4 months old!

I know I have said this SO many times with Avree and now I am going to be saying it with Emmersen.. I can't believe how old and how fast she is growing!
Emmersen is 4 months old now and is such a petite little thing :-) I think she got the Melhus gene for height. But her height and weight together are proportionate, which is good! She weighs about 11 pounds 5 oz (I will get her exact weight/height on Wed when we go to her 4 month check up). She is wearing clothing size 0-3 month and a few 3-6 month things and wears size 1 diapers. (Some of this info on her is for my records)
She takes 2 long naps during the day (about 2-4 hrs each nap, but just depends on our schedule/plans during the day) and she usually goes to bed between 8/9 PM and usually gets up anytime between 6/7 AM and will go back down till 8/8:30.
I am thinking she may start being a thumb sucker.. :S If she doesn't have a paci or toy in her mouth, she goes right for her thumb. She HAS to have something in her mouth all the time.

Things she likes:
-Mommy!
-baths
-mirrors
-watching the ceiling fan/light
-watching Avree and LOVES having Avree talk to her
-she likes to be held up in the air like an airplane
-starting to really like her carseat (she sometimes naps in there even when we are at home)
-loves cooing and blowing raspberries
-laying on the floor kicking and playing with toys
-her paci!

Things she dislikes:
-bottles
-being away from mom
-being posed for pictures (we do a monthly photo shoot)
-being in the car for a long period of time

She has been a pretty good baby, but like I have said before, she is more tempremental(than Avree). She smiles and giggles everytime we talk to her. It is so adorable! But she sometimes gets herself so worked up and then has a hard time calming down. (She isn't as easy going as Avree, but those babies are hard to come by :-)) She sleeps great, which is awesome! ;)
I am so happy and blessed to be able to spend my days with her, watch her grow and be there for her! We are blessed!
I still have days were I look at her (and Avree) with amazement that we (and God, of course) created these 2 wonderful kids.

Side note about Avree:
Avree still goes to her PDO (Parent's Day Out) and STILL has a hard time in the mornings at drop off. I was hoping by a month or two of school that she would be ok with going. She is talking non-stop (full out sentences), but sometimes we have a hard time picking up some words she is saying. Since I am around her everyday I can usually figure out what she is saying :-) She is a little sponge and really picks up on a lot of things we do/say. We are trying to work on her shyness around people/friends. (If you have any advice on that, please let me know.) She is offically night potty trained (nap time and bedtime). She has been potty trained during the day since she was about 17/18 months old and now she is potty trained at night! YAY!

Here are some recent photos we took for Emmersen's 4 month photo shoot:

It's been FOREVER!

I can't believe it has been about 2 months since my last post! Sorry! December was a busy month for us as we were in Pella for a week, then came home for a couple days to unpack and then repack to head back to Pella for Christmas.
We had a great Christmas with all of our families. We are so blessed and we are so thankful for TWO amazing and healthy girls!
We started the New Year off at home. We decided it would be easier to stay home, watch movies and put the girls to bed at their normal bedtime. I was hoping to stay up till midnight, but I fell asleep. :D Matt did wake me up a couple minutes before midnight and I watched the ball drop on TV and back to bed I went. haha. Hey, I am a mom of 2, what more can I say ;)
I can't believe January is almost over and I really can't believe Emmersen will be 4 months tomorrow! (I will have a new post on that)
A couple weeks ago I decided to head to FL with the girls to visit my dad and Barb (they are in FL the whole month of Jan). This was completely last minute, so Matt wasn't able to join us. I was a little apprehensive about flying with them by myself but it actually went ok. I wasn't worried about Avree at all, I was just worried about Emree. She is very tempremental and doesn't like to be held a lot. She prefers to lay on the ground and kick around. Which I knew would be hard on a plane. She fell asleep each plane ride before take off and slept for part of the flight but she is such a light sleeper so she would jump and wake up every time they got on the intercom. Landing was a different story! I was trying to keep the paci in her mouth so her ears wouldn't pop, but that didn't seem to help. She would get fussy during landing and once I got her calmed down and she swallowed or would suck on the paci for a bit, they must have popped and she was fine. I am glad to say that I can and did travel with 2 kids (3 months and 2.5 yrs) on an airplane, by myself! But I don't plan on doing it again... for a while atleast :-)
We had a GREAT time in FL. Wish we didn't have to come back to this cold, snowy weather!
While we were in FL, my mom and her best friend happened to be vacationing in the same area! (They do a girls trip every year in FL) It was awesome to spend time with them and my dad! Avree loved having them all so close to her :-)
Here are some of my favorite picture while we were in FL:
Plane ride:

Snuggling with gma/gpa McCulla in their bed:

A Day at the Beach: (Emmersen's 1st time at the beach/ocean)

Our last night in FL:

Great Gpa G (Barb's dad)

Big sis holding lil sis :-)

"gma" Carol (AKA Coral) :-)

Plane ride home:

Sorry for the picture overload! Hope you enjoyed them :)

Holiday Weekend

We had a great "first" Thanksgiving at home, though we did miss spending the long holiday weekend with our family but it was nice not to have to drive anywhere and be in the comfort of our own home... just the four of us! :)
Matt gave me the list of food he wanted for Thanksgiving and I cooked it (first time cooking a Thanksgiving meal). I made ham (honey glazed), green bean casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, and this corn casserole (recipe from his mom). And I made a pumpkin pie.. yum! Everything was amazing and I was so proud of my self that everything got done at the same time!! :-)

I had to take a picture of the awesome work I had done for my first Thanksgiving.

What was even better about our Thanksgiving meal, was both girls were napping so Matt and I got to enjoy it alone. No whiney voices, no crying.. it was GREAT! :-)

With the long holiday weekend we were able to get tons of things done on our "to do list". We put the tree up (well Matt put the tree up and put the lights on it) and we both decorated it. He also got lights hung outside. Go Matt!



We also finished Emmersen's room.. Well for the most part- we still have to get a sheer/curtain to put underneath the main curtain.

When you first walk into the room:







I can't believe Emmersen is already 2 months old! It still feels like a couple weeks ago we were just coming home from the hospital. :) She is growing like a weed.. not as fast as Avree did at this age. She is still in newborn clothing and 0-3 month sizes, and we just ran out of newborn diapers so I am now using size 1 (which are still a little big, but I don't want to buy another pack of newborn). Last week she was 8 lbs 13 oz. A big difference from her birth weight (5lbs 15oz). She has been a good baby and loves to sleep. (Sounds just like Avree as a baby) She wakes up once a night, usually around 4 AM and will go back down till 8/8:30ish.
Emmersen is a little more temperamental at times and will let you know right away when she isn't happy. She loves to smile and coo at you when you talk to her. It is adorable! She loves watching Avree and loves having Avree talk to her. I would say right now her 2 favorite people are Avree and I.

Here are just some random photos of the girls from the holiday weekend:





Hope you all had a great Holiday Weekend!