Christmas pictures!

Hello! This is Lynn! I broke into Shelly's blog again to post some cute Christmas pictures of the babies!!! I went to her house the other day to take some pictures of them in their Christmas outfits... I just to have to say that I LOVE Ian's little suit and tie! And of course, the girls are adorable as always... here are a few of the best ones:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! :)

Emma & Abby's Birthday Party

I think I pretty much qualify as Shelly's personal secretary! (it's Lynn again). Anyway, I just wanted to post about Emma & Abby's birthday party on Sunday!

First of all, isn't Shelly awesome because she had a baby on Thursday, came home on Saturday, and then had a birthday party?! Yeah, I thought so!

Anyway, on to the party! Emma and Abby got lots of wonderful gifts... Emma's favorite, of all things, was a little Cars freezer pack that Jessie randomly decided to pick up in the check-out line. Good thing she did. After Emma opened that she was done opening presents! Apparently Jessie is a good present-picker-outer because she also got them a Doodle Pro which they both seemed to love!

After presents we were on to CUPCAKES!!!!

Abby didn't like them as much as I thought she would.... I've never seen her turn down any type of food, but she was not really all that into the cupcakes.. :(

She got pretty messy but thats only because she knocked the cupcake over and then leaned into it. haha

I think she might have just been tired.

Emma mostly just ate the icing with one finger:

And little Ian slept most of the time, but managed to wake up and make an appearance after the party was mostly over. What a cutie!

Happy Birthday, Emma & Abby!!!

Ian Thomas Embry is here!!!!

Ian Thomas Embry

September 25, 2008 at 10:03pm

8lbs 13oz

23in

Isn't he cute! I got to meet him today - when he was barely 14 hours old...awwww - and he is super cute! Oh yeah, this is Lynn again. Shelly and Ian are still at the hospital, but they should be coming home tomorrow. Not only is he cute, he is also really quiet and wrapped up like a little burrito. He was awake for a lot of the time I was there and I know he is a newborn baby, but he seemed especially mellow and content to me. Which, Shelly informed me, is very good news. :)

He does have really long fingernails though, and I did not realize newborn babies' fingernails were so long. He scratched his face a little bit before they got him some sock-mittens.

I am not sure what else Shelly wants me to write about. Mom and baby are both healthy and everything went well I think. Emma and Abby seem to like their baby brother. Abby kept trying to pick him up which was really cute and sweet, but those pictures are on Shelly's camera. I'll try to steal them from her soon and post them!

The baby is coming!

Hello everyone! This is Lynn - I hijacked Shelly's blog to give you all a baby update! Actually, I guess it's not really hijacking since she gave me her password, but I do have a baby update!

Ian is coming tomorrow!!! Okay, so that's not really an update since Shelly said that in her last post. But now there is more specific information about the time of his arrival - Shelly will be induced tomorrow at 7:30. So whenever little Ian decides to make his appearance after that, he will be here!

I also have a new picture of the Embry girls:

Aren't they cute!!!!?

I will be back tomorrow (unless perhaps Shelly can find a place to post from at the hospital?? do they have wireless there?) and I'll include some pictures of Ian!!!

It's Been A While

Well I haven't posted in forever!! We got rid of the internet when we moved and posting from Scott's iPhone apparently doesn't work. So I am currently posting from Lynn's lovely BlackBerry. So I won't be able to post pictures or anything, but I can at least give you a quick update.
I am due in about 2 weeks, but I'm scheduled to be induced next Thursday (the 25th). At 36weeks they were estimating that he was already over 7 lbs so I'm being induced at 39 weeks and apparently having another fairly large baby. We've also changed his name to Ian Thomas.

Emma is talking like crazy now. It's strange to have her blurt out something new everytime I turn around. Abby is getting really big too, but shows absolutely no interest in walking which is very disappointing since I will have another one that can't walk very soon. She cruises like crazy, but refuses to let go. Just lazy I guess.

Post from iphone

Pictures

Makeover

In case you didn't notice, my blog got a makeover! Lynn Davis was nice enough to completely redesign my blog layout for me. It looks great and I would have never been able to make it look this good. Thanks, Lynn!! There are finally some more up-to-date pics of the girls and she even included little Jonah. What a pal!

I'm feeling pretty good today. The past 3 days or so, I've been getting to bed around 9:30. I fall asleep pretty much instantly, so I think being asleep before 10 has been gradually helping me. Emma still got me up around 6am, but I managed not to actually get out of bed until almost 7. Not too bad. I don't think I'm ever going to stay up late again!

Next week is VBS at State Street and I will be teaching the toddler class. That will probably be pretty exhausting in itself, so I don't really plan on getting a lot done as far as packing goes. My goal is to go through all the closets and get them ready to go. I'm pretty sure a lot of that stuff will be going to Goodwill though. The following week is VBS at Rolling Fields and I was planning on being involved until I found out for sure when we were moving and that will be the very last week to pack so I don't think I can handle all of that. Not without nearly killing myself anyway, so I probably shouldn't do that while I'm pregnant!

Potty Training?!

