Emily-isms

One night Emily wasn't exactly wanting to stay in her bed after we had laid her down.  On probably her third trip up that night she used this as her excuse....
    "Mommy, somebody poked my eye and I can't close it."


Hannah has a very small, light brown birthmark just above her wrist on her right arm.  No one would notice it unless I pointed it out.  One afternoon after their naps I was holding both of them in my arms and Emily noticed Hannah's birthmark for the first time.  She said in a very concerned voice....
   "Oh no!!!  Hannah got some poopy on her arm!"


One night she was trying to get me to stay in her room with her for a few minutes after I laid her down and she said...
   "I want you to stay in here with me with all of my heart!!"  Drama Queen?


Em calls chocolate pudding, "brown yogurt."  Ha!  I usually don't correct her b/c it makes me chuckle.


While Emily was napping one afternoon I noticed through the video monitor that she was laying on her left arm.  When she got up a little while later she came out of her room holding her arm saying...
     "I just have a headache inside my arm!!"


Me:  Emily, give that to Mommy and I'll put it in my purse so we don't lose it.
Emily:  But Mommy....you said last year that you lose stuff in your purse!
Me:  Ha!  Good point!  I'm not going to lose this though!
*So I guess she's heard me mumbling under my breath about "never being able to find anything in my purse" as I'm searching for my keys!:)


Em is very interested in the baby...if she can hear us, what she is doing, who is going to get her out, etc.  One afternoon we had this conversation...
Emily:  Does the baby have a shirt on in your tummy??
Me:  No, no shirt
Emily:  Does the baby have a diaper on in your tummy??
Me:  No, no diaper
Emily:  (Her eyes got really big)  Oh no!!  The baby is naked!!We need to get her some clothes, don't we?!?!

Dessert with Friends

A few weeks ago we got together with the Burns and the Harmons for coffee and dessert!  We were all friends during seminary where we were in the same small group. It was so much fun hanging out and catching up with both of these couples.  We didn't stop talking until almost 1:00am! 

Shannon, me and Keri

Patrick, Rhett, and Bert

Keri and Patrick spent the night with us that night and the kids were just so cute all sitting on the couch together the next morning.  These four have fun together!:)  

We're thankful for good friends...it was fun and encouraging!!:)  

Helping Daddy

Emily loves helping with anything and everything these days, so when Bert asked Emily if she wanted to help him in the yard one morning she could hardly stand it she was so excited!! 

Hannah stayed inside and helped Mama.  We vacuumed and did some cleaning...we even read some books, but it wasn't nearly as much fun as being outside with Daddy.  Every time Emily walked by, Hannah would run to the window to see her.  It's hard being the baby sister sometimes.:)  

Emily and Daddy mowing the grass.  She was literally copying his every step...it was cute to watch.:)  She may have slowed him down a little, but he definitely enjoyed having her.  

After all the yard work was done it was time to have some play time outside.  Hannah of course wanted to get in on the grass cutting....anything Emily can do Hannah can do too!:)  

These girls have a Daddy that loves spending time with them and I'm thankful!  

Baby Watts has a name!!

A couple weeks ago Bert and I decided on a name for our sweet girl due in early January.  I was so excited and relieved to have her name picked out! I mean picking out a name is a huge check off the having-a-baby-to-do list.:)

We told Emily and Hannah's name's when I was around 20ish weeks pregnant with both of them, but we've decided to keep Baby Watts' name a surprise and not announce it until her birth.  We've heard of lots of other families doing this and we think it will add a fun element of surprise!  The only trick is going to be not saying her name in front of Emily.  We all know that if you have a surprise it's probably not a good idea to tell a three year old.  Especially not our three year old.  She's listening to and repeating every word we say.:)  The only person I've told is my sweet 19 month old!  I decided it was pretty safe to tell Hannah since she's still trying to get the whole talking thing down, although she's doing really well!

We LOVE our sweet girls' name and can hardly wait until we're able to call her by her name all the time!!:)

Labor Day at the Lake

We spent Labor Day weekend on Lake Hartwell!  We had such a fun, relaxing time!  

Uncle Jimmy (my mom's brother) came by to take us for a pontoon ride.  The girls loved it!  This might have been Hannah's first boat ride??  I honestly can't remember...which I feel a little bad about, but we'll just assume it was.:)  

Our cutie!  

Our other cutie!  

Katherine, Brett and Jacob came down for dinner on Saturday night.  Jacob and Hannah had fun playing together as we were getting dinner ready!  

It's still sometimes hard for me to believe he's just 6 months older than Hannah.  

Hanging out on the dock while Papa Stan and Daddy worked to get our boat cranked up.

May baby girl and my handsome hubby.:)  

Our boat pulled through for us this weekend!  It cranked every time and didn't leave us stranded in the middle of the lake.:)  We've had this boat for maybe 12ish years and we have such great memories with it....ski runs, tubing, wake boarding, and just relaxing boat rides.  Good times!  In the last few years the boat has started to become a little more temperamental in her old age.  Plus we don't drive her as often, which hasn't helped.  Anyway, the 'ole Malibu Skier let us have a fun weekend of boat rides and we appreciated it.:) 

Emily and Papa driving the boat.  

Hannah loves Tiger!  She crawled under the table just to be near him.  I'm not sure he always appreciates her company, but he's sweet about it.  I just love the picture below...she looks happy and proud of herself.  

On Labor Day morning we cooked a big breakfast.  Emily was right in the middle of everything, helping with whatever she could.  She loves to help in the kitchen!  

