We took Emily to her allergist this morning to determine if she is, in fact, allergic to dyes. The answer in short - Yes. She has an allergic reaction, though pretty mild, to anything with artificial dyes - icings, Popsicle, grape juice... But usually her reaction have been pretty mild with just some blotchy rashes on her face or neck. However, the first time we gave her grape juice (mind you, we heavily dilute juice...so she had about 1/2 inch with the rest water), she broke out in hives. The doctor thinks it is likely she could outgrow this allergy and we hope so. However, we now have an epi-pen, just in case she were to have more concentration of red or yellow dyes and have a more severe reaction. But in the grand scheme of things, I am blessed it is something as mild as artificial dyes...these are generally pretty easily to avoid. So thankful the allergy isn't in more common foods.

Every night after our bedtime reading, we do bedtime prayers. A lot of times I will do them with each of them in their own beds but sometimes when I'm tired, I do both at once. Usually by Thursday nights....I'm worn out. So tonight was one of those nights.

So after our "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayer, Seth usually has his own prayers for people (Emily is just learning to do this from Seth). Here are a few people he prayed for tonight. The funny part is the "why" he adds on at the end.

"Mom Thomas so she can walk up her ramps and Barbara." (the handicap ramps in Mom's house are the best part of those visits to Seth and Barbara apparently is just Barbara)

"Daddy to stay safe at work and catch bad people. We love him."

"Pop to not be sick anymore. OH! And Juju to be at his house and make him healthy!" (so apparently Juju doesn't get her own prayer tonight instead she gets a chore)

"Abo to drive safe so he doesn't get in a big crash." (apparently Abo is in danger of crashes)

"Mommy to stay at home tomorrow." I answer "Why?" He says, "Mommy...you know. So you can watch over me. You're silly!"

"Pray for Emmy so she can pretend to put eyeshadow on Bo." (Yes, more on that story later...Poor Bo is Emmy's pretend buddy and has had his "hair cut"and "eyeshadow and lipstick put on" and his nails clipped...Sweet Bo just lays there)

And Finally:
"Pray for Haiti so her house can be made again and she feels better." (We have tried to explain Earthquake Haiti to him and I thought he kind of understood but during this prayer it became apparent that he think Haiti is a lady who's house fell down.)

These are the moments I keep meaning to video but haven't done it yet.

Christian and I always wanted to have the kids close in age. We figured it would allow them to have more in common and more friends together but we also knew it would get us through the baby stage and into fun toddler and kid stage quicker (aka less gear and more independence = happier parents) Well, it means that for us anyway.

So now that Emily is 2 1/2 and Seth is almost 5, the transformation from co-existing siblings to best buddies has already happened. However, I didn't expect the "partners in crime" stage to happen this quick...I expected that around the teen years. But apparently they are interchangeable depending on the day.

Seth and Emmy used to take baths together because it was easier for mommy to do it all at once. As they have gotten bigger and taken up more space in the bath and came up with new ways to splash the whole bathroom (more on that later), I have started bathing them separately. This is where "partners in crime" came into play. I would let them take a bath in mommy's "big" bathtub. As they would play, I would clean and organize my bathroom (yes, this is a daily activity given the amount of clothes Christian and I heap into piles). So this is what I would hear as I was organizing "Go Emmy! Emmy! Emmy! Emmy!" [giant splash sound] [giggling] then "Go Seth! Yea Seth!" [small splash sound] [more giggles] I peak around the counter and catch Emmy kneeling on the side of the jacuzzi tub where it is slope and sliding down the edge as though it is a water slide. I immediately raise my voice to show my dissatisfaction and Seth says "It's OK, mommy. I catch her!" Yes, as though that makes it all better. So that was the beginning of "partners in crime" and the end of bathing together.

Here is one of Christian's stories from his normal weekday time with the kids while I am at work. He is cleaning up and getting lunch ready and realizes they are awfully quiet when they are usually playing up a storm in their playroom. He walks in to find them huddled around a Cheerios box in the corner sharing Cheerios. Somehow, they had snuck it from the pantry and stowed it in the corner and were politely sharing to hide from daddy. ha ha! Lord knows, that we were pleased it was Cheerios and not cookies (we keep those up high in the closet). So really it was Cheerios or Mahatma rice they can snag for themselves. Clearly, they chose appropriately. But when asked who took the cereal, both replied that the other took it. CLASSIC!

