Ole McEmery had a farm....

Emery went to my grandmother's last weekend. The last time Emery was on a farm, he was a little older than Emma and prolly doesn't remember much (he did get to ride a horse). Anyhoo, this time around he had a blast. His favorite part was my grandfather's old tractor (I think it was bought in the late 1940's). I won't hold my breath that he will take up farming, however, because he was scared to death of the animals. He refused to sit on the horse and wouldn't come closer than 4 feet to a cow. Interestingly enough, Emery is fascinated with animals but will not go near one. Even puppies send him running if they get too close. Hopefully he'll grow out of it, 'cause I can't wait to get him his first puppy in a few years. It'll be like Old Yeller without the rabies and sad ending.

This is my bowling team. The old crusty looking guy is my father in law, Tim. The other two are Dan and Cristina, former co-workers. Together, we form the mighty Pin Phreaks! Blame Dan for all this. He asked me to fill for someone on the summer league and it turns out that I'm better than the other guy. So I get an invite to join permanently. That turns into a plan to bowl in the fall league (which is a misnomer, cause you bowl in the fall, winter AND spring). The other two people on our summer team weren't interested (and weren't very good either) in joining the fall league, so we went out and recruited some hired guns. Cristina, aka "Pickle" (she calls me "Bacon") is our "Queen of Darkness". She has the best game on our team. Dan is the strike master, throwing at least 3 a game. And he's a great guy too, despite being a Jets fan. Tim was brought on to be our closer, but his game has suffered a bit in the 20 odd years since he last played. But we keep him around 'cause he makes us laugh (and he buys the beer). Me? I'm there for levity and moral support.

Look who's talking

okay, so maybe talking is stretching it a bit...but Emma is starting to vocalize now (beyond the high pitched squeal that let's us know she hungry). And evidently she seems to like it. She started making random noises about a week ago, cooing and whatnot. Then, she would start it up as soon as someone was looking at her. Now, she'll sit in her swing and talk nonstop for hours. She smiles alot too, which seems to be a good sign as Emery smiled all the time. We're still trying to figure out her hair though. Other than her blue eyes, it seems she got daddy's genetic coding for crazy hair. My hair grows in 5 different directions, depending on where its at on my head. Emma's hair appears to be doing the same. And it stands straight up. It also looks like she's going to be red-headed (of course, I had red hair for the first few years of my life until it turned blond, then brown and now, it appears, grey). But give her a few more months to get a firm grasp on some vocabulary and she'll tell you all about it.

A little TOO close...

Heather was taking pix of emery today. This one happened when emery decided to lunge for the camera just as it went off...the more you look at it, the scarier it gets (just like American Idol)....

Daddy 'n Emery's Day o' Fun

Emery and I had a day out today. I'm trying to make this a weekly event, where we will go eat a meal together and then do something (so far, it's been shopping...he's made out like a bandit the last two weeks...clothes and one of those giant toy cars you can ride in). I know that he prolly won't remember this after a few years, but it's not just for his benefit. I never knew my real father (long story, not enough time) and it bugged me to no end (he's dead now, so there goes the Dr. Phil "Parents who abandoned their children" special). I'm sure that a psychologist would have a field day with me on this, but frankly I don't really care about the hidden motivations. I want to make sure that my son knows his daddy loves him. Of course, in about a year or so, I'll have to make a day for Emma too, but that's okay. As long as both my kids never have to question their father's love, I'll gladly give up my days off....

Chuck Taylor All-Stars

Here are the long awaited pics of Emery's new kicks (I swear I didn't intentionally rhyme that). I spotted these at J.C. Penney a few weeks ago. Heather was skeptical, however, as she thought he would look silly in the them. I had to explain to her that every boy at some point in time in his life owns a pair of Chuck Taylor All-Stars. And he wouldn't look silly. It makes him look like a little boy (we're still in the transition phase between baby and little boy). The second picture also shows
Emery's kicks in addition to his affinity for putting things in his mouth, especially pens. Emery loves to draw but we have to keep a constant vigil on him when he has a pen, crayon, etc., in his hand. Invariably he will stick it in his mouth. However, Heather might have inadvertently cured that particular problem with the sidewalk chalk she bought him. Emery was drawing on the sidewalk when he decided to take a bite out of the chalk. Needless to say, the reaction had me laughing; so hard, in fact, that Emma started laughing too. I think we've now seen the last of Emery's fixation on sticking things in his mouth.

How 'bout them Cowboys!!!

I am a HUGE Oklahoma State fan. I spent many wonderful years in Stillwater (I even went to college at OSU for a few of them). My father-in-law, Tim, is also a Pokes fan, but even he can't lay claim to an OSU tattoo (although he did go with me when I got it). The 'Boys won tonight against a very good Texas A&M team. "Shocked" read the headline on ESPN.com. Now we just have to beat two more teams (prolly Texas and Kansas) to win the Big XII tourney and secure our bid in the NCAA tourney. They've played like crap for the last month, but after tonight's game, I'd wouldn't bet against them, regardless of the odds. GO POKES!!!

Too cool for school

This is emery's room. As you can see, it's dripping with comic book paraphernalia. The giant Optimus Prime stand up as well as the Transformer posters on the wall (he has Decepticons on the other walls) had a prominent place in my office. Now that my office is emma's room, emery got to "inherit" them. I'm a comic book geek (I'll have to post a shot of my collection some time...it's huge, taking up over half my closet). Comics taught me to read at an early age and I've been collecting them ever since. Hopefully, emery will follow in his daddy's footsteps. If nothing else, when he starts school, all his friends will want to come over to "play" with his comics (I've already got a couple of boxes set aside full of comics that I haven't got the heart to get rid of so that he'll have something to start with).

daddy's babies

This is a horrid picture of me. I've never photographed well, but for some reason recently, photos of me are...off...in some way. My children, however, are some of the most photogenic kids on the planet. This pic shows what is becoming par for the course in the Sweeten household. I'll be holding emma for a feeding or some quality daddy time and emery will decide that he too needs to be held. Fortunately, I've got enough muscle power to accomplish both kids (although if this continues for the next few years, daddy will have to start increasing his reps at the gym). I wouldn't say that emery is jealous at this point, but he does seem to always want to be in on the action whenever emma is being held. Of course, he likes to interact with her too. Emery is learning body parts (eyes, ears, hair, etc...diaper changing is becoming quite amusing) and evidently he wants to teach emma too because he will say "Eyes" and poke hers. No screaming or trips to the emergency room yet but cross your fingers. I've been lax on keeping this blog updated (construction work is starting to take its toll on my aging body) but I do have a whole host of stuff lined up. Unfortunately all of the pics are on my data card at my mother's house (it was Darrell's birthday party last weekend and I forgot the card). So, hold your excitement until I can retrieve the card next weekend and grace you all with shots of emery's new kicks (that's shoes to people over 40), some Chuck Taylor All-Stars.