summer vacation is here!

can you believe this was just one year ago?!

 

 

emma taylor has grown up SO much. i am so excited about our beach trip this year, and i think e.t. is too. she has been talking about the beach and sandcastles for the last week now! see you in a week. hopefully fully rested from vacation and a little tanner!

joy

i love the zoo and our membership! it is a weekly outing for us. in the summers they have 3 member nights that the zoo is open from 6-9 on Friday and have specials like free carousel rides...next time I will have to remember to bring our real camera but our friend's iphone pic still captures what joy emma taylor has riding the carousel with her daddy!

smoothie prep

emma taylor is NOT a good breakfast eater which means by 9 or 10 she is starving. this summer i plan on making smoothies a big part of our morning snack time. this way i can sneek in things like spinach and carrot juice. today i prepped eight smoothies ready to go in the freezer which makes them a lot more convenient to make.

 

 

too busy to look at the camera because in emma taylor's words they are very nummy!

 

beautifully out of control

...emma taylor's hair that is. i think we are going to need our first haircut soon!

 

macy at 28 weeks

i got to have another ultrasound at my 28 week checkup. they are monitoring baby macy's size since emma taylor was quite big (9lbs 1 oz) and the second tends to be bigger. she was measuring at 84% at 20 weeks and only 67% at 28 weeks. however, the later in pregnancy the less accurate these readings actually are. i didn't mind one bit seeing my little girl again and getting some pictures since at 20 weeks she wouldn't move her hands away from her face!

 

 

m

m is for macy!

 

we haven't decided on a middle name yet, but it is nice that baby sister has a name and doesn't have to be referred to as the baby anymore.

 

i got a little crafty the other day and decided to sew some personalized burp cloths for little macy. you know you can never have enough of those lying around.



22 months

it doesn't seem like e.t. should be just 2 months away from turning 2. who let us have a baby with another baby on the way and who let her grow up? time really does seem to be flying in this second year.

 

emma taylor is so vocal. although we can't understand everything she says she can communicate very well for her age and surprises us daily by what words she knows. she loves the zoo, the park, and the library. she would live at those places if she could. she also loves her "friends" and talks about them almost every day. i hope she loves her baby sister just as much!

 

 

 

 

strawberry picking

we went strawberry picking with friends this week. its my new favorite thing! yesterday i made homemade strawberry jam (a little over a half gallon worth) and we still have a gallon left for eating! yum.

 

 

e.t. helped by holding the bucket for me...then it got too heavy.

 

 

and then she realized she could EAT the strawberries...

 

 

after that she was no help!

 

 

i love my strawberry eating monster!

"singing"

mother's day 2013

 

 

 

 

a testament of the church

emma taylor had her surgery on friday. there has been no other day that i have felt and seen that the church is not an establishment or a building but rather of group of people, of believers. i have felt God's love so tangibly through these people and it encourages me. i had countless phone calls and texts wanting to know how emma taylor was doing and how they could pray, countless messages offering any help i needed, and dinner brought to my house so i wouldn't have to worry about it. i was even surprised when the surgeon asked if he could pray with me before the surgery. sometimes i can be so hardened and critical towards the south because it seems to be part of the culture to go to church, but that morning i really needed that prayer from the doctor. praise the Lord for answered prayers!

update on emma taylor: she did well and was fussy and upset most of the day... as to be expected. she now seems to be much of her normal self besides her appetite but hopefully that will come back soon. she is on 2 antibiotics to help keep infection away so please pray that they will. if something were to come up though the doctor said it would be around day 4 or 5 so we are not out of the woods yet.

this girl

...loves water and loves sand (or sam as she calls it). i think she is ready for the beach this summer...and so is this mama. there's nothing cuter than little girls with little pigtails wearing little swimsuits!

 

{cheese}

 

 

{our permanent water/sand play hairstyle}

 

playing dress up

emma taylor has gotten into dressing up. as we don't have a lot of dress up clothes she tends to choose the same thing to put on every day. she loves putting on her skirt and insists on doing it herself. today she added a tye dye cape that i cut for her out of an old tee shirt. she is so cute...especially when she helps with the chores all dressed up!

 

 

this friday

we went to see an ENT about 2 weeks ago for emma taylor's ears and for her status of being a strep carrier. she still had fluid in her ears 2 months after her last ear infection! luckily it hasn't affected her hearing and language skills...I think she is actually ahead in that area. so per the doctor's recommendation she is getting tubes put in her ears to drain the fluid and also getting her adenoids taken out at the same time. apparently adenoids can harbor that strep bacteria. we are hoping to eliminate her carrier state. please pray for her--that she wouldn't react badly to the anesthesia and that the procedure will go just as planned. please pray for us as even though it is a very common surgery she is still our baby and it is very nerve racking.