19 weeks!

Little Miss Emery turned 19 weeks today!!!

She is really playing with toys these days! It is so cute to see how interested she gets in things. She actually pulled the little bone on the doggie this week and made it play music! I kind of teared up because I remember the first time Max did that too! I know I know I am emotional fruitcake! LOL

Hanging out with brother watching the Backyardiagans Basketball episode (of course it would involve basketball...ha!) Don't they just look precious!

The official 19 week chair pic! I have not been very good at the every week this time around. Makes me sad! You don't realize how much time you have when you just have one! I try really hard to not have more for Max than I do Emery but it just works that way some weeks...:(

Miss Emery smiling at her baby Stella! Look at that good eye contact!! Makes a mommy so happy!

Well, I can finally say I think things are getting better around here. We still have "bad" days but I think every mother has those no matter how good/bad their kids are. I feel like I am finally figuring out how to juggle two and keep two happy for the most part. Of course this all helps now that Emery seems to have more "happy" times than "fussy" times and that Max has adjusted well to having a baby sister! Just taking it a day at a time......

John 3:16

Here is Max saying John 3:16! We are so proud of our lil guy! I can't take any credit for him learning this as he learned it at his previous school First Assembly but we have been saying it every night before bed. Now we are teaching him other verses! He has such a GREAT memory! Oh and by the way excuse his disheveled look....I had not wiped his mouth after his snack or combed his hair yet and this was shot in the afternoon....don't worry we don't get out much....LOL....

Emery Updates!!

What a week this has been!!! On Tuesday we had a checkup with the pediatric eye doc Dr. Byrd and we got nothing but RAVE reviews!!! Miss Emery is right on track with her eye development now and of course everyone in the office was just goo goo over her! They all wanted to talk to her and see her just grin and grin at them! Sometimes she just looks so darn sweet and innocent.....

On Wednesday we had her dreaded 4 month checkup with Dr. Christian! Doc said she looks great! She couldn't believe how much of a change she could see in Emery in just 4 weeks! Made me so proud...even though I had nothing to do with it...LOL

Anyways....so here are her 4 month stats
She is a whooping 15lbs!!! That is in the 75th percentile
and 24 1/2 inches which is in the 50th percentile. I told you guys she was a little chunk! At least she is an adorable one though!!! Notice the pic above...this girl HATES her bows!! She is ALWAYS pulling them down!! Too funny because I didn't like bows when I was little either....or so my momma says....

Miss Emery LOVES LOVES LOVES her fingers!

We had quite a rough night after the shots kicked in! Poor baby's leg swelled up again and she would just cry this pitiful little cry and not move it! I ended up holding her most of the night while she slept in my arms. She also ran a low grade temp again! Those shots just do her in! I think I am going to see if we can split them up a little more next time. I hate to see her in such pain :(

Oh on a better note we have gotten her on a better schedule! She is eating 4 6oz bottles a day now! The timing varies a little each day except for her nighttime bottle at 8:30! It feels like we may be getting a little more normalcy around here very soon!! God is so GOOD!!!

4 months!

Little Miss Emery turned 4 months two days after Christmas!!!

She is getting to be such a little chunky thing!! I just love those cheeks!! Not sure on her weight and length but we go for our 4 month checkup soon so I will update on her stats then.

We are finally getting some kind of schedule....at least at night anyways. She is eating about 5 times a day 5-5 1/2 oz. She usually wakes for the first bottle about 6 and then goes back to sleep till about 8. She takes a morning nap for only about 3o min and that varies when she takes it. In the afternoon she takes a long nap for at least an hour or more. At night she usually tries to sneak in a 30 min nap too. We are giving her night bottle about 8:30 or 9 and then putting her to bed. She has done very well with soothing herself to sleep! We are so PROUD of her!!! Now if she could just soothe herself back to sleep when she wakes during the night we will be doing good! She has slept through the night from 9pm to 7am a few times but of course I was working so I haven't gotten that wonderful full night of sleep just yet :( hopefully soon though!!

Emery is LOVING her rainforest bouncer!! She just LOVES to bounce!!

Other things she likes lately is playing patty cake (she just laughs and cackles when you do this), singing to her, playing peek-a-boo, her playmat, her swing, and of course she still loves to be held!

Oh and she is LOVING her new toy bar for her carseat!

