Monday, April 30, 2012

Emerson 3 Years Old

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I figured I should maybe post an update on Emerson before she turns 4! Time is flying by. These pictures were taking awhile ago, but really she rarely lets in a good picture these days. She picked out this dress all by herself with a gift card she got to Old Navy for her birthday. She kept telling me she needed to get shoes to match. They learn early!
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She says the funniest things everyday and I hope that I can remember her silliness down the road. Every morning she wakes up and says, "I'm hungy." When I ask her what she would like she says ice cream.  But, after a quick no she will ask for mommy's cereal or daddy's cereal. I think calling it our cereal is so much more appealing. She has gotten really into puzzles. Around breakfast time she loves to do all of her puzzles one after the other. I never thought she would enjoy such a quiet time. She also has become quite the artist, coloring non stop. I think we may run out of space in our endless supply of coloring books if that is possible! Last year this time, she would maybe do one scribble with a crayon. Then just peel the wrappers.  Emerson loves to sing! She will put on a show and sing to the top of her lungs, most of the time making up her own songs. She also sings loudly in the store.  It amazes me though how she will pick up the lyrics to songs so quickly. Of course she still loves to dance! She knows the basic ballet moves, in addition to her own signature moves. 

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It seems she has a great memory on certain things. Mark has told her the story of Jonah and the Fish and she could easily retell it with so much detail and lots of theatrics! She will open her Bible to that chapter and "read' it to Ezra. Lately she has been telling me to close my eyes and she will pray for every person she knows. She enjoys church and loves to learn more about Jesus. She will be attending Vacation Bible School this year and I know she have an awesome time. 

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As far as toys she is of course into princesses. Dress-up is big around our house. She plays with her Rapunzel figurines nonstop and loves baby dolls. She also puts them all to bed all over the house. Sometimes I find a few tucked away in our bed, or Ezra's bed. She has recently gotten into Disney movies and loves all the classics. She loves Cinderella, Belle, and Aladdin. Oddly enough my favorites as a little girl. As a result she thinks birds outside will fly into your hand at any given moment. Emerson has become a fan of Strawberry Shortcake and talks about her nonstop. The series is on Netflix and that is her number one choice. Another 80's favorite. Last year she was on wardrobe repeat wearing only a few dresses. She has become more diverse actually wearing a lot of things I pick out. Although she does have her own style. She even wore blue the other day which completely surprised me! She usually is on a pink and orange kick. At 23 lbs she can wear 18 month pants but is slowly moving into 3T dresses since she is getting taller! I never though she would get to 3T but she has hit a growth spurt! With long legs she creeping up the growth chart. Emerson has become a social butterfly. Weekly she tells me how much her friends love her. We need to work on humility! Ha! She loves meeting friends and can go to any park and walk away with a new pal. She has group of buds that live on our street and has such a good time with them. Recently she told me she wanted to go to school! I suppose she realized that there are tons of friends there! I asked her if she wanted to leave me at home. She thought about it and graciously said I could come too. She takes being a big sister seriously, always trying to "supervise" her little brother. Telling him what he can play with, eat, you know like any big sister would do. Lately she has become possessive of her Mommy and Daddy to Ezra. She says, "My Mommy!" When I told her that I'm his Mommy too she said, "That's not very nice." With lips sticking out and all. I couldn't help but laugh. Never a dull moment with this girl! 

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Cake Time!

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Ezra shares a birthday with one of Emerson's little friends. So we headed to Pullen Park to celebrate with a picnic and rides. Ezra was the only boy, but didn't mind one bit! It was actually a very chilly day for April. So we were bundled up! My friend Laura, made us an amazing picnic. Sandwiches, chips, fruit, and cupcakes for all. Even chicken salad for the mommies. Afterwards we rode the carousel.  Ezra wasn't the biggest fan and I have to admit it's kinda fast.

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The girls 

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Emerson took a ride in the boats. To be honest it was a nightmare with her literally trying to jump ship. We are lucky we weren't banned from the ride!  But, she seemed to enjoy it none the less. 


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Ezra was content to walk around since he was too small for the ride. 


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That night I made Ezra's favorite, pizza. He chowed down and loved it! I made him some vanilla cupcakes from scratch. Ezra got excited to have us sing to him. He was a little too eager though to grab the flame of the candle. He investigated the cupcake then went in for a bite. He pretty much ate the entire thing! So much different than Emerson's first birthday. She didn't know what she was missing! 

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Joy

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I'm so excited I'm one!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Ezra is One!

