5 Months Old!!

According to my rough calculations Emma is 12 lbs. 6 oz. and 24 3/4" long. She is still a very happy baby and is still breastfeeding for all her feedings. I have actually tried to introduce the bottle but she refuses to take it right now. We have also introduced a little cereal to fatten her up. We started with oatmeal and she wouldn't eat it at all. I then introduced barley and she actually loves it. So for right now we are sticking with the barley because it works. She is starting to get a day time schedule. We actually get a good morning nap right now but the afternoon is still spotty. She goes down really good at night. I put her down between 7:30 and 8:00 and she is down for the night. She wakes up around 4 am for a feeding and then gets up again @ 7 am. I am very happy with that schedule right now!!

Here is a picture of both Will and Emma at 5 months!!  Do they look like brother and sister or what????

Vacation Time

As parents you want your children to experience the things you did as a kid and you look forward to sharing those experiences with them.  At the same time you quickly learn how much work and how exhausting it is to take a vacation.  The days of a relaxing vacation are long gone.  Mike and I may have been a little too eager for this long of a trip with a 4 month old and a 3 year old but we all survived and had a good time.

We left on Friday August 26th for our 10 day road trip.  Our plan was to head to the cabin in Osceola, MO for the weekend and then to Branson for 4 days and end up at my grandparents at Table Rock Lake.

We had a great time at the cabin and the boys got to do some fishing and boating.  Will went on some treasure hunts and went through an entire package of caps for his cap gun while shooting at all the wildlife.  This was probably the most relaxing part of the trip because there was nothing else but us and the wilderness.  We had a few issues like the bed breaking in the middle of the night, the AC going out (luckily we had just the guy to fix it), no tv, flat tire on the tractor, and Mike getting electrocuted!!!  These are the trips we will remember for a lifetime. 

We left Osceola Monday morning and went to the Safari drive thru zoo which is just east of Springfield.  We have driven past it 100 times and decided to finally go.  We saw all sorts of crazy animals and will had fun just sitting in the front seat and feeding the animals.

One of the crazy animals we saw was this zedonkey, a cross between a zebra and a donkey.  First time I have ever seen one!!

After the zoo we headed straight for Branson and stayed at the Grand Country Inn which had an indoor and outdoor waterpark a lazy river and a baby area.  This was one of my backups if the weather didn't cooperate.  We picked the perfect time to head to Branson as it was their least busiest time of the year other that the dead of winter.   We enjoyed having a waterpark to go play at after being out in the 100 degree temps.  Even Emma got in on some of the action.

We spent 3 nights in Branson and 2 days at Silver Dollar City.  We were able to do all sorts of things because there were no lines.  In Branson we rode the ducks and Will even got to drive, Mike and Will rode go karts and bumper boats, we also went miniature golfing.  We even contemplated going to the Dixie Stampede but decided to wait a few years.  At Silver Dollar City Emma went on her first carousel ride, Will went on all sorts of rides in the kiddie area.  He even went on Fire in the Hole and the American Plunge, which didn't go so well.  Of course we had to get picks in the giant Rocking Chair at SDC.  I know somewhere there is a picture of me in that chair when I was Will's age.

Here is a picture of a very terrified boy.  He said he really wanted to go on this ride but I think it was a little too much for him!! 

After all this fun we still had plenty more to do.  On Thursday we headed to my grandparents who live in Shell Knob, MO off Table Rock Lake.  We had a nice time with all my family.  It is so nice to get some quality time in.

Here is some pictures of my babies with their loved ones.

Will had a blast  swimming in the lake, tubing and trying to surf on a piece of driftwood!!

Rolly Polly Emma!!

I finally captured it on film.  Not only is she all of a sudden rolling both directions all of the time but she is starting to dig in her feet to start to crawl.  This video was taken on September 3rd while down at my Grandparents house in Shell Knob, MO.  I guess she wanted to impress her great-grandparents.

Will's 1st day of 3 year old Pre-School!!

On Wednesday August 17th Will had his first day of pre-school.  He is going to First Baptist in Troy 3 days a week and only 1/2 days.  He did really good on his first day and I got a great report from his teacher.  He did a lot better than me and I did try and stay and spy on him a little but I had to get Emma home for nap.  I have been trying for 3 years to get Will to pray and learn about God but after only 4 hours in a religious school I caught him praying in bed all by himself.  YAY!!!

Here was his prayer: "I pray for my mommy and daddy to get married"  Say what!!!  So I guess he doesn't think we are married because he hasn't been to our wedding.   We had some friends get married a couple weeks ago and he went and we have another wedding in about a month.  With all the talk of weddings I guess he is waiting for ours!!  You never know where they come up with some of these things.

I can't wait to see what this year brings and to see him blossum.  I can't wait for field trips and any time I can volunteer. 

Here is an example of one of his first projects from school. Above the dinosaur are the footprints he drew.

4 Months Old

Emma is 4 months old and is such a good baby. She rolled over from her back to her stomach on Friday August 12th. She has only done it once and I am still trying to catch some of her rolling on camera.

She is completly healthy but we need to plump her up a little so we may start introducing cereal this next month to put some weight on her. Here are her stats:

Weight: 11 pounds, 11 ounces (10%)

Length: 24 1/4" (50%)

Head Circ.: 40.2cm (25%)

She is an itty bitty thing right now but is extremely alert. She is a very happy baby and doesn't give me any trouble unless she is tired or hungry. The being tired part she need to figure out on her own and we are working on that. She won't let you rock her to sleep and she won't take a pacifier. The only way she falls asleep is on her own. Sometimes it happens right away and sometimes she has to cry it out. It almost seems to young for me to let her cry it out, but it works. The more I go in and mess with her the worse I make it.

She has recently started playing in her exersaucer and lasts for quite a while in it. Will starts school on Wednesday so I am hopefully going to work on a daytime schedule with Emma then. We will see how that goes!!

John Deere Wedding

Yesterday our friends Jason and Bobbi got married John Deere style. Will was the ring bearer and Mike was the bestman. It was a cute country wedding that unfortunately took place on a 100 degree day but we all made it through. Will did great and looked just too cute for words. Congratulations to our friends!!

T-Bones Game

Will and Emma got to go to their first baseball game last Saturday. It was hotter than heck but we all had fun. Uncle Sean and Aunt Sarah have been wanting to take Will to his first baseball game and they finally got the chance. In celebration of Dad's 60th birthday we all (except for Tim) were able to go. What more does a kid need than a hot dog, cotton candy, snow cone, popcorn and pretzel.  The game didn't start till 7:00 and we had to leave at the 5th inning (9:15) due to Emma.  Will would have kept going if we let him.  He started to really get into the game and cheer with the crowd.  Hopefully we can do another game soon!!  Thank you to my entire family who helped make the night a success!!