Emerson and Lisette were here....: In on a high note... out on a sour one

As I write this the house is very quiet, a rare thing with 2 kids under four and a chirpy bird. Lisette is upstairs taking her normal afternoon nap. Emerson is also upstairs napping; however, this is his 2nd nap as he is exhausted from all of the barfing he did last night and today. And the other man of the house has barricaded himself and his germs in the man cave suffering from the same ailment as Emerson. So January is ending on a sour note... LITRALLY (shout out to Rob Lowe).

As for other news... we had a lovely visit from Auntie Kristen and Uncle Jon Pancerman. We enjoyed a beautiful meal, yummy coffee, a walk around Maymont, and an oh-so-ladies-who-lunch lunch at Mosaic. The visit was too short as always but we are determined to make it to Chicago so it won't be another year before seeing our friends again. We also wandered down to the VMFA last week to take in some beautiful things and get one more look at that Sperm Whale Kevin is always going on about....

The weather here in Richmond has been extremely mild so we have been trying to enjoy time outdoors. Lisette is almost pulling herself up and takes cautious baby steps with guidance from her mama. She waves bye-bye and can say mama and dada (although we are not quite sure that she says these words with any purpose). She also also begun blowing spit bubbles... classy indeed! One of my favorite parts of the day is picking her up from daycare because as soon as she sees me she scoots with a wild intensity to get to me (ahh baby love). Emerson has really embraced the ups and downs of being three. By that I mean he has become this super interesting little person who wants to know what every sign on the street says, can recite his address, knows all his letters, can count past twenty, and has the biggest, most intense melt downs in recorded history (that may be a bit of an overstatement - but make no mistake they are BIG). As evidence of his budding personality Kevin and I have started writing down what we have affectionately come to call "emersisms" Here are a few gathered this month:

"Jack Lion said that Max had a stomachache and . . .

uh . . . that's not a very good story."

"Daddy... who built me" [Kevin responds with Me and Momma built you]

"Did you build Herman too?"

"Daddy, I like your beard can I borrow it when I grow I up and become a dada?"

~klv