Family update

Alright, so it's been awhile since I've posted, nothing too exciting has happened, but I've got a few new pictures so I thought I'd share.

Matt and I are becoming much more aware of the importance of spring break...for everyone's sanity! :) The students start to drive each other nuts, which in turn drives their teacher nuts. And the need for some time apart becomes more aparent! :) But seriously, we do have pretty good classes this year which is a huge blessing since work has become quite stressful with the monetary cuts from the state government in place. :(

Landon is getting so big. He got a new shorter hair cut and is starting to look so much like a little boy and less like a baby. He'll be 18 months at the beginning of April. He LOVES the outdoors and will probably spend hours out there this summer (which could be trouble because he has ghostly white skin! :) ). He is also talking much more frequently and is learning new words all the time. "Emmi", "more," and "please" are some of his new ones!

Landon in his new swim shirt

Emerson is also growing quickly. She'll be 10 months on Tuesday. She crawls so quickly and is becoming more balanced on her feet. She'll stand without holding on for a short time while leaning on something and is soooo curious about everything. Just in the past few weeks we've found uncooked rice and spaghetti, dog food, paper, and apple skin in her mouth! She loves people (from afar!) and is a fighter. There are days when she'll only sleep for 45 minutes all day.

Emerson in her bear coat.

It is so amazing how our little family grows and changes each day. What a wonderful blessing and proof that God DOES answer prayer in His timing!

Swim Lessons

were definitely a success! Landon did great! He loved being in the water, splashing, and didn't even mind being dunked. He was one of the 3-4 kids that didn't cry. Hoorah! Matt said the water was freezing (NW is trying to save money by not heating the pool so much), but Landon didn't even mind the cold water. When he got out, his lips were a little purple though! :) It must've worn him out as well because he came home and about 1/2 hr. later, he was in bed taking a nap. Hopefully the next 4 weeks will go as well.

Sledding

We took the kids out this weekend for their first sledding adventure. Landon had been out in the snow a few times, but this was their first time to go sledding down our backyard hill. I think both kids had a lot of fun. Landon went down by himself and had so much momentum going that he stopped about a foot from the woods on the east side of our house. Emerson and I went down the hill together and since she didn't cry, I say that she had fun! :) Then after our sledding adventure (which is a good workout by the way!) the kids played in the snow a little. Landon really wanted to walk, but with boots one size too big and his snowpants and winter coat on, he struggled! The good news is when he landed on his face in the snow, he tried to get back up and didn't cry. Emerson also had a hard time crawling because of all of the footprints in the snow. It was so uneven that she did several face plants as well! But overall I think the afternoon was a success. We were hoping for long naps, but no luck so by 7:00 they were pretty grouchy and ready for bed (about an hour early). We hope for many more fun days in the snow in the years to come!

Snow Day

Well, with all the snow and wind today, Wa-Nee and Middlebury decided to cancel school. So both Matt and I were home with the kids...Yeah! I had actually planned ahead this time and taken my boots and snowpants home from school just in case school was called off today, but I never got a chance to use them! :(
First of all, it was quite windy and probably too cold to take the kids out anyway. But secondly and most importantly, Landon woke up with a temp. of 100.6! :( Last night we could tell something was a little off because he fell asleep in my arms, which hasn't happened but maybe once since he was a really little guy. Then when he woke up 12 hours later, we knew something wasn't right. He was pretty warm all day, but Tylenol and his 4 hours of napping seemed to help. That was really his only symptom of not being healthy. Hopefully tomorrow he'll be back to his happy self. He ate pretty well and played a little, but we were very thankful to have the day off so there were 2 of us here to take care of the kids.
Emerson is still doing ok so far...but it might not be long until she gets it, since she puts everything in her mouth! :) Oh and a little side note, she tried AGAIN to eat Logan's food...I think that makes 3 times now. That crazy girl!
Hope all is well with you and please pray for a quick recovery for Landon and Emerson to stay healthy.

New haircut

Landon got his first "real" haircut on Wednesday of this week. We'd trimmed it before, but it was getting really long on top and I don't know how to cut that. So he went when Matt had his haircut and was deathly afraid of the scissors at first. He wouldn't let her near his hair with the scissors. But with his favorite snack in hand (maple/cinnamon crunchies), he calmed down and now looks more like a little boy. Plus, the first haircut was free!Emerson is on the move these days. It is amazing how much she's learned in the last month. She can crawl like a pro and almost keep up with Landon and she tries to pull herself up on EVERYTHING! She's not so excited about falling over. She screams bloody murder every time she falls over. Hopefully she'll get used to that. And she can feed herself puffs. It didn't take her near as long as Landon to learn to feed herself. But she's always put everything in her mouth from day 1.

Both kids are getting teeth. Landon's up to almost double digits and Emerson's working on 3 and 4 I think, which means waking up in the middle of the night and Emerson's been waking up between 6 and 6:30 every morning. So Matt and I are getting pretty tired since we're back to not sleeping all night. Thankfully, this stage too will pass.

But I do have to say that my favorite part of the day is coming home from work and seeing Landon run over and Emerson's huge smile!

Christmas Joys

This holiday season has passed by in a blur. I opened numerous gifts, attended multiple family and friend parties, spend time with Steven, Kristina, Nate, and Bo, and feel like I need a vacation! :) I loved every minute of it, but it was very busy. I think everyone will be glad to get back into a routine. The kids for the most part did really well with all of the busyness. Emerson didn't get too overwhelmed and Landon didn't get too tired. They were less than interested in opening any gifts. Emerson enjoyed eating the bows and Landon enjoyed playing with the boxes! Now that they've had some time to recoup, they are loving their new toys.

