July

It's the last day of July and I haven't blogged much this month so I thought I would do a July review.  Not too much to report- just hanging out with the kids.  We've been to the pool some but not as much as we did in June.  We usually go in the afternoons after nap time but we had a lot of rain in July so we couldn't go as much.  It is SO HOT so we've been finding things to do inside. 

The kids like to sit at the table and do things like: puzzles, paint, color, stickers, play dough,  etc. Although Emmy's attention span isn't as long as Jackson's she does enjoy sitting and doing different activities.

Doing Puzzles

Tongue out in concentration (just like Jackson)

Loves working puzzles!

Clapping for Emmy when she finished her puzzle- sweet big brother!

 This picture is so funny to me. The quality isn't very good because I took it with my iPod. We were outside playing in the water and I turned around and Emmy looked like this and wasn't real happy about it.  I think she fell in a pile of dirt! Sometimes these kids get multiple baths a day!

Kevin and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on July 26.  We were able to go to dinner which was so nice. It really is a treat to get to sit and eat dinner and have a full conversation with my husband without interruptions!

Emmy is 17 months now and continuing to grow and show her own opinions and personalities.  She is still a good eater and a good sleeper.  She doesn't eat three helpings of meat, veggies and fruits at each meal like she was but she will eat anything I put on her plate.  She still LOVES quesadillas and will always eat three helpings of those! She continues to expand her vocabulary and has probably 30-35 words although I've pretty much stopped counting.  She is imitating two word phrases such as, "bye bye daddy", "shoes on" but still hasn't said a phrase spontaneously.  More and more each day she is able to tell us what she does or doesn't want.  If you offer or give her something she doesn't want she won't hesitate to tell you "no!". 

It's hard to believe that August begins tomorrow and we will start getting ready to get back into our school routine!

A Few Random Stories and Big Milestones

Not too much has been going on around here. We are still enjoying our summer and finding fun things to do.  There are a few things that I don't want to forget.

It's a joy to watch these two children grow up. For a few weeks now Jackson and Emmy have been giving each other hugs and kisses before bed.  If I tell Emmy to go tell Jackson night night she will run and find him and wrap her arms around his waist.  He usually hugs her neck and then kisses her cheek. Then, the other night they hugged and kissed and Jackson said, "I love you baby Emmy". To my knowledge this is the first time he has said that to her and the best kind of "I love you's" are the unprompted ones which made this so sweet.  And Oh.My.Goodness. my heart melted on the floor.  I thank the Lord for moments like those that I can hold onto in the midst of the craziness that they usually are!

Fourth of July

So just recently our refrigerator died and we had to get a new one. It ended up being about a week process as we tried to get the old one fixed, shopped for a new one and walked up and down the stairs a million times using the old refrigerator in the basement. Last night we were trying to get Jackson to deviate from his same word for word nightly prayer and told him that we were all going to take turns thanking God for something.  Jackson thanked God for our new refrigerator, the men who came and tried to fix our old one and the friends that came to help us move in the new one.  I love getting to see glimpses of what's in his heart. The refrigerator seems like such a simple and necessary thing but I loved that he thought to thank God for it as well as the people who helped us!

Jackson's not real sure about being thrown up high by Daddy

 Emmy is doing a few new things.  She now says "more" while she signs it and will also sign "please".  The other day she signed a two word phrase. She signed and said "more" followed by the sign "please".  I think she's getting closer to using her first phrase!

Her newest favorite obsession is anything with a buckle.  She will stand forever at her booster chair in the kitchen playing with the buckles.  And she will say "buckle" over and over again!

I am so so so happy to announce that Emmy is finally off of her reflux medicine.  At 15 months we started slowly coming off at the direction of her doctor.  It was a slow process of weaning down and by 16 months she was completely off. After about 2-3 weeks of being completely off there are no signs of reflux! Praise the Lord!

Her hair is getting longer!

Emmy has pretty much dropped her morning nap.  Every 4-5 days she will sleep for 30-45 minutes in the morning but other than that she is done with a morning nap!

Just a few stories and milestone I wanted to remember, so that's what we've been up to!