Hour 34

It has been over 34 HOURS since I have hugged on Emma Cakes. It was so weird to come home last night without her and to wake up this morning to her not being here. I only have a few more minutes to wait though...then I am going to hug, kiss and love on her!

Jon gave us all a big scare yesterday by collapsing at work and hitting his head on desk and the floor. They think he was out for about 5-10 seconds. They called the paramedics to his office and his boss called me as they were taking him away in an ambulance. I answered the phone "Hey Honey" thinking it was Jon calling...it was his boss, Tom, telling me about what happened and I started to shake as soon as I heard his voice. He said he was fairly certain it had to do with Jon losing weight recently and having not ate since dinner the evening before and was probably nothing more. He told me the EMT's were taking him to Vanderbilt. I hung up with him, told my boss that I had to go, called Jon's mom from the car and took off. I was so nervous but I kept thinking in the back of my mind that it had to be nothing...it was from working out, not eating, something simple like that but it was still scary. I was almost to Vanderbilt when Jon's mom called me back and put Jon on the phone.

He told me not to worry, he was fine, his blood sugar was 323 and his heart rate was 50 which is why he got lightheaded and passed out. They gave him two bags of IV fluid and were going to release him but he had another "episode" when they had him walk around before releasing him. So they sent him for an echo cardiogram. It came back normal and they were contemplating a CT scan. They finally decided he probably should just go home, have a Coke, eat dinner (it was now going on 27 hours since he had ate anything), drink lots of water and rest. They called it a syncopie episode brought on by dehydration. Our sitter said she would be fine if Emma just stayed the night since it was getting late and we would just have to bring her back early this morning anyways. So last night was Emma's first official night away from Mommy & Daddy and it was kind of rough on us. We got home at 11:15 PM last night and Jon walked in the house and said "I miss my muuuuuahhh! kissies from the Cakes." Me too.

I always feel weird when she is not with me but waking up to her not being here was hard. I immediately called her sitter and she was fine. She fell asleep a little after 9:00 PM after asking for her bottle (grrr...but more than OK since she was out of her routine) and reading a story. Emma is used to me picking her up when Kipper is on (5:15 PM-5:30 PM on Sprout) and she said Emma walked around saying Mama, Mama, Mama for about ten minutes after the show ended before she got sidetracked playing with her babies. She was such a big girl to go to sleep without her Boo Bunny and blanket here at home too. :)

I am so ready for Emma to be home and snuggle bunny with me & Jon. I am also very, very, very thankful that Jon came out of yesterday with nothing more than a goose egg and 17 sticky monitor things all over his chest/arms/back and nothing more serious. Although, Jon thinks removing those 17 sticky tabs is more than bad enough!

Oops...I forgot!

A thanks to my wonderful husband, Jon for my Amy Butler scrapbook paper! We went to a local scrapbook store for the 1st time the other day and I saw it. I put it back because it was pricey and I already have SO MUCH PAPER! He snuck around me and bought it, sliding it into the stroller basket without me even noticing. It is from her Belle collection and I love it...I almost don't want to cut it up for my layouts! I was at Michael's on my lunch break today and saw that they carry 12x12 and 8x8 Amy Butler scrapbooks now. I just have a plain linen one from Close to My Heart (the products I sell, by the way) and I definitely want to get a girly book for Emma. Hmmmm. They also had Amy Butler mat pads and embellishments too.



I have also had my Mom's Cricut for four weeks now and have used it once. I signed up for a Cricut workshop at our local shop, The Sassy Scrapper. It was fun and I so should have used it more as Mom & Dad are coming down for a visit this weekend and taking back her Cricut! Maybe I'll get it out tonight after Emma goes to bed and cut some flowers, hearts, etc tonight just to have on hand. I have been such a bad scrapper lately...I need to dedicate more time to it or Emma's 1st year will never get done, let alone this year.

