The Wonderful Little Emma (who’s not so little anymore) and Mamma Ashley spent the last five days visiting Honey and Papaw in Marshall. Here are a few photos Honey snapped of Emma. They’re AWESOME!!! (Just click on a picture below to enlarge.)
Fever: One-oh-four — YIKES! — and what’s to come… June 20, 2009
A few nights ago, Emma raised her fist in anger and took a swing at Momma. On a side note, can you blame her? Think about how frustrating it must be to understand what someone is saying but be unable to articulate a response. We talk to Emma, and she knows what we’re saying — at times, it may be something she doesn’t want to hear — but she can’t vocalize her thoughts. It’d make me take a swing, too.
So, Ashley got onto Amazon and ordered three books about how to handle a child who wants to hit? And who can blame her? It’s not like ignoring our boxer daughter will make her punches go away.
So back to the story… Ashley ordered the books and then when she got the confirmation e-mail, she realized the order had been shipped to her old house in Austin. We called Amazon and UPS hoping one of them could help. But since the package had already shipped, neither could do anything.
We tried to find the current resident but discovered that the house had been torn down, rebuilt and was currently on the market — and vacant. Ashley tracked down the Realtor and arranged to make sure the package would remain on the porch until we could go retreive it. We made plans to go up Saturday morning (the order was delivered on Thursday night), grab the booty and see some friends who were headed down from Dallas. Well, they have a 10-month-old baby and Emma had awoken early Saturday with a 100-degree fever, which we figured was the result of her teething (at least three molars are beginning to poke through her gums). We didn’t want to risk it with Erin, but we still needed to retrieve the books from the old house.
When we got there, nothing. Ashley looked all around the porch, but there wasn’t a box anywhere. Then she looked in the window.
Sitting on the dining room table, no more than three feet from the window, was the box with $40 worth of books inside. Someone — probably a potential buyer’s agent — thought it’d be nice to take the box inside, where it wouldn’t be stolen. IT WASN’T (nice, that is).
We got to grab lunch at one of our favorite Austin eateries, Curra’s, but we knew something was wrong when Emma wouldn’t eat her black beans or rice — some of her favorite food… We went from there over to Jo’s to meet our friends from Dallas. It was really nice seeing them and their new daughter, but soon after arriving, Ashley took Emma’s temperature, which had quickly spiked to 104. It was time to go — pronto.
About an hour later, we were back at home and Emma’s spirits had picked up a bit. She drank a bottle of milk and Ashley got her to take a bit of a nap. But she’s still running a fever. Hopefully, this one will run its course quicker than the others have.
I’ve got some new photos to post. I’ll try to get them up this weekend. We’ve got pics of Emma’s first trip to the pool this year, some from her Mommy and Me swim classes and also photos from her very first haircut. Check back soon to see them!
Videos Galore June 6, 2009
It’s VIDEOS GALORE at The Life of Emma today.
We’ve got EMMA DANCING HERE.
We’ve got EMMA TELLING A GREAT STORY HERE.
And we’ve got a hillarious short of EMMA PLAYING IN THE CLOSET HERE.
Enjoy!
Bubbles: The Video… June 5, 2009
Here’s a video of Emma playing with the bubble machine Honey and Papaw gave her. She really does love bubbles. I didn’t do a lot of editing on this, so there’s a lot of footage — about 4.5 minutes worth. Ashley said I had to put that diclaimer in there!
Click HERE to see the video. More to come, soon.
Don’t know what it is… May 23, 2009
Really, we don’t know what it is… Granted, we haven’t had any deep discussions about this or talked to other parents about what drives it (though some of my friends with children have independently said it). But, what’s with little kids and the Beach Boys?
Emma’s absolute favorite song is Barbara Ann. Hands down, no questions asked. When she sees a boom box on the ground, she points to it and says, “Baba Baba Baba!”
When an iPod fleetingly appears from my messenger bag and then disappears again, Emma instantly starts digging to find the device that will soon satisfy that Barbara Ann craving.
Or she’ll walk into the bedroom and stand before the dresser, atop of which sits an iPod dock, and nearly jump up and down as if her kinetic energy itself will bring on the tunes.
