Funny Girl

1. She loves kissing Maybel. She has to grab her by both sides of the head and plant one right on her mouth. She even makes the smacking sound. Maybel hates this and tries to get away from her.


2. When I hear her yelling "Sit Down!" (oddly sounding like a German drill sergeant-"Seet Down!") I know that she is standing on something she is not supposed to. ie: the dining table, her high chair, the coffee table, the desk chair, etc. The other day we went to lunch with a friend and she stood up in her high chair and yelled "Sit Down!" at the top of her lungs.


3. She is a copy cat. If I am painting my nails, she brushes her crayon on her nails. She sits in the computer chair and "types" on the keyboard. She points and says "No, no" to Maybel when Maybel is being hyper. She talks on her cell phone. She pats her baby doll to sleep and covers her with a blanket and says "Awwww baby" in a sweet little voice.


4. She counts to 10 (leaving out a number or two) and claps and says "Yeah!" after 10.


5. She is trying to learn to jump and looks hilarious because she bounces up and down repeatedly and it looks like her feet are stuck in cement. I laugh until I cry at this one-I am so sad that we can't find our video camera in our millions of boxes. I hope she doesn't learn how to actually do it before we find it. The face she makes is priceless-pure concentration.


6. We went to the Children's Museum the other day and she was terrified of the circus clown performance. That's not really funny, but I totally get it.


7. She has a ball machine and every time she pushes the button to start it, she squeals and waves her hands around like it's the first time she has ever seen it.


8. She says "I sorry!" every time she gets hurt. I think it is because I have always said that when she gets hurt-"I'm sorry, Stella."


9. Her interpretation of the word "frog" sounds a lot like another "f" word. It is funny at home, but terribly embarrassing if we see one in public. I try to cover her eyes or change directions so she won't yell it out.


10. She says SO many words, but refuses "ears" and "hair". She says "cheeks, eyes, nose, mouth, knees, feet, fingers, toes, legs, belly button..." but when you point to ears or hair, she says silly nonsense words.

I Miss Texas

Our dining room....isn't lovely? I can't wait to find a house.

At least we can take short walk and sit in the swing. It's lovely in the afternoon.
Found the little monkey sitting on the table (yes, the dining room table) eating a banana. And you wonder why she's bruised and banged up?!?! The problem with this is I am saying "No, no Stella-we don't climb on the table...hold still, Mommy's trying to get a picture." Before you guys point fingers-all of you have done it, too! I've seen some of your pictures.
Chloe and Charity-friends from home. Every time we leave the house, Stella yells "Cho-eeee! Pay-ton!" I have to tell her we are not going to see them. I'll be kind of sad when she stops saying it, though-because it makes me think of them every day.

Payton (and Kristi was behind her)


So, we have been looking at houses. I am thinking of going back to work part time in the fall. Stella needs to be around other children and I need to be around other adults. I am trying to meet people, but it takes time. Once we get settled into a neighborhood, I think it will be better for us. We are so displaced right now. Pray that we find a house soon and we can actually begin our life here! This is so much harder than we thought it would be. It is really pretty here. There are so many hills and trees. I am sure it will be breathtaking in the fall. Josh took a trip to Tennessee this week and said the drive was great. We'll have to take a trip there soon. There are so many things to do here as far as travel goes. I am trying to convince myself that I don't want to move back to Texas. Can you tell? ;-)
Love and miss everyone!

Welcome to Atlanta Part 2

Day three-Maybel and Stella had a head on collision
Maybel felt awful about it
Stella didn't hold a grudge

Later that day, we took walk and Maybel was very thirsty when we returned. She ran to the bathroom and before I could stop her, she drank toilet water. You see, I had poured comet into the toilet and I was going to clean during Stella's nap time. I made my first call to Georgia Poison Control and they were very nice. And they sounded a lot like Texas Poison Control.

"How much did she ingest, ma'am?"
"I don't know...maybe four or five of gulps?"
"How much does she weigh?"
"50 pounds"
"How old is she?"
"Five." Could we get to the life saving or emergency vet call if necessary??!?
"Was the comet in powder form, ma'am?"
"Yes, but she didn't get it from the bottle. It was in the toilet."
"Is she having trouble swallowing?"
"No, I don't think so. " How would I know that?
"Have her drink a lot of water and monitor her. If she has trouble swallowing or looks as if she is having a seizure, call the vet immediately. Comet is a corrosive agent and could cause some stomach and esophogeal irritation. Can I help you with anything else today?"
"No." Seizures?!?! Stomach and esophogeal irritation?
"May I get your name and contact information?"
"Sure...."

