Emily at 16 Months

Emily is still a Momma’s girl, and very much a baby in lots of ways! She still has a paci, still nursing a couple times a day, and of course still wearing diapers. It doesn’t seem like she talks as much as Martin did at this age. She does jibber jabber but most you cant really understand. The words she can say at 16 months are: Momma, Dad-dah, MiMi, Paw Paw, Bubba, Bye Bye, Hi, Hello, Baby, night night, eyes, nose, NO, Cheese, Yum, Ya. She can say a couple 2 word sentences, “Bye Bye Daddy” and “No No Bubba” HA HA HA!  She will shake her head yes and no, go get something if you tell her to; such as her paci, or a toy and no longer cries in her bed. She sleeps thru the night for the most part unless she isn’t feeling good, and she sleeps in her OWN BED! Her favorite things are baby dolls. She loves to feed her babies, she will rock them, sing to them, and pat them on the back. She also likes to brush their hair as well as her own! She loves to dance, anytime there is a song on or a commercial she is clapping and turning in circles. She loves bathes and gets really mad if someone is taking a bath without her.  Her favorite foods right now are Chocolate milk, PB&J, Spaghetti, bananas, the list goes on.

She is the sweetest little angel. Almost never gets in trouble. she has this thing about the toilet and she will throw toys in it and then try to fish them out and get her hands all wet. its disgusting! we are constantly trying to keep  the lid down and the doors closed to keep her out of the bathroom.

Emi knows where her eyes, nose, cheeks, ears, hair, and mouth are. 

Best Friends

The Kids are starting to really bond and play together more. Now that Emily is more vocal and understands things Martin will tolerate her in his room. (they are 22 months apart) Emily Loves to be with her Big Brother. They watch Movies together, play, dance. It’s the best feeling in the world to know that they will best friends forever!

Our family feels complete with our two babies. We are happy and not in any hurry to have another baby. we just want to enjoy life right now and not be in a hurry to move things along. Family time is a precious thing and I want to be sure everyone in the family gets the attention they need.

Martin & Emily. Emily & Martin. They are always full of energy! They are 2 peas in a pod, yet so very different.

Martin, he's my fire ball. Full of spunk. Loud! (like his momma) Imaginative! Playful, stubborn, an ease dropper, a little adorable manipulator! Everyday is pretty predictable. Martin wakes up in bed with me. He usually crawls out of his bed between 4am-6am. We will sleep til around 9ish and the first words out of his mouth are "Mommy, I'm hungry." sometimes I let him sweat it for a few extra winks of sleep. When I finally crawl out of bed, I make him a cup of Breakfast Carnation and a PB&HONEY sandwich. He'll turn on his cartoons, either a movie or curious george or mickey mouse and he will eat his breakfast. Then the playing begins. As the summer comes to an end and Martin is coming up on his 3rd birthday I have decided to introduce some preschool. I plan to teach him Colors, Shapes, ABC's, & Numbers. I'm looking forward to the structure our mornings will soon hold. What can I say about Martin at this age? He is so smart! So sweet! So Curious! He LOVES TOYS! That boy will stay up til midnight playing with his action figures or cars, if I let him!

August Brought a month of change for Martin. Starting with a major hair cut. Yep, the curls were cut and he was given a very cute faux hawk. LIKE DADDY, he says. After the cut, we tossed out the diapers and started full on potty training. Undies during the day, pull ups at night. He has done wonderful with it. 2 weeks into it, we are still having a few accidents here and there, but I really believe he will be potty trained by his 3rd birthday. He has plenty of incentive to potty in the toilet. he gets 2 m&m's for pee pee, and 3 for pooh pooh. when he is completely out of pull ups at night he will get his FORD 150 POWER WHEELS TRUCK from Walmart. I'm very much looking forward to seeing Martin grow, but also want to keep him my little man forever. He brings a smile to my face everyday!

