Cute Girl

Although there is plenty to catch you up on, I'm going to focus on some super cute things my daughter has been doing lately...here are some snapshots.....

Eric and Genni were carving pumpkins and Eric took the top off, Eric told her "now we have to scoop out the inside" my daughter looks at the pumpkin and says to her father "Daddy, little girls do not scoop out pumpkins with their hands, my hands will get dirty" "do you want to use a spoon?" "yeah...(disgusted look on her face)"....hahahaha can you you believe it!

We were at dinner with Eric's parents the other night and Genni was trying unsucessfully to get grandma's attention...."Grandma keep your eyes on me!"

She loves driving her little tractor around - but as soon as we get her turning the wheel one way she just leaves it there instead of going back to the middle so she usually ends of driving in a circle.

She has become afraid of bugs! It has been warm out so when the outside light is on at night and we let the dogs in or out bugs fly around the kitchen till they get caught in the lights - she freaked out the other night! I finally convinced her that the bug was not going to hurt her and that it would eventually just sit somewhere. But it reminded me of the day we were on her tractor and she made us come inside because she didn't like the bugs flying around her. What a girly girl!

Another time recently Eric took the sweeper around and got a whole bunch of leaves raked into a pile in the backyard. It was about as tall as me when we were done and we threw Genni into the pile over and over - she would giggle and roll down the mound, we'd rake it back up and do it again. It was a great day, and she never got tired of being thrown into that leaf pile. She was however very upset with daddy when he burnt the leaves. (Which I just discovered is now illegal in NY?!?! Jeesh!)

Yesterday morning I mentioned something to Eric about remembering to take the oboes out of the car for Ken when he got to school....when Eric picked Genni up she says "Daddy, did you take mommies elbows out of the car for Ken or did you forget?" hahaha - now he can never escape!

Every night before we go to bed we say prayers, Genni has a whole list of stuff that I've tried to cut down to "just people hunny" "Oh ok, how about my fan?" "no, people" "my door? my humidifier? my curtains?" The funny thing is she knows exactly what I mean, she's just saying it to be difficult. She also says every single night, "and two mommies and two daddies" "you only have one mommy and daddy hunny" "I have a mommy and Graham has a mommy and I have a daddy and Graham has a daddy and that's two mommies and two daddies" Well I guess I can't argue with her math.

When I go downstairs at church to get her from Sunday School after the service she is sooooo excited to show me all of the crafts and coloring and glueing she has done, literally jumping up and down, it's so cute.

She is aways saying "when I get bigger and bigger I will....."

I was so impressed last night, after doing her little wooden puzzles together a few times she told me to close my eyes and not look so she could do it herself (the only danger was that I would fall asleep) and she did all four of them without any help from anyone....she is getting so big!

Eric got her this little leap frog thing that is a screen with a magnetic drawing pad on top so it will tell her how to make a letter and she can trace it with the pen and then erase it and do another. I'm so impressed that she can hold the pen correctly without having ever been told and is really doing well at tracing the letters....how can she have grown this much!

She can basically get dressed on her own now if I lay the clothes out the right way...bedtime is lots easier. Now if she could just do her own lotion....:)

At her dr. appointment the other week she had an eye test where she had to say the shapes and she did each one perfectly (I was so proud) and then she did the hearing test and followed the nurses directions so well that the nurse was impressed and said "she is a very smart three year old, I always have to repeat those directions, noone ever gets it on the first try!" (proud mama) the Dr. also didn't bat an eye about her food allergies other than to ask if the rice milk is fortified and to say she'll probably grow out of them eventually. He also sggested she take a vitamin but he says that to everyone when they get this age. She has been taking some the last few days but I'm not convinced she isn't having a reaction to them (they have Vitamin E which is generally derived from soy, but we said we would try them and see) but what vitamin doesn't have E?


Well I guess that is enough for now.....more cute things to come

Emergency Room....

Well, for some of you whom I haven't talked to this past week, I don't want you to get nervous in the middle of the post so I will say up front that Eric is doing fine at the moment:)

Tuesday night 10:30-11:30

I went upstairs about 10:30 or so, tired and ready for bed, however I ended up reading for awhile - kind of waiting for Eric to come to bed too- and didn't actually fall asleep till about 11:30 (normal for me, I can't seem to get to bed any earlier most of the time!).

