First Steps

I knew it was coming, but it's still hard to believe...

Yesterday, Emmy took her first unassisted steps (I didn't get a picture). She got her balance and took a couple of steps on her own. She did it a couple of times. I guess we'll see how long it takes before she's walking across the room...


I love this picture. Emmy loves her big brother so much. She wants to be where he is, doing whatever he's doing:


and this one:

And last week she started clapping:

A quick minute

Right now both kids are napping. Yes, both kids, at the same time. I thought Jackson was done with naps but he started back again and I don't mind. So I have a quick minute and thought I would post some new pictures.

There's not too much going on around here. Everyone's well, which is nice, and things have settled down since Christmas. Emmy is back to her normal schedule. Everyone is eating and sleeping well and life is good!

I've been taking lots of pictures and continue to play with my camera. Here are some recent ones that I like:




She's loving this rocking horse!

Don't we all have moments like this? She doesn't like to be told "no"!


My helper. He loves to cook with Mommy:

Another Emmy Update and Pictures with NO FLASH!

Suddenly I find Emmy doing new things every day and it is so much fun to watch. She waves "hi" and "bye" all the time- on command and spontaneously. She plays very appropriately- loves to roll cars, throw and roll balls back and forth and likes to look at books and turn pages. She loves to imitate tongue clicking, lip smacking, etc. She thinks it's hilarious when we look at our animal book and I make animal noises. She says "mama" and "dada" meaningfully and just in play as well. She doesn't like to lay down to get her diaper changed, doesn't like her face wiped and doesn't like me to put bows in her hair (she doesn't mind once the bow is in, it's just getting it there). Her little personality is really coming out!




A goal of mine for this year is not only to take more pictures but to learn more about my camera. I know nothing about all the settings that it has and usually just let the camera do it's thing and take the pictures. I have started reading some blogs and tutorials about how to take better pictures. I have heard this before but all the blogs and books agree: don't use the automatic flash- EVER- especially inside. Like I said, I've heard that before but ignored it because without the flash the pictures are too dark. But after a little reading and messing with my camera settings I have found that indoor pictures without a flash are actually very pretty...and bright! And I had a great subject who let me practice!

All the pictures in this post are taken in my kitchen without a flash!



Oh- and yes, today we wore pajamas and bow! It was too cold to wear anything else!

Looking Back and Gazing Ahead

Happy 2012!

Looking back on 2011, it has been a good year but also a hard year. Of course the best thing about 2011 was welcoming Emmy into our family.


We've enjoyed this year with her and watching her grow. She is so much fun. 2011 also brought lots of illnesses and trips to either a hospital or a doctor and lots and lots of phone conversations with nurses. At one point Emmy's reflux was so bad and she was hardly eating that I was on the phone with a nurse 2-3 times per week for several weeks. So one of my biggest prayers is that we will have a very healthy 2012!

Jackson turned three this year. It's been so fun watching him and helping him learn so many new things. He's been especially interested in letters, numbers, shapes, etc. He still loves puzzles and books and stickers. He loves to sit at the kitchen table with me and do his "work books" which allow him to practice his "academic" skills.

Turning 3:

He has also been a bit challenging for us. We went through a couple of months of behavior issues but things are so much better now! He is such a sweet boy, loves to give hugs and kisses and daily asks Kevin and me if we are happy. He asks this because he understands that we have rules that he needs to obey and he wants us to be "happy" with him.

With Jackson's behavior and Emmy's reflux and health struggles the Lord has taught me so much. I am learning each day how I need to give all my cares, struggles, etc. to him and trust him to provide everything- strength, patience, kindness and many other things. I've learned a lot about myself and I am so grateful for God's overflowing grace!

