bought for Em! And those adorable shoes!
I do have some lovely pictures, videos, and updates of my most adorable baby, but sometimes shit gets real and you have to post something serious.
On Thursday of last week, I witnessed a terrible accident on the interstate. I was driving on I20/59 from Birmingham to Tuscaloosa and was near the Mercedes plant. I was on my way to teach my Biology class about Macromolecules. There were three lanes of traffic, I was in the far left. About 200 feet ahead of me there was an 18 wheeler (yeah these always remind me of my grandpa, who drove a truck for a living) in the middle lane and a Ford SuperDuty pulling a cotton trailer.
I have no idea what really happened, but I think one of the trailers must have had a blowout and one truck fishtailed into the other. I watched both trucks flip as they flew through the air, and when the pickup landed, it was bent in half. The 18 wheeler cab landed upside down, and part of it was crushed by its long trailer. There may have been a small car (a Toyota) involved, but I didn't see it once the accident was over.
It would be remarkable to me if anyone survived.
I watched it happen in slow motion, and then watched as a large metal part of the 18 wheeler's cab flew off and came hurling toward my car, missing the windshield barely, as I pulled off onto the left shoulder. I somehow had time to think, "Wow, it's really sad now that Em is going to have to grow up without me." The piece landed about 5 feet away from the driver's side of my car. I passed that large chunk of metal again today as I drove on that same road between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.
I was so close to the accident that I was the first person to stop. A couple guys stopped after me and went running toward the accident to try and help the people that may be trapped. I called out to tell them I was calling 911, then I talked to the Highway Patrol Office to give the location and a few details about the accident. I tried to calm down, then went on my way before the interstate came to a standstill.
My lecture about Macromolecules? It went pretty great.
I forgot to mention in last night's post that Em went to a birthday party this past weekend! Without me. Yes, she borrowed the Mustang.
Our friends, Matt and Jessica, were going to a 1 year old's birthday party and, well, they don't have a baby. So they borrowed ours for the afternoon. Em had a ton of fun and came back on a sugar rush which quickly melted into a sugar coma.
Hurray for free afternoons!
Here is the pic that Jessica sent me from the party of Em making friends:
She is either telling a story or being bossy.
Check out those tiny Nike's! Borrowed from Amy, of course.
Hey guess what? There was no good title for this blog post, so I just opted for a true statement. Creativity and Grownup points all revoked!
Turns out being really busy at work really cuts into your blog-posting time. Usually I get the pictures all set to go while I'm at home (and even sometimes think up clever things to say), but write the in-between stuff while I'm waiting on an incubation or something.
Anyway, the result of being really busy at work is that my blog is suffering. Some other things at my house are suffering too. The dog finally got some extra walks this weekend. You already know that Em never wears pants. (I should give myself credit and say that she does wear pants outside the house.) We have just been leaving food out for the cats and now Slick resembles Jabba the Hut. Or Pizza the Hut, depending on whether you liked Star Wars or SpaceBalls.
For those of you blissfully ignorant of both these movies (I hated them both), this is what my cat looks like:
Jabba.
Pizza.
Ok, so now that we have Slick back on a diet, hopefully the rest of our lives will follow suit and jump right back into order.
Before the Labor Day Weekend, Uncle Gary came through on his way to Gainesville from Louisville, KY. We cooked dinner and a yummy dessert of nutella filled peanut butter cookies, and he spent the night. He also brought goodies! His youngest daughter, Ally, had these jungle baby toys that she no longer played with. There is a hammock with a light up mobile that makes music, a stroller that makes music, a baby tiger, a baby monkey, a toy cradle, and some play bottles to feed them with. The baby animals even make baby animal noises! I heard that Ally was not too pleased to give up these toys (even though she hasn't played with them in ages), but I hope she realizes that it all went to a great home because Em is having a great time with them! Em even "wrote" Ally a Thank You Note this weekend. Bet you can imagine how it reads.
Here are some pics of her playing with the new stuff. Abby, look out for the dress you got for her!
Anyway, on Saturday of Labor Day Weekend I took Em shopping for some new clothes at the outlet mall. She still loves to shop, of course, and now that she is walking, really loves to pick out her own clothes. Don't worry. We didn't leave a mess.
Otherwise it's just been business as usual at our house. Trips to the park, Rob playing baseball with his friends, me teaching piano, etc. Rob hung up a swing on our porch so we don't always have to go to the park. Needless to say, Emerald loves it. But in case you needed photo evidence:
What kid doesn't love a good game of "Airplane Baby"?
And our tomato garden. We have no shortage of cherry tomatoes and have been sharing with all the neighbors. I have to give Rob credit for these. I don't even pick the tomatoes (you know, because of my allergy...). I just make salads and pasta with them. Definitely not allergic to a good salad!
The tomatoes are taller than Rob!
So tall, in fact, that Rob is invisible!
For the end of today's tragically random post, I have more random things that wouldn't even fit into one of the random-ass categories above. First, Em has taken up yoga. Evidently Bells is taking notes.
She's also doing a very good job of eating, but prefers to have a video on if she has to feed herself. This morning she had plums and berry waffles.
And, a better video of her walking. And not wearing pants. I should probably just go ahead and confess that we don't wear pants a lot at our house unless other people are over. Except Slick. No pants fit him.