Wednesday morning 12:40 AM

I hear Eric screaming for me downstairs and jump out of bed and run downstairs wondering what on earth he's waking me up for this late. He's doubled over in pain from his stomach and seriously scared because he doesn't know what is going on. He's saying "what do I do! what's going on! and I'm like....uhhhhh...did you try going to the bathroom?" It's the first thing I could think of for stomach cramps. Well that didn't work obviously and he's now on the bathroom floor doubled over yelling "call an ambulance!" "to which I reply - "really? an ambulance? get in the car I can have you to the hospital in 15 minutes, let's go!" he is adamant about the ambulance and to his credit he's not really able to straighten up enough to get into the car, so I don't know if I would have gotten him into a seat let alone the hospital. Besides we had no idea what it could be and didn't know if he needed immediate attention. So anyway, for the first time in my life I called 911, talked to the operator and got an ambulance on the way to the house. I always though they stayed on the line with you till the ambulance was there, not true, she said to call back if we had any other trouble....

30 seconds pass and my husband wants to know why they aren't there yet, I'm pacing, and then he says - "I was on the computer with Mike before this happened, get on and tell him what's going on, and there was something on the desktop I need to send him for tomorrow (they were working on the London meeting at 12:40 in the morning)" my reply is "I think that can wait at the moment, but I'll tell Mike what's going on." Poor Mike didn't get much more sleep than us after that, imagine talking to your friend online and all of a sudden his wife is telling you an ambulance is coming to the house.

Wednesday morning @12:55 AM - EMT's arrive at the house and find Eric still on the bathroom floor, the first attack has passed enough so that he can explain to them what is going on, they take vitals and such but can't offer much more till the ambulance arrives. A few minutes after they arrive he has another attack so at least we know we were right to call them, but I don't think they really knew what was going on either. The ambulance arrives soon after and I have to rearrange the kitchen furniture so that they can get the bed rolled in to the house. They told me to take my time getting to the hospital (I still hadn't gotten Genni up, figuring she didn't need to see all that, can't believe she slept through it though)

Wednesday morning 1:30 AM - I got to Corning hospital - strangely there is no one at the desk in the ER so I wait a few minutes before casting some significant looks through the "no admittance" doors to the nurses station. After I find Eric I learn he had another attack in the ambulance on the way but has been fine since they got to the hospital. Both of us are hoping for good answers to all this and after blood tests they discover an elevated enzyme in his pancreas leading to what the doctor called "pancreatitis". Well since he already had bronchitis after being at the doctors on Monday - this is just great. So they talk about the possibility of gall stones, say he should have an ultrasound (unfortunately they can't do that till the morning), and we wait a little longer to see if the pain comes back before leaving the ER.

Wednesday morning 4 AM - We arrive back home knowing we need to be back at the hospital at 6:45AM for his ultrasound. I call in sick for Wednesday and we catch a few hours of sleep before the alarm goes off at 6AM. (By the way Genni was awake the entire time we were at the hospital, but was in a very good mood, so it wasn't bad)

Wednesday morning 6:45 AM - back at the hospital for the ultrasound and listening to the technicians gripe about having to do it before 8AM because "well we don't usually have anything scheduled before 8AM" Well, I pulled my daughter back out of bed with only 2 hours sleep so do the ultrasound! By about 8AM we were on our way out and told to call Eric's regular doctor because he would read the results. Luckily Laurelyn took Genni for the day (who despite lack of sleep was reportedly in a very good mood!) and Eric and I slept for much of the day. After two calls to the doctor we still had no answers because they hadn't even read the tests yet. But the next day they called to say that it wasn't gall stones (according to the ultrasound) but he should see a GI specialist. When they called back with the appointment they said "there was something funny about his ultrasound and blood work, but it's not a big deal so the doctor will tell him about it when he sees him." Now why did he have to go and say that? Was that really necessary? I know something you don't know and I won't tell you.....

