Bounce House

A girl in Zackary's class had her 4th birthday at a bounce house. Zackary did so well with the loud noise and crazyness going on all around. There were two rooms with different bounce houses. When he got to the second room he was tired. It was so awesome though to watch him go through them. He wanted me to go in with him, secretly I was like fun!!!, so I did and we had a blast. Finally he went by himself but I could here him screaming my name and sure enough when I went in after him he was stuck at a slippery area! LOL...I helped him over and some others and off he went climbing up real high to slide down real fast with legs wide open!!!!

My Walker

A Valentine Day stroll!!!


All Emeline wants to do is use her walker/stroller to get around and explore. It is so funny. We put shoes on her and take her outside and she walks all around the neighborhood, but we have to go the way she wants! She has three of these walkers that she uses...her favorite one though is in the picture below!

My Little Ladybug is ONE

Okay, is Emeline really one already? I can't believe it. Her first year went by so much faster than Zackary's first year. I guess that is normal though. I don't really do hardcore themes for Zackary's birthday's other than a beach theme, but I ended up going all out for Emelines-and it was so fun! I bought ladybug birthday invitations (last minute so I had no time to look for invites and my computer was broken so couldn't order online). The weeks following I went looking for ladybug themed stuff for the party and I was having no luck. A week before the store I was getting her balloons at got in all this ladybug FIRST birthday stuff....it was amazing! I made the food, had the cake done through a friend with natural food coloring and decorated the house in red/black/purple. She looked adorable in her yellow Hanna Anderson outfit!

Meet our new holiday/birthday dog Zackary named "Bubba."

I saw this stuff on pinterest (ladybug crackers and ladybug babybel cheeses.)


Here is her purple smash cake. I really didn't know what to expect. Zackary took some licks of his but not a lot so I figured she would have the cake all over her and just love it. Well after this bite...

and this lick...she was done! No more! (secretly I thought-thank gosh! Good job Mommy!)

My friend CM was at her party and because he has visited often lately she has gotten used to him a bit. Here she is totally flirting with him. She kept smiling like this to him and he would just laugh. It was the cutest part of the afternoon besides when she bit her smash cake!

Once she warmed up to the 20 family and friends that were there she started doing laps around the living room. Up stairs into the kitchen, down hallway, down stairs and back into living room. My mom ran after her over and over!

Emeline also had her first year check up. It was long. They checked her lead and hemoglobin (both normal), gave two vaccs and I had a lot of questions for the doc. She is 30.5in. (89%), 22.4 pounds (69%) and a small head! She has decided to fight her afternoon naps. She's up early between 5-6 and so tired by 9. Sometimes she falls right to sleep sometimes she fights it forever. Then once it is time for her second afternoon nap she stays wide awake....standing at the edge of her crib and cries for me. So shes awake from 10:30/11 am until bed where she maybe makes it to 5pm maybe even earlier to bed. So I know she's changing, etc...but it still sucks and is hard!
She has become so good at walking with her tiny baby stroller. She moves it forcefully so she can turn corners or go backwards. She plops down on her butt as well when she wants down. Dancing, well I think she is going to take after her mom...cause she loves to dance! Some other things she loves are her doggie Bentley, her brother (who is still having a hard time with her), Mickey Mouse, most food (especially all cheeses), walks, peek a boo, bath time all her brothers toys, drums, swinging at the park and she is addicted to her pacifiers! She waves, picks up small things really easily with her two fingers, understands what we are saying most of the time, walks well while holding on and drinks well from her sippy cup with straw!
We love you ladybug! Happy One Year!

The Latest

Emeline is so cute. She is mastering crawling on all fours instead of scooting, standing up and walking with her walker. She moves from chair to chair, holding on really well and is getting into everything. She got into a drawer the other night and took out all of our menus and had so much fun ripping paper and exploring. She is so into dogs. She crawls into Bentley's bed with him and stares at him-hysterical. She loves loves loves her brother so much. He's to into playing and being independent so he pretty much stays away from her and Bentley. But Zackary is doing better at school. He doesn't cry as much and I think actually enjoy's it. His new battle is holding his pee and poo poo, not wanting to go at school. I have to work on that...

"I am a dinosaur-roar," says Zackary. He has started doing more imaginative play. He loves the dinosaur train and Emeline (much to my attempt to not let her watch tv) watches it with him and relaxes before bedtime. She loves her baths and pacifiers and she's a great eater.

She loved it up here and keeps trying to get back up.

Holding on and walking all around the house. Look at those two cute teeth!!!

My pink blessing growing fast each day.

Melts Your Heart

Christmas 2011 was outstanding. The kids did so well with all the hustle and bustle of decorating, shopping, planning, cooking, discovering (elf), company and opening mass amounts of gifts on Christmas. I don't even remember what was from who, when, how, etc...it was like open, go go go go! The kids got to see both parents of mine...mom on Christmas Eve and Dad on Christmas. The food was good, the company was great and it felt really nice to have family at our house surrounding our children and providing laughter and love! And we had a mimosa bar Christmas morning...yum!