Miss Emma decided that every time she needs to go potty she should take her diaper off. Most of the time she hasn't gotten it off until after she already went in her diaper. Once though, she took it off, ran into the kitchen, and went pee-pee in the floor! Better there than on the carpet I guess. I snatched her up and put her on the potty where she went a little more. I gave her candy for going in the potty and told her that she needs to let me know when she has to go so we can sit on the potty and get some candy. It's pretty much worked so far. She's gone in the potty twice this morning and I've only had to change her diaper once ( it was a little more than pee-pee though!). I don't know why she had to pick right now to be ready for the potty. I don't have much time to mess with it and am super exhausted with packing and everything. I got a good nights sleep last night, but I still feel worn out. That's OK. Maybe she'll be out of diapers around when Jonah gets here.

I feel like I've gotten no where with packing and here I am writing on my blog. Yesterday I wasted a bunch of time making peanut butter cookies when I should have been packing. Oh well.
I guess I've got a pretty good little chunk of it done. I've got 2 and a half weeks left. I should be fine. It is really tiring though. Hopefully I survive it.

It's Official!!!

The new apartments finally processed our application and we found out today that it was approved!! We're taking them our deposit and doing a walk-through in the morning. I'm so excited that we get to move! All the apartments around us have had problems with mice, but we haven't seen any. We think Tinkerbell might have been keeping them away. But the other day Scott got face to face with one, literally! He found it in the cabinet above our stove. I'm just glad he was the one that saw it and not me!! Besides the mouse thing though, I'd still be really excited about moving. It does mean that I now only have 3 weeks to pack though. I've only got one box packed cause I wanted to wait until it was official before I got everything packed up for nothing. I've got my work cut out for me.

Daddy's Girls

I really need to start packing. We've never done this with kids and we only have a month to get things together - a little less than that actually. I'm sure once I get going it won't take me too long. I just need to figure out where to begin.

The girls and I got to celebrate two birthdays yesterday! The Delaneys came over and we had pizza and cake for Issac's 2nd birthday and then later we went out for ice cream for Debbie's birthday. I'm pretty sure she turned a little more than two though! :)

It's looking like we might have to postpone Scott's schooling yet again. This, I think, is his 3rd attempt at starting. With our rent going up moving to a 3-bedroom apartment and a 3rd child on the way, it just doesn't look like we will be able to afford it. I won't be able to make up for his missed hours at work cause that would leave my grandma babysitting 3 kids ages 2 and under 3-4 days a week. She can barely survive with just the two of them so I would hate to stick her with that job, even though I know she would do it anyway. We haven't got it figured out yet, but that's the way it's looking right now. Oh well...someday maybe.

Well Behaved Kids??

I was beginning to think I would never see a good day again, but here we are going on our 3rd in a row! Since Abby has officially started crawling and can get where she wants and follow Emma around, she has been much more pleasant. I don't know what changed Emma's attitude, but she has been much more fun to be around lately too. She has developed this evil look she'll give you if you tell her to stop doing something or ask her to pick toys up. It's quite humorous though. I can't get Emma to eat today, but besides that, today has been good too. Abby has been eating enough for the both of them! She has been a little piggy lately! I'm still extremely exhausted and my back hurts really bad (and I've still got 4 months of this pregnancy left!!) but them behaving has really helped. Now I need to start getting everything packed up. What fun! I don't know where to begin. I need to get it figured out soon though. I guess I should try to get a little done now while the girls are sleeping...wish me luck!

Group Picture

It seriously took 40-50 shots to get this picture and they still aren't looking at the camera!

The ones of just the 2 of them together were surprisingly easy today! It's so cute that they interact now! I'm glad they like each other...most of the time.
Abby is crawling all over the place now. It still makes her mad sometimes though.
Emma got her first haircut yesterday. Just a trim so I don't know how noticeable it is in this pic.

Apartment

We're getting much closer to making our move official. It looks like we will be moving the 1st of July. The manager is processing our application now and we should know for sure early next week. I'm sure there aren't any problems since we aren't felons or anything like that. I will be glad to know for sure so I can get started packing. I'm sure that will take twice as long as usual - we've never moved with kids before. Emma likes to help a little too much and now that Abby is mobile I'm sure she'll be in on the mix too!

It looks like are going to start attending Rolling Fields once again. I'm sure some of you have already heard. The reasons that made us leave in the first place are long gone now and I'm really looking forward to the switch. I do love State Street and when we first started talking about it I was pretty much neutral about the whole issue (and still am). It seems now that our decision has pretty much been made though. I'm sad to be leaving our current church family, but at the same time, excited to be rejoining our old friends at the Fields.

More Sickness

The past week has been kind of crummy. After Emma got better, the rest of us got it. It isn't fun being sick and having a sick kid and having to stay on top of daily chores (not that I've done a very good job of that lately!). Scott and I are still sick, so it does help that the girls are feeling better except they got in the habit of be cuddled and babied a little too much. I'm working on getting Abby to leave me alone at night still. Last night she was only up once so it wasn't too bad. At least she doesn't expect to be fed at night anymore. Hopefully it won't be much longer. I guess I should pretty much plan on not sleeping until I'm about 50 and can't have kids anymore. I don't know.

