Our Mr. Man - 18 months

Emmitt has so many nicknames... I don't know why it's been so easy to call him an array of things. Probably cause he just elicits so much personality that it's hard not to think up different pet names, but whatever the reason, he's earned them all: Monster baby, Mr. Smoochems, Twinkle Toes (my current fave), Buba, Em Dawg (Matt's personal fave, which he has gotten Madi to call him on a regular basis too...), Em Bug... I'm sure I'm forgetting some too! He's a man of many characters, and we're so in love with him!

Eighteen months.

*sigh*

Where has time gone?

I'm definitely in denial that my baby is no longer a baby, but I'm getting a little more reconciled to the idea everyday.  Especially, since he's 18 months going on three and a half! I have had officially forgotten how hard busy this stage is! It's super duper fun, don't get me wrong, but it's totally non-stop! From "no, no" to Where's Emmitt? This kid doesn't stop moving, and he doesn't really care when you tell him no either.  I'm not sure if it seems so much more difficult this time around because of the personality difference or because now I have two kiddos to focus on, or possibly I just forgot... But either way, I'm looking toward the light at the end of the tunnel when all of this CONSTANT attention and discipline pays off... right?!?

Right?!?!

Alright, so here's a little summary of our little man:

* He's got a twinkle in his eye that can catch someone's attention from a mile away. (AKA, he's cute and he knows it)

* He loves to do anything sister is doing. ANYTHING. Which has resulted in a lot more, Let's do this when Emmitt's taking a nap...

* He's obsessed with balls. Particularly basketballs, but he'll take whatever he can get.  He would, without a doubt, stand underneath a basketball hoop all day long and throw a ball at it all. day. long. Even if it is 8 feet above his head and there's no possible chance it will make it.  Over. and. over.

* Winston is his best friend. Hands down. Although daddy is a close second, this boy loves his dog.  They wrestle on the floor together. He rides on his back, pulls on his ears and tail and bosses him around all day long. Many of Emmitt's first words were dog commands: come, sit, stay, heal, hush. He still uses them often.

* He's talking SO much.  I honestly didn't expect him to be this vocal since he's a second born and a boy, but he attempts just about anything and my personal favorite is "cickle" (tickle). It's SO cute and he does LOVE to be cickled!

* He's a bit stubborn. No doesn't really mean no until he's been told it three times, gotten his hand flicked and his bottom swatted, then he'll start to take you seriously... sometimes.

* He does NOT care what people think. Ever since he was a newborn it's been obvious that Emmitt will do what Emmitt wants - sleeping patterns, nursing, screaming for no reason - he's still that way! He will scream at the top of his lungs for a split second (or a loooong second) in the middle of the store just because he feels like it and he thinks it's funny.  Covering his mouth, saying no-no, all of these things usually make it even funnier! Who knew?!?! He loves to get a hold of Madi's crayon box and throw handfuls of crayons into the air as if it were raining down crayons.  He gets in trouble for it every time, but it's still so funny that it's worth trying again... and again...

* He loves his ba-ba (bottle), his cozy (favorite blanket), and his snuggles. And quite frankly, we love it too.

* He totally perseverates on things.  If something makes him mad, it seriously bug him forever.  It's super annoying and quite frankly seems like such a girl trait to me!  (Sorry about the sexual stereotype, but it's true)...

* He loves his sissy! "Ti-ter"/"Na-ny" is his favorite friend.  He loves to play with her, and pick on her. He does it well too! I love watching them play together.  They are such good little friends already and I pray their sibling bond only grows closer as they grow up together.

* He LOVES being a big boy. Anything baby related (except for his ba-ba) is totally last year and overrated.  He identifies other kids his age as babies, and loves to caress them and call them babies. He's usually very gentle if kids are younger than him (aka, babies), and a little more aggressive with kids his own age. :/

* His dad is SO cool.  We talk about Dada all day long. Em loves kissing his dad goodbye and closing the door in his face... and then running to the window to wave goodbye.  Everything stops and he squeals with excitement when Matt comes home.  Dada is the coolest. They wrestle together and play basketball and then wrestle some more.  Emmitt is in heaven, and so is Matt! (Although Matt's pretty good at playing Cinderella too ;)

* He's like a little model baby.  He's super photogenic (Or at least in comparison to his sister, she's usually caught with one eye open and hands flailing...) and always seems to pause just right for the camera. He might not always smile, although he loves to say "cheese", but he always looks good. He definitely didn't get this from me. Madelyn and I are way too alike...

* He's ALL boy. Yup, we've got a girl that's all girl and a boy that's all boy. He's constantly sneaking outside to play in the dirt or into the garage to eat dog food. The dirtier the better.

* He's super silly. He loves to tickle and be tickled and has the best belly-laugh EVER! He's such a sweet little guy!

* He's still a Mama's-boy! He clings when I drop him off at nursery and he's very possessive of his Mama when I work in nursery with him.  When he's tired or fussy, he wants Mama. He loves to give me snuggles. He's definitely Mama's little man.

And just to prove my point...

Em Bug, thanks for bringing so much joy to our lives! We love you to the moon and back!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day from our loves to yours!

May you be blessed with lots of good chocolate, slobbery kisses (and maybe some not-so-slobbery ones too), loving words, children who aren't fighting, long nap times and a nice juicy T-bone steak.  

