Noah and Brady

Comparing Noah and Brady, who do you think will win the fights?

FIVE POUNDS

When I think of how many times I've wished to lose 5 pounds, I never thought I'd be thrilled over that amount of weight, but I've learned it is relative. Emma went to the doctor on Monday, and she weighed in at 5 pounds! Looking at her, that seems so big after 3 pounds 7 ounces at birth.

After coming home on Christmas Eve, Emma seems to be doing well. Scott and Melissa were afraid she had lost weight, but she had gained! She sucks that bottle down like she's starving! I gave her bottle to her yesterday, and she didn't want to let go when it was all gone.

I'm now looking forward to five more pounds.

A Merry Duncan Christmas

Forty days after her birth day and 2 weeks before due date, Emma is finally going home today! This is certainly the best Christmas present any of us can ask for.

Two days ago, Emma pulled her feeding tube out as if to say, "I'm tired of this!" They left it out and bottle fed her to see what she would do, and she passed with flying colors. Scott and Melissa, Troy and Lou Ann, and Alan and I had heart monitor training yesterday to prepare for when she goes home. Today the doctor surprised us all by saying it would be today.

Even though she will be on the monitor and isolated from most people, we are so happy she's far enough along to go home.

Thanks for all the prayers. And Merry Christmas!

8 Things

Mandy has tagged me to make an "8 Things" list, so here goes:

8 TV Shows I Watch

I really don't watch much TV. I can do without the noise. Mostly, I watch whatever Alan has on. During the day, I never turn it on, but here's what I can come up with.

1. Razorbacks basketball games
2. American Idol
3. Dallas Cowboys Football
4. Cardinals Baseball
5. Razorbacks Football
6. Occasionally, the News
7. The NCAA Basketball Tournament games
8. The Super Bowl

8 Favorite Restaurants

1. Criollas (Even though it has closed, it's still my favorite)
2. Fish Out of Water
3. Cafe Tango
4. LaPaz
5. Bonefish
6. 1620
7. Edith's
8. The Office

8 Things That Happened to Me Today

Since it's only 8 a.m., I'm going with yesterday.

1. I checked Matt out of the hospital
2. I visited Emma in a different hospital
3. I picked Brady up from daycare and brought him home to spend the night.
4. I worked out
5. I got happy e-mails from many of my nephews and from my brother trying to weasel his way onto the condo list.
6. Got three packages from UPS. I've gotten at least one every day this week.
7. Talked to all my children
8. Had 1 hour of sleep last night.

8 Things I Look forward to

1. Christmas Day--that means all the packages are wrapped, all the cooking is done, and it's time to share my grandkids' first Christmas!
2. Emma getting out of the hospital
3. Sleep
4. Going to any beach anytime
5. Taking a vacation with all my kids, their spouses, and their kids. We just need to find a time when we can do that!
6. Finishing the new condo so I can enjoy it.
7. Being able to take a picture of Noah, Brady, and Emma all together
8. Good times with family and friends

8 Things I Wish For

1. Peace on Earth--sounds corny, I know, but it's true
2. Good health as I grow older
3. Happy, healthy children and grandchildren
4. Someone to give the rest of the P.A.R.K. endowment money
5. Beach time
6. More kindness and tolerance and less criticism
7. Being able to sleep better
8. Trips to places I've never been

Emma's Big Girl Bed

Emma finally made it to an open-air crib in the wee hours of the morning today. It's definitely nice to be able to reach in and touch her without opening doors or lifting the top of her warmer. She seems very content to be out in the open. She continues to slowly gain weight, but it's looking more doubtful that she will be home for Christmas. I guess I'll be spending Christmas morning in the Baptist Hospital NICU!

A Quick Emma Update

Emma's first photo

Emma Louise Duncan made a rushed appearance into this world on Nov. 13. She wasn't about to let Ben and Claire have the weekend all to themselves, so two months early she decided she'd come meet the family while everyone was staying at my house for the wedding! Needless to say, life's been chaotic around the Duncan household ever since.

