Well no shock here but I’m behind on the blog and admittedly having a hard time remembering what cool new stuff Emery did in Month #10.  It’s also been a challenge to getting her picture each month.  Sorry baby girl, but this is apparently the best I could do this month.

Emer

Emery, this month you:

• continue to get more and more mobile and are on your feet a lot. No signs of walking though.
• have been eating like a champ!  You are not a picky eater. We love that!
• seem to be a little fearful of heights (?!) – particularly when your Daddy lifts you way up in the air
• hate napping in your crib.
• wake up really early – like 5am early.  Ugh.
• went to the beach for the first time – Hilton Head Island
• No new words – just Dada

Drew turned 3!  I’m going back in time here but want to make sure I get all caught up.  We celebrated Drew’s 3rd birthday in Ohio with family.  We started “Drew and Mommy’s weekend of fun” with my birthday on Friday, 9/11.  The next day, Saturday the 12th (one day before Drew’s actual birthday), we took Drew to his first Red’s game of the season.  Here we are headed to the game.

Papa came along for the fun.

This day the Reds were finishing a rained out game before the real game.  We caught the end of game one, took a little play break at the downtown park across the street from the stadium and then watched a few innings of game #2.

After the game we headed back to my parents house for Drew’s birthday party with family.  Here he is on the phone with Uncle Dan.

Playing games…

Not wanting attention on him when we sang.

This card Drew is looking at is so cute.  Hannah drew Thomas on the front and she did a great job!

Our big THREE year old.  Gosh, we love him so much!

Edited with BlogPad Pro

We thought it’d be a fun adventure to take our first little family vacation to Hilton Head over Labor Day weekend. An adventure it was indeed. Within minutes of arriving at the beach, Drew got stung by something in the ocean. I’m not sure it was a jelly fish but something got him in the back of his knees and everyone from South Carolina to Georgia knew about it. That was the end of Drew’s desire to be anywhere near the ocean. It was a long day and I definitely remember taking this picture because him finally shutting down was long overdue at this point. Such a sweet sleeper isn’t he?  😉

The next few days we played at the beach and pool and though we had a good time, we also wondered (often) why on earth we didn’t invite grandparents.

Emerys first visit to the beach. She was unimpressed mostly. 

Mmmm milkshake.

It was a lot of work and a lot driving for a long weekend but well worth it.

Nine months old and definitely on the GO! 

Emery, this month you…

• Started crawling!  You were on all 4s for a long while but one day just took off. 
• Pull yourself up.
• Love exploring with your new freedom
• Got a new front tooth (4 total)
• Still hate sleeping (though I am typing this on September 3rd and you slept nearly 12 hours straight the past three nights.  Um…HUGE). 
• Started eating table foods! 
• Absolutely love to play with Drew…or rather play with Drew’s toys
• Put everything in your mouth. Yes I know babies do this but wow, you really do this.

 Well, I guess I should buy her some shoes?  

   
Yea for real food! She is looooving “table” food. I hope we have another awesome eater on our hands. She’s eating exactly what Drew eats each night, just in smaller pieces.  

Today I picked Emery up from school (sounds better than daycare) and her teacher said she ate all of her spaghetti, all of her peaches and zero green beans. They said she’d put one in her mouth, make a face and forcefully spit it out. 

Happy.

Look what Emery got her hands on!  This toy was a 1st birthday gift to Drew (thanks Michael and Liz). This was easily Drew’s favorite toy for the last year and a half. He definitely freaked out when I brought it out of hiding for Emery to play with. He’s slowly learning to share with her. 

These two….

Could she be any stinkin’ sweeter?

Catching up on blogging…I’ve had some technical difficulties combined with the typical excuses. July was pretty busy for us. Here’s a little recap. 

We flew to Orlando on the 4th of July to visit Tim, Mandy and Libby who were vacationing there. This was Emery’s first flight. 

Drew is an old pro now.  

  We were only there for the weekend but we packed in lots of fun with Libby.

This was Emery’s first time swimming. She loved it. 

  Unfortunately Drew had a fever on our flight home. He was so miserable. Look at his goosebumps. Poor guy.   

The following weekend we headed to Cincinnati. First stop was a semi family reunion on the Holtz side. We celebrated summer, 4th of July and the All-Star game…

  ….and these FIVE baby girls all born in 2014. 

  This was the long awaited All-Star weekend. Tim and Michael and Danny enjoyed a long weekend of baseball fun.    

Several hours after the end of the All-Star game, Tim and I boarded a plane for the Grand Cayman Islands. It was an amazing little break and we soaked up every second of this view.  

  It was an awesome 5 days and also safe to say these two enjoyed every second of their vacation too. They spent a few days with Grammy and Grandpa and then a few days at Mimi and Papa’s house.    

 All good Cincinnati trips end with a milkshake at 10am on the way back to Nashville. 

Emery is eight months old! I’m actually very happy to report that she’s not quite on the move yet, although it won’t be long. I love that I can sit her down and she stays put. I’m certainly not trying to rush through this stage at all. 

Emery, this month you:

• Flew for the first time from Nashville to Orlando to visit the Winslows (Tim, Mandy and Libby). 
• Went swimming for the first time and loved it.
• Had your first night(s) away from me. You (and Drew) stayed with Grammy and Grandpa and Mimi and Papa for 5 days while we went on vacation.
• Have a new tooth on the top, thought not one of your front teeth. I hope those front teeth come in or you may look a little funny. 
• Said your first word – Dada
• Still regularly wake in the middle of the night, many nights. 
• Started to wave (kinda)

This is my favorite Emery face right now (below). It’s her happy and excited face this adorable panting / hissing noise accompanies the happy face.

