Coffee Talk

Way to GO, Girly Girl!!

EmmyJMommy — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:07:54 +0000

Girly Girl was promoted to Level 4 in gymnastics! We are so proud of her and her willingness to work hard at something she loves! Way to go, Girly Girl! I love you!!!!

Cake & Cupcake War

EmmyJMommy — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:57:46 +0000

Girly Girl and a friend from school (I’ll call her Cupcake Friend) have decided that they will open a cupcake shoppe when they get older. This has been discussed between the two of them for over a year!!

Today they both spent the day at my parent’s house having their own Cake & Cupcake War!! They decorated cakes and made cupcakes and then had a mock Cupcake War between the two of them. I don’t know who won, but the cupcakes will be making a trip to their classroom tomorrow to share!

The girls beginning to decorate their cakes.

The finished cakes!!!!

Making cupcakes.

More making cupcakes.

Pop

EmmyJMommy — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:23:30 +0000

Rene Emile Vaughan, Sr. 11/15/1919 ~ 11/27/2011

Baby EmmyJMommy

EmmyJMommy — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:24:32 +0000

My dad sent me some scanned pictures of me as a baby with my Great-Grandmother Dodenhoff and his parents (my Granddaddy Jones & Big Mama). They are some of my favorite pictures of me as a baby, so I thought I’d share them.

Randomness & Button Boy Update

EmmyJMommy — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:40:43 +0000

1. I turned 40. Ugh. I don’t feel 40….I don’t think I act 40…., but I’m 40. Ugh.

2. We have been in our new home for two and a half months. I have had a clean home for two and a half months. I hope to continue this clean-streak.

3. Button Boy had an appointment in Birmingham on November 2 with the GI specialist. He weighs 66 1/2 pounds!!!!!!!! We were SHOCKED!

4. The fall foliage in Montgomery seem to be brighter this year. I don’t know if that is because my outlook is brighter or it really is brighter, but the colors are just beautiful!!

5. Girly Girl is going to be taking two cake decorating classes during December. For those of you who don’t know, her goal in life is to own a cupcake bakery…so, it will be fun to see what her skill level is!!!

6. Christmas is a little over a month away….can you believe it?! AAAAAAAAA!!!

7. My kids have discovered they love Shake-n-Bake. I’m all for simple dinners and so thankful that they can agree on something they like…now, do you think they will object to it 7 days a week?!

8. I wouldn’t really feed my kids Shake-n-Bake 7 days a week…., but don’t think I wouldn’t put it out there 2 or 3….I mean really….it is good on either chicken or pork!

9. Button Boy has his next EGD on December 8. This is the one that will tell us how eggs did with the Flo-vent. If they did fine and there are no eosiniphils then he can begin having another food (either cinnamon or nuts)….if they did not do fine then we have to go back off of eggs and start over again. Pray for things to be good…my boy loves eggs!!!!

10. What is your favorite holiday? Mine? Thanksgiving. I love the fellowship of Thanksgiving. I love the smell of Thanksgiving. I love the football after Thanksgiving (Iron Bowl!). I just love Thanksgiving. So, here I am counting down the days to Thanksgiving!

Memory Wreath

EmmyJMommy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:58:43 +0000

I am a sentimental fool. I think I get it honestly. My mom is quite sentimental, also.

I turned 40 yesterday. Yep, the big 4-0. Does it feel any different? Not really…except for the fact that I now know that I am 40, I still feel 35….I probably still act 25!

Last night my Mom and Dad gave me the sweetest gift….a Memory Wreath. Or at least, that is what I am calling it. It is a wreath that my mom put together that has things on it that have to do with my life.

Some of the items on it:

pictures of my family (mom, dad, jk, & me)
birthstone ring
peanut (I was born in Dothan, home of the Peanut Festival)
2 or 3 angel pins (my grandmother collected angels)
Russian Laquer pin (I went to the USSR in the 11th grade)
Finnish spoon (I went to Finland the summer after my Senior year in high school)
a Robert E Lee pin (my high school)
a Disney Music Days pin (my high school 11th grade band trip)
a cat pin (I love cats….and the play CATS!)
an Eiffel tower (trip to France w/ my family)
strand of pearls (when I was in high school I wore pearls with **everything**!)
strands with my kids names on them
TSU pin
turtle pin (sorority)
Aubie pin
flute charm

and so much more! I actually have some things at home that I plan to add to it, too. What a terrific gift to receive on such a sweet day!

7 Years Ago…

EmmyJMommy — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 14:00:35 +0000

… we were at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham with Girly Girl. She had been sick for about a week with constant runny stools that smelled to high heaven and was so weak she couldn’t pick her head up from her pillow. They tested her for many things, and finally came to the conclusion she had salmonella….then found out it had moved into her bloodstream, which can be fatal.

You know you have a very sick little girl when you are in the ER and they are putting an IV in and she doesn’t really have the strength to cry. It was so scary to know just how sick she was.

