Busy Bs

Another busy week has gone by here in our household.  We just realized that we only have pictures to post from the weekend as we find little time during the week for anything other than work and school (*sigh*). But when the weekend comes, boy do we play hard!  Last weekend Emmeline was a wonderful little helper in the kitchen.  She helped mommy make scones on Saturday morning and helped daddy make homemade pizza dough in the evening.  On Saturday after scones we took a walk to Cool Springs Park, then nap, a visit to Delaware Day for Kids on the Wilmington Waterfront and finally, homemade pizza for dinner.  On Sunday we did nothing but lounge and play in our pajamas, eat eggs and Paul's delicious crock-pot potato soup.  Feeling much less adventurous than the day before, we took a leisurely walk around the neighborhood later that evening and we were out of our pajamas for only about an hour.  We had a great weekend; just wish it could have lasted a bit (OK, a lot) longer.

Cool Springs Park on a nice, cool almost-fall morning.

Emme and daddy taking a rest to watch ducks

on the pond.

The duckies.  Emmeline was convinced this was a

mommy and a baby.

The pond has only had water in it for a

few months but the lilly pads are already

growing flowers.  There are both white

and pink flowers growing there.

When I say "Smile!" this is the cheesy

face Emmeline makes.

Making pizza dough with daddy!

"I'm squishing the pizza dough!"

Eating grape shaved ice with mommy at the waterfront.

Eating sweet things for Emmeline is like an art, a refined

skill.  In this picture, she is being very precise as she

gives me just a very small sample of her treat.

Oops!  She started to giggle and had a hard time keeping

the shaved ice in her mouth.

"C'est magnifique!"

Here, daddy!  Your turn!  (Shaved ice is one of Paul's favorite

sweet treats, too!)

That was good!

Emmeline has several firstborn, OCD qualities. I am frequently reminded of my older brother when she plays or cleans.  Emmeline does not like it when things are out of place or things are completed out of order.  One of her most overt OCD tendencies is to line up her toys (usually her tea cups shown above) in a row.  This picture was taken during our Sunday hermitage.

Transitions

We have had a busy few weeks in our house, to say the least.  Emmeline has started day-school and Paul and I have both been working full-time.  I have been avoiding this post because I am not able to articulate how difficult this transition has been for us all.  I am one of four children who was raised by a full-time stay-at-home mother and a full-time working father.  I always thought that I would be able to figure out a way to stay at home with my children but as it turns out, the reality of modernity and my career aspirations have caught up with me.

My mom and dad sacrificed tremendously to give me and my siblings the advantage of having a stay-at-home mom.  Indeed, they are still sacrificing for this decision as my mother is still struggling to find her place in the career world.  Currently my baby sister, Jacy, is a junior in high school and my mom is taking courses towards becoming a medical transcriptionist.  (She wanted to be a court reporter when she graduated from high school but the closest program was in the Twin Cities.  And finding a co-signer for her student loans was out of the question).  I see how much she is struggling for her niche in the work force and know that she and my dad still to this day have to feel the financial consequences of providing us with a stay-at-home mother.  At the same time I am proud of and grateful for my parents' conviction in keeping us kids at home until the age of 5.

My parents raised me with the model of one parent staying at home full-time and the other working full-time, but they also told me that I could be anything, go anywhere and do anything I could possibly imagine.  And I did.  I went to college, went to grad school, all because I felt compelled to do so.  And I love my work.  But the first and only thing I wanted to be was a mother.  When Emmeline was born, everything else dissolved.  In that first year of her life I had convinced myself that I was never going to finish my dissertation and that financially we would just make it work.  Well, now that she is two years and three months old, I find myself in a position that I had never really imagined.  It may seem funny to you, I know, considering my years and years of school.  But it is the truth.  Paul wasn't ready to have a baby until he decided to have Emmeline.  What else was I supposed to do while I waited?  To be sure, I love my work but thought that as an academic my schedule would always be flexible enough to stay at home with my babies at least part time. 