She has gotten so much STRONGER lately. She has great neck control and she is actually able to do lots of supported sitting! She has been rolling over from her belly to her back for quite some time now but now I know she has rolled a few times from her back to her belly. I have come back in the room to find her on her belly after laying her on her back. Now if I can just SEE her do it :)

She is really PLAYING with toys so much more these days! I just love watching how interested she gets in some of her toys already! I think her FAVORITE thing to watch is her brother! She will follow him ALL around the room and smile, smile, smile at him! It really is just precious to see how much she ADORES him!

She seems to still have FUSSY periods but for the most part if you play with her or hold her she is pretty happy! She is just so different from Max as a baby because she wants you close to her ALL the time and doesn't want to be left alone. I truly think it is so amazing how you can have 2 kids from the same two people and they can be so completely DIFFERENT!!

She is really getting to be so much FUN these days! We all LOVE that we can make her smile or laugh so easily! She is very very ticklish! Even though things have been quite the challenge with her I could not imagine my life without her! Emery truly completes our family!! We are so BLESSED to have her!!

Two and a HALF!!!

Max turned 2 and a half the day after Christmas!! I honestly CANNOT believe that my baby boy is already 2 and a half! I mean seriously where has the time gone....

His stats: Weighing in at 31lbs and about 37inchs! He is over 3ft!!

Wearing 2T in most clothes

Wearing a size 5 diaper (hopefully not for much longer....)

Wears a size 9 shoe

His 2 year molars are finally coming in. They don't seem to bother him too much but they look pretty painful to me!

It really seems like he has grown up a lot in these last few months! Max can pretty much carry on a conversation with you. He LOVES to talk and does ALL the time!! Some of our favorite phrases lately are "Oh my GOODNESS", "Nah", "You wanna play wif me?", and of course "I love you, mommy!" He can't say the "f"sound so anything that starts with a "f" sounds like "p" sound. It cracks me up when he says feet because he says "peet" and fruitcup is "pootcup"....ha ha!

Max has really adjusted well to Emery at this point so he is back to being just his sweet lil ole self! I mean don't get me wrong we have our moments a few times a day but for the most part he is such a good little boy! We are truly blessed!!! He really loves "his baby sister" and asks about her as soon as he gets up each morning. I think it is so sweet that he cares about her so much! He is quick to let everyone know that she is "his baby!"

Likes: Basketball.....basketball....oh and basketball

Dislikes: THE DARK!!! Max will not walk into a dark room he will come and get me and say "It's not scary, momma" (which means I am scared and he wants me to turn on the light). His new thing lately though is he is scared of the hinge on his closet door (yes I said hinge) I am not sure why but he will point to it almost every night and say "the hinge, the hinge, it's gonna get me". So we have resorted to leaving his lamp on in his room otherwise he is crying and calling for us to come in his room and show him the that the hinge isn't going to get him. Such a silly boy with a BIG imagination!!!

As for foods Max is still a very PICKY eater. He still loves breakfast foods, fruits, pasta salad (aka noodles), spaghetti, cucumbers, carrots, and his new favorite, CANDY! I think Max would live on candy if I let him but then again what kid wouldn't...right?!

His favorite drinks are milk, sprite, tea, and water. He has really gotten obsessed with "his milk" lately as he sees Emery getting her "milk" all day!

He still loves to sing and read! I think his favorite songs right now are Jingle Bells (I am pretty sure we listened to this song about 1000 times during the month of December and he is still asking to listen to it...ha!), Hot Potato (the wiggles), Fruit Salad (the wiggles), Jesus Loves Me, ABCs, and If Your Happy and You Know It!

Max has memorized his first Bible Verse and can say it very well! John 3:16. I will have to video him saying it! It is so cute!

Max is our sweet little boy that is ALL BOY!! We have been having such a great time with him over the holidays this year! We look forward to so many more special memories and FUN times with him! We are so BLESSED!!!

Max's First Movie!

Since Craig was off work this week we decided to try and take Max to his first movie! It was a HIT! Max had a GREAT time! He was so good! Of course it helped that the movie was AWESOME! I think Craig and I enjoyed it as much or more than Max!! Ha!

We purchased the large combo of popcorn and drink for a mere $9.50! Crazy that a drink and popcorn can cost that much money!!!

Max LOVED being able to hold the bucket!

He thought it was just too funny that he could just lean over and eat out of it!

We had some much needed Mommy, Daddy, and Max time! Miss Emery was hanging out with Gmother! Can't wait to do this again!!!