Emma arrived waving at the world, and she's made remarkable progress while staying in the Baptist Hospital NICU. She started on a ventilator, receiving oxygen, and being fed by an IV. She has since moved twice to step down units, gotten rid of the ventilator, IV, and oxygen and is now only hooked up to a feeding tube. She is also taking a good deal of her formula by bottle. They are still trying to find the right formula for her and get her to where they can get rid of the feeding tube, and we are all hopeful that she'll make it home for Christmas.

Melissa continues to recuperate at home, and she goes to the hospital twice a day to check on Emma. Scott gets there at least once a day while working. Mar Mar and Papa D get by there whenever we can.

We'll let you know when she goes home.

You're Never Too Old To Learn

THINGS MEMA LEARNED ON DESTIN TRIP:

*You don't go over the Mississippi River twice between Little Rock and Destin. That other big bridge goes over the Yazoo River

*Those big box things are grain silos.

*Southeastern Louisiana State University is not in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.


*Self-checkout. She had "never seen anything like that before!"

THINGS MARGIE DISCOVERED ON DESTIN TRIP:
*You don't have to read any street signs while travelling with Mema. She will read them all to you.

*The way to keep Mema from talking non-stop is to get her up early to leave. The talking only starts after she's been awake past 9:00.

*Mema and Aunt Boochie stopped at some random field while driving through the Delta onetime and picked a cotton ball to see what it was like.

*Mema's idea of a few minutes is 45 so plan accordingly.

Mema Moments

Most of you know I have come to Destin. My heart is in Little Rock with Melissa, Scott, and Emma (as well as a sick Matt and the rest of my family), but there were things that needed to be taken care of here that couldn't wait. With things at home looking up and with my family's blessing, I headed to Florida with Mema along for the ride. And there were a couple of Mema Moments along the way.

In one stretch between Hattiesburg and Mobile, we got stuck behind a big truck hauling some big green piece of equipment. One car was riding along with it, blocking traffic from going around it on a narrow stretch. We did finally get around it and go on our merry way. We later stopped for gas. After we got back on the road, as we were passing the truck weigh-in station, the green equipment truck was reentering the roadway with a car in front and in the rear riding along with it. I made the comment that I didn't remember there being a lead car when we passed it before. "Yes there was," Mema explained. "It was behind it."

My favorite was as we were passing through Hattiesburg. Mema asked, "Margie, is Southeast Louisiana--that team we played--in Hattiesburg?" I was speechless.

Great News

Melissa is home, and glad to be! Tests came back that she does not have preeclamsia. It's pregnancy induced hypertension. She needs to rest, but it's not nearly as bad as it could have been. The doctor says for her not to go back to work until she sees the doctor in her office on Wednesday.

She does still have gestational diabetes, but she seems to be managing that well with diet.

The rest of the drama is left to Emma!

Thanks for the prayers. They worked.

PROBLEM CHILDREN

It seems the Duncans are not destined to have normal pregnancies or non-dramatic babies. As most of you know, Noah was in NICU for a few days after he was born. In fact, he had already come into this world by c-section since he weighed in at almost 10 pounds, but he was dehydrated. A couple of months after his birth he decided a stay in Children's Hospital was in order. It turned out all his problems were just minor setbacks but not before scaring us all to death.

Then Brady decided he wanted to top Noah and be born a month early. He weighed in at 5 pounds and 5 ounces, but went home after a couple of days. And not to be outdone, he, too, decided to pay a visit to Children's Hospital at around 3 months of age. That one set me and Alan on a flying trip home from Destin. After minor surgery for a common, correctible problem, he was back on the right track.

