2009 Christmas Tree...Emme's First

Emme will have her first Christmas this year!

Today we setup our Christmas Tree.  Due to weather conditions the past two weekends we decided that an artificial tree would be our option if we wanted to have a tree this year.  It isn't my preferred type of tree...but it works.  This one is quite nice, it used to be the one I put in my office, but due to re-arranging the office over the summer, I didn't have room to put it this year.  I should have thought about that while I was setting up the office, but oh well!

Andy helped us decorate the tree.  This one isn't big enough for all of our ornaments, so we selected those that were most special to us this year.  Included are Andy and Emme's "My First Christmas" ornaments, our "We're Expecting" ornaments given while we were expecting Andy, a selection of hand crocheted ornaments from Grandma Jarrell's, paper garland and ornaments made by Andy this year with the help of Meme and Nana Spiers, as well as a few hand made ornaments that were made by Brandy and I when we were just a family of two.

In typical two year old fashion, many ornaments got placed in a cluster...we had to help him spread them around....  

Overall I think we ended up with a lovely tree!  Don't you?

Blue Light Special

After her 6th day on Earth, Brandy and I noticed that Emme was quite jaundiced so we called her pediatrician who instructed us to take her to the hospital to have her Bilirubin counts tested.  We took her in and results came back with a count of 17.  Normal is under 10, and a High count starts at 14.  They hospitalize at 18....so the pediatrician's office ordered a Bili Light to be delivered immediately to our house for Emme to stay under.  She was under it for three days and we went back in to test and her levels were down to 12, one more day and it was 10 and she was able to come off the light.  Yay!  We are so glad to have our little blue light special to be healthy again.  She is much more lively now.

Let it Snow!

It Snowed in Carriere on December 3 2009.  It was a sight to see.  All day everyone at work had been saying that it was supposed to snow that day, I looked on the Weather Channel and saw that if it was going to snow that it should start around 8 PM.  Around Noon, I got a text from my Sis in Houston saying that it was snowing there...so at 8 PM I went outside and low and behold it was still raining.  Oh well.  No snow. The radar on Weather channel was then showing that everything looked like it would totally miss us and snow just to our north, but not here.  Then around 9 PM when we were about to put Andy to bed I noticed larger softer rain falling outside.

Brandy went outside to check and sure enough it was snowing.  So bedtime got delayed to have some fun in the snow.  Andy, Momma, and Mimi went out and played for about an hour.  Daddy stayed inside and watched the littlest member of our family since she couldn't go out to play.

 Not a whole lot of snow, but here are a few pictures.

Our McCoy Tribe header for the blog was also made by Brandy and Andy out of our SnowMen that morning.  Enjoy!

Home!

Well folks,

We made it home yesterday afternoon.  All of our normal doctors were enjoying their holidays, and I think all of the On-Call doctors wanted to empty the hospital in their stead.  When we were getting processed to leave, 5 of the 8 new sets of parents at the hospital were also getting their discharge papers.  The poor nurses were running trying to get everyone who was going home gone and still take care of the ones left behind.  As with our first visit in Slidell Memorial when Andy was born, this visit to SMH was great!  The nurses in the Labor/Delivery, Nursery and Post-Partum departments were very kind, attentive, and went above and beyond expectations of care!  Thank you so much to all of those wonderful ladies for taking care of my two ladies! 

Our first night back home was adventuresome.  It was amazing that Brandy and I both woke up this morning...so the night must not have been as bad as it seemed it would be at times during the night.  Little Emme was not a happy camper adjusting to her new environment.  We couldn't seem to get her fed, and comfy at the same time so she would sleep at all.  Finally about 3 AM she went to sleep in her sleeper and Mom and I were able to get a couple hours of sleep before the 5:30 feeding (followed by 7, and 9).  I have forgotten what it was like to have a new baby in the house.  Remembering that babies in the hospital get used to it being daylight all night long, and total darkness is something they haven't had since they joined this world. 

I hope to get a big picture post on the site soon with many of the rest of the pictures we took yesterday.  Currently, am having trouble locating the camera cable for this computer, and our wireless is not working to hook up the other computer that doesn't need a cable.  Go figure!    

