denise makes a "hajj" to mecca

"Mecca" a.k.a. FedEx Field

The Muslims may have Mecca, the Catholics have Jersualem, I have FedEx field, home of my beloved Redskins.

I grew up watching the Redskins in their era of greatness (it didn't last very long, I know). I used to watch the games with my Papapa every Sunday and we would swap statistics and yell at the TV screen all of us huddled in his bedroom as we rooted for every play by Joe Theismann, John Riggins, the Hogs et al.

I've had a couple of chances to go to the games, but it's never worked out for a variety of reasons. Whenever I've tried to get tickets on my own it's been impossible to do so (they are the hardest tickets to get in the NFL).

So imagine my surprise when Marcus managed to get us tickets to the Redskins-Eagles game on 12.21.08. Braving the cold (and someone battling a stomach bug) we went. It was cold as hell but all bundled up it was awesome and totally worth it. Thankfully they won, even if once again they didn't make it to the playoffs. Oh well, there's always next season...

The band playing nothing else but "Hail to the Redskins!"

Guess who had a bottle of Kaopectate in their pocket and who was super excited to eat a hot dog! :)

we're back! and holiday party pics

We are finally back home after spending a great 10 days in NoVa with the family. We had a great time and there are tons of pics to share but it's going to take a little time to sort through all of them. Emilia of course made out like a bandit and got tons of gifts - a wagon, some pieces of furniture, and a huge kitchen set just to name a few. We had a great stay at Nana and Richard's but of course we're glad to be home especially since Emilia is very sick now. She's had a cough pretty much since we arrived in NoVa and today on our way back in to town we swung by Dr. Walker's office because she was really wheezing quite a bit and just hadn't kicked this cough. They took her temperature, listened to her lungs, and even checked her oxygen levels. She was running a temp of 101.8 when we arrived and her O2 level was 93. Dr. Walker thinks she has bronchitis which may be on its way to becoming pneumonia. We won't know for sure until she has a chest x-ray done on Friday. In the meantime she's on a steroid to help open up her lungs and an antibiotic for the bronchitis, plus her singulair. Poor boo slept almost the entire drive down here and went to bed at 7 tonight.

In cheerier news the first pics I have to post are from Emilia's class holiday party on 12.19.08. They decorated and ate some cookies and that was it. We got wonderful Christmas presents from our babes - will have to take a pic of those - including an ornament, some "reindeer food" and a hand and foot painted trivet. As you can see from the pics someone was far more interested in playing with their chair and eating their cookie than socializing with the other kids.

lady pukesalot and poopalooza part 2

After what can only be described as an "explosive" afternoon yesterday, we thought Emilia was heading in to the clear. This morning she actually had a slice of whole wheat toast with a little butter and drank a little milk, though we were still heavy into the Pedialyte since we still had half a bottle left. She was pretty perky this morning and when we came home for lunch she ate a couple bites of potatoes and a spoonful of green bean puree. We came upstairs for some playtime when she threw up and had yet another outfit-changing diaper. Yuck. So we're back to square one and I'm off to Target to load up on diapers and Pedialyte. We have determined though, a bit of "good" news. Emilia's buddy Kyrie is also sick with essentially the same thing - more vomit though for her. Hopefully both girls will be on the mend a.s.a.p. because I'm sure we're all ready for less laundry!!!!

general sillyness and a very gross story

This is a picture of Emilia's newest favorite game. She loves to lie on Mama Mama's legs and "swing" cackling with delight. It's pretty cute and looks kind of fun I must admit...

So Emilia put on her latest pair of jeans. When she was getting dressed though she decided it would be really funny to grab a new toothbrush. Then she saw Mama Mama putting rollers in her hair and wanted some of those too. One can only assume she wanted to create an "enganchabobos" - Spanish for "hook to catch boys" (a very bad translation but I think you get the idea).

