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!

On the Move Again!

That's right, we're moving again as most of you know. However, our plans have changed (again). When Ty go laid off we were planning on moving back to Michigan since that was our best option. However, God has different plans for us and has opened some amazing doors. I have no doubt this has worked out only because of God and the timing is no coincidence!

Let me start at the beginning. About 3 months ago Ty interviewed for a job in Illinois just because he thought the job looked interesting and because it was closer to home. He wasn't really applying to other jobs because he was happy where he was in WV, however, he thought this IL job was a great opportunity. So he interviewed, but even after following up with them, he never heard back. He figured he was out of the running, so left it at that. Then, literally 15 minutes after Ty was laid off at his current job he got an email from them asking him for a second interview. He was thrilled and shocked because he hadn't heard from them in SO long. Anyways, to make a long story short he drove to IL to interview a week and a half ago, had a third interview last week and was then offered the position on Thursday, right before Christmas. Probably the best Christmas present we've received. We are so thankful and so excited and a little stressed all at the same time!

So, as of Thursday we had one week to find a place in Illinois, pack and get everything that comes with moving in place. Ty went yesterday to find a place for us to live temporarily (until we get to know the area). Today and tomorrow we are packing like crazy and Thursday we are loading up and moving to IL. Ty starts his new job on January 10th! What an answer to prayers that he got a job so quickly! It will only be 1 month from when he got laid off until when he starts his new job! You have no idea how much weight we feel lifted off of our shoulders now!

From Riley's perspective:

Riley has been begging for a camera for a while now. So instead of buying her a "kid" camera, we gave her one of ours to use. I love looking through her memory card every once in a while and seeing things how she sees them. Here are just a FEW of the funny pictures I found on it:

Cowboy Lincoln going potty!

The cheese on the counter that someone (Riley) took a bite of when I obviously wasn't looking!

Ty hanging out with L and E!

Lincoln who had some major bedhead going on and who I think needed to go potty :)!

Emmersyn @ 5 Months

Seriously, look at those cheeks!

Scooted herself under the couch!

My little sickling--she had a nasty cold for about a week!

I'm going to do this one bullet style:

• Rolling over from tummy to back and back to tummy.
  
• Loves the exersaucer.
  
• Wearing size 6-12 month clothes but mostly 12-18 months (especially one piece outfits/jammies). Size 3-4 shoe.
  
• Weighs at least 17.5 pounds.
  
• Smiles and laughs like crazy. Loves when R and L play with her. Grabs toys and loves looking at herself in the mirror.
  
• Has been nursing every two hours for weeks now--it's exhausting for me but I'm determined not to quit!

Emmersyn's Firsts

The last couple of weeks have been big for E! She has been trying a lot of new things and her personality is really blossoming! Here's a post of all the things she's been doing the past two weeks:

First time in her Bumbo seat:

I love sitting her in it when I get tired of flipping her back over when she rolls over. She's only figured how to go from her back to belly and gets mad when she gets stuck. This seat is great for her to sit up and see what's going on!

First time in the exersaucer:

First cereal:



Lesson learned: Nurse this kid BEFORE trying to give her cereal or she gets REALLY mad!! Poor kid acts like she's starving, but clearly her thighs tell a different story!

Rolling over:

I was beginning to think E was going to be immobile forever. She was always so content laying on the ground and not moving. However, she's now figured out that if she rolls over she can A. get to things and B. get attention by screaming when she gets stuck on her belly!