We went to the pool & An Anniversary

First of all, yesterday Kevin and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. We got to go out for a nice dinner while Mom babysat the kids. It was fun to recall how and where we first met....we were 18, just freshman kids at Auburn....so long ago...

This past weekend we finally made it to the pool. My grandmother has a pool and she lives in our neighborhood! She had trouble getting it clean after opening it up and it wasn't swimmable for the whole month of June. After it was finally ready we made plans at least three other times to go but it always ended up raining/storming. BUT- we finally made it and it was so fun!

Five Months

Where have five months gone?

Last week I started giving her some rice cereal. She didn't really take to it at first. It took her several tries before she knew what to do with it but now she seems to like it. I'm hoping some solids will help her tummy.

She is getting really good at sitting up on her own with only a little bit of support:


This is about the best I could do with Jackson. This is his "after naptime" hair. At least he isn't frowning. He usually isn't too happy when I pull out the camera.

We've Been Busy

July has flown by. We have spent the majority of this month trying to resolve Emmy's tummy issues. In the past three weeks we have been on three different medicines and three different formulas. She has good days and bad days and then a REALLY bad day thrown in here and there. She has days where she takes really good naps and then days where she won't sleep at all. Without enough sleep she gets fussy which is new for her. Her doctor suspects that she may have a milk allergy or some lactose intolerance so we are on soy formula. And sometimes the side effects of the medicine she's on seems worse than the reflux that it's treating. Lots of things going on with her that may or may not be resolved. I feel like I've spent the majority of the past three weeks either in the doctor's office or on the phone with the nurse. We are praying fervently for the healing of sweet Emmy girl's tummy.


She'll be five months tomorrow!

Somewhere during all of this Jackson developed swimmer's ear. So he was at the doctor too as I thought for sure he had an ear infection. I had suspected something was wrong- his behavior was speaking volumes- and the night before I took him to the doctor he told me, "mommy, there's a bee in my ear". Sure enough he had swimmer's ear in both ears which meant drops for a week. Not fun!

And can you believe I don't have any new pictures of Jackson since the fourth of July? I do believe I've tried but he's not really into smiling sweetly for the camera. :) I must try harder! But I do have a picture of this little guy:


Our pet bunny. He lives in our backyard and I love watching him from the kitchen window. He comes out to nibble on some grass and once in awhile we leave him a treat, such as blueberries or carrots. Jackson loves him, gets so excited when he spots him in the backyard, but can't contain his excitement...so mr. bunny quickly scurries away.

Hopefully I'll be back soon with new Jackson pictures.

Fourth of July

We celebrated the July 4th weekend at the lake with my parents. It was lots of fun as usual. We brought Jackson's pool with us and I am so glad we did. It provided constant fun for the kids and adults and much needed relief from the HOT HOT sun!

Me and my sweet girl:

Emmy enjoyed some pool time as well:


Love this cute face:

She Rolled!

Yesterday (4 months, 4 days), Emmy rolled from her belly to her back! I put her on her belly for tummy time and noticed that her arms were very extended and her chest was off the floor more than it's ever been. Then she just rolled over. I remember with Jackson watching him for several days get himself up on his side before he ever rolled over. She did it some more this morning so I was able to get some pictures:

New Stats

Today was well check up day. I took both kids. Jackson for his three year and Emmy for her four month. It was a little chaotic. Good thing I made a list of all my questions for both kids- I would have never remembered them all. Anyway, it went well overall. Both kids are healthy and growing well- definitely something to be thankful for. Here's an update on the kiddos:

Jackson:
Weight: 30.2 pounds
Height: 37 inches

I told Jackson to make a silly face and here's what I got:

It's still hard to believe Jackson is three. It's amazing how quickly he is growing and all the new things he is learning. He still eats well. He needs a little more convincing than he used to to eat his veggies but he usually gives in pretty quickly. Jackson still continues to take good naps. I usually wake him up after two hours (I'm not sure how long he would actually sleep). He goes to bed at 7:30 but usually doesn't fall asleep until after 8. He wakes up between 6 and 6:30 and will often crawl in bed with us and go back to sleep for another 30 minutes to an hour. It's sweet because he really likes to snuggle. I love it!

