Pretty Day for Outside Play

The weather has finally changed in Central Florida after 8 months of summer, and it's been beautiful outside. Jayson has been taking John Emerson on bike rides, which they both love. John Emerson looks so cute with his helmet on, and I will include a picture of that soon. Today we played in the backyard for a while, and I tired to teach John Emerson how to kick a ball. He prefered to pick it up and throw it, or sit down and hold it. Either way, it's just so nice to spend time outside!

I'll Draw You a Picture!

Today I gave John Emerson his first pack of crayons and some paper, and he went to town....with a crayon in one hand and a piece of toast in the other hand. He did try to eat the crayons a few times, but overall, he did great! It's funny though, he seemed most interested in taking all the crayons out of the box and then carefully putting them back in.

It's been a nice weekend overall, despite some small drama this evening when John Emerson pulled my 4 foot high jewelry stand over onto both of us (giving him a bump on the head and me a cut on my chin). I went to a baby shower for a good friend today, and then tomorrow Jayson and I are going to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. But the best part is that John Emerson has been in a really good mood and his sweet and funny personality is on full display. And I'm learning that as a parent, there is no greater feeling in the world than seeing your child happy.

So Many Sweet Faces

I just love this series of pictures of John Emerson. I took them the other morning when he woke up. No, he doesn't sleep in shoes...he just carried them over to me and said "shoes", so I put them on. But yes, he is just this incredibly sweet in real life.

Too Hot for Halloween!

We got John Emerson an absolutely adorable Lion costume for Halloween this year, and even taught him how to growl like a Lion, but you won't be seeing any pictures of this great costume. That's because it's still 100 degrees in Central Florida! We were able to get the costume on him for about 3 minutes, but he was miserable and we felt guilty, so off it came! Silly mistake on our part. We still had a fun Halloween weekend though. On Friday, we went to Jayson's work, CoAdvantage Resources, to go trick-or-treating there, and JE had a great time. Even without his costume, he would still growl like a lion upon request. Then on Saturday we went to a Halloween party at our friends Melanie and Pete's house. The highlight of this party was the bounce house. This was John Emerson's first encounter with one, and as you can see below, he loved it! Even though he was the only child at the party without a costume on, he had a blast! And that's all you can ask for.

Sweet Boy and Wild Animals...or Wild Boy and Sweet Animals?

Now that John Emerson is walking, no animal is safe! We learned this in a hard way on Saturday night, when John Emerson was pulling at our cat Ziggy while he was napping, and Ziggy swiped at him, cutting him less than an inch below his right eye. We took John Emerson to the emergency Pediatric clinic right away because of our concern of infection. His eye was fine and they cleaned out the scratch, and now he's on a round of antibiotics to ward off any infection.
On a lighter note, now that he's walking, he has an even stronger interest in Riley. Tonight he walked around the couch in circles over and over (chocolate chip cookie in hand), and kept looking over his shoulder to see if Riley was chasing him. Even though she wasn't, he kept going in circles in hopes he could entice her. No such luck. I also found John Emerson today pretending to feed himself with a spoon, and then picking up pretend food with the spoon, and giving a bite to Riley. So glad my only child knows how to share! (even if it is with a dog)

I've included pictures of Riley in her Halloween costume (a chubby ballerina) and other pictures of John Emerson that show how he's looking more and more like a little boy these days, and less like a baby. He's a really special little guy, and he makes us laugh every day.

Day with the Fishies

After a very stressful week, the best way to unwind is.....a trip to Sea World! John Emerson was finally back to himself this weekend, the virus seems to have run it's course. Thank you to everyone for your kind words and thoughts. Because he had been stuck in the house for a week, and because he can now finally walk, we thought it was a good time to take advantage of the opportunities in our own back yard, and plan our first trip to Sea World. Also, it was the first weekend since last April that the temperature was less than 85 degrees. As you can see below, Sea World was a success! He loved all the creatures, and whether he saw a sting ray, dolphin, manatee, or sea horse, he would point to each and say "fish" (though I do think I heard him call the manatee "cow"!). Oddly enough, he was most fascinated by watching the roller coasters that run throughout the park. When they went by, he was literally transfixed, as you can see in his expression in the 4th picture below. Overall though, he had the most fun just playing in the giant sand/box play area they have at the park. It was a great day, and we are just so grateful to have our healthy, happy little boy back.

I Used to Love October

Fall has always been my favorite season, and October has always been one of my favorite months. I guess we got too lucky with a fun September, including a trip to Aspen, and therefore our October had to balance that out. This month has included the following:

• I've had a sinus infection for 3 weeks. I'm on round two of antibiotics. I can't stop coughing. The sinus infection gave me two migraine headaches last week, complete with blurred vision, auras (sp?) and nauseau. I grew up with migraines, but haven't had one since I was 17.....until last week. I'm getting a CT scan of my sinuses tomorrow.
• On Monday the garage door fell off the tracks and bent into itself. Luckily it was able to be repaired and not replaced.
• This week when you turn the light on in our master bath, it makes a hissing noise, and then you smell a burning that smells like an electrical fire. This house was built in 2007, and we moved here from a house that was built in 1920 speficially to avoid issues like this.
• My sweet John Emerson has been in a great mood this whole month. But then he came down with a 102 degree temperature yesterday, and today the doctor said he "had symptoms consistent with the H1N1 flu". Now he's on Tamiflu (which I had to drive to 3 different pharmacies to get), and home for the rest of the week. It breaks my heart

I rarely use this blog to vent, but now I feel slightly better. We are still a very blessed family. The two upcoming bright spots in this unfortunate month are John Emerson's Halloween costume ( a fluffy lion!), and our annual trip to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. And actually there are three....H&M opens in Orlando this week too. I promise my next blog will be cheerful and will include pictures from these upcoming events. In the meantime, please keep John Emerson in your thoughts and prayers that he makes a speedy recovery.