April 2016 - Finally! A Garden!!

Maxwell had his bike a thon at school.  He was really excited to bring his bike to school.

I had a meeting and couldn't be there to watch  this year.  :(

I took my team at work out to do some geocaching and challenged my team across the country to do the same.  It was fun to get out of the office - - a few of them were serious about it and kept looking until they found it.

Emmalyn and her best buddy Landen.  He goes to preschool a few days a week but when he's home, they have so much fun together at Brittany's.

Loving her time at the park.  She just seems so big in this picture.

Love the genuine smiles and giggles that come when she's in the swing.

I noticed that her feet actually hit the foot rest on the high chair.  It seems like just yesterday that she was in it and her legs would never be that long!

Each time we brush her teeth, she wants to get a drink out of the sink after she's done.

I get some serious handy woman points!!!  Some of the sealant was peeling off in the shower upstairs and our master shower so I googled it and figured out how to reseal it.  I can't tell you how proud of myself I was because this is the type of thing that is outside my comfort zone (even though it ended up being easy).

All the old stuff peel off and ready to be replaced!

Video - Emmalyn is great at jumping!

Maxwell having fun playing with the parachute at Kindermusik.

We stopped to get the airheads slurpee!  Have to support my brands.

It's rain boot season!

Ready to play in the rain

Even though it was rainy and gloomy, Peter and I decided to bite the bullet and finally put the garden together.  I've wanted it forever but it just hasn't happened.  There seemed to always be some other priority...  We are doing a 4x4 raised bed garden.  Peter put together the bed and I did most everything else.

Weed barrier down!

Here's all the dirt we bought to go into the garden.  

It was a lot of work getting that dirt in there!!

Maxwell enjoying the treat that my friend Michelle brought the kids.

They were both happy, of course!

I planted a new strawberry plant in addition to my garden.

All done!!!! :)  Hopefully this will keep out the bunnies.  I planted two types of tomatoes (I wanted to do Sweet 100's but when I got home realized that I had grabbed a roma plant instead), snap peas, cucumbers, zucchini, green bell peppers, serrano peppers, and cilantro.  My hope is that I can grow everything I need to make homemade salsa.  :)

Dear little plants, please grow and help me have a great garden!

Emmalyn's 15 month check up

Hey, why not do something new?  How about an update on Maxwell and Emmalyn BEFORE the pictures?? :)

We've started talking with Maxwell about what he wants for his birthday and he says he wants a "bee truck" (Bumblebee from transformers) and a pet fish - "because fish don't lick you".  (He really doesn't like dogs especially because they lick.  It's funny because Emmalyn is the exact opposite and LOVES puppies.  She can hear a dog bark from down the street and will say "puppy".
Max is now tall enough to open my car doors.  We are still waiting for the day he can turn on the lights in our house.
Maxwell doesn't have a favorite TV show lately.  He watches a bunch of things.
He has been into the Minions, from Despicable me, watches, wearing bags/bagpacks, and picking out t-shirts and athletic shorts to wear.
He typically wants to wear socks all day and night.
He's doing awesome at reading and swimming - this weekend he swam for nearly two hours and that's two hours of him really swimming and jumping in and diving down for dive sticks, etc.  He's got it and can do it by himself with us just watching (closely of course)!
He likes dancing shows and dancing.
He gives nice compliments and will tell you he loves you on his own.
He's been a momma's boy lately and wants to cuddle and have me to scratch his back "that feels good momma".
He helps with chores if we ask him and puts his dishes in the sink.
Eating is hit and miss - he's asking for a lot of snacks and dessert lately especially other things to drink than water such as lemonade or juice or chocolate milk.
Maxwell loves to give kisses and will grab your arm or hand and just give you kisses.
We've been trying to stop him from the hitting/kicking games he and his cousins play.  I know he's a boy but I still would prefer he doesn't play that way.

