Emily's Milestones & Favorite Dresses!

This little girl is growing up too fast for me!  She is so precious...an absolute perfect baby!  Emily started rolling over on May 5th.  She was so close for so long and was so proud of herself when she finally achieved her goal!  She rolled back to front first and is now rolling both ways.  

Here is another cute picture from that day.  Emily is wearing the same dress (one of my all time favorites) that Kate wore to Uncle Mike and Aunt Christina's wedding.

Here is Emily in another one of my favorite dresses.  Tori Orgill gave it to me when Kate was born.  And of course, I had to put on the same headband and bow courtesy of Cambrie Judd.  

Here's a flashback of Kate in the same dress.  Pretty sure they are sisters!

This is Emily on May 24th, at 6 months!  

And here is a glimpse of Emily trying rice cereal for the first time on May 25th.  She wasn't sure what to think at first, but has become a pro in a short time.

We love you Emily!  

The Winders

Shortly after Emily was born I was contacted by an LDS resident family at the Mayo Clinic.  They had plans of coming to Baltimore for a 3 month trauma rotation at the Maryland Shock Trauma Hospital.  They had three kids....Ty (8), Tate (5) and Briella (2) with another little girl on the way.  I answered their questions about Baltimore and quickly learned that not only would they be living very close to us, but that they would be attending the same school.  When I told David about them he told me that it would be great if I liked them, but could also potentially be annoying if they ended up being weird!  Well, it couldn't have been any better.  They were a blessing to our lives.  Mauri came at just the right time for me.  Her enthusiasm to explore, her good company and her listening ear were just what I needed after Emily was born.  We became fast friends....someone I'll keep in touch with forever.  I miss her!  Each of my kids made a new best friend.  Ben and Ty had a great time going to cub scouts together.  I suppose we will eventually forgive Ty for taking the 1st place pinewood derby trophy from Ben!  Ben told me Ty's friendship was worth the loss!

Tate ended up in Kate's kindergarten class.  Kate quickly developed a new class crush and wasn't embarrassed to admit it to anyone.  At her parent-teacher conference this spring their teacher told me that Tate came at the perfect time for Kate.  He allowed her to be his little mother hen and she thrived on that.  She claimed him as her own.  They loved that they had matching jerseys.

And then there was Jacob and Briella.  At times they had a love-hate relationship, but in the end love won out.  Brie helped Jacob celebrate his birthday and naturally I found them playing doctor on more than one occasion.

Near the end of their rotation we were able to go duck pin bowling together.  All the kids had a blast.  Unfortunately, this was our last get together.....a never ending flu bug came to our home and ruined our last week together.  

We miss you!!!  Come back Winders!!!  We would love to meet Elise, your beautiful new addition!                  

Miss Emily Claire

Time has flown by so fast since Miss Emily joined our family.  I didn't want anymore time to go by without documenting what a joy she is.  I thought Jacob was an easy baby, but she makes him look like a nightmare.  She sleeps through the night, has always eaten like a champ and is so content to do whatever I need her to do.  She truly is perfect and such a blessing to me.  Here are just a few of my favorite pictures of her.

Everyone loves her!  There is usually one or two or three kids laying by her at all times!    

In fact, Emily is such a content baby that I never bothered to give her a pacifier.  She gags at the mention of one now and has instead resorted to sucking on her bottom lip whenever she gets tired.  She sucks it and quickly puts herself to sleep.  It sure is cute and great now (it never falls out, never gets lost or thrown out of the crib), but I may be singing a different tune when she walks around with buck teeth and a chapped chin as a two year old!  I'm sure I'll still love her though!    

Easter 2013

The Sunday before Easter, Kate came down with the stomach bug!  It went through all 4 kids, twice,  and in the same order!  It was the weirdest thing.  Each one of them was sick for two days, better for two and then sick again for another day or two.  It hit Kate the hardest (we later learned it landed one of her classmates in the hospital).  We had at least one child throwing up for 8 straight days!  It was beyond fun.  I mastered the recipe for getting vomit out of the carpet (warm water, salt, dish soap, vinegar, rubbing alcohol and baking soda).  Every room in our home had been thrown up in!  It was nothing short of a miracle that David nor I ever came down with it.  On the Saturday evening just prior to Easter everyone was feeling well enough to finally dye our Easter eggs, but first David had to run to the store to buy more vinegar (we were all out from making so much vomit cleaner)!  The kids had fun as usual and were excited to finally do something after a long, boring week at home.

