6 Months

Wow, in some ways yes, 6 months.  In others, it's more like wait, 6 months?!?!  Sweet boy, you are the period to our family.  The person that was missing.  We ADORE you.  You bring so much joy to our family.  Your sister is your fiercest protector.  She loves to help me pacify you and will be the first to run in your room after a nap to say "I'm here Easton, I'm here!"  We are so blessed to call you ours.  We hope you feel the same.

A few 6 month facts:

• Eating 6 ounces every 3 hours.  Sometimes less, sometimes less than 3 hours...but mostly that.
• Sleeping so well!  Once I write that, you'll for sure be up 6 times tonight.  Sleep training you was the best thing we did and the best gift we've given you to help get the rest you so need.
• First food: on the morning you turned six months you ate avocadoes.  Your reaction was pretty stellar compared to your sister's back in her time.  Momma's going to be more persistent in making you give each food a chance.  I'm holding off on the sweet stuff this time, because let's face it-we know you'll love those.  Up next: peas, green beans, and sweet potatoes.  
• First tooth!  You cut your first bottom tooth on the day you turned 6 months!  The past few days had been rough and only tylenol helped.  Your doctor said you had about 3-4 more days before it popped out this morning at your 6 month well check, but you had your own plan.  You woke up SCREAMING from your afternoon nap and sure enough, it was poking out.  You sure know how to mark a milestone!  There is one more right next to this one that is next...any day now.  I sure hope you have some relief once they break through and that every other one doesn't bother you as much as these have.
• Haircuts: you've had 3!  Today on the day you turned 6 months, daddy gave you another one!  Daddy is even going to invest in some clippers that can do the job better.  You have lots of hair big guy!
• Personality: you're much quieter than your sister for the most part...but you get sing-songy when we least expect it and you will just coo and ahhh and babble for minutes at a time.  You smile ALL THE TIME which we love.  You can even smile AND fuss at the exact same time.  That's talent.
• You're close to sitting up on your own...but more tummy time and practice for sure.
• We had to raise the activity center up a notch...you're getting so tall! Every day you become more engaged in holding, grabbing, chewing, and spinning the things that go around on the center.

You are the most perfect boy for us that ever was.  Each day you show us more of who you are and we are in LOVE.  Thank you God for the deepest blessing!

I have to remember...

To let go and let my children take the lead sometimes.  This lesson was so evident this afternoon.  I was looking back at pictures Tony took of Emerson and I dying eggs.  I remember her frustration in the moment-she wanted to use the beater to spread the food coloring around in the shaving cream before dying the eggs.  I hesitated to let her do it because I was afraid it wouldn't turn out "right."  Looking back at the pictures before I gave in, she was just watching-no fun, just watching.  When I gave in and gave her the reins to take the lead and explore, she lit up.  I never would have really seen the difference had the camera not been there.  Lesson learned...

Things I Don't Want to Forget

Life with two littles leaves little down time (duh, goes without saying).  Right now, I try to keep my phone with me at all times to capture all the memories that happen day to day.  Lots of times we make it to the end of the day and I look back at my pictures and remember all the little things to tell Tony about or just smile and let out a deep sigh.  I'm learning how to use my big camera, but the two of us don't have an intimate relationship yet that I can count on to help me get that shot.  Here are some things I don't want to ever forget.

 The way she looks with her hair all piled up on her head at the end of a busy day.

 Her love of art and her brother.  She will bring it all to him to be near to him and help me keep him content while I get dinner on the table.  He's fascinated by her!

 Chalk dust on face, red cheeks from playing outside, and a band-aid for a scrape, all while coloring in the car on the way home from a day at Grandma's.  To  me-this is the perfect picture of her childhood.  Reminds me of me when I was little.

 Simple happiness sliding on a sunny day with her bug catcher in her hand (empty playdoh container).  I love her imagination!

 I want those daddy!  Her love of flowers and her father.  They are quite the pair.

 The two men in my life.  I'm so blessed that he will have such a strong male role model as his rock.

 Spring mornings in the wheelbarrow following daddy along in search of the perfect native flowers for our gardens.

 First trip to Whole Foods downtown with Easton.  My little troopers!