But what is it about the Beach Boys and kids? Don’t get me wrong, I love the Beach Boys — and I did as a kid. I’ll never forget it. The first concert I truly remember going to was the Beach Boys. The show was during the day at the Harry and Joe Freeman Coliseum — outside on the parking lot. On the parking lot, really??? Yes. They’d covered the lot several inches deep in sand, and swimsuit-clad concert goers watched the show from the beach towels.
When the ‘Boys played Be True To Your School, the Alamo Heights cheerleading squad came out and performed.
The Beach Boys albums were also the soundtracks of my childhood summers. We’d all pile into the family minivan and fly down the highway for a week in paradise — South Padre Island.
I guess it was actually also the soundtrack for our winter trips to SPI. I remember “twist” contests at the beach with the Specias — led by my dad. The kid who could twist the longest would get $1. SCORE!
I haven’t talked specifically about this with my dad, but I believe he was a big Beach Boys fan when he was a kid, too — they formed in 1961, when my dad was 10. That means Brian Wilson, his brothers, their cousin, Mike Love, and the rest have helped put a groove into three generations of Baughs.
So, I’ll leave you with this: A ba ba ba, Barbara Ann/ Ba Ba Ba, Ba Barbara Ann/ Barbara Ann, take my hand, Barbara Ann/ You’ve got me rockin’ and a’rollin’/ Rockin’ and a’reelin’ Barbara Ann!
Fiesta’s Pooch Parade May 16, 2009
Every year, there’s a HUGE event in San Antonio called Fiesta. It’s a week of parties, parades and general celebration. It’s citywide and schools and businesses close down on the Friday of Battle of Flowers. I guess some people would say it’s San Antonio’s version of Mardi Gras or Carnival.
This year, we didn’t do much at all because we were in the midst of moving into our house and doing projects on it. But we did slip away for a morning to go see the Pooch Parade with Honey and Papaw. Here are some photos shot by Papaw, a.k.a Mark Bice.
Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles… bubbles in the air!!! May 16, 2009
As promised, here’s a link to a new set of photos. Emma absolutely loves bubbles. Honey and Papaw got her a bubble machine. She pushes the button, which activates the blower, and hundreds of bubbles fly out as she exclaims “BUUUUUBBBBBLLLLLLEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!”
It’s awesome.
More to come, we promise, plus an update on what’s been going on… May 11, 2009
It seems like it’s been just about forever since we last updated this blog. We’ve gotten so busy living life that we haven’t had time to document it. I’ve snapped a few pictures, which I’ll try to post this week. And I believe we’ve got some excellent video that needs to be edited and uploaded, and I’ll try to get to that, too. Some of you might be wondering why we’ve dropped the ball so badly here at TheLifeOfEmma.com.
We’ve undertaken two major projects that have been consuming all of our free time lately. First, we recently bought our first house. It’s a beautiful ranch-style home down the street and around the corner from my parents’ house. It’s in Harmony Hills, a venerable neighborhood on the North Side of San Antonio, near the airport. It was a wonderful house when we bought it, but we’ve been spending our free time making it into our home. We’ve painted most of the interior, though we still have part of the living room, the hallway and the dining room left. With tremendous help from Ashley’s parents, we’ve installed crown molding, ceiling fans, a garbage disposal, and shelves in the garage (and that’s an incomplete list!). We’ve begun some minor landscaping with larger projects to come. We’ve still got bookshelves to assemble, an entire exterior to paint and some deteriorated wood to replace.
Oh, and the garage is still filled with boxes that need to be unpacked. Before we bought the house, we were deep into putting together a very special trip to San Francisco that we’ll be taking this summer. Plans were well under way but put on the back burner as we honed in on our home purchase. But after long, tiring days of working on the house, we’d get into bed, pull out our laptops and we’ve pretty much finished planning our trip to California. There’s still a few things to do — including finding rings.
In case you didn’t know, we’re tying the knot in Napa Valley on July 14. We got engaged last October and after some fretting over wedding plans, Ashley and I decided to “elope” instead. I put it in quotes because traditional elopements involve the bride and groom sneaking off and wedding unbeknownst to anyone. That’s not the case with us. Our families are fully informed and Ashley’s parents are thrilled because they get to keep Emma for an entire week while we’re traveling!
