It's been a week

Last Saturday, Rob and I took Em to the zoo!  It was really fun! I have lots of pictures to show, but first here is a rundown of the past week (including tomorrow).

Saturday, April 20:  Postdoc family fun day at the Birmingham Zoo!

Saturday night (all night long):  Keri has food poisoning (see above).  Now, in addition to not eating food from a truck, I also do not eat food at the zoo.  This is probably extreme, and I will get over it.

Sunday:  Receive invitation to interview for faculty position at Auburn University.  Rob had his interview there for a different position (same department) last week. Learn that I am to give a talk on protein secretion.

Monday: Go to doctor and learn that I am allowed to go to my interview if Rob drives me there and back. Get into trouble for losing 5 pounds during illness and being quite dehydrated.

Decide to work at coffee house for the day. Receive itinerary from Auburn.  Interview is to begin in 24 hours (3 p.m. on Tuesday).  Go buy something professional that fits.  This includes shoes.  In case you have lost track, I am now 37 weeks pregnant.

Monday night:  Stay up until 2:30 a.m. working on talk.

Tuesday:  Leave Em with neighbors (Thank Heavens for the Castello Family). Drive to Auburn with Rob and the dog.  Start interview with graduate students and dinner with search committee. Return to hotel at 8:30 p.m. Search committee learns that I am pregnant, ha!  I make it clear that the baby is due in 2ish weeks, and I will definitely be able to start the job in the fall.

Tuesday night:  Stay up until 2:30 a.m. working on talk.

Wednesday morning, 6:45 a.m.:  Meet search committee for breakfast.  Full day of interviews. Dog tries to eat the housekeeping lady. Rob has to hang around Auburn all day waiting for me. 

Wednesday evening:  Interviews end at 5 pm.  (I pretty much rocked it, FYI!) Drive back to Birmingham, stopping for milk and bread on the way.  Em proceeds to sleep like shit (understandably) all night long.

Thursday:  Go to work and facilitate lab tours with visiting undergrads.  Thank God for free lunch and the fact that I delegated most of this to Joy.  Go home early.  Fall asleep on bed sitting up, sleep for 1.5 hours. By the way, today (4/25) was our 4 year wedding anniversary.

Friday:  It was somewhat normal.  Haircut, lab, order cake for upcoming piano recital.

Saturday (that's today, 4/27):  Last minute piano rehearsals with students.  Leave Em with Teruko.  Check into Tutwiler for the night-anniversary celebration finally!  Go out for dinner.

Sunday (that's tomorrow, 4/28):  Pick up Em, check out of Tutwiler, go for breakfast, host piano recital. I am 38 weeks pregnant and DONE.

I should mention here that I have a husband who ROCKS AT LIFE.  Otherwise, the preceding week would have killed me. Dead.

WOW.  Are any of you surprised that I haven't gone into labor yet?? After tomorrow, this kid can come out!

Now that you understand the reason for my long absence lately, here are some pics from our zoo trip.

Rob is incognito:

Mike and his niece, Addilyn:

Not so sure about the lorikeets:

Waiting for the train:

At home, the chores never end.  At least this mower blows bubbles. And, of course, Em parks her mower right beside Rob's.

Her hair had been braided when we picked her up from Amy's house Wednesday night. Then I took it down and she looked like Tina Turner.  Here are some pictures of Em looking completely psychotic (she looks the way we feel right now!).

Hope everyone has a relaxing weekend :)

Keri

Opening Day!

Well, we went to the new Regions Park on Wednesday night for the Birmingham Barons first game in their new park!  And even though I was sure the entire structure would collapse (Birmingham, AL doesn't exactly have a great track record...), it was pretty awesome. I didn't get nachos OR french fries (not because I was making good choices), because they sold out of both!  But I had some good chicken fingers. A beautiful night with friends.  

And (!), now that I am approximately the size of a single-wide trailer, it was very easy to navigate the  sold-out baseball park.  I'm sure that everyone thought that if they touched me I would just explode, so they mostly all stayed out of my way. 4 weeks and 2 days to go.

Oh! And the Barons won!