Anyway, Eric's appointment is next Friday at 10:30 and we are hoping for answer then. He is relatively fine, although he does get some twinges there sometimes. They said if he has an attack of the magnitude again they'll admit him - and I'll know that the ambulance isn't going to be able to do much for him either than drive fast and I'll just take him there myself.

On a side note, I wouldn't let Eric drive home from the hospital or to the hospital in the morning, for obvious reasons, but he is the WORST backseat driver! He drives my nuts when he can't drive! haha

So all is well that ends well, we are all back to the routine, hoping to enjoy a lazy day tomorrow after church. Other stuff happened this week but I'll have to write about them in another post because I am going to bed!

London here we come!

Yesterday my husband's band was extended their official invitation to go to London in 2011 for the New Year's Day Parade, the Lord Lt. to Her Majesty the Honorable Lord Bramble flew to Corning for the ceremony and a performance by the band. Woohoo!
http://www.the-leader.com/news/x1073706944/Parade-organizers-visit-West-High


http://www.wetmtv.com/mediacenter/local.aspx click on West High School Receives Royal Visit to see my husband on TV!

Super excited about going to London - must update my passport!

In other news, Open House for Eric tonight, drumline and choir for me on Thursday, Performance at the stadium Saturday night....isn't life interesting. I was in bed by 9 last night and sleeping by 10 and I still didn't want to get up this morning at 6:15. I'm usually a night owl but I was so exhausted last night!

Genni news - how can I get my previously potty trained now 3 year old daughter to stop having accidents every day? every single day - we have hit a new low. I thought it was the apple juice but she hasn't had any in weeks. Last night she almost made it but it's always a rush to get her pants down and half the time it's just not in time....what now? I've been angry, I've been disappointed, I've threatened, I've time-outted, I'm really not sure what to do next other than hope this is just another phase I have to wait out. They never tell you there are so many phases a child goes though...I thought I had till the teenage years for that....hmmmm.

Life just keeps getting more interesting! :)

3rd Birthday Party

So this Saturday we had a birthday party for my girl Genni, Laurie showed up with face paints for the kids and they all seemed to have a great time, the adults relaxed and visited. It was as always hectic to get everything cleaned up and made on time, but it all came together in the end. My parents were a big help cutting up food for salads and my friend Deb came over early to help clean. Eric's parents stayed late and helped us clean up so now it's Sunday afternoon and I'm not going to clean a thing today! Here are some pictures of Genni at the party, I know Eric's dad and Mike both got photos and video of the cake and singing and presents so I'm hoping to get some more pictures up soon.

Then today we wore one of our new outfits to church and painted this afternoon. I put a little bit of each color on the paper plate and Genni thought it would be great fun to just mix them all up into one big color....and who am I to stifle such creativity? Haha, so here are the pictures she did today, one has stickers on it too.

Catching up again

Well I have been fairly unreliable lately, but things have been uber busy the past two weeks. School during the day and something almost every night - Eric has London meetings, I have drumline and choir, we have football games - it never ends. This weekend is Genni's birthday party and after that is over I'll feel slightly less stressed. It's all stuff we like to do, it just gets a little pressing sometimes when everything we are into wants us in the same week. Next week I have drumline Monday and Wednesday, Auditions for the Fall Musical Monday and Tuesday, Eric has the Lord Leutenant of Greater London coming to formally invite the band to the parade, Thursday I have choir, Saturday is a competition for the band, Sunday is church. Luckily Genni is good at tagging along to most things - I don't know about auditions but everything else she will be at with me. Oh yeah, I think Eric has another London meeting on Monday too. Fun times for us!

So here is interesting news, Kevin called me today and told me he saw my cousin Edward Savoy (not my brother, my cousin, different person) again and that side of the family is trying to connect with me. He gave Kevin a name for me of his sister Mary who lives in Florida but uses Facebook and now we are connected. Her father was my father's brother, and she has three brothers and her mother is still alive too (her father, my uncle it would have been, died a long time ago, I think before I was born even) - so I'm looking forward to meeting some of my father's family and connecting with them.

Well, I'm keeping it short tonight, I'm exhausted and have cleaning to do tomorrow after work as well as cooking for Genni's party. My bed is calling me!

Wow has it been awhile!