I love this picture. We told Zackary that after visiting Santa he could have a lollypop. Both him and Emme did so well taking Santa pictures, I was amazed. So with a happy boy and lollypop in hand we ventured off to take more pictures and look at all the fountains! It was a fun day!

This sweet lady offered to take some family pictures for us. Emeline had the same expression in all 20 pictures this lady took...it's hysterical. I think she was thinking, "who is that person."

My daughter...still can't believe. Santa made my wish come true-just way earlier in the year!

Zackary is still infatuated with fountains and waterfalls. So much so that Santa brought him one for Christmas and had it all hooked up in the backyard for Christmas morning. It's about a 20 gallon too..very big...on sale for Santa...and gorgeous. It's right behind our bedroom and it puts me to sleep. I love it as well as Zackary! His eyes lit up when he saw it. A good moment.

I was wrapping presents one day (this one was for Jedo-my Dad) and Emeline came to help but in the process she got all wrapped up in the ribbon. I was laughing watching her try to get undone.


Christmas morning. She was our "Santa Baby." Emeline loved all of Zackary's presents way more than hers. Note to self...

Um...is this not the cutest picture you have ever seen???????????????????????????

A Favorite Pic of 2011

My Favorite 30 Minutes of the Day

It's been awhile since I have updated this blog-I guess since late October. Not much is new other than a fast growing baby and more advanced new language coming from Zackary constantly! Preschool is a sensitive subject with him. I never know if he is going to cry when I leave or just join in and start playing with the others. He has really latched onto the teachers-think he prefers adults over kids right now-and seeing him light up when I pick him up at 1pm is the best! But I really want him to feel comfortable and enjoy it as well. Maybe after Christmas when there isn't as many holidays and in-service days, etc...he'll get into the groove and it will flow more smoothly for him. He also for about a month now has been going through his terrible twos, even though he is 3. He pushed two kids at school and well is hitting at home and screaming and throwing his toys. He gets so frustrated and mad, it's hard for me to watch. I don't want him to go through this but apparently it's normal. He has his good days and bad. He's getting harder at dinner time and he really doesn't like Emeline to touch any of his toys. He still says the cutest things, is completely attached to mommy, and makes me jump up and down inside with love!

Yesterday he was in a Christmas program at his preschool. All the kids sang Silent Night which is what him and I sing every night before bed. Watching him and seeing his smile at me, I got teary eyed. These moments as a mom are the BEST. Tonight I said, "Do you know how much I love you?" He said, "this much and reached his arms wide open..." I said, "yes and more." He said, "I love you to the yellow moon, orange moon, red moon, white moon, blue moon and green moon." Ahhhh...beat that!

Emeline is 10.5 months and changing every day. She loves loves loves the boys in her life-her Daddy, brother and doggie. When Bentley comes in the room she gets so excited. Her mission in life is to scoot over to Bentley and touch his paws, collar, and nose. It's hysterical. After awhile Bentley looks up at me like come on mom...tell her to stop! :) She isn't exactly crawling on her knees yet, she scoots mostly but she's standing really well and moving along with her hands to get around. Apparently that is exactly what I did when I was her age. Go straight from scooting to walking! She loves to eat...she'll eat and eat and eat.! Her favorites are carrots, squash, zucchini, puffs, and fruit and plain yo baby yogurt.

We can take her anywhere and she just goes along with it...and that is new to us cause Zackary was not like that. Emme came with us to watch Zackary's performance and she loved every moment. She watched the other little girls and babies that were there and smiled at everyone except Ms. Maso (one of Zackary's teachers-she always cries at the sight of her...poor Ms. Maso).

She pushes every button (with her middle finger) on her toys and just smiles when they make a noise and light up. She makes the cars move on the floor like she's driving them. She feeds Elmo Zackary's fake food, she puts the balls in her hippo where they go, she turns the pages in her books, she started signing for milk, says mom, dada, da for dog I think, she loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse..I try not to get her to watch it but she does yoga just to see the tv screen especially during the songs, she kisses everything, she loves her soothies, and she loves her bjorn walks!

She has figured out all her toys and plays with them perfectly...it's amazing. I swear she's so smart. She just now has figured out how to turn her aquarium on in her crib. It's so cute! The best is her smile...she scrunches up her nose and eyes so tightly-it makes you instantly smile and feel all warm and cozy inside. She needs all new clothes...has grown out of all of them-hum...Christmas sales!

But my ultimate favorite relaxing time of the day right now is 4:30-5. Her and I go in my room and I turn down the lights. I nurse her for awhile and then Ben brings in a bottle for her to top her off. She lays in the nook of my knee and while playing with her feet and watching either Friends, Giada or Ellen she drinks her whole 5-7 ounces (on top of the 2-3 from nursing). It's relaxing, she's happy, quiet...I love it. When she finishes the bottle she looks up at me and smiles this huge smile like she's so proud of herself! Then I change her into her pj's on my bed and we play for a minute. Bedtime with Daddy is next and she falls right to sleep!