Emma can now sit up by herself and stand up when supported - she loves pulling up to the standing position with help from Mommy and Daddy to get her balance. She loves the new soft books that Memaw and Mommy bought her at Buy Buy Baby. She is drooling a TON! I really hope those teeth pop through soon - still NO TEETH! She is starting to eat 2 meals each day along with her 5 other feedings from mommy (boy am I tired of breastfeeding). She has had mostly homemade foods - bananas, squash, avocado, rice cereal. She loves it. You have to hold her little hands down while you feed her b/c for some reason she thinks she can feed herself already and is constantly reaching for her spoon. Yet another display of this child's determination to do things on her own. Mom and Dad, I'm going to need some tips on this one :) She has also learned to shake her head "no" and I'm thinking that is from daycare (or from me repremanding Gracie at home for barking). It's super cute nonetheless.
I had to go to the Jefferson County courthouse in downtown Birmingham on Friday to get my car title updated - new immigration/insurance rules in the state now require that your title exactly match your license. So what do you do when you have limited childcare, work part-time, and no family in town?? - You take your 6 month old with you. She did FANTASTIC - and we waited in line for 2.5 HOURS! She played with her books, chewed on her toys and enjoyed watching the wide variety of individuals standing/sitting in line. There was a really nice lady in front of me that helped me move my arsenal of stuff with Emma each time the line moved and the folks at the courthouse were so nice. For those of you who don't keep up with current events in our area - Jefferson County is bankrupt. One of the largest municipal bankruptcies in the nation. So they have closed all satellites to save money which means more inconveniences to the citizens. My understanding is that the county is working with CitiGroup Global to refinance our debt. Tony Patelos (former mayor of Hoover) has been working hard to straighten out the mess that our previous corrupt commissioners got us into. (Most of the previous Jefferson County Commissioners are serving time in jail by the way... don't you love it?) We will come out better after all of this, but being a citizen in Jefferson County right now is no fun when you have to deal with any govt. service. It really makes me miss how well run Auburn city and Lee county were when I lived there (over 7 years ago).
Yard Update -
As many of you know, Josh and I have been working on our backyard. After having the yard regraded and two trees taken out (and one torrential downpour) - we have sodded (13 pallets of sod with the help of family and friends), leveled off a play set area near the house, and installed a fire pit and new flower beds. Josh used his craftsman skills to build some beautiful wood chairs out of FREE pallets - yes, one man's trash has become our backyard treasure.
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| Here are the chairs that Josh made. He's pretty talented when it comes to projects around the house. |
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| This is for Emma's play set! |
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| This is what I love about our home - peaceful! |
I love current events and keeping up with local news. This is something I have not been able to do much these past 6 months, but I'm starting to get back up to speed. Here are a few things that I'm keeping my eye on....
Josh and I found out that there will be a new recreational area near our house and it will have a launch for our kayaks into the Cahaba River! Check it out (we are super excited) - Moon River Canoe Launch....
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/07/moon_river_canoe_launch_planne.html
Hopefully Trussville will work to get our new greenway project by the Cahaba completed - latest update - http://www.trussvilletribune.com/?p=7010. The mayor said that we were doing well financially recently so hopefully they'll start putting our tax dollars to work for us - if not, then yours truly may make an appearance at a city hall meeting :)
There is a lot going on in the tax world as Congress attempts to find more money to fund our programs and balance our budget. One of the latest things I have heard is that the administration may end tax breaks for municipal bonds. I follow a tax attorney who does a great job about blogging on these current events. Check this out if you're interested - http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2013/07/16/ending-tax-breaks-on-municipal-bonds-shifts-burden-to-the-rest-of-us/
Have a great weekend!
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