Black and blue

As we suspected, Emma woke up this morning with a purplish shadow beneath her left eye. It doesn't seem to bother her today, but she sure looks pathetic! To make things even more interesting, she has come down with croup again. I was sure we'd have to cart her into the pediatrician's office today, black eye and all. Fortunately, they told us there was no need to come in. She doesn't seem to feel too bad, just has a low fever and raspy breathing with a barking cough. It should go away on its own in about 2 more days.


I had another glimpse into the mind of a toddler this afternoon when we were playing with the jars of Playdoh from one of her Easter baskets. She was handing me each jar, and I would tell her what color it was. We got to one particular jar, and I said, "Ooh. Hot pink!" She looked at it and instantly blew on it. HOT pink. I had to laugh. She looked at me like she was trying to figure out exactly what was so funny!


After that, she decided that the three ducks needed to have an Easter basket pow-wow. Can you spot them all?

Emma's 2nd Easter

We got our Easter off to an early start this morning as we headed to church for the 8:30am service. Emma was excited when she realized that she was going to get to wear her pretty new dress today. She looks a bit like Cinderella in this picture, with one shoe off, but I think she enjoyed wearing her new shoes too.


After church and a shorter than usual nap, we had Grandpa & Grandma H, Aunt Laura, Aunt Martha & Uncle Don, and Great Grandma (Emma Sr.) over for a big meal and some time spent playing with all of the things Emma got in her Easter baskets. Not only did Aunt Martha bring one over, but the Easter Bunny left one here and also left one for Emma at Grandma & Grandpa's house!

These may be the last pictures for a little while of Emma with two normal-looking eyes. She took a tumble into the ottoman tonight, and by bedtime it was looking like she might be developing her very first black eye. We'll be sure and get pictures if she wakes up with a shiner tomorrow!

Emma would like to send congratulations to her friends Jolie and Rhett on the birth of their new baby sister Paisley yesterday. (And to their mom & dad, Destiny & Will, too.) We are looking forward to meeting the little one next time they are in town!

To dye for

Emma had her first experience dyeing Easter eggs today. She actually didn't get anywhere near the dye (I'm not that stupid!), but she had fun looking at the eggs as I lifted them out of the cups. "Ooooh...blue!" Once they were dry, she got to stick stickers on them. It was a little bit frustrating for her because the stickers stuck to everything except the eggs, but she hung in there long enough to stick on a monkey and an alligator.

This kid is such a little bookworm! She woke up earlier than normal the other day and started with her "I can see something I want" cry. I went into her room, expecting her to be pointing at her sippy cup or a stuffed animal that had fallen out of her crib. Instead, she was pointing and asking for the "boon book" (balloon book...Goodnight Moon, which has a red balloon in it). I handed her the book, and she pointed to the rocking chair. She wanted me to sit with her in the chair and read her the book. Sometimes I am amazed by how well she can actually communicate her wants and needs.

This afternoon, she was working on her acting skills. For some reason, she decided she would pretend that her books were heavy. (See? Again with the books!) I've seen her lift them all plenty of times without trouble. Today, when she decided that all of the books should be piled in one big stack, she grunted every time she lifted one. She's very convincing -- you would have thought each book weighed 5 lbs!

I love seeing her personality come out more and more every day. It's not always sweet -- she can throw a heck of a tantrum when she wants to -- but it's so fun to see little bits and pieces of the person she is on her way to becoming.

Weather firsts

Emma had several firsts today related to the severe weather that tore through our area. We didn't see anything from the tornado that hit downtown Atlanta last night, but we were slammed by about 3 severe storms in a row this afternoon. We spent the entire afternoon stuck in the house, waiting for the weather to subside. Each time, just before we lost our satellite signal, the weather men were saying how there was possible tornado activity headed right for us. So the first of Emma's "firsts" today was her first time heading down to the basement for a tornado warning! We held out as long as we could because she was in the middle of her afternoon nap, but once the power went out (which came back on right away), we decided it was time to take action. I felt so bad pulling her out of a sound sleep! Needless to say, everything was fine. We heard reports that there may have been a tornado spotted near us, but we didn't have any damage.

