Merry Christmas!

We are currently conducting our annual Indiana holiday road trip. Having so much fun with family and sharing our (mostly) delightful, hilarious little man!

Happy holidays to you all!

Poor man

Emmett had a rough week at school. First he fell on a sidewalk and skidded, resulting in this face injury. Then on Friday a "friend" bit him.

He wore this sweater to go see Santa today. He was frikkin terrified. I loved how he looked in his tiny preppy sweater though, even if when I bought it, mike asked if I was gearing up for an ugly Christmas sweater party. No, mike. This is a cute sweater!!

Today we took one of the rails off Emmett's crib and added the piece that makes it a toddler bed. 50/50 shot that we end up putting the rail back on. I'm sure we will regret it. But it's worthy shot.

Reading Mike's favorite book

Mike hates this book. Baby has read his first hundred words like a million times.

If you can't spot the sucker...

...you probably are the sucker.

I told him he could have some m&ms if he colored on some Christmas cards. He ate the m&ms and then refused to color. Who's the chump? Me.

Bedtime struggles

I've got it! I can post on the blog as I sit on the floor of emmetts room while I wait for him to go to sleep!

(Parenting... Super fun btw)

One of my coworkers told me to put him to bed earlier. I tried that last night. He got so freaking heated up over it, he barfed hot dogs all over his crib.

What? No, my child doesn't eat hot dogs for every meal. Why do you ask?

Very little is grosser than hot dog barf. Seriously.

The thing is, nothing prompts opinions from all kinds of people more than parenting problems and sleep specifically. And I've found little that works other than a stiff cocktail for mommy and daddy.

So here I sit, waiting for Sir to drop off to sleep. It's not like I could be working or doing laundry or wrapping Christmas presents or making gluten free toddler food from scratch. No, nothing better to do. Nothing! Argh.....

Dumb stuff

Sometimes I think, this thought it too long for a facebook post.  Also, I am probably posting too much on facebook. I should act like I care about facebook a little less.  You know, to not look too eager.  haha.  I wish I had somewhere else to put this drivel.

Oh yes, I have a blog.  I guess.  Kind of.

I've never really been a "blogger".  I'm not a great writer.  I'm not really all that interested in getting out my feelings in other venues other than in a phone call to my Mom or sister.  But whatever, maybe I should write a little bit more.   It was originally a way to keep up with people.  Now that we have Sir, we have less time to keep up but more people that are actually interested in keeping up.  I mean, we are BORING.  But Emmett, he is funny!

Speaking of a funny little man, his talking is going great - I read somewhere that if you say "the car is orange" that kids catch onto colors better than if you say "the orange car", so I've been doing that.  His colors have been taking off!  It's so funny.   He said his first whole sentence last week - "DADDY, WHERE ARRRRRRRRRE YOOOOOOOOU?!!"  He is a total Daddy's boy, he is always so sad when we get home and Mike is in Chicago.  Yesterday I was changing out of my work clothes and Emmett was Johnny on the spot to point out that I had a butt "Butt, butt!" and that the shorts I changed into were pink "PINK BUTT."  Oh my.

Back to the original thought that was too boring and long for facebook - Yesterday my flat iron broke.  SADNESS.  I looked it up to see when I bought it to see if it was still under warranty and realized that I bought it in 2008.  Holy poop.  My flat iron is older than my kid.  Not hard, but still kind of funny.  Also, it only broke b.c I dropped it on the floor and the plate broke off.  So totally my fault.  I'll be buying that EXACT same flat iron again.  Hopefully it lasts four years like its predecessor!

I need to find an app to post straight from my iphone via blogger.  Any recommendations from anyone?

Eyeball update

I feel like it's going to be hard to put into words the experience we've had since the last time I updated about Emmett's eyes.  The words "ringer, going through it" come to mind.

We went back in May, and the doctor confirmed that he would need the surgery we'd scheduled in June.  Unsurprising.  She indicated that there was since a very small chance that his measurements would change between then and the surgery, we didn't need to come back to recheck the measurements.  I figured that any chance was a chance I didn't want to deal with - not for something that would take us only an hour to do.  So we made another appointment with the surgeon for the day prior to the surgery to double-check the measurements.  I had some dental work scheduled for that day so Mike took him.

