Saturday, August 05, 2006
They're Heeeeeeeere! (II)
Noni even put up a banner and had a cake made for them. I'll take a picture of that tomorrow when we eat it. But I realize now that I have no decent pictures of anyone yet, except Emma. Go figure. I'll work on that tonight and tomorrow. Today we went shopping, natch. Actually, Popi, Uncle B. and Aunt K. are still out furniture shopping. I'd had enough, I came home with Noni and the kids. The little ones are sleeping while the older ones are chillin. Tonight we're going to Cracker Barrel for supper because that was Aunt K's big craving when she got back to the states. Late tonight M. will finally join us. I promise more pictures tomorrow.

Written at 3:06 PM by Highlandgal.
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Friday night splash
You know how we're always playing on Noni's neighbor's swingset? This time we were swimming in their pool. The neighbors are actually away for several weeks but the woman of the house has her parents staying there to keep the place. She offered the use of the pool to mom and dad before she left. Here's Emma in her suit with the flotation device built in. She had never been in a real pool before.


Here we have a diversion on the way...


Getting acclimated in her Noni's arms.


She loved jumping into Popi's arms and climbing out and doing it again and again and again.



At this age their jumping skills aren't quite developed but she wants to be able to do it so badly. I think she's inspired by an Elmo's World segment that she watches that's all about jumping. Here to can see her attempts...

Written at 2:48 PM by Highlandgal.
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Friday, August 04, 2006
I was so tickled...
Emma has a bad habit of not watching where she's going. I'd say my most repeated phrase is "Watch where you're going!" When I went to pick up Emma yesterday all the kids were waiting with her on Mary's front porch. She has about four steps leading up to it. As we were leaving Emma was moving to the steps and was distracted by a passing truck. She walked into the post, bumping her head. She touched her head and said "sorry."
Written at 2:29 PM by Highlandgal.
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Follow up to M's nightmare
I forgot to tell you this...

On Tuesday when he went shopping again he called Telecheck that morning before he left. They told him he was good to write checks again as the six days had passed. He did all his shopping again and when he gave them the check it was denied. So he called Telecheck on the spot. They had no reasonable explanantion but the denial stood. So he put it on his credit card, which did work this time. We half expected a call from Chase's fraud department again.
Written at 2:20 PM by Highlandgal.
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Top 50 Movie Endings of All Time
If you're a movie fan you might enjoy this list. Needless to say, it's chock full of spoilers so skip past the movies you haven't seen. I had actually seen most of the list, which means there are a lot of older movies there.
Written at 2:14 PM by Highlandgal.
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Thursday, August 03, 2006
Here it is, your moment of Emma


Written at 9:42 PM by Highlandgal.
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Updates
1. Emma's rash is gone. It was pretty much gone yesterday. I guess all it took was for me to pay my $25 to the medical center.

2. B. and K. closed on their house today. They got new cell phones too. For a little while they may even have a respite from the contant ringing of the dang-blamed things. When we were in Germany with them it was my observation that I had never seen people who got so many phone calls. They were quite popular. Our phone never rings, what does that say about us?

3. I got a phone call from my nieces and nephew this morning. Noni said they'd been dying to talk to me. So they get on the phone and all I hear is one word answers and it's like pulling teeth to get them to talk. The three year old had the most to say. I suspect what they're actually dying for is for me to bring Emma over RIGHT NOW!

4. It has been so stinking hot here. Even in the mountains. It's been those handful of days when we actually needed an air conditioner. Thank goodness I finally had the sense to put box fans in the upstairs windows to cool the rooms at night.
Written at 9:34 PM by Highlandgal.
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A gift from Noni
To Emma. It's a Polish pottery tea set. Now she has one like her cousin's. I'd been anxious to set them up and take a picture. I let Emma handle them a little but she wanted to take the pieces and stack them high. Uh...no. We'll wait. In the meanwhile Mommy will be loving on them ;)

Written at 9:31 PM by Highlandgal.
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Porch dudes are back!
After not showing up at all yesterday. I chose to work on a day I could have had off and sent Emma to the babysitters because I thought it would be rough hanging around the house all day with the beating and banging. Sucker! They never showed up.

