Mommy in Training

Emme is such an amazing big sister.  God totally designed her to be JB's "second mommy."  She is extremely nurturing, compassionate, and tender towards her little bro and just loves to be with him.  Here are some of things she does to show this (consequently mommy feels pretty loved too):

• take her room time cues from his nap time cues.  There have been many, many times that she is either eating lunch, playing, reading books... at any rate totally in the middle of something... and she will drop it all immediately when I say, "Em it looks like brother is getting tired."  I'm not even joking when she says, "Awwww, Ok, I sowwy buddy!" and she will happily get her things for room time and help me get him situated for his nap.  This has also been a huge help for me, because selfishly, that is when Mommy gets down time too and because she makes it so easy- I can have all 3 of us resting simultaneously most days.
• sings to him when he cries.  When she sees him getting upset she will start singing "Jesus Loves Me"... and get this, about 95% of the time he totally settles down.  It is hilarious. She is his baby whisperer.
• gets him/me a burp cloth about 1,000 times a day.  She actually gets pretty offended if you try to take this job away from her. 
• picks up his toys, gets him new and more interesting toys, shows him how to play with them, makes them talk & sing, and will sit and play with him and the toys- even though he can't necessarily "play" back aside from cooing and smiling.
• get diapers, wipes, Desitin, outfits... whatever I might need in the changing process- sometimes before I can even ask!
• hold JB all the time.  Melts me entirely... she wants to hug and squeeze him constantly and wherever he is, she wants to be a part of it

Some cute things Emme says about her little guy:

• "JB's my brother bear"
• "Oh brother bear, dat's so silly!!"
• "Are you cwyiing? Oh dat's ok, I wuv you!!"
• "He's my chunky love. Brudder I wuv you!!" (bahahaha)
• "He's my fuzzy buddy."
• "Brother said, '_____'" (she loves to imitate whatever he's saying and then decipher it for me)
• "Brother bear blows bubbles!  He so silly!"
• "I play with my brother allllll day.  I wuv him"
• "Brudder got my hair!! (JB has quite the habit of tugging on her hair since she likes to get right up in his business) Dat's ok, dats how he says I wuv you."

5 month update

Excuse me? Did I just say 5 months?! ** sigh **
JB is seriously my big tub of baby goodness... I mean that honestly.  He is just so huggable, squeezable, loveable, kissable, and cuddleable (I just invented that word).   I'm not ready for him to grow up any more.  I know there are more fun times ahead, but I am so enjoying him in his cute baby state :)

Recent developments:

• JB found his toes a few weeks ago and plays with them constantly
• He has TWO teeth... and they are simply adorable (and sharp!)
• JB can scoot himself off of his playmat
• We are getting lots of noises these days, and even a few "Mama's" and "Da"- so clear even that Emme said, "JB just said, 'Mama!!'"
• We just started rice cereal at dinner time this week. He was pretty consistently waking up around 5 am and eating for a long time before bed so I became convinced he was still hungry- and almost as soon as we started it he began sleeping thru that window of time again.  The first few days he gave us a lot of, "Seriously?!?" looks when we tried feeding it to him, but now that we pulled out the booster seat instead of the bumbo and with a little more adjustment to the cereal, he actually does seem to like it.  Emme also tried some and she didn't think it was all that great ;)
• JB is pretty much down to 2 naps now and has an earlier bedtime of about 7:30 or so. He is getting a bath more consistently now (every couple of days) and he totally loves splashing in the tub.  He loves the water and getting to suck on a wash cloth too :)
• He is still full of giggles and smiles, and is super ticklish

Happy 5 months, brother bear! We love you to the moon and back!!

Easter... Part III

Teehee, I just realized that my last two posts have also been devoted to Easter. However, I have to add one more to include Easter weekend.  I love how God gave us Spring as a reminder of all the new creation.  He is risen! And that gives us reason to celebrate. 

Ok so a bit of a photo dump is about to happen... but I had so many cute ones that I just have to do it!

