She's Got It Now

Seven Months!

Nana's Visit

Adam had his class at Lipscomb last week and Nana came and stayed a whole week. We had a wonderful time and I owe her my life because I'm pretty sure that a whole week by myself with a baby and a kid with a broken leg would have done me in. Plus, she helped me catch up on all the house work. We had a wonderful Easter. It was freezing but the girls wore their dresses anyway. Chloe was all in to the Easter basket. And since the last video, she is crawling all over the house. I was trying to figure out a way to post all of the Easter pictures without making you have to scroll for days. I just picked out a few. I have to tell you about the one where Emma has blue lips. We were dying Easter eggs and we had one of those kits that has the little tablets that you dissolve in water and vinegar. Well, Emma thought they were candy. Don't worry, they are non toxic. I checked. I'm also including some other pictures from March since this is the end of the month.

Blessings,
Dana

Emma giving Chloe her first baby food-- carrots


Just a nice sunny day-- hopefully there will be more soon!


Just like their daddy-



Nana and the girls

Easter- You should be able to click and make
them larger.

Chloe Trying to Crawl to Nana

The girls and I went to Columbus to get Lynn today. She is staying the week with us while Adam is gone to his class at Lipscomb. I'm very thankful for that! I was really getting nervous about being here with the girls by myself with Emma having the broken leg. Well, when we got back, I put Chloe down in the floor to show Lynn her new yoga pose "The downward dog". Well, Lynn got her going and she was cracking us up. I don't know if she knew what she was doing but it looked for all the world like she was shaking her head no at us telling us she couldn't do it. I'm going to have to give her the "I am American" speech. That's what I tell Emma when she says, "I can't" Then I say, "you are an American. The last four letters of American are I can". I know it's cheesy but that's what my gymnastics teacher used to say to me and it has always stuck. Hmm, I wonder if he'd still say that to me about doing a back hand spring now? Anyway, the clip is kind of long. We actually cut it as much as we could but there was just too much cuteness to leave any more out.

My Plan is better than Bush's plan

Ok, I have two different things on my mind here and I think that they are related but I'm not actually sure. But for now, I think this going to be pretty long, so I'm going to touch on one and I'll do a part two later. This will probably end up being one of those posts that is just my stream of conscience. I'm not promising great writing here. So those of you that are fiercely loyal friends and family and read everything that I post no matter what because you want to support me, thank you so much! I value your friendship and appreciate your support. But, if this bores you, I won't feel betrayed if you don't read it all. Every now and then, I get something on my mind and I end up laying awake at night trying to form a strategy (like someone in Washington is going to hear it) so I'm hoping that getting it down in writing might help me sleep tonight.

Bush's Plan
This is my general synopsis of the plan. I may be a little off on the details but this is the general idea. The federal government is going to give each working individual a $600 rebate to help stimulate the economy. They are also going to give families $300 for each child. There was also something I heard about working couples getting $1200 so I'm not sure exactly what that means. I don't know if we will get $1200 because Adam's working plus $300 for each kid. Or is we'll just get $600 because I'm not working. Either way, I'll take the money if they're giving it. It will probably end up paying for a cast. They say that this plan will amount to more than $152 billion.

My Plan
I think a better plan would be to offer individuals between 50 and 57 $200 thousand a year for five years to retire early, with the stipulation that they can only save 20% of that money and the rest has to be put back into the economy with spending. This would accomplish Bush's plan of priming the economy but it would also provide more job availability and perhaps help in the future of elderly people because over the course of those five years, they should be able to put $100,000 in savings and pay for everything that they own. Ok, now I'm sure you are curious about the age range. Well, 1) it only needs to be a small segment of the population 2) An individual can start receiving early retirement benefits at 62 so that would give them at least five years until they'd be receiving any other money from the government. I'm sure that an economist could tear this apart. But, they can Bush's plan too and it's going to happen. So there you have it. So all of you important people that I have reading my blog ha! When you rub elbows with Mr. President. Send him to the little stay at home mom's blog. She's got it all figured out for him!

Now off to one of those dirty diapers.

Blessings,
Dana

Announcements Anyone?

I've been saying for a while now that I'd like to take a class on graphic designing. I think it would be neat if I could perfect my photography and combine that with my hobby of editing pictures and such and one day open an "Everything Pictured" business where I made my own invitations and announcements and stuff. Well, I haven't taken a class yet so I'm sure that this could be better but I started looking at my own birth announcements and others that I have received lately and decided I would give it a shot. So, tell me what you think. And, if you want to take a chance, send me some pictures and I'll see what I can come up with for you. I think I could make them for pretty cheap.