Okay, maybe that's just what I'm hoping for...

We've got lots of love to go around, what can I say?!?

Happy Valentine's Day, friends! 

Madelyn Ann - Three & Eight Months...

**I wrote this post over a week ago and never came back and finished it.  I was super excited about documenting Madi at her current stage, but unfortunately I ended up super overwhelmed with all the things I wanted to remember.  I'm just going to throw in the towel and post what I got. =)  Here's to our happy, healthy, fun-loving, sweetheart.  We sure do love her!**

I've been wanting to write this post for quite some time now and just haven't gotten to it... Sometimes I just can't stand how cute our kids are.  I realize that sounds a little narcissistic, but if you're a parent you probably understand.  Madi has gotten to an age that she's almost (for the most part) always fun to be around.  She love, love, loves to chat about pretty much anything and everything and she thinks she's pretty grown up too. Big surprise, I know. 

I am the worst parent about writing things down that she says, but I always say I'm going to.  This morning at breakfast we had a conversation that went like this. 

Madi, "Mom, when I grow up I want to be a high schooler."

Me, "Oh, okay.  Who do you know that's a high schooler?"

Madi, "Um, Riley."

Me, "What do you think high schoolers do?" (wondering just what motivated her to aspire to such things...)

Madi, "They go to the gym."

Although she's been in gyms way more than most three year olds, we have recently been to both Riley and Cameron's wrestling matches in which we sat in gyms for a while (although not nearly as long as most wrestling meets, I was told...).  So evidently the high schoolers (or the gym?!?) really appealed to her.  

As for her likes these days, Cinderella definitely tops them all.  Emmitt gave her a Cinderella dress, crown, and glass slippers for Christmas and we got the movie (the first Children's movie I have EVER bought!) over Christmas break. Although the first time she watched it there were some "scary" parts, she's a pro now and could pretty much recite the whole thing.  We play lots and LOTS of pretend around here and in fact the word, "pretend" is thrown into just about every sentence sometimes.  Hey mom, my pretend brother and pretend sister are 12 and 14 and they like to listen to pretend music and dance in their pretend kitchen. It's never-ending sometimes...

Sometimes I forget who I'm supposed to be and I get in trouble when I answer to Mom... especially when I'm the pretend mean Stepmother, which I still haven't figured out why I always have to be her... I'm always the one doing the chores around here, so in my book that would constitute me as Cinderella, but whatev...

This girl absolutely can hardly stand it when Matt puts one of her glass slippers on a pillow and walks around the house with it.  The major giggles come out and it never fits Winston, or Emmitt or me... just Cinderella!

She makes a pretty cute Cinderella.  

We took these pictures a few weeks ago.  I had a coupon for free Valentine cards and of course, I couldn't resist.  Emmitt was a little less compliant, but he'll get another post all to himself! ;)

She's pretty much the sweetest big sister.  She really loves her brother and occasionally she'll just say out of the blue, "Mom, I really love Emmitt. He's so cute, isn't he?" It's so sweet and makes my heart melt.  I hope they always love each other.  They fight, like all siblings, but for the most part they play really well together, and we've really noticed a difference in Madi's patience with him as she's gotten older.  Such a sweet big sis...

She is also really obsessed with having a baby sister.  She informed my mom a few weeks ago that she just has to pray and ask Jesus for one, and the other night at the dinner table she requested one from Matt out of nowhere.  This coming May Madelyn will have nine boy cousins and one girl cousin... and a brother, of course! We have LOTS of friends with boys and LOTS of friends who apparently only have boys.  She doesn't really understand why people keeping having boys and quite frankly, neither do I.  It's as if everyone is picking boys and no one wants a baby sister like her. She's quite funny about it, but we have assured her that we can't ever promise that she'll have a baby sister.  Jesus decides what kind of babies people have, which apparently explains her fervent prayer...

I guess it's a good things she's so good at pretending...

I had to include this one because Matt said, "Well, if that isn't a Jules face, I don't know what is." ;)

I guess I'm realizing just how long I could ramble on about this girl... there's just a little too much personality in her little tiny body!

*She LOVES to snuggle the people she loves and I can pretty much always count on her climbing up into my lap to read a giant stack of books or watch Cinderella.

*She's totally smitten with her Daddy and her brother.  I think the cutest thing she's ever said was when she was watching Cinderella she looked at me and said, "Mom, I just love this part {referring to the ball}. It's my favorite part.  It just makes me want to grab Emmitt and start dancing." Seriously, right?!?

*She's SUCH a big helper.  She loves to help me out with any and all chores and she's a really good "babysitter" as well. ;)

*She's a lover of life - she can make anything sound SO exciting! It's super fun and we love to get sneak peaks of life through her eyes.

* She's a serious hoarder. Oh. My. Goodness. She can play for hours by herself  but it usually entails small piles ALL over the house.  She always knows exactly where things are and insists on why things are there, but it looks like makes giant messes everywhere!!!

*She's a singer - or at least she sure thinks she is! She can sing all day long and she particularly loves to sing while watching herself in the mirror.  Big surprise, I know. ;)

* She's got a million different expressions, and just for proof I'll leave you with this last picture of her! 

We love you Madelyn Ann! Thanks for bringing so much joy to our lives.