Emma's second "first" came with the second (and third) storm today, when she saw hail for the first time. We had several episodes of it, and some of the hail was as big as golf balls. Thankfully, we had both cars in the garage, but I can't say the same for the neighbors across the street! Tim took a picture while the big hail was coming down:It hailed for literally 3-4 minutes straight at one point. The yard looked like it was covered in snow by the time it was all over. I don't think I've ever seen so much hail in my life! This picture doesn't even do it justice because some of it had melted already.Tim also took a video of the RIVER of rain water running down our street after some major downpours. (It went down in a matter of minutes, thankfully.)



Around 5:00, the storms had finally passed, so we ventured out to get some dinner. On our way home, we saw the most beautiful rainbow...Emma's third "first" of the day. We could see the entire arc, and it was extremely vivid and bright, almost surreal. Tim parked the car in the garage and ran in to get the camera, and by the time he got back outside, it was gone. So we don't have any pictures, but trust us -- it was really neat!

While we were outside watching it fade away, Emma & I took time for a smooch.

Okay, Tim tells me that Emma actually has seen hail before, so we'll qualify this entry by saying that it was her first time seeing golf-ball-sized hail. Details, details...

The cow says moooooo

It's been awhile since we've posted anything, so we made this one extra special with a video. Emma has gotten quite good at making animal noises. And I bet you never knew that a duck says "blkbmlabkmbanfn"!



For some reason, she decided the other day that it's funny when we say "I love you" to her. So each time anyone says it to her lately, she giggles. So silly.

We took a trip to Walmart this morning and ended up buying a ducky that she would NOT release from her kung-fu grip, even for the cashier to ring it up. Just to turn it so that she could scan the price tag was MAJOR TRAUMA. Here she is, showing the new ducky her favorite puzzle pieces.
For those of you wondering, yes, new ducky has met old ducky and understands that he will never hold that same special place in Emma's heart. After all, which one do you think she was clutching when I laid her down to sleep tonight? There's only one original...

There is an Easter egg hunt and spring picnic at the neighborhood clubhouse area this Saturday, but they're calling for thunderstorms. Hopefully the rain will hold out until after the festivities. I think she would really enjoy it.

Hugs and kisses

Emma loves having her hair up lately. Unfortunately, she also loves taking the ponytail holders out and then wanting them put right back in! It's a game for her. This afternoon she was feeling very glam with her piggytails:Once she took them out, she tried to put them back in on her own. Didn't work so well...

She also loves giving kisses and hugs. She sticks her lips out and puckers up...it's the cutest thing! Today we were reading this book that has a caterpillar who turns into a butterfly. (Someone got it for her birthday, but I can't remember who...whoever you are -- it's a HUGE hit!) There's a page where the caterpillar is sleeping as he rests in his cocoon and waits to turn into a butterfly. She held the book up next to her face and snuggled with the sleeping caterpillar. It made my heart melt. Our little girl is such a sweetheart!

On the other hand, she is also way less easygoing than she used to be. I guess that happens as they grow and learn their likes and dislikes, but sometimes it's almost more than we can take! She is a TOTAL Mommy's girl right now and won't stay near anyone else if I am in the room. I know some day I will look back and wish for these times, but right now I wouldn't mind having a break once in awhile! And poor Daddy doesn't get to hold her for more than a few seconds before she's reaching to go back to Mommy. Everyone says we should treasure this time now, because when she's a teenager, she will just plain hate us both!

The kitty came back to the back door last weekend, but we didn't get any pictures this time. We can't walk past the door now without Emma checking around to make sure it's not out there anywhere. I think we have ourselves a serious animal lover. She can (correctly) point out almost every animal in her Happy Baby Animals book, and she says, "Oooooooh!" every time there is an animal on the television. I don't mind not having a pet right now, but I can see that we are going to end up with one eventually if she has her way. Of course, she can always go to her buddy Audrey's house to play with the cats and dogs!