Panama City Beach Trip

We recently returned home from our annual week long beach trip. This year we went to Panama City and found a quiet little house with lots of privacy and a short two minute walk to the beach. We loved it! Last year Emmy was only 3 months old when we went to the beach so I was excited to see what she thought. I remember getting a picture of Jackson's very first reaction to the sand and here is Emmy's:

She doesn't normally like things on her hands so that was why she instantly started fussing when she fell down and got sand all over her hands. But it didn't last long.

 Both kids had a lot of fun and we had really pretty weather. Jackson preferred to dig and play in the sand while Emmy was constantly heading toward the water.

The water got pretty rough but both kids liked going out into the water and being splashed by waves- while being held of course.  Emmy played in the sand some with Jackson but she didn't love getting sand all over her- it always ended up in her mouth and made her mad!

We spent a lot of our time digging holes and making "pools" for Emmy to play in. She was happy as long as she had water to play in and Jackson enjoyed digging:

A few of my favorites:

Can't wait to go back!!!

Happy Birthday Jackson!!!

It's so so hard to believe that my boy is four years old today! Wow, how time flies! I couldn't fall asleep last night just remembering four years ago and bringing Jackson into the world.

He is such a sweet boy. He's going to the doctor later this month so I'll have a four year old update later. 

For now, just fun birthday pictures. He requested a Lightning McQueen birthday!!!

Lightning McQueen cupcakes!

Enjoying a birthday doughnut!

Ready for some birthday fun!

Showing off his new fireman boots!

And so excited about his firetruck from Gigi and Pop.

Balloon fun!

Emmy enjoying balloon fun too!

Telling me he is FOUR!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BOY!!!

15 Months

Emmy is 15 months today. We had our well check this morning and here are the new stats:

Weight: 23.4 pounds (50th percentile)
Height: 31.5 inches (75th percentile)

Growing girl! I actually had a discussion with the doctor about how much this child eats. A good problem to have I guess as I know some parents have a hard time getting their child to eat anything. Emmy still wants 2-3 helpings of vegetables and fruits as well as any kind of bread she can get her hands on. One of her new favorites is a chicken quesadilla. She also recently tried lasagna and spaghetti, which she loved. The only thing I've found that she's not a big fan of is squash and kiwi- I think it's a texture thing. But she gives Jackson a run for his money when it comes to eating. The doctor assured me as long as she is eating healthy and staying active that she can eat as much as she wants...

While Emmy loves to play cars and trains with Jackson she also loves to push her baby in the stroller, love on her stuffed animals and carry her purse around the house. It's good that she can play so diversely. But she's all about putting on sunglasses, putting her purse over her arm and telling us bye bye. So cute!

Emmy continues to add to her vocabulary daily. She says "nana" for banana and calls Jackson, "JJ". When I told Emmy's doctor today that she has at least 20 words she seemed a little skeptical. She said, "um, 15 month olds don't typically have 20 words. We usually see only 2-5 words." While 2-5 words is a pretty low expectation I know that having 20+ words is not typical at this age. I assured her that I am a speech therapist and I do know what I'm talking about. She then proceded to ask me since her verbal skills were so advanced if she knew her colors or showed interest in potty training. Um, that would be a no! :) Potty training hasn't crossed my mind at this point!

I don't think I have mentioned Emmy's love for books.  She will sit in my lap and listen to me read all day long! She loves pointing to the pictures and imitating words.  I'm so glad my children love books and I really enjoy our reading time.  It's the only time I can count on that Emmy will sit still in my lap. Otherwise she is chasing Jackson and trying to keep up with whatever he is doing!

Love this girl so much! From 12 months to 15 months she has had a hard time staying well.  We're hoping we don't see the doctor again until 18 months!

Precious Children

I had a very good Mother's Day and feel very blessed to have two sweet children. Jackson was so sweet and loving all day. He gave me lots of hugs and kisses and enjoyed surprising me with sweet things all day! It melts my heart when my high energy three year old stops to tell me he loves me!

Jackson is starting to catch on to the fact that Kevin and I sometimes spell words to each other. He will say, "Mommy, T-Y-O-K" and then grin really big. :)

Emmy's little personality is coming out in a big way! Sometimes she acts like Jackson did when he was two!!! And she's only 14 months! She screams at Jackson when he snatches toys from her and she tries to snatch them back! While we don't promote snatching and are trying to teach them to share or ask for what they want I'm glad she starting to stick up for herself. :) They love each other a lot and Emmy still wants to always do what Jackson is doing-including digging in the dirt.

