So guess what?

Things are still so busy at work, but there is an end in sight!  Rosy is sending her grant tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.!  So while I have a ton of stuff to help her with, and lectures to make, and students to teach and quizzes to administer, I'm posting on my blog.  I'm tired of people "reminding" me that I haven't posted anything new in a while!  But honestly, I love that people like my blog-people that I had no idea were reading it are checking it out regularly, which is scary because I feel like my life is pretty boring.

ANYWAY.

Em has a whole slew of favorite hobbies, including stopping regularly to smell the roses (or marigolds, as the case may be) and "helping" me the in the kitchen. The latter has led to a small amount of babyproofing because she now moves so fast that I am usually the last to know when she's trying to drink the cleaning supplies.  Seriously, it's amazing she has lived this long.  Hopefully she will make it to her first birthday with the cabinets securely locked.  But maybe not because her other favorite hobby includes running on the ceramic tile floor, which usually leads to sorrow.

A Mans Family Fail. That might be snot on my shirt.

She likes to keep her hair out of the way while she "cooks".  This series of pictures is so hilarious to me.  We actually kept this cabinet available to her to play in, partly out of resignation and partly because it entices her to play in kitchen while I make dinner.

I am also trying to get her interested in reading, which, so far is going a little like this.  Doesn't she look thrilled? Mostly she likes to turn the pages as fast as possible, throw the book down, and then go play. 

So, because Emerald is going to be a big sister in May (!!!), we started looking into less expensive daycare options.  We found a SAHM (that's lingo for "stay at home mom") in Homewood that keeps her for about $40 less a week than the daycare center cost us.  And she is available to keep the new baby once "it" arrives too. Plus there is only Em plus Kayla's boys. She has three boys, and the oldest is in school.  Yesterday, the day of our first ultrasound for the new baby, was Em's first day at her new daycare.  Kayla was nice enough to send me some picture updates:

Play time

Craft Time.

Redecorating the high chair:

Outside time!  

(That is Kayla's youngest, Chase.  He was sad to no longer be the "baby" 

but hopefully he will adjust soon.)

Because I am the mom of the year, I left Em's two craft projects on top of the car yesterday and drove off down the interstate.  Which is unfortunate because one of them was made of hard plaster.  I am trying to make myself feel better by remembering that there will be lots of craft projects in the months and years to come.

Oh, and finally:  The new baby is due on Mother's Day.  Yesterday we saw a strong heartbeat on the ultrasound and everything looks good even though it is still kind of early.  And I am feeling fine, with the exception of being completely exhausted by my 11 month old!  

Happy Tuesday!!