Pathological Picture Taker

Canon EOS Rebel XS


I'd like to welcome this little number to the family!

Eric and I found it was time to invest a little in something so wonderful.

I'm a little in over my head right now with what does what but I am loving the pictures nonetheless.

This is definitely my new hobby and can't wait to try it out on the most beautiful model, Emme.





RIP old Kodak camera who pooped out on us.

You won't be missed =)

Reserved Emmelyn

Hard to believe this precious Girl doesn't say much, huh?

Well she doesn't... not too much anyway.

It all started at Emme's 18 month check-up.
Eric took her instead of the usual me because I wasn't feeling well.
He mentioned to the Doctor our concerns about her not mimicking words and can only say about 5-10 at that.
She said the military offers Speech Therapy but the places that are covered under our Insurance have a 6 month waiting list.
We figured get her on the list and if it doesn't improve by her second birthday we'd get her seen.
We got a call almost 4 months into the waiting (she is 22 months now) to have Emme come in for an Evaluation to see if she would need Sp Th.
Eric and I took her in on Tuesday and met with the Therapist.

As we we're sitting in the waiting area I should mention this place is a resource for all therapy needed by children.
There were children in the waiting area with disorders like Cerebral Palsy and Autism and Kids who needed walkers.
Needless to say just waiting there for 1/2 hour was breaking our hearts.
I always get choked up thinking of Children with such disorders so to see it first hand one after another was about to break me. Eric bless his heart had to take his phone out and watch youtube videos to keep his mind distracted. I quickly followed but still would sneak a peek to these Mothers faces. It was safe to say the energy in the area was just plain sad. A couple Mothers of Autistic children were sitting across from each other and started a conversation about financial problems and about a minute into it they both started to cry. It filled me with so many emotions.
Some Mothers had zero patience with the siblings of the disabled kids and were not concerned on who was around to see.
This, especially, was not the place to judge ANYTHING that was happening. The thought of even doing so sickens me.
I dislike close-minded people and constantly have to remind myself to never jump to the easy conclusion of things. You never know the full story and have no idea what people have been through.
Us being Children of God it has been told to us that it is not our place.
All that being said you bet your sweet tooshie we thanked God for our healthy Girl extra that day.

Back to the eval session.
Emme was seen by a sweet lady and Eric and I just sat back in the office while she got down on the floor with Emme to do her thing.
We were absolutely taken aback with how smart our baby was. We always knew she was but I was so focused on " oh no...she's not talking" thoughts. It was frustrating to know that I knew she knew these things but she just doesn't feel like expressing them verbally yet.
Eric and I got very emotional to see her point to ALL the right things and pass all the tests with flying colors... Except for the speech part, of course.. which we already knew.
We agreed that this is the proudest we've been of her. EVER.
Our little sponge =)

The Therapist told us that she should be in the range of saying 50 + words instead of the 10-15 she does know.
We start therapy in two weeks 2 x's a week!
We are very excited for our girl to get this opportunity.

After leaving the appointment we couldn't stop giving her kisses and telling her how proud we were of her.
She usually pulls away from kisses like a toddler does, but she welcomed them like she knew she just did something amazing.

We got some amazing tips and can't wait to try them out!

Mommy loves you
xoxoxo

Austin adventures!

Why does it seem we have to learn everything the hard way?

Like when we branch out and try new things..

And we drive 2 hours to get there

And it ends up being a total dump?

*
Add it to the live and learn list I guess.

*

Eric and I were looking forward to a nice weekend and decided to take Emme to the Zoo.

In the past we have always gone to the Waco Zoo, but we always thought it was a little small so we decided to look up the Zoo in Austin thinking " Austin is a really nice City... they have to have a nice Zoo". Logical, right?

Nope.

We packed up our little trooper and decided to drive down to Austin during her nap because in the past she always falls asleep in the car on longer than 30 min car drives.

Well, times are changing with our growing Girl and she ended up staying awake a good 90% of the trip.

We knew we were in trouble when we got closer to the Zoo and the road turned into gravel that turned into dirt that turned into a one-way-hope-you-don't-hit-someone-coming-around-the-corner.

The Zoo turned out to be a rescue habitat/"Zoo".
With Monkeys in Dog kennels.
And 3 legged Wolfs.

There was a plus-
We got to let Emme run free instead of keeping her in the stroller.

AND

There was a pretty good Tiger fight!
They got going and I couldn't look away.
They got the whole Lion/Tiger habitat growling and roaring.
If I were a child I would have been terrified, it was so cool to see.

The Jaeger family decided to leave after 45 min of circling the place about 4 times.

We didn't want the trip to be a waste.

We've heard of Austin having great Museums and Parks but Emme is still a little to young for the Museums.

We were hungry ( didn't pack a lunch thinking we'll just pick something up at the Zoo)..
They had a vending machine.

haha.

Eric had the brilliant idea of Joe's Crab Shack!

We've both never been.

Perfect.

We ate, we were merry, we were full of delicious Crab.

I've never had crab before so it was such a treat.

We sat outside next to a beautiful lake and took in the wonderful weather.

We also got forgotten about and never greeted by a waiter so the manager took us on and gave us a free appetizer and showed us how to open our crabs.

We understand things happen and restaurants are busy so there is absolutely no need to be upset or rude in that situation.

I cannot STAND people who act like you just shit on their Baby because you didn't bring the appetizer fast enough.

Ugh. People suck sometimes.

All in all it saved the whole trip and made it completely worth it.
We both agreed that we would have driven the whole way just for Joe's.

num num.

Emme slept the whole way home.

Eric and I played 20 questions.

I found out I suck at 20 questions.

It was a good day.

*

Eric and Emmers at the Zoo.
"Can we leave yet?"

Emmers at Joe's

House and Womb for Rent

And STILL no takers on either....


Huh-roumff.





Pretty boring update, I know.

Happy 26th Babe!

Someone celebrated another Birthday.....

And He is soooooooo happy about it! ;D

I don't care how old you feel your getting, I think it looks good on ya.



Your girls love you.

xoxoxoxoxxxxxx

Sweet Berry Farm

Last year I discovered this cute little farm in Marble falls.
After trial and error we finally came across one that I liked.
Last year was a little different though.
Eric was deployed and Holly was staying with Emme and I at the time.
It was cool showing Eric how much fun that farm is!
We went this last Friday and since it was a weekday not a lot of people were there which was a nice change of pace. Last year there were lines for everything.
Little one had so much fun "rescuing" all the baby pumpkins and it was awesome just to let her run around and be free.
Of course the best part was when Mom pushed her in the wheel barrel! She was having a ball!
We ended up getting a couple Pumpkins and I got my Cinderella pumpkin that will now always be a tradition for me..starting last year.
I'm glad I got to revisit a place that had so many great memories but also happened during a difficult time and remember how Holly made the deployment so much better for Emmelyn and I.
I love her for that.
I love Sweet Berry Farm.

House for rent!

"We neeeed yoooou're moneyyyyyy!"


House went up for rent on October 1st. Wish us luck on a speedy sell!