So Annoyed...

So, I have been working on this post for weeks...literally. We desperately need a faster internet connection so I keep getting a bad request error every time I post. So, here it is...the unfinished picture post.

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Some of the goings on around here from April/May/June.


Emily meeting her Uncle Sean for the first time. We are so excited for Sean, Tina, Cody, & Allison to move to the area this summer!


Kason hunting Easter eggs...


Earlier on during our Easter celebration, Kason had a meltdown b/c of a lack of sleep and this racecar. He absolutely refused to get out of it!


He was later comforted with his favorite purple dinosaur and friends (thanks Aunt Frankie & Uncle Larry).


Holding Emmy in what will someday be her carseat.


Trying on one of Daddy's shirts.


Emmy enjoying/eating her lovey.


...and her seahorse.


Big Brother/Little Sister


Kason swinging "higher higher". He also likes to push Emmy "higher higher" in her swing.


Kason sleeping (2 months old) Emmy sleeping (3 months old)


Checking out the turtle on our way to feed the ducks in S.A.

Feeding the ducks

Eating lunch after our attempt at going to church

Daddy's Little Princess

Mommy's Little Man

Silly Boy

Happy Girl

Did I mention she was a happy girl?

Tummy Time...she can now roll in both directions, but is a true master at back to tummy.

So Pretty

Cheese!

Talking to daddy on the phone

Surprise!

Cuddling with PaPa

Kason, Kolby, and Brooklyn at Blake & Jen's wedding

We have had a fun and busy couple of months, with more to come!

Inspired...

Inspired by a friend's blog (thanks, Tina)...I decided it was time to freshen up the blog for summer. Maximize your screen to see the entire background.

We plan to spend a lot of time on the beach this summer!

Finally have a moment to spare...

Both kids are napping and I am taking a break from cleaning to write a quick update.

Emily had her 4 month appointment last week. She is our little string bean, weighing in at 13lb 11.5 oz (39%) and 25.5 in (81%). She is a healthy little girl, but our weight concerns are back. We bought a baby scale about a month and a half ago and at first, it was great. She was doing really well and gaining appropriately. In the past few weeks, though, her spitting up has been out of control. In the week and a half surrounding her appointment she actually lost a few ounces, so we have some things that we are going to try to get her to eat more and keep it down.

1. Zantac - This will not help her spit up, but will make the burning stop if the acid is bothering her. Since she doesn't cry or arch her back when she spits up and she sleeps well, we're really not sure if this will help and have been really hesitant to try her on it. She eats so little, though, we are wondering if it is because of the burning caused by the reflux. So, we have decided to give it a go for a few weeks. If it helps, great. If not, we will stop.

2. Rice cereal - Again, not sure about this. I wanted to wait until she was 6 months, or at least, very close to 6 months, but if that is what she needs to keep her food down and gain weight, we will try it. She is a very gassy and constipated little girl, though, so we're hoping it doesn't make it worse.

3. Supplementing - This is what I wanted to do the very least, but I'm getting concerned that her lack of weight gain is my fault. Her not wanting to eat very much at a time or very often has caused my supply to take a nose-dive. I have tried everything I can think of to produce more and I'm not seeing a lot of results. Starting today, I am going to supplement her early afternoon feeding with a few ounces of hypoallergenic formula (Yikes! This stuff is EXPENSIVE!). She needs the hypoallergenic kind, though, since she is sensitive to cow's milk protein. I'm hoping the supplementing is short-lived and I can get my supply back up with extra pumping sessions.

So, that's the plan. Please pray that our little girl remains healthy and starts putting on some weight. I should add that she is such a happy girl. She smiles, laughs, and coos all.day.long. We often go days without hearing a cry from her.

Kason continues to love on his little Emmy everyday. He is so protective of her, not wanting strangers to hold, or even talk to her. He loves to share his toys with her and for her to "play trucks" with him. It is amazing to watch them light up when they see the other. Emmy beams at her big brother when he walks into a room and Kason lights up when his little sister flashes that grin in his direction. We are in awe of their capacity to love at such a young age. We hope they are always best buddies and can only imagine the kinds of trouble they will get into together as Emily becomes more mobile.

Aside from that, we are looking forward to a fun-filled summer, to be kicked off with a fun-filled Memorial Day weekend with my brother and his family. I will update again soon with pics and videos...hopefully, tonight, if I can catch a break.

More Pics from the Past 2 Weeks

Just a picture post...Emily's baptism, Aggie baseball, and Easter weekend...more to come later.

