Hello Sunshine!

We've been loving the warmer weather lately and have been taking advantage of it as much as we can!

We took the kiddos to their first baseball game of the season. Ethan loved being in the outfield and running around in the grass. Yesterday we headed over to the football stadium for the IU Spring Game. They had cute little activities for kids - kicking soccer balls into a goal, throwing a football into an inflatable hole, etc. Ethan was so proud of himself! He loved seeing all the flags. This kid must be a true Hoosier because he asks to wear his IU shirt almost every day =)

 

We've been taking family walks in the stroller...

 

Ethan's been helping daddy plant flowers...

 

Emerson's been eating...and eating...and eating...

 

She's also been having fun playing with her brother and learning new tricks...like how to pull up!











{Nine Months Old - Emerson!}

Hi Family and Friends!

I am now NINE months old!! Wow! SO many great things have happened to me in the last month. Let me highlight them all:

• It is now safe to say my colic is GONE!! I feel so much better and am such a happy girl now. Mommy says my colic probably went away for sure around eight months. I am slowly starting to get better about other people holding me. We practice as much as we can. I can tell you one thing, colic was not fun. I didn't want or mean to be an unhappy baby, I just didn't feel well. Mommy, Daddy, and Ethan did such a great job taking care of me though. Now all I do is smile, squeal, flirt, and steal people's hearts with how cute I am!! =)
• I love loud noises. Specifically the vacuum cleaner and blender. Whenever mommy turns them on I get really excited, kick my legs and "laugh"!
  
• I weigh 15 lbs. 4 oz. and am 27 1/4 inches long!
  
• Because I'm so big now, I get to use a highchair when we go out to eat! I also use one at home when my family is eating around the dinner table.
• When I'm in the highchair, I like to EAT! Baby purees are fun, but I'm already nine months old - I'm ready for real food! So far I've tried bananas, strawberries, bread, cheese, sweet potatoes, avocados, carrots, cottage cheese, and chicken. Mommy cuts my food into tiny pieces. Bananas are very slippery. But, I use my index finger and thumb to use my "pinchers" and pick up each piece one by one. You'd be surprised how much I actually get in my mouth! Mommy says she needs to do a better job of feeding me more food - I can't wait to see what I'll try next!
  

 

• Some of my favorite snacks include Puffs and Mum-Mums. They are a great distraction while we are out to eat.
  
• I'm not crawling yet, but I can get places. When I'm sitting on the floor, I can turn 360 degrees in a circle to reach a certain toy. I'm not up on all fours yet...more like three! I like to reach forward and rest on my hands and one knee...the other leg just gets stuck underneath me. I have been known to pull up though! I like to pull up on the couch or table and get to my knees. One time I actually pulled up and I was standing! Mommy and daddy won't know what to do when I start crawling...little do they know I am going to be into everything!
  
• BIG, BIG NEWS: I'm officially in my crib!!!! FOR GOOD!!!! Up to this point, I've been sleeping in the bassinet of the pack-n-play in my room. Mommy has learned that I need a little more time on certain things and I wasn't quite ready for the crib - until now. Last weekend, we made the switch and it's so great. I sleep very well in my crib. By the time mommy comes into my room in the morning, I've inched my way down to the bottom of the crib. I'm like a little inchworm! I like to sleep with either my hands straight down by my side or sucking two fingers on my left hand. Ethan thinks it's funny when he sees me on the monitor "eating my hands."
  
  
  
  
• I've learned that my crib is so big! There's so much room to move around! I've also learned that I can turn circles in there too! It makes mommy laugh when she finds me upside down on the camera.
  
• I sleep from 8pm-8:15-8:30am every night. I take a morning nap (on average 1.5 hours) and afternoon nap (on average 1.5 hours).
  
  
  
  
   
• I made a new friend. His name is Max, my kitty!! I like Max's tail. It's very soft. It's long and I like to grab it. I like it when Max lays on the back of the couch and mommy stands me up so I can see him. I take my hand and grab his fur.
  
