18 Months and the Rest of Summer

Wow! Time has gotten away again. It's already mid-August, I'm back at work, summer is over and the kids are changing!

The past three weeks have been busy! Both kids have been keeping me on my toes and on my knees (A LOT!) asking the Lord for wisdom (lots and lots of wisdom).  I feel like we've been disciplining a lot.  Some days are better than others but I think we are all ready for a change of pace again.  With the end of the summer, the heat, the rain and some illnesses we are ready for a new schedule.

Jackson has been particularly hard these last few weeks.  He's getting more and more independent and definitely voicing his opinions more.  While this change is natural and a part of growing up we're also working on keeping his attitude in check and being respectful.  Hard lessons!

We're starting to get outside more which helps SO MUCH! There has been a slight break in the weather and being outside is actually bearable. Jackson still enjoys playing hide and seek! I thought these were cute:

Emmy will be 18 months on Wednesday but we went today for her well check. Here are her stats:
Weight: 23 pounds 6 ounces (50th percentile)
Height: 33 3/4 inches (90th percentile)

18 months??? It's really hard to believe that this child is 18 months. Shouldn't she still be just 6 months? And in a blink of an eye (just another 6 months) she will be turning two! So hard to believe!

She is such a doll. She is strong willed, opinionated and stubborn but she is also a mama's girl, so sweet and SO FUN! Her smile is contagious! We get the most compliments about her sweet smile and how often she smiles.  She is a little shy so when she's around other people she doesn't talk as much but she will definitely give you a smile!

She is talking a lot these days! She had another big language spurt about a week ago.  She has somewhere between 40-50 words and has said a couple of two word phrases spontaneously: "shoes on" and "sit down".  The other day she imitated three words: "sit down baby".  She says, "Memmy" for "Emmy" and "Meemo" for "Elmo" which I think is too cute! :)

She also LOVES to climb. I caught her the other day sitting on top of the dining room table! She is really good at going up and down stairs and will hold onto the rail all the way down. I am constantly catching her climbing in chairs or in the sofa or up into her swing. 

We almost made it from 15 months to 18 months without getting sick.  A couple of weeks ago she got pink eye and eye drops for a week was torture! Then she got a cold which she passed along to everyone in the house. She's still coughing and has had a fever this past weekend.  When she gets sick she seems to like to hang on to it. Her fever broke today so I'm hoping she's on her way to feeling better.

So I think I'm all caught up now.  The kids have a couple more weeks before they start school.  And we're hoping the cooler weather is here to stay!

We're doing a master bathroom remodel and I've been spending lots of time finding healthy lunch recipes for all of us to take to school and work. Maybe I'll be back soon to share some of that...

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!

Summer so far

So far, it's been a really good summer.  Since June is coming to an end I thought I would have a mid-summer recap. 

The first week in June we went to the beach and celebrated Jackson turning four.  We all agree that we want to go back!

I worked for six days in the middle of the month.  Mom kept Emmy and Jackson was actually able to come with me to work. He was able to go to the preschool classroom that is there and has enjoyed it immensely.  It was so fun to have him there with me. Each day that I worked it was only for a few hours in the morning and it was really great to have something to get out and do.

On the days that I don't work I try to have activities planned to keep us busy.  We go to the library once a week as this is the first time Jackson has done the summer reading program.  He picks out new books, we go home and read them and then he earns "library dollars".  He is super excited about his dollars and likes to get them out and count them! Emmy just enjoys pulling books off the shelf so while Jackson picks out his books I run behind Emmy putting books back!

We also play in the baby pools in the back yard and we have also gone to MayMay's pool a few times which the kids love.  It is so hot now so if we are outside we have to be in some water.  At the beginning of June we played out in the driveway a lot so Jackson could practice riding his new bike. It's been too hot to do that lately. 

We've also gone to Brusters a couple of times for an afternoon ice cream snack. We don't do that kind of thing very often so it is quite a treat for the kids.  Emmy LOVES ice cream! She's usually the first to finish hers! We all three get baby cones and the kids get them free! So for .90 cents we all three get ice cream and it's a fun outing!