Valentine's Day

This post is a few days late but I wanted to share a BIG thank you for Emma's Valentines. Great Granny and Diggie sent Emma an Elmo card with a little something to shop with and Aunt Toni & the boys sent a sweet card and a necklace/bracelet set. Emma is hooked on her "pretties" so she immediately put it on...tag and all! Grandma and Granddad took us all out to lunch at Toyama Japanese Steakhouse and let Emma pick out a rocker in front of Cracker Barrel. I must admit that the rocker was definitely the HIT! She was uh-ohing the chef when he made the oil flame up and she was a big fan of the soup and chopsticks. It was so good and if you are ever in Nashville, you should totally check it out for lunch. Very yummy and very reasonably priced.



I wanted to get Emma a cute purse and some little goodies to go in it for her Valentine. It arrived today and Emma loves it. She wouldn't even let Daddy see it when he came home. I found it through Etsy and it is perfect. Emma has a few other little bags but nothing that is an everyday sort of bag to carry whatever she wants. This one fits her small Elmo coloring book, sunglasses, Minnie cell phone, makeup brush, crayons (in a built-in holder) and whatever else Emma chooses to carry around like fake lettuce and a teacup. :) I highly recommend Simple Sweetcakes if you are looking for something like this!




Nana and Papa sent Emma a card too and are coming for a visit this weekend. Emma is excited! I'll be sure to add more pics soon...someone is hungry so I gotta run!

Hey-woh and cheeeeese!

Emma has started saying "cheeeeeeese" when we take her picture and also has gone from saying "hi" to "heywoh" in the last week. She has also learned the meaning on mine and I'm not sure where that came from since she is the only toddler at her daycare. Jon took her Playdoh away since she threw it on the floor and she screamed "no my paydo, dada!" Yikes - I think the terrible 2's are coming on a little early. Elmo rules in our house and Emma can now "sing" the song to Elmo's World. It is the sweetest thing! She is also Mommy's little snuggle bunny...she cuddles up next to you and gives kissies when you ask her to be your snuggle bunny.

I have been wanting to make a photo book for awhile now and I just haven't had the extra time or the extra money to put towards one. I check out the Celebrity Baby Blog several times a day, everyday, and I won a contest over there for a $29.95 credit to Blurb. :) Blurb makes incredible books and I have been interested in them since Erin of Princess Pigbear blogged about her book a few weeks ago. I am excited to get started on mine and I'm getting Jon involved in it too! We are going to title our book "Life with Emma*Cakes" and it will be all about Emma's first year. They are offering 15% off until March if you use the code over on celebrity-babies.com so go check them out!

As promised...I have finally had a chance to upload some photos. So enjoy!

Some ramblings.

I have a severe sinus infection...again. At least my face still looks normal this time, unlike last time where the left side of my face was huge and swollen! It started on Sunday, just a bad headache, I really thought it was a migraine. We ended up skipping church because I felt horrible but decided to venture out around 3:00 PM because we needed groceries. The sun outside was killing my head (hence, the self-diagnosis of a migraine) so we headed into the little mexican restaurant, Cozumel, beside our Krogers. The food is yummy there, relatively cheap and Emma is easily entertained with chips & salsa. She is hilarious with the dipping...tapping her chip on the bowl then taking the tiniest bite of the chip, then double dipping a few more times. lol She gets her own bowl. So, we get groceries, go home and take a nap...again.

Monday begins another week and I just have a nagging headache and general "crud" going on so I take some of the Benedryl sinus stuff we have here at home. By Thursday, I am really feeling awful which is made even worse by being regulated to filing at work since I am the only temp that survived the chopping block last Friday. Ugh. Which brings me to the sinus infection. I was having a horrible day at work today...the constant up/down of filing was playing a number on my head. I was feeling pressure and my ears and cheekbones were killing me. I finally tell them that I have to go to CVS Minute Clinic on my lunch break and I don't know when I'll be back. There was no wait and it was a fairly thorough exam, BP, temp, heart rate, listened to my lungs, checked my ears, pressed on my sinuses, etc. and she said that I had fluid behind my ears and a severe sinus infection. I must say that her exam was more thorough than the ER visit that cost us $160+ back in October. So I highly recommend them if you have something like a sinus infection, strep, etc. They take our insurance so I only had to pay the co-pay but it would be $59 out of pocket if you didn't have insurance. So I grab my prescriptions, a new toothbrush and some Afrin and head home. I called my workplace and asked her if I could just go home for the rest of the day...I was heading home even if she said no...I just wanted to lay my weary head down and not make it worse by filing some more. So I get home, eat lunch, take my pills and laid down. I was passed out by 2:45 PM and woke up around 6:15 PM when Jon and Emma came home. I was feeling much better but still not great so Jon cooked some chicken soup and we all laid around this evening.

