Emilly 8 months

8 months my big girl!  These pictures of you do such a great job to capture you these days.  It is not hard to get a smile and giggle out of you.  Though it is getting harder and harder to keep you still.  You are working oh so hard at crawling. You're getting better, but are still very uncoordinated.  I thought for sure you were going to start "real" crawling when the family was all together for Noah's birthday weekend.  Grandma even got some good pictures but you would just pull your legs up under you, get up a little, and then fall back down on your belly only to pull yourself forward with your arms some more.  Oh well, I guess if it works for you, why fight it?  You'll do it when you're ready. (Somehow I'm sure this won't be the last time I say this phrase!)

At the beginning of this month you were just starting to make some of those consonant sounds and maybe starting to show hints of babbling.  Well, by the end of the month you're really coming on strong with this.  You love to roll your lips and do raspberries making "mmbbwwa" sounds.  Overall, you're still more quiet, but it has been good to hear you really stringing sounds together on a regular basis.

You are eating and sleeping like a champ.  I have yet to find something you won't eat though we're still working on you being able to do any kind of finger foods.  You sleep well consistently at night time and most of the time for naps (though naps happen way better at home than at daycare).  You started being able to find your paci on your own in bed at night and will just grab it, put it in your mouth and go back to sleep often without even making a sound.  I like to spy on you with the monitor.  You're really cute even when you are sleeping.

I have a confession.  I have always and will always love you and your brother totally, completely, unconditionally.  But lately, we are really starting to enter one of my favorite phases.  As much as I love my tiny snuggly babies, once you are as interested and excited about the world as we are of  you--it's so much fun.  I love the leaps and bounds of learning that take place and love watching you work so hard toward something and then to see you master it.  Really you are having so much more fun that it makes things that much more fun for us.

You and Noah still adore each other.  Though now that you're on the move, he's starting to get a glimpse of what it will be like when you come after his toys.  I'm not sure he's thrilled about this part but that's part of the learning process for him too.

Keep up all the great work baby girl!  We love you bunches and bunches!

Of course, we have to end with the monthly photo shoot of brother/sister lovin'.

Noah update

Now that the whirlwind of birthday celebrations, illness, etc have slowed, it's time to reflect back on 4 year old Noah.

Oh my Noah, how you have grown this last year.  Physically you are still a big boy--44.6 lbs and 43 inches (both still in the 95th percentiles) but you've also just grown up this year.  You are a big brother now.  You are having to learn to share the spotlight with your sister. I'm sure this has really been more of an adjustment than you let on but really, most days our biggest concern is that you give her too much attention.  We can hardly give her any attention at all without you coming right up and wanting her to pay attention to you too.  You want to tell her good morning as soon as she wakes in the morning, you want her to smile and laugh at you and just want to love on her.  Now that she's starting to go for your toys, you are having some second thoughts on sharing, but really who can blame you there.  I am SO proud of how you have adapted to this big change for all of us.  I truly hope that you will always be this close with your sister.

Your never ending energy amazes and exasperates me.  You have a memory that astounds me.  This year you've become obsessed with dinosaurs.  I bet you could name 50 or more different dinosaurs.  You know which ones are meat eaters and which are plant eaters--the meat eaters are your favorites.  Your favorite dinosaur--Tarbosaurus.  Yep, before this year I never even knew that dino existed but you teach us new things all the time.  If we pronounce or misidentify a dino, you correct us.  I wouldn't be surprised if one of Emily's first words is dino related.

We've stepped up our expectations for you this past year--part of having another baby in the house and part of  wanting to begin teaching you some responsibility.  You can do lots of things independently--getting dressed, going potty, washing hands, brushing your teeth.  You've been a BIG help with Emily--bringing things to me when my hands are full, helping entertain her for a few minutes while I fix lunch, etc.  And you have your own chores you help with now too--you put up your dishes from meals, help me unload the dishwasher by putting up the silverware, and help with your laundry--you sort and put up your socks and underwear.  You do these things joyfully (most of the time) and welcome the opportunity to do things to help out.

You are also very thoughtful and considerate.  You remember things about people and want to do things that you know they will appreciate.  When we make crafts you want to do it as the right color (Grandma and Granddad like red, Daddy likes blue, I like purple), you want to buy and share things with your friends.  And you are very observant--you notice when I change my toe nail polish color and last time my hair was cut you noticed before Daddy.  These things are so sweet and will be appreciated by us and others for years to come.

