Third Week of January 2015

Emmalyn had her 9 month check up.  I can't believe that the next time we will be back at the doctor's she will be 1!

She was a happy camper

Here's the questionnaire I filled out on her development.

She had her finger pricked and picked at that bandaid after until she got it off.

Here's her stats from her 9 month visit:

Weight: 14 lbs 7 oz, 3rd Percentile

Height: 25.5 in, 1st Percentile

Head: 16.8 in, 19th Percentile 

She dropped in every area but her pediatrician didn't even bring that up.  He said she was healthy and her development was excellent.  1st percentile on height!!!  Sheesh, my tiny little princess.

After her Dr's visit, we went to the grocery store and I put her in the shopping cart seat for the very first time.

Video - Excited to be in the shopping cart!

Poor girl had to get one shot

Maxwell reading books with daddy before bedtime

Go BYU!

Enjoying ice cream, even though it's winter

Fun family time at the bowling alley

We brought along Landen with us

Maxwell helping the boys

The best leg warmers for black lights!

Lining up his shot

Video - Maxwell totally gets how important it is to aim the ball at the pins, watch him adjust the ramp for his shot

Playing a little at the arcade after our bowling game was over.  This is something Peter's family always does when they bowl.  I don't remember ever doing the arcade with my family.  

Everyone had a fun time! It's fun to get a chance to hang out with just Landen.

Maxwell wrote the names of everyone in his family on his white board.

Dad is in the top left corner, Mom in the bottom left, Emmalyn on the bottom right, and Max is just above that.  He's doing a great job learning how to write his letters.

I took the kids to the park on a sunny Sunday afternoon to get some time outside of the house.  We first enjoyed some snacks on the blanket before Maxwell and I pitched some balls for Maxwell to hit and then we went to the playground.

 I let Emmalyn "walk" around for the first time really

If you watch closely, she will stand on her own for a second or two every once in awhile when she's not paying attention to what she's doing but I can't get her to do it on command or anything like that.

Maxwell is finally getting big enough that he can sort of use this toy in the way it was intended.  I still think this toy, while fun, shouldn't be at the park because it's so easy for little fingers to be pinched between the rollers.  I get incredibly nervous watching him each time he gets on it.

Video - Maxwell has Chinese class once a week at Montessori.  Here's a couple of the things he has learned to say in Chinese...

Having fun kicking the ball in the media room

Uh oh, she's getting to the point that she can start grabbing things off the kids table.

So glad she doesn't have my nose!

Maxwell wanted to take a picture of me holding this ornament he made at school with his school picture - it's a mitten

Max drew this, it's the first time he's drawn a true person with limbs, hair, etc.

Sweet baby sleeping in her crib! (She's wiggling her arms out of the swaddle blanket now.)  She wants to sleep on her belly even though we put her to sleep on her back.  We've let her have the pillow because that's how she wants to sleep and since she can easily roll over now, I feel like it's not a danger anymore.

This week we finally buckled down (thanks Peter for making us do it) and started sleep training Emmalyn in her crib (after we lowered it).  Brittany started it during the day and we now have to keep it going.  The first night it took about 15 minutes to get her down.  She was soooooo mad at us but then once she fell asleep she slept until 3 am!  At that point Peter got up to help her go back to sleep (it couldn't be me or she would want to nurse) until 5.  When she got up at 5 I got her, nursed her, and then let her stay in our bed.  It was pretty exciting that she slept that long without me having to help her.  

I was so proud of Maxwell today.  I went to read to his class (which I do on the first Tuesday of every month during their library time) and he always cries when I leave.  It's so sad and usually Ms. Cynthia has to distract him or something when I sneak out.  Anyway, so this morning on the way to school he talked about how he was going to cry when I had to leave after reading to his class because he would miss me.  I suggested that instead of crying he could say, "Goodbye Momma, have a good day".  I tried to get him to practice it with me but he wouldn't.  However, when it was time for me to leave after reading to his class he came up to me and said it with a big smile and was okay!!!!  I was so proud of him!  (Oh man, try reading to a bunch of 3-5 year olds during winter - - you'll have a lot of nose pickers looking at you while you read.  Ew.)

Decorating Gingerbread Men and Singing about Frosty

We are having a lot of fun this holiday season.  It's fun to have Maxwell old enough to really be into it.  It's fun to have Britt's family in the house and celebrating the season with us.  It's fun to have our beautiful Emmalyn around and boy is it nice to have had the decorations up from the beginning of the season!

This is what happens when 3 year olds start to accessorize...swim goggles, a glow stick necklace (because he kept his pullup dry overnight) and snow boots.  

And now he's modeling it??

The boys had fun decorating gingerbread men (that I bought last year and we never got around to doing)

Super intense on his decorating

The other great thing about 3 year olds is their "cheese" face you get when you want to take a picture.  It certainly isn't pretty or an authentic smile.

So then you, as the one behind the camera, spend lots of energy trying to get them to break out of their cheese face into their true smile so you can capture sweetness like this.  It's exhausting!

The three finished products.

That old gingerbread couldn't have been easy to take a bite of...

My little shortie who legs don't fill up her pjs so the leg end up dragging behind her

One of my sweet neighbors gave us this playhouse that she didn't need anymore.  I figured it would be fun to have when Emmalyn gets a little bit older but as soon as I brought it in the door, these two boys were all about playing with it.

Bedtime stories (it isn't always this sweet)

Landen adores Emmalyn and is her protector and care giver

Poor Britt has bad luck parking on the street in front of my house.  A few months ago, some guy scraped up the side of her old car (luckily the neighbors saw it and stopped the guy before he took off so he paid for it)...but then she comes outside and sees that someone broke off part of her side mirror (and didn't stop - we don't know who it was) on her new van.  Such a bummer. I told her she should park in the driveway after the first one but she kept parking on the street.  It's super unfortunate.  

We live off the main street in and out of the neighborhood on our side.  We didn't realize it when we bought the house because #1 so much of the neighborhood was still just a big field and we assumed of course they would have another outlet for drivers and #2 no one lived here yet so there was no traffic.  We know now to pay attention to things like this if we ever move.  I love so many things about our home but it is a big bummer to live on this main street because it's the longest street in the neighborhood and people just fly down it without paying attention to the speed limit, children playing and often not paying attention to the stop sign 2 houses away.  We will be more aware next time.

Climbing even in her dress

She likes to play with the doll house too

I love this outfit

Video - (Really it's more of an audio clip) Maxwell singing "Frosty the Snowman" while he's going potty.  His version is more like "Frosty the Snowman, was a happy jelly snow," instead of happy jolly soul.  :)  He loooooves the cartoon Frosty the Snowman.