December 31

No pics yet but will have some later, maybe tomorrow. Just an update on Emma and her sleep last night. She went to sleep without one sound and we didn't hear from her until abut 4:45. Then she cried and I had to go in there and give her her binkie and lay her back down and then she didn't cry anymore until 8:45. This isn't near as bad as I had anticipated.

December 30

Today we took advantage of the nice weather outside and went out and had some fun with bubbles.

Emma really liked riding on the tricycle. She is getting so big.

She also liked swinging as usual.

Emma jumping on the trampoline. Every time she would stand up, someone would move and she would lose her balance and fall. Mommy had to hold her hand the whole time. She is standing up good but not that good.

Ethan running circles on the trampoline.

Emma's hair do after being on the trampoline was really something, and yes she does have some hair.

Ethan took Emma for a ride today. Mommy had to hold her hand here also.

Ethan "doing his homework."

Update on Emma and bedtime. She went down tonight without one single peep. She was so tired. I'll update tomorrow with how she does throughout the night. Say a prayer for us. It is 11:36 and we are headed to bed soon and hopefully we will sleep all night. And yes Peggy, this is how my house will be clean tomorrow. It gets done after the kids are asleep so you can't hold it against me! It's an OCD thing.

Emma's Battle

Well, a little update on Emma. She was always the best sleeper, from abuot 6 weeks until recently she slept great all night, 10-12 hours. Awesome. Then she started teething and got 6 teeth in three weeks for a total of 8 teeth now. That really screwed her up and she started waking up once in the middle of the night. Of course, Mommy gave her a bottle and put her back to sleep. Well, now, all 8 teeth in, Mommy is tired of getting up at 3am. I love ya Emma but I don't want to see you at 3am. So anyhow, yesterday Mommy decided she needed baby boot camp. We did this with Ethan at 6 months because he had never slept through the night at that point and we were tired. The first step was to put them to bed awake and let them fall asleep on their own. For Ethan on night one, this only took about 15 minutes. Ditto for Emma last night. We laid her down and she was really mad but that only lasted for about 5 mintues and then she slowly calmed down and went to sleep. Step two was in the middle of the night, not to get them up out of the bed. With Ethan, on night one, he woke up and once again it took him about 10-15 minutes to be back alseep. Last night Emma woke up at 4 and I gave her her binky and she went straight back to sleep, no crying. Then she woke up at 5:15 and didn't want her binky or to go back to sleep. At this point, I normally would have given her a bottle and she would have gone back to sleep for several more hours. I was very strong about not wanting her to wake up in the middle of the night again so I didn't get her up. It took her about 45 mintues but she did got back to sleep and sleep until about 8:30! She didn't cry the whole time, she probably cried a total of about 10 mintues and played the rest of the time but key point, she went back to sleep. We have a break through. Hopefully it will go as well tonight. Wish us luck! They are both napping now because we went to the grocery and then to McD's for lunch with Stephanie and Tyler.

Christmas Day

These are pictures from Christmas day with our family. The above picture is of Trystan opening some of his wrestling stuff. That is basically what he got, a guitar and wrestling stuff.

Ethan opening a present. He loved opening presents. He was really into that part of it.

Here are all the kiddos ready to run down the stairs and get into all the presents from Santa.

Santa left all of Emma's presents wrapped in Disney princess paper.

Ethan's were all wrapped in Hot Wheels paper and Trystan's were in High School Musical paper.

Emma always makes such a great present.

Trystan with his new guitar.

Daddy got a new LCD TV for Mommy and Daddy's room from Santa and Mommy got a mother's ring!

Trystan got a calendar that reminded him of his GUITAR lessons which start on January 8th!

Daddy and Ethan opening his Shake and Go dragsters. That, a big wheel, and the Geo Trax Air Port were his big things from Santa. He also got Hot Wheels fireball thing that Daddy thinks isn't the greatest and should go back to the workshop.

Emma watching Ethan open a present.

Tyler, our neighbor, got a new car from Santa and his brother Kyle got a new 4 wheeler. We walked across the street Christmas morning to watch them as they followed clues from Santa that led them to the garage. Mommy helped Tracy design the game.

Ethan with his Geo Trax airport.

Santa brought Emma a kitchen. She loves it and it is just her size. Santa also brought her a Little Mermaid ride on toy and lots of other pink things.