 This describes her love for him.  So happy to part with prized flowers found along the way of her day to give to her daddy.

Her love of ice cream and SPRINKLES!

Easton's first time in the swing.  His sister was so excited to share this moment with him.  

 All dressed up and her love to stay home.

 Caught this only because I had my phone and they were so engrossed in each other.  I never want to forget that delicate balance of bath time/dinner time/quiet play time at the end of a work day as we wait for daddy to come home.  She began this ritual of running to him to be with him and soothe his sometimes fussiness after being wrapped up in a towel fresh from the bath.  This time I caught it, but I've been lucky enough that it's a routine in our home.

 Such a solid daddy and the best guys around. Our Spring Friday night ritual.

 My hardworking gardener in his zone.  

I never want to forget how she can do art for hours at this age.  "Mommy will you color with me?" is a phrase heard often around here.  This was her drawing of the ferris wheel she rode two weeks ago.  Pretty darn accurate for a three year old if you ask me.

Life is busy, filled with day-to-day moments and routines, but together they are the sum of our lives.  I never want to forget those fleeting "normals" because I was too busy to stop and take it in and document it.

She's 3, He's here, and Life is really good!

In 2013 life really changed for our family.  We sold our first home (after several near sells!), moved in with my mom and grandma, found out I was pregnant with #2, began building our next home, started my seventh year of teaching, Tony went back to the company that hired him out of college, Emmy started preschool, moved into our new home, welcomed our sweet boy into the world, left the world of diapers for E, and adjusted to life as a family of four.  Whew...exhausted just thinking about all the change.

There were many moments where I doubted our choices...doubted myself...doubted our plan...doubted HIS plan...but we made it to the other side smiling.  Life is in a great place right now and I'm striving to find the beauty in each day.  It's not always calm, not always pretty, and not always easy..at all.  But it's always worth it. 2014 brought a chance for me to test my strength as a momma of two. We decided I will stay home after this school year.  These people are my world.  And it's a beautiful one at that.

So Many Updates!

First and foremost: we're having a sweet baby boy! Due in October, we're so excited and blessed! Emerson is very excited to be a big sister. I'll thank Max and Ruby for the help on that one. ;)

Next: we sold our first home. It was our dream home when we first got married and was filled with lots of wonderful memories and firsts, but it wasn't the best fit for our family. We put it on the market in October and after three near-sells we finally sold it to a family from Florida. We signed a contract to build our family friendly dream home that should be finished by the end of the summer. Just in time for nesting, a new addition, and the holidays!

This little girl is getting so big! She will always be my baby, but this baby is growing into a sharp little girl. Her vocabulary and imagination blow us away. At 2 1/2 she is speaking in complex sentences, able to recognize nearly her entire capital alphabet, lots of the lowercase ones, and knows most numbers to ten. This is just for my own memory purposes when #2 comes around. I'm not expecting this to happen quite so early with Easton, I just want to be able to remember when Emmy hit those milestones. I read back on my blog for the other milestones that I was able to include on here to jog my memory.

This wonderful man took a job back at the design firm that hired him out of college. He loved the job he was at, and wasn't looking to leave, but The Lord heard our most recent prayers and goals and an amazing opportunity presented itself that he couldn't pass up both professionally and for our family. I'm so incredibly proud of his skill, determination, and professional reputation. He is a solid man that's for sure.

More to come later!

Our Baby's TWO!

As I sit here to write this, I'm pretty emotional just typing the number two.  I'm not the best (ok, not great at all) about keeping up with this blog, but I love visiting it every now and then and just reminiscing on the memories that have come and gone with our sweet little one.  Life is definitely much different than when I first started this blog, but in such a true and fun way.  Gone are the carefree posts about wedding showers or the neighbor's houses being built behind us.  Our sweet girl takes precedent.  So because it may be a while before I post again, I just wanted to refresh my soon to be fuzzy memory of what our sweet girl means to us.

Emerson, you're sweet smile and perfect, hearty laugh makes our world go around.  It feels like every morning that we go in to say good morning, you are picking up new words, reminding us of things that we're certain happened far too long ago for your little memory to hold onto, and just blowing us away with your thoughts.  Your daddy and I love to watch you listen to stories both in books and verbally told, because we watch that expression change as you take in every twist and turn.  You absolutely ADORE books and that's great, because your mommy was and is (although different books now!) quite the bookworm.  I hope you hold onto this love of reading because you can be taken to many new worlds and perspectives without ever leaving your cozy bed or couch, which you love to read in.

