Enjoying October

It's been a few minutes since I updated last. These girls wear me out!

Emelyn is 7 mos old now and is crawling full force. She's into everything! Turns out she's been playing innocent for the last 7 months. lol. We thought she was going to be the chill, sweet child. She's still sweet and laid back, but sooo busy! She won't hardly sit still! Diaper changes are a challenge! She gets away butt naked a lot. She is about 18lbs 8oz. She's a chunk, but a cute chunky- not michelin chunky. Avery was so tiny, but of course- she threw everything up as soon as it went down! Emelyn is also pulling up on anything and everything she can get her hands on! She's working on about 6 teeth at once. She's had 2 forever!

Avery is fully potty trained now as long as she is awake! yaaaaay! She's doing great! She has been mentally ready since she was about 16 mos and has gone potty since then. However, she had a little issue with her bladder itself, so we had to wait for it to mature completely. As far as we can tell she's good now. She just goes every 5 mins. lol. We've also ditched her paci except for nap and night night. wooo! She's doing great! She usually hands it over without me asking for it! She won't go to bed without it though- we've tried. baby steps!

Jon had training for a few days last week. He got to put in 2 IV's and scrub in to watch 1 of the 3 surgeries his unit did in the field. (a.k.a. madigan's back yard). He liked being able to experience it first hand. I asked if he'd ever want to be a surgeon and he quickly replied "nuh uh!" I agree- his hands aren't steady enough. He should stick to the medic/therapy route. :-)

We've been busy doing some crafts in our house! Even Emelyn gets to join in! Jon had a 1/2 day Thursday and was off Fri-Sun. We got a little spoiled having him around for some fun! We painted and played play-doh. Jon and I gutted our pumpkins- which the deer think is are a buffet- but we haven't carved them yet! Maybe today when he gets home! I will post pics when we get them done- deer teeth and all. I can't believe Halloween is next week! Well I'm off! Here are some pics of our art and lil miss stinker pulling up! :-)

Avery's spider! Black paint on orange paper!

Emelyn's spider! She thought me painting her hand was funny!

Painting her pumpkin with Daddy! It's scented!
I forgot to take pics of their finished pumpkins!

Jon's turtle and pig- made of play-doh. He had a lot of fun! lol!

Emelyn pulled up in her crib after her morning nap!
She was so proud of herself! :-)

My lil punkins! They liked riding in the wheel barrow!

The cutest lil punkin in the patch!
this oughta be great for her wedding album
in 25-30 years! :-)

Don't Blink!

Man, time sure flies! I thought the first year went fast with Avery, but it is going even faster with Emelyn. My goodness. This week has definitely been full of milestones!

Avery is now almost completely potty trained! She still wears a pull-up at night and for naps, but she's doing GREAT during the day. She usually takes herself without me having to remind her! She's been going in the potty for awhile, but was having control issues b/c her bladder wasn't emptying all the way. She seems better now! :-) She's also been on a paci detox. She is only allowed to have it when she's sleeping and is doing pretty well with not asking for it during the day. She managed to have one hidden in her carseat, but she forked it over before we went into the store. I don't mind her having it at night, but she talks so well she looks silly with one in her mouth during the day!

Emelyn is doing everything in 1 week! She's crawling, pulling up, and clapping! She's also cutting 3 or 4 (hard to tell without getting bitten) more teeth! She bites--- and she bites HARD. lol. She has a fascination with toes, lol. She is driven and knows what she wants. She will go out of her way to get into Avery's stuff! Usually puzzle pieces or crayons. :-\

We've kept a friends little boy from 12p to 1130p the last 2 days. His daddy is away at training and mommy is a nurse. Wyatt is 5 mos. I think Jon's enjoying having another male in the house! He keeps telling me that if we have a 3rd child it will be a boy and he "knows that for a fact." Goober.

We're going to try to hit the pumpkin patch tomorrow and maybe zooboo tomorrow night at point defiance. Maybe I will be able to upload some pics on here! I'm not very good at it, lol. I'm going to try to upload a video- wish me luck. lol!

here's Emelyn standing! I was doing laundry and turned around to see this!

say cheese! Avery taking pictures... or so she thinks! That's our old camera! :o)

Mmmm... emelyn's first carrot! She's teething so we decided to let her gnaw on it! She loooooved it! Don't worry, we took it before she started biting pieces off!

Ok... the video doesn't want to upload. It was hilarious! I tried for like 2 hours and it's still not up! :-( Oh well, I'll try again later! :o)

as of late...

Wow yall!
It's definitely been awhile! A lot has happened since February! Jon graduated basic and ait. We had a baby March 19th (miss Emelyn Claire). Avery turned 2 June 12th. We moved to Washington June 28th- after a 4 day drive. We spent a month in a hotel (ugh!) and are now slowly getting settled and unpacked in our "new" home. We live on McChord AFB, even though we are Army. It is technically called "Joint Base Lewis-McChord." We like it over here! It's pretty quiet. We see lots of wildlife on a daily basis! I'm not just talking geese and squirrels either. We have brown tail deer everywhere. They walk around like humans taking a stroll through the neighborhood. They're not really scared of people either. It takes them awhile to finally decide to run away. I've seen coyotes too. I read in our newsletter today that we also have bears and panthers walking around in the woods. *weird fact-- the anthills on post are protected by the state of washington. it's actually an offense to knock them down or destroy them! They're massive! I need to take a pic.* Washington is definitely a change. We're getting used to it a little, but it's not easy.

Jon's been assigned to the FST here. It's a "forward surgical team." They are a detachment of the CSH unit (combat support hospital), which is a detachment of the medical brigade. Basically he is part of the team that stabilizes the injured soldiers so they can be transported to the big hospitals. He's still looking into being a physical therapist, though!

Avery- she is growing up sooo fast! Everyday she says something that just amazes me. She's funny, outgoing, a huge helper, extremely bright, and a great big sis--- most of the time! hey, we all have our sibling rivalry moments! Her vocabulary is AMAZING! She also knows her alphabet, numbers, colors, animals, sounds, directions (up, down, left, right, inside, outside, over, under, front, back, etc). She can identify the letters that words start with, too! Right now we're working on spelling and writing. She can write a few of her letters. She asks me almost daily to go to school. Unfortunately, early education isn't as important up here. It's very hard to find a school that accepts 2 yr olds. We're trying! We are probably going to put her back in gymnastics so she can have some interaction with other kids until we can get her into a school! She has her "stinker" moments, but she is an awesome kid! never a dull moment with her!

Emelyn is 6 months already! I can't believe it! She says, "hey! daddy (da da deee) and she said "hey gigi." It was pretty funny! I was on skype with mom and dad- we all kinda looked at each other with that "did u hear that!?" look! She kinda waves when she wants to and adores her big sister! she also really likes reenie! She lets reenie like her face, yuck! She's the best baby. Really laid back for the most part. She already has 2 bottom teeth and is working on a few more- so she's a little grouchy right now. She still smiles and laughs all the time! She's almost crawling! She rolls, scoots, and lunges to get where she wants to go! She's so funny! :-)

Well, I guess that's the jist of the update. I will try to keep this thing up much better than before. These girls are exhausting! Avery never stops moving- she loves singing, dancing, and playing outside. Emelyn is moving around now and finds everything she can to put in her mouth! I'm worn out! I love them though and couldn't imagine life without them! <3 I will try to get some pics up here! Good night yall!