Here she is riding her Little Mermaid. She really likes to walk behind it and push it best.

The whole family at Mamaw Dolly and Papaw Frank's house Christmas night.

Opening presents at Papaw Butch's house. It was a Geo Trax Christmas for Ethan over there also.

Everyone at Nana's house on Christmas morning.

Uncle Griffin, Aunt Jill, Jamison, and Bailey on Christmas morning.

Emma playing with Papaw's head.

We made a photo book for Mamaw and Papaw for Christmas and made Mamaw cry. Papaw didn't read it then because he didn't want to cry.

A very tired Mommy and Emma on Christmas night.

Mommy with her hands full.

Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Eve and we are all so excited. Today started off pretty slow just hanging around the house. Daddy had to work. But then the evening was packed full of fun preparing for Christmas. One of the things that we did was make Christmas cookies for Santa. Ethan had a lot of fun doing that.

We also exchanged presents with Benjamin. They both got "Grape Digger" monster trucks. For those of you unaware, it is actually grave digger but Ethan doesn't know better and calls it grape digger and we like that better anyhow.

Santa made a surprise stop at our house to give presents and tell the kids to be sure to be good and that he would be back after they all went to sleep at night.

Ethan was the one that ran to the door to answer because he thought that it was Benjamin. Boy was he shocked at what he saw. This was the only time I have ever seen him truly speechless. He was stuttering around and just in awe.

Emma joined in with the fun of making cookies. She really liked the icing.

Benjamin liked the icing best. Right off of his Mommy's finger.

They had fun making their cookies. They all had a lot of icing and sprinkles.

Emma had to do a little tast testing. The cookies got her approval. They are good enought for Santa.

Benjamin and Ethan making their cookies.

At our house we always have a tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve. It was pajamas for the kids (also a tradition). Emma liked watching Mommy and Ethan open Mommy's present. She got ear warmers.

Trystan got Pj's also. He was really excited because they were Triple H.

Ethan now officially loves opening presents. He even liked his new Pj's. His and Emma's were a lot alike.

We tracked Santa on the internet all day long. The boys were looking to see where he was one last time before heading off to bed.

Trystan and Ethan setting out cookies and milk for Santa.

All three kiddos in their new Pj's.

Emma is such a pretty present. She is even smiling for the camera and showing off all those new teeth.

Here she is also showing off another new trick, climbing stairs. She can climb all the way to the top. She can also fall down them pretty good. Watch out world, here she comes.

The video is of Ethan and Santa. He is so excited for Christmas. For the past several days, he has come into our room and woke us up announcing how many more days until Christmas. Christmas Eve confused him because when he woke up this morning. He thought that it was Christmas morning. We had to explain to him that Christmas Eve means the day before Christmas and that he had one more day. Oh, the magic of Christmas. Now let's all TRY to get some sleep. Big day tomorrow.

December 23

Emma likes to help Mommy cook dinner. She really likes to like the spoon. Update on her eating, she has now gotten in her 8th tooth and has decided that she is too big for baby food. Matter of fact, she won't eat anything that Mommy is not eating. This is going to be interesting.

She really liked the taste testing.

Emma playing with her piano. That is her favorite toy, although Christmas is in just 2 days so she may change her mind soon.

Ethan had a Christmas party at school Thursday and his teacher got him these antlers. Emma had to try them on for a picture.

Here is Emma with her famous sissy bear. Mommy has taken several pictures of her with it to compare how big she is getting. For some reason, she is sitting funny in the bottom picture and looks really long.

More taste testing Emma.

Emma in her pretty Christmas outfit.

Ethan opening presents from Mamaw Ann at Nana's house on Sunday.

Here is a better view of Emma in her dress. This is one of her many Christmas dresses. People said that she looked like a little doll in this one. I think Mommy agrees with them.

Now here is Ethan in the reindeer antlers.

Ethan and Trystan putting out the candles after advent. This is always such a big deal for Trystan. He loves to do it.

Emma playing with her new stroller she got from Mamaw Ann. She pushes behind it. I think that it is teaching her how to walk. OTHER people keep saying that she has taken a few steps over the past couple of days but Mommy is in denial.

Emma opening her present from Mamaw Ann.