Andy visits Emme.

This afternoon after Brandy got out of recovery, my Mom (aka. Nonna), who was keeping Andy today, brought him to see his new little sister.  Here are a few pictures from the visit.

Andy even got to hold her...what he has wanted to do since we started talking about a Little Sister

Then we visited with Mom a little while

He even got a special "Emme's Birthday" Present from Nonna and Papa

Emme Meets the World!

Today my second child was born.  Her name is Emme.  Which is long for M.E., which is short for Mary Elizabeth.  Mary is named for my Mom's Mom, Mary Hadden, and the Elizabeth is from Brandy's Mom's Mom's Mom, Elizabeth Christy.  Emme was born on Brandy's Birthday.  So Mom and Daughter will share a birthday.  Here are a few pictures until we get some more.

One Week!

Well folks...this is it...the home stretch. In one week we will be welcoming little Miss Emme to the world! I can't wait...so nervous, excited, scared and thrilled all at the same time. After we missed having everything perfect for Andy when he was born, I thought certainly we would get everything done at the house before the next one arrived....9 months ago, I thought...certainly this can be done....now....why treat the second kid different than the first. The house still isn't ready, but oh well. It will be what it is. At least it is a LOT cleaner today than it was last week this time. Brandy and I spent the weekend attempting to clean house. Got a lot done, but hopefully after this weekend we will have it finished...

Egg-Saws-Ted (aka. Exhausted!)

Today was the Annual Lee Family Reunion....which is held each year at our Caesar property (The Center of the Lee Family Land). This Reunion is Brandy's Grandma Betty's Brothers and Sisters and all of their families. A good time was had by all....but I and the rest of the McCoy Tribe are slap worn out. I now know how Mom and Dad McCoy feel after throwing their big get togethers that we used to have. Today, we started at 7 AM with a super fast Breakfast of Cereal...no time to cook....then headed to Caesar to start getting ready. After a trip all over town to locate propane for the grill (which we ended up not even needing after all that!), I finally made it to the property around 10 AM!!!!! So that meant flight of the bumblebee to the extreme. By the time I got there, Brandy had already gotten all of the lawn equipment relocated from under the shed, which was a HUGE help. So that meant getting the tables and chairs out of storage, setting them up and then starting to cook all within an hour! It actually happened!!!

Grandma Betty, the coordinator of the reunion decided that we would make this year's reunion easier on everyone by just doing Grilled meats, and everyone would bring a side dish....so we grilled Hamburgers, Hotdogs, Chicken, and a Brisket.

There is always too much food at our reunions and it is all soooooo good. I stuffed myself as usual! It was good seeing everyone again!

Andy had a great time playing with his cousins (Blake was Andy's best friend by the end of the day).

Aunt Melanie brought us a gift for M.E., a box stuffed with about 10 pair of cute girlie baby shoes! They are precious! Thanks so much Melanie!

The thing I love most about this family reunion is how everyone sits around and talks. Listening to Brandy's family tell some of their stories is better than going to Improv! Between Kenny and Denson, they had the whole group laughing to no end! A good time was had by all, and once we finished the clean up, Brandy, Andy, Mimi, and I came home to Veg for a few hours before calling it a day. Night Everyone!

Happy Anniversary Jules and Matt

Can't believe I missed my Sister and Brother In Law's Anniversary! It has been one heck of a week...preparing for this weekend's Family Reunion...I totally forgot! Ack! Love you guys! Happy 9th! Here's to many many more!

You've Fell Victim to one of the classic blunders....

one of which is "Never get into a land war in Asia"....the other...don't try to go tit for tat on how to have a bad week or two!

We went to see my Sis over the Columbus Day Weekend....that weekend, someone who was SUPPOSED to be her Best friend in Houston stabbed her in the back by quitting her job with a 2 day notice the week before she was supposed to cover for another therapist that was going to be out for the week (I don't much care for people like that...the whole "You don't want to meet me in a dark alley" comes to mind. F' with my Sister and I am gunnin for you!). So we get back to work on Tuesday, and one of my workers falls off a ladder and gets a compression fracture in his spine (out for at least 6 weeks)...so I thought I had WON the Bad week contest...but my week got worse...a crashed server...oh yeah...I had this one in the bag! But little did I know that my Big Sis's week was going down the tubes too! The continued fallout at her work place was (hopefully) finished off with a Triple Ticket from Houston's Finest! Okay Okay Sis...I get the point! You win!

