Dirty Laundry

Yes, we start them young here at the Corley Clan. Emmy got inducted into the art of "emptying the dryer" today. She even helped Rachel push the basket to Rachel's room. Check out the video below. A side note: You can really see how red Emmy's hair is here!! Wow!!

Snuggles

We "baby" sat Snuggles this weekend for some close friends. I am fairly certain that if it were up to the littles, Snuggles would have been a welcome addition to the Corley Clan! Sam built Snuggles a "fort" out of couch pillows, and at one point, he even called him "Snuggles Corley"! Emmy LOVED having her fingers licked (every now and then), but Rachel was ultimately Snuggles' surrogate Mommy while he stayed with us. He followed her EVERYWHERE she went, and if she went somewhere without him, he cried. The kids are SO excited to eventually get a dog (it should be noted that Snuggles will be the brother of the Peekapoo we eventually get).

Hopefully, we'll get to "baby"sit again sometime soon!

What Donuts?

Emmy got a taste of her very first powdered donut this weekend! She's in love!

Sam's First Sleepover

Sam had his buddy, Jed over for Sam's very first sleepover at our house. They played hardcore, and finally fell asleep at 10:00 in a pile on the floor. We had to move Emmy into our room for the night (which was NOT fun) because all three of them were playing and not actually sleeping. Sam will be staying the night with Jed tonight for the very first time -- and possibly -- going swimming tomorrow.

7 Year Itch

Today is our 7th Wedding Anniversary. I told Rusty last night that I feel like I love him more now than even on our wedding day. He agreed. Having a Godly marraige is so much more than I could have ever imagined, and even though we were Christians when we got married, we weren't necessarily living like Christians.

My mom always scratched my back for me when I was younger. What can I say? I have an itchy back. She would always tell me that I had better marry a man that would scratch my back for me every day, otherwise, I'd never survive. I told her, even when I was 10, that I would marry a man just like that.

There comes a point in a marraige when you can guess what the other person wants or needs just by a jesture or a facial expression. Rusty and I got to that point many, many years ago, and he is still scratching my back for me. What my mom doesn't know though, is that I scratch the bottoms of his feet for him (because he has ZERO tickle sensors on them). I enjoy a good back scratch, and he enjoys a good foot scratch.

7 years of marraige isn't very long in the grand scheme of things. We've had our ups and downs just like every marraige has. There were times that we didn't even know where we were headed, but somehow, God brought us through the rough patches, and He continues to "scratch our backs" in this life. We have been blessed in so many ways, and can't wait to go through the next episode of life. Together. 

Upside-Down Emmy

I just started out with intentions to video Emmy -- just being Emmy, but it turned in to me actually catching her doing something completely NEW on video! It's pretty long, but TOTALLY worth the wait! Enjoy!

3 More Weeks....ish...

I had my almost 37 week checkup this morning. Everything is fine with me and the Little. I have not kept up with the week to week updates with this pregnancy like I did with Emmy's pregnancy mainly because it has made the time FLY BY! When keeping up with what week of pregnancy I was on...all the time....made it nearly unbearable to wait until the grand finale!

The midwife checked me out this morning, and suggested that I tell my cervix to come back home from vacation in Miami. Apparently, I'm nowhere even close to going into labor! Great! Fantastic! Whatever!

On a side note, I am certain that I know right where my stomach has travelled to during this pregnancy. You know how your tummy can make certain noises when you're hungry, not feeling well, or for no reason really? Well, my tummy decided to make a noise about a week ago, and I heard it quite clearly...in my armpit! That just goes to show you how crazy a woman's body is during pregnancy!

I have doctor appointments scheduled every Wednesday until the Little arrives, so if there is any new news, I'll be sure to update.

Bubbles!!

The kids were getting a little restless yesterday, so I stuck them in the bathtub. This was Emmy's very first bubblebath, and it was also her first time taking a bath outside of her baby bathtub. They both had a really good time! And, I got a much needed break -- even if I did have a mess to clean up afterwards.

A Couple of Cute Quips

**Warning** Brain on Vacation

My brain has officially left the building, and has gone on vacation where there are beaches, margaritas, and absolutely no common sense! Yesterday, I forgot my last name when I was picking up my prescription, and this morning, for the third time in just a little over a month (twice this week), I left the lights on in the car -- so, the battery died!

Please come home! I miss you, and so does everyone else!

Comments

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Rebekah

Emmy's Curls

Emmy - Really Walking Now

Rachel's New Dress

Rachel stayed the night at a friend's house last night, and came home with a new dress. What a ham!

Sunflowers & Pumpkins

3/8/2010

Rusty got the littles a couple of "grow your own" pumpkins and sunflowers. They absolutely loved planting the seeds, watering them, and watching the soil suck up the water. They (the plants, not the littles) are sitting in the window sill now getting some much needed sun! We'll see how green the littles' thumbs are soon!

3/14/2010

The kids planted the little pumpkins and sunflowers today. One of the sunflowers didn't sprout, so we're down to three potential plants. The littles have had a good time watching the little cups grow up from nothing but seeds while sitting in the window sill. Now, they get to check on them every day, and give us updates.

God - Can Do

Rusty and I have been really relying on John 16:33 recently, especially in regards to our finances. We've also been praying for an opportunity to open up for Rachel to go to Christian School. We've been interested in a school and about a month ago, I set out on an adventure that I would have never expected to unfold like it has.

