Things are gettng wild

Since I was on here last it's gotten a little "wild"! To celebrate my fabulous 31st birthday the Wheeler's went to the Gentry Drive Through Safari! We didnt' allow for a ton of time but all in all I think it was a huge hit for both Emma and Michale. (I was the only one who had been before!)

The week of my birthday was great! I received beautiful flowers at work, super sweet cards from my family and friends and best of all I got to spend it with Emma AND Michael. So far in the 7 years we have been married I have gotten to spend only 3 birthdays with this wonderful man.

Emma's birthday gift was no tears!

Looking at air planes 

A ride on Momma's shoulders during a walk.

Like I said the drive through safari was a hit! There were birds, and goats and pigs chickens, deer and kangaroos...and the list could go on! Emma was able to feed a goat and it looks like she was also waiting for some food herself. ;-P

She did pet some of the animals but for the most part she was happier with just looking at them while mommy and daddy did.

Emma is continuing to do well at her new school. This week she walked in to the school all by herself and only cried twice for less than 30 seconds. She is making new friends and working on all kind of things like saying "please" and "thank you", walking on a line with her hands behind her back, jumping with two feet, counting the days of the month and even some numbers in Spanish.

 

They are also working on anatomy...looks like everyone knows where their belly buttons are! 

This week was a first for us...Emma got bit. :-( Strange thing is, she never made a sound or brought it to any ones attention. Her teachers didn't even know it had happened until she was napping. We are guessing that it happened when they were on the playground with another EP class. We hope this doesn't happen again but the good thing about these little ones is that while it was red and scary on Wednesday by Thursday morning you could barely see it. When Michael asked Emma at bath time who bit her there were only three names we knew for sure and they were her teachers. Miss Haley and Miss Lauren were lucky but Emma told us that Miss Katie was the one! She got a kick out of that one the next day.

 :-( but the fact that she never knew it happened makes me a little less worried.

 



Emma had her 18 month check up last week and while she is right on the track (with weight in the 25th %, Height in the 10th % and head circumference in the 60th %) the crazy cough is still persistently hanging around. The doctor ordered a chest xray to make sure that she didn't appear to have asthma. Good news is that there is no asthma bad new is that she has pneumonia in both lungs. Poor baby has been on antibiotics since Monday and things are already looking and sounding better. Oh and she had an ear infection so that was antibiotic ear drops too. Her teachers have notices that she seems even happier than the first two weeks so imagine how much smoother the transition could have gone if she was feeling 100%!  Oh and THANK GOODNESS this was the last round of shots until she's 4! :-)

We had our last swim class that we will be able to make it to today and it was great! We are for sure going to do this again but I am thinking of taking then next 8 weeks off with the holidays coming and some travel time to Brinkley and Alabama in our future. Emma can swim short distances from the teacher to me and back to her without sinking down. So proud of her!

After we got back to the house we changed cloths and went up to Leah, RJ and Jackson's house to "watch the game" and celebrate the birth of one RJ Murphy! While the men watched the game the ladies watched the kids and everyone had a great time.

She gets a real kick out of Jack!

 

Our other little buddy Elle!

We left there so I could meet with my co-presenter for the NACADA (National Academic Advising Association) National conference in Nashville to go over our "Best in Region" presentation!!! We are presenting on Saturday at 3 or 3:30 so if you can lift up some prayers they would be appreciated. I am excited about the opportunity but it will be a bit nerve racking knowing that there could  be a very large crowd! :-) So glad that Jenn had a wedding to come to in NWA this weekend so we could review. I miss her and cant wait to see her beautiful face for several days!

And we rounded out our evening after Emma finally succumbed to a 1 hour nap from 3:30-4:30 (her normal nap is 12-2) She was sluggish getting up but apparently she was just needing to get her dress off in order to get comfortable.

We decided to get Emma in her Bama-Jamas and after family walk around the neighborhood she played in the sprinkler.

Also Emma is stopping to smell the flowers more lately and I thought I would see if anyone believes she is mine after comparing photos! (This girl is really her daddy made over!!)

Whew...it was a wild and crazy two weeks but I wouldn't change a thing!!!

Be blessed!

Jill

WE MADE IT!!

One week down and many many more to come! Emma's fist week at Montessori went wonderfully! Was it smooth...no
Were there tears at drop off...yes
Did Mommy cry...almost but no! :-)

Within minutes  each day she was calm and doing beautiful work along with the rest of the class! Here are some of the photos from our first week.

Look...a ball pit!! 

 

Miss Katie got some undivided Emma time and Emma showed me how she can put the corresponding cars in the right garage spots!

Checking out the flowers on our way in to school

No trouble sleeping on her mat...and did I mention that she did not have a passie the whole 1st week!!

 

And then here is one from today. These photos make all the difference for me!! :-)

As if changing schools wasn't traumatic enough on Thursday I dropped Emma off and Daddy picked her up. No no that is not the traumatic part but what could have been was the fact that Mommy had gone to Little Rock to have a girls weekend with NaNa!! We had such a great time. We hung out, watched movies, went bowling with one of my besties that moved away, shopped, ate great food and got massages! It was a great way to spend my prebirthday weekend!

None of us had bowled in a LONG time but we still managed to have a blast! Mom and I flipped our wins with her taking the first game and me the second but Katie stayed strong in the middle!