I finally got our application put in at the apartments where we want to move. It took me long enough, but I finally got it done. Now we just need to wait until some one moves out so they have an empty one. Who knows how long that will take?! I called today to try and find out if they had an estimate but no one answered. It will be very stressful, I'm sure, but I'm really looking forward to moving. I really need to go through our stuff. I came up with an entire plan to go through everything and get organized within a couple weeks. I was off to a pretty good start and then everybody got sick again. Once we're back to normal, I plan on trying again. Hopefully I can stay on track!

Zoo Trip

Merideth and I took the kids to the zoo today. It was an adventure to say the least. I don't think I'm ready to tackle that again until I have a double stroller! My plan was to let Emma walk and if she needed to be in the stroller to carry Abby in my sling. That worked for about the first half of our journey. Abby went to sleep and Emma got really tired and wanted me to carry her. She weighs a ton, in case you didn't know! It wouldn't have been as bad as it was except we apparently decided to go on field trip day. There were elementary school kids everywhere. It was hard to keep an eye on Emma with so many kids around and she wasn't doing a very good job of staying with me cause she wanted to follow everyone else. We still had a good time. It was just very exhausting. We came home and Emma put herself to bed, literally. She's just now waking up - 3 hours later!

Crawling??

Well not quite, though she has made it a few feet! She sure does look cute though!

Poor Little Emma

Feeling sick all day!!

Missing the Celebration

Today was Kyla's 1st birthday party and we had to miss it. Emma had been very grumpy all day and this afternoon she ran up and gave me a hug and it felt like her head was on fire. So I took her temperature and she did have a fever. It wasn't outrageous or anything, right at 100. I gave her some Tylenol and I laid down on the couch cause I was pretty exhausted after all the fussiness. Emma crawled up on the couch with me and was sitting next to my head and the next thing I know she's completely passed out! It was only 6:30! I apparently had fallen asleep myself. Scott said he said something to me and realized I was asleep. Oh well...If he says so! I felt too bad to wake her up since I knew she wasn't feeling well so I just transported her to her bed. Hopefully I don't regret that decision. No partying for us today. Well, Happy Birthday Kyla!!

Jonah's Bedding

I got Emma back to sleeping until 7:00 or so, but now Miss Abby decided she likes getting up at 6:30. Oh well. It really hasn't been that bad. I've been getting to bed before 10 every night so I think that's helping. I took a break from my house organization project today and just took it easy (as much as is possible anyway). I've been working on it pretty hard lately and it's definitely starting to effect my back. I picked out Jonah's bedding today. I found a great deal at Walmart.com - a 4-piece set for only $31!! I didn't want sports really since this family isn't really into sports and I don't like the car/truck theme very much. The one I found has rockets on it, so it's a little different at least, and for the price, I love it! Here's a peek.



Abby has really been moving lately. She actually got up and crawled about 3 feet or so a couple of times today. I'm thinking that by this time next week she'll completely be able to crawl. I'm pretty impressed since it's earlier than when Emma started. Yay for Abby!!

Babies!

Rising Early

Well here it is, 5:30AM, and Scott just left to go work for his dad for a couple of hours. I thought I'd roll myself out of bed too and get a head start on a few things. I plan on getting quite a few things done today, mostly going through as much of our stuff as possible and packing up stuff to give to Goodwill and somewhat organizing whatever is leftover. I started yesterday with our food cabinet in the kitchen. My plan is to start in the front of the apartment and just work my way back. Who knows how long this is going to take me!? I hope the girls are as cooperative as they were yesterday.

Emma actually stayed up until a little past 9:00 last night. (Even though I'm up early anyway, it's nice that I didn't have to get up. I still hope she sleeps in a little!) Scott got home a little late and I figured she might as well eat with us since she was that close already. She did pretty good with. Wasn't too grumpy. At dinner she did start acting like a goober though. She kept doing this crazy fake laugh instead of eating. It was obvious that some one was sleepy! Everything went fine last night. Pretty good actually. Abby finally made it through the night without a peep. Well she did wake up once, but that wasn't her fault. I'm pretty sure Emma woke up everyone in the building around 12:30 last night! She just started screaming and came out of room in a full blown tantrum - convulsing, throwing herself of the floor, just inconsolable. She didn't want me to be nice to her, she didn't want me to be firm with her, didn't want to be held or talked to at all really. I put her back in bed and told her to sit there until she felt like being nice. When she came back out of her room, she calmly laid down in our bed and went to sleep. It only took a few minutes for her to pass out so I moved her to her bed and everything was perfectly fine for the rest of the night. The entire episode only lasted 15 minutes, so overall I would say we had a pretty good night. Pretty soon it looks like I'll be able to let Abby sleep in her room in stead of the living room! That will be nice!

A Good Day

Not much has been happening. Just anxiously awaiting the deposit of our stimulus check! Sunday was Mother's Day. We didn't too anything too spectacular. Scott and I left the girls with my grandma and went to eat at Famous Daves. I had been there before and have been wanting to go for a while now. To Scott's surprise, he actually liked it. I told him he would. He even wants to go back! I do too, cause it was a very unenjoyable trip. This past week, I had been having some serious belly pain. It kept getting worse and worse and by Sunday evening I was sure I was going to die. I couldn't eat cause the pain was so bad it was making me dizzy and everything and I just completely lost my appetite. I wasn't nauseous or anything, I just couldn't eat. What a waste of a trip out to eat on my part! Oh well. After I went home and relaxed a little and took a hot bath I felt a ton better which is good cause I was on the verge of going to the hospital.

