Tuesday, July 31, 2007

An attempt at a photo shoot...






I have no idea how parents of two or more children ever get decent pictures of them together! Emma Claire is almost 6 weeks old and we have yet to capture a good picture of both of them. I tried to take some this morning and this is what I got...what you don't see is Grayson knocking Emma Claire over in between pictures and him yelling "MILK!" over and over because he wanted a cup of milk instead of having to sit there and pose for pictures with his sister. The picture attempts will continue....stay tuned! :)

Monday, July 30, 2007

EC meets Price and Bates



Our friends Meg and Matthew had their twin boys, Price and Bates, two weeks before Emma Claire was born. We went to Laurens this past weekend and were able to get together with them so EC could meet her boyfriends. The boys are adorable---I don't know how Emma Claire is going to choose! :) Here are a couple of pictures from their first date...

First real bath




Emma Claire FINALLY has a belly button! :) It took her umbilical cord stump almost 5 weeks to fall off---that must be some kind of record! We celebrated by giving her her first real bath. She seemed to like it (liked the sponge baths that she had been getting, too....the kid likes most anything!) until she was being dried off....by then she had had enough!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

A few of our favorite things...

I thought that this blog would be a good place to occasionally document the kiddos' current favorite things. Right now this is our list:

Grayson (22 months):

1. CARS---this is by far his absolute favorite word. He loves playing with toy cars and trucks, looking at real cars, and most of all SAYING the word "car". I seriously probably hear it come out of his mouth over a hundred times a day. Anybody who has been around Grayson recently knows that I'm not exaggerating.

2. Books---I have a little bookworm on my hands! He asks to be read to constantly. Current favorites include any Sandra Boynton book, The Little Engine That Could, any book about colors or animals, and of course, any book about cars or trucks.

3. Playing outside! As soon as the door opens, Grayson runs as fast as he can to get outside (or "ah-ga" as he says). If, for some reason, the door was just opening to let an adult in or out and it turns out that it's not time for Grayson to play outside, a meltdown is guaranteed to occur.

4. His bike---Grayson has the cutest little Radio Flyer bike that my parents gave him for Christmas and he is very skilled on it! It doesn't have pedals so he uses his feet to scoot the bike all over the place, and he looks like a little Fred Flinstone because he gets that bike to move pretty fast. It's very humorous to watch Grayson steer around the dining room table and all over our living room!

5. Bubba and Ya Ya. Bubba is Grayson's bunny blanket---a little blue blanket that has a bunny head on one corner. Bubba goes everywhere that Grayson goes, and we actually have TWO (just in case something happens to one of them). Right now he especially loves having Bubba's ears rubbed on his tummy or back....so relaxing! Ya Ya is Grayson's pacifier...we have no idea why he calls it Ya Ya, but that's its name. Ya Ya and Bubba usually go hand in hand---if he asks for one, he wants the other one too. For now we don't have a problem with his paci but we'll probably start phasing it out sometime in the next year.

6. Laurie Berkner DVD---Grayson has a DVD of this goofy lady named Laurie Berkner who sings silly kids' songs and plays her guitar and dances...it's a surefire way to get him to sit down and be quiet at the end of the day when I'm making dinner! :)

Emma Claire is a little simpler for now...at 5 weeks old her favorites include:

1. Sleeping. It's what she does best (and most often)! She prefers to sleep on somebody's chest (in fact, she's asleep in my chest right now as I'm typing this), but the swing is also suitable. :)

2. Eating! Some days it seems like she is attached to me CONSTANTLY. She's a great nurser and her increase in size is proof of that! :) We don't go back to the pediatrician until the end of August but I am already looking forward to finding out how much she weighs...we can definitely tell that she's chunked up considerably.

3. Crying. Emma Claire doesn't cry very much but when she does she puts 1000% of her energy into it! We think that she is going to be very opinionated as she grows older! :)

4. Grayson---she loves watching her big brother! He can even sometimes get her to stop crying momentarily just by standing in her line of sight. I see them becoming great buddies!

Sweet babies

EC has some wild hair!! :)
Grayson made this "train" all by himself! What a smart boy! :)

This picture was taken after Grayson handed me my camera and said "CHEESE!"




Friday, July 20, 2007

More new pictures...



4 weeks old


More pics of the family---it's hard to believe that Emma Claire is already 4 weeks old!

A vist from Jeni!






My best friend Jeni spent the past 4 days with us on a very fun visit! She's pregnant with her first baby (a boy!!!) so she was able to get lots of practice while she was here. :) We had such a great time---one day we took Grayson to the beach, another day we took Emma Claire shopping, and the rest of the time we spent going out to eat and playing with the kiddos. Lots of pictures to share!!

Monday, July 16, 2007

EC's first trip to the pool




We took Grayson swimming at a friend's house yesterday, so Emma Claire tagged along and enjoyed the beautiful day with us. She didn't get in the pool but she did wear her swimsuit! :)

Monday, July 9, 2007

Lookalikes?

Emma Claire, 2 weeks old


Grayson, 2 weeks old

A visit from Grancy and Papa





Grancy (or Gee Gee, as Grayson calls her) and Papa came to visit this past weekend! We had a great time and they spoiled Grayson and Emma Claire rotten! :)

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Awake!


Sleeping Beauty does wake up occasionally!

The BIG brother (literally)!!





I swear, Grayson doubled in size as soon as Emma Claire was born! He is SO BIG!!! He is really starting to warm up to his baby sister, and always makes sure that I know she needs me if he hears her fussing. He calls her "baby" and actually told her that he loves her today! :) What a sweet big brother...

Sleeping Beauty





This is what Emma Claire does best! :)