You cannot live comfortably for very long in the Mid-Atlantic on the combination of a school-teacher's and grad student's salary. And so it is.  I applied for a few jobs last spring, got incredibly lucky, and was hired at a local community college.  My new co-workers, male and female alike, are bountifully supportive of me being a new full-time working mommy.  Emmeline's school teachers are amazingly warm, understanding and uplifting.  I really couldn't ask for a better working academic environment for me or a better day-school for Emmeline.  But it is still hard.  I miss my Emmeline more than I can say.  I know she is happy and well cared for but I am still devastated.  The mornings are the worst.  We are used to cuddling in bed for as long as we want, watching Sesame Street and lingering over breakfast.  Nowadays our mornings are all business as we get up, get ready, eat and leave.   Emmeline is generally excited about school but is upset in the morning.  She seems tired, she does not have an appetite and fusses on the way to school.  She cries once we arrive and starts to scream "I want my mommy!" when I pass her off to her teachers.  I tell her I love her, tell her she will have a wonderfully fun day and blow kisses with a smile.  But as I leave the building I cry on my little teaching outfit and stumble towards my car.  I feel awful.  I usually call a few hours later and her teachers assure me that Emmeline was fine by the time I pulled out of the parking lot and is having a great day.  Even so I still feel like an awful mommy.  I hope we both get over it soon. *sigh*

Work and school have not been the only things on our agendas lately.  We have still found time to spend with our friends and enjoy these last wonderful weeks of clear weather.  Soon fall will be upon us and in the Mid-Atlantic that means rain, rain and more rain!   

Emmeline insisting that Elisa and Haley

participate in singing and playing "Ring

around the Rosy" whether they wanted to

or not!

Emmeline, Elisa and Haley: group hug!

Emmeline's 2nd day at school; this and the next picture

 cost me dearly when she realized that after our

painful goodbye I was lurching around the corner

taking pictures.  Big oops on my part, but I couldn't

resist taking a picture or two.

Emme hanging out with her new friends on the playground

having a snack; you can see she is still upset :(

Emme and Milly at Stapler Park. Emme thinks Milly is her

sister...awwww!

We ordered take-out sushi last week; Emmeline

LOVED it! (I made sure that there was no

raw fish or shell fish, of course)

"More shoe-shi please, mommy!"

Cool Springs Tilton Park; the new water reservoir a few

blocks from our house that just opened a few weeks ago.

Emmeline playing on the balustrade with Ursuline Academy

and fountain in the background.

These little fish heads have motion sensors on them;

last Saturday was about 85 degrees so I let her get

as wet as she wanted.  I figured it might be the last

chance she will get in a while.

The first time I have witnessed her building 

significant structures with her blocks; WOW!

Labor Day fun!  Daddies and babies: Mike and Milly - Paul

and Emmy Lou

Us girls.  Kate's mom, Sharon, Milly, Kate, Emmeline

and Me.  What a beautiful backyard garden, Kate!

At Glasgow Park in Bear, DE - Labor Day. Paul, Estella and

Emmeline

This evening at the Trinity Vicinity Neighborhood

picnic.  We have lived here for over three years

but have not gotten involved in the neighborhood

association.  Having a baby sure does eat up your

time and energy!

In front of the Wilmington garden contest first

place winner for a potted-plant garden.

Trying to figure out how to blow bubbles.

She looks like such a big girl in her jeans,

hoodie and piggy tails.  Interesting note: she

insisted on bathing and sleeping in her piggy

tails tonight.  We really don't know what has

come over her...

Birthday Bonanza

This Saturday our family was invited to three events all of which were starting at 4:00.  We struggled to find ways to attend all three, and after an elaborate plan all it took was a bit of rain to solve our dilemma.  Last night we attended a wedding reception for our neighbor Rachel and her husband Gener.  We all had a great time eating, laughing, and celebrating.  Allison and Emmeline had fun enjoying some cake, my two sweet treat bandits.  I, on the other hand, got the pleasure of meeting a wasp up close and personal. (I was stung)  In my defense, I was protecting Emmeline and another little girl named Ella; better me than them.

The rain caused the birthday parties to be moved to 12:00 and 4:00 today.  The first celebration was for Emmeline's good friend Estella.  She turned three on Saturday.  The party was at Milburn Orchards which if you read the blog on a regular basis you should recognize as the same place that we did our berry picking this summer.  The party included feeding the goats, a hayride, and, of course, cake.  Emmeline really enjoyed feeding the goats although she was not always sure that they were only going to lick the food out of her hands.  Daddy had to be the brave example, hooray for chivalry.  The hayride, not unlike swimming, was a no go.  She got onto the trailer full of hay, but quickly decided she did not want to go for a ride.  For Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Kim, it was a carbon copy of the carousel incident in Toledo.