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Ezra turned one on Wednesday! These pictures were actually taken at 11 months but since I hadn't shared an 11 month post I figured they would work. I really can't believe a year has gone by. What a whirlwind! When I found out we were having a boy I could never have imagined such a sweet, and loving little guy. To be honest I was quite nervous. But, I am so filled with love for my little boy.What a wonderful gift he is. So in the last couple months we have seen huge changes! Obviously from my recent posts he is already walking! He toddles around the house all day now and is so proud of himself and so are we. I was a little sad I would no longer see his super fast crawl when he gets excited. But, now he will open his arms up wide and speed walk to get to us when he is happy. It's adorable of course. He's starting to babble a lot. He is a social guy, always waving and saying hi to people and cars passing bye. He tries to repeat a lot of words that we say. It cracks me up. Ezra is a little parrot. Although he is still calling me Dada. I'm looking forward to the next couple months when he starts to say more and more words. In the last month he has really began to show interest in food. He has jumped straight for the big guy food. His favorite is grilled cheese. If he sees us eating something good he says, "yum, yum, yum." For only having two teeth he eats regular food rather well. He is far too independent to have anyone feed him, making for messy mealtimes. Ezra really has a wonderful personality. He is funny, affectionate, and very playful. Whenever I'm holding him he will swing his body to the front to see what I'm doing and laugh. His own game of peak a boo. He has great love for his sister when she is not torturing him. He loves to play with her toys and gets super excited to see her as well as his Daddy. I feel like he has grown up so much faster. He skipped all the baby toys and wants to do what Emerson does. In just the last week alone he has tried to color, and paint. But, if we really want to hold his attention all we have to do is get a ball out. He has been walking around the house with a putter, hitting a ball. It's really amazing the coordination he has. He also loves to play soccer, kicking the ball around. I can really see he is starting to understand how things work. He tries to put shoes on, hats, Emerson's clothes, comb his hair, and recently got a toilet paper roll out of the trash and tried to put it back on the holder. 

A big update in our house is praise the Lord, he is sleeping through the night! Well, most of the time. After a months of terrible sleep for all of us he finally slept a small stretch of 5 hours, then 8, then close to 10. Amazing! He has been sharing a room with Emerson now for a little over a month or more now and it's going well. I feel much more rested and I'm sure Ezra does too! 



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Look at this smile. How blessed are we to be able to see it every single day. I posted on facebook last week how I kept thinking of the hours following his birth how I watched him sleeping and listened to the birds singing as the the sun came up. It was such a beautiful time, and sweet memory. Hopefully it will always stay fresh in my mind. 

I'll post some birthday cake eating pictures next week hopefully. Let's just say this boy loves a good cupcake. Homemade by Mom of course. Happy Birthday Ezra Bean! We sure do love you. 

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Farm Days

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The other week we headed to NC State's Farm Days. It's a free event where there are tons of animals that the kids can look at and even touch some of them. I had Emerson stand in the field when we go there. "Wide Open Spaces" by Dixie Chicks kept replaying in my mind.  It was a beautiful day. We were blessed with the most gorgeous weather for an outing.

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We met some friends there. The girls immediately held hands and walked together. I couldn't get over how cute they were with their matching bobs. This week Emerson's three year update via email said she would begin to understand what friends are.

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It melted my heart to see her so excited to see her friends and being loving towards them. 

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There a million kids there. It was insane! But, they managed to find an empty fence to peak in at the pigs.

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They took at turn at learning to milk a cow!

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Then took a look at a calf. They were only about 4 weeks and super cute.

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Her climbing skills were a little surprising. They got a better look at the foal. Emerson told me she was going to ride the Mama horse when she got bigger. The girls also got to hold baby chicks. There were adorable. Although I felt bad for them being passed around so much. But, they were good sports.

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At the end there was free ice cream! Everyone picked there flavors and of course at the end wanted someone elses. So there was lots of sharing going on. It ended up that Emerson ate all of hers and most of mine. Stinker!

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Ezra woke up half way through and just in time for our picnic. This was the best shot of the four of them. Ezra is the only one looking! But for four kids 0-3 that's success. He had a great time in the grass and the girls chowed down and were in awe of all the big kids from school. It was such a fun time. By the time we left we had spent over 3 hours there! It flew by. Unfortunately Ezra got sunburned even though he was lathered in spf 30. Turns out he is rather fair skinned. :(






Monday, April 2, 2012

He walks!

It's taken awhile to get a video but here it is! My baby boy walking before a year. Warning: There are high squeals at the end. I was very proud. :)