I got my new cell phone yesterday and so far so good. It was just a cheap $20 refurbished phone. It seems a little old school as far as the way the menu looks and the setup of things. It was definitely worth 20 bucks at least. I can make phone calls and text and that's really all I need. If Emma ends up destroying it, at least we won't be out much.

Emma has been waking up at 6:30 every morning for the past week or so. Today I decided to keep her up. We will actually get to eat dinner as a family this way, so it is better in some ways. It's past 8:00 now and she's getting a little giddy. She usually goes to bed at 7:30) Hopefully the outcome of this will be a later awakening from my chubby little alarm clock.

We have had a great day today. The past couple of weeks have been very stressful for me for many reasons. I have been extremely irritable and impatient though. Today, I felt fantastic. I got some things accomplished around the house and didn't freak out all day. This is how I want every day to be!!

Abby wants to crawl so bad! She'll get in position and rock a little before getting really mad. I'm guessing it will just be another week or so before she figures out how it works. I know she would like to be able to get to Emma more quickly. Soon enough.

Ultrasound

I now have a little more time to write about some details. The baby looks good and everything. He's a little on the big side, but we've come to expect that in this family. I know my dates are extremely accurate when calculating my due date and according to that he should be weighing at about 8 ounces. According to the measurements taken during the ultrasound, they have him weighing in at 11 ounces. That doesn't sound like a big difference, but when they're that small it kinda is. That's OK. I'd much prefer a big baby. I figured it was big anyway and almost thought it was twins since I'm quite a bit bigger this time around. I really thought we would be having another girl because after comparing belly photos with past pregnancies, I seem to be carrying the same and I definitely don't feel any different or anything. However, it was quite evident that our new little bundle of joy was a male! I really wanted a boy, but now that it is, it's kind of got me freaked out a little. I don't know why. The ultrasound tech did say that it looked like I had a low-lying placenta again. We won't know for sure until the radiologist looks at it and I go see the doctor again though. I had that with Abby and when they did the 2nd ultrasound to check it, the placenta had moved up and out of the way on it's own. So it's nothing to worry about at this point. If if doesn't move on it's own, we might have some problems.

The Results Are In

To my surprise........................................It's a BOY!!

Darkness

Last night all the ladies from Bible study met at Debbie's house for a little game night. Everyone was chatting and eating their pizza and all of a sudden the power went out in the entire apartment complex. It was off at least half of the time we were there, so we didn't get to play any games. It was fun to just sit around and talk in the dark though. Maybe next time we can squeeze in some games before it blacks out!

Abby's second tooth followed the first one out right away. I think it took Emma almost 2 weeks to get her second one in and Abby's only took a few days with minimal fussiness. She has wanted to be held quite a bit more than usual. Most of the time she is content to just roll around on the floor all day, but not so much this week. She hasn't been up all night screaming or anything, so I think I'll manage.

Out of nowhere this week Emma has gotten pretty good at combining words. I've been really impressed. It started out with "bye-bye water" as I let the water drain from the tub after her bath. Then today Abby was sitting in the floor and started crying (I think Emma hit her in the head with a car) and Emma went and patted Abby on the head and said "Cry no more". This morning we actually had a conversation! It started because Emma laid her banana she was eating for breakfast down on the couch. It went like this:

Me: Aren't you going to finish your banana?
Emma: No.
Me: Why not?
Emma: Want no more.

I know it wasn't a very long conversation or anything, but I was really excited about it. A lot of people like the "little baby stage", but I really think it gets better as they get older. It's so neat when they start doing new things. I always said I couldn't wait til Emma started walking and everyone said I would regret saying that. I definitely prefer it once they start walking though! Everything just keeps getting more fun and entertaining, especially with the whole talking thing.

Tooth Number 1

Kara and I have been trying to get pictures of the girls done for about 3 weeks now and have had to keep rescheduling because of the weather. We finally had a clear day yesterday and that's the day that Abby decides to pop her first tooth out. Needless to say, she wasn't very cooperative. The hardest thing was trying to get pictures of them together. It's pretty much impossible to get both of them to look at the camera and be happy at the same time. She did manage to get a few good shots. (Way to go Kara!) Abby wasn't really smiling in any of them, but there are quite a few good ones of Emma by herself. My girls might have Kara re-thinking her profession though!!

Only a few more days now until we find out about this baby. I'm pretty convinced now that "Jonah" is actually more of a "Dana". I can't wait until Friday!!! Luckily this is a pretty busy week, so it might just fly by.

Next week, I will be adding a little more chaos to my life. It will only be temporary though. I'm going to be babysitting my boss' 4-month-old baby girl. It's only going to be 3 days a week and I will be getting paid for doing something that I have to do everyday anyway. His wife is a principal, so I will only be doing this for about 5 weeks - until school's out. I've got to get used to handling 3 babies soon anyway, right? Not quite a 19 month, 7 month, and 4 month old, but that's OK. I'm sure it will be fine.

