Emerson's Sip & See

My sweet sisters-in-law hosted a Sip & See for Emerson this past Saturday.  Guess who I did not get a picture with??  The tiny guest of honor!  The food was delicious and decor so cute.  And it was fun getting to visit with friends and family!  I'm so appreciative and thankful for their love and support during this fun time in our lives!

Piper Lost Her First Tooth!

After weeks of being wiggly, Piper finally agreed to let her Daddy pull her first tooth!  To say it was dramatic, is an understatement!  Most things with this sweet girl are dramatic!  But that is what makes Piper, Piper!  

 After dinner, Michael said to Piper, "Hey wanna go get frozen yogurt?" And she obviously said "Yes!" So Michael replied, "Then let me pull your tooth!"  After a lot of no's and screaming she reluctantly said, "Okay, just do it.  Just do it fast!"  (as she was crying!)  So Michael pulled it and the screaming was loud and the crying was hard.  And the screaming was loud! But it was out of there! Did I mention the screaming was loud?  Haha!  BUT...she was so excited once the shock of it all passed!  And we were so proud of her bravery!  We jumped up and down and praised her for letting Michael pull the tooth!  And even though it was 7 pm and bedtime was calling her name, Michael took her out to get frozen yogurt to celebrate!  That's a pretty sweet Daddy!

And she was pretty thrilled about it all!

The tooth fairy set her out on a Treasure Hunt to retrieve her prize this morning!  That was a fun adventure for everyone!  And she received $5!  But, I've heard she's not that generous with subsequent teeth!  

Piper has a second tooth loose right next to the one she lost.  I wonder how losing it will transpire...

Briggs

 Trying to entertain baby sister with Mother Goose stories.

Dr. Briggs playing checkup!  What else are babies for??  Briggs has been a great big brother!  He does not like poop or slobber and runs away when he thinks it is going to get on him!  But he does love Emerson.  He usually says these same phrases "Ohhhhh, she's so cute!"  "Can I pet her?" (rub her head) "I love my baby sister." It's definitely been sweet to watch him with her!

 The other day we were playing in Briggs' room.  He wanted me to build some Lego dinosaurs.  His two favorite things!  While I was building the dino's, he was getting his baby sister all set up.  He let her use his baby turtle pillow pet for her head and his pajamas for her as a blanket, then he went and got himself a blanket and laid down on his big turtle pillow pet.  And as always, yellow bear was right by his side! And, sister must have been cozy because she fell asleep shortly after!

Visitors

Aunt Chandra came for a visit last weekend.  It was so great having her here to help and spend time with!  It was her first time to meet Emerson!  

 The day after Chandra left, Grammy and Papa John surprised us by stopping by!  They stayed for a few hours and went to their hotel for a conference they were attending!

Random Emerson Pics

 We had family photos taken the other day and this was Emerson afterwards!  She was exhausted!

 Sweet girl has been smiling for weeks now!  And she slightly coos for us too!  It is so cute!  I love it and so do the big kids!  We all get excited if we can make her smile or "talk" to us!

 She can be smiley, but she is pretty serious!  This "O" face is something she does regularly as she looks around!

 I thought this picture was funny!  Her hand happened to be placed right under her chin like that, as if she was contemplating something serious in her sleep!

Blurry, but so cute!  This is her big smile she gives us occasionally!  Love!

Six Weeks

Six weeks has flown by!  I want it to slow down!

  

Piper

This month Piper has gotten to do some fun girly things!  She was rewarded with a manicure after not biting her nails for two weeks!  We invited Maggie to come along with us!  And a couple of weeks later, Grandma invited her to Sweet & Sassy!  She had her nails painted (which are getting longer!!), her hair done, and some makeup applied even!  She loved it!

And I wanted to showcase this fun little drawing!  "Goril" (girl) and "Booy" (boy)!  This year Piper has really begun to read and write.  She does a great job spelling words phonetically such as above!  I love it!  Piper's teacher, Mrs. Wilkerson, emailed me this week that Piper tested 5 levels higher in her reading from the beginning of the year!  And she is only one level below where a first grader is supposed to be at the end of the year!  We were excited!  Piper has been working hard (and so has mom & dad) to get to this point, so that was fun news to receive!

And she's a pretty great sister!  I'm praying these two are best friends!

One Month

Emerson at One Month!

