Emery Cate | 16 months old

Our sweet Emery! I wanted to write to you now that you are 16 months old so I can remember all the sweet things you do. This is such a cute age and I just love it so much.

(all photos by Megan Martin Photography)

You are so, so sweet and you sure do love your momma! You love to be held and this is so different than your sister ... she was always so independent and you are too, but you still prefer to be near me.

You are getting so good at talking! You say so many words now. "Daddy" "Momma" "Mickey" "Donald" "Bye" "No" "MeMe" (just a few of the words) You say Momma the most! :) You will try to repeat almost every word we say! You follow commands so well and you are starting to string "gibberish" words together and it is so cute! You just talk and talk and I know you are trying to say something important by the look on your face :)

You still love mickey mouse SO much!! The CUTEST thing ever is when you say "donald." I purposely find pictures of Donald Duck so I can hear you say it. You will spot Mickey Mouse from all the way across the store sometimes and I will hear you say "Mickey" & I'll search for what you see and it sometimes is so far away. You are obsessed, to say the least!

You have 8 teeth, have light brown hair and blue eyes. You are in size 5 diapers and are in 2T clothes. You are probably around 26 pounds now! You are taking 1 nap a day and you sleep pretty good at night with the exception of those nights where you love to stay up for a few hours at a time at 3 am. 

You love spoons and you usually want a spoon if I give you ANY meal. You will basically throw a fit until you have a spoon in your hand.  You usually will just hold the spoon in one hand and eat the meal with your other hand. Speaking of spoons, you LOVE to eat. I usually have to decide when meal time is over with you because I swear you would eat all night if I would let you!

One of my favorite things you do is giggle! You will randomly smile and giggle and it is so cute. I also love when you nod your head to tell us yes. You do it so forceful and I love it! You LOVE to dance! Any music you hear you will start to dance, I swear its like you can't help yourself - you just have to move to the music! :) You sway side to side and then will bounce up and down.

You are already starting tantrums. You love to throw things down if its not what you wanted and will lay face down in the floor and throw your fit. Lord help us. :)

You love being with Avery. Y'all don't play very well together but you still love to just "be" with her. Whenever she goes, you go. Whatever she is doing, you want to do. You are really patient with her most days and will usually not pay her any attention when she throwing her fits.

You get so excited every time you see your cousin Bryson. You love him so much. He gets the most hugs from you than any of us!

Emery, we love you so, so much. Words cannot describe how blessed I feel that you are my daughter. You were quite the surprise to us and Lord knew I needed you before I did. You are so precious to us and we have enjoyed watching you blossom over these last 16 months. You are such a ray of sunshine to everyone and we cannot imagine our lives without you sweet girl.
Keep growing big and strong baby!

a letter to emery | 10 months

Emery Cate, you are officially 10 month old! I am enjoying this stage so much! You love to eat with your hands, you enjoy playing with toys and you are so easy to please! I love to hold you and just kiss your little (big) cheeks! You love momma's kisses!

You love to eat! If anyone has food, you can bet you are going to crawl over to them for a bite! And, chances are that you aren't going to get fed fast enough for your liking so you will get mad and start doing your fake whine accompanied with a face this looks like the world is ending. You love it all and won't turn down a bite.

You are so active and you love to follow Avery everywhere! If she is playing with a toy, you have to check it out. You are so curious about anything she is doing or eating. When Avery has her meltdowns, you are never phased. Most times you never even glance at her which is really funny to us. You must be used to the noise. Papa calls you am octopus because you just reach and grab for anything and everything until you get something in those hands.

You are mostly in 12 month clothes and are wearing some 18 month clothes. You are a chunk & I LOVE it!

You still only have your 2 bottom teeth and your hair is starting to lighten up some. I'm in denial about that because I want your hair to stay dark like mine. Your eyes are still blue like your daddy's!

You are taking 2 maps a day and will sleep a long stretch a night. You will still want a bottle during the night a few times a week and you let us know but doing the loudest groan! (I can't even explain this sound!!)

We are already planning your first birthday which is so crazy to me! I can't wait to watch you dive into your smash cake! Your daddy and I love to imagine you with your smash cake because we know you will love it!

You are so precious and so happy! You are so smiley and only whine on occasion ... usually when you are hungry or sleepy! You do love to pull on mommas leg when you want me to pick you up, but other than that, you are very content playing or watching Avery!

Our precious Em, you are so, so loved! 