Fun Times

Today the girls and I went to the park with Krista and her 3 boys. What an adventure that was! Emma has only been to the park a couple of times and was mostly just pushed in the swing on those occasions. She wasn't too sure about any of it at first and I had to hold her hand and talk her into going up a few steps and keep holding it whole she went down the baby slide. It didn't take her too long to take on that task alone, which was good since I was lugging Abby around. I talked her into going down the second smallest slide which she made me hold her hand with again. It was sweet to know that she still needs me to feel safe sometimes. Things were going pretty well until some older kids arrived. They nearly trampled her on several occasions. Then she followed them up the stairs to the BIG slide. It was a covered twisty slide and I think she would have freaked if she actually tried to go down. It was also a lot of steps for her to fall down so I had to go rescue her. When we left Krista came over to our house to chat for a while since we couldn't get a lot of that done while keeping track of all the kiddos at the park. By the time they left Emma was pretty pooped. She's not used to so much excitement. So she ate steak and goldfish (good combo huh?) for dinner and went to bed around 7:00. It was a fun day, nice change of pace. I can't wait until Krista and I try to tackle the zoo with all 5 kids!!

Horrible Day

Today started out on a good note. I felt fairly refreshed when Emma woke me up a little after 7:00 and got quite a bit of housework done right off the bat before making breakfast around 9:00. Things were going pretty smoothly. Abby took a nice 2 hour nap and woke up just 15 minutes after Emma went to sleep around 1:00. No problems. We then had to meet Mike and Wanda at Rocky's for dinner at 3:00. As soon as Emma woke up we had to leave. Everything was fine in the car on the way over there. This is where it all begins. Both girls were just plain awful at the restaurant! I couldn't believe it! They're usually very well-behaved. A little fussy here and there maybe, but that's it. Abby has an excuse at least, because you can see that her top two front teeth are about to bust through. Poor thing. I don't know what Emma's issue was though. She wouldn't sit still at all. She usually loves going out to eat with Mike and Wanda, but the whole time today, she was just whiny and wanted to run everywhere and not eat anything. Between the two of them there was quite a bit of commotion. Luckily the place was pretty loud anyway so I didn't feel too bad. During all of this I got to hear more negative comments about expecting another one and how I wouldn't be able to handle it and whatnot. Sure, if all 3 kids are acting like that we probably won't be going out. Overall they don't act like that though. They catch us on a bad day and take advantage of the opportunity to let the comments fly. I'm not a very emotional person and it's a good thing I typically hide my feelings anyway cause I really just wanted to cry when they were saying that stuff and I can't imagine crying in such a public place, but I came close. Emma could be teething too I guess. She is expecting her last 4 molars any time now. Oh well. And I really wish Scott was home right now, cause right after I put the girls to bed at 7:30 and 7:45 a bunch of guys decided to start a football game right outside our bedroom windows. They haven't woke them up yet, but I know I wouldn't be able to sleep through all the noise they're making. I'm way too scared to say anything to them. I wish I wasn't such a sissy. Hopefully they get some sense and leave soon before I go crazy.

Here's a picture I got this morning when everything was still A-OK.

Cheaper by the Dozen

Today we went to Perrin Park to feed the ducks again. This time they weren't very hungry though. Emma had a good time anyway and Abby seems to really enjoy being outside too. When we got home I was forced to watch Cheaper by the Dozen. For some reason, when people make me mad about having kids, watching that makes me feel better. My aunt stopped by with my grandma this afternoon and told me she thought it was about time to stop having kids. I'm not sure why she even cares. This was the first time she had ever seen Abby and she's almost 7 months old! So it's not affecting her in the least. She even said we should name this one Moe (cause there ain't gonna be no mo'). Stuff like that just makes me so mad. I don't understand why people hate kids so much. That's what it seems like to me at least. Scott and I always went back and forth on the issue of birth control and always (obviously) came to the conclusion that we weren't going to use it. After this time we were very much considering using it since he would be going to school and we'd already have 3 kids under 3. We recently found out though that all birth control pills are potentially abortive. Research is unclear of exactly how abortive they might be, but the fact is they are, whether it be a little or a lot. We certainly didn't like the sound of that and are now completely against it. I don't really care how many kids we have. I trust that God will provide for us as he has proved so many times already. I'm not going to deny that it gets very exhausting at times and every now and then I feel like I'm going crazy. That just comes with the territory I guess. It just makes me so mad when people say every single family should only have a certain number of kids or the should be spaced exactly 3 years apart. It doesn't bother me if your family wants to space your kids out or whatever. I just don't like it when people get on my back about things like that, especially when I am the one who carries them for 9 months, gives birth to them, and then takes care of them everyday. I don't think anyone else has reason to complain!

Sorry. I had to vent a little.

Anyway...The girls are getting very cute together. They interact a lot now and make each other laugh all the time. They've also been getting their baths at the same time now that Abby can sit up on her own. They have such a good time in the tub. They splash each other and laugh. It's so funny! I know it's a while, but I can't wait until Abby starts walking. Then they can really have a good time together. I just need to get her walking before she's 12 months. I said that about Emma since we were expecting Abby then and she was walking completely on her own at 11.5 months. I'd say that was successful so hopefully Abby will follow in her sister's footsteps.

