She is Three

It's hard for me to write that title! It will be interesting to see what three brings us. Two has been twice as much.. twice as much sweetness and twice as much trouble.

Emerson has got to be the greatest big sister around. She has always been a tremendous help and very sweet with Harrison. I'm not sure how that will change when he can start taking her toys... but this past year has been so fun to see the little mommy in her. I adore how she talks to him and how much he adores her too.

She amazes me with the things she comes up with and remembers! I mean really, the things she remembers and figures out! She has really grown a ton in this last year. She's getting pretty creative and loves making up words and really loves making up songs but also has started pretending and imaginative play. She's even creative in her naughtiness. I try not to let her hear me say this but her creativity cracked me up. One time I told her to do something and she looked at me and said no (not okay in our house). As I got up to deliver some kind of consequence she quickly said, "Noah! I was saying No-ah!" I didn't actually process what she was trying to say until after, which is probably good. Then one time the same scenario but she shook her head instead. Again, I get up to 'remind' her we don't tell parents 'no' and she says again, "Noah, I was saying No-ah, like Kinoah (one of our librarians)." Ha! It doesn't work when you didn't actually verbalize the 'no' sweetie.

Here are some of her stats for this past year:

• She can recognize and write most of the upper case letters ('K', 'S', 'X' and 'Y' are a little tricky still)
• She can recognize all and write a couple of her lowercase letters
• She can recognize 1-10 and writes 1, 2, 4 and 5
• She counts 1-12, 14, 16-20
• She can write and spell her name (although sometimes she insists there's only one E: Emrson) and she can spell Papa <3 li="">
• She can recognize the words: Emerson, 'yes', 'no' and 'papa'
• She can cut straight, diagonal and a pretty rough circle. 
• She loves music. I couldn't even tell you her favorite song, there are so many. 
• She still loves to read. Favorites this year have been anything Fancy Nancy, the Francis books by Russell Hoban and The Hat, The Mitten and Hedgie's Surprise by Jan Brett (She sees a Jan Brett book and says, "Oh! This is a Jan Brett book!"); she also really loves Read-Aloud Bible Stories by Ella K. Lindvall; Ree Drummond's Charlie books, and In the Rain with Baby Duck by Amy Hest was a favorite for quite some time. Ohh, and Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers. We read that so much in preparation for Harrison and it's continued to be a favorite since.
• She doesn't seem to have a particular 'thing' anymore. She still likes rocks, but not as much; she likes her babies but it's not an everyday thing. I suppose singing and making up songs is probably what sticks out most about her day-to-day activities. 
• She still loves art: playdough, painting, coloring, dry erase board, sidewalk chalk; but she's juuust starting to draw freehand. 
• She is still my little helper and still a bit of a shadow. She does play independently more now, especially if it's structured and I set her up with a quiet activity while I'm feeding Harrison. Yet I still rarely make a meal, clean a surface or do a load of laundry without her 'helping' me. 
• She likes to play with her kitchen, legos, puzzles, games (The Winnie the Pooh Game was a non-stop favorite for quite some time in there and now we have the original Chutes & Ladders in the rotation) and ride her trike, but she's really not that into dress-up yet. I think art and cutting probably take up most of her time. Now that it's summer she's also pretty obsessed with her wading pool and swinging on her big girl swing. 

Sometimes the days are long but they are also full of sweet moments, the occasional snuggle and usually some book reading. She's so spunky, funny and enthusiastic. She gets so tickled at the littlest things. If you tell her something with wide eyes, hers are immediately wide and full of wonder.

I just also have to say that this was our most fun photo shoot in a really long time. She was so into it, suggesting poses and saying, 'just one more'. There was no bribery or fake compliments. She was so sweet! 

And lovin her room :)

Her barely legible alphabet <3 td="">

Drawing Book Party Favors

These were so fun to make! They took a little bit of trial and error but once I got it figured out they were pretty quick.

I debated stapling them but I'm glad I sewed them.. even if my sewing machine is having issues.

These covers are plastic so the holes stay when you make any mistakes but they also hold well. I used large crayons and it was nice that they all fit on there. I spaced them about half an inch apart and it took about one and an eighth inches of elastic.

Eight Months

This last month has seemed like there were a lot of changes but I think the biggest change has been getting teeth.. which means teething, which changes everything else. Like sleep. And his formerly always easy-going self is now occasionally fussy. He got is first tooth on May 1st, and the second a week later.

He was not particularly thrilled about this photo shoot.

He is roughly 27.5" long and I haven't weighed him. He is solidly out of 6 month clothes and into 9-12 months. He is getting a lot better at sitting up. I don't quite trust him to walk off and leave him sitting, but I don't have to hover quite as close. He can even recover sometimes if he leans too far to one side, however, he's his own worst enemy with arching his back and throwing himself backwards. He seems to have the beginnings of some intentionality in his movements. In the walker, he seems to be trying to follow one of us around (although he can only go basically backwards and forwards) and I think he's starting to use rolling to get to things now. He enjoys reading books, but mostly to look at the pictures and pat the pages. Bonus if the book is textured, then he's all over it. I see his little pincer grasp starting to emerge too.

Chewing, no.. not chewing.. Reading with my mouth. Ya.

We also introduced 'food' this month but in the end, that's getting put on hold until next month. We started with breastmilk yogurt, which the first time he had it, he loved it! Couldn't get enough of it or the spoon. Then that night he threw up four or five times and I thought it must not have agreed with him. Then the next day (in the car) Emerson threw up and the following day Blake and I were hit. It's so strange that it started with him. I held off on feeding him more for a few days and when I tried again, he was really adamantly against me putting anything in his mouth. I put some on his tray and he enjoyed playing with it but he didn't make any attempts to put it in his mouth (and trust me, he's good at putting things in his mouth). So we'll try again next month. I'll do breastmilk kefir next time because it's even more probiotic rich than yogurt (and easier to make) and probably egg yolk and avocado.

Another new thing this month is his... we'll call it communication. He did start putting his hands up when he wants picked up and he has a certain way of telling me he wants to eat. The kicker is that all of a sudden when he's playing with something and it's taken away (by me, Emerson, or he drops it) he really throws a fit. I'm not sure if that's communication or a behavior but it really surprised me. He just clouds up and rains. I think it surprises me so much because he doesn't really cry unless he's really, really hungry and tired (like in the car when I can't stop to feed him). Otherwise he mostly just whines. And it's just such an obvious tantrum, so classic. I think I'm a little jealous actually. I look at him and think how many times I wish I could respond that way ;). And because I'm mean, here's a video of it.

There you have it. Our little guy that loves his little world. There aren't as many photo shoot pictures because he just wasn't having it, and because a lot of the time he was tolerating it was taken up by our photographer in training ;).

His teeth, the second one is probably not visible through the spit bubble.

Are we done yet?

He really loves this little stainless steel cup from Emerson's kitchen.

I took the cup away. 

No shower and no make up.. but she's getting better at taking our picture :)

"Just don't take my cup, okay"

He loves his LOUD sister (I mean seriously, turn down your volume for this one)

Seven Months

I really did take pictures on April 25th, when Harrison turned 7 months.. I promise! The same day I also took some newborn shots for my friend and then a few days later I took some pictures of my newborn niece. I got the newborn pictures edited and shared and that used up all my computer time until now.

I can hardly even remember what Harrison did just before turning 7 months. We had a six month check up and he was in the 80-something percentiles for height and weight. He weighted 17lbs and 6oz. He just started sitting up for over half a minute, but continues to be pretty unsteady and usually ends up arching his back and losing his balance. This kid is a roller! Emerson didn't roll at all but he gets himself all over the place by rolling. I don't think he actually intends to go anywhere. We've tried putting all the toys in one corner of the rug and him in another and he looks at them, tries to reach them and then gives up, yet eventually he'll roll around and play with whatever he finds, book basket, shoe, carpet fuzz and oh hey, a toy! I've been a little lacking on videos, so here's some laughter:

Harrison is still very much my happy, sweet boy. Wakes up happy and goes to sleep pretty easily. He LOVES to put everything and anything in his mouth but doesn't quite seem ready for food yet. He is still my blankie boy and loves his mommy. He also loves to watch Emerson and continues to prioritize socialization and staying alert to any possible noise or movement in the room over eating and sleeping. I still have to take him to a different room if I actually want him to eat. His sister is losing patience for that (which makes mommy lose patience).

I am just treasuring every moment with him, because as usual, this first year goes so quickly. I'm excited to see what will develop as time goes but I'm in no hurry for those thighs to slim down or those cheeks to melt away. I'm soaking in every smell, every smile and every moment to sit and cuddle (even if it means his sister is stamping her arm up in the next room...).

Aaand pictures.

This sequence cracks me up

Trying on cute hat

Baby realizes cute hat is on his head

Baby does what babies do with hats

Puts hat in mouth

He doesn't look as tired of pictures as he was ;)

He's just so sweet and patient with her (if babies could actually be patient)

I left them at storytime to go get some books and I get this picture in a text.
First time sitting! Daddy said he balanced for 45 seconds.

There was some adult foot support here, under the water.. but they both love their baths.

Helping me do laundry

We sure do [Love life]

I love this picture of her. It's just exactly Emerson. Messy hair, real smile.
She was so proud to be taking pictures of us. She's getting pretty good.

She took this picture <3 a="" and="" few="" focused="" it="" less="" like="" more="" td="" that="" were="">

And several like this.

And since you made it to the end, another video. This cracks me up (wait until the end).. it's classic Harrison.. just easy going love bug.