Emily. She is my BABY DOLL! Sweet, a ray of sunshine every morning! My snuggler. Quiet. very observant. A HEALTHY EATER! Loves to play & look into your eyes. Is fascinated with anything Brother has in his hands. And at 10 1/2 months already knows how to get Brother in big trouble! She plunders just like a normal baby does, but she is so quiet about it. She gets her feelings hurt very easily if you raise your voice or get onto her in anyway. She picked up her motor skills quickly. First crawling, then pulling up, cruising within days of that, and in the past 2 weeks has taken her 1st steps. Her vocabulary is small, Mum-ma, Dah-Dah, Hi, and Yay. She now has 4 teeth. 2 on bottom that she's had since she was 5 or 6 months, and 2 that just popped up this past week, on top. I'm curious if she will have a front tooth gap.

Emily is doing much better with her sleeping arrangements. she now cries only a few minutes in her crib at night, and almost always sleeps thru the night. she usually wakes up between 7 & 8am to nurse and will sleep for another hour with me and Martin after that. By 11am she is in desperate need for a nap... and again around 2pm & 5pm. She loves Pasta, yogurt, gold fish crackers, and cherrioes. Her favorite juice is Fruit Punch, and has now mastered the sippy cup and straw. Such a difference in less than a year! They grow up fast, but I enjoy every microscopic milestone! God has truly blessed me more then I could have ever hoped! Here's to the future!

Growing In Love

I seriously am so happy right now with our little family. Martin is such a sweet brother. Granted he has his moments of craziness with Emi. Sometimes he can be to rough or he'll take toys away from her and make her upset but he's usually pretty quick to say "Sorry Sister!" and give her a kiss on the noggin. Emily will be 8 months this coming week, she can sit up and is crawling/scooting for the most part, so I've been testing the waters on leaving Martin and Emi to play together in the play room. Martin is always very excited when I bring her in there and set her on the floor. He always says "Sister going to play with me in my room? Sister going to watch my movie with me?" He is always concerned about her CHOKING on his toys too. I've gone thru them and made sure there was nothing small she could choke on, but she could be chewing on a big truck or something and he'll say "No! No! No Sister! You Choke!"

Martin giving his sissy a big squeeze

We recently took our first trip away as a family. It was the 1st time I had been anywhere since we got married 5 yrs ago. We just took a small overnight trip to Oklahoma City. Dustin had a work meeting the next morning in town, so it gave us an excuse to get away. We took Martin to the Science Museum and he really enjoyed it. They had lots of neat things there and real life tractors and airplanes that he could get in and pretend play. It wasn't crowded at all since we went on a tuesday afternoon, so Martin was able to run and walk without being in the stroller. After we went to the Museum we checked into a hotel with an indoor pool and took the kids swimming. This was Emily's 1st time to swim and she loved it! We went back and forth from the big pool and the hot tub and after playing, Emi was so relaxed she fell asleep in the hot tub cuddled in my arms. Martin has swam before, but this year he's actually old enough to remember it and he was having such a great time he didn't want to leave! It was quite a chore getting him back up to the room, showered and ready for bed. We rented a movie and went to bed. And of course, the Kids slept with us in the hotel's king size bed. The next morning we checked out and Dustin went to his meeting while I took the kids to the mall. That is where i got Martin his Toy Story doll collection. I had to make his first trip away from home Momentous!

Our trip!

In the pool with the kids & a Family Photo at the Science Museum

The differences between 2 kids verses 1 are great! and I mean GREAT as in A LOT! I don't have as much ONE on ONE time with Martin like I did before Emily came along. I spend a lot of time holding Emily and tending to her, making sure she feels loved. I don't like to hear her cry or feel ignored so I am usually right there. It's made her a big Momma's girl, especially with all the training trips Dustin took in her early months, she is used to sleeping with me and being rocked and of course FED by me. Meal times and bed times are completely thrown off because the kids go to bed at different times. I'm working on getting them into a more normal routine together though. The older Emily gets the easier that will be. I look forward to the next 6 months to a year to see how their love for each other with blossom and be wonderful playmates. Hopefully it will keep Martin better occupied and Emily wont want to be held as much. I love my little dears with all my heart!

My little Babies-- In Love and enjoying each other!