I cannot believe Emerson is a month old already!  We are figuring out this sweet baby's little personality!  She mostly has a serious look about her but cracks a smile every now and then!  Big sis and big bro love it when they get her to smile or even coo, which she is doing already.  It seems way to early for that!  She is great during the day eating and sleeping.  But between the hours of 7 pm-12 am she has a hard time settling down and cries a lot, and very loudly!  Probably the loudest of all three kids!  She isn't crying or awake that entire 5 hours but at some point during this time frame it begins and lasts for what seems like forever when mama is tired!    I do think she is dealing with a bit of colic/gas issues.  Once I do get her to bed, she sleeps 5-7 hours straight. That has been going on for about a week now!  Emerson is sleeping in her crib in the same room as Piper.  It has mostly gone well but on the few rough nights, Piper gladly moves to the guest room to sleep!  Piper loves that Emerson is in her room but is struggling with the fact Emerson doesn't go to bed when she does and usually is not in there when she wakes up so it doesn't 'feel' like Emerson is sleeping in the room with her. Briggs loves Emerson.  He says, "I love my baby sister. She is so cute."  And asks to pet her or kiss her!  Sweet.  The other day, I did catch him lifting her off of the ground when I briefly left the room! Yikes!  Emerson now weighs 10 lbs, 11.5 oz and is 22.5 inches long!  She loves her milk and is definitely chunking up with the chubby rolls to prove it!!  We love her so much and are so thankful that God has allowed her to join our family!!

Week 4

Week 4 is when real life began I think!  Grammy came to help for a few days and that was awesome! The New Year began.  Michael went back to work.  Piper and Briggs started back to school.  And I began trying to figure out how this gig really works.  I really am not sure how I'm going to cook dinner, grocery shop, work out, shower, look presentable, get three kids ready, feed the baby, etc every.single.day!  But somehow it will happen and a lot of things will have to go out the window for a bit!  This is our last week to receive meals and it has been so helpful!  Just having that has been a HUGE help!  I may begin to just purchase 5 rotisserie chickens each week and several steam-able vegetable bags and call it good on meals!  Ha!  But it is all worth it and it will get easier!

Photo session

I asked my sweet friend, Kate, to take a few photos of Emerson to possibly use in a birth announcement or Christmas card.  I have yet to create a card because that kind of thing easily overwhelms me for some reason, especially when I have a lot going on!  These are my favorites, especially the third one!  

This is Emerson at two weeks old... 

The rest of Christmas...

The day after Christmas we drove to Oklahoma for a quick visit.  We stayed at my sister's one night and then drove to my parents the next day.  Michael, Emerson, and I only stayed for a few hours at my parents and returned home that same day but Piper and Briggs stayed in Oklahoma with my sister for a few days. They had so much fun!  This was the first time everyone in my family was able to meet Emerson, except for Sheryl and Anna since they had visited us already.

 Olivia & Emerson.  She LOVED holding Emerson!

 Paige & Emerson.  Paige was my little baby helper when Piper was born six years ago!!

 Seth & Emerson.  He was the most impressive teenage baby holder I've ever seen!

 Uncle Trebor & Emerson.  Trebor loves babies!

 Papa Roger & Emerson.

 Grandma Judy & Emerson

 Briggs opening his rocket ship.  I love the little "O" his mouth and making.  You can tell he's gasping with excitement!

 I love the top and bottom pics here because those are real "I'm so happy" smiles!

 Paige & Sheryl

 Shelly & Sheryl.  My hair needs some help!!

Nall-Levy grandkids

Christmas 2014

 On Christmas Eve we set out milk and cookies for Santa, told Glitter goodbye and Piper wrote Santa a sweet note.

 We asked the kids not to go into the living room when they woke up but of course, Briggs' feet were heard running down the hall.  Michael and I got out of bed so fast!  Michael caught him just in time from seeing anything!  We waited a bit for Piper to wake up and then we started our Christmas morning!

 Briggs received the orange t-rex.  And since the t-rex was the size of a small cat, he was a little scared of it at first!  I think he even told Michael it looked scary.  But Michael assured him and everything was fine after that and Briggs LOVED his new toy!  And he named this new t-rex "Ash Tray" again.  Lovely.  Sigh!

 Piper received a few Barbies but no microphone.  Maybe when she gets a little older.  Sometimes Santa has a hard time preparing the presents when he finds out two days before you've changed your mind!

 And Santa did not leave out Emerson!

 Daddy was very good to mommy this year.  He filled my stockings with a ton of hershey kisses.  I was a little confused but at the bottom of the stocking was a ring with "chocolate" diamonds!  Pretty clever in his themed gift!

 It's beautiful and unique!  And a little big so I need to get it sized.

 After presents, we played and relaxed.  Glitter took care of breakfast that morning.  He had left snowman donuts for us to enjoy!  How sweet of him!

 In the afternoon, we went to Grandma & Grandpa's house.  Grandma made the most delicious Christmas feast and we opened presents.  My picture taking was lacking on this day!  I didn't get any with cousins or grandparents!

We had a Merry Christmas!