Emily Tatum Roth

For Michelle H.

I came across this picture of my 8th birthday party.  I am in the middle of the bottom row, and Michelle H. is to my right (blue eyes, red cardigan).  She and I have been close friends since the 2nd grade--that's over 20 years!!  Michelle, I know you wanted me to post a picture of Kevin's black mohawk, but this will have to do instead.

I love that the headband has made a comeback, but the 80's bangs were my worst nightmare and better not come back in style!

The second picture is self-explanatory.  Hey, I like to stay connected!  At least I don't match my phone to my outfit anymore...And the socks with sandals?  Definitely my mother's doing.  I see this time and time again in our childhood pictures and shudder at the sight.

No more yesteryear pictures until next Wednesday!

Swimming With The Millers

Last weekend, we visited my friend Rhonda and her family:  husband Dave and kids Leighann, David and Lauren.  They have a brand new, large, gorgeous pool that Rhonda has graciously offered to share with Jonah and I for the summer.  It is a bit of a trek to Plant City, but well worth the drive for the company of a good friend.  *grin*

Rhonda and I worked together at Tampa General's Burn Unit, bonding in the debridement room and guzzling her famous frappuccinos that would keep me up all night and give our friend Lisa runs of SVT.  Good times.

Here are some pictures from the day:

The swimming lessons have definitely paid off!  Jonah effortlessly swam to Rob over and over again.  His swim teacher is working on getting him to come up for a breath, because right now he swims until he runs out of air and swallows water.  Not that we allow this to happen often!  It happened once during a lesson (long story). 

Basically, the teachers were impressed by how long he could hold his breath and decided, with my blessing, to see just how long it would take him to surface for air.  If they could crack his "I will not surface" stubbornness, they figured, he would discover how much more enjoyable swimming can be.  Well, Jonah's superhuman lung capacity gave out and the kid would not surface.  He didn't get too upset, but that was the last "experiment" for awhile.  He'll figure it out on his terms.  *grin*

Look how excited he is as he prepares to swim to Daddy!  Note his swim trunks in the background; he decided they were superfluous and striped down to the swim diaper.

David gives a wave.  He is the sweetest, cuddliest little boy.

Below, I am holding Lauren.  She is only five weeks older than Jonah, and her curls are absolutely irresistible!

Leighann, the oldest of the Miller bunch, with Jonah in the background (wearing Rhonda's Crocs).

*Please excuse the disorganized look of my posts until I become more TypePad proficient.  I need to figure out why my posts look the way I want them to look in the draft form but completely different when they actually post...