We had taken the kids to the Pumpkin Patch in Clanton, AL, the week before. We had a wonderful time, riding the hay ride, picking out pumpkins, feeding the animals and so much more, but little did we know that we would come home and within 72 hours have a sick little girl. We can actually, in our minds, trace the salmonella back to the trip to the Pumpkin Patch because 2 other children that went to Montessori Academy with Girly Girl and were at the Pumpkin Patch the same weekend came down with salmonella, also.

Anyway, after two or three days of fever and terrible “pottys” we saw the pediatrician and had a stool sample that confirmed salmonella. They chose to let the salmonella just run its course, because most of the time it will just get better. We “evacuated” Button Boy to my parent’s house because he was on his G-Tube feedings and could not afford to get the salmonella and lose any weight.

One night when Girly Girl’s fever reached 105, Mojo and I got her in the van and were ready to head to Children’s Hospital when the doctor called and said not to, just to come in the next day and let them check her again. That is when they finally did the blood culture. The blood culture did show the salmonella in her bloodstream which meant she needed to be on IV antibiotics, so off to Children’s Hospital we went.

We are old pro’s when it comes to Children’s Hospital. We have (had) a favorite nurse….a favorite doctor and knew which floor to request….and we did all three!!! We were on floor 7 NW, which at that time was considered the “Penthouse” of the hospital since it was newly renovated…and it just happened to be where Trisha (our favorite nurse) worked. We called to the GI clinic to let Dr. Saeed (our favorite Dr., Button Boy’s GI specialist) know that we were there and why….and even though we were not under his care he came by to see us several times while we were there for 10 days! He is such a blessing!

10 long days. 10 long days of them coming in at 5 am to draw blood….each day she got stronger (Praise God!) and she could fight more!…by the end of the week it was taking a nurse or two and me to be able to hold her down to get the blood drawn. 10 long days of being away from Mojo. 10 long days of being away from Button Boy. just 10 long hospital days, which are longer than normal days, really.

She made it through though. In the very beginning it was scary, but after the first 24 hours, when we began to see some improvement, it was less and less scary….but it leaves a scar. Now anytime I hear someone mention salmonella I immediately relive the panic & fear.

Our pediatrician has said that in his 20+ years of practice that this was his 1st case of salmonella in the bloodstream. It is very rare. But when you get it, it is very dangerous. I am so very thankful for the medical treatment that we have available to us now….because without it, we wouldn’t still have Girly Girl.

Neither Here Nor There

EmmyJMommy — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:56:46 +0000

1. Girly Girl’s gymnastics meet was great! She bested (is that even a word?) her balance beam score which was a 9.325 to a 9.6 and her vault score which was an 8.8 to a 9.3. So, it made the whole missing-school-worrying-about-make-up-work-and-unexcused-absences worthwhile in my humble opinion….but I didn’t hear you ask.

2. Button Boy is going to be playing basketball again this winter. He is super excited…I am too, except that last year there were too many 8 am and 9 am Saturday basketball games for my taste….I **need** my beauty sleep….desperately!

3. Troy Homecoming….Here I Come! ‘Nuff Said. (Girly Girl, too!)

4. Auburn vs. Ole Miss — Me and Mojo! I’ll post pictures over the weekend!!! I can’t wait…our first Auburn game this season!!!!

5. UPCOMING POST….pictures of our new home….if I can get off my lazy be-hind and take the pictures!!!

Gymnastics Video

EmmyJMommy — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 01:36:12 +0000

Randomness

EmmyJMommy — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:30:59 +0000

1. I haven’t blogged lately, even though I have two or three blog posts started, I just can’t seem to get them finished.

2. Girly Girl has a gymnastics meet this Friday at 11am….who on earth would schedule a gymnastics meet for school-aged children on a school day at 11am?! I mean really??!!

3. Luckily, Girly Girl has a school that is willing to work with her and she can take all of her tests and assignments early and still go to the meet.

4. Mojo and I agonized over the decision to even *ask* the school about Girly Girl missing school for the gymnastics meet….we didn’t want her to think that gymnastics was more important than school, but on the other hand, we didn’t want her to think we did not take her interest in gymnastics seriously…..so we finally went to the principal and got permission….

but it should not have been something that was even an issue…it shouldn’t have been scheduled during school. Anyway….that is my soapbox for today.

5. I have now been to two Troy University (when I was there it was Troy State University) football games this season…more than I have been to in the past 15 years!!!! I have really missed it!

6. I am reading The Help. I know I’m a little late on this band wagon, but I am really enjoying it. I’ll be finished with it soon, but it will be out of the theatres by that time, so I’ll have to wait for it on Netflix!

7. This past weekend we had some great tickets to the Troy/LA Monroe game….Troy lost, big time. But the band was swell…and I got to see one of my sorority sisters which was SWEET!

8. Is it wrong to hope that one of my kiddos will fall in love with Troy and want to go there?

9. Today’s weather is wonderful! It is October and actually feels like October should feel like….cold and crisp with a little bite in the air! I think that moon might be a football!!! (Dr. Longism for those band-mites)

10. Is it too early to begin panicking over Christmas yet?!