Park Pictures

Not a lot has been happening lately. Nothing exciting enough to write about anyway. My ultrasound is scheduled for May 9th. We only have to wait 2 more weeks to find out what it is. We spent a little time at the park yesterday. Emma had fun swinging and running around and Abby enjoyed her first time in the swing. I got a couple of good pictures so I thought I would share them.

Earthquake!

Who knew we could feel an earthquake that happened in Illinois?! I was very tired at 5:30 this morning when Scott jumped up and "why is the bed shaking?". I just told him I didn't know and when back to sleep. I am way too tired to waste my sleep-time on getting up for an earthquake. I really didn't care at all. It didn't wake the girls up or anything so it didn't concern me. When I got up this morning and turned the news on, I was surprised to hear that it was an earthquake we felt. I wish it would have happened during the day so I could have been more excited about it. I've never felt an earthquake before. Oh well. Luckily there wasn't any real damage in the area. Only one building in Louisville was affected.

Emma is getting past her obsession with Cars. She still loves it, but she doesn't ask to watch it everyday anymore. Lately we have been watching Bee Movie and Enchanted. Luckily I like all of these movies anyway, so I really don't mind. I'm one of those people that can watch the same movie over and over without going crazy...And it's a good thing!

Abby went to the doctor yesterday for her 6 month checkup. She isn't feeling well today and has a little fever, probably from one of the 3 shots she had to get. Poor baby! She was 18lbs 6oz and 28.5 inches long. That makes her half an inch longer and 1 pound lighter than Emma was at 6 months. I thought it was crazy that she is longer than Emma. She doesn't seem to be to me. Oh well. I love my big babies. With Jonah, we're shooting for a 10-pounder!

The Suspense is Killing Me!

It's just 2 or 3 weeks until I get my ultrasound now. I can't wait! I'm ready do go start buying boy stuff so I really need to know! I will be getting my appointment when I go to the doctor Monday. Abby has to go to the doctor tomorrow. My life is full of doctor appointments. October is going to be quite chaotic this year! A hospital stay for me, a 1-year checkup, a 2-year checkup, a newborn checkup, postpartum visits....

Emma and Abby have been playing together a lot more. As much as they really can at least. They're so cute when they're talking to each other and poking each other. We're supposed to be going to the park with Krista and her boys tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully everything works out so we can go. Emma has only been to the park a couple of time and we've never stayed very long, so it should be fun.

I also can't wait to move. We will be stuck here a little longer though, cause the apartments we want to move to don't have any 3 bedrooms available for June. We're in the process of putting our name on the list to get one ASAP. The longer it takes, the fatter I'll be, and the harder it will be for me to get everything done. I hope it doesn't take too long!!

Update

Not a whole lot has been going on lately. I'm still trying to get Abby to eat and sleep like a 6 month old instead of like a 1 month old. It's a little exhausting. Emma is really picking up on words still. I'm impressed by how well she repeat things. If you ask her what her name is. she tells you it's Mater. I don't know why, but it's kind of funny. Lynn is in town got Thunder so I got to hang out with her yesterday. That was fun. We ended up talking until past 9:00 last night, which is weird since I'm usually ready for bed around then. We didn't realize it was that late until Scott got home from work at 9:15. We ate Taco Bell as usual. Emma seems to like chicken quesadillas as much as me. We plan on avoiding the mess today. I was considering taking the girls to see the fireworks until I heard it was going to be cold and wet. Oh well. I don't think Abby would enjoy it anyway. I have felt Jonah moving around on several different occasions now, a little earlier than with the other 2 since I'm only 15 weeks along. My next appointment is in about a week and that's when they will schedule my ultrasound and we'll get to find out if it's really a Jonah!

What A Piggy

Emma's appetite finally kicked in. I think she eats more than me now! I usually just let her have some of my portions, but for the past week or so, I've had to make her own piece of chicken or whatever we're eating. She's been pretty pleasant to be around lately which is a good change. Every time I turn around she whips out a new word on me. It's kind of scary.

Abby can roll like crazy now. I put her on one side of the room and walk into the kitchen for a minute and she's moved all the way to the other side of the room. That's a little weird for me cause Emma never rolled very much. She would just roll from back to belly or belly to back, but Abby just keeps going until she gets where she's going. Emma skipped that and just went for crawling I guess. It is funny to see Abby roll around the room.

Pictures and Videos

2nd Trimester!!

Well today starts my 2nd trimester. How exciting! Abby turned 6 months yesterday and Emma turned 18 months. All that means is I've 6 more months to wait for this baby - let's call it Jonah. That seems like such a long time! I don't think I want to wait that long. Oh well, it should go by pretty quickly. Supposedly Jonah is 3.5 inches long. That seems pretty big. My belly starting to get out there, so I hope the weather gets better within the next month since most of my maternity clothes are for the summer of course.

I've got 2 months to get packed if we're going to be moving the 1st of June. I will probably have to get all the packing done during nap time and after bedtime or else I will have a lot of "help" from Emma. I really can't wait to move to the new place. They're brand new apartments, so they're really nice and fairly cheap for a 3 bedroom. I can't wait to clean out all the closets and get everything organized when we move in - even though I know in the back of my mind that it won't stay that way!

