Big Girl Bed

We have officially changed over Emaline's bed to the "big girl bed". Since she sleeps in a toddler bed at Nana's house, I figured it wouldn't be that much of a change to finally let her get in and out of her own bed at home. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be and I don't know why I waited so long. Probably cause I didn't want to deal with the fact that my baby wasn't technically in a crib any longer. But...now that I don't have to pick her up and drop her into a crib is excellent for me :-). We've also gotten a few "baby" things out of her room to get ready for moving stuff over to the new baby's room next door. The rocker and changing table are still in her room, but that's cause I've been seriously lazy and haven't cleared out the guest room. After Emaline's birthday this weekend we'll hopefully get more motivated to take down the guest bed and strip that horrible wallpaper in there. So wish us luck!

Also found out this week that my sister-in-law's boyfriend sells carpet, so hopefully we can coerce him into a deal for the upstairs! That carpet REALLY needs to go...

Check back next week for Emaline's birthday party post!

The 2008 BMW Championship at Bellreve CC

This past weekend, Emaline and I took in the BMW Championship with my friend Robyn and my parents. My parents volunteer every time the PGA tour comes through STL. This year in addition to being able to volunteer, my Dad was contacted by a colleague and asked if we wanted tickets to one of the hospitality suites for Thurs-Sunday. Of course free tickets are always appreciated! So I got two tickets for Saturday's round and my sister got tickets to Sunday's round. Well, being that STL weather is in one word, unpredictable, the Thurs. round got rained out and those tickets could be used either Sat. or Sun. So Emaline and I got to for two days! Obviously we don't have any pictures since no camera were allowed in the golf course, but we had a good time all the same.

Emaline was extremely cooperative for the two days and I think she actually liked being outside with all the other people. I asked her on Saturday if she wanted to go the the park and see "the men" golf and she replied, "yes Mom. Emaline plays golf". When I asked her again on Sunday morning she emphatically replied, "yes!", again. So, we walked what seemed like a million miles to and from parking since there was no parking available in the lots near the course due to the mud and water from the all day rain on Thurs. We ended up parking in the volunteer lots because my parents had two passes (one of each of them) and they rode together when they were working. These lots were roughly a 1/4 mile (maybe a little more) down Ladue from the entrance and then had to trudge through the grass another 1/4-1/2 mile and make sure we didn't get hit by the buses shuttling people in from the general parking at Riverport.

It was all worth it though and I enjoyed the players and shots we did get to see. We didn't get a chance to follow with Villegas because there was just too many people for the stroller to handle getting around, but we did see Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, and a few others. On Sunday we set ourselves up between the 17th green and 18th tee to watch a number of groups go by. Thankfully the bad weather stayed away the rest of the tournament, we had fun! Hopefully they'll come back to STL soon. :-)

Happy Labor Day at the Greek Festival!

This past weekend we didn't do much since Josh had to work most of the weekend, but Emaline and I did some swimming and visiting with out of town friends. The outing of our weekend was her and I meeting our friends Conor and Tricia in the Central West End at the annual Greek Festival at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. We went when it opened at 11am on Monday morning and thought we were getting a jump on everyone, boy were we wrong. We had to wait in line for food even at 11:15am! It is amazing how many people come to be involved in such a cool celebration of heritage. Emaline, as I'm sure you can imagine didn't really find the food as appetizing as her mother, but she did enjoy the dancing and the music! After we had a pretty good lunch of gyros, spanakopita and moussaka we were treated to a little celebratory dancing in the main auditorium. Needless to say, it was very hot on Monday and it was nice to sit inside, even if the A/C wasn't on. Emaline danced in between the tables and clapped and even shouted a couple "opas!". Okay, so maybe that wasn't her, but it was fun to watch.

The lines were so incredibly long and in such a confined space it was kind of overwhelming. It was interesting to go down to see it and I bet the night shows, dinners, etc. were much more exciting over the weekend. I would definitely go again next year, cause by that time I'll be able to join in with all the other honorary Greeks, drinking my ouzo and shouting "opa!". Considering this is the largest ethnic festival in the Metro East, I thought it was my duty as a St. Louisan to check it out. There is also a big festival on Memorial day a little closer to my house in Town & Country at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church that I will probably try too! I recommend it to everyone who lives in town!

"Look at me from the side, do I look different to you?"

So, can you tell a difference? Well, I don't really look like that yet, but I will in give or take a month or so (I just stuck it out as far as possible to emphasize the point...). Yes, that's right, Josh and I have decided to add to the Little clan. So surprise, surprise when said we would try this May during a friend's wedding in Mexico we didn't have to wait that long cause I was preggars by June. We are goal oriented people!! I guess you'd like the details? Well, I'll be 14 weeks on this Wednesday (Aug 27th) and we are due February 25th. I'm already loving the idea of stretchy waistbands though. When they say you pop out sooner with the 2nd one, they were kidding. So, I'm sure there will be lots more pictures of my fatty pregnant self to come in the next few months.