Today they were here at around 7:40 a.m. The pics show the progress for the day. The new front porch steps now go from post to post. The previous steps didn't. There was a one foot gap on either side where you could just walk right off the side of the porch. This will be much safer. The tongue and groove deck boards are just laying there right now. They put the preservative on them today and they're drying. They also put up lattice board. You can see they went cheap and got the ones with the wider spread between boards. Oh well, it's not like it's mine.


Written at 9:09 PM by Highlandgal.
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Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Big day for our family!
As I'm writing this Noni and Popi are picking up my brother and his family at the airport. After three and a half years they are moving back to the United States and they are finally moving somewhat close to home. They'll be living in Maryland, fairly close to DC.

I can remember how we grieved when they moved overseas. We'd be missing out on three years of the kids development. On the other hand, it afforded us the opportunity to travel to Europe, which we never would have done otherwise. And my bro and SIL are awesome hosts!

Noni and Popi took separate cars so they can leave one with Uncle B. and Aunt K. They close on their new house tomorrow and are spending the night at their Realtor's tonight. The kids will come home with Noni and Popi. And boy can't you imagine that they are thrilled, both the kids and the grandparents.

Friday evening after work Emma and I are headed to Noni and Popi's and Uncle B. and Aunt K. hope to be there by then too. It will be so good to see them again. I'm so excited for Emma to have her cousins "close" now. We'll start off with a bang because two of the cousins have birthday parties in September and then Emma's is in October. Aunt K. has already put in to have Thanksgiving at her place and that suits me fine. I look forward to more opportunities to visit the DC area.

Uncle B. will be working on getting his master's degree for the next year and Aunt K will be returning to clinical nursing after many years as a community health nurse. The kids are already enrolled in school and will dive into many new activities, I'm sure.

I'm also sure I'll be sharing tons of pics of the reunion and the move in.
Written at 3:51 PM by Highlandgal.
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Tuesday, August 01, 2006
E.T. phone home
And get your alien buddies to pick up this child. I'm on to them. I know they've switched my precious princess for a tantrum throwing alien demon. This child is throwing tantrums over every single thing she wants. EVERY. SINGLE. THING. Like, if I don't move fast enough actually doing what she wants she throws a tantrum. I'm deadly serious, Noni and Popi would hardly recognize her from the behavior I've seen this week, and especially today.

In all fairness her illness may be dragging her down worse than I realize. But she is on a seriously short fuse. And she's gotten soooo dependent on her paci and Tigger over the last week. Now I'm SCARED to take it away from her. I feel thoroughly cowed by the intensity of her reaction when she's separated from it. She wanted it halfway through the Doc appointment because she was rifling her diaper bag and found Tigger. If she has Tigger she has to have paci. Unfortunately it was in the car. So she wailed for a full half of our visit. Made quite an impression on the new doctor. I heard Terribles Twos come out his mouth several times. Or at least that's what I thought I heard over the static.

Written at 8:56 PM by Highlandgal.
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A visit to the doctor's office
I should have saved my $25 co-pay. We didn't cover any new ground from our phone call last night. The only thing new was that the doctor actually got to lay his eyes on the rash. Yep, it's definitely a viral rash. He looked at Emma's throat and listened to her chest. Her ears are clear. I guess I can count this as a midway check-up. Oh, and we just let it run it's course. Sigh.


Written at 8:39 PM by Highlandgal.
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I want to marry VH1 Classic
I love it that much. Today is the 25th Anniversary of MTV. It launched on August 1, 1981 with Video Killed the Radio Star. VH1 Classic is showing the first day of programming of MTV today. It's seriously awesome time capsule. MTV doesn't even resemble itself anymore, what tripe. But VH1 Classics shows videos (gasp!) like MTV used to, and they're geared toward the MTV generation (ME). It's why I'm forever wedded to the Dish Network 180 programming package. I'd love to economize, but I want my MTV! (VH1 Classic!)

By the way, after watching about an hour of the programming I'd have to say it was a miracle MTV made it past the first day. Anyone have fond memories of Bootcamp, Rainbow, and Rockpile with Robert Plant? No? There was a heinous, heinous Kate Bush video. On the more acceptable side I've seen REO Speedwagon twice and Rod Stewart. Let me tell you, 1981 sexy is NOT 2006 sexy. But I guess sexiness kind of won the survival of the fittest battle during the infancy of MTV.