I started Rachel in the enrollment process for this school that we've had in mind. I got all of the documents in order, had an interview with the principal where I told her that Rachel's attending their school would depend on the financing coming through, etc. The principal mentioned the McKay Scholarship which applies to kids in public school that desire to go to private school. She told me that they could fund a portion of the tuition, and then there are other scholarships out there that we could apply for to try to fund the remaining balance that McKay didn't pay.

I have heard of the McKay Scholarship before, but didn't really know much about it. I went ahead and applied for it, and just left it in God's hands. I even told the principal that if it didn't work out, it was okay with me. Rachel really is doing just fine at her current school.

I checked a few weeks later on the status of the application for the McKay Scholarship, and my mind was officially blown when I read the award! Rachel received more than 100% of her tuition paid for! If she gets accepted into the school, she will be FULLY FUNDED for the rest of her school days (until college)!

God really is good!

John 16:33

I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world!

Emmy - 15 Months Old

There's about one more month for Emmy to have all of the glory, and then comes Little Sarah - at this point, Emmy's little world will most definitely be turned completely upside down!

She's 15 months old now, and finally weighs 21.9 pounds (the 25th percentils)! She has a total of 6 teeth (2 of them are molars), but not a single one of them has come completely out, so she may have a total of 1.75 teeth! Most importantly, she is walking. She is still not comfortable with walking full time, but she is SO close! She so badly wants to do it, and practices from time to time, but crawling is still her preferred method of travel.

She may not be walking full time, but she sure is talking a lot! She has several new words in her vocabulary such as ba-ba (for bottle), she says Mama more often, but still only says it when she's having some serious drama in her life, and the "daddles" are all over the place (daddle, daddle?)

Emmy gets along so well with Rachel and Sam. She lets Rachel play with her hair, and Sam lets Emmy play with his belly button. Every time she touches his belly button, she cackles. I've tried so many times to get it on video, but she's totally on to me with the camera, so she hides all of her cuteness until I put the camera away!

I'm so sorry, Little, but your little sister will be here soon. I hope you can forgive her for stealing your spotlight!

A Slimy Baby Bump

Yesterday, it rained, and yesterday, Sam and I fell down like we were sliding into home plate to win the World Series! Before you worry too much, I'll tell you that Sam, Sarah, and Mommy are perfectly ok! Sam got dirty, God forbid, and I felt fine right after the fall, but then I started having weird baby movements which turned into weird Mommy feelings, so I went to triage.

I find it very difficult to believe that with all of the modern technology out there, that it's still such an "ancient" procedure to monitor a baby's heart rate! For the hour that I was at triage, more than half of the time, the nurse was trying to find Sarah's heartbeat with the monitor. For those of you that don't know, they have to smear the slime, as I call it, all over the monitor which results in slime being smeared all over my 35 week baby bump (only a little over 4 weeks to go)!

Why can't someone please invent something that effectively and efficiently monitors the baby's heart rate? Puhlease?! I'm sure OB nurses everywhere would agree!

With Mommy and Sarah being ok, my ankle is, yet again, smashed! Wonderful! Now, I'm really a Weeble Wobble - except that I fall down!

Nesting Much?

Yes. I am nesting. This past weekend, everyone found out just how badly I am nesting. I think it's only logical to get all this stuff done before Sarah gets here because we all know that it won't get done once she arrives! I've already gone through ALL of the rooms in the house and either tossed or donated most of our stuff that we don't really need anymore. I couldn't tell you how many things I found in this process that I'd been looking for or forgot it even existed!

Here's our "To-Do" List from Saturday:

• Put Crib together
• Clean both bathrooms
• Clean all rooms
• Vacuum house
• Sweep
• Mop
• Clean kitchen
• Lower Emmy's bed (so she doesn't try to climb out)
• Laundry
• Clean out van
• Carry bookshelf to storage room
• Sweep porch & stairs
• Dust
• Fix curtains (apparently, our house is crooked, and they were driving me nuts)
• Clean ceiling fans
• Take trash out
• Replace kitchen sink squirter (long, annoying story)

Everyone was SO helpful, cooperative, and lying or not, seemed to enjoy getting things accomplished! Rusty took Rachel out for Chinese food (her first time, I think), and she loved it, but the egg drop soup didn't realy love Rusty too much, so he spent all of Saturday night vomitting, and Sunday was a "recovering from throwing up all night" day -- you know -- that insanely sore feeling where your body may or may not fall apart if you cough or sneeze.

After an exhausting day, the only thing that didn't get done was putting the crib together, but wow, did we get a lot done -- and still managed to have Joey and Grammy over for dinner (Rusty's 1st, and might I add, successful attempt at making baked ziti).

A Neewwwwwww Dress!

Grammy got Emmy a new dress!

Harley Har Har

Harley is Ang's 4,000 pound boxer. Well, not really. He's more like 120 pounds, but at what point does it even matter how much he weighs? He's huge! And, he's a big baby!

Emmy absolutely LOVES Harley. The first time that Harley met Emmy, he started play barking at her, now, he just licks her from chin to forehead sometimes, knocking her over! She just cackles! Sam is at face level with Harley, so he gets licked in the face every time he walks into the room, out of a room, into the bathroom, wherever he goes, Harley is there to lick him. Rachel likes Harley, but is more attentive to playing with Cole, Kate, & Laney that she hardly pays him any attention. I love the big ole lug. He licks my feet for me -- between my toes! Most people find it disgusting, but for some strange reason, I don't mind it at all, and even encourage him! I don't want him to lick me on the face, however.

Whatever the case, Harley has become the Corley Clan's "surrogate dog" (until we get one that we like) for now, so even though he doesn't live with us, we all consider him part of the family!