On Sunday morning, the kids had fun looking for their baskets and eggs.  Emily even got her first carrots and her very own chocolate baby bunny.  

Since everyone was feeling better we headed to church.  Nana had sent the girls matching dresses and I was able to find matching ties for the boys.  It was a struggle getting them to take pictures.  We did our best.  We kept Jacob out of nursery, just in case.  He hadn't thrown up for 2 days, but we had begun to believe our streak was never going to end.    

We came home from church and I decided to give the kids a lesson on Easter.  We hadn't really had time to talk about the true reason we celebrate Easter during the week (I was in survival mode).  After our lesson, we enjoyed a yummy Easter dinner of ham, cheesy potatoes, rolls, vegetables, cranberry mousse and Mississippi mud pie.  We enjoyed it that is until (you guessed it) Jacob threw up 10 minutes into it!  David and I cleaned everyone and everything up and finally got all the kids in bed.  Then we finished our own reheated dinner and may or may not have devoured a large amount of stress relieving mud pie!  It was an Easter week we'll probably never forget and hope to never repeat!     

Jacob turns 3!!!

How can Jacob be 3 years old already?!?  He had a great birthday (March 12th).  We started the day off with his favorite breakfast, scrambled eggs and chocolate chip muffins.  

  After Ben and Kate went to school, Jacob had a play date with his friend Briella.  I walked in on them playing doctor.  They took turns and looked like real pros (of course...both their daddies are doctors). 

Once everyone got home from school and work we headed to "Build a Bear Workshop."  Ever since Kate went to a birthday party there Ben had been jealous of her bear.  He had been relentlessly asking if he could have his 9th birthday party there.  After unsuccessfully explaining to him that he was a little bit too old to have a party there (never mind a boy), we decided to meet him in the middle and take the whole family there for Jacob's birthday.  Ben, Kate and Jacob each made a bear.  And of course, as soon as we stepped into the store, Ben acted like he was so embarrassed to be there and pretended like he didn't want anything to do with it.  In the end, his Ravens bear was my favorite.  They stuffed them, gave them each a heart, a bath and dressed them up.  

Jacob picked E.B. (Easter Bunny) from the movie "Hop" that we had just watched a few days prior.   

Next, we headed to the food court for Jacob's favorite food, Chick-fil A.  After dinner we went home to open presents and eat cake and ice cream.  Jacob's favorite t.v. show is "Mickey House Clubhouse," so Mickey it was!  Jacob was not happy when we ate his ears!  

By the end of the night, Jacob was worn out.  Here are just some of the things we all love about our Jacob at 3!

1.  He is so neat, clean, particular and doesn't miss the details (A mini David).  At times this can make things difficult when he insists and demands certain things, but overall I've decided it really is easier.  We went to a restaurant where we sat by another family with a boy similar in age.  This boy was making a huge mess...throwing napkins, utensils, food, etc.  Jacob was furious with him and still (5 months later) refers to him as, "that messy boy."  Because of this characteristic, Jacob rarely gets into things or makes messes (unlike that big sister of his).  One exception was the time he found the covered brownies in the kitchen and broke through the Saran wrap with his index finger.  He dug out and ate a little hole.  Even then, he had already washed his finger and attempted to clean up the counter with the rag before I had even noticed.
  

2.  After struggling at the beginning with a new baby in the home, Jacob has come to love Emily and makes sure I am always meeting her needs.  I overhead him talking to her in the front room one day when he said, "Her not a doll.  Her my real M lee." And he has obviously noticed how I feed her (pillow behind the back and all).

3.  He insists on you calling him Jacob.  He is not buddy, dude, love bug, sweet pea, Behrmann or even Jake.  "I not Jake, I Jacob!"  

4.  He insists on David or I kissing everything better (including things that clearly did not hurt) and demands, "Kiss It.  Kiss It."    

5.  He loves to be Ben's copycat.  On some nights, he even repeats every word that Ben says at the dinner table.  If Ben is wearing a hat, Jacob gets his hat out.  He wears a backpack to the bus stop and tried to dress up when it was "weather day" at school.

 

6.  He insists on always wearing socks, his favorite color is definitely orange and his favorite movie is Finding Nemo.  We watch it over and over and over again while driving in the van.      

We love our sweet AND bossy Jacob.  We wouldn't have him any other way!