I'm starting to get yelled at for not having a post up in a long time! Well it has been over a month, so I'll try to catch you up on the high points of August...

August 6th we went up to Susan and Dan's in Buffalo to work on their house - resided the garage, hung and painted doors and painted the basement with Duralock after scrubbing. It was great to see the two of them and take advantage of Dan's cooking (Eric ate like 7 pieces of fried chicken....amazing!!) while making it a little nicer financially to get through the summer. There was a great park within walking distance from their house and Genni had a great time there at the sand box, playsets and wading pool. There are some benefits of living in a more populated place!

The 13th we drove home after dark and the 14th we took off to NH for the Family Reunion. It was great to see everyone and spend so much time with them. The 16th we went to the beach with Tim and Sandi and Emily, Genni's first trip to the beach! She had a great time. I also got to catch up with my roommate and friend from college Lisa, it was great to see her and catch up too. The 17th we drove home...Genni did particularly well in the car! The rest of the time before band camp was basically spent at West cataloging instruments...it was a long process. My husband is lucky to have such a talented and patient wife to help him with such things! Oh yeah and we also had a morning photo shoot with Mike for some family pictures and another less eventful trip to the library for more books to read. Now we are on our last vacation day before school starts....and somehow can't really believe the craziness is about to begin!

What a day!

I want to start out by saying the next time I post I will catch up on what has happened the last few days, but this post st all about today - or this morning really. There are quite a few more pictures from other days on the boat and fish for dinner...

Anyway, today we woke up early because I had to play the guitar for VBS at First Baptist and lead the kids in song - so we were there by 8:30 and done by 9:45...then we took mom to Healthworks for PT and where on our way to the library for some books for Genni (and me:)). Once Eric got his card I found about 9 books for Genni and then went to look for some for me leaving Eric and Genni at the computer in the kids section playing Green Eggs and Ham on the screen. When I returned we were waiting for Genni to finish the book on the computer so we could check out and go when I realized that there was something going on on the other side of the stacks from us. I had noticed a women in the children's section with 3 kids, well more like young adults, with special needs before, but now the boy (taller than Eric and bigger too) seemed to be hitting the girl (a worker from wherever he was for the day). I said to Eric "honey I think he's hitting her" so Eric walks over to get a better look and to step in if he needed to and the boy grabs the worker's hair and starts pulling and won't let go. By this time you can see that the worker is scared and there is noone there to help her - I heard her call for backup on her phone but it was quite a while before anyone else came. In the meantime Eric has the boy restrained, but the boy is not happy about it at all. He seemed Ok for the moment so I walk over to see if the worker is Ok since she looked so shaken up and Genni is still occupied with the computer. Well I see that the boy bit her on the hand and she is in tears so I give her a hug and we all think it's over and he is calming down...not so. He grabs hold of her hair again and mine - I am not quite so patient about asking him to let go since I know he didn't the first time and muscled my hair out of his grip and then Eric and I helped the worker free her hair - I'm not sure what all happened next but we ended up on the floor holding him so he wouldn't bite himself or us and on the way down quite a few books went flying. Oh I forgot at one point he took off his glasses and literally crushed them. There was quite a bit of yelling - but I had his legs and one worker that came over to help had one arm and Eric the other arm (the first worker left with the other two people in her care). Eventually another worker came and took over for me (Meanwhile the receptionist at the children's desk was with Genni at the computer cause she could see we were busy). Well after about 15 minutes he finally chilled out enough to leave the library so we checked out our books and left. All feeling we had had quite enough excitement for the day and just a tad shaken up from the experience. Our adventures for the day did not seem to be over though. Eric walks to the driver's side door to unlock it and all of a sudden the three dogs in the car next to us go absolutely and viciously bonkers - the windows where half down so it got it's head out and the window looked like it was about to break! We didn't dare approach the car from that side and that was the only way to unlock the car...so then we had to call the police. When he came he unlocked the car for us, pepper spray at the ready and tempting fate as the dogs threatened the windows yet again and rocked the car alarmingly. It doesn't sound bad when I write it but it was seriously scary.

Well that was all before lunch, after lunch was much less eventful and boring, including a nap for both of us - but we did not need any more excitement today! Who knew going to the library was going to be so eventful!