Daily Grind

We made it home in just under 12 hours - yippee!!!! We were all tired of being in the car. Emma was so sick of it that she figured out how to wiggle out of her car seat! This did not make for a happy Mommy (or a happy Emma either once she got in trouble).

Yesterday was back to work (no yippee here). I really could use a week at home now just to recuperate from being gone for a week. I need to just keep reminding myself that in 4 weeks I get another week off. I was worried about Emma re-adjusting to being back at school, but she did great. I was really proud of her, but a little sad that she was ready to leave me.

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Tacky, Tacky, Tacky

The tacky light display was too much fun and Emma loved it! These pictures are just from the first two house we saw - and they were right next to each other. I bet the neighbors love them!!! Once we were done trooping around in the cold, we did go to The Cheesecake Factory for some awesome cheesecake and coffee.

On the road again...

Well... not quite yet. But early tomorrow morning we are piling into the car again to start the long trek home. Yippeeee!!!!

I hope that everyone had an incredible day of family, eating, and for the lucky - napping! We had a very nice, but quiet day. Steven got up with Emma and let me sleep. At first I didn't think I was going to be able to go back to sleep, but since it doesn't happen to often, I decided that I really needed to take advantage of it and do my best to sleep. It took about 30 minutes for me to get back to sleep, but then I slept until almost 10:00!! It has been years since I have done that. It was a wonderful way to start the day. I did have grand plans of helping my mother in the kitchen, but I apparently did something to my back and I was having a MAJOR problem with a pinched nerve and there were moments when I literally could not move without being in excruciating pain. Definitely NOT the way I had planned to spend the rest of my day - but that is just the way it happens sometimes. We ate until we could eat no more and then decided to go for a walk. And wouldn't you know that it had been sunny up until we decided to leave the house. It only rained for a little bit and that gave us time to clean up the leftovers. It never did really clear up - but it was nice to get out and walk (or in my case, hobble).

This morning I thought about getting up early and hitting the stores. Thought about it, but never actually made it. We did manage to get all of us out of the house mid morning and I was able to get a lot of our Christmas shopping done. Before I was a mom, I always had the Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. So I am pretty proud of my self for having at least three fourths of it done by the day after. Well, we are getting ready to eat turkey leftovers and then I think we are going to drive around Richmond to see the 'Tacky Lights'. Sounds pretty interesting - HA!!! And then, if I am lucky, we will stop at Cheesecake Factory for some pumpkin cheesecake and a good cup of coffee!!! Then I have to pack and start loading everything for that little drive we are taking tomorrow :-)

Have a great rest of the week-end everyone!!!

Out and About in Richmond

I would love to be able to tell you that we have done a ton of stuff since we arrived in Richmond.....but we haven't. Monday we did do a bit of shopping at this massive shopping center just a couple of miles from my parents. It is really nice....one of those places that is all open but the walkways out side of the stores is covered. It is two stories and has just about any store you can think of. I love it!!!!! And they have a Santa - a beautiful Santa. Emma had been asking for days to go see Santa so she could ask him for Cinderella and a Cinderella dress. Even though it was not even Thanksgiving yet, I put her in one of her holiday outfits (yes, one of, meaning that she has more than one) and we went to search for Santa. She was so excited!!! Last year, she wanted nothing to do with him so it was nice change this year. She went right to him and let him put her on his lap. Then we spent the next 10 minutes trying to get her to smile! She was content to sit there, but obviously had no desire to participate in the picture taking process. (how dare she do that to a mother that loves to take pictures!!!). We finally got a decent picture of her smiling and she told him what she wanted then out of nowhere she reaches out and hugs him!!! I just happened to have my camera up to my face (imagine that) and got a great picture of it!!! I have to say - I was incredibly happy!


Today we took Emma to the Children's Museum of Richmond. I still haven't figured out who had more fun - Emma, her Daddy, or her Mimi and Papa. I got a big kick out of watching all of them. I think we would still be there if they hadn't been closing at five. Dad then drove us over to Dunkin Donuts to get some goodies for breakfast (Yippeee - I love DD and we don't have any back home!) We were going to an Indian restaurant for dinner, but Emma turned grumpy so we ended up getting take out - Yummy!!!)

Mimi and Emma had to visit all the houses in the Holiday Village. Emma's favorite houses were the ones that had puzzles. If there were no puzzles she would turn around and walk out and go to the next one.

My Emma as the cutest snowman (or girl).

Emma driving Mimi to the next activity for the day.

Emma and Daddy constructing a building.

I think that this replication of the James River was probably one of Emma's favorite things. She loved playing in the water, opening and closing the locks for the dam and helping the animals and cars go across the bridges.

They had this really cool "tree" that you could climb and then it had these weird slides. We got Emma to do it once with Papa, but after that she wanted to go back to play in the water.

