4 Years and 15 Months

I postponed Emma's 4 year check up a month, so that I could take her and Brooklyn at the same time. I knew going in that they were both going to have to get shots this time, so I told John to put it on his calendar. I needed back up! Of course, that was the day that John came down with the fever, so he was off the hook. I was not as worried about Brooklyn because she is not as aware about what is coming. Emma is a different story. I knew she wouldn't enjoy the shots, but I was just praying that she would not throw a drama queen fit for to long after the shots. I admit that I bribed her with a milkshake and a new game. (it was one that John and I got her for Christmas, but decided to save b/c she got to much on Christmas) She actually did really great! The nurses were awesome. We got there right before lunch so they were not very busy. One of the nurses actually came in to hold Brooklyn for me while I held Emma's hand. It was over quick and Emma was a champ. My tender hearted B took a little while to recover, but she did.

Both girls are completely healthy. Such a blessing and something I take for granted way to often. Thank you Jesus!
Here are their stats:
Emma: 41" tall and 36 pounds (can't remember the %)
Brooklyn: 29 1/2" tall and 21 pounds (somewhere b/t 25-50%)

Pitiful, but so cute!

Overdue Post

I should have written this on January 22nd, but I just haven't had the time to do it. My sweet husband deserves 10 gold stars for his role as "Daddy" and "Hubby" over the weekend of January 18th. I got whatever fever virus and then some that John had a few days before. My illness came in the middle of the night with fever, congestion, headache, aches, etc.......Like John said, fever stinks! I was completely laid up in bed on Saturday, was up a bit more on Sunday and a little better on Monday, but so thankful that John got MLK Day off. John was awesome and did so much! He took care of the girls every need and even mine. I have to say, I was pitiful. I would not have been able to function without his help. Thank you LOVE!
The saddest part of the weekend was that I was supposed to go to LR alone to see my sweet little niece that I haven't seen since the day she was born and I didn't get to go. Boo hoo! All of us are going next weekend and I can't wait!

Sharing Sucks

Brooklyn is old enough now (15 months) to want to do everything her big sister does. More specifically, she wants to touch anything Emma is touching. Which creates a sharing problem. Most of the time, it's actually pretty funny to watch them fight. They fight like girls.



Of course, we try to teach them how to share...if any parent says they've figured this out, they're lying. Sharing goes against the Total Depravity of mankind.

Sickness Seriously Sucks

It's been a fun week of sickness here at the Nelson house! I spent Tuesday through Thursday laid up in bed with a fever and the chills. I rarely get sick, and I have forgotten how dastardly a fever can be. It's amazing that one could feel so friggin' cold when you're body temp is 102. I literally slept in pants, socks, slippers, shirt, fleece pullover, and skull cap for 2 straight days. And if you have leg hair and sleep in socks, they're not good bedfellows...the hairs get bent a certain way if socks are worn too long, making the aftershock of sock removal quite painful. I did get to catch up on some movies I missed at the theater, though.

• Stardust: good flick. Willow meets The Princess Bride meets Big Fish.
• Die Hard 4: great flick. Bruce Willis is a stud.
• Pirates of the Caribbean 3: boring movie, but good ending.
• Shoot Em' Up: great flick. Lots of bullets and violence. I love Clive Owen.

Friday night, Allison came down with the fever, congestion, and lost her voice. She's slowly recovering, but is still without much energy. While she was laid up in bed catching up on her hundreds of DVR'd Oprah's, I hung out with the girls. We played around the house all day then went to McDonald's to burn some more energy and just get out of the house (the winter sucks). Brooklyn has some lovely green snot, so she's not allowed in the nursery at church...a much wanted and needed 2 hours that was unattainable. DRAT! More playing.

We were completely out of groceries, so I got the task of going to Wal-Mart and picking up some essentials to get us through. You'd think that working for 3 food companies in my career would make grocery shopping pretty easy, wouldn't you? It doesn't. I got groceries last night around 10:30 PM...thankfully it wasn't very crowded!

Today, I'm just surviving. Here's a video of what life is like at my house: pink and lots of dancing.
Emma will be our classically trained ballet dancer. Brooklyn will be our breakdancer. She tries to bust out a backspin and headspin.

Ballet Lessons

We signed Emma up for ballet lessons at church. It is a 10 week session of learning basic ballet moves and having some fun dancing. As you all know, Emma is not shy and loves to perform. The Mom's and girls sat in a circle the first night and were to go around introducing themselves and telling why they wanted to take dance. Most of the Moms introduced their girls, but mine wanted to do it herself.

Emma: "Hi, I am Emma Nelson. I have always been dancing!"

