To the guy at Wal-Mart

It's been a month since we last spoke, and I have missed you all. Things are rolling along here at Chez Yaskeaux, and Emsley is now three months old - which is just unbelievable.

Some things that have changed over the last month:

1) Car rides no longer go so well. We went to Oklahoma for Kami's uncle's wedding towards the end of September, and it was, um, a trial. Emmy does well for the first 4-5 hours, and then things start to get real. On the way back from Oklahoma, what should have been about an eight-hour trip turned into a 12-hour trip as we had to stop every 45 minutes from west of Little Rock back to Nashville.

It did not help matters that in Memphis - in the bright blue sky and sunshine - some semi driver decided it would be a good idea to run his rig into the guardrail and shut down I-40. And it did not help matters - or progress - that the Tennessee Department of Transportation decided it was an even better idea to shut I-40 down to one lane for "Construction," which was not taking place. So it took us an hour to go three miles, and the semi driver next to us was under no circumstances going to let me over so I could take exit to get a shortcut around all of it. Meanwhile, Emsley is screaming bloody murder, and there's not anything we can do about it. That was fun. We need to evaluate our Christmas plans.

2) Emmy much prefers sitting up now - which is extremely cute. Regard:

3) So the other day we were at Wal-Mart getting Halloween decorations, as it's Kami's favorite holiday of the year. Emmy was getting a little fussy in her car seat rolling in the cart, so I took her out and held her, which resulted in her falling asleep with her head on my chest. We were walking around and a guy in a flannel shirt (which is awfully vague for Wal-Mart, I realize) comes up to me and says, "Cherish these days. They grow up so fast."

If I had spoken one word, I would have lost it. Kami came up to me and asked what was wrong, and I just shook my head. But she's been trying to get me to express my emotions more - something at which I'm not exactly an All-Star - so she kept prodding. Through a cracked voice, I told her what King Douche had said. Then she started crying. I was able to hold back the tears.

Why? you might ask. Because, gentle readers, it is perfectly acceptable for a man to cry. It is decidedly unacceptable for a man to cry in the middle of the Wal-Mart in Hermitage, Tennessee.

4) Here are some more pictures:

5) As you can see, Emsley is looking more and more like Kami. Don't see it? Check this out:

The photos on the left column are Kami's baby pictures. The photos on the right are Emmy's pictures from the last couple of weeks.