On Thursday we went to Ben's school for the annual Easter egg hunt put on by the NHS at Centennial. The weather was beautiful and we had fun getting to visit the Easter bunny and get lots of eggs and candy.  Actually... Emme put about 5 in her basket and then said, "Dat's good." haha

Over the weekend, Daddy and Emme dyed eggs together.  Ben loves to do this anyway, and was excited to have a friend to help him this year ;)

On Easter Sunday we went to church at DBC and afterwards went to hunt eggs and eat lunch with the Sraders. Lots of fun and fellowship. It had been a long time since we had been able to catch up so we enjoyed spending a long afternoon together! It was drizzling outside, but we made time for the hunt and the kids played really well. I am constantly reminded of how blessed we are to have such amazing friends.... and now... ensue picture cuteness in no particular order!!! 

Happy Easter!!

Easter Festivities

Emme and I had a fun week doing little springtime and Easter activities.  I should mention that JB was there too... :) He just mostly had fun playing on his activity mat, sitting in the bumbo seat, or hanging out in the exersaucer.  Like I've said before, I'm blessed that he is such a laid-back dude and doesn't mind when his big sister and I take some time to play just the two of us.

Mind you, I am a self-proclaimed "non-crafty" person... so when I "craft" that means that I have picked out a pre-packaged thing from Target or something.  Anyway, I think Emme enjoyed it! I have a feeling that she will be my pinterest/etsy girl and will probably be begging me to join her once she figures it all out!  No doubt she could spend hours at Michaels (so I better start building up my stamina for craft stores haha).

One day we colored and stickered some Easter eggs.

We also made these cute little cupcakes in tiny flower pots to give to our neighbors.

Then we used the leftover batter to make a cake for Daddy.

We had fun making "Resurrection Rolls" too.

 *These are really yummy and are a fun way to talk about how Jesus (marshmallow) was placed in the linen wrappings (crescent roll), anointed with oil and spices (melted butter and cinnamon & sugar), and placed in the tomb (oven).  When you take the crescent rolls out of the oven, the marshmallow is completely dissolved so it mimicks how Jesus is Risen!  Very cool illustration (thanks DBC moms group for teaching me how to do this- hope to make it a tradition each year).

Easter Conversations: From the mouths of babes

Holidays have been fun this year because Emme is starting to understand more about them, and specifically how Christ is the reason we celebrate Christmas and Easter.  Last year I bought a set of Resurrection Eggs at Mardel, mostly last year she would just like to open them and take the objects in and out (mind you... she still enjoys doing that... just understands the story a little better!) The eggs have things like coins, linen, a miniature donkey, dice, etc. And the last egg is empty representing the empty tomb.

So before bed each night we have been going thru an egg which reveals a segment of the Easter story and Bible verses.  Emme has really seemed to enjoy the process and now we have had time to go thru it twice so she is starting to remember the order of the eggs and anticipates what will come next.  We also have a few Easter books that go beyond the bunnies and candy that she and I like to read together.  This week at church on Sunday, the kids made little palm branches.  So I think all in all, Emme is starting to see the pieces come together and is forming an understanding of how Christ came to earth and died for us and rose again.... exciting stuff as a parent to see the wheels turning... and of course praying that the Lord would soften her heart to the things of Him.

So we were in the car today and Emme started telling me how the people were saying, "Hosannah!" and how Jesus was riding on a donkey, and he came to die on the cross.  We talked about how he rose again and forgives us of our sin! And then I sort of broke into a renditions of Michael W. Smith's old song, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosannah, Hosannah, Hosannah!" and Emme was singing along with me.  It was one of those times as a parent that it is really exciting and fun- as you get to plant that seed and ask the Holy Spirit to water it and grow and nurture it!

Emme was saying, "Jesus comes to my heart.  God is in my heart." Then she sort of started singing it... "God is in my heart, God is in my heart... Jesus.... Jesus....." It made me smile.  And then as if to remind me that she is two, I hear in a sing-songy voice, "... aaand I love candy... caanndy...." Hahaha!!!

So I'll take those spirtitual conversations as often as the Lord will give them to us- and also enjoy my sweet little girl, and her sweet tooth :)