    
  I have a feeling Emery will be an expert crawler and into everything by her 9 month update. So – I’m going to enjoy these last few weeks of actually being able to be a room away for a minute or two if necessary without worrying of where she’s going and what she’s doing (not that I won’t enjoy the next ‘on the go’ stage!).

Lots of Summer fun. 

Drew getting all geared up for 11 seconds on his bike. Thank goodness for Daddy’s little helper!  

   Drew and Lexie heading downtown to Sesame Street Live with the Daddies.  

Lots of Vandy game watching  

Father’s Day  
 
    

  
  

It’s been a while since I posted our first house update. Here is an updated look at the progress. 

Framing was fast and exciting to see. The addition was framed up by early June. On the left is our living room (not a garage) and on the right is our master bedroom. 

  
  
This view is me standing in the kitchen with the living room on the right and our master bedroom on the other side of staircase. 
 Drew in his room. The area he is standing in was attic space, however we are going to keep this open as extra space for him. It will be his own little mini “bonus” room.  Standing in the kitchen looking into the living room Standing in the living room looking into the kitchen

  Standing in our existing left hall with the kitchen and living room 

 Standing in our master bedroom looking into the master bath which was previously guest bedroom

 I would have loved to figure out a way to keep this but it’s just not going to work. This will be covered up and be part of our master bathroom.  

Seven months old.  SEVEN months old.  How on earth??…..sigh…………  Emery is seriously the cutest and sweetest baby around.  Sadly the monthly “chair” pictures are over.  I was sad for a minute but the last few months the pictures stunk anyway so I’m moving on (the chair is buried in our house by belongings since we’ve moved to the rental house).  

   
Emery, this month you……

• Have been eating more and more solid food yet still fuss with bottles at daycare. Some days are great, some days you hardly eat it seems.
• Laugh and squeal constantly at your big brother. You love watching him.
• Love your baths
• Fall asleep in the car before we are even off of our street
• Still only have two teeth despite chewing on everything in sight.
• Have finalllllly been sleeping through the night more times than not. Every few nights you still wake up upset and the only way I can get you back to sleep is to feed you.
• Love rolling all over the place
• Were baptized June 20^th (on our 6^th wedding anniversary)

    
  
This is what happens when you feed a tired baby who rubs her eyes a lot.
 
More baptism weekend pictures coming soon. 
 We are sooo excited for a busy July.  We’ll all be heading to Florida for the 4^th of July weekend to visit Tim, Mandy and Libby followed by an All Star game weekend in Cincinnati and then grandparents camp while Tim and I go on vacation for 5 days.  All that plus, you know, the normal stuff like building/renovating a house, working, Tim traveling every week, etc.  It’s going to be a fun and exhausting few weeks for all of us.  Can’t wait!

Happy 6 months Emery Claire!  Gosh, I distinctly remember doing a 6 month old blog post for Drew and feeling rather sappy that my baby was growing up.  Surprisingly, I’m not quite as weepy this time around.  Yes of course I will still miss Emery as an itty bitty baby and all of her snuggles buuuut…I kind of won’t miss the newborn stage either.  Maybe it’s because I can still count on one hand how many nights she has slept through (4), or the fact that life is just so much different with a newborn and a 2 year old.  It’s a crazy season of life, that’s for sure.  Though life is a bit crazy right now, Emery does an awesome job going with the flow.  Here is just one example; around 6:30 tonight, Emery was tired and hungry.  She usually nurses around 6:30pm and is sleeping by 7pm.  Drew had that same routine when he was a baby however I’d sit in his rocking chair, read him a book, nurse him, talk to him, put on his little lullaby machine, maybe rock him to sleep…typical put baby #1 to sleep stuff.  The whole bit was very calm and of course he always had my undivided attention.   Here was Emery’s 6:30pm feeding:  I pick Emery up to feed her while Drew is playing with his barn animals at our feet.  He’s screaming / singing Old McDonald at the top of his lungs.  Then: “Mommy, I have to go potty!!”  Since we are working hard on potty training, I instantly put Emery down, who is not thrilled but doesn’t cry, and get Drew on the potty.  Two minutes later we return and I pick Emery up and resume feeding her.  Now Drew is driving the trains to the farm making all kinds of train noises.  Emery jumps a mile every time Drew crashes something near her.  “Uh Mommy, uh I have to go potty again.”  Me: “Drew, ugh!”  This time Emery comes with us.  I put Drew on the potty and continue to feed her while sitting on the edge of the tub.  Sigh….I just have to laugh most nights really.  She tolerates it all so well.  I’m thinking she’ll be our laid back one. So a 6 month update – Emery this month you…….. 

• Regularly roll front to back and back to front. You’ll be all over the place soon. Unfortunately you get confused in your crib when you end up on your belly though and can’t seem to roll back over.
• Got your first fever and nasty cold. You were a trouper though and spent one very cuddly evening with your daddy when you weren’t feeling well.
• Are sitting up. You aren’t 100% stable but pretty close.
• Laugh a lot at your brother.
• Finally slept through the night – 2 nights in a row!!! It already hasn’t lasted but I have hope again. Edited: It’s been a solid week since I first wrote those notes. You still get up and eat at 2am ish. C’mon Emery….enough!
• Have eaten carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, avocados, apples, squash, and pears. You are doing pretty well with all of them.
• Had two horrible episodes after eating bananas. Let’s just say I am laying off of the bananas with you for a LONG time.
• Love playing with your feet
• Snuggle every night with your pink bunny