Keep growing big and strong!

letter to emery | 9 months old

You are 22 pounds and 28.5 inches. You still have brown hair and blue eyes. You have TWO (bottom) teeth! YAY! The first tooth you sprouted was a huge surprise! I wasn't even checking your mouth hardly because you weren't showing any signs (no drool AT ALL) and ave didn't get a single tooth until a few weeks before she turned one...so, needless to say, I was shocked! If it is even possible, your smile got even sweeter with those two teeth shining!

You love, and I mean LOVE table food. You never really took to baby food so I was eager to start you on table food. You have taken to it like a pro! You love everything that you have tried and as soon as your tray gets empty, you are fussing for more!

You can clap your hands together and you love to play peek-a-boo! You love to look at yourself in the mirror or phone and you still love to watch Mickey! You also love to dance. When music plays or we sing to you (emmy, emmy jump up and down) you start doing what I call the "two step". You will start stomping your foot on the ground. It is so cute!

You can say MaMa, DaDa, PaPa, and ByeBye ... and a bunch of other sounds! You can get really loud when you are squealing! You have the sweetest laugh and no one can make you laugh quite like your cousin bryson can!

You are so active! You love to crawl after Avery wherever she goes and you pull yourself to standing so you will be able to play with her.  You are already standing by yourself and you love to push a push walker. You get so proud of yourself when we all clap!

You are so patient with Avery. If you have picked up her paci on the ground and slipped it into your mouth & she runs to take it, you let her and just carry on. If she wants you to "walk" holding her hands, you will let her drag you along. If she wants you to eat a crumb she has bitten off of her bite of food, you let her put it in your mouth. If she wants to "holds you" you let me pretend to put you on her hip. If she wants to feed you a bottle, you always let her...even if she pulls it out of your mouth a million times.  If avery doesn't want you to have a toy you are playing with and runs over to you saying "no ma'am emmy" you just move onto the next toy. You love to grab up her cups when they fall on the floor...you have already learned that her drinks are better than yours so you never miss an opportunity. :)
You are the best little sister!

You are wearing size 4 diapers and size 12 month clothes & sleepers. I am already predicting that you will catch up to Avery next year! There is only a 4 pound difference & 5.5 inch height difference between the two of you right now!

You are a complete momma's girl and I love it! You usually won't go to anyone else if I am holding you and if you spot me across the room, you always crawl to me or whine for me. Believe you me, I am soaking it in!

We love you so much Em! Keep growing big and strong ...  we sure are enjoying watching you rock your milestones! 

letter to emery | 8 months old

How have you been here with us for 8 months, Em?! Talk about an amazing whirlwind of the last 8 months! I feel like I need to start this off by saying just how incredible of a baby you are. You have been an amazing blessing to us. You are SO relaxed. You hardly ever fuss and if you do its because you are hungry. You are just such a happy thing no matter what is going on and I cannot express enough how much momma needed you! You smile and laugh so much and you always can calm momma down with just a smile.

You are the sweetest thing! You love to follow avery and bryson everywhere during the day. If we go into the kitchen to make breakfast, you follow right behind us! I can put you on the ground in the mornings after we get up and you will play for hours. You love to crawl around to the furniture and pull up and see what you can grab onto. If you can get anything in those hands, you best believe it will go straight to your mouth. We really have to watch avery because she will leave crumbs  everywhere and lets just say you may have got an early taste of chips. ;)

You are not only pulling up, but you are cruising too! We have also started letting you try to push a walker around and you have actually done very well pushing it. It's incredible how strong you are, little bit. You amaze me everyday with something new you are doing!

If I am sitting in the floor with you, you deliberately look for my hands because you love to use them to stand up. So, I will put my hand out and you will put your little hand in it and reach for my other one so you can pull up. It is so cute that you do that.  You are also starting to pull yourself up on my legs if I am standing in the kitchen which makes cooking mighty hard!

You are still a chunk and you have the best rolls on your thighs! You love to eat! We are slowly introducing table food because while you will eat baby food, you really aren't thrilled with most of it We all feel so guilty eating in front of you because you are so, so interested so you are getting small amounts of table food and you are loving everything. You are also doing so great with a sippy cup!

You do prefer veggies over fruit like your daddy!

Avery still takes away anything that you are playing with and she will say "no no no," We are working on that! She is so good about bringing your paci and lovie to you if you are fussy and she loves to kiss you on your hand and head. She is saying "Em" now but still mostly calls you "sissy." You really love to follow her around and if she is running from the kitchen to the living room, you are following right behind her.  You are extremely patient with her. If she insists on giving you a bottle, you will just sit there at ease and let her take the bottle out of your mouth and then put it back in, over and over.

You are really interested in TV and will break your neck if you hear a commercial with songs on it. You will literally come to a dead stop to watch the commercial. It is so funny! Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is definitely your favorite!