Choo Choos, Ponies, & Busted Faces

Today was a special day for Kason. No real reason, just because. We began the day with what was supposed to be an Easter egg hunt with the neighbors. Unfortunately, Kason missed out on that, but he did get to play with his neighborhood buddies for a while this morning.

After play time, we hopped into the car and headed to the Bayou Wildlife Reserve. On the way there, we stopped for Kason's favorite lunch...nuggets, fries, and fruit from Chick-fil-A. Once we arrived at the reserve, there were tons of animals - ostriches, buffalo, deer, horses, camels, giraffes, alligators, zebras, zonkeys, javelinas, etc, etc. You name it, they had it. We started out at the petting zoo. There were baby goats everywhere! Kason was more than happy to go in there with them, but didn't want much to do with them as far as touching. He did pet some deer, though, at the picnic tables. Later, we got on the tram, which Kason lovingly referred to as a choo choo train and off we went. It was well past Kason's nap time, though, so while he enjoyed looking at the animals, he got a little upset when Kyle went to feed one of them from our bucket of food. Kason got down to get daddy and SMACK! He fell across into another bench and whacked his cheek. He has a pretty good bruise, knot, and scrape on his cheek, but he only cried for a few seconds before he was 'all better'. The driver commented on what a tough guy he was. She was sure he would cry the rest of the way after the fall he took.

Once we got back to the picnic table and petting zoo area, we took some pics with the Bayou Wildlife sign and headed to the car. Near the parking was a childrens' barn with free horse rides. Kason said he wanted to ride the pony, but we didn't really believe him. Since he was so tired, we thought he was sure to freak out and have a complete melt down if we put him on a horse. So, instead, we took him to see the other animals in the childrens' barn area. Afterwards, he was still saying he wanted to ride the pony, so we decided we would give it a try. He loved it! He took a full loop with the pony and said he wanted "more ride the pony". So cute! We still can't believe what a big boy he was.

After the reserve, we came home to put Kason down for a nap while I went to get him a shirt to go with his shorts for Easter. In the evening, we went to Kemah for dinner and to see the choo choo that runs around the boardwalk. Kason loved the choo choo and loved seeing the boats come in and out of the harbor. Emily spent the day snoozing happily away or just riding in the carseat/stroller watching all the people go by...her usual happy, smiling self.

It was a great day!

The Kason Post

Time to brag on my most amazing little guy! As you all know, he has a BIG personality! He still love, love, LOVES to dance and knows all the moves to all the songs in his Barney videos. He is also still addicted to Barney, btw. Now, he has added some Thomas and Chuggington into the mix as well.

In case you are wondering now, no, he doesn't watch tv all day long. He gets a few shows a day, reads TONS of books, and runs around the house like a crazy person all day. He is a little ball of energy.

He also loves to sing. We sing songs and dance around the house several times a day. Emily likes that, too. I throw her in the carrier and she falls right asleep while Kason and I have a ball.

He's learning new things so quickly. People have always been impressed with his vocabulary for his age. He is quite the talker (definitely gets that from his daddy). He understands everything we say to him and repeats. So, we have to be very careful and have to spell a lot of things.

Letters, numbers, and shapes are some of Kason's favorite things to play with. He has three Dr. Seuss ABC books and wants to read them all several times a day (they all vary slightly). He also loves his alphabet puzzle. He knows the name of each letter and points them out everywhere. He can almost count to ten and knows several of his shapes: circle, square, triangle (his favorite!), rectangle, oval, heart, and star.

Unforunately, I can only take some of the credit for all of this learning. We do work a little on letters, numbers, shapes, and colors, but he really likes them so much because they are entertainment to him. He loves books, puzzles, Barney (which is surprisingly one of the most educational things he ever could have gotten addicted to), and Fisher Price online games (http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=30&e=playandlearn&ccat=play_and_learn). It is a combination of all of these things that has helped him learn these things so quickly.

Some other things Kason enjoys are playing on his swingset, kicking/throwing balls, all things cars/trains/trucks/planes, and wrestling with daddy and Maggie. Unfortunately, Maggie doesn't like that as much as Kason. He is also a little sweetie and my little snuggle buddy. He loves to cuddle with mommy on the couch or in bed and I love every minute of it. And, he is so sweet to his little sister (well, most of the time). He likes to make his Emmy smile and to give her hugs and kisses. He is so good with her - better than we could have ever hoped for.

So, basically, my little guy is the cutest, happiest, smartest, funniest, silliest, sweetest little guy ever (at least in my expert Mommy opinion!).

Being a stay at home mom is the best decision we ever made for our family. I am so lucky to get to be home with my two wonderful kiddos to nurture them and watch them grow everyday!