After a fun filled time of presents, cake, and sand box we were on our way to Kennett Square, PA, the mushroom capital of America.  Our birthcenter friends Josie, Sky, and Avie invited us to celebrate Avie's second birthday.  Avie turned two on the 18th.  There house was somewhat nestled in the woods with plenty of green space for the kids to run around, and they also had a pool that was about two or three feet deep for the kids to swim, of course Emmeline wanted nothing to do with that.  Instead, she spent most of her time in a swing that they had hanging from a tree.  Allison and I took turns pushing her in the swing, and it wasn't until dinner time that she really started to play with the other kids that were at the party, maybe it was the cake that made her feel more comfortable.

What a bonanza of birthdays!      

Emmeline swinging at the orchard

Deep concentration

 (It's a lot of work sucking your thumb and feeding Milly at the same time)

"See Emmeline the goats will only lick the food from your hand"

"I love baby goats"

After a bit of modeling, she had no reservations about feeding the goats

Hayride, have fun everyone.  We will watch.

Yum, Cake!

"I can swing all day"

Here we are swinging some more.

Mommy, trying to convince Emmeline that there is more to life than swinging

(As you can see, she wasn't convinced)

Taking turns with Sabine

We did have a few moments of hide and seek.

The game is still a work in progress (We like to run and count)

Enjoy this short video of Emmeline bouncing on a ladybug ball

Summer '09 Camping Trip II

On Monday, August 10 we loaded up Jacy and Emmeline into the CR-V and drove 518 miles to Maumee Bay State Park in Ohio.  We met my parents there and spent one wonderful, hot mess of a week on the banks of Lake Erie.  We had all sorts of fun, adventures and good food.  (We also got a tad sunburned, I came down with a virus, and the family dog got sprayed by a skunk AND got into a dog fight...).  I am sure that it will become an annual tradition:

Emmeline enjoys dusk on the beach.

Jacy and Emmeline play in the sand.

Beautiful Jacy.

I love the Midwestern sky, especially right before

a storm

Our campsite was right on a small pond.  Emmeline

enjoyed watching the sun going down every evening.

"Daddy, I said 'good-night' to the sun!"

Playing 'Ant in the Pants' with pa-pa at the campsite

What?!  Emmeline is in the water?!  Must be because

grandma and pa-pa were there to hold her hand...

On Thursday, August 14 Paul and I had our first overnight trip away from Emmeline in honor of our eighth wedding anniversary (actually on August 17).  We went to Put-in-Bay, Ohio a small island in Lake Erie.  This is a picture of our B&B, Ashley's Island House.  Emmeline stayed at the campsite with my family.  I was repeatedly assured that she had an amazing time without us but we still missed her like crazy.  We couldn't help ourselves from looking at pictures of her on our phones several times.

Since it is a small island and there is a hefty 

charge for cars on the ferry, most people get

around on rental golf carts or bikes.  We had

fun tooling around on our little electric cart.

We toured the Heineman Winery on the island.

Admission included a glass of wine and a tour of

their crystal cave.

Heineman winery workers discovered this crystal cave

(the world's largest geode) in 1897 when they were

digging for a well.  Proceeds from tours of this cave sustained

the winery during prohibition.  

All of the winery's grapes are grown on the island.  An

amazing feat considering the island's small size.

The Put-in-Bay ferry that took us from Port Clinton, Ohio

(the "main land") to Put-in-Bay and back again.

Auntie Kelsey and Uncle Paul joined us for three nights.

Emmeline would not let Kelsey out of her sight!

"Kewsey!  Read to me!"

Camp fire, family, cheap beer, good food: Ah, life is good!

Pa-pa and Emmeline at the Toledo Zoo.

Grandma and Emmeline discovering the monkeys.

Grandma and pa-pa had so much fun showing their

granddaughter all of the animals.

"Waddle, waddle, waddle!"

Emmeline watches some Sesame Street in the camper while

Jacy devours the Twilight series.  I got her hooked!  Have

you read it?  If not, get on it!  You'll love it!

We went to the Maumee Bay street fair on Aug. 15 

and Jacy entered the talent show.  And she won!

See for yourself her winning performance...