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!

Summertime | myrtle beach

 

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!

Easter Pictures 2016

pictures by Brandy Snow

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 avery | 16 months

16 months old

With the chaos that is my life these days, I am very much aware that most days, when I try to think back on them, are a blur. After the arrival of Emery, life became very different for us. I am so scared that I will look back one day and not remember the little things that my biggest girl does that have touched my heart so much. It's the little things that will bring a smile to my face so I want to write them down as often as I can.

here is a glimpse into our life with you, bird!

You get your diaper changed first thing and is immediately touching your paci to let me know you are hungry. This is something that we have found so adorable! We love that you do this! In part because it is so cute, but also because you are able to let me know a need of yours. Sometimes you bang your paci so hard which is so funny! Once we get downstairs, you immediately want to check on Emery. You start saying baby (which sounds an awful lot like dada) and will walk over to with your (middle) finger in the air. After you check on Emery, we walk into the kitchen where I get you breakfast and fill up your cup. Your favorite breakfast is pancakes, bananas, or muffins. You will sit at your minnie mouse table for a little while, but then you love to wander around the house.

One of the first things you play with is your books. You love to sit in our laps and be read to! You usually don't let us finish the first page before you are grabbing the books and trying to turn the pages though. You don't have much of an attention span so once you are done looking at your book, off you go. You literally will have your hands on everything in our living room in the first hour you are awake. You are such a busy body and you absolutely love to climb on things....the coffee table, the couch, the toy box, and your chairs at your minnie table. You sure keep us on our toes!

You love to pull things out of drawers and cabinets and if I even try to pick up the mess you make, it immediately draws your attention to what I'm doing and you will start pulling everything out again! You also do this if I try to put up your clothes in your drawers so I get to do everything twice! :) You will also unload the dishwasher as I am loading it or drag the clothes out of the dryer as I put them in. So, our house is constantly a mess because there is no sense in picking up constantly...but I'm sure our friends and family are pretty used to this by now!

You love to blow kisses to people and make the "muuuu ah" sound! You also has the most precious wave! You dance to any music you hear...like the music on jeopardy. You love to play with your baby doll! Your favorite baby doll allows you to put a bottle in it's mouth so you will walk over to your baby couch to sit and feed the baby.  You are also starting to cover the baby up and rock her which I find so cute because you have picked up on me doing that with Emery.

You love to be outside and go "bye-bye." If you see someone go outside, you will have have a melt down if you aren't able to go outside, too. You put your shoes and jacket on with no problems because you know that means you get to go outside. One of your favorite things to do is swing! You would swing the entire day if I would let you, I'm sure of it.

You still hate to have your diaper changed and you hate to get dressed. This is a major struggle for us! You would think you would eventually get used to something that happens multiple times a day, but its a struggle almost every time. You still love bath time and find it very exciting that Emery gets to take a bath with you. You have started washing her feet for me which you love to do. You also have started touching her belly button.

You love to put things around your neck..especially my purse. You love to put things that have a handle on your arm like it is a purse and the funny thing is, is that you will immediately start waving. While doing this, you also like to grab as much stuff as you can in your other arm. (I wonder if you see me do this?!) 

You love to look at videos on phones. Especially mine, papas, and memes...did I say you LOVE it?! You will grab my phone, cross your legs at the ankles, and start pressing your thumb against the screen. You typically mess my phone all up, call and text people, and pull up everything.

You bring so much attention when are out because you are so social! You love to wave and smile at everybody and you are usually running around stores which people seem to love. Every single time we are out in public someone comments on how big and beautiful your eyes are! When we are out at a restaurant and you decide you are done sitting in your high chair, you will start extending your arms out to everyone and anyone to get you out of the chair. We are working on having you sit for longer periods of time at the table without picking you up. Once were done with dinner and we put you on the ground, off you go in a full sprint! Man, you are fast!

When aunt ashton comes over, you get the biggest smile on your face! After you have hugged her, you immediately start pointing to the door looking for Bryson! You love you some Bryson! You will give him hugs and kisses without even asking and boy does he make you laugh! If I even mention the word ashton or bryson at home, you immediately start looking at the door!

We recently had your 15 month check up and you weigh 22 pounds and 7 ounces and are 31.5 inches long! You are in the 66% for weight and in the 78% for height! The doctor calls you her favorite patient because you literally sit so still for her with the biggest smile on your face as she listens to your lungs and heart and looks in your ears. As soon as she puts her stethoscope down, you will grab it and put it up to your chest! (maybe someone will be a nurse like her momma!) She comments on how smart you are, too! Of course we think so! :)

You have 4 teeth (finally!) You have the top two and the bottom two! You look so darn cute with your top teeth coming in! You didn't get your first tooth until you were 11 months and now it seems like they are all wanting to come in at once! You have 3 more teeth that we can see that are about to break through any minute.

When we talk to you or ask you questions, most of the time, your response is "hmmm?" It is so cute! You talk all day long, but its just jibber jabber! You say about 5- 7 words consistently and the word we hear 90% of the time is dada!

I want to make sure I tell you how great you are doing being a big sister. You love to touch her feet and her hair. If she has a blanket over her, you usually will try to uncover her, but if the blanket is already on the floor, you will want to cover her back up. If Emery makes a noise you get so tickled and start laughing. You love to watch every time I change Emery's diaper and you love to bring me a diaper for her! You give it to me and start clapping! I think you get more smiles from Emery than anyone! You will hug and kiss Emery without ever being asked and you love to make her swing rock. For the most part, you are used to Emery being around now so you leave her in peace (most of the time).

You are so precious to us, Avery Claire! You have changed our world so much and you make every day so much better and so much fun! You are a handful bird, but I wouldn't have it any other way! The pure joy I feel when I look at you is indescribable! I can't believe you are already 16 months old!
We love you so much baby!