Later that morning we headed back down to the water and Hannah got to take a turn driving (with Uncle Stan's supervision of course).  

Mama and Emily playing in the water!  I just love the lake.  So peaceful and beautiful and fun!  I'm definitely a lake girl! 

We had a fun weekend!  We're thankful we were able to go and spend time with family be and on the lake...win, win!:)  

Zoo with Friends

Last Wednesday the girls and I went to the Greenville Zoo with several other moms and their kids from our church.  We had a great morning spending time together, checking out all the animals and letting the kids play!  There were 6 Mama's and 10 kiddos (plus one in utero, of course...can't leave my baby out).:)  

Emily and Seth checking out the elephants!  

Emily, Hannah and Shaelynn!  Emily and Shaelynn are big buddies...they have so much fun playing together!:)  

All the kiddos...maybe not all looking at the camera, but you get the idea...they're cute!:)  

After the zoo we had a picnic lunch and then played at Cleveland Park, which is an amazing park right outside the zoo.  My girls were worn out after all that fun.  Even with all my attempts to keep her awake, Hannah fell asleep on the way home.  It could have possibly had something to do with the fact that I got a little turned around on our way home from the zoo...she just decided she couldn't wait for her nap any longer. Ha!  

Hannah - 18 1/2 months

Our Hannah turned 18 months on August 14th.  She had her 18 month well checkup on Tuesday and got a great report!  She weighed 25lb,  12oz and was in the 69th percentile for her weight.  She was 32 inches long and was in the 57th percentile for her height.  We're thankful for our healthy little girl!! 

Hannah's Favorites at 18 1/2 months:
Food: Strawberries, cheese, blueberries, goldfish, bananas, etc.
Movies: Baby Signing Time, Barney
Books:  Potty, Imagine That, I Love You Stinky Face, Taking it Easy!, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, any Peek-a-boo books
Activities: Playing outside, swimming, dancing, climbing on things, taking baths, reading books
Phrases She Can Say: Mine oh mine, love you, up please, thank you, my Daddy, my Mommy, lay down, a bug

Sleeping Habits at 18 1/2 months: 
- Takes 1 nap a day. Usually naps for about 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon. 
- It usually takes her about 5 minutes to fall asleep for both naps and night time.
- She sleeps for about 12 hours at night and almost never wakes up in the middle of the night.
- She sleeps with her bunny (must have the bunny) and a blanket that her Uncle Stan made.

Things I Treasure about my 18 1/2 month old:
- She loves to be outside playing...swinging, playing with bubbles, playing with a ball, taking a wagon ride or just walking around.
- She loves music and she loves to dance.  She especially loves the "Happy Happy Easter" song from Emily's choir CD.  I couldn't begin to tell you how many times I've heard that song.:) 
- She changes her L's to Y's  - "yites" (lights)
- She says many, many words. She will repeat most any word you ask her to. 
- She doesn't like crumbs on the bottom of her feet and freaks out a little when something is down there.  The other day I thought she was surely being attacked by some sort of bug because of how upset she was, but it turned out to be just a crumb.:) 
- She loves her bunny.  So much. 
- She's scared of ALL bugs...flies, spiders, gnats, ants.  There have been many times when I've heard her saying in fear and pointing at a bug...."Ahhhh, ahhhh, a bug, a bug."  I'm not sure where the fear came from, but it's real. 
- The other day I was in the kitchen fixing sandwiches for lunch and I heard Hannah in the other room saying "Ahhhh, ahhhh, a fly, a fly."  I walked in there when I finished what I was doing and told her that we're not scared of flies....they won't hurt us.  When I turned around to go back to the kitchen I saw what she was pointing at....a HUGE spider!  We've got to work on her terminology so that I know when to drop what I'm doing.:) 
- Hannah keeps close tabs on her "Emmy" and likes to do whatever she is doing. 
- Loves having bows in her hair and asks for them often. 
- Calls any liquid (milk, juice or water) "juice."
- She LOVES to climb on things....kitchen chairs, couch, recliner, beds, tall stools.  It makes me nervous because she's still not that stable, but I feel like every time I turn around she's found something else to climb on.:) 
- She prefers to walk by herself...everywhere we go.  She's a big girl and she doesn't want me to forget it.:) 
- She loves being read to.  If she's upset this is a great way to calm her back down. 
- Hannah loves dogs.
- Makes the sounds for a dog, cat, duck, horse, and cow.
- Her teeth and hair are coming in slowly but surely.  She has plenty of hair now for a bow and her 6th tooth is about to break through any day now. 
- She's a great eater  -- doesn't really care for the slimy texture...cooked squash, tomatoes, but other than that she's content to eat most foods. 
- She's an explorer...loves to get into cabinets, drawers, etc.
- She's a content, sweet little girl (most of the time)! 
-She loves the water...bath, pool or ocean.
- She doesn't like it when Emily gets in her personal space or takes a toy away from her.  Hannah will start yelling to let you know her displeasure.  I like that she stands up for herself.:) 
- It's one of Hannah's greatest joys to take all the clothes out of one of her drawers in her room and dump them on the floor or in her hamper.  If I told you how fast she could do it you wouldn't believe me. 
- She still has the sweetest laugh, beautiful blue eyes and the most adorable little dimple on her right cheek.

Hannah, you are an absolute joy, and we're so so thankful for you!!  Happy 18 1/2 months baby girl!