• I had to go to the doctor this month. I had my first ear infection! =( It was no fun. Thankfully mommy took me in and Dr. Newby gave me some medicine. It tasted like bubble gum. I wasn't smiling in a lot of my 9-month sticker pictures because I didn't feel well...you'll even notice my rosy cheek in some!
  
  
  
  
• I learned a new trick this month - blowing raspberries! Well...kinda. I stick my tongue out and try and blow raspberries, but I just end up drooling everywhere =) (and looking really cute in the process!)
  
  
  
• I'm "talking" more and more - I love to squeal all the time. I also like to say "ooooooo." I'm working on a new syllable "ba-ba-ba-ba." Sometimes when we're in the car and I make noise mommy says I'm singing.
  
• Ethan is my best friend.
   
  
• Look at how big I am on my elephant:
  
• My favorite game is still peek-a-boo. Ethan has learned how to play, but it's still most fun when daddy plays with me.
  
• Speaking of daddy, I'm pretty sure I have him wrapped around my little finger (and vice versa)! I light up every time I hear his voice - I reach out for him to hold me - I love when he feeds me - I laugh and giggle when I'm with him - and he's just the best! He calls me lots of nicknames, but mostly precious.
  
  
  
  

I'm so happy to share with you all everything I've been doing since I turned nine months old! I have a feeling by next month's update I might be a girl on the move!! Check out the post below for more cute pictures of my brother and I! Happy Spring!

 

March Mashup - Birthdays, Basketball, and Spring!

The final days of March are winding down and it's been a pretty quiet month for us! Thought it would be fun to take a quick look back:

Happy Spring! In classic Indiana fashion, we ushered in Spring with 70 degree temperatures one week and snow flurries the next! We will take whatever sunshine we can get though...and we make sure we're outside as much as possible when it's warm. Last weekend, we took Ethan and Emerson over to IU's campus and just walked around the Sample Gates and let Ethan run around. Eric's had fun taking him outside after he gets home from work on the days where it's been nice. When the cold temps hit again, we stayed busy having play dates, lunch dates, and hanging out at home!

Big news in Ethan's world is him and daddy got a bird feeder! It's in the backyard and in perfect view for Ethan to look out the window and see all the birds. He always says, "birdies come home now." One day, there was a bunny rabbit that was eating the bird seed and he absolutely loved it. He takes his bird feeder very seriously...must take after his dad (who secretly is googling what type of birds we have!)

Call us crazy, but we went to Target and bought Ethan a baseball tee and have been playing baseball inside our tiny house all week! He loves it! Of course I need to brag on him - he seriously hits the ball every time he puts it on the tee - it's so cool! Even better?? He bats LEFT handed?!?! He does every thing else right handed, but instinctively has been holding the bat lefty. Yessss, hopefully this means he will ambidextrous and will get a college scholarship hahaha!! =)

Emerson is doing great and just turned nine months old (full update coming soon)! We are just amazed at everything she does now and feel like we're in the "newborn phase" because we didn't get to enjoy the first half of her life thus far because of colic. She's just a happy, gorgeous little babe! Sometimes I forget she's at the point now where she can be eating "real" food so I've tried to get better about feeding her tiny pieces of fruit, bread, and veggies. We've never doubted the fact that this girl likes to eat!

March Madness is in full swing and we've had fun watching lots (and lots!) of basketball. We got all decked out in our IU gear for Indiana's game...ahhh, very short lived =) It's funny because every time we turn on a game, Ethan thinks IU is playing and says "Hoosiers! Hoosiers"!

We celebrated my dad and I's birthday this month too! Per usual, we stretched out the birthday celebrations over several days =) It was great grilling out with Papaw, Ginka, Uncle Jeffrey, and the boys and then having a wonderful lunch with Pops the next day! On my actual birthday, it was a special treat because Eric was home and I got to spend all day with him and the kiddos =) He woke up with both Ethan and Emerson and treated me to chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast! Then we went to lunch at a place we had never tried before and that night grabbed a drink at a new bar here in town. Ethan picked out my birthday card...Mickey Mouse of course =)

Birthday Lunch!

Ah, life with two. One eating my hair and one having a meltdown.

It was a super fun month and we're definitely looking forward to the warmer temperatures sticking around for good!!