Little Miss 8 months!

I can't believe it! Emelyn is 8 months already! She is growing up sooo fast! I couldn't imagine my life without her! She's so fun, laid back, sweet, bubbly, smart, determined... the list could go on and on! She is definitely a busy body! Diaper changes are a chore, bc she won't lay still long enough. I've put plenty of them on her while she's standing! She's been crawling for awhile now, but now she's really gotten the furniture cruisin' down! She pulls up on everything! Walls, doors, furniture, cabinets... anything! She loves to go after Reenie (poor dog) and follow Avery! She's been playing with Avery's walking toy and has started taking steps with it! :-) The other day she got her first taste of Cornbread and mac n cheese! She loved it and slept all night after that! She was so full from eating off of my plate! It was cute though! She loved playing with the cornbread, lol! She's saying "hey," "daddy," "hey daddy," "gigi," and "yaaaay!" She loves to clap and loves music and dancing! I made cookies Tuesday, and when she caught Eye-sight of the chocolate chocolate chip cookies on the cooling rack she said, "mmmm!" She's never even had chocolate OR a cookie! I guess it's in her blood, lol! :-) She has 5 or 6 (she won't let me see if the 6th broke yet, but you can see it) teeth! She's snaggle toothed right now, but it's sooo cute! I guess I need to weigh and measure her so I can write it in her baby book. Perhaps after nap, if I remember! Yesterday we went to the library to get some new books. They both love going, and the McChord library has a separate room (with doors) for the kids books! There's a little puppet theatre, computers, a comfy chair, puppets, and a cool rug to make the room complete! Avery loves to drop the "old books" into the slot. Mommy and Daddy have a lot of cleaning to do today, but we will find some time to do the rest of our Thanksgiving crafts with the girls! I can't believe November is almost over! I'm definitely going to miss being with family this year. I'm having a hard time coming to terms with it. We will be ok though. We are having Thanksgiving with our friends, they're all southern so we have the same traditions and foods! :-) Welp, guess we should get crackin on this house! Enjoy the pictures! :-)

Mount Rainier in all her Glory!

AMAZING! Look at all of that snow!

My sweet munchkin at the library!

Avery and Daddy at the library!

Reading a book!

Aaaaand she's off!

    It won't let me rotate it or make it bigger, so turn your head to the side and squint. lol!

Fun with Fingerpaint!

Since Jon was home again today, we decided to let Avery and Emelyn play with paints again! We had so much fun doing Halloween crafts, we thought we'd do Thanksgiving too! Avery had a lot of fun! She got mad when I told her it was time to "rest." (nap). Emelyn had a little fun, lol. She thinks it's funny when you are painting her hand with the brush, but she's not a fan of having her fingers held out! I have so many more ideas and inspirations for Thanksgiving crafts, and I'm itching to get started on Christmas crafts, too! (I'll wait til December, don't worry.) Avery is in a big kick of tracing things! Last night, we were playing with her kid tough magna doodle- the best thing I have EVER bought, we even use it for learning/teaching purposes! Anywho, she wanted me to trace her hand. So, I traced her hand and turned it into a turkey! I asked her what it was and she said, "that's a turkey! T for turkey!" I said, "you're very right! great job! What does a turkey say!?" She said, "oh! a turkey says, gobble gobble!" Right there was my inspiration for our first craft! :-) My 2nd craft inspiration came from pinterest. I attempted to re-create it with a twist of my own. The "original" had 1 handprint boat on grey paper with white sails, blue water, and white clouds. I didn't have any grey paper, so we had to improve a few things, lol. I also decided since Avery's hands were so small (Emelyn was ready for her nap and wouldn't have anything of it- we'll try again later), we would do 3 boats. I want to teach her about the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. The Library is closed today, so we will go tomorrow and find a book about it! :-) I think she will get it! Her memory is amazing! I have several more craft inspirations to do before Thanksgiving, but those are for another day! Alrighty, well my pics finally loaded, so I'll stop runnin my mouth! ;-) Enjoy the pics!

An example of how we use our Kid Tough Magna Doodle for teaching and learning. She did that all by herself!

These are the paints we use! They are wonderful. We got them from Target!

Avery Painting her boats.
(yes, we STILL have boxes. There is NO storage in these houses!)

Emelyn's turkey- It's hard to get her fingers painted, lol.

Avery's turkey! She did a great job! She picked out the colors herself!

The Nina, The Pinta, and The Santa Maria
FYI- Everything has to have a sun and every sun has to have eyes and a mouth!
Lil Miss OCD! <3 her anyway!

Proudly displayed on my fridge! :-)

Remember in last night's post where I said that Emelyn has the potential to be just like Avery?
Well, here she is. Doing what she loves the most! She reaches in a pulls out every coloring book
ONE by ONE!
Silly lil girl!

November Already!?

