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!

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...