Emmy has also decided she doesn't like to brush her teeth and will scream and hit and kick. She has to sit in time out almost every time we go to brush teeth. I don't remember Jackson testing the limits so early! But after a minute in time out she comes back in the bathroom and allows me to brush her teeth so I know she gets it. Hopefully this won't last long as we remain consistent in brushing teeth. She is so fun though! Here she is hitting the bushes and getting wet from the rain water and thought it was so fun:

I'm still amazed at how fast she is growing up. She understands SO much and continues to add to her vocabulary daily! To add to my previous list she says: all gone, all done, bye bye, duck, woof woof, block, daddy (instead of dada), shoes, cracker and others I can't think of right now. She will imitate: paper, diaper, trash, excuse me, and others!

Love these precious children!

Fun Weekend

The weather was beautiful this past weekend and we enjoyed a lot of outside time. The kids have a lot of fun playing in the yard. Kevin has been working on planting some new grass to fill in where it was just dirt and now the backyard is very green!

Jackson loves running around the yard and kicking balls. Love that concentration- with tongue out and all.

Emmy has another new word. She says, "rock, rock, rock" whenever she is on her rocking horse or in her rocking chair.

She has learned how to open the screen door on the back porch. Gotta watch this girl! She heads outside any chance she gets!

We also got out the pool again this weekend. The baby pool is perfect for Emmy and the bigger pool is great for Jackson but of course they want to play in the same pool together!

14 Months

**UPDATE: Ok, so I forgot a few things: Emmy is really into pointing! She loves to point at pictures in books and random things around the house. I also forgot to mention that Emmy pretty much stayed sick this past month. She had her first ear infection and a couple of viruses. She was also diagnosed with respiratory airway disease and we now have a nebulizer at home. Basically while she was sick she got a bad cough and the doctor said that her breathing and coughing was "asthma-like". We hope that she won't officially get the asthma diagnosis but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Thankfully she is finally over her illnesses and seems to be healthy. She is currently getting her one year molars in. The first one started coming through about two and a half weeks ago and I've noticed two more poking through in the last couple of days. And on top of all the words listed below that she says all on her own she tries to imitate all kinds of words. Like yesterday she imitated "chalk" and today she imitated "go"!

Love this age! Emmy is so much fun! Not too much has changed this past month but she is doing better with drinking milk from her cup. She will now drink anywhere from 3-8 ounces a day. And I wanted to record all her words since she is starting to say so much. These are all word approximations but these are the words she says:

uh-oh
mama
dada
hi
sock
night night
no
done
doo doo (cock a doodle doo)
tweet tweet
tickle
thank you
choo choo

Easter and Other Things

So I've gotten behind on blogging again. We've had A LOT going on around here! Having two kids can keep life so busy sometimes!


So if you have young children and don't know about the 'Pete the Cat' book you've got to check it out! This is the cutest book and by far the kids favorite! Emmy got it for her birthday and both kids will sit together and read/listen to the story over and over. Emmy is always bringing the book to me and then going to the computer so she can listen to the story. Once you get the book you can download the story/song for free. Anyway, the kids love it!


Emmy was sick for about a week- had a fever for five days, so Emmy and I did not make it to Easter service. This is the second year in a row for me to miss Easter. Last year the kids gave me the stomach bug. I guess we'll try again next year!

She was still able to enjoy a few Easter festivities like hunting for eggs. Both kids LOVE playing with Easter eggs! We hide them and find them over and over again.




The kids also had fun with their Easter baskets. They got lots of goodies like books, sunglasses, a new video, fun t-shirts, and Jackson's favorite- chocolate covered raisins. :)



We are very very blessed and did enjoy a nice Easter weekend as a family. I'm just glad that things are finally getting back to normal...

Spring Break- Part 2 and 13 Months

I can't believe Spring Break is already over. It's been hard to even keep up with what day it is and so nice to have Kevin home for the week. The last part of the week was just as fun as the first half even though it rained a couple of days.

We spent a day at the lake with Gigi and Pop and had a lot of fun. Jackson enjoyed some fishing with his Daddy which he was really excited about.




We also spent some more time at the park and Jackson was really cute with his soccer ball:

And Emmy loved the slide:



13 MONTHS:
Emmy is thirteen months and what a difference a month makes! At 12 months she was just beginning to eat a few table foods but I was still having to give her some baby food. Now, I continue to be amazed at how this girl eats. We lovingly call her the bottomless pit :) and I love it! She constantly wants seconds and even thirds of her vegetables and fruit. One of her favorite things to eat is grape tomatoes- I think she would eat the whole package if I let her! So thankful for a good eater!

She is still not loving milk in her sippy cup, although it's getting better. We dropped her last night time bottle earlier this week and she has done well without it. She only drinks about 1-3 ounces of milk a day so I'm just making sure she's eating enough calcium. Good thing eating isn't an issue! :)


She half way signs "done" and will say "du" when she's all done. She says "mmm" for "moo" and "doo doo" for "cock a doodle doo". She will shake her head no and say "no, no, no" when she's not supposed to do something or when I tell her no. She tries to say "socks" and "shoes" whenever we are getting dressed. She imitates several other words as well. And she is so stinkin cute when she puts her purse over her arm and walks around the house!!! Love this girl!