But all in all, Christian and I couldn't be happier to have two littles ones that adore each other and love each other and apparently plot with each other. Here are few snapshots from my phone that I have taken at random times because they were hanging out so well together.

So going way back in time to Thanksgiving at the Preschool! The Preschool teachers always do such an awesome job of involving all the kids in songs or plays. This year, Seth's class performed a little interactive story of sorts. I guess you could call it a Play but that may be a bit of a loose term. Seth, being the comic he thinks he is, managed to snag the role of the turkey. The teacher said he was going to be a Pilgrim...or as Seth called it a "Banger" since the Pilgrim's role was to say "Bang Bang." But he ended up a Turkey and I think it was the perfect role for him. He was the only one and had the only moving part.

First, notice his colored vest the teachers made for him. Super cute yet never seen a turkey quite like that. ha! The video below is about 2.5 minutes long and he makes his comic debut around the 1 min, 40 sec mark. Notice that once he realized he got the laugh off the audience, his eyes light up and he's hooked! A star is born? Well, I think a star was born almost 5 years ago when he entered this world.

Check out this clip on Jay Leno's show. Jimmy Kimmel beats him down through the whole segment...gets better through the last half. ha ha

My thoughts seem to be in Haiti a lot the last two days...along with the rest of the world. The destruction is unbelievable. CDC is in full response mode now. CDC is currently trying to locate all their staff. Diane Caves who is based here in Atlanta is missing and search and rescue efforts are underway. Please pray for Diane and her family. That being said, Haiti's infrastructure is completely destroyed and communications are limited or nonexistent. So locating people and communicating with them are near impossible right now.

I know work will be busy as we all try to help and do what we can. So glad to have the opportunity to work in this kind of environment. But outside of work, I am trying to do as much as I can to help and educate Seth and Emily on how lucky they are.

Ways to LEGITIMATELY help Haiti and know you money is going to the right place:

1. Go to RedCross.org, hit donate now button at top and then International Response Fund. You can text "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10 to the International Response Fund. The money will go directly to relief efforts in Haiti. Or call 1-800-Red-Cross.
2. UNICEF uses the money for health care, clean water, nutrition, education and emergency relief. To donate, go to Unicefusa.org or 1-800-4-UNICEF.
3. Text 'Yele' to 501501 to donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund.

TWO rumors that ARE NOT true -

1. UPS (and FedEx) are NOT shipping to Haiti for free. This rumor ran rampant on twitter and facebook and blogs. Unfortunately, the infrastructure is so bad off that UPS and FedEx are having to put all shipping to Haiti on Hold.
2. American Airlines and Jet Blue are NOT flying doctors and nurses to Haiti for free either.
   

I don't know if any of you guys follow Late Night or not but I'm sure you have heard the latest rumblings at NBC between Leno and Conan. Now, I never really cared much one way or the other about Jay Leno and never cared for Letterman (Think he's a jerk). But once Conan came around on the circuit, I have loved him. I love his humor and think he's hysterical. I was super excited when he took over the Tonight Show and have Tivo'd all his shows. I at least watch the Monologue of every one. He's awesome. But ever since this latest switcharoo...I am now becoming a bigger fan. I think he is handling this exactly how he should. He is full of class yet his jokes this week towards NBC are straight from the hip. Hilarious. Go Team CONAN!!!

OK, so not kosher of me to have that title but I thought it was appropriate for the moment. I have heard so many friends bitch at me about not blogging lately so when I started this post, that song popped into my head. In fact, if this blog could play a tune...it would be that one.

I haven't had time to breathe in the last 3 months, let alone blog. But I am going to try to get better about it and have quite a bit to update you on. This is a baby post as I organize pictures and videos but wanted to get it going. Since I last blogged, there has been Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Birthday parties for friends, a Funeral, and Bowl Games... Sigh... Deep Breath.

Let me give you a teaser of Seth at a friend's 5 year old birthday party. This was held at the local gymnastics place. They had the whole area set up with tons of fun for the kids. Christian took Seth to this party because I was slammed at home...shocking, I was busy again. So Seth was able to do a trampoline (kids style), balance beams, obstacle course type stuff, and low and behold a zipline. For all of you that know my Seth...cautious is the first word that comes to mind. But he watched his friends do the zipline one and another and braved it for the camera. He loved it! You can hear him at the end saying "WWWEEEE." He had a ball! Thanks Drew!!