The last few weeks...

In the last few weeks, things have been super busy! We celebrated my 33rd birthday a week after Emmerson was born. It was such a nice day...just the 4 of us...we picked up lunch from my favorite sandwich place, Texadelphia. And then went and got some DELICIOUS cupcakes from another favorite place, Sprinkles! YUM!!! Tim gave me the sweetest card from he & the kids...and the best gift EVER! A Mother's ring! I have been wanting something like this for so long...and he totally surprised me!! We finished out the night making our own homemade pizza for dinner (one of Carter's favorite things to do). Tim did SOOOOO much to make the day super special for me - what a guy!! I am blessed!!

We also celebrated Easter last weekend. Not our typical church service / brunch, etc. Just another quality day at home, the 4 of us - and a couple of cute Easter baskets! Carter's new favorite thing has to be his Pez dispenser...too cute!!

Other than that, just spending time together, and with sweet friends and family who come by to visit :) Carter is so in love with Emmerson. I never pictured him being so gentle, so sweet, so loving and so concerned about her. It just melts my heart!! And she is doing great. Had her 2 week checkup this week...she already weighs 8 pounds, 12 inches and is 20.75 inches long - our big girl!



LOVE Sprinkles!

Homemade pizza!

He is always stealing bites of pepperoni & cheese as we go!

Had to include this picture...he is watching Toy Story.  You can see he has Woody with him - well he decided he needed to wear a cowboy hat too!  Too cute :)

Sweet big brother...

Daddy's Princess for sure!

Sweet kisses :)

Silly faces.  Love how she is just staring at him :)

Daddy found some really cool tablets you put in the bath to change the color of the water - so fun!

Mother's ring...The purple stone is amethyst, to represent Carter.  And on either side is an aquamarine stone to represent Emmerson (and it's my birthstone too).  So pretty...

Loving on her little monkey blanket!

Easter baskets!

Sweet girl on her first Easter :)



Our future Texas Ranger!

 

Sweet girl...

LOVE when she sucks her thumb!!
 

Aren't these letters beautiful?!  One of Carter's old teachers, Taylor, made these for us for Emmerson's room.  GORGEOUS!

She made Carter some as well - love them!!

 

Emmerson has arrived!

Our sweet baby girl, Emmerson Marie, arrived on Monday, March 18 at 7:53 a.m. She was 19 inches long and weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces and was healthy as can be!! We are SO in love...as is Carter! He can't get enough of his precious baby sister. Every time she cries, he says "It's okay, I am here.  Your big brother is here." SOOOOOOOO SWEET!!!  Here is a glimpse at her delivery, our hospital stay and our first week as a family of 4!  Tim said it best our first day home (he heard the analogy from a friend on the golf course one day).  He said when you have one child, you (and your wife) play a zone defense.  When the second one comes along, you switch to man to man.  Then when a third one cones along, back to a zone.  Too funny, and too true!!

Carter is 3!

I cannot believe the title of this post...our little man is 3 years old!!  So hard to believe.  Carter decided back in October that he wanted a birthday party JUST like his Cousin Alex - so going to Pump It Up was set!  And what a good choice...the kids all had a BLAST!  They were exhausted, to say the least.  I think Carter cried the whole way home - not wanting to leave, wanting us to open his bubbles (somehow he ended up opening one of his own party favor bags), and just plain old being tired - all contributing factors.  But it was an awesome time!  We are so thankful for all of our friends and family that came to celebrate with us.  I did not get near the pictures that I wanted to, go figure!  But here are a few to share...

Look at all these cuties!  I cannot believe they all sat & posed! 

Listening intently to Ms. Jackye...

Carter and all his best buddies from school!  Luke, Andrew & Dillon :)

The jump house with the basketball goal in it is his favorite...go figure!

A wind tunnel...very bizarre if you ask me...it simulates a hurricane?  The kids couldn't get enough though!  Again - very bizarre.

Getting ready to blow out his Lightning McQueen candle!

  

Sitting in the King's Chair with Alex (and a mouthful of goldfish)!

Sibling Class at Baylor Frisco...

This past Saturday, Carter and I went to a Sibling Class at Baylor Frisco.  Oh my gosh - so cute!  You were supposed to be 3 and up to attend (but he's close enough - right?!).  He did such a good job...it was adorable.  I'll explain as we go...

The first thing we did is make a sign for Emmerson's crib...so she'll see her big brother every day, first thing when she wakes up :)

Because there were scissors involved (a slight obsession of Carter's) he was not interested in coloring anything except the "O."  He did tell me what letter to make what color on the rest though ;)  So it still is technically his creative masterpiece!

So proud! 

After the tour of the hospital, we had some "pratice" working with babies...Look at his face.  He kept saying "Awwwww...."

They showed them how to change diapers...

How to hold them...

He was being so gentle and sweet...

Melted my heart...

They even taught them how to swaddle the babies!  I love this pic because the poor baby girl is blurry because he slung her up so fast when he was done!  Haha!

 

He was patting her back, as he listened to the nurse.

And even practiced giving her a paci! 

He did such a great job - we know he is going to be the best big brother EVER!  Less than 4 weeks to go...Emmerson is due to arrive March 18!  Everything is going great...now we just wait...

Morning singing...

Some mornings (note SOME, not all) Carter lays in bed and sings before Tim goes in to get him... It's usually not for very long, so Tim has a hard time capturing it on camera for me.  Well this morning he got some of it!  It's all taken through the monitor, so hard to see anything, but you can definitely hear him... The first video is "Do You Know the Muffin Man?"  We never sing this song...so not sure if he heard it at school or what. 

The second video is a little more "Do You Know the Muffin Man" AND "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)."  The second song is one of our favorite worship songs...and Carter LOVES it.  We sing it at church a lot (he likes to come in to hear worship - and see the musical instruments).  He also has a new found fascination with drums...another reason he likes to be a part of worship at church - to watch the drummer & drum along with him (with pens, in his seat or on Daddy's shoulders - he is very serious about it and it is SO cute). At home he even practices being a musician at church.  He practices coming out from "behind the big TV" (as he calls it) like the musicians do (i.e. the screen at church) - he even makes us pray first and won't come out until we have said "Amen!" (I guess he has picked up on the routine at church with the welcome and prayer before worship begins, haha!).  When he comes out (from behind the basketball goal - LOL!), he gets to his area where he is going to drum, gets his drum sticks all ready and makes us pull up "10,000 Reasons" on the Ipad or our phone and he drums / sings along to it.  Again, it's a very serious process.  It's so hard to get all of that on video...b/c shockingly he doesn't like performing for the camera.  But hopefully I can post some of this soon.  It's priceless, it truly is.  For now - morning singing on the monitor will have to do ;)