Emmy is now 16 months. She still takes two naps. We are in the transition phase to one nap and I thought she would have dropped it by now but she still seems to need 45 minutes in the morning.  She is feeding herself with a spoon and a fork which is really exciting! She needs help every now and then and often makes a mess but she's mostly independent and wants to do it herself.  She continues to add new words to her vocabulary but not quite as rapidly as before.  I think between 14-15 months she had a huge language spurt and now she has slowed down.  We are entering a new phase with her: discipline.  She gets frustrated and mad, throws tantrums, tests the limits, gets mad some more and does lots of screaming! Yikes! It's an uphill battle but I've been here before so I won't give up!

First ponytail

Sometimes I feel like giving up or giving in but then I remember what I'm battling for- her heart!  So I will press on. The battle for the heart is the greatest battle of all. I've been through this battle with Jackson and while it's not even near over I get glimpses of hope- glimpses that Jesus is winning his heart.  Basically, ever since Jackson has had a large enough vocabulary to put phrases and sentences together he's been praying the same prayer every night.  Almost word for word each night, he prays for his stuffed alligator, dinosaur and snake and he prays that "baby Emmy will stop crying in the morning."  (Side note: the prayer for Emmy to stop crying came when Emmy was born and cried here and there as you would expect a newborn to cry.  Jackson didn't like it. The prayer has stuck.)  Anyway, tonight our Bible story was about Jesus ascending into heaven and how he is preparing a place for us.  Jackson and I talked a little bit about heaven and then we prayed.  At the end of his prayer he added a new line. He prayed and said, "Dear God, thank you for my alligator, dinosaur and snake. Thank you for all my animals. Help baby Emmy to not cry in the morning. (He paused). And I pray that I want to go to heaven with Jesus." What a sweet moment.  A glimpse of hope. 

A young woman in our church passed away last weekend after a five year battle with cancer.  She left behind a husband and three children, ages 9, 7 and 5.  While her ultimate prayer was that God would heal her so that she could raise her children she also prayed that if she was taken that she would witness all three of her children accept Jesus as their Savior.  Earlier this year her 7 and 5 year old with tears in their eyes told their sweet mama that they wanted Jesus in their heart.  Her 9 year old had done the same previously. What a precious gift to watch your children come to know Jesus at an early age.  And what a heritage she has left for her children and now she will see those children again one day in heaven.

That is my prayer for my children.

4 Year Old Update

Jackson had his four year old check up today.  He hadn't had shots since he was two so it was a little rough.  We made it through though. Here are his four year old stats:

Weight: 34 pounds (slightly less than 50th%)
Height: 39 1/3 inches (slightly less than 50th%)

There are so many things I could say about Jackson. He has grown and changed so much in the past year.  I'll just hit some highlights:

-Favorite thing to eat for lunch: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
-Most requested dinner: Pot Pie Pocket
-Favorite color: green
-Favorite toy: cars
-Jackson wants to be a fireman when he grows up.
-Favorite activity: puzzles and stickers
-Favorite stuffed animal: dinosaur

Jackson loves to sing.  He'll go downstairs to play for a little bit and I'll hear him down there singing his heart out. It's precious- especially since he sings songs like, 'Jesus Loves Me', 'Go Tell it on the Mountain', 'Holy Holy Holy'.  He sings songs I didn't even know he knew but it makes my heart happy.  He also likes to be silly and make up songs.

Jackson is still holding on to his afternoon nap.  I thought he was giving it up awhile back but now he pretty much takes his nap everyday.  He still sleeps all night and pretty much wakes up every morning at 6:30.

He continues to love books.  He loves to go to the library and get new books and will sit in his room and look at each page.  He loves for Kevin and me to read to him which we do everyday. He has a very long attention span and will listen to fairly lengthy stories.  We also read a Bible story each night which he loves and looks forward to.

Jackson continues to be such a sweet boy.  He loves to play with Emmy and is sweet to her most of the time.  We are still working on sharing toys and not snatching, etc. but he loves her and always asks me if she can come play with him. 

Jackson continues to be a lover of life.  He gets excited about anything and everything! If I tell him he is going to the dentist he says, "Woo hoo! I love the dentist. I get stickers and prizes!".  He loves going to school, church, the park, the pool and pretty much anywhere. (He used to say that he liked going to the doctor but after today that's probably scratched off his list!)

He is such a joy!

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!