Oy vey, people.  The surgeon confirmed his measurements... then suggested to Mike that we schedule the surgery.  Mike responded that we had, that it was queued up for the NEXT DAY, and the surgeon said "Oh.  Have we decided how much to correct for?"

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.  I GET that the amount his eye was crossed changed throughout the day and was different if he was in glasses or out of them.  But still.  She's the surgeon.  You do NOT want to hear that she's unsure of how to handle the situation.

Unlike what I would have done, Mike kept it together.  I would have given the surgeon an extra eyeroll, told her that I didn't go to med school, and to get her shiz together.  Mike gently prompted her through a discussion of the different thoughts on the topic and encouraged her to consult her fellow practice members. 

The next day we had the surgery done - the process was relatively easy.. Emmett was great.  And was totally fine afterwards, downing some gluten-free sausage pizza only hours after leaving the hospital (surgery was outpatient).

We were very hopeful, but the eyes looked awful.  They were really bloody looking, which we expected.  But one eye actually looked like it wandered out.  He looked so bad, and it certainly wasn't an improvement to have him walleyed!

For the first week, I teared up when I looked at him.  It was so hard, I was so freaked out and I was convinced he'd need to have another surgery.  Words cannot describe how AWFUL it looked.  Then, the week after that it started getting better day by day.  I still think it gets better every day, but that second week - LEAPS and BOUNDS are the only words for it.  Enough to pardon the surgeon from the unholy cursing Mike had planned for her at his two-week post checkup.  She actually was quite pleased with his progress.  She did say the outcome judgement day is really two months post - there can be quite a lot of change up until then, and until then we are patching his "good" eye for an hour a day to ensure his brain keeps processing images from his "bad" eye.

As of now though, Emmett's eyes are looking pretty good.  Check out the pic of my brother, E and I last week:

Still not perfect, will have a better idea at his two month checkup.  File this in the drawer labelled "Cautiously optimistic".

School pic Spring 2012

School pic Spring 2012, a photo by agstratt on Flickr.

Small Sir's school picture.... how do they get pics like this? How did they make him sit like that? And why isn't his nose crusted with snot as per usual!?!

What you don't see by looking at this pic is that I knew ahead of time that they were taking his pics at 8am. So when (totally uncharacteristic of Emmett) he didn't wake me up at the buttcrack of dawn, I woke up at 7:40, I bolted out of bed yelling OH NOES and ran to his room, slammed his pic clothes on him, tossed him in the car and hauled butt to school. Kid was literally in bed twenty minutes prior. I'm surprised he didn't have sleep marks on his face because he sleeps face down.

Murphy's law/chaos theory at work here in child rearing. Oy.

Mealing

DSC_8721, a photo by agstratt on Flickr.

I put him in one of my tshirts to eat some gluten free pasta with red sauce. Actually worked out quite well! I crack up though, the area around his mouth is always so stained. He's like a mini Bozo the Clown!

Trump Tower - Results!

A little follow-up on the Trump Tower post.... the manager called me, offered to let me have 10 people in the room, knocked 200 off the price, and sent up free champagne and chocolates.  Winner!!!

Here are some good pics of the room (all pics taken by my friend Emily)

There was a lot of good food and fun times with the ladies... and a blowup giraffe!

Got these ladies all in one place since my wedding in 2007 - I call it a MAJOR success!!!

And good times were had by all!  :)

Eyeballs

I think one of the really tough things about parenting is that when you're not privvy to the details of other people's lives, you assume that everything is 100% perfect. Many times we don't talk about our struggles. But I think it's important to address these roadblocks as well - everyone has some cross to bear. Life isn't perfect for anyone.

In October a friend came to visit with her little one. We had a great time seeing them. We took the boys for a walk and chatted and just hung out. Although the boys are about 2.5 months apart, we were due only a month apart. So developmentally the boys are much closer in age. The boys were sitting on a blanket in our living room when I noticed something that I'd been getting suspicious of over the past week or so. "There! Look! Is his eye crossed?!" I pointed to Emmett and my friend looked at him carefully. She is a detail-oriented person, Type A, a social worker. Also honest. Not the kind of person to ignore or sugarcoat things. She looked at him carefully for a minute or two before answering. "I don't see it. I don't think it is. Maybe it just looked that way for a minute," she said. I was glad she was there in the moment to give me her opinion. But I couldn't sweep the feeling under the rug. Couldn't dismiss it. Later when I was uploading pictures from the weekend, I noticed that his eye definitely looked crossed in any pictures where he was looking straight at the camera.