You are a belly sleeper and you love to sleep with a lovie. You are still waking up about once a night to eat, but thankfully you go right back to sleep. You take 2 naps a day and sometimes will even nap for 3 hours! You are in size 4 diapers and you are wearing 9-12 month clothes! 

I love you so much Emery Cate! You are so special to momma and daddy and i hope you always know that! 

keep growing big and strong

you are so loved

**pictures were WAY harder this month!

Emery Cate | 6 and 7 months

Life has been super hectic lately so I figured I would just combine the 6 and 7 month posts (sorry, little bit!)

You are such a little chunk and I love it! You are probably close to 20 pounds as we speak! You wear 9 month clothes and are in size 4 diapers like your sis! Your chunky legs are amazing! 

You are starting to discover your voice more and more and you will get super loud! You have a deep growl sound that you do which is so cute! You stick your tongue out all the time and you love to smile! You are so busy and so squirmy! You try to get your hands on anything and everything that you see! You really do wear anyone out that tries to hold you! You have the sweetest laugh and we usually get to hear it the most when your cousin Bryson is around! He sure loves to make you laugh!

You are sitting up by yourself and you have mastered crawling! And, you are now trying to pull yourself up on furniture! You are such a strong girl!

Your eyes are still blue and your hair is still curly and brown (& thinning) You are so beautiful! 

Avery calls you "sissy" and she has started taking things that you are playing with and will say "no no no!"  Goodness do you love looking at her! You smile at her all the time and you are so interested in everything she is doing! There is no doubt that the two of you will be the best of friends!

You are the happiest baby and will let anyone hold you! Anyone that has spent a significant amount of time with you always comments on how good of a baby you are! 

You went to myrtle beach for the first time and you napped in a wagon on the beach every single day. You also loved to be put in your baby float in the baby pool and you just cruised around! It was so cute! Avery loved to push you in it.

You are such a blessing to us sweet girl! We were so nervous how life was going to be with two little ones so close together and you have made things so much easier for momma! You are such a good baby!

Emery Cate | five months old

Our sweet, sweet Em! You are such a light to us! Your smile is so contagious! You are the happiest, most content baby and we are so thankful for you!

You are a chunk of a thing! I don't know your exact weight right now because you didn't have a wellness check this month, but you are on the verge of being in all size 9 month clothes and you are officially in size 4 diapers!! Ah! That is so crazy to us because Avery is in size 4 diapers! Your rolls in your legs are my favorite!!

You tried rice cereal when you turned 4 months old. You had a hard time getting the hang of swallowing it! I would put it in your mouth and you immediately start smiling at us and it just pours out of your mouth. you have tried oatmeal, rice, green beans, and peas and you haven't seemed to like  much yet. You eat so much and I am very surprised you haven't really liked baby food yet. Most of the time you make a disgusted face or you will start making noises with your tongue and it goes everywhere!

And, oh that tongue! You sure love to stick it out! Everyone gets so tickled by how much you stick out your tongue! It is so cute!

you love to roll! I have to keep my eye on you because before I know it, you will be half way across the living room! as soon as I lay you on your back, you immediately turn over! If toys are laying on the ground, you try your hardest to get to them and as soon as you do, they go straight to your mouth!

You are such a good napper! When you are on the verge of drifting off, you will put your arm over your eyes. your daddy sleeps that way :)

You are so ticklish. We noticed it when you we're just a little thing, but it is so noticeable now! I will be zipping up your sleeper and when I get to your neck you start giggling. it is so cute!

you still love to be carried facing outwards. you are such a curious little thing. if you are whinny, chances are that we can just pick you up to look around and you will be fine! 

One of my favorite things is to see you laugh at Avery. I have THE best videos of you laughing at her! Oh, my heart could burst seeing the two of you interact! You will smile and laugh at her all day long! You get bunches of kisses from Avery!

Your hair is so curly when it dries after bathtime. it is so pretty! It stands about 2 inches off your head because your hair is so long! Your PaPa Keith had hair just like you when he was a baby! 

you still love your pink soothie paci and Lamby! you love to spend time in the walker. you get to see everything so I'm sure that's the reason. As soon as I get you out of it, Avery climbs in it.

We love you baby girl!

a letter to emery | four months old

4 months!!

You weighed 16lb 4oz and were 26 inches long at your 4 month appointment!