Then there's Emma. She isn't going to let those boys outdo her, and she isn't even here yet. I'm sitting at the hospital with Melissa right now. She has been having high blood pressure issues, and they are testing her for preeclampsia. If she has this condition, she could be looking at a five-week stay in the hospital waiting for Emma to reach the 36 week point, so she can be born with fewer problems. Her vitals are looking pretty good today, though, so we're hoping this is just a scare. Afterall, the boys scared us, so why not Emma?

We could use all your prayers for Melissa and Emma. The doctors assure us that even if Emma were to be born today, they are highly optimistic that she would be OK. We sure could do without all this drama, though. We'll have test results back this afternoon and have a better idea what we're facing.

FOURTH

OK. So JB tagged me to upload the FOURTH picture from my FOURTH album and tag FOUR more people to do the same. This is one of the many pigs on parade in Seattle when we visited there a year ago before going on an Alaskan cruise in celebration of the 10-year anniversary of Alan's heart surgery. That was our third celebration of Alan's good health following heart surgery at age 45. On the one year anniversary we went to Jamaica. Hawaii was the 5 year anniversary. For the FOURTH celebration, we think we'll go to Europe.

There were pigs everywhere on the street corners of Seattle. In fact--here's FOUR more:

There's just one problem with this game of tag. Everyone else on my bloglist has already been tagged, so I'm offering a different challenge. I want Kathy to publish and write about FOUR different photos from her FORTIES. Of course, that's assuming she can remember her FORTIES and what she was up to then. Afterall, she was born in the FORTIES. Surely Larry threw her a FORTIETH birthday party she can tell us about. I'm guessing, though, that digital cameras didn't exist when Kathy was in her FORTIES, so we'll have to give her time to scan her prints.

Noah Visits Papa D

Noah decided to pay a visit to Papa D at his office this Halloween. As you can see, he was more interested in eating the chicken sign than eating mor chikin!

The Duncan Hilton

Over the years our home has become affectionaltely known as The Duncan Hilton. As the tiltle implies, this started because of all the people who have stayed with us over time. I think 103 Valley Club Circle was the first Duncan Hilton--or at least the first where we started calling our house that. Since we were the only relatives in Little Rock, everyone else in our family makes a reservation at the Hilton when coming to LR for football games, the doctor, to shop, or for a special event.

The newest Duncan Hilton

Five years ago, we built a new Hilton. We kept this use of our house in mind while designing our abode and made sure we had plently of room for out-of-towners. Upstairs is where they stay. We have a choice of the Buffett room (decorated in island style, complete with an autographed copy of A Pirate Looks at Forty), the Garden room (plenty of floral photos and greenery here), the formally Asian room (which our decorator was quickly told to change), and the TV room, with a daybed for overflow company. We didn't put as many amenities up there as in our downstairs living space. There are no slow-closing potty lids here, and the ceilings are only 8 feet instead of 9. Alan explained to the builder that we didn't want our guests to be too comfortable or they might stay too long.

Many people have stayed at the Duncan Hilton over the years. Family of course have been here numerous times. In fact, my sister Kathy complained recently about not getting her Hilton Honors Points for all her stays. Alan pointed out that Hilton gives no Honors points for free lodging. Others who have stayed here are friends passing through, business associates of Alan's, friends of our kids, and even some friends from Little Rock who were without power for a few days.

Noone, however, has spent more nights as a Hilton guest than my nephew Ben. Since his family lives in Birmingham, he lived with us one summer while working in Little Rock. And Ben is the reason the Duncan Hilton is completely booked for the weekend of Nov. 15. He's getting married that Saturday, and reservations started coming in a couple of months ago. We'll have Mema in the Garden Room, Brent and Katie in the Buffett room, their son Walker in the formally Asian room (where we now have a baby bed), and Hunter in the TV room. He said the Day Bed had to be more comfortable than Denver Peacock's couch. Actually, if anyone else is brave, we still have a queen-sized bed in the room with Walker and a second bed under the day bed Hunter will sleep on. (Lucky Hunter even gets to share a bathroom with Mema.)