While it was my birthday celebration we could NOT go shopping without getting Emma some stuff. Michael wanted to remind me that it was my birthday not Emma's after texts and talking to me. :-P

Emma got some closed toe shoes for school

We found her a super cute Halloween outfit but not a costume just yet. She also racked up on some Pookie books by Sandra Boyton and a few others. Some outfits from Target because that has to happen anytime we walk in and one more Razorback dress. ;-D

While I was gone Michael kept in touch via text messages charting Emma's weekend. She had a great swim class, got to visit Vanzant Farms in Lowell and they came home with a few bushel of apples. (one of Emma's Favorite words) Emma had rotel dip for the first time and spent most of Saturday taking notes on SEC football.

Due to the cooler weather she did not don her new Alabama dress that was commissioned by her father but I am sure that this will happen before too long! A big shout out to Make it Initial for an excellent job!

While in LR I was able to start to replenish my shoe collection. I do LOVE shoes and after Emma my foot is now a 6 3/4 but unfortunately that isn't a size in the real world. This meant that 22 perfectly great pairs of shoes had to leave me...

It was a sad time for sure but Michael reminded me that someone will love them as much as me at the goodwill! I was able to find some replacements but I still need some flat black closed toe shoes and a pair of basic black pumps to feel better about the whole situation.

While I was gone I also was blessed with Michael buying my birthday present early! I knew about it because they accidentally activated my present which made my current phone obsolete. :-( It was such a strange feeling knowing that I couldn't call someone while I was driving back for those 3 hours. I KNOW that people used to go hours and even days without a phone call but I have never been that person. From the moment I started driving I had a bag phone by Motorola in the car with me for emergencies.

Later I upgraded to one of those monstrosities mounted to the center console and by my senior year I had traded my pager (you read right) for a nifty hand held model.

How far we have come in 15 years!!

There was another amazing happening at the Wheeler house this weekend...Emma pooped on her potty! Without getting into too many details Michael had to go so Emma joined him. She wanted to look like Daddy so that means diaper off and something to read. 

After sitting there for several minutes she said "I poo pooed" and she had! Not much but it was there. She bent over so he could wiper her off (like they do at school) and she got her diaper back. AGAIN we are not trying to potty train her but she is interested and we are okay with that! ;-)

I also came back bringing gifts in the form of my old table and chairs from my childhood. I loved playing at the table and having tea time! MeMe even sent back my moms tiny porcelain tea set that Mom, myself and my moms cousins have all played with over the years. I Think those will stay in the box for a little longer but we had to try out the table and chairs as soon as she got up!

The set  has looked better and it will need to be completely refinished but that may take me a while! Until then I know that Emma can't hurt it even if she gave it her best shot!

This is the last week of being 30...I'll let you know if I feel any different on Friday when I am 31!

Be blessed, 

Jill

Play dates and changes

This past Friday was rough for mommy! We had to say goodbye to all our wonderful friends and "family" members at Just Like Home. I was able to make it most of the day without crying but when I got to JLH to pick Emma up the water works flowed!

 Through out the day I had received texts from Miss Kim and Emma was really having a great day! 

 We went around to most of the rooms and said by to the teachers that Emma had grown close to over the 16 months that she had been there and I cried. I cried as they cried and loved on Emma and she told them all that she loved them. When I got to the car Emma saw my tears for the first time and started to trace the tracks they were making down my face. Then she cried! I assured her that mommy was okay and that everything would be alright but it was tough! 

 The night was uneventful as Michael left for drill and I knew that Saturday would be a better day! Swim class was utter perfection and afterwards we went to the Walmart Associate store and found an amazing deal on a Broby doll from Yo Gabba Gabba (the only show that Emma watches) She was smitten and this allowed mommy to shop while Emma sat patiently.

The sting of leaving JLH was made a little more bearable due to the fact that Emma's best friend Elle was able to come over to play on Saturday. Emma and Elle played together for 3 hours! It was by far the longest play date we have had to date and it was wonderful!!! I can't wait for she and Jamie (aka Elle's Mom) to come back over again. We will have to invited the daddy's too for some grilling time in the back yard!

 I mean we really didn't stop for three hours! :-) It was wonderful!!!

On Sunday Emma turned a year and a half old! WOW where did that time go! We were able to snap a picture or two to capture the moment but it's getting tough to get Emma to do anything she doesn't want to do.

And finally on Monday it was D-Day... We started Montessori! Everyone got off to a great start except for the fact that Mommy had broken the garage door the day before with her truck and now we weren't able to shut the door... Emma looked ready to take on the world.

The drop off was rough but then I expected it to be. She was excited to have both of us with her at the first of the day but when we both left her with Miss Haley it was heart wrenching. :-( I did not cry and was happy to hear from Miss Haley before I even make it to campus that Emma had calmed down and was showing her who everyone was in the collage I had made her for class. I was so happy that I had made this collage because I think it really gave her some comfort!

Later that day I got a call from Miss Haley to tell me how things were going. Emma had not cried any since drop off. She sang the songs with the rest of the class and during group time she sat for the entire hour without trying to get up. She is exploring her new space and getting to know her classmates but day one was a success!  Miss Haley was even nice enough to send me some pictures as proof that Emma was indeed having a good time! ;-P

 Playground time.

Finger transfer and scoops too! 

On Emma's first day she also got to have her first Spanish lesson...that is right, Emma is learning Spanish at 18 months! This child will surpass her mother's knowledge so soon its scary.

Subsequent drop offs have been tearful but for the most part each day is getting a little better! And the pictures from throughout the day have made things that much easier for me! Below Emma is painting to help get ready for the bullient board they are responsible for this month.

I am so happy that this week has gone well and I hope that Emma's adjustment is fast and that she learns the Montessori ropes quickly!

Be blessed!
Jill