15 minutes after we got home, Em woke up in a puddle of puke. Which, I have to say, was pretty great.  I learned about myself that I don't mind if my own kid pukes all over me, even if she had pizza and strawberries for dinner.  She is recovered from her 24 hour virus, and hopefully Rob and I are in the clear and will stay healthy.

Happy Friday-Have a great weekend everybody!  

Old and slow, but still part of the herd.

There is a children's book that The Castello's sent over to our house not too long ago.  It's called "Grandfather Buffalo".  Grandfather Buffalo liked to sit quietly, and he was old.  And he was slow.  In the book, a new calf is born, and during the night, Grandfather Buffalo listens for signs of distress.  Then there is a sand storm (or a stampede, I don't remember which), and Grandfather Buffalo makes noises so the new calf can find his way through the confusion.  Then on the first cold night of winter, the calf curls up with Grandfather Buffalo to stay warm.  And in the end it says, "Grandfather Buffalo was old and slow, but he was still part of the herd".

I feel a lot like that these days. Being a few days away from 9-months pregnant and chasing around a toddler, while holding down a full time job and looking for a new full time job will do that to a person.  I can't get enough sleep, but I wonder if it's just because I want to hide under the covers (I would hide under the bed, but I'm sure I won't fit). This too shall pass.

Things are going fine, however frenzied we may feel.  Photo update!

Em is ready for college.  Update complete.  

(I kid!)

Em thinks I need help with my makeup.  

This is why I continually look like I have been poked in the eye--because I have.

Helping with breakfast.  No one is allowed to use the kitchen counter unless her butt is firmly planted on it.  She's our quality control specialist.

Might be time for a sticker for her to wear in public that says one of the following:

"I dressed myself!"

or

"Daddy picked this out!"

She looks cute, though.

 Got the kids' room mostly completed.

1st:  Artwork by Rosemary.

2nd: Favors from my baby party that Joy made-

I might have taken more than one, but look how cute they are on the dresser!

Most of the pictures are put up.

 For Easter I took Em to see my grandma, since Rob was on a fishing trip.  We also went to see Gammie and  Grumps, who were visiting nearby.  Em went on a real deal egg hunt to celebrate Easter-and collected fresh eggs!  The chickens (there are a bajillion of them) lay eggs in their nests and in random places in the shed/barn.  So finding the eggs can be tricky.

I'm sure Grumps had as much fun as she did.

Counting.

She refused to let anyone else carry them.  

Does she get this stubborn streak from me?

Memere also drove her tractor up to meet us.

Making deviled eggs with Sarah and Debra.

Easter basket-The bunny came to Great-Granny's house!

She got candy, a broom (wow, she loves our big broom), and some books.

The broom is a big hit!

Exploring the goodies.

Chocolate for breakfast is the clear winner.

When we got home, she put on her cleaning helmet and got right to work!

(Again, those stickers!  Where can I find them?)

Tomorrow we are going to the Birmingham Barons Opening Day Game!  I'm pretty sure this will be like the recent incident at the airport, because this stadium went up so fast that it can't be held together by anything other than super glue and possibly dinosaur stickers if any of the crew has kids.  But we will see. At any rate, I'm excited about some ballpark food. I'll even take the inevitable swollen feet that will come from too much sodium consumption.

Also, Slick (our 18 pound cat!) got a cut on his leg which swelled up.  He was limping and we thought he had sprained a joint, since it was right where a human knee or elbow would be.  WRONG.  It was an abscess that burst and now we are wrestling antibiotics into him twice a day. The vet tech told Rob, "Hey it won't be so bad because the antibiotics taste like bubble gum!".  If any cat would like bubble gum it would be Slick, I guess, but how is this supposed to be helpful?  

Happy Tuesday!!

Scenic Views and Majestic Vistas!

This past weekend, Rob and I spent two nights in Cheaha State Park at a cabin!  It was glorious.  We hiked, napped, ate cookies, went out for dinner, watched movies, and just generally did what we wanted when we wanted (something that goes completely away when you have a kid).  I want to go back every year!

We couldn't take Bells with us (the cabin we were in was not pet-friendly), but we are glad we didn't because it was chilly at times and windy pretty much the whole time.  She stayed with our friends Matt and Jess...and their dog, Butters.  

What an orchestrated event just to go somewhere!