Written at 8:33 PM by Highlandgal.
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The porch dudes are here
Surprise! Yeah, it would have been nice to have some warning. M. was standing buck naked in the shower this morning getting ready to turn on the water when I went in to tell him. Because no one let us know, the porch was covered with our furniture and M.'s tools. He threw on some shorts and went outside to start pulling the stuff into the yard. He'd been at it a few minutes when Emma and I left. Later I talked to him on the phone and it was 10:30 a.m. before he got to work. Apparently they stirred up a hornets nest and we didn't have bee spray. M. had to wait for the guy to drive to town and buy spray before he could finish cleaning up his stuff. Then he still needed a shower. He called his mom to cover for him. But all of the hassle he went through this morning could have been avoided with one simple phone call. Asses.

Here's the first days progress.



Written at 8:16 PM by Highlandgal.
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Monday, July 31, 2006
Forecast is poor visibility
It's a bad idea to take Tigger on a walk. Because Emma ends up on M's shoulders and Tigger ends up on his head. And then he can't see. Nevermind how lovely that must feel in 90 degree heat.

Written at 8:41 PM by Highlandgal.
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Got my Birthday Express Catalog today

Woo hoo! I'd already decided that we had no choice but to have an Elmo party this year. But her birthday isn't until Oct. 9 so we have plenty of time to plan it. I did pull out my calendar and have a look at the possible dates. I really want Emma's cousins to be able to be there this year so I may be dependent on my SIL's work schedule, which is fine. Emma's party will just be family again this year. I'm not ready for a bigger thrash than that.

Here's the theme we'll be selecting from, probably.

Written at 8:19 PM by Highlandgal.
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Update on rash
I got through to the on-call Dr. We talked for a bit and he said it sounded like the classic symptoms of a viral exanthem. He couldn't say for sure whether it's roseola or not. She's been as active as ever, eating and drinking just fine. She's as sharp as ever. She does seem to be more clingy to her comfort items, her paci and lovie. So the strategy now is wait and see what we have in the morning. He told me things to look out for that could be dangerous, but I've seen nothing like he described. I called my substitute at work to give her a head's up that I may need her. She's on for now, if I end up going to work I'll call her off. I can't get an appointment till after noon so I'll be forced to wait and see.
Written at 7:43 PM by Highlandgal.
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Have a look for me...
You may remember we've been battling a fever here. Fever was the only symptom. It disappeared Sunday and she was fine. Today I pick her up from the babysitter and this is what I find. She says she woke up from her nap like that. Does it look familiar to anyone? The docs office is closed so I plan to leave a message on the machine and try and get in early tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'll do if the rash is gone in the morning. It may be a heat rash, I have no idea. But it has me concerned. Any thoughts or guesses? Does the fever w/no symptoms and later a rash ring any bells? Or do you think they could be unrelated?

She has no fever now. If anything she feels cool.


Written at 6:02 PM by Highlandgal.
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Sunday, July 30, 2006
Pool time, Yay!
Daddy is making motor boat sounds and she thinks it's hilarious...


A different pose...


Playing Ring Around the Rosie...


For Noni...

Written at 7:04 PM by Highlandgal.
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Motor Boat
This video shows Emma trying out her motor boat sounds. She was mimicking Daddy.

Written at 6:58 PM by Highlandgal.
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Shots from the morning...
Out on our family walk...


Back home again, checking out the progress of the sunflowers...

Written at 3:05 PM by Highlandgal.
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Sunday nature study
This are pics of roadside flowers along our walk today.

This is burdock, the source of the burrs that cling to your pants, or get wrapped up in dog hair and won't come out. I had no idea it was ever pretty or had any redeeming value at all.


Chickory is everywhere alongside the roads. The groundhogs love it, which can be bad for the groundhogs. You see a lot of them smooshed on the roads around here.


Queen Anne's Lace is all over too. We have a bunch of it in fields around the house as well as along the roadside.

Written at 2:34 PM by Highlandgal.
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