So I wanted to report on my 2011 New Year's Resolutions. I participated in a P52 (1 picture a week for 52 weeks). It went pretty well but I didn't finish. I made it to week 41 of 52, only skipping 3 or 4 weeks in between. I was actually happy with how far I made it due to having a brand new baby and the above mentioned illnesses! So I am excited to participate in it again and I hope to finish. This year there are going to be theme's each week which I think will make for a fun challenge. You can read more about it here if you like:

Another big resolution that I had in 2011 was to learn more and do more sewing. I am happy with the amount of sewing I did and what I learned. I took a sewing class and learned how to make this dress:
I love this dress but it is somewhat time consuming. So I fell into making this very simple dress:


So my 2012 resolution is to continue sewing and continue learning. I definitely need to learn a new dress and I'm hoping to make some skirts, maybe pants and other things. I did learn how to sew bloomers which are perfect under all those dresses!

A few other resolutions I have are to read more books, cut our grocery budget and continue running/exercising consistently as well as some other things.

Look forward to what this year holds...

Christmas

I'm always amazed by how fast the Christmas season goes by. It seems like just yesterday it was Thanksgiving and Jackson was asking when Christmas would be here. And now it's gone!

We had a really wonderful Christmas- full of seeing lots of family, a little bit of traveling and feeling blessed beyond measure.

On Thursday and Friday before Christmas we went to Mobile to see Kevin's family. This was only Emmy's second road trip and like her brother she isn't a good car sleeper. For the four 1/2 hour car trip she slept for 45 minutes. She wasn't fussy though. She entertained herself well- it helps to have big brother in the back. Jackson enjoyed watching a movie in the car. On Black Friday we got a super good deal on a DVD player for the car. Jackson was so excited to watch a movie in the car and it gave Kevin and me a chance to just talk! (Unfortunately the DVD player was stolen from our car while in Mobile which is a whole other story.)

Jackson had a blast seeing Mimi and PawPaw. Kevin's mom (Mimi) saved all of Kevin's old matchbox cars plus some other toys and Jackson was in heaven! Kevin has a pretty big family so there were lots and lots of people and kids running around. Jackson had fun with some of the kids but he was very intimidated by some of the older, bigger kids. Emmy had fun too although she was a little out of sorts. She refused to take a nap while at their house. She did sleep through the night while we were there but without naps she was more than just a little cranky. We left late Friday afternoon to head back home and both kids slept for almost two hours! They were worn out! Emmy is still having a hard time settling back into her routine. She is napping and sleeping through the night fine but she cries quite a bit when I put her down(which she has never done before). I'm pretty sure she is having some major separation anxiety.

Kevin's parents:

The next day, Christmas Eve and Kevin's birthday, we enjoyed a quiet day at the house. We went over to my parent's house that night to celebrate Kevin's birthday and enjoy Christmas with grandmothers, aunts and uncles. It was another fun filled night with good food and visiting family. I think I have mentioned that Jackson and Emmy are the only kids on my side of the family so they get lots of attention and presents from everyone! Jackson had a blast as he received a remote control monster truck and loved driving it around Gigi and Pop's house.

Emmy sitting with her two great grandmothers:


Jackson enjoying cupcakes for Daddy's birthday:

Christmas morning was so fun. The kids were so tired that they both slept past seven! This is not unusual for Emmy but it is extremely rare for Jackson! but once he was up he ran in to see the tree and squealed in delight. We have some fun video of him. Later that morning we went back over to my parents for brunch.

Emmy got this walk behind toy from Santa and had eyes for nothing else! She LOVES it:


The kids on Christmas morning:





It was definitely a wonderful Christmas!

10 Months

Emmy was 10 months old on December 22. I wanted to note some of her milestones:

-Emmy waves bye bye upon command (most of the time).

-She follows directions like: "no", "come here", "give it to me".

-She imitates lots of things like banging her hands, clicking her tongue, other noises and speech sounds.

-She's not big on table food yet. She likes puffs and cheerios but that's about it.

-She loves to walk around the house while holding on to my hands. She's getting pretty good at walking while holding only one hand too.