I had flashbacks to the movie, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, when Sarah Jessica Parker introduces herself to her class. It was great. Emma has loved it so far. She can do first, second and third position and has had fun dancing to silly songs with friends.

The First Week: A Review

Friday marked the end of my first week with Kellogg. I don't really find it fun to enter a completely new environment with all new people and so many unknowns. I like my comfort zones. However, after spending a week with my new co-workers, I don't think I have much to worry about...they're flat out wacky! And that's good for me.

I now have a Jeep Liberty, and that's pretty sweet! Though everyone tells me you should stop naming your cars in high school, I get very attached to my vehicles and have an inescapable need to name them (Harvey the Corsica, Geri the Uplander, Homer the Odyssey, etc). So, despite the retorts of friends and strangers, I am naming my Jeep, Jerry the Jeep. Not to be confused with Geri the Uplander (named as an abbreviation for geriatrics), Jerry is more for gramatical alliteration. Those are big words, I don't expect the haters to understand them.

I got the full tour of the office and got to meet most of the 60 employees in the office. Jumping from an office of 4 to 60 is quite difficult, especially with my penchant for forgetting people's names. Thankfully, every cube and office has a name plate...

I was also hazed and initiated at 4:30 PM on Monday. There is a small room with 2 foosball tables and a fan (it gets hot when the competition heats up!). They play with weird rules: no spinning and 4 balls at a time. First...I suck at foosball. Secondly, I suck worse when I can't spin. I lead me and my boss to a humiliating loss the first day. And in this room of competitive glory, the losers get a nice heaping of razzing. Usually, it takes the form of a skunk picture being placed on your door. I'm going to love this job!

So all in all, the first week was pretty great. I can't wait to dig in a start contributing more (both to work and to the foosball games).

A Trip to the Zoo

What to do on a warm January day? Pack up and head to the zoo! We loaded up the girls this morning and headed over to Tulsa to visit the zoo and enjoy the warm winter day. Though a bit windy, it was 70 degrees and sunny in Tulsa, and the animals were loving it!

I got a new lens for my camera this week, and got to put it to the test at the zoo. I'm pretty darned pleased with its performance thus far. However, the lens itself weighs 3 pounds, and got pretty heavy very quickly. Check out the pictures from our trip here.

Hope everyone got to get out and enjoy the great day!

Christmas 2007

I know I am late in posting this, but we have been traveling so much that I really haven't had time. We went to Mountain Home with John's family for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The Hannon's were there too and it is always fun to hang out with them for longer than just a dinner. The picture that I regret not taking was all 4 kids (We kept B in the pack n play!) sleeping in sleeping bags in Nana and GDad's room. It was pretty cute! We all got to much stuff! Emma's big gift from us was a Cinderella castle with all the princesses and princes included. We saw it while we were at Disney World and we ended up calling the store back to get it for her for Christmas. It has been a big hit. Santa brought Emma a new ballerina outfit for her dance lessons that she is starting on Monday at church. Brooklyn got some new books from Santa which she loves and we got her pull telephone that came back this year. John and I both had one when we were little. She also got some other little things. All the family was good to us. We always come home with too much stuff! John surprised me with a Kitchen Aid mixer! I was really surprised. I have wanted one since we got married, but just haven't wanted to fork over the money for it. It is pretty and silver! I bought John a back massager thing that sits in a chair. I know that sounds lame, but I promise he asked for it!

We came home for a few days and then traveled to Little Rock to do Christmas with my family. Again, we got a lot of fun things and to much of it! Emma's big gift was the Leap Frog Click Start Computer. She has really caught on to it and likes it a lot. She also got a fun Animal Hospital that both girls are enjoying. B got a little animal train that makes animal noises and moves. She LOVES it! While we were in LR, we got to get together with 4 other couples from our college days. We all hung out without kids and it was so fun. It had been way to long since we had all been together.

I came home briefly and then went back to LR with Emma for the birth of little Claire Bear. See the next post.

I couldn't decide on pictures, so I made a collage or our holiday. Happy New Year!

Claire Louise Gammill

My sister had her sweet little girl last night, January 2! It all worked out for Emma and I to drive to Little Rock to be there for Claire's birth. I was able to get last minute babysitters for Brooklyn during the day.

Cathy was a rock star. They started inducing her at noon and she was dilated to 1cm when she checked in. By 5:00 she was at 10cm. Very fast labor! My little Claire Bear is super cute. I can't wait to go down and stay longer.

She is a little thing: 5 lbs., 15oz and 17 inches long. I thought my 2 girls were small, but Claire beat them. She has a head full of dark hair. Here she is: