Summertime is Fading Fast

Although the weather doesn't show it, fall is soon upon us and it's filling up fast! Almost every Saturday in September is already booked! And Emma has a jam packed school year lined up with 3 days of preschool, soccer and ballet. She's already talked about how she is doing basketball next. We've had a busy last few weeks and not sure if I can remember everything! At the beginning of August, Justin and crew came to stay for a few days and Emma was so excited to see Jansen again (poor Collins and Luke just get left out, but pretty soon they will be right there in the mix with them!)
Emma and Elle had their first little dance camp and Emma was beyond excited to go and had a BLAST! As soon as it was over, she started asking when she got to go back. We went to see Courtney at their new house one day and spent a few hours at the pool. We had a "peaceful" lunch and it ended with a nice sticky lemonade shower from Jansen's busted cup. Neither of us know how it happened, but all of a sudden Courtney and I felt a gush of liquid on our legs and had no idea where it was coming from. Finally, I realized Jansen had a huge hole in her cup and her lemonade was spewing everywhere! A poor, super preggo girl had to sop up all the mess and we bolted out of there!
The following week we were headed to meet at the mall for a little shopping and lunch. Unfortunately, other plans were to be had. As I was headed into the parking lot to meet Courtney, a woman side swiped us on the passenger side. Luckily, no one was hurt and the kids really didn't have an idea what happened. Although, Emma started saying she was scared after I told her the car had a boo-boo when she asked why we weren't moving. Aunt Courtney took Emma and her girls to do some shopping, while Luke and I stayed back with Matt to get everything sorted out. (I owe you one Court!) Two and a half hours later, we finally met them for lunch at Chipotle. I swear there should be cameras following Courtney and I around when we get together with the kids. We sat in a circular booth and the children turned into wild monkeys. They were sitting on the ledge of the booth, in and out of a high chair, two rounds of spilled chocolate milk, and of course rice ALL over the place! We were both more than exhausted when we left.
Emma had a soccer clinic at Wake last Friday and she was super pumped to go. I swear this child had never ran this much in her life. It was an hour and a half of non-stop moving and running. She came over a few times towards the end and said "I'm tiiired!!" "I just can't keep up!" and "I'M HUUUUUNGRY!!!!" She was worn out when it was over and scarfed her dinner down that night. Monday was her first team practice and it was a hot practice. Emma was losing steam at the end and did not want to finish, but she managed to stick around until the end and said she had fun.
Luke is thisclose to being a full time walker. He just moves SO fast on those little knees of his and he knows it. Why would you wobble walk when you could move 10x's as fast on your knees? But he takes 6-7 steps at a time. Today, for the first time, he was walking and fell and instead of just crawling he got back up twice and continued walking. He may not be walking fully, but he is a full on climber, that's for sure! He is also a  jabbering fool and can say several words. He can say Mommy, Dada. Sissy, Emma, Bebba (Bella and he says it every time any dog barks), Uh-oh, bye-bye, and a few more I can't remember! He also loves giving hugs and hugs Emma all day long! They are getting better about "playing" together, although Luke seems to annoy her more often than not. But that's what little brothers are for, right?? Emma's personality is growing bigger than she is everyday. She's a smart little cookie and isn't afraid to say what's on her mind! Since Elle has started kindergarten, she has become fascinated by it and asks me almost every day what she has to count to before kindergarten. I told her 100 and she said "I can do that. 100 hundred! See!!" And then today she asked what she had to count back from and I told her she had to count from 100 backwards. She paused for a minute and then goes, "Watch this Momma" she then proceeds to turn around and says "100 hundred" She turns back around and said "I did it" Ohhh man, teenage years are going to be brutal!!

 Lovin that sucker!

 This happened, literally, right behind me!

 So excited for ballet!

 Getting brave

 Emma reading a story

 Soccer time!

 Told you he was a climber!!

Different Dynamics

 I've always heard that no two kids are the same-even siblings-just like no two pregnancies are the same. Let me be the first to say, I believe both statements100%. Emma and Luke favor each other, in looks, very much. Thankfully Emma was always in pink as a baby because, looking through pictures, it would be hard to tell who was who sometimes. We are VERY fortunate that we have always had GREAT sleepers and I don't wish it any other way! That, however, is about where their similarities end. A lot has to do with the fact that they are opposite sexes, and I also think Luke being a preemie has made him a lot different too.
Emma slept in our room from the minute she came home until she was 8 months old. She refused her bottle at 9 months and started solely on a sippie cup. She did not want to drink anymore milk, so I was literally making scrambled eggs with formula and throwing a little on top when they were ready. I had to do some crazy things to get more formula and fat in her-oatmeal with four scoops of formula and a whole lot of butter anyone?? She did love her baby food though, she started eating cereal and baby food from six months to a little after her first birthday. She has the exact same eating habits as me-if she's doing something else or busy playing, she is not thinking about food. Most days I have to drag her away from what she is doing to get her to eat lunch and dinner. She could really care less about food and eating-she has more important things on her mind! She's also a great snuggler and loves sleeping in our room (and let's be honest, we love having her in our room even though she needs to get out more!)
I know you are supposed to document EVERYTHING with your first baby, but I honestly can't remember when she started walking. I know she wasn't walking at her first birthday, so I'm assuming it was sometime around 14 months. She also loved to follow me around everywhere-if I left her sight, she came looking for me. And she loved (and still does!) me to hold her and carry her. She wouldn't just jump in other people's arms-she had to warm up to you for a bit first.
I know Luke is a boy, and they say boys are everywhere, and they mean everywhere! He is all over the place and so fast!! Luke began his adventure in this world slightly, ok let's be real-VERY, different than Emma. He knew early on that he needed to come join this party and no one was going to tell him otherwise. When he finally came home from the hospital, we started out having him in our room. He was the loudest sleeper EVER. He grunted and snorted and sounded like an old man pig. We moved him into the den in the pack and play and left our bedroom door open to hear him. Soon after he started sleeping in his own room and has been there ever since. He does not like having people in the room he's sleeping in. He has to be put to bed alone and as soon as he notices there is someone in the room with him-he is up and ready to go. Don't know if we'll be having slumber parties with him or not!
The second thing that stood out the most as a huge difference was having to set an alarm to wake up every three hours, in the middle of the night, to feed him. Normally, babies wake up on their own to eat, but with preemies you don't get that "luxury". That lasted until he was about 4 months old. Now-this boy is an eating machine! I honestly think he just loves eating-not so much food, but the actual act of eating. Anytime we go out to dinner, he literally eats from the moment we sit down until we leave the restaurant. And he will eat anything you put in front of him. He still LOVES his bottle and had zero interest in a sippie cup-another vast difference between the two! He will drink anything besides milk out of a regular cup with a straw. Try giving him a sippie cup with a straw and he wants no part of it! So frustrating sometimes, but it will happen! We also didn't give him very much baby food, mainly because we didn't want another Emma situation with the bottle. He stayed solely on his bottle until about 9 months-we gave him food to make sure he knew how to use a spoon-and then we started on "people food".
Another difference between them, is that he pays close attention to all of his surroundings. Emma is very observant and remembers a lot of stuff, but she didn't study people and things the way he does. It's almost like he doesn't want to fail in what he's trying to do-get a toy that got away, climbing up and down stairs....
We think this is how he's going to handle walking. He is a master at standing up on his own for about 10-15 seconds and just hanging out. He just started bouncing up and down while standing too-he's quite proud of it. Our thought is he is not going to take one or two steps for a while, but he's going to start walking and never stop! So, if he needs to take his time to figure it out, no complaints on this end!!
One wonderful thing they both have in common is their love for babies. Emma has always been obsessed with babies and every time she sees one, she asks me if she can touch them. Luke sees babies now and starts hollering to get close to them. I wouldn't change that trait for anything in the world. The "saddest" difference, to me, is the difference in the way they "need" me. As I said, Emma is my little shadow, she follows me everywhere. She always has to know where I am and if she can't see me, she comes to find me. She climbs up in my lap all the time and snuggles on the couch with me. Luke, on the other hand, doesn't have time for that. He's too busy running around and discovering new things. He will sit with Matt for a good while and just hang out, but not at all with me. I guess Matt would say now you know how I feel-I don't like it! So, those rare times he does cry out for me or comes to snuggle, for literally 3 seconds, I jump all over it. He also knows no stranger, he will go to anyone you try to hand him off too. If you want to feel loved, just hold him for a minute and he will be your best friend.
Although they may be very similar and different, at the same time, there is nothing about either of them I would change (except for maybe more snuggles from Luke!). They have both changed our lives and we are looking forward to all that's in store for us!

Let's Go on Vacation!

We were invited to go down to the Lake with Michael and Heather for an entire week for the 4th. I have to say, I've haven't been this excited/ready for a vacation in a really long time! We were going to be gone for about 7 days-the longest all four of us have ever gone out of town at once. Since we were staying at a house that didn't have babies yet, I knew I was going to be packing a LOT of stuff. I tried to do the best I could to not over pack too much and stay really organized. Despite it taking an entire day, I was able to pack only what we REALLY needed and I have to say, I did a great job! We used/wore everything I packed! Too bad I'll probably never be able to do it again-ha! We got to the lake Friday night and set to work unpacking without taking over the whole house. Emma immediately spotted the pool and wanted to get in for a swim. Before we knew it, she was skinny dippin and having a great time!
We spent the next 5 days sitting by the pool, relaxing, reading, grilling out, and enjoying being away from "real life" for a few days. Emma quickly latched onto both Michael and Heather-always asking where they were and swimming with them any time they got in the pool. She has two new best friends now for sure. And since they are expecting a little boy in the fall, I think it's going to be hard to keep Emma away!

Summer is Here!

Ok, so technically its not summer time, but around here it is! Emma's last day of school was right before Memorial Day, but before that was her program at school. We have been practicing and practicing for weeks her song. She would only tell us one song, although I knew there were more! Almost everyday she would sing it for us. When the day was here, we were anxious to see how she would do. Last year, she was distracted by a hangnail and tuned out for most of the program. This year, all her nails were checked and we were ready! As I thought, she was supposed to sing three songs. The first two she acted a little bored and didn't get too into them. But when that third song came on, she was ready. She sang as loud as she could and made all the hand movements and had a great time. Elle did a great job with her songs as well.
Fast forward a  few weeks and it's the end of May. Matt was down in Pinehurst for a few days and Emma asked for a slumber party with her mommy. Luke spent the night at Grandmommy's and Emma and I enjoyed a fun dinner at TJ's Deli. While we were eating, a little ballerina came in and Emma was amazed. She watched everything she was doing and asked me a million questions. She was talking all about how she was going to be a beautiful ballerina and all the twirls she would do. The dance studio she is going to this fall is right around the corner, so we drove by after dinner and she was even more excited. After dinner, we came home and put our jammies on. I popped some popcorn, got out the chocolate and climbed into bed to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks 2. Emma loved it so much that it ended and she wanted to watch it again-she fell asleep during the second showing.
Emma got to go to her first baseball game too! She was looking forward to popcorn and cotton candy. It was a perfect day for a game and we had seats out of the sun, so we were nice and cool. After about ten minutes, she was ready to go but we told her it wasn't over yet. She enjoyed going back inside to get lots of food-purple chocolate, donuts, hotdogs-you name it, they had it! The team they were playing had on green uniforms and Emma was paying a little bit of attention and started asking who we wanted to win. We told her the white one was our team, so she started cheering for the white team! Although they lost, we all had a great time and Emma didn't want to leave when it was over.
She and Elle have gotten to play together a lot so far, and are enjoying Emma's new Dora pirate ship and the pools and water table in the backyard. We have also made a few trips to the Elks Club and she loves playing in the Kids Room and looking at the ducks.
Today we were at Kari's parents house for Brandtson's first birthday party. I snuck out early to get a massage and we are planning on taking Emma and Elle to see Madagascar 3, or Alex, as Emma calls it.

We're Goin to the Beach!

I feel like it's been a long time since I've blogged and I have a feeling it's going to get harder and harder to stay on top of this-but I'm not giving up yet!! Justin and Courtney were here for Luke's birthday in March and we talked about coming to see them in May for Jansen's 3rd birthday. Emma was BEYOND excited to go to the beach (I really don't think she had a full grasp on what the beach really was, though). We talked to Jansen at least once a week through facetime and Emma was growing more and more impatient to go see her and the beach. The day FINALLY arrived and I thought she was going to burst through her skin with excitement. Luckily, we got her a few new movies to watch in the car and the three-ish hours went off without a hitch, for the most part. When we pulled into the drive-way, Emma immediately starts asking where the beach was. Soon enough little lady, soon enough! It only took about 3 minutes, and Emma and Jansen were off running around all over the place. Saturday was Jansen's princess party and Emma woke up again asking to go to the beach and insisted on putting her bathing suit on. Everyone had a great time at the party-it was nice and warm, perfect for playing in the water! After the party was over and the house somewhat cleaned, we were headed to the beach!!
Emma squealed with delight when she saw the ocean and was so excited to get out and see it all. She doesn't like to sit inside her sand box, so we were curious to see how she reacted to the larger than life sand box. She did great! It took her a minute to realize she had to stand on it, but soon she was running around looking for seashells and making sand castles. Luke was a little squeamish when we plopped in down in the sand, but he quickly got over it. I really didn't think Emma would be too keen on the water, but she shocked me! She fell in love with the water and didn't want to get out, even when her teeth were chattering and lips were blue. Luke thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen and squealed every time a wave came. Needless to say, the kids loved the beach and had a blast!
J and C live in a great, kid friendly neighborhood. After the kids ate dinner, a few older girls came over and played with Emma and Jansen outside for over an hour and we enjoyed a little quite inside :)
Sunday was Mother's Day, so Blair, Courtney and I headed to the beach for a little "gal time" and despite the chilly wind, enjoyed the beach before it got too crowded. Before we knew it, it was time to pack up to start the trek home. We (hopefully!!) got a few great pictures of the cousins before heading out to grab some lunch. Everyone had a great time and we can't wait to go back!!

Birthday Birthday Birthday Party!

April is quite the birthday month in our family. There's at least five within a week of each other. This year, Elle turned five on a Thursday-not that significant, expect that Emma is in school that day as well. And it just so happened to be Muffins with Mom that morning. So, not only was it Elle's birthday, but Christine and I were able to go have breakfast with them. And, she had a cookie cake for snack, AND we were going to Chuckie Cheese! Talk about an All-Start fifth birthday! Christine had to get her wisdom teeth out after breakfast, so she couldn't make Chuckie Cheese. So, Grandmommy, Jen, Luke and the girls headed over after school. The girls-and Jen-had a BLAST! They were from one ride to the next and Emma loved riding this big horse ride. I think she rode it 6 times. We did manage to get them to stop long enough to scarf down two slices of pizza and some fruit juice before they were gone again. Two hours later, we were able to bribe them outside by promising a slice of cookie cake and Luke was loving it! He couldn't get enough of it and had a green face to prove it.
Friday afternoon, Emma headed over to Christine's for a slumber party!! She was looking forward to sleeping in Elle's bunk beds and making Princess and the Frog cupcakes. Saturday was Cindy's surprise birthday party and Matt was feeling up for the party, so we all headed out to their house. Cindy was VERY surprised to see everyone at her house waiting to celebrate with her. Emma was loving playing with Marley and they ran around the whole night. There were disposable cameras people were to use to take pictures and they held two of them all night. Marley did manage to take a few pictures, but Emma had the camera backwards and if she had taken a photo, she would've blinded herself with a flash.
I swear Luke has a wooden leg. We arrived at their house around 5 and he had 6 ounces of milk, a little bit later he had an entire hot dog and cupcake, another 5 ounces of milk and before we left (around 9:30) he had 5 more ounces of milk. And that was only while we were at the party! He sees food and just needs to eat it-ha.
Sunday was Elle's birthday party and we went to see Arietteye at Market Place theater. After the movie, we had "dinner" reservations at 4 at a Japanese restaurant. We had some time to kill, so we went to the dollar store and the girls were going crazy picking out all kinds of random things they wanted. Christine and I finally realized we had to get out of there, fast! Dad, Lisa, Brooke and Sandy were able to come eat with us and we all had a good time. The fire was a big hit and they did a great job at making Elle feel special on her birthday. Once again, Luke scarfed down 10 ounces, a plate full of noodles, rice and bananas. He even managed to attack a cupcake when we weren't looking. Emma is not much of a fan of rice or Japanese food, so she had a ridiculously blue smurf drink and then a pb&j when we got home.