The other day I read "Curious George goes to a Costume Party" to Jackson before nap time. Jackson said he wanted it to be Halloween so I asked him what he wanted to be this year. His response: "I'll be a princess". Love it! He's so much fun!

Emmy:
Weight: 14 pounds 8 ounces (75th percentile)
Length: 25 1/2 inches (90th percentile)

Here's Emmy at 4 months:

She's the absolute sweetest baby! She takes three naps a day. The first two are usually 2 1/2 hours sometimes as long as 3. The third is anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. A lot of times she takes the third nap in the swing. She goes to bed between 7:00 and 7:30 and eats at 9:00 without waking up and then sleeps until between 7:00 and 7:30. It's so nice to be getting a full nights sleep. I can't even remember the last time Emmy woke up before 6:45 which is such a blessing.

One of my favorite times is when I go in her room in the morning to get her up and as soon as she sees me she gets a huge smile on her face. She smiles and laughs all day and has the sweetest spirit. I really only hear her fuss when she gets really tired. Otherwise she is very content.

I am loving every minute of being home with these two this summer.

Fun Emmy Pictures

It looks like she is praying:


She found her thumb and loves it!


Love black and white photos. She looks so sweet:


She makes this happy face a lot:

Emily's Baptism

Emmy was baptized this past Sunday (June 5). The timing was great since we already had family in town for Jackson's birthday and it was a really special day. Emmy wore the dress that I wore when I was baptized which made it even more special. Here is the blessing we wrote for her:

Psalm 18:2-3
The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer, my God, my Rock in whom I take refuge. I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised and I am saved from my enemies.

Emily Ruth, we are so blessed by the Lord to have you as our daughter. Our prayer for you is that in all things, in health and happiness and sickness and sorrow you would seek the Lord as your Rock and your Refuge. We pray that you would come to know Him as your Savior and your faith would grow deeper each day. We pray that you would love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. Amen.

Eating her dress (she loves to eat her clothes):


Our family:


Kevin reading Emmy's blessing:


Being baptized:

Jackson Turns Three!

This past weekend (on June 5) Jackson turned three! I still can't believe it. We had a fun party on Saturday with family and friends. It was really hot but the kids stayed cool in the pool. He was so excited about his party. For the whole week leading up to it he talked about all his friends coming and eating cupcakes! When we asked him what he wanted for his birthday he said trail mix. The child LOVES trail mix. So we got him some trail mix (among other things). The other day I let him have a hand full of trail mix while he was playing outside in the pool. Days later he is still talking about eating trail mix in the pool. I guess that was exciting! Anyway, thanks to our sweet friends and family who helped make Jackson's third birthday fun and memorable!

Having fun in his new pool:

Enjoying a birthday lunch:

This boy LOVES Curious George:

I thought this was a neat picture. Four generations of girls (my mom, my grandmother, Emmy and me):

Memorial Day Beach Trip

We were very excited that we got to go to the beach for the long Memorial Day weekend. We went to Gulf Shores with my parents and had a really nice time! It was a little different due to the fact that Emmy is still so young. We didn't have as much flexibility and we did the best we could to keep her to her schedule- she still eats and sleeps a lot!

The kids' sleep schedule were both off so we were up VERY early in the morning. But at least this is the view we got to see at 5:30 in the morning!

Jackson had such a great time. He loved every minute of it and was so much more into it than last year. While he had fun last year he was still somewhat timid about the sand and the ocean and the pool. This year he just jumped right in and played.


He loved the pool time with his daddy- even getting his face and hair wet which he wouldn't dare do last year!

Emmy fell asleep wherever we went. After an early morning on the beach she fell asleep while we were walking back to the room.

But she really loved being in the pool. She just hung out and kicked her feet. She was really cute in her swimsuit!

We are so thankful we could get away for a long weekend and spend some time at the beach. We had a great time!

(In the above picture Emmy is wearing the first dress that I made for her back before she was even born. That makes this dress very special to me. I hope to make more soon!)