Dr. Emma's Quote of the Day

While dressing her dolls, "Mommy, you only have one baby to take care of, I have lots."-Emma
It's always nice when your life is put into perspective. My jobs easy...apparently :)

Ode to Woobie

My mom made Weston this Blankey when he was a baby and it became his dear companion. Anyone who saw Weston in his first year of life probably recognizes it. As you can see, it has been through a lot. He slept with it, he dragged it to church and Nana's, and Grandma's or anywhere a nap might occur. The kids in our old primary called him Linus (like on Charlie Brown). It used to be a tight-knit little square, but has been stretched out to a long, holy rectangle that Weston loved sticking his fingers through. My mom, seeing it's ratty state (and probably worried we'd tell people she was responsible for creating the sad piece of yarn) knit him a new one which he now sleeps with. I decided we were already dragging too much junk and nostalgia to Georgia so decided a picture of the beloved woobie would have to be enough (and of course, a post saluting it's months of service). I wish I had pics. of Weston carrying it around, but for what it's worth, thanks woobie, you got us through some rough patches and will always hold a place in our hearts.

Cool Kids on the block

My boys are so cool. These are pics. of them just being themselves.

Weston likes wearing sunglasses, but he can't put them on himself, so he brings them to me and says, "cool." Interpretation, "yo hot mamma, put my pimp daddy-o locs on."

5 months, and Andrew is already striking poses

This is not the first time I've caught Weston kicking back like this. I'm lovin' the onsie to complete his GQ look, it's like the toddler version of a wife-beater.

Dr. Emma's Quote of the Day

okay, for those of you who were converted to Facebook by Jamie (or already on) and enjoyed visiting his page just for this section, don't be too bitter he went inactive. Mine certaintly will not be daily, not for lack of funny quotes, but I come up short in the memory and time department.

"I'm a splendid girl...my family loves me lots."-Emma

A Beautiful Day

After last week's cold and rainy weather, the sun shone down on Douglasville for the Steed children to enjoy a day of backyard exploring!

They discovered the pile of leaves in the corner and enjoyed tromping through them.

Emma was obseesed with the fallen branches. "Look mom, a stick, pull me up."

Week in Review- Part 2

Here's some more pics. that didn't attach to the last post.

The kids were excited to find the dress-up stuff that was packed away for several months. Emma put on everything she could fit and told me to take a picture.

Weston is a very hip, modern Goofy.

Weston wanted to try out the potty because he wants to do everything Emma does. I humored him (and myself) and took his diaper off to let him sit, but when he hopped off and pooped on the floor (and other things) I decided he could experiment with his pants on for now.

Our Week in Review

Well, here's a bunch of pics. to appease you daily blog checkers who are ready to give up on me (I'll pretend there are some). We moved this week and just got our internet up today, so here's some of the highlights from the last week. I'll take some pics of our new home when it is camera worthy :-)

Andrew enjoys playing in the walker and sucking on his hand. His siblings love pulling him around in this walker and Weston keeps sneeking into it when I'm not looking. He had his face on the kitchen floor with his feet stuck in the walker when I found him yesterday.

We enjoyed our last Sunday dinner with the Steeds at Shayla's house where Jamie tossed Cameron around.

Any time Weston got into the van he'd run for the driver's seat to steer and bounce around. When he snuck out of my parent's house we found him "driving" the car ( and you thought only teenage boys try sneeking out and stealing their parents' cars)

The kids zoned out on Little Einsteins while the movers unloaded all our junk.

Happy Love Day!

 
This is one of my favorite pics. It's Emma with her Aunt Shayla on Valentine's Day. Don't they just look so happy together?! Emma, along with the rest of us, is going to be smiling like that again this weekend when we get the best Valentine's present: Jamie comes in tonight! I think we'll just heat up a frozen pizza to eat while we pack but I'll just be happy to be with my sweetheart! Hope you all enjoy a lovely day surrounded by the ones you love!

We're being held hostage by boxes

 

Here's the baby's room right now. It used to be my favorite room in the house because it was always so clean and organized

 

Here's where the boxes from storage went (the family/living room). After going down the path and up a flight of stairs no one wanted to find a convenient spot. I'm just thankful for my great volunteers. Love you guys!