One of the pics from that weekend

I rooted around in my photo files. Just a week earlier his eye might have been a little off in one picture I took (of 100).

A couple of weeks earlier at the pumpkin patch

And a few weeks before that, at his school pictures in September, it looked just fine.

I started compiling pics of Emmett and his eyes into a flickr set, and planned to bring it up at his well baby visit with his pediatrician a three weeks later.

The following week, everyone else started noticing. My Dad asked if his eyes were crossed. Dad is a minister and has seen a lot of people and A LOT of situations. He pretty much knows everything (one time he asked me what a kind of cheese was that we were eating in Chicago and I was all "Holy cow I know something Dad doesn't." So dumb, a type of cheese. haha) I felt a sense of vindication that I wasn't just blowing things out of proportion, but also dismayed that there could be something actually wrong with Emmett.

That week, I saw a notice at his daycare that they would be doing eye exams at his school for the older kids. I asked them to have the person take a look at his eyes. I was given a note in a sealed envelope that night. "Dear Emmett's Mom, I would recommend taking Emmett to a pediatric opthamologist." Ugh. Not words you want to read.The next week at his pediatrician appointment, his doc looked at his eyes and said that while she thought his eye health was good, she was referring us to a doctor at Riley Children's hospital in downtown Indy. The soonest they could get us in was the first week in December. And so we waited.

The first appointment was pretty straightforward. They measured his eyes and agreed with my assessment. They prescribed glasses. The doctor told me that it would most likely correct with the glasses. If not, they'd try patching the good eye to encourage the development of the bad one. If that didn't work, then we'd try surgery.

Emmett turns a lot of heads in his tiny glasses. He is admittedly very cute in them. I'm glad I picked the square frames, as they "turn him into a tiny intellectual" as a friend commented.

In February we took him back to Riley to check on progress and they reported that the eye was less crossed. 18-20 diopters of crossed instead of 30 at the original appointment. But not enough to conclude that the glasses would correct the problem. They recommended patching but wanted to schedule the surgery for early summer. We were more than a little taken aback with what we thought was skipping a step straight to surgery. The error rate the surgeon quoted us was 20%. This was alarming to us, for sure. We scheduled a second opinion at Children's Memorial in Chicago.

Let's just say that the 773 Chicago area code cell phone and Indiana address really confused the administrative staff while making the appointment.

But the appointment was great. We were much better prepared to ask questions at this one, which probably explains most of why we felt better about it. The eye was also slightly better and they did extensive tests on eye health which put his eyesight at completely normal and equally good in each eye. But the doctor recommended the same exact course of treatment as Riley. Same methods, same strategy, same everything. The doctor even recommended Riley as highly as she did Children's. I knew Riley was very well-regarded, but I'm from Indiana. I wanted to know the opinion of the hospital outside of the state, and it's good to know that they are held in high esteem by Children's.

So here we are. Waiting until his next appointment May 11. Looking at him critically each day to see if it's gotten better. Waiting to see if the surgery works. Hoping that it does, to give our little man a chance at a normal life with two normal eyes.

Typical sight

DSC_8681, a photo by agstratt on Flickr.

Climbing on the cozy coupe....

Emmett loves this thing. He is such a fan!

It's all my fault

DSC_8554, a photo by agstratt on Flickr.

.... my mom hasn't updated her blarg in a million years. I am walking and into EVERYTHING. On the upside, I'm super cute and can say bye-bye, among other things.

School pictures are next week, so that should be another cute opportunity!

The small delights in life

OK confession time. And this is kind of odd. One of the things I really really enjoy is writing a sternly-worded letter to a manager or customer service representative if I think something sucks or is ridiculous. And yesterday I was able to fulfill just that delight.