That is why I am up and unable to sleep at 1:10 AM. I just took my second antibiotic and some more Advil so hopefully I can whoop this thing. Jon is working the ACT tomorrow so it is Emma & Mommy time tomorrow. :) I am hoping to feel up to cleaning and sanitizing the house in the morning during Emma's nap. I really don't want this "crud" lingering in our family! I also need to print a few Valentine's Day cards and get them ready to mail. I still haven't finished creating Jon's collage on Shutterfly of the pics I took of Emma for his Valentine's Day. I am so late...it will be at least 3 days for it to ship to me! I wish Walmart or Walgreens carried better styles so I could just pop them out there...I am just not crazy about their designs but it might come down to that though.

Emma's FREE tee that I won from MODKID came on Monday! She had a giveaway and I won so I had her also create a skirt and kerchief to complete the set. It is so much more than I expected - I love it! I am kind of bummed that it has just sat on Emma's dresser for 5 days now. I am hoping to put it on her for a photo shoot tomorrow or at least snap a few pics when I dress her in it for church on Sunday! Thanks Patty and I'll be sure and post pics soon!

I really ought to be uploading pics right now. I need to add some pics to my Louisville post...I have some of my layouts, Mom & Emma, Dad & Emma, the Louisville Slugger Museum, etc. I noticed that my blog is starting to seriously be lacking in photos so I hope to correct that soon. I am in need of a blog makeover! My profile picture is from like May last year. I promise I'll try to correct that soon. I need a new pic of Emma & I!

Speaking of Emma...she is such a big girl this week. We finally turned her carseat front-facing on Saturday. She has a Britax and they recommend rear-facing until 33 pounds but she is getting so hard to put in there. She pushes up against the backseat so you have to struggle to strap her in. She seems to love seeing out the windshield now! I snapped a few pics of her asleep in it the other day so I'll add them here. We also just started letting her sit at the table with her booster seat. She was fighting the highchair so I gave up and strapped our travel booster to our dining room chair and she loves it. She looks so little at the big table though! We also just bought her a "real" pillow for her bed. Nana had given her two small pillows but she always looks uncomfortable, half on it when we wake her up. So I was at Target and scoped out a thin, airy, $2.94 standard pillow for my sweet girl...finding a pillowcase was a lot harder. They didn't have any plain pillowcases and the pink pair didn't match her room (plus it was $10.98 for two!) and I was about to give up when I found single fluffy looking pillowcases for $3.99 that was in the dorm room section. lol It is fluffy on one side and satiny on the other...Emma loves "silky" blankets and it was bright pink so it was perfect. She loves it! She carries it around and plops it on the floor with her blanket to make a pallet to watch Kipper and Elmo.

She is still "demanding" our bathroom for her baths and it is so cute and hard to deny her. She also used the potty again once this week. She seems to really notice when she goes and lets us know when she is wet sometimes so I think we might try to really push the potty training here in the next few weeks. :) It is so much fun watching her learn and comprehend. She watches me put on lipstick and powder and mimics me. She is all about making sure she has on her necklace, bracelet, etc. She was wearing a red and white outfit the other day and wanted shoes on. I just grab a pair of slippers that are blue to put on her (we're just at home) and she cried no and pulled her red MJ's out of her closet. Jon said...that's my girl, you tell silly Mommy that you want to match. lol If you ask her to grab a yellow ball, she comes back with a yellow ball. If you ask her where are her boots, she comes back in here wearing her boots (most times on the correct feet!) If she sees football players, it is "Go Coles" (even when it was the Giants in the Super bowl.) lol At least a Manning won! There are so many more things like this that I can't post them all but it is so cool to know all that she understands at just 19 months. I love it!

Well, it is now 1:37 AM and I am finally tiring so I best be off to bed. I am sure Emmacakes will wake up when Jon leaves at 6:15 AM!

**By the way...thanks for reading my ramblings. :)