And now, for the gross story (you may want to stop reading here if you have a weak constitution.) As I lay in bed this morning marveling that it was 7:30 and Emilia was just starting to stir I was thinking how lucky I was that the girl had slept so well. As I ran up the stairs, full of energy after a good night's sleep - what to my wondering eyes did appear? My child who had just been changed into a fresh pj by her grandmother with - wait for it - vomit ALL OVER her hair. The girl had projectile vomited at least twice as far as we can tell. Sheets, bumper pillows, hair, pajamas, everything. We had to bathe her twice. The good news is that I don't think it's a stomach virus. Last night Emilia ate mac and cheese for the first time and LOVED it. I think she had too much and that the cheese did a real number on her belly. So of course, we are back off dairy for a while. Poor boo.

santa - take 2

We went back to South Park on Monday for another crack at getting a picture with Santa. Unfortunately, this was the best we could manage. Emilia was fine while she watched the other kids getting their pictures taken but when it was her time she got very nervous. The guys were friendly and let her hold the jingle bells and this little pop-up toy but she just wasn't down with it. Hence, I got to have my picture taken with Santa as well (I'm thinking this was my first pic with Santa - I don't remember doing this at all as a kid, which of course makes me wonder at the wisdom of doing this with Emi but whatever!) My scanner didn't do the greatest job with the picture so it's kind of small... I think you can click on it to make it bigger and really get a good look at Emilia's shell-shocked face! Happy Holidays!

Last evening we took Emilia to go see the lights of McAdenville, NC a.k.a. Christmastown USA.

My pictures of course don't do it justice but it's very pretty and Christmas-y. (I was messing around with a bunch of different settings on the camera). Emilia loved looking out the window and seeing all the "bubbles" (a.k.a. "lights") and there were a TON of them.

Wearing her new Redskins sweatshirt despite the spirit-crushing loss.

better not pout!

The terrible twos are upon us I fear. Emilia has recently started stomping her feet when she wants something and she's either not getting it or it's not coming to her fast enough. Most of the time it's kind of funny and we just ignore it figuring if she sees that it gets a rise out of us, she'll continue to do it. Today I happened to have my camera when she had a little meltdown. Who knows what set her off but she was very sad to be sure. Fortunately it lasted all of about 2 minutes and when she realized we were not going to pay attention to her while she behaved like that she came running in to the playroom happy as a clam. If this is a glimpse into the teenage years I am very afraid! Sorry the pictures are not great - I had to take them from far away so she wouldn't see me.

picture with santa - HA!

Braving irritated skin and a bit of a drippy nose (due to more teeth I suspect), today Mama Mama and I got Emilia all dressed up and rushed over to South Park to see Santa. No evidence that he was drunk this year (last year the rumors were wild that Santa was boozin'), but of course we were at the mall early (like 10:30 - brutal). We stood and watched as one little girl was finishing getting her picture taken and it seemed that someone was going to be cooperative. Fat chance. The second I started walking her over to see Santa up close she did her kangaroo move when she latches onto you and won't let go for anything in the world. So we left and did a little shopping stopping at Gymboree & Children's Place. After each store we walked by Santa just to get her more familiar with him. Surely we were warming up to the jolly old fellow by now, right? Snack in hand, bears at the ready and juice on standby we stood in line behind a lady who was on her 4th try (!) to get a picture of her daughter with Santa that didn't result in a meltdown (either by her or the daughter - not sure about that). I was confident that maybe this "getting-to-know-you" visit with Santa would turn out to be the "1 and done" trip. No luck. Walked her over to Santa (who was, it must be said, pretty friendly and a nice looking Santa to boot) and melt she did. Even when I sat next to Santa (mortified that I'd have to get my picture taken with my child looking splendid and me in jeans that I'm pretty sure were dirty) she wouldn't even turn around and just clung to me screaming. So, we left. We'll try again tomorrow but of course that means I now have to get her dressed up again. Wish us luck!Don't worry Grandpa - we'll take a better picture of the pretty dress.

We didn't even manage to crack out the camera at the mall so our pictures were taken at home at lunchtime.

christmas cards

Well we had a big old "photo shoot" Sunday morning before my annual school Christmas party. The goal was to finally get a pic of the girl for our Christmas cards since I was already late in ordering them. I'm still not 100% sold on the pics we went with but they're ordered so there's no going back now. Here are some of the outtakes.....

It's really REALLY hard to take a picture of a toddler!

rockin' around the christmas tree

"chopping" down the tree - not! it was raining and miserable out! emilia and i waited in the car!

ooh! a star!

the worst part of the tree process - putting it in the base!

dancing!