And, to end with a video for your viewing pleasure!

The Emily Post

Emily just went in for her 2 month appointment. She is a tiny little thing, weighing only 10lb 15.5oz (34%) and only 22.75 in long (45%). She is gaining appropriately, but somewhat slower than I would personally like to see. This is probably because she is a constant waterflow, overflowing with spitup. It doesn't seem to bother her, though, so no reflux meds needed. For my own piece of mind, we will be taking her back in a couple of weeks to make sure the spitup is not affecting her weight gain too much. Aside from that, she received her shots...poor girlie! She screamed her head off, but was calmed easily once I picked her up. The afternoon, though, was miserable. She screamed and refused to eat for about 4 hours off and on. Once I finally got her to nurse, all was right with the world again. Definitely not looking forward to that next set of shots, though.

Emily is such a happy baby! We thought Kason was happy, but I think Emily has him beat. She smiles almost every waking minute of the day, if she is not eating. All you have to do is look at her and she gives the biggest smile!

She has also easily gotten the hang of a night time routine and gets pretty fussy if things don't go as she expects them to. She gets a bath (on bath nights), diaper, lotion, jammies, sound machine, food, swaddle, story, prayers, song, and bed. It seems like a lot, but is really pretty quick and she goes down very easily. Some nights she is asleep after all of that and others, she falls asleep on her own in her crib. I still cannot believe that she has been sleeping in her crib since 3 weeks old. She has been a great sleeper since birth and the swaddle really does the trick. She just recently went from a 5 to a 6 to most nights, an 8 hour stretch, followed by another 3 to 5 hour stretch. I don't know if this will continue, but we are definitely enjoying it while it lasts. I am fully convinced now that I did not take enough time finding the right blankets and the right swaddling techniques for Kason. We were convinced he he hated it and gave up too easily. Emily also seemed to hate it until we got it just right. Still, if she can wiggle her arms AT ALL, she wakes right up. Any unscheduled nighttime wakings can almost always be attributed to a poor swaddle with her.

We are taking a trip this weekend that I really hope doesn't mess up this wonderful routine we have. We will be going to College Station, home of our alma mater, Texas A&M, to get Emily baptized at the same church Kason was baptized in, and to catch some Aggie baseball. The weather should be beautiful, so we should have a great time!

See below for the happenings of the past month and for LOTS more pictures!

What's Happened in the Past Month?

I'm so glad you asked! We have had a busy month. We have had several bouts of illness and allergies around here. I'd like to say we are all getting over it, but I'm not so sure. Kason's nose is running like a faucet and Kyle is still feeling generally yucky. Pretty sure it's all just allergies this time, though. So, hopefully, we can get it under control soon.

We finally have warm weather and have been enjoying every bit of it! We picked the very best street ever to live on with 2 small children. First of all, our street is a culdesac, so there is very little traffic. Then, we have the added bonus of 8 children, ages 5 and under on our street. Many evenings and almost every weekend, we gather the children at the end of the street. They play and generally, have a blast, while we adults get to socialize. Kason loves his new friends and asks for them every day, several times a day! It seems every house has some sort of car toy...a Cozy Coupe or push car, etc. Kason loves them and it is impossible to get him out of them to come home, so we broke down and got him his very own. He calls it his "school bus". He loves school buses and points them out everywhere we go. So, here he is playing with his school bus.


Kason with his cousins, Alex and Kolby



Earlier in the month, Kyle's sister, Samantha came to visit with her boyfriend, whose name is also Kyle. We took the kids to the zoo. Kason had a blast and Emily slept in the Moby the whole time.


Kason especially loved this bull



The next weekend, we got together with our friends, Lee and Lindsey and Randy, Bailey, Gabriel, and Blaise. Gabriel and Kason were instant buddies when they met over the summer and hopefully, Emily and Blaise will be as they grow up. Blaise is 3 weeks younger than Emily.





Lee & Lindsey with Emily



The weekend after that, my brother came with his family. We always put my brother to work when he's here. This time, he helped Kyle fix our sprinklers and fix the lawnmower. They were also kind enough to babysit so Kyle and I could go out for an early anniversary dinner. Of course, a grand time was once again had by all the kiddos.








Now, for the times in between all these visits. We spent lots of time at the doctor for sick visits and well visits. Kason had to go back for an ear check and to get the vaccine that he missed at his 18 month visit. After being sick with a stomach virus, he put on 1.5 lbs in one week and was up to 28lb 9oz at his last visit. Emily news will follow in a separate post.

And, for the 'in between' pictures.