So if you are coming to Little Rock, you might want to check out the Duncan Hilton. The Duncan Hilton even serves free breakfast and sometimes lunch and dinner, so it's a real bargain.

Blogging

I wanted to add a picture of Henny and Penny to the last post, but I haven't figured out yet how to add photos from the web. I also notice a capital "A" where a little "a" should have been. Ya'll bear with me. I'll get this blogging stuff down eventually.

Decorating Alan's Office

Trying to help a husband decorate an office is not an easy task. Mountaire recently moved into a new office which meant a new office space for Alan. While he said he wanted my help decorating, when I first went to help him, he'd already decided exactly where everything was to go. When I suggested that the calendar frame he had had in his old office was too small for the space he wanted it to go in, the troubles began. He really didn't want my advice. He just wanted me to hang everything and leave. So, naturally, I left without hanging anything.

He then wanted some pictures to put up. It seems everyone was using family pictures, so I made him a grouping of about 30 photos to choose from for me to print. He wanted all of them printed. I had bought several great frames at Target, but he didn't like them. As I was about to head to Florida, I threw up my hands, gave him the receipt and the frames and told him to go get what he wanted. His office still had no photos and nothing on the walls.

When I returned from Florida, Mandy and Mama Dot went with me to see Alan's new office. He now had pictures on top of a bookshelf (in the frames he had gotten with some of the 30 pictures I had printed in them). The first thing Mandy said was that the calendar frame was too small to go on the wall where he wanted it. She told him where to put his chicken prints and that he needed to do his calendar in a grouping. I suggested he frame his Mustang print we got in Hawaii to go with it and one other thing and offered to go with him to his office that weekend (this past weekend) to hang things. He said he'd see.

Well, last weekend came and went and he never decided to go decorate the office. On Wednesday afternoon he called and asked if we were ever going to decorate his office, or was his just going to stay bare. I thought I'd scream, but instead, being the good wife I am I said we'd go that night. We arrived at his office that night with the Mustang print (which I had picked out a frame for at Target after he said he didn't want to spend the money custom-framing it.) A couple of his certificates, picture hangers, nails, hammer, etc. I grouped his calendar with the Mustang on the floor and was going to put his certificate with it, when he pointed out the certificate was framed in brown while the other two things were black. We put a couple of certificates in a different spot, and I suggested perhaps a piece of ironwork to go with the Mustang and calendar. He didn't like that idea, but reluctatly agreed to go to Pier One to look.

Before we went to Pier One, I asked him to consider putting the chicken pictures on the left wall we entered the office and looking at a big screen print I had seen at Pier One for the wall you face as you enter the room. Since by that time he just wanted things on the walls, he agreed, and I hung the chicken prints while he played around on his computer looking at golf prints.

We went to Pier One, didn't find anything to group with the other things and looked at the screen print. He didn't want that. He wanted a picture. So we went home. He said if we didn't find anything by the next day we could just forget it. He'd have an undecorated office.

I spent yesterday looking for a picture for the entry spot and for something to go with the grouping. I found a black clock at Target that he liked, so one problem was solved, but no print.
When he got home he asked if we were going back to his office that night to hang things. Of course, I said yes. Then he surprised me. He said maybe we needed to go look at the Pier One screen print again. We did, he bought it, and we hung the rest! Hallelujah! Miracle do happen.

Of course, while I was hanging things, he was on his computer looking at golf pictures. He now has two prints on his Christmas list that he feels sure will look nice over his bookshelf. :-)

Grandkids

Since I enjoy reading other people's blogs, and since I now have two grandchildren and am expecting my third, I thought I'd join the blog frenzy!

MarMar Moments seemed an appropriate title since that's what I call myself to Noah and Brady. Noah is Noah James Osborne, 6 months old going on sixteen, and Brady is Brady Hunt Duncan, 4 months old and trying to catch up.

They are the best-looking, sweetest grandkids ever, and Papa D and I are having a grand time with them!

Check back soon and I hope to get better at this blogging stuff.