I was online, looking at suites for a friend's bachelorette party and found a freaking awesome one at the Trump Tower in downtown Chicago. Of course, the suite was about a million dollars (let's agree to not tell actual amounts to protect the innocent and to keep my friends from realizing how much I was planning to spend). At any rate, I thought, "Self. Allowance goes alot farther in Indiana. You have been saving for something fun. You can cover most of the cost and the rest of the girls can chip in the same amount as if we'd gotten a more reasonably priced room. And I bet if you called the hotel, they would cut their rate. Why not give it a go?" So I did. I called the hotel, and they offered me a discount on the spot to book. Just like that, I was getting a two bedroom, lakeview suite at the Trump Tower for, let's just say, only half a million dollars.

I have fond memories of our anniversary at the Trump a couple of years ago. The bath tub was the size of our Corolla and the bathroom had a TV in the mirror. We drank champagne and watched Tommy Boy from the tub. And lo it was awsome. I was suitably stoked about securing an all out baller place to have this shindig.

Don't believe me? Check out these pictures...

Ridiculous no?

As we are wrapping up the phone conversation, the rep says, "OK, so one final thing. Just wanted to make sure you were aware of our Gathering Policy." I reply with no and she says that ONLY the six guests who are registered to the room are allowed to go up to it. That you need to sign in and have key cards and there is a security guy and the works. And the room can have a maximum of six people staying in it.

I'll stop for a minute and let that soak in. Also..... this pic below of a dining room table that seats 8. For a room that is only allowed to have 6 people in it. Because that makes sense.

ANYWAY - I tell her right then and there that we'd better just go ahead and cancel the reservation. Because while we probably will only have about 6 staying there, there was a possibility of having to squeeze in one or two more. And that we'd have more than that for the pre-dinner bachelorette festivities that included snacks and giving our friend some bachelorette gifts and playing of games. So she says ok, cancels the room and gives me a cancellation number. Bummer.

The more I think about it, the more freaking steamed I get. You pay an exorbitant fee for a great hotel room and then you can only have six people, REGISTERED GUESTS ONLY, even enter it. How weird. So I wrote this letter. I doubt I will get a reply. But it was it fun.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: April
To: Info@TrumpHotels.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 1:54 PM
Subject: Manager Question/Complaint

I tried to make a reservation for your 2 bedroom suite with a lake view (at the Chicago location) to the tune of around a half million dollars and the reservations representative asked me if I knew about your "Gathering policy." Apparently, only the 6 registered guests for the room are the only people allowed to access the room at all. As the room was for a celebration for a friend's wedding and we planned on doing gifts and snacks at the hotel prior to going out for dinner and drinks, I had no choice but to cancel.

This seems ridiculous. You charge someone a half million dollars and then treat them as if they are an 18 year old in a college dorm? I was on an academic floor in college and still had a more lenient visitation policy. Is this meant to limit property damage? If I have the means to pay for a hotel room of that amount, I would surely have the means to pay for any damage as a result of having other people in the room. Not to mention that there would be no damage. I would hazard a guess that you don't want parties on your property, but a few extra women in their thirties giving gifts to an engaged friend and eating brie certainly isn't a cause for concern. Your complete and total disregard for your guests in this policy is alarming.

I would really like to touch base with a manager on this policy. It seems completely contrary to the Trump reputation and everything it stands for. However, I was unable to find Manager information (in addition to the "Gathering Policy") published on your website.

Thanks,
April

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So anyways, am I crazy? It is offensive to charge someone out the wazoo for something and then treat them with all the leeway of a middle schooler, no? I just don't get it.

Pics are from the Trump Hotel website

Knock, knock.... is this thing on?

OK, I have been a majorly bad blogger. At least my template is fixed now. But God only knows how long it was like that! I will say that life with a little one is even more busy than I expected, and when I get a spare minute I usually want to spend it playing with Emmett or catching up around the house (which I never actually get caught up on!) or catching up on z's (another thing I never actually get caught up on!)