Here is what I really look like right now:

Quite honestly, not that different, right? Oh boy. Who wants to take bets on what kind its going to be? Pink or blue? My guess is another little lady, but we'll find out in about 6 weeks!

The Kids trip to Missour-ah

My niece, Natalie and three of my cousins, Jeff, Elyse and Oscar came out to visit us for a week from California and try out Pepere's new pool and spend some vacation time before heading back to school. I'm so glad they decided to come, because it was really great to see them. One day, we took them to Six Flags for the day to ride rides, eat lots of junk and lounge around at the water park. I decided to take Emaline with us for the day while Nana watched Kaya. I thought I was going to be in for a real eye opener, but she was great the whole day! I was surprised at how well she did, not to mention she even got a little nap while we walked around. I can't wait to take her again! The kids got to ride all the big ones with Adham and Kayleigh and it looked to me like they liked it.

The rest of the days were spent lounging at poolside, playing the Wii, shopping, eating, etc. Stephani and Adham took them to the Loop for some Fitz's rootbeer floats and shopping. We really didn't know what else to do since they've been to everything in St. Louis now! I guess its our turn to visit CA next summer and have them take us out! I love spending time with family and I'm glad that Emaline got to meet all of them! Here are more pictures of our fun days:

Annual Girls Weekend-2008

Another successful trip with my ladies this year! We ended up going the way of the frugal and decided on Chicago this year. It really helps that Carrie's parents have a condo up there for us to take advantage of. Thanks to the Noonans again for letting us tear up the joint, it was a pleasure. We mainly did low-key things since the only days/nights all of us were there were Friday and Saturday. It was nice mornings lounging at the pool, taking in a nice brisk walk at the lake (at least me and Sarah), eating and drinking out, lots of boobery playing Apples to Apples for cosmetics, Noonan getting surly during Win, Lose or Draw, etc...you know the usual stuff. Again, thank you to my wonderful friends for finding the time to make this happen every year. I don't know what I would do without you all!!

P.S. Meghan and Noonan are going to hate me for this, but oh well...enjoy.

New Porch!

It's actually really hard to tell from these too pictures, but the one on the left is the before where the porch on the left side started to drop down. Now, we don't have a slab moving away from the house any more!! Hooray! We finally decided after all pointless work done on it--trying to mudjack and then having the company tell us it was going to be another $4500 to put in ONE pier--to go ahead and redo the whole thing. So....we contacted a friend of Josh's family, who works in concrete and asked him what he would do. He recommended someone and we went with him. They raised up the roof over the porch to where it should be and then tore out all the concrete and formed it up again and poured new stuff. Then our carpenter repaired our posts, where needed, and added new bases at the bottom. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be money wise and it took a couple weeks, but it was definitely worth it! Now you all have to stop by and have a sit with us on it....

Unfortunately, I did not think to get pictures of the demolition, but I did get one picture of the poured stuff (oh and its flush with the house like its supposed to be!):

Summer Time=Pool Time

Since the pool has been in, we've spent lots of time catching up on our rays and swimming time. A lot has been done since the last pool pictures were posted and now all Dad is waiting for is to put the fence in and get some landscaping done! Not to mention he also got a spa/hot tub/jacuzzi (whatever you may call it) and its been delivered and hooked up near the back patio where a gate will be put in. So....this is basically the reason there hasn't been many posts since the 4th! We're always at Mom and Dad's! I'm sure they love it and I know we absolutely do. Every day when Emaline gets up she says, "Mom, going to Pepere's pool?". Good thing the little lady loves the water.

Happy Birthday Memere!

Here is a little happy birthday message for my grandmother, Memere. Her actual birthday was Monday and she is 82 years young! It was so great having her here for my dad's birthday celebration and having her spend time with the new little ones. Can't wait to see you again Memere!

She even won the big pot at bingo last weekend, $180! I told her it was her special birthday winnings...way to go Memere! I hope you enjoy the rest of your week. Wish we were there to celebrate with you.

Fourth of July 2008

I was a very bad mother this Fourth and didn't take ANY pictures of our family! I must admit that I was under the weather though, with a terrible head/chest cold thanks to my lovely husband. It was a pretty low-key holiday weekend for The Littles. Emaline and I were supposed to go to a party at our friends Conor and Tricia's place, but I just couldn't muster up the energy. Josh had to work anyways, so we ended up going over to my parents' house (really so they could play with Emaline while I slept or vegged on the couch ;-) and BBQ'd. Then, luckily for my little lady we all got into the car and drove over to Chesterfield Mall to watch some fireworks. I wasn't exactly sure how Emaline was going to react, but I figured, she might as well get used to them, right? I even bought her her own little red folding chair to sit and eat her snacks while watching the light show. She did really well and danced in the parking lot in front of our chairs and loved every minute of other people paying attention to her. When the first fireworks went off, she was a little leery and came to sit on Mama's lap, but she quickly turned around and reveled in this essential part of our country's Independence Day.

Then, the rest of the weekend was spent at home, not doing ANYTHING. I even called in sick to work on Sunday. Thankfully, I'm getting back to normal and ready for this confounded pool to be completely finished so I can start on my laps...