April Fools

I had to work with Scott yesterday so when he went to the bathroom, I put a bunch of lemon juice and hot sauce in his Dr. Pepper. I wasn't sure if I wanted to start anything cause he is much better at that kind of stuff than I am, but I decided it was worth it. He did end up taking a drink as soon as he came out. It was pretty funny, I must say. I've been just waiting for something to come my way...

He has been going on and on about wanting to get the X-Files complete series box set which is like $250. I think most of you know we don't just have that lying around, so he's been driving me so crazy that I thought it would be wise to cut up our Best Buy card. We still have credit on Amazon, so today he's been bugging me about that. Right after he left for work this afternoon I get this text message saying "Oops. I accidentally bought it.". So I called him freaking out and everything since we've been trying to get out of debt for I don't know how long. After a second , he tells my he's just joking and was getting me back for the drink! What a butt! ***

Abby's doing really well sitting up and Emma's crazy as usual. We took them to the park the other day when it was really nice and Emma got her first skinned knee. She didn't cry or anything so that's good. I think she was just too excited about being outside. She had a pretty good time even though we only got to stay a few minutes. As soon as we got there it started getting really windy and cold and Emma was wearing shorts so we had to hit the road pretty quickly. She really liked seeing all the people out walking their dogs.

***Scott wasn't being a jerk or anything when I say he was "bugging me about it". And I am not some kind of control freak with our money. :-)

No Hands

Not a whole lot has been happening. Still pretty tired. Abby's still not sleeping through the night. She sleeps better in her car seat so I think her ear might be bothering her at night. Hopefully it's just a side effect of teething which I would like for her to get out of the way as soon as she can. 

She's doing a really good job sitting up. I think it will just be a couple more weeks before I can sit her down and leave her. She wants to skip the step where she uses her hands to prop her up so she just needs a little more balancing skills. I don't know why she won't use here hands, but that's ok since she's doing good without it. She and Emma had a good time together last night. It was the first time they ever really interacted with each other. They kept making each other laugh and Abby kept grabbing Emma's face. It was really cute!

Doctor Appointment

I forgot to mention that I had a doctor appointment Monday morning. Nothing much to report. I got to hear to heartbeat which, to me, sounded a lot slower than the girls'...Maybe a boy?? It will be about a month before I will find out for sure. Can't wait! I really want to buy some boy things! Of course, with Scott starting school and everything, it would be more within our budget to have another girl since we already have everything. Oh well. If it is a boy, I would feel bad for it and want to try for another boy right away so he can have a little friend. Whether or not that would be completely healthy for me or not is debatable I guess. If it's a girl I won't mind just leaving it at 3 girls for the time being.

Emma got sent to bed early tonight for being a little demon. She only took about half of a nap today and started getting very grumpy around 5:30, so she ate dinner and was in bed by 6:30. She went right to sleep so I guess I made a good decision. I measured her today and was a little shocked to find out that she is 35 inches tall. I thought it seemed like she was getting taller but I thought it was just all in my head or something. Turns out she's grown about 1.5 inches since her appointment in January. At 18 months, that puts her in the 99th percentile for height and the 95th percentile for weight (she's 28 pounds). She must take after Scott!

Quick Update

Emma has been doing really well about going to bed and staying there. I was really worried after the other night when she ended up in our bed all night! If she does get out of bed I only have to put her back once. I have been very consistent with her nap and bed times so I think that might be helping. She does get to stay up late when my grandma babysits, but that only makes her more tired for when I put her in bed.

Abby on the other hand, was up about 5 times last night. And I had to get up with her and at least put her binky in her mouth to get her to hush since she's been sleeping in her room with Emma for about a week. I guess I'll have to put her back in the living room for a while. I really do think she is getting teeth though. I'm waiting for them to pop out any time now. She also learned ho to blow spit bubbles today. That's all she's been doing. It cute and everything, but she gets spit everywhere!

Apples to Apples

Yesterday was Easter, so of course I have some pictures of the girls in their dresses. Emma is not getting any easier to take pictures of so I don't have a very good one of her, but they'll do.

After church we went home so Emma could get her nap in before we had to go over to the Embry house for dinner at 3:00. After that Abby and I went back to church to hang out and play Apples to Apples. It was a lot of fun! The guys got a little rowdy playing baseball with a ping-pong ball and a coat hanger and scared Abby to death every time they started screaming and yelling. Once they left the room, she was fine and we got to have some less noisy fun.

I am having some troubles with Emma though. She finally figured out how to climb out of her toddler bed, even with the extra guard rail. So the first time she did it , I just set up the playpen for her to take her nap in there. She climbed over the side! I think that freaked both me and her out cause all of a sudden she was crying and running down the hall. Last night started out OK. It only took me 2 times to get her to stay in bed. I even got to bed a little before 10 myself. Then at midnight she woke up and I couldn't get her to stay in bed. I really didn't feeling like staying up for however long trying to get her to stay put so I let her sleep in our bed. (I am strongly opposed to co-sleeping so this was a big deal for me). It went pretty well - for me anyway. Scott said she had him pushed all the way to the edge, and we even have a king size bed! I didn't have a problem until she decided it was time to get up at 6am. That just doesn't work for me! So this morning I lowered the crib mattress to try and keep her contained a little while longer - at least until I get some of my energy back - but apparently there is no stopping this girl! I left the room and heard a big thump and here she comes running down the hall crying again. I didn't think she would be able to do that since the crib walls are taller than the walls of the playpen. I'm out of options. I'm just going to have to suck it up and be consistent about making her stay in bed. I think it will be more torture for me than her though. She went to bed easily tonight, so I'm hoping...

