A Date with Daddy

It feels like February went by in a blink! Of course it is a few days shorter than all the other months, but even so, it is hard to believe that we are already in March. Now that Emmy is back in good health, she has been so fun and playful in the mornings and in the evenings. We have had a good streak of 'easy' mornings, with Emmy being mostly cooperative as we get her dressed and fed, then off to daycare. When we first wake her up in the morning, she will quickly pop up and hand us her blanket. Once or twice, she has even hung it over the side of her crib where she sees us put it each morning. She isn't really using the blanket while she sleeps; we usually see her laying on top of it rather than under it. At night, she wears a fleece, zip-up onesie sleeper, so even without the extra layer of a blanket, I think she is comfortable. After we wake her up around 6:00AM, we have a tight 30 minutes before heading out the door. It seems that Emmy is starting to understand the morning routine. She loves helping put on her socks and shoes. She will hold the socks to her feet, showing us that she knows where they go. She also likes fastening the Velcro on her pink tennis shoes. We have found that each morning, she will get attached to some item, usually a book or a tube of something (tightly sealed, of course!), and she will hold on to that item during the whole morning routine. We've given up trying to steal it away from her; it will usually go all the way to the daycare parking lot but then stay in the car. Here she is with her two favorite books right now, a book about baby animals with different fabrics and textures on each page, and a book with pull up tabs that describes everyday items. 

Grammy and Grandpa are away on vacation right now, and we are all holding our breath that no one gets sick or that there is no other sort of emergency. There are so many things that they do for us each week: dinners, errands, and childcare; they are pretty much the glue that holds us all together. My sister and I both have been able to save countless sick days because Grammy and Grandpa have watched the kiddos instead. In their absence, we've gotten the cousins together a couple of times in the last few days, and it is so sweet to see Zander and Maddox with Emmy. Zander has been asking for a baby sister lately, and we are trying to convince him that Emmy is a lot like one. (He's not really buying it!) The three cousins had fun playing in the Chick-Fil-A play-place, especially screaming in the slide. 

All three kiddos were dressed in blue this past Sunday at church, and we tried to capture a few photos of them sitting still on a bench.

Earlier this week, our school had a big college day, with our freshmen and sophomores going on field trips to college campuses. Our freshmen went to Catawba College, and our sophomores went to UNC Charlotte. It was a big task to organize it all: permission forms, money, lunch tickets, buses and bus drivers, staff assignments, chaperones, and the list goes on. Luckily, we had beautiful weather, and most of all - it's over! I think our students enjoyed the day, although I joked that we could have taken them to Golden Corral and they would have been just as happy -- the dining hall seemed to be their favorite part! Here is a shot of our freshman class at Catawba College: 

Closing out February, Emmy went on her first official date -- with Daddy, that is! A few weeks ago, I saw a post online about a special event at our local Chick-Fil-A. Boomer was with me when I saw it, so I got his approval before signing them up for the earliest sitting, 4:45PM. A couple of days before the date, the Forbush women's basketball team pulled off an upset win in the second round of the state playoffs, meaning that they would play in the third round at home that very same night. I was worried that the times would conflict, but luckily the game was set for 6:30PM, which meant there was just enough time for Boomer to do both. I got Emmy all dolled up, and with the warm temperatures, I decided that Emmy would wear the very special dress that my mom made for her. Emmy opened it on her birthday, and she fits in it perfectly now. While it is intended for Easter and she will wear it then too, I am so glad that she could wear it for her first date with her Daddy. We planned things out so that I would go to dinner solo and then meet them back at the Chick-fil-A just before 6:00PM. Then Boomer could go on to the game. Knowing that Emmy is still a little young and that eating out can be a bit of a wild card, it was risky sending Boomer off on his own, but Emmy is usually pretty well behaved at restaurants so I really wasn't too worried. Around 5:15PM, while I was enjoying my Arby's cheesesticks, I got a text from Boomer saying "Epic fail. She just threw up." I thought he must have been kidding! Threw up!? She hasn't done that in forever! His text also said that other moms were at the CFA, and by that, I knew he wanted back-up. When I arrived around 5:30PM, he had Emmy on his lap (another bad sign!) and looked so relieved that I was there. While Daddy may have been frazzled, Emmy was just as happy as could be! The only thing we can figure is that she went a little too fast with the chocolate milk, something she rarely has. He said that she also didn't eat much else. She was much too busy looking around at the other daddy-daughter couples and keeping an eye on Ariel. The theme of the evening was "Under the Sea", and the CFA staff had decorated the booth section of the restaurant with seashells, fish nets, lanterns, and other sea creatures. There was also a balloon artist, and each girl got a goodie bag of trinkets (and CFA coupons!) Even if it wasn't such a smooth date, if nothing else, the pictures make it worth it! :) I'm sure this will be the first of many Daddy-Daughter dates!