What the kids are up to these days...

Harrison:
1. Goes to K4 three days a week and loves it!
2. Loves playing pretend with lots of things but always with his soldiers and cars.
3. Is VERY interested in learning new facts - especially about animals.
4. Still eats almost anything we put in front of him.  Favorite foods: tacos, macaroni and cheese, carrot sticks and cucumbers.
5. Is playing soccer on a church team and loves it!  He is a very fast runner!
6. Plays very well independently but much prefers to be around other people.  I usually have to force him to go play in his room and he whines and complains for about a minute until he gets busy doing something in there.  Then, he plays very happily for an hour to an hour and a half.
7. He can still nap everyday if I make him but he usually just has quiet time in his room.
8. Loves to sing - usually he sings songs that he makes up.  Often, they are to the tune of a song he knows but the words are not real words (He thinks its a different language)
9. Enjoys looking at books and for someone to read to him.  He knows all the letters and sounds they make and is beginning to recognize words too.
10. Dresses, undresses, showers and wipes himself without any help.

Emilee:
1. VERY independent.  She plays by herself really well without being asked.  She often goes to her room to play when everyone else is in the living room.
2. LOVES to sing!!!  She sings lots of songs.  We can always recognize the tune but she has her own little language for most of the words.  Favorite songs are Happy Birthday, Jesus Loves Me, ABC's and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
3. She is a very good napper.  She loves to get in bed with her "CC'" (pacy).  She plays for a few minutes and then goes to sleep for 3-4 hrs.
4. While she sleeps very well at night, she is nearly impossible to get back to sleep if she does wake up.  Usually she just has to cry it out b/c she will never go to sleep if we hold or rock her.
5. She is a VERY picky eater (compared to Harrison).  This is very frustrating to me but I think (am hoping and praying) she will grow out of it.
6. Her favorite things to do are: look at/read books, play with her baby dolls, dress up in necklaces, bracelets and sunglasses and ride in her little tikes car.
7. We are working hard on teaching her that she is not in charge.  She loves to tell people what to do.  I often hear; "No no Gaggy!" ("No, Daddy!"), or "NOOOOO Bubba" ("No, Harrison!").  The other day Harrison said, "Emilee, you are NOT the boss" and Emilee replied, "I BAH-ssss".  
8. Although she loves playing independently, she also loves to play games with Harrison and will do most things he tells her to do.  They love to hide and chase one another around the house.
9.  She is a messy eater but always wants a napkin to wipe her hands on when they get dirty.  She will often stop eating if her hands or juice cup are too messy and they must be cleaned before she continues.
10. Loves dancing!  Anytime she hears music she puts her hands up and starts spinning around.

Caleb:
1. Loves the swing.  He likes looking around and drifting off to sleep while he is in it.  He likes to sleep in his crib the best.
2. He is making cooing noises now that will melt your heart and has also started smiling back when we smile or talk to him.
3. He usually takes one long nap during the day and cat naps the rest of the day.  This is mainly because I have to put him in and out of the car so often with H in school.
4. He sleeps pretty well at night but still wakes up once to eat.  Some nights, he wakes up if his pacy falls out but goes right back to sleep when we put it back in.  He lays down around 7:30pm, I feed him around 11pm before I go to bed, he wakes up between 3:30-4am and then he is up at 7-7:30am for the day.
5. He is much less fussier than he was a few weeks ago (I think this was probably due to the antibiotics he had in the hospital upsetting his stomach).  Now he is a little fussy between 4-6.  This makes it difficult to fix dinner some nights so my crock pot has become my best friend!
6. LOVES the water!  One night he sat in his tub in the kitchen sink while we ate dinner.  It was the only thing that made him happy and I was starving - not great for the water bill, but oh well!  He loves being in the shower and doesn't mind water running over his face at all.
7. We call him "insta-mad" or because he can get mad in an instant! He usually calms down if someone picks him up and if not, we put him in some water :)
8. He sleeps on his tummy and  has rolled from tummy to back once.  He likes to pick his head up and look around, but gets mad if you leave him like that for long.  He enjoys being in his crib on his back looking at the wall, windows, bumper, mobile etc.
9. He loves sitting with Harrison.  He smiles and talks to him and Harrison is usually able to calm him down if he starts to fuss.  I think (eventually) he will be a laid back baby.  He doesn't seem to mind being crawled on top of, kissed or having a pacy shoved in his mouth by Emilee!
10. He is a great nurser but spits up a good bit.  I'm not sure if this is due to something I'm eating or if he just over eats sometimes.  He will take formula, but prefers to nurse. 

Bath time

We don't usually do bath time like this, but thought it would be fun one night!  They all had fun even though Caleb looks a little worried that he is going to be dunked!   I think he had fun with his big brother and sister anyway! 