Wow! I can't believe it's November already! I've been a little lazy with updating the blog. I've been extra tired lately. Daylight Savings makes the girls get up in the 6 o'clock hour now, so that doesn't help! We've spent a lot of time around the house lately. We only have 1 car, so Jon usually has it at work. The weather has been cold and yucky, but we did have 2 great days of 60 and sunshine. We spent those at the playground with Colt and Brooke! Colt and Avery are great friends! He even gave her a kiss. (you should have seen Jon's face!) Halloween was fun! Avery was a butterfly (her favorite thing right now), and Emelyn was a ladybug. (There was one in my delivery room when I was in labor!) We went trick or treating with Brooke, Colby, and Colt! The girls had fun (despite the cold) and made out with a decent stash. We finally got the girls room "presentable." We've put up their letters and some wall hangings. I made a bow holder. Mod Podge (I've been calling it modge podge, for like, forever!) is my new best friend! I'm in love with it's "magical" powers. lol! There are still a few more things to hang, and I'd like to frame a few pics of them to put on the wall! Jon had a 4 day weekend (known as "donsa days) for Veteran's Day! We don't have any gas or dinero to do anything so we've just stayed home! Tomorrow is craft day! It's nice having him home! Avery loves having daddy around. Every time he changes clothes or puts his shoes on she says, "you going back to work daddy!?" I'm dreading the 9 months he will be spending "at work" next year. Of course, every time I get ready to leave she asks, "you going to the doctor, mommy?" Silly girl! She's definitely been a hoot and a holler lately! She loves to say her prayers. As soon as we get a new memory card, I will post a video! :-) Emelyn is a busy body! She never stops moving and is sooo curious! She has potential to be a little trouble maker like her sister! lol! She loves music and dancing! Changing her diaper and clothes proves to be a difficult task, because she refuses to lay still long enough! She cut 2 more teeth recently! She's still working on at least 2 more! She currently snaggle toothed, but it's soo cute! She looks just like my grandmama! I can't believe Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away! We're supposed to be having a get together with friends. I can't wait. I just have to grow a money tree first since we're all broke! I'm really going to miss my family. I'll be the 1st to admit I do NOT handle change very well, and I'm very tradition oriented. Yes, I know it's time to start our OWN traditions, but it's still hard. I guess I've bored yall enough! Time for some pics! :-) Miss yall!

Their bags that I made! I started this when Ave was a baby. I fold them up and stick them in their memory boxes with the year written on the back! Much better than a plastic bucket! 

Our little lady bug and our beautiful butterfly!

We forgot her paci clip, so we used a glow ring! lol!
(I can't figure out how to turn it on here!)

Move over mary-jane! Spider man has a new girl! :o)

Yes, there's a reason for that gate! Such a sweet girl!
(again, this is the "new" blogger. any idea how to turn the pic?)

Their hook thingy just inside the door. I can't take credit, I bought it!
The cross says, "for this child I have prayed."

A look into their room. I've added the bow holder to the right of the window since this pic!

An up close of Avery's awesome bedding! :-)

It's hard to see on here. There are better pics on my facebook. close up shots! The letters match her bedding, which is why I draped it over the "headboard" of the crib, so ya'll could see the inspiration!

The bow holder! I've had this paper forever and just had to use it! I thought the blue looked great against their lavendar-y wall and tied in with all of the colors in both bedding sets! :-)

 

I thought I'd go ahead and add the close-ups of the letters! :-)

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!

Keeping Me Laughing

Avery is definitely feeling better after her stay at Lebonheur- gtown! She started the day off sleeping in til 830! woohoo! Once she got up she was a little clingy, but she had been in a little coughing fit. We went through our little unset alarm, let dogs out, and get a drink routine. She desperately wanted a "pep-taht," which we didn't have so I gave her a nutrigrain bar. She didn't really eat it and wanted my cinnamon roll which I unsuccessfully tried to hide under my blanket, lol! She's not supposed to have them (egg) so I'm glad she only ate about 3 small bites. We watched Cedarmont's Action Bible Songs twice before deciding to run to Target for TP. (what I was going to do on Sunday!) Much to my surprise, she was REALLY good at Target. She always starts out fine but gets restless. She, instead, just started talking about everything she saw! I think she was just glad to be out! I decided to go through Wendy's because I knew she loved nuggets and theirs are a better quality than Mc D's. We got home and she ate all 4 of her nuggets! (accompanied by ketchup, of course) Even after being offered fries, she still picked the nuggets! so proud of her! At the hospital all we could get down her was yogurt. She's a normally picky/finicky eater anyway, but she wouldn't even eat the normal stuff. So glad to see she's getting her little appetite back!

We worked on daddy's valentines present before I realized it was almost 2 and she was about to fall out! I put her down for a nap and went back to working on the part I had to do on it! After her nap we worked on it some more, watched cedarmont a 100 more times, and had some totino's for dinner. (so nutritious, I know!) Watched Idol and put her to bed. Somewhere in there I did some laundry and she had 2 things of GoGurt- asking for more! Now for all the things she does that keeps me laughing! Where to start...