 

Here's the kitchen. It's nice to have that space put to good use. Thanks mom for packing my kitchen! Notice my poor child being neglected, having to provide his own entertainment (music) and feeding himself.

 

In fact, Weston has been in charge of packing most these boxes. I told him anything he wants to keep he better pack himself :-). This particular box has his sister in it. I don't know if he wants to keep her, or just doesn't want to sit by her on the plane....hmm, who else can we box up.

On the up side, the kids enjoy playing in the boxes. By the way, Emma is neither drugged nor sleeping, she's just as unphotogenic as her mother (notice there are no pics of me here). Although I could make a good story, with Weston playing the bad guy, if I put this pic before the last one.

Musical Chloroform

About a week ago I was putting Weston to bed when he said, "want God." He repeated himself and for one exciting moment I thought my toddler had a desire for religion in his life. Then I realized he was pointing at the CD player and I remembered that the first song on the primary CD I play him every night is "I Am a Child of God." He has requested this popular mormon tune many times since  (although the title has expanded to "Child of God") and it always calms him down. Even if I hold him and start humming it he starts to drift. I found it has a similar affect on Andrew as well. If I lay him down and he starts squirming and whimpering I just rub him and hum the song and he quiets right down. I don't know if my boys recognize their divine nature or if they simply enjoy the melody, either way I'm impressed by
  it's power. I love the simple truths that are taught in the primary songs and I love that my children enjoy listening to them and singing them. I'm glad to know that my children "want God."

Three Billy Goats Gruff

 
Last Saturday I took the kids to the Las Vegas Zoo. Yeah, we have a zoo. I mean, it's no San Diego but it's come a long way from what it was when I was a kid. Anyway, they had a cage you could enter with goats and rocks and bridges. Weston loved chasing the goats almost as much as he did going across the bridge (over and over). Emma would pet the goats and they would run off. Then she would chase after them calling,"come back honey, I was being soft." Weston wasn't quite as nice to the goats and found one trying to sleep. After petting his behind the goat turned around to butt him. Weston was amused and kept at it with the goat butting him several times before juping up and running away with Weston chasing him laughing. It was a fun outing.

Who's Gina Rochelle?

Allow me to clear up this Gina Rochelle business. No, I'm not trying to appear distinguished by using my first and middle name. I simply created a problem years ago that has never resolved (and, I'm sure never will). My family has always called me by my middle name, Rochelle. But my name on lists and documents always showed up as my first name, Gina. So every time I went into a new class I would have to correct them. Then one year I didn't make the correction. It was in fourth grade and I think I was just fed up with the creative nicknames that come from dividing Rochelle into two words (where the bad cockroaches go), so when they read Gina on the attendance roll, I just answered "here." From then on I was Gina by day and Rochelle by night. This Gina thing spread to church, sports teams, and pretty much every non-family place (oh wait, church is a family place). I continued going by Gina in college where I met my husband. Now I'm no longer Rochelle Cannon but Gina Steed. My family still calls me Rochelle and I don't even think about it until I come to an akward situation (like say, posting a blog) where I am speaking to both Gina and Rochelle audiences and I have to figure out who I am. I know they say women play lots of roles in life, but this is silly. So, I apologize for the confusion I have caused and want my readers to know that Gina and Rochelle may be used interchangeably, but it's the same person. And for parents considering calling their child by their middle name, just don't.

Moving to Georgia

Well, for those of you who haven't heard, the Steed family is moving to Atlanta, Georgia. Jamie got a position at Towers Perrin, a consulting firm, and has been working there and living with a friend since the beginning of November. I've stayed back in Vegas with the kids until we could find a renter/buyer for our condo. After three months of waiting, we have found a renter and are packing up and heading to Georgia. We will be leaving Las Vegas Tuesday the 19th. We are renting a house in Georgia. Douglasville to be exact. I'm excited to be downstairs(I'm currently in a second-story condo) with a backyard and a husband! Emma's getting very anxious too and tells me to keep packing and not stop for household work. Now that we will be very far away from our family and friends, I decided it was time to break down and create a blog. We'll see how it goes. Try to be patient with me as I figure this all out.