Emmersyn @ 7 months!

Month 6 to 7 was a big one for us. Emmersyn started crawling, got her first real sickness, got her first tooth and said her first word (Dada). I LOVE this age, I love all the new things she's discovering, the new things she's doing. She is so much more content now playing on the ground because she can get to wherever she wants to go and she can get whatever she wants. I have to be very mindful about what's on the ground now because this girl chews on everything in sight. Riley and Lincoln are also starting to learn not to build anything on the floor unless they want it knocked over :).

Breathing treatments--she was so patient; she just sat there while we did this for a good 10 minutes, five times a day for about 2 weeks!

Emmersyn is sleeping horribly at night--even worse than last month. She's now waking up two or three times a night and that (starting two nights ago) is changing because she absolutely shouldn't be waking up three times a night. She's eating 3 meals a day and I will probably start trying crackers, bread, etc. this coming month with her.

Emmersyn also loves to stand and jump. I won't be surprised if she takes after Riley and starts walking early. She's very strong and has some massive thighs. Speaking of, when I had her in at the doctor's office last week she weighed 18 lbs. 6.5 oz (at 6.5 months old).

E seems to be quite the mama's girl. She loves to be held and I would say is one of the happiest babies I've ever seen (many people agree). She has a constant smile on her face and loves when anyone looks her in the eyes and talks to her. Most days all three kids take a nap at the same time in the afternoon, but on the rare occasion Emmersyn stays up and I get a solid couple of hours with just her and I love it. I often feel guilty about the quality one-on-one time I get with her because I have other kids to take care of. When I just had Riley I spent SO MUCH time playing with her on the ground, reading to her, singing, etc. and with Lincoln I could do the same. Now I feel like I really have to make a conscious effort to put things down, or leave things for later in order to get some quality time with her. However, I now know (because of R and L) how quickly time does go by and I really cherish this baby stage. Before I know it she'll be walking around, talking back and throwing fits. :)

This is where everything goes--right to my mouth!

Calling all Mommas!!

I need your advice. I have run into a dilemma that I need your help with! Emmersyn is quickly growing out of her infant car seat and needs to get into a convertible seat fairly soon. With that said, we have two Britax Boulevards and I was planning on giving Emmersyn Riley's seat and putting Riley in a booster. However, after a little research and thought I'm now not sure what I'm going to do. Riley would be fine in a booster according to the height recommendations, but not the weight recommendations. I didn't really want to buy another Boulevard for just a year (or so) until Riley reaches that 40 pound mark if I didn't have to, but I want to do what's safest for her. So now I am thinking about buying another Boulevard and skipping a booster all together. I know a booster would be more convenient for me (since I wouldn't have to keep strapping her in--she could do it in a booster) but I'm not interested in what's easiest or best for me.

Is there a downside of keeping Riley in an actual car seat, and not a booster, for a couple more years? Any car seat/booster advice? Are there boosters that are just as good as a convertible seat? Any help would be great!!

We've got a Crawler!

Emmersyn is officially crawling! She's been scooting for a long time, but yesterday she actually did it--the "right" way! One day later it seems like she's been crawling for months because she can crawl across the room in no time.

Sick of Sickness! UPDATE

UPDATE: Wednesday Emmersyn seemed to be taking a turn for the worse. I took her back in to the doctor on Thursday morning (everything was closed on Wednesday due to the big storm we got). After a chest x-ray and nasal swab it was determined that not only does she have bronchiolitis, but she also has RSV and pneumonia! Poor baby! If she doesn't get better in 24-36 hours she will have to be admitted to the hospital for close observation. We are do our best to prevent that. We were sent home with a nebulizer and instruction to do 4 breathing treatments a day until she gets better. Futhermore, we were also given the instruction to do the same for Lincoln. The doctor suspects Lincoln also has pneumonia as well, if he's not feeling better we will also have to take him in! Please keep both kids in your prayers! I am so tired to them being sick and am ready to have my healthy kids back. Praying for a restful night tonight as well, I am tired and not getting much sleep at all. Between all three kids being sick I'm getting maybe 3-4 hours of sleep a night and it's starting to wear me out!

***********************************************

We've been in IL for almost a month now and since moving the kids have been nothing but SICK! I don't know what it is. Probably just the time of the year, but two weeks ago we were all really sick with the flu. We all had it--all of us but Emmersyn, thankfully! Ty was even sent home early on his first day of work because he was so sick.

