108 balloons!

This Saturday we went to Batesville so Travis could help his dad work on their old house.  We had planned on going down on Sunday anyway to attend a very special event (more on that in a bit).
Saturday afternoon we spent sometime outside...Essie loved jumping on the back deck!

Then Saturday evening we were all in the hottub and she was having a blast.  Out of nowhere she just started throwin up. Yes...in the hottub.  While the jets were on and Travis and I were in there.  Yeah...gross!  We just thought she had either choked on some water or gotten too hot.  But during the night at 2am she threw up again in our bed.  And we noticed that she had in her bed as well.  Then she continued to do so off and on that morning.  She acted completely fine but would just throw up anytime we fed her.  So we just started giving her Pedialyte and she seemed better by lunch so we loaded up and headed to Heber Springs.

Our little cousin Hailey was having a party at Sandy Beach in Heber Springs celebrating being cancer free!  She was diagnosed with bone cancer in December a few years back.  And as of today is cancer free!  When she was first diagnosed she drew this picture:

So once they got the all clear she had a party at Sandy Beach.  She released 108 balloons signifying her 108 treatments.  It was very special!  The only pictures I got of her were the ones with the balloons....she was too busy playing to stop for pictures!

Essie didn't care much for the sand or the water but she sure looked cute! Haley on the other hand (my niece Haley) loved them both!

Then we were going to go to dinner when Essie suddenly threw up again (all over my dad none the less).  So we headed home instead.  We got back home near 8:00.  She did fine last night but threw up again this morning.  So we are taking her to the doctor at 1:30.  Hopefully we'll figure out what is going on with her and get her fixed up! 

Superhero Day!

I've discussed before that our school is doing a "Superhero" theme to pump the kids up for the Benchmark/Sat-10 tests that are next week.  Today was Superhero Day and everyone got to dress up like the superhero of their choice...it was amazing to see this kids dressed up..some were VERY, VERY funny!  Our school website has a slideshow of pictures if you want to check it out! Hop on over there and watch it...have your volume up though it's got cute music! Now you will understand why I don't want to leave my job! Where else in the world would you find teachers, principals, and kiddos like this??? (click on the word website to go there)!

I even dressed Essie in her supergirl shirt but didn't get any pictures because I changed her soon as we got home since it was soooo warm!

We went to dinner tonight with Sarah & Matthew and then to the park for a bit!

9 Months!

Essie Claire I swear it was just yesterday I typed up your eight month post!  Seriously time is flying by right now!  You are just a bundle of fun right now!  Here's what's going on with you:

• You are very, very mobile! You are into everything...you pull up on everything and love to get into all sorts of sticky situations.  You have just mastered sitting from the standing position...before you just screamed until someone got you!

• You have learned to "brush" your hair and feed yourself! 

• You are starting to show anxiety and fear ALOT MORE these days.  You are scared of sounds and new things.  You also don't like to go to people anymore.  You've started to cry when mom and dad leave you.

• The only baby food you like to eat is that nasty strained meat! UGh  You are pretty much eating table food for the rest of hte time.  You are also drinking 4-5 8 oz bottles.

• You weigh right under 19 pounds and we don't know how long you are yet.  You will got to your 9 mth check up next week.
• You wear 9-12 mos sized clothes and size 3 diapers and size 2 shoes. 

• Your favorite sayings right now is "bye bye (as you wave your hand)" and "huh, heh, hum"!  Everytime we ask you a question you answer us with a "huh?".  I love it! 

39 Weeks!

Update on unemployment (week 7)

So it's been just about 7 weeks of unemployment for Travis.  Things have not changed much since I posted last.  He's still putting in applications (recently he applied to the Army Corps of Engineers in Memphis & Entergy in Russellville).  He also had a 2nd interview with the Highway Department in Little Rock on Monday.  We are still playing the waiting game.  Currently the only job opportunity that we know of that will allow us to stay here is the one in Memphis (and that will require him to commute an hour each way each day).  I'm starting to get more and more down about it.  I'm starting to worry more and more.  I find myself laying in bed at night fantasizing more and more about telling his old boss just what I think of him.  Oh what I'd give to just lay into him...I do think it'd make me feel a bit better.  I am starting to slowly come to the realization that we are probably going to have to move.  It makes me physically ill to think of...to leave our house, my job, our friends, etc.  Ugh I don't even want to think about it!   Soooo that's where we are....it sucks and I hate it but someday it will get better, right??

And just because I can't post without a pic...here's my baby girl tonight.  She will NOT stay  out of the dog water bowl so we gave her a bowl of water to play with.  The very first thing she did was pick it up (impressive by the way) and try to drink out of it! Which of course she dumped all over herself (classic Funniest Home Videos moment!).  She had a blast splashing and dipping her hands in! This picture is very blurry (I took it with my phone) and it was her shocked look right after she dumped the water all over herself!

an evening with my laundry room...

It was Gorgeous Today so as soon as we got home, I strapped Essie's sunhat on, laid a towel out, and let her play toys outside!

And tucker started jumping in and out of the blue swimming pool barking because he wanted it filled with water.  That of course totally freaked her out!  So we put water in it...and maggie even got it for a bit!

And look who dipped her toes!  And DIDN'T MELT DOWN!  We are making progress!  Maybe just maybe one day she will play with those balls! :)

And then I cooked the BEST dinner...it's a Pioneer Woman recipe "Baked Lemon Pasta".  It was awesome.  Even Essie slurped it up!

Then after she went to bed I started getting the itch to clean and organize.  I've been needing to move all our cleaning supplies to the upper cabinet in the laundry room so she can't get into them!  It started as that and then ended up with me spending two hours in our laundry room cleaning, organizing, throwing away. 

I really think I just needed to spend some time in there.  It's been weighing on my mind lately that we may just have to sell this house and I want to be able to say that I enjoyed every single room.  You see I've always wanted a laundry room like the one I have and I have never really gotten to enjoy it.  We've just shoved things in the cabinets and never looked in.  So I am proud to say that my laundry room and I bonded tonight (I even used an old toothbrush to clean the crevices of the washing machine).