We obviously had to take Harper with us, but we didn't leave Em outside with the cats. (And actually we left the cats inside...)  Anyway, Em spent the night with Joy and Charlie for THREE NIGHTS.  They pimped her out to win a costume contest with Chelsea the dog on Saturday morning.  I don't have a pic of Chelsea (the contest was for dogs), but here is what Em looked like, and she was part of Chelsea's "costume".  They obviously won (what kind of asshole votes against a BABY?), and Em got her picture taken for the Shelby County newspaper!  She is famous!

Joy, of course, made this tutu.  Em and I picked out the shirt last week.

Meanwhile, in Cheaha, our cabin and the view from it looked like this:

We hiked up to here the first day, about a half mile one-way, then stopped for snacks.  Rob took all these panoramic shots.



Before dinner on Saturday, we took the boardwalk to see the gorgeous sunset.

Outside the restaurant where we ate dinner Saturday.  Anxiously awaiting those fried pickles (I don't like pickles any other way!) that we ordered for an appetizer.  Also, if you have not noticed, I have reached the point that I like to call "stupid-pregnant".  32 weeks, counting down, and feeling like a land monster (though in this pic, I at least look smaller than I feel)!

Sunday before we left, we half hiked and half rolled down this hill to get to the small waterfall.  It was a good reward.

And a good view from the top.

Sunday morning, I woke up pretty early and decided it was a great time to paint my toenails.  This adventure somehow ended with spilled nail polish remover, a shattered OPI nail polish (my favorite one!), and a cut on my finger.  I painted my toenails last night in my 2nd favorite shade, though, and they are super cute. (Yes, I can still reach!)  Just in time for mine and Harper's baby party this weekend!

Happy Monday-hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Still here

Hey Everyone!  I am sorry for my protracted absence.  But rest assured that we have not:

a. died
b. lost any limbs
or
c. turned Emerald into an outside baby

Things are busy and I think I'm spending all my free time applying for jobs, chasing a toddler who likes to run into tables and then cry (at least it seems like she must like it from the number of times it happens in a day), and also try to pick up our 20 lb cat.  Here's hoping she's not the world's youngest hernia patient sometime soon.

Anyway, we had Rob's birthday (Rikki, Colby, and Tye came to visit), re-arranged Em's room to also include a space for Harper, got Em into a toddler ("big-girl") bed, and are looking forward to some R&R at a cabin in Mt. Cheaha this weekend (baby-free!  except for the one that is currently attached to me)!

Here are some pictures as proof.

Rob's Birthday-He got a new water bottle (so I can have my pink one back), some Dr. Martens boots, and some new flip flops (with a beer opener on the bottom).  Practical Birthday.

Em didn't think the tissue paper belonged in the gift bags, 

and promptly placed it in the Diaper Genie.

I gave her some money for her purse, and I swear she didn't put it in her mouth for a full hour!

Best. Toy. Ever.

Seeing her big-girl bed for the first time!  

We had our friends Matt and Jess keep her for the day so she could be surprised when she got home.

I swear she woke up a big kid after one night in her new bed!

A nice nap with the ladybug in her big girl bed.

A space for Harper.  She still needs a mattress, and we still need to put up the pictures, but we are getting there. Em likes the new arrangement. But Em likes everything.

And we are so thankful that Joy and Charlie let us borrow Aidan's crib too. No worries.  Aidan is 9.

Blocks and toys in her new room.

Hm, might be time for the first haircut...

This is the part where I inform you that Em eats like her dad.  This is her pack of lunch/snacks for one day.  Yes, her lunchbox comes back empty.

Em dresses Mr. Homie for the day.  She thinks this sparkly scarf really brings out his eyes.

See, he looks cute!

And now some videos!  Em has been enjoying her music, and dressing Mr. Homie. She does lots of other stuff too, but turns a little shy when we turn on the video camera.

I used to have a toy piano (I don't think it was this fancy), and liked to "play and sing"

Note at the end we have to tell her to be gentle-Mr. Homie sure is a champ though.

Alrighty, I think you are updated.  Wow, we are exciting people

BUT TODAY IS $2 Burrito Bowl Day at Moe's!  Guess what Joy and Keri are having for lunch!!

Happy Wednesday!