Well, the tree is up and it looks like Santa and his elves have been busy in the house. We finally got it all set up for our annual open house on Sunday. Our tree this year is the biggest one we've had yet - an 8 foot Frasier fir beauty. And we finally have a star on top to boot - like real grownups! Emilia loves looking at the lights on the tree and loved dancing to the Christmas carols while we trimmed the tree. She only broke one ornament (so far) and it wasn't a particularly special one anyway so that was fine. Happy holidays!

gobble gobble!

No family pic - of course - we're far too unorganized to remember to take a picture of the three of us. At least we did remember to take pictures at Thanksgiving dinner. Emilia had a grand time ignoring Alara and we were thrilled the Cankurtarans and Edie were able to join us.

On Sunday we took Emilia to a birthday party. The girl has a busy social schedule! Sunday was her friend Sofia's birthday. She had a great time enjoying some different toys and sharing a cupcake with her Papa.

The dress - it was a little long. Thankfully it's getting hemmed in time for Thanksgiving dinner!

An attempt at a family pic - clearly not so effective since Marcus didn't even make it into the picture and Emilia is scowling!

The birthday girl enjoying her cake. It was impossible to get a pic of the two girls together.

dc trip pics - finally!

The computer has been on the fritz for the past couple of days so I've been behind on my postings. We were up in DC last week - drove up Friday (Emilia, MamaMama & I) and got there around 4 p.m. or so. Marcus drove up a little later and joined us around 9:30 or so. He had hoped to be able to spend a long weekend with us up there but alas, there's apparently some sort of banking crisis going on right now - who knew. Poor guy drove up on Friday night and left Sunday morning at 8. Tia Marga said it was because we barged in on him in the living room disturbing his quiet reading time but I'm sure that wasn't the case! :)

In any case Emilia had a great time visiting with her Grandpa, Tia Marga, Jacksito, Nana, Ricardo & Gaby. There wasn't a whole lot of napping going on unfortunately but she was a trooper nonetheless and even did well at two nice restaurants for lunches. Of course I had all these terrific plans to take a ton of photos and of course I came back with a whopping 15 of them. The best are posted below.
It was a very long ride to DC!

The spoiling began right when we arrived at Tia Marga's. Here Emilia discovers two new friends Grandpa had ready for her.

Emilia slept in Nena's room. She really enjoyed checking out all of Nena's cool stuff.

Enjoying a delicious lunch at the Carlyle with Nana & Mama Mama.

I believe she started asking Nana for her Christmas present - smart girl!

Evidence of kisses at EatBar.

Emilia loves emptying out my purse. I however, do not enjoy having to load everything back in!

The weather was really cold in DC - thankfully we had her nice warm winter coat and her mother is pretty handy with a pair of knitting needles!

We can't wait to go back in a few weeks!

snip snip

Today was a big day for Emilia because she got her first haircut today. A couple of Emilia's friends had gotten their hair cut at a kid's salon called Doolittle's so we made an appointment and off we went. I thought for sure it would be pretty slow in there but the place was hoppin'! Full of mamas with their babes getting their hair cut.


Um... get me outta here!

Hey - this car thing is kinda cool!


Getting sprayed down - a little nervous looking

Geez those scissors look sharp!

Emilia got to sit in the red car and was kind of stunned by the amount of fun stuff they had for her to look at and entertain the babes which is probably a good thing since that way they don't squirm in their seats too much. Emilia was a trooper - her stylist, Michelle, was very impressed with how still she sat while her hair got snipped. They just took a little off the back and straightened out the top a bit as well. Despite the fact that she probably only cut about 50 hairs I can definitely see an improvement in how nicely it lays. Plus her curls in the back are even curlier now! (probably helped by the little bit of styling mousse they put in her hair). Since it was her first haircut they gave her a keepsake card and envelope with her picture and her hair trimmings (or most of them - some of them were so little they almost disintegrated when they were cut).




Check out those curls!


Happy to report there were no tears (at least from Emilia, from her overly emotional mother though, there were plenty of tears in the privacy of the car :) and afterwards Mama Mama treated Emilia to a yummy lunch at the deli in the mall.