We'll start with something sweet:
She was real lovey this morning and was all about her baby doll for most of the day. Earlier, she was playing with her baby- talking to her, patting her back, giving her a bottle... it was cute! I looked over and she was sitting in the floor with a diaper. She lifted the baby's shirt, opened the diaper, and started telling baby about "melmo" who was on this particular diaper. She attempted to put the diaper on, then took it off, wadded it up and threw it in the trash! I just thought that was the cutest thing ever! She's going to be a good helper and sooo sweet! *hopefully!*

Trying to pull one over:
I was sitting on the couch and wild child was running around trying to keep herself awake. I saw her head towards the end table where my 1/2 full dr. pepper can was sitting. I knew her motive and immediately said "ah, ah, ah!" In a split second she grabbed something else sitting on the table and looked at me with that "I wasn't doin anything but gettin this thing right here" look! She and I had a stare-down for what seemed like a good 2 mins, ending with me saying "you better not!" The second I turned my head I saw her drop what she had and grab the can! I knew she was going to do it and met her hands before she lifted it off the table! I wrangle it back and fuss at her for not listening. Needless to say miss smarty pants (putting it nicely), starts picking everything up off the table she can saying "ah, ah, ah!" with everything she picks up- all while smiling at me. This was one of those turn your head, grind your teeth, and fight a smile moments!

Little Miss Problem Solver:
Avery was given some mylar balloons while in the hospital. 2 blue stars and a get well balloon! She just HAD to play with them tonight. (they kept her busy in the hospital) They were tied to a giftbag so they didn't venture up into no-man's land (vaulted ceiling). I get them untied and tried explaining to her to keep them in a certain part of the room so we can still reach them! Yeah, well... ya'll know where this is going! Up, up, and away goes a star! while they're all on amazingly long strings, I just couldn't reach it. I even showed her I couldn't- hoping she'd be content with just 2- of course not, lol. I picked up the grabber (yeah, hush... I'm preggo and tired of bending to pick up toys) and reached and jumped and stood on the couch... still couldn't get it! So, i run to the kitchen to look for something to help! When I come back in she is standing in one of her wooden toddler chairs with the grabber, reaching up! She saw me come in with the camera and started laughing. She hands me the grabber and points up. I said, "baby, mommy can't reach it" she looks at me says "mommy!" smacks the chair and points to the balloon! Yeah, well mommy ain't exactly lightweight so.... that didn't happen. I am happy to announce I was able to reach it by standing in the rockin chair with the grabber! Go ahead and fuss, but mom already got on to me for doing it! :-)

Ok, last one... though there are plenty from today...

Princess Perfectionist:
While in the hospital, Avery slept in a regular bed. I put the guardrails up and slept with her, just in case. She sorta slept on the pillow in the bed, but only while I was in it with her bc she couldn't lay sideways with my big ole caboose in there. She always sleeps sideways, I'm sure if I go up there now, that's exactly where she is. silly girl! Anyway, sooo I thought I'd be nice and put a pillow in her crib! I washed her sheets, bear, and blanket and put a fresh case on my older pillow bc it wasn't as fluffy and "suffocating" as a new one. we finished our book, said our night nights and kisses and I laid her down. Waiting for her reaction... her eyes bugged out her head and she said "no no no no no..." yanking on it til I took it out! I set it aside, she grabs her bear and rolls over to go to sleep! Now, what kind of person would rather sleep without a pillow!? Silly girl! Mom says she's a perfectionist. (OCD is the clinical term, lol.) She just likes things a certain way and has to have it THAT way. She's a mess, for sure!
Oh- during story time, we were reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear and when we got to the blue horse she said "oh! he has a tail!" ... and from then on out she pointed out the tail of every animal to the end! goober head!

Ok, I'll shut up and attach some pics now... just have to upload them first! :-)

Well my pics don't want to load, soooo one more!

Good Hygiene:
I hadda go to the bathroom and of course, I can't go alone. Avery busts in there and climbs up to the sink. I turn the water on so she can wash her hands in the meantime. She asks for soap, so I put a little on her hands. Next thing I know she's washing her face with the handsoap! I started laughing and made sure she knew it wasn't going to taste very good if it hits her mouth. Sooo... she proceeds to rub it in her hair! She was havin a blast with her mini-bath! Dial doesn't come out nearly as easy as shampoo! But, at least that patch of hair smells good! Why is it that it's ok for HER to soap and wash her hair, but if *I* do it, it sounds like I'm drowning her! silly girl! She thought it was funny that it made her hair stick up, lol.

Now that you're bored and probably quit reading. I'm gonna shut my mouth! Maybe it will eventually let me post my pics! :-)