Blessings,
Dana

4 New Posts

There are four new posts below. A lot has happened in the past few days. Chloe turned six months old, Emma broke her leg, my mom found out her sprang ankle was actually broken. Guess Emma is like her grandma. So keep on scrolling.

Six Months!

Since Chloe was born on the 30th, we didn't have an actual six month birthday. I guess that made her six months on the 1st. The only picture I got on the first was the one of her with Emma in her cast. These pictures where taken on the 2nd. That'll just have to be close enough.

She's rolling from front to back and back to front. She's getting up on her hands and knees and gets pretty frustrated when the only movement she can make is going backwards. She started babbling dada when Adam got to mom's on the 19th. That was a great way for Adam to be greeted. She has said both momma and emma a couple of times but daddy is definitely her favorite word. I've been trying to catch it on video so I can post it. She's sitting up and playing with toys and is just as busy as can be. The next six months is probably one of my favorite stages. I don't want to rush it but it's fun waiting to see what they're going to do next.

Blessings,
Dana

Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now

These Pictures Were taken on Feb. 27th. It was super cold and school was out. I bundled the girls up and took them out for all of five minutes. When I took Chloe out of this get up, she was sweating. People ask me all the time if Chloe ever cries. She had been crying before I took the first picture. She liked the snow suit about as much as Emma likes her cast. But, when I got the camera, she stopped. She doesn't cry often but it does happen. She's teething so it happens more often lately.


March 3-- It's amazing the difference a few days can make. Not even a broken leg was going to keep us from enjoying the beautiful weather. The high today is 80! Emma is starting to move around so that tells me she's in a lot less pain. I think the worst is over.

Blessings,
Dana

Look What Emma Got

That's right, a nice new cast. She broke her leg today at a birthday party with giant inflatables. She was jumping and just came down on it wrong. As you can see from her picture, she is all but happy about it. I think Chloe is glad to have her still for a change. It's going to be an interesting month!

I'll never say that to MY kids-- Happy Birthday Mom

Emma and Chloe with Nonna

What playing with Nonna does to you

My mother's birthday is Feb. 12th and as most of you know, we were able to spend my mom's birthday with her this year. We had a couple of detours. One of the girls was sick the whole time and my mom "sprang her ankle" playing with Emma. She still thinks she's a kid. She finally went to the dr. on Wed. and found out that the "sprang ankle" that she's been walking around and working on for two and a half weeks is actually a broken ankle. If we had any question about whether she's tough or not (which I didn't) we know now. But, despite our obstacles that we had to overcome, it turned out to be a good thing that my mom sat down a little more than normal. And I was glad to get the chance to pamper her a little. We had a wonderful time and as always, we got to the end of our visit and wondered where the time had gone.

So this is what I've been thinking.. About a month ago, I said something to Emma that made me realize that I have fully transitioned into my mother. I think it was probably something like, "Because I'm the mother and you're the child and I said so". I remember thinking when I was a teenager that I was never going to say this to MY child. Well, someone told me recently that preschoolers ask an average of 300 questions a day. Turns out that I had a kid that meets her quota by noon. So needless to say, this phrase has become a regular part of my vocabulary.

So in honor of my mom's birthday, here is a list of things that I will never say to MY kids.

-You're treading on thin ice young lady.

_ I don't care what (insert friends name here) mother does, do I look like (friends) mother.

- I'm going to give you something to cry about.

- I don't know who told you life was fair.

- I'm about to beat you into next week. (I must add here that she never actually did beat me into next week all though there are a couple of times that she should have)

- I wish I had a tape recorder. (She would have recorded me saying that I'll never say these things to my kids)

And, I'm sure that once my mom reads this, she will add a few more. I have to tell you that I'm quite okay with becoming my mother. If I am half the mom that she is, I'll feel that I've been successful!

A note to Emma and Chloe:
If you are reading this my dear child, there is a chance that you are 16 years old and you've just told me that you will never say that to YOUR child for the hundredth time. That in turn made me reflect on the time that I realized that my mother knew everything and I knew nothing. I'm sure you're probably rolling your eyes at me in true teenage fashion. Don't worry dear, you'll be reading it again in 14 more years and shaking your head in agreement. So for now, why are you reading this? BECAUSE I'M THE MOTHER AND YOU'RE THE CHILD AND I SAID SO !

Blessings,
Dana