Right now you are every bit of a two year old.  You love the outdoors, running (and you love to say "I run away mommy!" as you take off down the sidewalk squealing for us to chase after you), jumping, streaking (yep, just like momma!), and all things daddy.  It melts my heart to see your relationship with your daddy because I always longed for one like that.  He treasures you and you do the same with him and I'm so thrilled God picked such a wonderful man for your first love.  What a blessing, sweet girl.

You're gentle, yet sassy.  No one's claiming you're perfectly girly.  You picked the maroon boy bike to ask Santa for-even after multiple trips to look at them over multiple weeks this November.  You prefer shorts and sweats to skirts because let's face it-it's much easier to climb up stairs and chase a soccer ball in the first two than the latter.  You don't like your hair being brushed and you're a true booger to brush your teeth.  We're still working on the potty training-you do great when things are pretty normal, but on days when friends are in town or a holiday-forgetaboutit! :)  You throw a mean baseball and wow, your coordination at soccer is incredible.  Since you're our first born-we're not suite sure if that's normal, but wow do we try to hone it and praise you.  You love to shout "Go Emmy!" as you race to the soccer net.  We try not to beam too much, but definitely chuckle.  You have a heart of gold for others, including characters in the books we read.  For the longest time, we couldn't read The Rainbow Fish because you would bawl your eyes out when all the fish left the Rainbow Fish alone because he wouldn't share.  I think the bath book version spent a few weeks hiding out under the bathroom sink. ;)  We include your prayers of thanks nightly in our prayers and you astonish us at what you want to tell God that you're thankful for.  You love like crazy, but don't get us wrong-you're full of attitude at times we wish you'd refrain. You've given daddy a dirty look or two, but that strong willed and patient man looks you dead in the eye through it all and won't give in.  For your sake, I'm so glad he doesn't.

Food-your favorite things are Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets (you ask for these specifically), grapes, spaghetti, beef stroganoff (who'da thought?), pancakes, oatmeal, hamburgers, daddy's grilled cheese, and high end fish sticks (yep-pure bred).  Still no juices and that's going to last as long as mommy has a say.  You're drinking 1% milk since about October and you love it.

Sleep.  Oh sweet, sweet, sleep.  Some nights it's a four letter word around here.  You have inherited your mommy's dreadful night terrors, so some nights we wake up in fear of the worst.  We're down to about a 1.5 hour nap, although many a day it's shorter.  Mommy sure misses those many a day naps...

2012 brought us your aunt and uncle's wedding which you were a flower girl in, our first trip to Sea World, trips to the Abilene, Fort Worth, Dallas, and Austin Zoos which you loved, our first trip to the Grapevine Sea Life Aquarium and Southlake, Dallas Children's Aquarium, our brief visit to the State Fair, trip to the Dallas Arboretum, weekend getaway with our wonderful neighbors to the JW Marriott in San Antonio, and many trips to College Station to see your sweet friend Dade.  We fell in love with fireworks, aquariums, giraffes, Max and Ruby, soccer, and chapstick (yes, really).  You love the moon, getting cozy in a blanket on the driveway and looking for stars and airplanes at night, and just being outside.  You soak up the world around you and we love to show you new things.

We are so blessed to be your parents and we adore watching you grow.  We pray each night for guidance to lead you in the right path both emotionally and spiritually.  There's not a day that goes by-both tough and fun-that I don't thank God for you.  Happy Birthday Emerson, mommy and daddy love you to the moon....and back!

Cream Cheese Has It's Place in EVERYTHING!

It's no secret that I love cream cheese!  These are the newest additions to how I work cream cheese in my daily intake.  They are AMAZING, especially the chocolate chip cookies!  The cream cheese makes them SO moist for days (IF they last that long!).  If you think cream cheese in banana nut bread is too sinful, eat it for breakfast!  That way, you have all day to work it off! :)

Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread-Southern Living Recipe

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

Enjoy! :)