Fast forward to this past Wednesday. Riley started not feeling well and it was all down hill from there. Lincoln got sick Thursday and Thursday night Emmersyn did as well. Emmersyn had her well visit on Friday so I made appts for Riley and Lincoln too since I was going to be there anyways. They all got checked out. The doc. seemed to think it was just a virus! After a VERY long weekend of being couped up inside, no sleep, high fevers, and nasty coughs I decided to take them to see the doc again on Monday morning. Come to find out Riley has a left ear infection and bronchiolitis, Lincoln has a right ear infection and bronchiolitis and Emmersyn has bronchiolitis. Between the three of them we got twelve prescriptions filled! The kids are very rarely sick, so I am hoping this is it for a LONG time. It has been a very long few weeks!

You now know why we have couch covers :)...Riley puked all over them therefore they were being washed.

My kitchen counter with all the kids' medicines (12 in total). Riley LOVES medicine, Lincoln HATES them and would rather throw them up before he'll swallow them. Emmersyn is somewhere in between. :)

Emmersyn @ 6 Months

A half a year old already? What in the world?? I cannot believe my baby is growing so quickly, I wish I could freeze her at this very age!

Emmersyn is...

• Sitting by herself.

• VERY close to crawling.

• No teeth...yet. I told Ty someone has replaced our sweet, happy girl with the fussiest baby known to man. She is fussy, clingy and not happy way more often than usual. Teeth must be coming through soon.

• Weight: 17 lbs. 15 ounces (80th percentile); Height: 27 inches (85th percentile); Head: 17 inches (85th percentile)

• Eating 3 meals a day. E hasn't met a food she doesn't like and her thighs can prove it! (I'd say her favorite is avocado--which was also her first food).

• Holding toys, grabbing at everything (especially my hair--ouch).

• Sleeping HORRIBLY!! Like much worse than when she was a newborn. She's waking up every three hours and I either have to let her cry or feed her. If I feed her she goes right back to bed, but this waking up three times a night HAS to stop. I'm exhausted.

• Loves being held (and is most of the day) and loves the MOBY still, we have definitely gotten our use out of that.

• Wearing 6-12 month clothes, size 3 diaper still. I feel like she's finally starting to slow down.

• Other than the past two weeks she's the happiest, smiliest baby ever. She has a constant smile and it's infectious.

• She loves to laugh and I love listening to it!

• Nursing every three hours and going to bed at 7:30 (but waking up way too often at night).

Sitting all by herself!

First food-avocado!

Loves her toes!

Loves splashing in the water!

She's (almost) on the move...

This was Emmersyn about 2 weeks ago. 5 months old is way too early to be doing this...

Hopefully it takes her a while to figure out how to go forward! :)

We're Here!

We are finally "home" again. We moved to Champaign, IL last weekend and just got internet on Friday. It feels good to finally be plugged back into the world! I am really enjoying this city. It seems like there is so much to do around here and the kids and I can't wait to get out and start seeing all that it has to offer. Ty starts his new job tomorrow, we will miss having him home. I have gotten used to having an extra set of hands and I'm sure it will take some time getting used to doing it all on my own again.

We are renting a house for a year and hopefully after that year will buy a house here. Hopefully this will be our last move for at least a few years. I am thankful we were able to find a place to live since Ty had less than a day to find something. We are only 2 miles from Ty's work, the mall, Meijer (YES! You have no idea how excited I am about shopping at Meijer again--weird, I know but I missed that place :)!!), and less than 1.5 miles from a kids museum, churches, parks, etc. I am so excited to have somewhere to take the kids. We also start MOPS tomorrow (although we're not going because R and L are both sick) and we already met a new friend last week who we're getting together with this week.

My Dad, Jamie and the girls came down to help us unpack which was a HUGE help. Dad and Jamie helped unpack and the girls played with the kids--we wouldn't have gotten so much done without their help. No to mention that Ty's best friend, Luke, flew all the way to WV to drive our truck to IL so Ty could drive the van with the kids and I. I'm not sure he knew how grateful to him I was, but I tried to make it very clear. It would have taken me 12, instead of 7 hours if Ty wasn't with me...but thanks to Luke, Ty drove the can while I took care of the kids! What a blessing!

I miss all of my WV friends and always wish I could bring my friends with me whenever we move, but I look forward to having lots of visitors and going to Chicago to shop :)!!

Here is a recap, in pictures, of the our first week in Illinois:

Saying bye to some of our best friends in WV (the Kirk's--minus Skylar):

Riley and Luke posing while packing up the truck:

Me being very excited about shopping at Meijer again:

Emmersyn has started "crawling" backwards:

The kids taking a break from "unpacking":

A trip to the the kids museum:

Carousel Rides at the mall (it has a great play area too!):

Sickness (Unfortunately, both R and L have been really sick the past few days. Both have spent a lot of time here and Riley has been throwing up. Not a very fun weekend!):

Thanks for all your thought and prayers as we went through Ty's lay off and moving again, you have no idea how much your support and encouragement as meant!