Big Girl

Yesterday Abby started sitting on her a own a little! What a big girl! The first time she did it, she was wearing the exact same thing Emma was wearing the first time she sat up. I don't know why I remember that, but I thought it was neat. She's doing a pretty good job so far. I know it took Emma about a month before I felt comfortable enough to just leave her sitting somewhere, but I'm just excited that she's started.I did something amazing today...cleaned my bedroom! That has needed to be done for I don't know how long and it finally go done. It's always the last room to ever get cleaned since no one goes in there, which also means it is where I throw everything that doesn't really have a place. It has been a complete disaster for quite some time now and I am so glad that I don't have to look at it anymore.

Lynn came over yesterday and we went to Walmart and ate Taco Bell - a tradition we do every time she comes home for a visit. Jessie also came over so I could do her taxes for her. That was fun! Emma got really tired and grumpy about an hour before bedtime, so dealing with her and working with number was a little interesting. We survived though. Luckily there isn't much to Jessie's taxes!

After 3 trips to the store, I finally got Emma's Easter shoes. The first time she wasn't with me and the ones I got were way too big, but they looked a little skinny at the store. The next day I took Emma with me so she could try them on and we had to get a different style, but that was fine, as long as they fit. When we got home she wanted to wear them, so I put the first one one and the second one wouldn't go on her foot. After a little investigating, I figured out it was a 4 and 1/2 (she wears a 6). I was so mad. I had to go back and put the 4 with it's partner and find another 6 to go with the other one we had. Who knew buying shoes would be so much trouble?!

Rough Day

Today was just awful for me and it seemed to drag on forever, until I got to Bible study. I think Abby might be cutting teeth. She's been a little on the grumpy side for a couple of days. Emma was also in a mood today. Scott was up yakking on the phone until sometime past midnight, so I didn't sleep well anyway and with 2 whiny babies to deal with all day, I wasn't in a very pleasant mood either. Scott is meeting with some guys from church tonight and isn't coming home until late. I love it when everyone is gone and sleeping. I always say that I will go to bed early on nights like these, but I usually end up staying up and enjoying the peace and quiet. I know I will regret it in the morning when I wake up tired, but I can't help it.

Today was our 3 year anniversary actually. Is it bad that I'm happy about him coming home late? We didn't do anything special obviously since he worked all day, I had Bible study, and now he's up at the church. That's OK. We don't usually do anything, just see a movie maybe, but we do that about every week anyway.

Sister Pictures

Emma's giant ball
Kisses

Big Smiles

Reading and Rock Star

I've been too tired to write anything lately. Scott has been keeping me up late playing Rock Band. It's such a fun game though. Once you start playing, you just want to keep going. It's just like Guitar Hero, except you also can play drums and sing. I have been rocking it out with the microphone while Scott has mostly stuck with guitar. We both tried the drums, but it's a little tricky. You have to have pretty good coordination. They're all fun though. I don't think anything interesting has happened as far as the babies go. Emma seems to be learning something new everyday. It's amazing. Now she says, "Oh no" and "Oh my". We went to see Enchanted last night. I thought is was cute and entertaining. Scott didn't like it too much, of course.

I finally finished a book!!!! I'm so excited about that. I can't even remember the last time I finished something, besides the Lies Women Believe book that we read for Bible Study. I just finished The Golden Compass. Scott read the book, then we saw the movie, then I decided to read it. It was really good, better than the movie. It took a few months to read, but I'm really happy I finished a book. I just started World War Z. It's a zombie book, which sounds stupid at first, but is actually pretty neat. I wasn't sure if I was going to read it until I found out Meredith (not VanFleet) liked it. 

Some Good Sleep

Abby slept from 8pm to 8am last night! I'm so happy to have gotten some sleep. Emma slept from 7:30 to 8:30, so she did really good too. I plan on keeping Abby in the living room just a couple more nights to make sure this is going to be an every night thing. I really hope it is!! Of course at this point, I can't make it through the night myself without having to get up for a potty break. At least I didn't have to listen to anyone scream last night!

The girls and I finally get to go to church for the first time in about a month. Yay! We couldn't go cause everyone was sick and then it was canceled cause of the snow. Nothing should happen between now and tomorrow morning so we should be good.

Abby discovered her feet a few days ago and now she seems obsessed with them. It's funny to watch her play with her feet all day. And I finally got her eating some baby food. She's doing really good with it so far. I started her a lot later than with Emma. I went with Debbie to pick out yarn for Abby's blanket. She is going to crochet one for her and the new baby, but we're waiting to find out what it is before we pick the colors. Only a month and a half left before we find out!! I can't wait! I hate not knowing. I don't really have a guess for this one yet. With Abby, I knew it was a girl after I got to a certain point, but I just can't figure this one out yet. I kinda think it's another girl. I think I'm just doubting myself cause I want it to be a boy. We'll find out soon enough though.