While Emmett is *knock on wood* a pretty good sleeper, the craptastic part of life is that YOU NEED SLEEP EVERY DAY. So even if he sleeps through the night 6/7 nights, there is that one night that he gets you up and you feel like night of the waking dead for a few days. Lately he has been much more unpredictable than that, but still. Overall it could be much worse. The other awesome thing is that he has been getting up around 5 or 5:30, which is ridiculous. Who gets up at 5? Crazy people, that's who. And babies. And then there are the days that he wakes up at 4:30. Oy. Let's just say, those days are crazy long.

I can tell you one thing that is awesome, and that is having my couch back. Those months in the rental house without my furniture took their toll, and I will never ever take my couch for granted again. This house is so big though that we're rocking things like a folding table in the dining room and a tv tray as a nightstand in the guest room. If that's not classy I don't know what is.

We're currently in the process of dealing with a few things:

• Emmett has glasses and may need eye surgery for strabismus and amblyopia. It's pretty likely he'll need at least one surgery, and it's kind of likely that he'll need two. We're heading up to Chicago at the end of March for a fun weekend topped off with a second opinion at Children's Memorial.
  
• I'm heading to India for a work trip in March, so my two dudes will be on their own for two weeks. I'm feeling a little bad for the dudes, but they'll make it through.
• Emmett was recently diagnosed with a moderate wheat allergy, so I'm learning to adapt and feed him without wheat. We're not going too nutso over it since it's a moderate allergy. Yet it's still a major adjustment. Do you know what wheat is in? EVERYTHING!
• The leasing agency found someone to take over our lease in Greenwood - SCORE! So this next payment is prorated and then we'll get our security deposit back. So really, there won't be any more paying for a rental we don't live in! Woot!
• Thinking of buying a car. Drove some this weekend and I fell in love with a Prius V. For those of you that don't know, this is basically a station wagon. But so cute! And so energey efficient! I am in love! We'll wait until I get back from India though - no use in buying a new car to let it sit in a garage for weeks right off the bat.
  

Overall we are loving our new life in Indiana! Maybe my new pink and chevron setup with inspire me to write a little bit more :)

Technical difficulties!

VID00636 a video by agstratt on Flickr.

I know, I know, the stuff is jacked up. Now I have to go find a new template and install it. Stand by!

In the meantime, check out this video of my tiny baby. My BAAAAAAAYYYYYYBEEEEEEEEEEE!! Where did he go? Now he's been replaced with a small boy who yells and bites my finger when I brush his teeth.

I miss the baby smoke monster noises. At least during the daytime.

Busy Bee

DSC_8252, a photo by agstratt on Flickr.

Sir is a busy bee and won't sit still. I snagged him for a pic and he was all "DUDE! Must keep going!"

He likes to bang on my laptop too. Working, Mom!

Look who is one!!!

DSC_8165, a photo by agstratt on Flickr.

No concerns about lack of cake smashing around here. Emmett grabs the cake and smashes it right into his mouth!

At one year:
-Emmett is into EVERYTHING.
-He is cruising along furniture, and has two push toys he can walk behind.
-He can stand on his own when he doesn't realize he is doing it (once he realizes he is all AHHH and grabs for something).
-He climbed up on his car push toy onto the coffee table two days ago, resulting in a nice bruised noggin.
-Falls all the time
-Has finally learned to wave - with his whole arm!
-Make clicking sounds with his mouth and yells while smacking his mouth making an ah-ah-ah-ah sound.
-He can eat an entire can of mandarin oranges and has housed an adult sized serving of lasagna.
-He loves chef boyardee ravioli and especially loves to rub it in his hair - making it red and spiky.
-He looks like Ralphie from a Christmas story with the glasses.
-Took his first steps last week!

Scratchy Sir

DSC_7965, a photo by agstratt on Flickr.

Emmett likes to scratch his noggin ALOT. Part of this is because he has the dryest scalp EVER. I also think he got into the habit of always grabbing onto his head when he wore his helmet. For whatever reason, he is always running his hands through his hair and rubbing his head.

Hubs laughs at him a little b.c his hands barely reach the top of his head. Go ahead. Put your hands in the air. See how big your head would be if you could barely hug it with your arms. Big. Babies are so weird!

That's right ladies...

DSC_7972, a photo by agstratt on Flickr.

eat your hearts out :)

I couldn't resist this onesie for E. Snarky baby onesies make me laugh.