Emery's FIRST Cereal!

This past Wednesday I thought we should try out cereal with Miss Emery!!! I only thought we should try because that girl can EAT!!! She has also been watching us eat so I thought she was ready.....

Well....she didn't really eat any of it....

Don't you just LOVE the pic below! Her smile just MELTS my heart!!!

She kept playing with it and spitting it out! Ha!

We shall try again in a few weeks.....

Christmas Morning!

Christmas Morning at our house!!! Look who stopped by and ate almost ALL of his cookies Max made him!!!

Here is Miss Emery's loot from Santa!

I know ALL of you can guess this is Max's loot!!! Basketballs, basketballs, and more basketballs!!

Our tree with all of our gifts!!

Max didn't want to get up....I actually ended up waking him at almost 9:30 because my parents, my brother and Darren, and Craig's parents were all at my house waiting to see Max with his Santa gifts!

Max was OH SO EXCITED about all his basketball toys Santa left him! He especially LOVED all the "baby" hoops and "baby" basketballs!

Max just had to show sister his "baby" hoop and Emery actually seemed a little interested! Ha! I love how she is really watching Max all the time! I think she is already so in love with her big brother!

This pic cracks me up because I told Max to look at me...how funny is his expression!! Too funny! Check out what Max got in his stocking!! FUN FUN!

Emery got a lot of stuff she needed this year!!

After doing Santa we ate breakfast with the fam! I made the traditional monkey bread but with a new easier recipe this year I found on Pioneer Woman's Blog! It was SO YUMMY!!! Check it out below!! We also had some delicious breakfast casserole that my mom made!

Emery chilling in the swing while everyone was eating!!!

My dad (aka Pawpaw) hanging out on the couch with his two youngest babies Baxter and Tiffany! Talk about some SPOILED puppies!!!

It didn't take Max long to start playing with all his toys from Santa! Max and Gdaddy shooting some hoops!

OH NO YOU DIDN'T!!! Ha! I know my brother totally thought this picture would NOT end up on the blog but he thought WRONG!! Love you brother...but that is what you get for being silly every time I take pictures!!!

My mom (aka Nana) hanging with the puppies!

Gmother feeding Miss Emery her bottle!

We usually wait and do our family gifts after everyone leaves but this year we just told them to stay. Craig's parents had to head out to go and see the other grandbabies but my parents, brother and Darren stayed. My mom mainly wanted to see my BIG gift this year which turned out to be the Wii and Wii fit board! Yea!! So much FUN!! I was very surprised! Craig did such a great job with all my Christmas gifts this year!!!

Max was ALL about the presents this year! He was ripping right through them one after another! He even wanted to open all of our presents too!!

I just love this little puppy bank above! It barks and wags its ears every time you put money in it! I think Baxter thought it was a real dog because he was so interested in it too!! LOL

Little Miss Emery got her FIRST babydoll from her Mommy and Daddy! I just love it! It is super cute and so soft and cuddly!

Yea for puzzles!!! Max LOVES doing puzzles and boy was it time for some NEW ones!

Max helped open Emery's gifts but he wasn't too interested in them once he realized they were clothes! Ha!

Emery and her FIRST purse from Mommy and Daddy!

Max helping Daddy! He couldn't open the box and he kept saying "Oh...it's too hard...."

Craig opening his scarf and gloves from us...Max kept saying "Oh so pretty, Daddy!" This boy just keeps us laughing!

The chaos of opening gifts! I LOVE it! This is really the ONLY time you will see my house this messy!

We had to get a family pic in the midst of all the chaos! It was nice having my family there to document our Christmas for us! Thanks Mom, Dad, brother, and Darren! We love you guys and were so glad to share this special day with all of you!

Notice that we have basketballs in our family pic with us!! LOL

What a cute pair! I just LOVE these two babies!!!

Max and Daddy trying out his new hoop!

Here are pics of what we all got each other....first up Emery!

And of course Max....(wonder what gives it away in this pic...)

Mommy's goodies....

And lastly, Daddy's goodies! You can't see it but his big gift was a gift certificate to Fleet Feet so he could go and run on the treadmill and find the perfect running shoes! Craig was super excited about it! I love being able to SURPRISE him!!!

We had such a WONDERFUL Christmas morning spending time together as a family! It just seemed to be a whirlwind and go so FAST though! Sometimes I wish we had a SLOW button we could push just so that we could enjoy fun days like this a little bit longer!!