Emmalyn loves drinking water and has been super hungry lately.  I tried giving her a spoon to eat with but she was not too into it.
She is super talkative and carries on conversations with baby talk.  She says momma, daddy, "ma ma" for maxwell, ball, baby, book, bow, milk, bird, puppy, more, thank you, more please, no, yeah, water, bee, and flower.  She will sometimes use sign language for "more", "all done" and "eat".
She gives lips-closed kisses - yeah!
So now that I'm officially done pumping, the schedule is that I will usually nurse in the morning when she wakes up around 5:30 and maybe at night but she will ask for it all the time and has been reaching in Brittany's and Peter's shirt and asking for milk.  (Funny to me!)
She gets a few bottles of regular milk a day but I feel like it's time to get her off the bottle.  She can drinks the milk cold now.
She takes a binky when upset and sleeping.  I'm dreading breaking her of that.
Emmalyn loves her brother and being around him.  Sometimes,  he will play with her and other times he gets annoyed.  He now says "Emmalyn" instead of "Emmawen".
She's a climber and loves to sit by herself in chairs.
She's super happy most of the time unless she's hungry or tired.
Sometimes she will have 3 naps a day and sometimes 2.
She no longer will leave her bow on her head forever and we can't do a clip in her hair yet, not enough hair.
She loves to wear shoes.
Emmalyn is so happy to be outside.
She will play by herself for awhile which is a really nice place to finally get to.
In the morning, she tries to steal Max's bag of cereal whenever she can (even though she has her own).  She will sometimes sit with him and watch him on the iPad.
I would say that her favorite toys are books - she loves the one that she can press buttons and it will say the numbers and say a sound with the number.  The number "10" sings part of the ABCs and she will sing along with it.  She also enjoys playing with her doll house.
Emmalyn is awesome at cleaning up and putting things back.
She listens pretty well to directions.
She loves to laugh and clap and will join in if anyone around her (or on the radio or tv) either laughs or claps.
She's great at mimicking sounds and words

Her right side molar came in and I had no idea it was even close to popping through!

Emmalyn had her 15 month check up.  It was a few weeks past when she turned 15 months but better late than never!

Big girl at the doctor's office

Emmalyn's 15 month questionnaire

Clothes off and ready for the exam.  Now mom just needs to keep her busy until the doctor comes in.

Emmalyn totally talked up her pediatrician and had a LONG conversation with him.  She wasn't too happy about the exam but I held her on my lap through it and it was okay.  

She got two shots and once I laid her down to get them she started freaking out.  She quickly recovered though and even waved goodbye to the nurse as she left the room.

Here's Emmalyn's Stats:

Weight: 19 lbs 14 oz (25th percentile)

Height: 29 inches (5th percentile) - - woo big growth here!

Head: 17.8 in (34th percentile)

I thought it was interesting that Maxwell measured exactly 29 inches at his 15 month check up but Emmalyn weighs less than he did.

3rd week of June, 2015

Gotta love the "cheese" face

Maxwell and dad playing badminton/baseball/tennis with the ball girl, Emmalyn

Helping daddy 

Playing with cousins.  Wish you could see Emmalyn's little cowgirl dress.  It's pretty cute.  :)

Look! Maxwell picked a strawberry!  That's two off the plant!

This is a very special cheerio.

Happy as a clam when surrounded by her favorite cheerios!

Enjoying her bottle

Sleeping sweetly tonight with his "special delivery bear"

Fun at Kindermusik

Soccer - - He's standing there for kickoff with his hand in his shirt.  Everyone else doesn't know this, but I know what he's doing.  He's self-soothing by touching his nipple.  When I see this, I know he's tired and ready to be done.

Ooh!  He's running.  Good to see he's got a little bit of gas left in the tank.

I was doing some weeding in the back and found a worm.  I got Maxwell to look at it and even got him to touch it.  

Snowcones!

Emmalyn is really aggressive to get what she wants.

I have been watching some teeth on her bottom right that are getting close to popping up and found that her big tooth next to her canine on bottom left popped through! Before her canine came in, too!  I couldn't believe I had missed that it was that close..

If you ask her what sound any animal makes, she will make a growling noise.

Maxwell and Emmalyn are engaging and talking to each other.  Maxwell makes her laugh, which I love.

It's fun to see Maxwell continue to grow and get more independent

Remember how Maxwell didn't call Peter "daddy"? Instead he always called him "Peter"?  Yeah...and people were super worried and uncomfortable with it?  Well, Peter is more "daddy" than "Peter" now.  It's a little sad to me.  :(

Maxwell is so great at staying in his bed and never getting out on his own (He calls for one of us when he wakes up and we go get him).  This week, he was in bed during a nap and he needed to go potty. So, he got out of bed, went potty, and went back and shut his door and got back in bed.  Nice although we couldn't believe he got out of bed on his own!  Not sure if this is a good thing or not.

I got a text from peter while I was gardening and Maxwell got my phone out of my pocket, read the text to me, and then called peter through Siri to answer his question.  Crazy that he can do all of that!

Maxwell and I were leaving and I was telling Maxwell that Daddy was going to take my car somewhere and he goes "No,  daddy's a crazy driver! He drives me crazy."  :)  funny!