You are also very smart.  You write your name and all your letters.  You know all the letter sounds and are starting to be able to sound out some words.  You can pick out some words by sight just by recognizing the first letter and party because you just have such a great memory.  We've started trying to read some BOB books and you've read 4 so far.  I'm trying to just let you lead with these things and know that as soon as you start preschool some of this learning will just take off once you are challenged a little more.

No matter how big you get, you will always be my baby boy but you are far from a baby anymore.  I love watching you grow and learn and love seeing the heart you have for others.  It's crazy to think this is our last year before you'll be heading to kindergarten--something you are VERY excited about.  I hope we make the most of it.  But no matter what, I hope you always know how very much your Daddy and I love you.  And that has nothing to do with what you do or say.  We just love you because you are you.  Always and forever--unconditionally.  But as much as we love you, know that Jesus loves you even more!

We've started reading a new book together at night (a birthday present from us this year--The Jesus Storybook Bible) that says it perfectly "God loves us with a Never Stopping, Never Giving up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love".  Know that and believe that, my son--we'll do our very best to make sure you don't ever forget it and by doing so will know we've done our best to prepare you for whatever comes.

Happy 4th Birthday, my son!  We love you!

Dino Party

After overcoming sickness and weather, we were finally ready to PARTY!  Dino style that is.  We moved all the activities inside and the men braved the weather to grill burgers.  All in all, the kids had a blast and the party was a great success--last minute chaos and all!

Thanks for braving the cold and wet to cook our yummy burgers!

Dino themed dishes

  

Activity Time!

Making fossils

Decorating bags to go on a Dino Dig

Rooaaarrr!  Dino Masks!

Little dinos attack the dads

 Noah and Jaxon "horn" each other

Dino dig time (yep--in the garage!)

Checking out what's inside their dino eggs

Emily having fun with Grandma

Dinner time

 Fun with Aunt Dayna and cousin Lydia

PRESENTS!

"Thanks Jaxon!"

Look at that smile--so happy he got Talking T-Rex

Thanking Uncle Thomas for the Talking T-Rex (So glad he finally got it!) 

After all the Talking T-Rex hype, Uncle Casey had to check it out

Cake time!!

Happy 4th Birthday Noah!

We now have a big 4 year old in our house!  Since Noah's bday fell midweek this year, he got to have a day full of celebration both on his birthday and then again later that weekend for his party.  Here's his actual bday recap.  Try to see if you can figure out the theme here...

He started the morning off with some snuggles and cartoons in bed with us followed by opening his presents.  One small hitch with the gifts--I didn't realize he really wanted this talking t-rex hotwheels track he'd mentioned just one time not too long ago.  After he opened all his gifts, many of which were dino related (that's the theme!), he had a minor meltdown crying because he didn't get talking t-rex.  Thanks to Uncle Thomas for coming to the rescue with that later at his party!  We definitely tried to use this as a life lesson for him and moved on.

We went out for donuts for breakfast, came home and enjoyed his new toys and had cupcakes in the afternoon with his best gal friends Ava and Elle.  We then went out to Chick-Fil-A for dinner that night early before Mike had to go back to church.  Minus the morning melt down I think he had a great day!

New Dino Puzzle

T-Rex fossils

Emily was happy to celebrate big brother's birthday!

Digging for T-Rex fossils

He asked for a brush to he could dig properly.

Cupcake Time!

We were thankful that Noah at least made it through his birthday before he got sick this year.  He's had a trend going for the last year.  Last year: Flu for his bday followed by a respiratory virus for Thanksgiving, an ear infection for Christmas and another virus for his bday this year!  He started running a fever late Wed night that lasted till Friday afternoon.  He didn't really feel bad but it put a kink it the party planning.  We were down to the very last minute trying to decide if his party would happen or not.  Ultimately, all the family decided to come in town and some friends were able to come (we missed a few due to Noah's potential germs plus one other family who ended up with sick kids too).  In addition to the illness factor, mother nature threw us for a curve--we'd planned a backyard cookout with kids playing on the new playscape and digging for dinos outside.  Instead we ended up with 100% chance of rain and temps in the 40's on Saturday.  Yikes!  I made some last minute changes in the activities for the kids but all the last minute planning made for a chaotic week!  As you'll see in the following party post it was a huge success in spite of the chaos.  Noah loved it and that's the best part for me.