Our plans include a four nights in San Francisco, a couple in Napa Valley and one in the Redwoods in Northern Cali. We’re going to be taking a hot-air balloon ride, sailing the bay and checking out some of the largest trees in the world. That said, if you have any “can’t miss” outings or things to see in San Francisco, e-mail me at “joshbaugh at gmail dot com” and let me know.
Now that we’ve got all of our stuff out of the way, here’s a little bit on what’s going on with Emma: The girl has gotten her legs… She’s walking everywhere, and when she’s on carpet she really moves! She’s got several teeth now and a voracious appetite, though it’s slimmed a bit of late. She feeds herself (sometimes with spoons, but mostly with her hands), and says several words. She likes birds (including chasing them around Pam’s Kitchen, a little neighborhood restaurant with a nice patio), and she loves to swing. She can’t get enough organic Cheerios or animal crackers and she’s quite the dancer. If you ask her to “shake it,” she breaks out in a number of different moves — depending on the music.
Her favorite song — by far — is Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys, but she’s also a fan of Neil Young, the Talking Heads, Bell X1 and the Airborne Toxic Event. She also digs the Drive-by Truckers. She’s also got her own CD that Auntie Amanda gave her. Really, her favorite songs are on this album. Check it out HERE. As soon as one song ends and before the next begins, Emma energetically exclaims: “More! More! More!” The songs talk about clapping hands, stomping feet, etc. And she does the movements along with the songs. We can’t get over how beautiful, cute, adorable and funny our Little One is. She is absolutely amazing!
Hug me, kiss me, knock me over??? April 5, 2009
In Emma’s classroom at the JCC, there’s an animatronic cow that sits up on a shelf above a big picture window, next to an accordion, a tambourine and a CD player.
If you squeeze the cow’s lower left udder, the Chicken Dance song blares out. When the cow first made her appearance, the kids in the class fell in love. They’d nod their heads along with the music and demand more when the cow’s routine ended.
It wasn’t long before the children in Emma’s class learned put their hands up near their underarms and flap their elbows like wings. They clap when you’re supposed to clap, and some even shake their butts back and forth when the song calls for it.
Emma hasn’t gotten to the fanny-wagging portion of the dance yet, but she flaps her wings with the best of them. Ashley tells a funny story about seeing Emma do the dance for the first time. That afternoon on the drive home, Ashley had to sing the song to Emma over and over. Each time Ashley would finish, Emma would put her two pointer fingers together (baby sign-language for “more, please!”) and say, “Mah! Mah!” (Translation: MORE! MORE!)
So Ashley would sing it again and Emma would flap her arms along with the song.
Now, if you ask Emma, “How does the cow go?” she flaps her arms up and down.
Having seen that, and having heard Ashley’s description of Emma doing the Chicken Dance, I decided that we just must have video of it for the blog. So last week, I packed up the camcorder and we went to school.
I set Emma down near the cow and went to put her bags away when two of her classmates came over to greet her. The first, who says “Emma!” every morning when we walk in, gingerly gave Emma a hug and then a kiss.
The second — who is the oldest, largest and the student with by far the most dexterity — came over and followed suit. She gave Emma a hug (not so gingerly) and then a kiss. But as if not merely to mimic the classmate before, the second followed up with an aggressive push that sent Emma to the floor.
It was not good. Emma screamed and cried and I felt terrible that I’d just seen her get bullied and could do nothing about it. I picked her up and consoled her. She calmed down.
So I put her back on the mat under the cow. Let’s Chicken Dance, I thought — partially because I thought it might make Emma feel better, and partially because I really wanted to get video of her doing the Chicken Dance at 14 months old.
She stood there as I squeezed the udder and the song came on. Kids came running over like cats drawn to a freshly opened can of tuna. They flapped their arms, clapped and shook their “tushes.” Emma just stood there, glaring at that cow as if to say, “I wish your batteries would just die.”
A little ditty of Emma, just woken up, playing with a cell phone… March 30, 2009
Isn’t she adorable??? Click HERE to see the video…