Emily Update

Emily is my little sweet heart! She is the best baby a Mom could ever ask for! Especially a Mom with a entergetic and curious 2 yr old boy! At 7 & 1/2 months Emily weighs between 16 & 18 lbs and is in a size 6-9 months in most things. She's still kinda short though! I just now introduced baby food to her. She doesn't care for much of it, but likes cereal and bananas the best. She is eating little things that we eat, like green peas, or bakes beans and mashed potatoes. She is probably the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. She is always full of smiles and loves to cuddle. She sleeps with us every night since she is still nursing. I have tried to lay her in her own crib a few times, but she doesn't sleep as good and wakes up a lot. I do wish Dustin and I could have the bed to ourselves once in a while, but your kids are only babies once, and its cozy to have a family bed for the time being. Emily is a total momma's girl. she usually doesn't like anyone to rock her to sleep unless its me, especially if I'm in the same room. She will literally just sit sit in Dustin's arms and cry staring at me until i pick her up. She's very hard to resist. She got her 1st 2 teeth this month, along with being on the verge of crawling! She can get up on all fours and wobble back and forth. If she wants something she can usually get it by doing what i call an army crawl which is on the belly but pulling herself forward with her hands. i'm running out of time tonight to finish up the update. i will try to post more later. Emily is my pretty pretty princess!

Martin Update

Martin hugging his JESSIE doll

Martin is a hoot! Everyday he says something that makes me laugh and think, 'My little Boy is growing up!' But there are many joys that come with the fact he is no longer a baby. He keeps me good company during the day while Dustin is at work. We talk, sing, watch movies together, snack together, and even do workouts together! Even though he is 2, he's not TOO TERRIBLE! we have some difficulty getting to go to bed in his own bed at night, and he's a picky eater. He pitches fits when he doesn't get something he wants, but for the most part he is a smart little whipper snapper! Now that it's spring he loves to play outside. we go for walks around the neighbor hood and he pedals his little tricycle with all his might up and down the hills. He's a wonderful big brother too! If Emi is crying, he is usually right there trying to give her a paci or telling her "it's okay sister!" One time I even heard him in the other room talking to her telling her "it's okay! I'm going to go get mommy!" and the next thing i knew he was running to find me telling me all about how sister was "upset".

The Boy will do just about anything for candy, but thats every 2 yr old I think! Some of his favorite things right now are: Movies! He loves TOY STORY (1,2 & 3 when it comes out next month!),BOLT, THE RESCUERS down under & Cloudy with a Chance of MEATBALLS. He likes to watch Curious George a great deal, and he's managed to get Emily addicted to it as well. Her face always lights up when she hears the theme song come on. A day doesn't go by that we don't see Curious George.

Martin has just about every toy he has ever wanted apart from his Mower. We keep telling him he can get him a mower when he QUITS pooping in his diaper and starts pooping in the TOILET. He talks about it all the time, but has yet to accomplish his great task! We go by and look at it nearly every time we go to Walmart. We're hoping that he'll get it before winter! As i mentioned earlier, Martin loves TOY STORY! His favorite toys at the moment are his character dolls we got him from disney store. He has a Woody, a Buzz, a BullsEye, & a Jessie. He loves those things, carries them EVERYWHERE and sleeps with them. Around his birthday (6 months ago) he was crazy about Mickey, he has all the stuff animals from that show as well. His favorite was GOOFY, until we broke down and bought him MINNIE, now he and Minnie are never seen without each other! My Son has a thing for GIRLS what can I say!?

Aside from his dolls, Martin loves to play with trucks and hot wheels. =D He has Many tools and screw guns that he uses to take things apart daily. Well I could go on and on about Martin cause he is full of energy, but I need to get started on Emily's update! So I will try and keep this blog better updated with stories and stuff ect. Like I said, Martin says something new everyday!

OUR NEW HOME

We bought our 1st home in March. It was so exciting to finally have a place of our OWN! To know we are no longer renting and are obtaining that American dream is amazing! Our little family is happy and growing! Our house is a 3 bedroom 1 bath. 1100 sq ft. It's super cozy! Just perfect for our little family of 4! Currently we are happy with our number of children, But I do think I will want another in a few years. Dustin is working at At&t as the store manager. It has it's likes and dislikes, but the money is good.

God Has Blessed Us Tremendously!