You have officially rolled over!! (back to belly first and a few days later you did belly to back) You will roll over as soon as I lay you on your back now, but you will get SO mad when you are on your belly! Its so funny - you want to roll over, but hate being on your belly. And, as soon as I flip you on your back, you roll back over! :)

Emery, you are SO smiley!! You smile so much and you get so tickled when we talk to you. You tuck your chin in, smile so big, and sqinch your cheek. Oh, I love when you do that.

You are growing so much! You are wearing 6 month clothes (some 9 month!) and size 3 diapers! You are so long! You are still exclusively eating breastmilk and you eat so much! (You have eaten 8 ounces TWICE! - SO CRAZY) You normally will eat 4 ounces though.  You are sleeping about 4-5 hours at night.

You love to be carried around facing outwards so you can see everything. When you get fussy and I try to cuddle with you, you get more mad! You would rather be held facing out! (I wish you cuddled, little bit!)

You still are loving those hands! You love to put your hands in your mouth and just talk away. ( I wonder if you will get teeth sooner than your sister)

You will be sound asleep with your paci in your mouth, I will turn around to attempt to do something, and before I know it Avery will have pulled your paci out and will be trying to force it back in your mouth.  Thank God, you are such a go with the flow baby because you usually just look up at her and just smile away like she is the best thing in the world. You get your mouth and face wiped quite a bit with clothes laying around and if Avery can get to your back, she is usually trying to "burp" you. She is also trying to pick you up now which is so funny to me because there's only a 7lb weight difference in the two of you. You get lots and lots of kisses from her and she loves to find your belly button and touch your eyes and hair.

I can't wait for the summer with you! I bet you are going to love being outside every day and love the water! 

you are so loved my sweet girl! keep growing big and strong!

a letter to emery | three months old

THREE months old?! How is that even possible?

First, I want to let you know how GOOD of a baby you are. You must have known how much mom would need that. You are so, so good for us! You whine very little and that can be fixed with some milk or sitting you up so you can see. You are a "go with the flow" baby I can already tell! You let me drag you everywhere and anywhere while I chase your sister and you have no idea how thankful I am for a baby like you. When I put you in the baby carrier, you literally don't make a peep because you are so busy checking everything out and you also don't mind the carseat or the stroller thankfully!

You are a chunk of a thing! You are wearing 6 month clothes and size 2 diapers! You are probably close to 15 pounds by now and boy, do i love it! You are exclusively drinking breast milk so I love that you are so chunky! :) Your leg rolls are my favorite!

You are on the verge of rolling over! You will squirm around on your mat until you are on the opposite side that i put you on. You move so much so I know it is coming! You try to sit up every time I put you in your bouncer or swing so strapping you in is a must! I try to lay you on the floor as much as I can, but with your crazy sister, I have to be very close by! (she loves to sling things all around you and force paci's in your mouth)

You are sleeping 5 hours are night which is heaven for us! You have done one 8 hour stretch and I couldn't believe it! I woke up quite panicked! You are doing longer 'wake" stretches during the day so I think that is helping you sleep at night.

You have the softest little voice and you coo so sweetly. Oh, I love that sweet sound. You are the smiling-est baby! You smile so, so much and I got the pleasure of hearing your sweet laugh recently. (thanks to aunt ash kissing your neck) There's nothing better sounding to your momma than hearing her babies laugh!

You still have the darkest hair and I've heard a few people say that they think your eyes are lightening up. Guess we will see! Your hair still has a curl to it and it is so pretty. A lot of people think you look like me...it must be all that dark hair!

You love to put her fingers in your mouth and you actually accidentally gag yourself a lot. I will look over at you and your face will be red and your eyes will be watering, but your hand will still be in your mouth. You have red spots on your fingers because of how much you suck on your hands.

"Momma loves you soooo much" (in my english accent I do) :)
You, my love, are so precious to us! I am so excited to continue to watch you grow! I am so thankful to God that I get to be your momma and that you are mine.

a letter to emery | two months old

I can't believe you are already two months old, little bit! You weigh a whopping 13 pounds and 2 ounces and are 24.5 inches long! You are in the 81% for weight and 98% for height! You are such a chunk and I love it!

You are starting to have longer wake periods and are starting to develop such a cute personality. You still have your nights and days mixed up so you sleep most of the day and you are up most of the night. You will start to fall asleep for the night around 2 or 3am and you will sometimes do a 4 hour stretch. 

You love to be held facing out. If you are fussy, all I have to do is pick you up and face you outwards so you can see and you are good to go. You are holding your neck up so good and you love to be put on our chest to look up at us. Most of the time your eyes will go cross-eyed and your mouth make the "O" face and it is the cutest face I have ever seen. I hope I never ever forget that face you make.