Never go in against a McCoy when bad luck is on the line! (If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all! --My theme song from HeeHaw)

I love you Jules! I do hope things start going a little better for you soon!

Brave Aunt Ginny!

My Sister is SO Brave and I will tell you why. When we were thinking about coming to Houston, Jules asked me if I thought Andy would like making cookies. Here I am thinking Prefab Rolls of cookies thrown in the oven...sure he would love that! We get to Houston and after the Pumpkin trip on Saturday, Julie makes some sugar cookie dough (From Scratch). Her intention is to roll and use cookie cutters to create shapes, and then decorate these cookies with a 2 year old! Wow! This should be interesting I think to myself...but once again, my little man amazed me with his interest, and devotion to the task at hand (Cooking with Aunt JuJu). He dons an apron and off they go.

Aunt Ginny had a step ladder to bring him to cabinet height and explains the process to him.

Then they select the cutters they will be using...of course all that Aunt JuJu had MUST be used.

Rolling the Dough (They made a mess!)

The Cookies going in the oven!

The patience it took to wait until the cookies cooked finally paid off! A finished project....can you pick out the ones Andy Decorated?

Someone was VERY happy to make cookies with his Aunt JuJu!!!

Lunch with Spot!

After getting back from the Pumpkin Patch little man was crashed in the back seat. So, Aunt Ginny volunteered to watch him while Brandy and I went to have lunch with my long time friend Spot! We had lunch at a wonderful place called BJ's! It was delicious! Always good to spend a little quality time with old friends!

A weekend trip to Aunt Ginny's

The McCoy Tribe had a long weekend from work, so we decided to take one last trip before M.E. is born to visit Aunt Ginny and Uncle Matt in Houston! We drove in on Friday night and then woke up Saturday morning to go to the Pumpkin Farm! Andy had a blast!

We searched for pumpkins

This one was too Heavy!

Then we went to play on the Giant Inflatable Slide! (3 slides for a ticket...2 year old's can't count!)

We finally found the perfect Pumpkin for our little man and brought it home! Thanks Aunt Ginny for taking us to the Pumpkin Farm! It was FUN!

Terrible Twos!

In the past week, our little man has been up to a little mischief! Check it out!

Lessons Learned: 1) Wash your hands when you finish in the bathroom. 2) If you can't reach the sink, use an assistive device!

You can never have enough powder.

300 Q-Tip Pickup!

4th Of July Fun!

We had a great July 4th this year. Aunt Ginny and Uncle Matt came home for the weekend to enjoy the holiday. We started the morning watching the annual fourth of July parade provided by the area fire departments. This has been a treat each year since it began over 20 years ago! This year, Andy got some beads from one of the trucks! Thank you for all you do Volunteer Firemen!
After a day of swimming, ice cream eating, and hot dogs, Andy got to experience his first sparklers (Under close adult supervision)!

Andy's First Beach Visit

This holiday pre-weekend, while Dad was helping Papa tear down a house in Pass Christian. Mom and Andy brought the workers lunch, and afterword....Andy got to make his first visit to the Beach!

Andy played in the sand!

We even saw a hermit crab!

These new critters must be investigated!

We Swam!

and frolicked in the waters of the Mississippi Gulf Coast! It was FUN!

A Visit with Great Grandma Hadden!

This Mother's Day, the McCoy Tribe went with Nonna to see Great Grandma Hadden in St. Francisville. Dad worked on Grandma's computer, and I got to play with Great Grandma's Riding Toy!

Dad and I went walking down the hill after lunch to keep me occupied!

Then Nonna and Great Grandma and I went walking in the yard...Great Grandma gave me a ride!

I think Great Grandma Hadden had as much fun as I!

It was a great day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers in our family!

Mom, Nonna, Great Grandma Hadden, Mimi, Great-Grandma Betty, Great-Great Grandma Jarrell, and Great-Great Grandma Christi!