Christmas Program

I am way behind on blogging. I'm going to try and catch up in the next several days. We've enjoyed lots of Christmas festivities around here. Last week Jackson's school had a three year old Christmas program. I think there are four or five different three year old classes and they all put on the program together. It was the most precious thing. I was such a proud mama. I was so impressed with these three year olds and how hard the teachers must have worked. Every child stood up on stage singing their little hearts out and doing hand motions as best they could. Of course they were all doing different hand motions at all different times but it was so cute! They sang eight different songs. Yes, EIGHT! I couldn't believe it. And there was only one song that I recognized (Away in a Manger). All the rest were new to me (and Jackson) and all centered around the birth of Jesus. I'm just so happy that Jackson is surrounded by such wonderful teachers who teach him the word of God!

Little Jackson singing his heart out:


Doing some hand motions:




MERRY CHRISTMAS!
AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN!

First Word and Three and a half

It's hard to believe that my 9.5 month old is saying her first word. This past week Emmy started imitating Jackson and me anytime we would say "uh-oh". After a couple of days of that she started using it on her own. She now loves to drop things on the floor and say "uh-oh". She says uh-oh ALL DAY LONG! I love it though! It is so cute! And she is babbling so much!



Emmy is getting another top tooth and another bottom tooth. She doesn't let me look in her mouth for very long so there could be more. That means she will have a total of 6 teeth.

She is very very mobile. Crawling, pulling up and cruising everywhere. She loves to hold onto our hands and walk around the house. She gets so excited she'll stop walking to jump up and down.

She adores Jackson! She laughs at everything he does and tries so hard to keep up with him. She will crawl after him around the house. She loves to be in his room and play with his toys and roll around on his bed.

She loves the Christmas tree! She's almost pulled it over a few times. She grabs the branches and tries to pull them to her. Of course she loves the ornaments too and tries to pull them off.



Jackson is so excited about Christmas this year. If you ask him what he wants for Christmas he will tell you: cars, puzzles and Mater. He loves seeing all the Christmas lights and will point out all the trees, lights, etc. as we are driving. We've been talking a lot about the birth of Jesus and the meaning of Christmas. This is the first year that we can really converse about it and he really likes our Advent calendar.



Jackson is officially 3.5 and he has grown and changed a lot just since he turned 3. He is so smart and loves learning. He loves to sing his ABC's. He is identifying letters all over the place and even knows many letter sounds. He is able to identify his name in print as well.

He still gets speech therapy once a week but he is at age level now. It is still hard for some people to understand him at times but he is doing so much better. His sentences are much more complex and he uses complete thoughts. It's fun to have conversations with him.

Love these two kiddos! They are both at a very fun age!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for! We had my family over to our house for Thanksgiving, the same as last year. I think it might be a new tradition to do Thanksgiving here and I love it! It was Kevin and me, my mom and dad, two grandmothers, my aunt and my uncle. There are no other kids so Jackson and Emmy get all the attention and they love it. The food was delicious and it was nice to visit with family.

On the last day of school, before Thanksgiving break, I picked Jackson up and he was dressed like an Indian. He has loved wearing his "Big Buffalo" outfit and he even learned an Indian song that he sang several times. It is so cute. In part of the song he sings, "shoot the arrow" which he is demonstrating below:



And Emmy was so cute in her turkey dress!

9 Months

Emmy is nine months today. We had a very good checkup today and I was so relieved to see that her weight is still "within average range". Not that I didn't think she was healthy- she still has baby rolls- but sometimes she still struggles with her bottle. She's never loved her bottle and sometimes just eats the bare minimum to get by. But she loves her baby food! So here's the stats:

Weight: 18 pounds 15 ounces (50th%)
Height: 27 3/4 inches (60th%)

This week I have noticed a huge jump in her food intake. Suddenly she wants a whole lot more baby food and we have just started giving her table food (besides puffs). I've given her banana, which she loves and some bread, which she spits out.

Emmy has currently met all her developmental milestones so it was a good checkup and there wasn't too much to discuss with the doctor.

She's so excited about finding big brother's shoe: