Christmas is only a few days away...

Had to take a pic - - can't believe we are getting gas this cheap!  It's crazy how much the price of gas has come down...  We need to go on a road trip!

The boys being boys.  Maxwell has tackled Hayden.

My sleeping babies.  How sweet is this?

Max has like 4 different hats on

Emmalyn is doing a great job feeding herself.  I still make her baby foods but we are also giving her more foods to feed herself than we did with Maxwell.

Emmalyn ready to cheer on the local team.  Go cowboys!

Maxwell made this ornament at school with his school pic (we didn't end up buying any of these pictures so this is the only one we'll get)

We celebrated his last day of school for the year with Momma picking him up from school and going out to get ice cream.

Peter and I took both the kids furniture shopping for a new TV console.  It's harder to shop with two kids!  Emmalyn is in the stroller but Maxwell just walks by us which means he's harder to contain and keep his hands off everything.

Emmalyn continues to grow and do new "exciting" things - 

Her tastes are really expanding.  Her favorite thing to chew on lately is shoes...any kind of shoes...it's like she's drawn to them.  I have to be super aware and keep them aware from her.  GROSS!

Her second tooth on her left on top broke through on Dec 20 which is good because she's been fussy and not sleeping well.

She is standing a lot, pulling up and walking along things, and also climbing over things.

Will all that new moving, she's also falling down but that doesn't seem to bother her most of the time.

Sometimes she will give "kisses"  (big open mouth kisses).

Her favorite toy is the activity table.

She loves her binky.  (Max did NOT, so I'm nervous about having to eventually break her from it someday.

She's a momma's girl but certainly lights up for her daddy, Uncle Joe, and Aunt Brittany when she sees them.

When I sing to her she is starting to sing back to me.

She has now learned how to scream.

Can blow raspberries

She makes sounds like "gah gah" and maybe some "buh buh" and "ma"? (at least that's my interpretation.

Emmalyn's last few days as a 1 month old

Peter went with some co-workers to play paintball at a property in Denton but they ended up being rained out...I was glad that meant he was home sooner than planned!

Video - Max loves dancing to techno music.  It's a good thing he's too young for the clubs now.  :)

Pretty girl all dressed up

Wearing his sunglasses even early in the morning

I don't remember this happening so I must have been really knocked out

My new, awesome mascara!  It does great things to my lashes.

I find it so interesting how when she sleeps, her hands don't always relax and can stay flexed.

I've found that she goes to sleep easier if there's something on her head.  I'm sure it's super not-safe so I watch her closely when I do it and then I take it off her head as soon as she's deep asleep.

Cousins enjoying a cold summer popsicle after a hot bike ride.

I took Emmalyn up to work to show her off.  Everyone loved on her but she started getting fussy so I nursed her in my office.  While I enjoyed seeing many of my co-workers, it did not make me look forward to going back to work!

Soon I will be stuck at this computer but without those cute legs and feet looking back at me.

One morning, I felt things really clicked and like I was a great mom.  Usually Max is on the iPad for hours in the morning...while I sleep as long as possible until I need to nurse Emmalyn...then while I pump after I nurse Emmalyn.  It adds up to a lot of time in the morning.  Anyway, this one morning I had a stroke of genius and thought about an activity Max could do while I pumped.  I got out some little pompom balls from a craft bags and some little cups and gave it to him to play with.  I gave him challenges to complete while I pumped like sorting by color or size.  It was great!  He was engaged and unplugged and Emmalyn hung out happily to.  It was perfect! Wish all mornings could be like this.

What she does best - sleep while looking cute

Sometimes you feel like you are doing okay as a parent...for example, when Max says "excuse me" if he burps or farts.  It's nice to hear him be polite.  The other day he said, "When I was tooting, I was told to say excuse me".  So, at least he gets it.  :)

We are working on saying please as part of a sentence instead of by itself.

Maxwell is in a demanding phase.  If he is trying to get your attention and isn't getting it fast enough, in his opinion, he will come grab your face and talk right on your lips or he'll say, "Momma, momma, momma, momma, momma..."

He's showing more love to Emmalyn each day and gives lots of kisses on her legs or arms or head.  If we say something like, "she loves your kisses", he will remind us that she can't talk yet.  :)  He will talk about teaching her things when she's bigger like how to play soccer.  He has tried a few times to put in her binkie.

He just learned how to give a thumb's up!
He's really loving to eat "pan-a-cakes" (aka pancakes).

Emmalyn is getting bigger and stronger.  She will now let us hold her up and put some weight on her legs so she is standing up.

She has a little bit of cradle cap but it's not too awful.

She has had lots of gas and upset stomach problems this week.  Which means she doesn't sleep soundly.  Thank goodness it's mostly in the day.  She will just cry out in pain in the middle of sleeping.  Plus we are getting lots of spit up and drool.  Regardless though, she is really a cute baby.  

Daddy Handyman and Uncle Alex Handyman

Peter and Alex made the most of the rest of his visit with some fun and some work.

All the supplies for the media room step

My beauty

Max was ready to play some Top Golf!

Not so sure about his form but he had fun (while I stressed about the ledge a few feet away that he could fall off...)

Uncle Alex helping Maxwell

We took Alex to a tex mex restaurant.  At one point, Maxwell wasn't behaving so I put him on timeout in an empty section of the restaurant.  It looks a little further away than it was.  Discipline ...it's not just for in the home!

Before...just a light fixture

After...

The boys worked on the step in the media room while Brittany and I went to Oklahoma for Julianne and Derek's show.  They also watched both the kids.  (More on that in another post...) I was impressed they got it all done in one long evening.

Finished product!  I love that it's temporary so I can move it to the garage if we want to use the room for something else for a few days or so.  They even went the extra mile and it's got cutouts so it fits around the pillars.

Emmalyn focused on her uncle

He finally got over his fear of my tiny baby

We love you Uncle Alex!  

It was fantastic having him visit.  Maxwell absolutely LOVED having him here.  He adored his Uncle Alex and wanted to be around him and play with him.

Now, an update on the kids.

• Emmalyn has an amazing ability to know when I am in the shower.  She can be happily sleeping so I'll go to quickly jump in the shower and I swear that the second I get in the shower, she starts screaming.  ARGH!!!  Every time!
• We are getting smiles but there's no real trick that always works to get them.  
• She sleeps much better when she's a little elevated but I don't want to have her sleep like that since it's recommended babies only sleep on their back.  I think it's tied to her being gassy.  She will cry out in pain when she's sleeping and it causes her to wait up.
• Emmalyn struggles to get into deep sleep during the day which means I am constantly attending to her until it's time to nurse again. (Again - possibly tied to the gassy issue.)
• She spits up a ton.  
• (You would think these past few things would point to her having Reflux however I don't think that's the case with her.  We had that with Max and it's not the same with her.)
• It's sad but we are so busy and I'm so tired that Emmalyn is only getting a bath once a week.  I look up and realize it's been that long and then I'm shocked with myself. UGH
• Max was painting last night and he painted a house for her and also wanted pink paint "for Emmalyn".
• Max seems to be doing good with her but still gets upset when she cries.  He has wanted to cuddle with her and touch her when it's time for nap or bedtime.  
• He's aware that she can't talk so I will say something like "she loves your kisses" and he'll remind me that she can't talk.  
• Then he'll talk about something he wants to do with her like blow bubbles and then talk about how she can't do that now because she's little and he'll teach her once she gets older. :)
• Max is listening to his parents better than he was, which is MUCH appreciated.
• He is doing pretend play more and more which is fun to watch.
• Maxwell has been struggling with napping. He just lays there for up to hr and a half without falling asleep. 
• He is just so very independent!  I am trying to remember to continue to let him do more.
• Max's language and verbal skill amaze me.  It feels like he is using more complicated words and sentence structure than a 2 year old should be able to.  For example, he correctly used the word "while" in a sentence. 
• My tailbone getting better but is not all the way healed from my time in the hospital.  I can't believe it's been 6 weeks and still hurts.