Once we finally convinced her to go outside, she had a blast. She quickly made some new little friends. The little girl in the blue shirt was also named Emma.

Emma and her Daddy had a little to much fun in the sand. They built a sand castle (or tried to) and did a little digging. I thought we would never get her out of here. Once I finally did, I had to take her into the restroom to wash the sand off of her.

Emma getting a little more book learning in before it was time to go.

I think Emma is finally getting better. I have only been giving her medication first thing in the morning and before she goes to bed (instead of every 4 hours like we have been). Now, if I could just convince her to sleep for more than 7 hours at night, I think she would get even better. I know I would be better. I mean - this is supposed to be vacation and she is waking me up every morning at 5:30!

We arrived...

Well after 12 hours and 15 minutes and 624 (but who's counting) miles we arrived at my parents house in Richmond. It was an excruciatingly long day and Miss Emma had pretty much had her fill of after about 10 hours (but hey, I am impressed that she lasted that long). We even arrived in time for dinner...YUM!!!! We were able to attend church this morning with my parents and then we went to lunch at The Cheesecake Factory...YUM!!! Now we are just trying to recoup from our long day of driving. I finished the last of Emma's antibiotic today. I would love to say that she is better.....but I can't.....because she isn't!!!! The mornings seem to be the worst now, so maybe she is improving.
I was going to post some pictures, but my computer would not behave today, so I will have to try it again another time. Hope everyone is having a good week-end!!!

It's beginning to look a 'little' like Christmas...

We went and had Emma's Christmas pictures taken this morning. Thankfully, she was feeling much better (and looked much better)! I was going to post a few of them here but my computer is not co-operating with me!!!!!! So - if you are interested in seeing them, go to Wes Davis Photo and click on the 'Client Viewing' button. A little screen will appear and the password is emmaline. Let me know which one you like the best. I am having a hard time picking my favorite!

Grandma & Elvis

My mom sent me this picture last night that she had received from her sister. At the assisted living facility where my grandmother now lives, they have little picnics and socials for all the residents. At one of these events over the summer Elvis came and performed. I just love the look on Grandma's face as Elvis is singing to her. The woman next to her thought it was pretty funny!

Update on Dad:

Dad had is check up from his surgery yesterday. It went great and the best news is he is cancer free!!!! They got all of it during his surgery!!!! Yippeeee!!! God is great! Thank you to everyone for your prayers. We are taking Emma to see her Papa and Mimi for Thanksgiving and I cannot wait to see him. It was very hard for me to stay here while he was having his surgery.

Update on Emma:

I would love to be able to tell you that Emma is better and well on the road to recovery. But, unfortuately, I cannot. After we took her off the first medicine that she was given due to her resemblence to a demon child, she seemed to be improving. Then on Tuesday, I get a call from the school that they think she has pink eye in both eyes. So I go get her and she looks awful - besides her pink eyes, her cheeks are splotchy and beat red. I take her back to the doctor. It was not pink eye, but just her sinuses congested due to allergies. So they put her on a new medicine. Yesterday, I get another call from the school. She is coughing so bad that she can't lay down and go to sleep. The new medicine does not have a cough medine in it. I take her some cough medicine and come back to work. Last night she is still coughing so we gave her some more and off to bed she went. We could hear her coughing and coughing and coughing and coughing and I was starting to get really worried. Then I heard the gurgling...................I go running down the hall to check on her and sure enough, she had been sick..........and proceeded to be sick a few more times. Oh the fun in the Hill house! Needless to say, I did not get a lot of sleep and once again, I am waiting to hear from the doctor. I really hope they will just call something in. I am getting really tired of taking her in. I still do not think that all of this is due to her allergies, but, I didn't go to medical school. We are supposed to have her Christmas pictures done tomorrow so I am praying that she improves by morning.

Update on Dad & Emma

Thank you to everyone for your prayers. I have had quite a few questions regarding how my dad is doing and how Emma is, so I thought I would just post it here and update everyone at once.

Dad came through surgery okay and they had him up and in a chair by that evening. Mom was able to bring him home yesterday afternoon, so that is where he is now. When I asked him how he was feeling, he told me that he had felt better but he had also felt worse. He will be home recovering for a couple of weeks and then he will be able to return to work, but he won't be able to travel for a few more weeks.

As for Miss Emma........well..........she has also been better. But she is better than she was a week ago. She is still sick, but we have stopped giving her the medication that her pediatrician gave us. She has been having these horrible fits the last few days and Steven thinks that it was from the medicine. She just becomes completely irrational and nothing (and I do mean nothing) you do will make her happy or calm her down. Yesterday she ended up on the floor screaming and thrashing around. It was exhausting for both of us. I pray that as the medicine (if that is what it was) works out of her system, she will once again be her usual sweet self!

I will leave you with a picture from last night. Due to the fact that she was not in the best of moods I was not able to get the best of pictures.