We were so blessed to have our sister, brother, and brother-in-law all home for almost 2 weeks. We can never get enough of these special people and keep praying that they'll all move closer (hint, hint :) ). But we did enjoy the time we got to spend with them and the help with dirty diapers (KRISTINA only! :) ), feeding, and entertaining the kids.

We also had a blast at the Frye's for New Year's Eve. We had a Euchre and word game tournament. We also played Wii bowling and had some drinks. A lot of us spent the night. We did thinking it would be easier than getting the kids up and taking them home at 2 am. But I think we misjudged that! :) Landon woke up at about 1, but went right back to sleep once we separated him from Emerson. She was a different story though. She's never been a great sleeper. But New Year's Eve was the worst! She woke up about every hour just screaming. I think she didn't like sleeping in the pack and play (it was her first experience with one). So she ended up falling asleep in our bed at about 5 am. Needless to say, Matt and I were exhausted the next day.

Let it snow!

We finally got enough snow to bundle the kids up for the first time to go out and "play." It took us longer to get ready to go, than to actually play. :) Landon wasn't quite sure what to do with the snow and he hated the mittens! He did like his ride on the "sled," if that's what you want to call the piece of plastic we have. I think the boys spent more time in the snow, than on the sled! Emerson just went out to watch and she seemed to enjoy being outside.
Happy Holidays everybody!

Thanksgiving to Alicia Day and all the days inbetween

I've got about a million excuses for not blogging in a month, but we won't go through those now!

Thanksgiving was a huge blessing with Steven and Kristina coming home for a few days. It went way too quickly, but good news that they'll be home soon again for Christmas break for 2 weeks! YEAH!!

Emerson has done the most changing in the last month. She's gone from mostly stationary to a mover! She wiggles and rolls all over to get to what she wants. For the most part she's happy playing on the floor and watching her big brother. I don't want to jinx it, but she's also slept ALL night for 2 nights in a row! That might not sound like much, but it's huge when you've been up every night for about 14 months in a row! :) She's also enjoying her veggies (well not really :)). She likes sweet potatoes a lot, but not really green beans or squash! We'll keep trying. She had her 6 month check up and weighs 16.4 lbs (50th %) and is 27 in. (90th %). So she's growing well. I really thought she'd weigh more because she's so chubby! :)

Landon is doing great as well. He had his first big crash last night, where his sippy cup met the linoleum which then met his top lip and sliced it open. He bled for quite awhile, but has been fine since. He's quite the trooper! He's walking around and into everything. Amazingly, he's left the Christmas tree alone, but he absolutely LOVES the lights! :) It's so cute. He points and gives a huge smile when he sees the tree! He also got his first haircut. So he doesn't have a mullet any longer in the back! It was quite difficult to cut his hair since he had no interest in sitting still, but I think we did pretty well.

Emerson also had a visit from Parker Smith who is exactly 1 month younger than her. He's much more active and I think about the same size. She absolutely LOVES him too. See below!! :)
And the last thing I'll post about in this already too long post is Alicia Day. What is that you may ask? Well it's an awesome surprise day where your two greatest friends take you away, treat you to lunch, and spend the afternoon painting pottery with you. AND buy you gifts to tell you how special you are. I think everyone should have a day and two friends like that. Thanks Jessicas! Love you both so much. Thanks for the great day!!

Someone's got a new tooth!

And it isn't Landon...although that might be exciting news since he is 13 months old and has only 4 teeth! But, no, it's his little sister! Emerson and I were sitting in the rocking chair and she was laughing at Matt. That's when I thought I noticed something white in her mouth and sure enough, her first tooth poked through! I took a picture of it, but you can't really see it so I decided not to post it. She seems so little for a tooth already, but I guess that's because Landon's been so slow getting his. It isn't bothering her. She's still slobbery and wants to chew on everything just like always. She didn't get a fever or extra grouchy, so hopefully she takes all her teeth this well! :) So a big congrats to my little girl on her first tooth! :)

Fall Break and a busy week

I do realize that it has been over a week since I've enjoyed my fall vacation. But ever since then, our lives have been pretty crazy. Either Matt, myself, or both of us have been gone each day since. So it has taken me awhile to post. Fall Break was the weekend of Halloween and the Thursday, Friday before. It was so great being able to spend time with the kids. I think I really realized how big they're getting. Landon is pretty much an expert walker (ok he does fall down often, but at least he now knows how to get back up!). And Emerson is getting so big. She actually gets heavy to carry around now.

Well, I should also recap our lovely Halloween party. I believe it was the 5th annual Halloween bash with the theme being dressing from a decade. The 70's won the popular decade (with 3 guys dressing from then). Jess won best costume and I tied for 2nd (but won the tie!). We also played Scary Family Feud, Partini, and Rock Band. It was nice to get some adult time and actually get to talk to people without having to worry about what the kids were doing. Thanks to Todd and Cathy for watching the kids overnight. I think that's the first whole night sleep I've had in over a year!! Hmmm...I wonder what next year's theme will be!

Matt-70's and Alicia-20's

This past weekend was also really busy. On Saturday, Matt and I went to the Purdue/Michigan game with his parents. It was up in Michigan (about a 3 hr. drive). The weather was absolutely georgeous and the game was soooo exciting. It probably helped that PU won!! That stadium was crazy big, though. There were over 108,000 people there. I don't think I've ever SEEN so many people before. We had a great time at the game and eating at a cute little restaurant on the way home. Thanks to mom and dad for watching the kids all day!

And this evening was our Sunday School Harvest Party at the Schmucker's. The kids had their first hayride (and both fell asleep!) and we had to leave early because it gets dark so early and Landon thought it was bed time! :) We still had a nice time, though.

What a great blessing to have so many wonderful friends to spend time with!!