New Year's Eve

DSC_7959, a photo by agstratt on Flickr.

On New Year's Eve we stayed home and knocked something off the bucket list by trying Dom Perignon. It was good, but let's just say I'd rather have four bottles of Tattinger Brut from Domaine Carneros by far! I'm glad that we tried it though, now we can say we've had it ;)

Other than this, the night consisted of having my parents over for a garlic pork roast, watching the IU game then switching over to the British version of Top Gear, and falling asleep on the couch around 10. I had a great time and I even put on jeans and a ruffly red shirt instead of my awesome purple yoga pants. Fancy!

Yearly recap!

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? Had a baby. Scored a job that offered to move my family to another state, bought a house.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for 2011? My only resolution was to step back and let Mike be the great Dad I was sure he would be. And I hope I’ve done that. I think I can do it more but overall I don’t think I’ve done a bad job.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Do I count? Yes. There were a ton of babies born this year – My friend Karrie had a little girl Kinley that is Emmett’s bff at daycare, and then Dora had Michael and Amy D had Everett. Another friend from high school, Sara, had a little girl in march. Also, my friend Tracy had twins (!!) this summer

4. Did anyone close to you die? Hmmm… I don’t think so?

5. What countries did you visit? None!

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? Calm. This year was Bananas and crazy and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but I’m looking forward to settling into our new home and getting some more chill time.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? 1-8 Emmett was born, 4-4 I went back to work, 9-26 I started my new job, 12-13 last day in the condo, 12-20 we closed on our new house.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Keeping my head above water and trying to give my best to everything.

9. What was your biggest failure? Not being more strategic and aggressive about the pricing of our condo

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I got a couple of bad colds and also caught the flu but overall not bad.

11. What was the best thing you bought? A house!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? The husband. Not many couples relocate for the wife’s job, and he welcomed the relocation even though it probably didn’t mean the best things for his own career.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? No one really.

14. Where did most of your money go? Daycare, mortgage, moving

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Having a baby! Moving back to Indiana!

16. What song will always remind you of 2011 Baby Jamz – Mary had a little lamb, Adele – Someone like you, Sugarland – Stuck like glue

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner! I was extra pregnant this time last year but the Mommy diet is great! I’m thinner than before I got pregnant.
c) richer or poorer? Richer, kind of. Got out of the condo without losing our shirts so that is something.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Concentrating on work

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? I’m not really sure. I feel like I did a pretty good job this year of handling all the big changes, sometimes with tears, but I felt they were necessary. I probably could have been nicer to Hubs though J

20. How did you spend Christmas? In Evansville with the parents and siblings, with a sick Dog and a teething baby

21. Did you fall in love in 2011? Yes, in love with my tiny Emmett man

22. What was your favorite TV program? How I met your Mother, One born every minute

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Nope.

24. What was the best book you read? The Hunger Games series

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Sugarland

26. What did you want and get? A baby. Out of the condo.

27. What did you want and not get? Hubs around more

28. What was your favorite film of this year? Crazy stupid love

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 32. I went to work and had pizza delivered to work when I was leaving (they don’t deliver to the south side of Indy). I took it home and Hubs and Emmett and I had pizza and breadsticks while Dog ran around the yard. It was so perfect.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Really nothing. 2011 was amazing for me.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? Shirts that were baggy enough to hide the end of the baby weight but tight enough to not make me look slubby. New job also has me getting back into the business casual. I wear lots of wrappy sweaters too.

32. What kept you sane? Getting ourselves unstuck in the Chicago hamster wheel and getting more room to grow our family in Indiana.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Ryan Gosling? Not sure.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? Honestly with all going on this year I tried to ignore the political issues. I get really annoyed about how none of the politicians can’t seem to figure anything out or work together though.

35. Who did you miss? My old friend Chicago and the girlfriends I had there. I miss having them around terribly. I also miss Hubs during the week but Sir Emmett keeps me soooo busy!

36. Who was the best new person you met? Emmett Jeffrey, Sir Cheeks!

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. You can do it. YOU CAN DO IT.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Lil Wayne – How to love

See I just want you to know that you deserve the best, you’re beautiful
You’re beautiful

And I want you to know, you’re far from the usual
Far from the usual