Well, the next day we got the results of comet poisoning. Five poops in a matter of thirty minutes. Yes, five poops. In the apartment, on the balcony, outside, etc.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty uneventful-except for Stella getting her fingers caught in the elevator door of our apartment and a trip to the park.

Friday, the movers arrived. After they packed our tiny apartment full of so many boxes that we couldn't see the windows, they left to take the rest of it to storage. They were following Josh and I was going to start unpacking boxes while Stella napped. Not even fifteen minutes after Josh left, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Amy-you need to come pick me up."

"What happened?"

"I got pulled over for my registration being expired."

"O.k."

"He is having my car towed. I need you to come and pick me up."

What a jerk. The cop, not Josh. He told him the situation and he still towed his car! So, Josh spent the rest of the day helping the movers fit the rest of a three bedroom house into a 10x10 storage space. Meanwhile, I am unloading boxes and marking others for storage. Josh broke the news to me that there was no room in storage and I lost it. So now we have boxes stored in our closets and our dining area looks like a warehouse. This is no place for a toddler. I'll post pics when I get them. It's crazy. I am ready for a house!!

We had a "Welcome to Atlanta" party at Lisa and Andrew's house yesterday. They invited some of their friends and Lisa's parents. They grilled veggies, shrimp, fish, chicken and wonderful desserts and appetizers. It was so sweet of them to welcome us and we really needed to get out of our apartment. Stella quickly showed eveyone how accident prone she is by falling countless times and attempting to get another black eye when she fell off on ottoman. Thankfully, it is only red today. I told Josh I would not leave the house with a child with two black eyes. One is bad enough. You can't explain away TWO! She is wearing pants today to cover her scabby knees. Poor baby!

Josh can't get his car out of the impound lot without proof of registration. Texas will only mail it-no faxing. Now he has to find the sheet that proves registration in Texas today and get a Georgia driver's licence to get it registered here. Then, he has to go to city hall to get a release from the police department to take to the impound lot before they will let him get his car and pay for 4 days of storage. I am beginning to think that Atlanta doesn't like us.

Welcome to Atlanta

Our things didn't arrive until Friday, the 13th.

We got here on Sunday, the 8th.

Stella's room
Kitchen
Living room
Our bedroom

Not So Fabuloso

Stella and the ball popper toy
Fabuloso...a delicious purple drink for Stella
After ingestion
Lookes o.k. to me
It didn't affect her concentration skills

I'll update you on the happenings of the past couple of weeks. I have been computer-less since June 4th, so here goes....

I think it was the week before we left that we had our first call to poison control (there is another one made in Georgia...stay tuned). I had left Stella in her room playing with her fantastic ball popper toy. I needed to sneak out the garage and write down some paint colors for the people buying our home. Literally 30 seconds later, Stella comes into the garage carrying a tupperware container of Fabuloso (a cleaning product) that Holly had given to me. She's shaking it and it is pouring out everywhere. I immediately picked her up and smelled her breath...yep, fabuloso fresh breath. I immediately ran to the bathroom and found the big bottle under the countertop with the handy child-proof cap. I called the number on the bottle and explained what had happened.

"How much did she ingest, ma'am?"

"I don't know...maybe a couple of teaspoons?"

"How much does she weigh?"

"26 pounds"

"How old is she?"

"18 months" Could we get to the life saving or 911 call if necessary??!?

"Was the child proof cap properly affixed to the bottle, ma'am?"

"Yes, but she didn't get it from that bottle. It was in another container."

"Ma'am, you know that it is in a child proof bottle for this reason?"

"Yes, I know." O.k....I feel guilty enough...do I need to make her throw up? Do I need to throw her in the car and go the ER?

"Is she having trouble swallowing?"

"No, I don't think so. "

"Have her drink a lot of water and monitor her. If she has trouble swallowing or looks as if she is having a seizure, call 911 immediately. Can I help you with anything else today?"

"No." Seizures?!?!

"May I get your name and contact information?"

"Sure...."

Hermann Park

We went to the park with Sheila, Matej, and Kenzie and had a great time. It was pleasant in the earlier part of the day, but got HOT! We played on the playground, in the sprinklers, had a picnic, and rode the train. We thought about the pedal boat rides, but each person has to sit in their own seat and we didn't want to fish the girls out of the pond.

Go Astros!

She wasn't in the mood for a photo. I'll try to get another one soon. She is not as cooperative as she once was for photo shoots.
Thanks for the cute outfit, Mrs. DeeDee!