You have the sweetest sounding whimper when you are getting fussy or hungry. You hardly ever cry at the top of your lungs. You are still doing the "sigh" sound after you sneeze and oh my gosh I loveeeee it! You don't seem to mind riding in the car or stroller and you are a really content baby. 

Goodness I love to kiss those precious cheeks of yours and I love to put your face against mine. There is nothing else like it.

You love bath time. You are unsure when I first put you in the water, but it only takes a second before you realize that you love it. You love with I squeeze the water from the washcloth over your belly. You scrunch up your cheek! (Avery did this same thing!)

You are starting to really kick those legs and arms! I will lay you on your playmat and you love to just kick! You kick so fast sometimes and I get really tickled watching you! You aren't too sure about tummy time on your mat, but you are getting the hang of it!

You have the longest eyelashes (thanks to Daddy) and you still have the darkest hair, but you have the lightest eyebrows. I hope that doesn't mean your hair will eventually lighten up! :) Your hair is curly as soon as it drys from being washed. It is so beautiful and I can't believe its curly!

You have the sweetest smile! I do all sorts of crazy things to get to see that smile, but you pretty much will smile at anything. You can just hear my voice and you will start to smile! You also love to smile at avery. She is always kissing on you "muuuuu ah" and you just smile up at her like you think it is the best thing in the world. She gets so tickled by you, little bit! She has to wave bye to you everytime she goes upstairs to lay down for a nap or at nighttime and you are the first thing she looks for in the morning. If you make any sound at all she immediately gets so tickled and starts laughing at you. 

You are wearing size 3 months and size 2 diapers. All of your 3 month clothes are starting get snug! I can't believe how big you are getting! You are growing so fast and I am trying to soak up these "tiny months" as much as I can because every time I look at Avery I am reminded how quick these months go. I look at your pile of newborn clothes that you can no longer wear and I can't believe it. Where did my 8 pound "little" baby go? Just like that you are already 2 months old! You make life so much fun! I catch myself daydreaming about you and Avery and I get so excited thinking of the bond the two of y'all will have. God sure had his hand in putting you in our lives and man I am sure glad this was his plan.

You are so loved my precious girl!

a letter to emery | one month

Our precious Emery! How are you a month old already, little bit?

 I'll tell you what, I never expected to have two children so close together, but man oh man am I so glad to have you. You are a piece of me that I didn't even know i was missing. 

Our world has been rocked once more and we couldn't be happier. It has honestly been a whirlwind of a month, but I feel like things are starting to finally become our new normal.

You have had a rough few weeks of life but you have proven to be quite strong. You had to be hospitalized at 2 weeks old for RSV. The doctor told us in the hospital when you were born that we could expect you to get sick sooner since we had a young child at home, but we definitely didn't expect for you to get sick that soon. You sure did scare us, but after two weeks I can officially say you are better!

Judging by your 3d ultrasound, we thought for sure you would be identical to Avery, but you definitely have your own look about you. You have the most beautiful dark brown hair and the prettiest skin. I think you favor your momma. :) 

You are holding your head up for long periods of time and you love being put in the moby wrap. (it's almost like being pregnant with you again). You love looking at lights. You make THE BEST kissy face with your lips puckered up and it gets me every time! I just love it. I absolutely love kissing those cheeks of yours and I pretty much just kiss them constantly.

 After you sneeze, you make the cutest "sigh" sound. Ah, its just adorable! I never want to forget that sound. You have hiccups a few times a day and you absolutely hate them. You will fuss and fuss until they are gone.

We have been working on a nickname for you. I usually call you "little bit" but since we call your sister "bird" we are waning an animal nickname for you. Your cousin Bryson wants you to be called "owl" because you will name the "O" face and look all around like an owl. (he came up with that all on his own and we were so tickled by that!) We will see what sticks in the next few months!

You are quite the eater! I was told that since you were 8 pounds when you were born that you would be a hungry baby and that you are! You eat so much little bit! I can't wait until your next appointment so I can see how much you weigh! 

Your sister just loves to give you kisses and hugs and she looks for you immediately in the mornings. She points at you and walks over to check on you. I cant wait to watch the two of y'all grow up together.  We have spent the last month watching your sister and you in awe. She knows you are something for her to protect and something for her to "pet" and love on. She loves to touch your head and will giggle and get excited every time she touches you or you make a sound. Watching the two of y'all together is a new favorite of mine.

You are officially smiling at me! What a sweet day that was when you smiled at me for the first time. You have only smiled a handful of times so far, but oh I already love that precious smile of yours.

Sometimes the most unexpected things are our biggest blessings and I thank God every day for changing our plans by giving us you. 

You are so loved baby girl.