Hair-dos

All of Caleb's hair has fallen out on the sides and in the very front and this is what he is left with.

Some new pigtails I tried out on Emilee tonight!

What do you think???

Caleb and Wilson meet

 

 

 

 

Wilson was hungry!

He thought he would try Caleb's shoulder out for a snack!

Sweet cousins!  Can't wait to see what these boys will get into in a few years!

On Tuesday we were blessed to meet our new nephew/cousin WILSON!  Wilson is John and Jessica's little miracle who was born 6 weeks early (Tuesday was one day before his actual due date!).  Jessica was very brave and flew with Gracie and Wilson BY HERSELF to SC so we could all meet him.  He is precious and absolutely adorable!  Caleb is 5 days older and about 5 lbs. larger than Wilson right now.  I have a feeling Wilson will catch up very soon though!  We enjoyed our day with Jessica, Gracie and Wilson and can't wait to see them again soon!

* Wilson was wearing a hat that left a mark on his head if anyone was wondering :)

Sick and tired of being sick!!!

Since Caleb was born it seems that one person (or more) in our family has been sick or recovering from a sickness.  First, Caleb was in the hospital.  Then Emilee had a night and day of a stomach bug. Next, Harrison had cold/allergy issues with a low grade fever.  Emilee had a second round of the stomach bug.  Then Harrison's ear started hurting (fluid left from his cold).  And this past week I got strep throat! We are still praying that none of the kids catch strep throat (the dr. said to watch for a week).  Now we are just dealing with my antibiotic hurting Caleb's tummy.  We are both taking a probiotic, but it still seems to be affecting him some - hopefully that will clear soon too!
 
Thankfully, Mike was never sick.  He was a great help to me while I wasn't feeling well.  He even cancelled his trip out of town one of the weeks when Emilee had the stomach bug to be here to help me (just in case someone else got it).  I was very thankful for that because I would have probably lost my mind if he had not been here!

Needless to say, it has been a LONG month!  Thankfully we all seem to be on the mend now!


On the night that I went to pick up my antibiotic I had all the kids in the van with me (Mike was singing at a pro-life candle light vigil that our pastor had asked him to sing at).  Caleb was tired and was screaming off and on in the backseat and Harrison and Emilee were watching a movie.  I was asking the pharmacist about how safe the medicine was for me to take while nursing and he started a nice little conversation with me.  I wasn't exactly in the mood to talk, since my throat was hurting like crazy and I had a crying baby in the backseat, but I was nice and talked with him anyway.  He was a very nice man and reminded me of how quickly my kids would grow up and that he wished he could have his teenage children little again (this made me not mind the screaming baby so much anymore).  After our little conversation he told me to wait one second that he had something for me.  He ran over to the counter and brought back a lollipop.  My initial thought was "I'm going to need another one for Emilee." but then he said, "This is for you, you might need it on the ride home!"  I thought it was very sweet and it made me feel special to be the one to get the "treat" at the drive through again!

Changes

I can't believe how big Harrison has gotten in just 5 short years!

Grammie's handiwork

Here are the cute hats mom made for the kids for this winter!  I love them :)

Harrison is FIVE!!!

I cannot believe how quickly these five years have gone by!

This is a very special little boy with lots of energy and a very kind heart. He is very curious and always has lots to say! He keeps me VERY busy and entertained but he is also very willing to help out whenever we ask. He is a great big brother and friend. Harrison loves to play games and is very competitive. He is very interested in sports and war. He plays war with his soldiers often and prays for our soldiers who are at war often. Right now, he tells us he wants to be in the army and go to war when he grows up.

I am so thankful for the blessing and miracle God gave us when we were blessed with Harrison 5 years ago! I look forward to watching you grow and am excited to see what God has planned for your life.

Happy Birthday Harrison! We love you!!

1 month olds...

I sure do see a lot of differences in these one month olds - don't you???

Sky Top 2011

We have gone to Sky Top apple orchard for 3 years now on Harrison's birthday. It is such a fun little family trip and I think it makes Harrison feel special on his birthday! Here are some of the pictures from our day...
Posing on the pumpkins!

Family of 5
They both LOVE apples!


Sharing!
Emilee wanted to pick all the apple off the ground. We finally found a tree that had some low enough for her to pick off the tree!

Harrison enjoying a fresh apple!

He loved being up in the trees picking the apples this year!


I can't believe how big both of these babies are getting!!

SOCCER!

Harrison is playing soccer on a little league that our church started this year. He has had a wonderful time learning about the game. He LOVES to run fast and has scored 2 goals this year! It has been a great experience for him to learn about teamwork, and being a good sport (since they haven't always won). He has practice once a week and has played 4 of his 6 games against other teams in the league. Harrison has a great time at practice and at the games, but I think his favorite part about the whole experience was the fact that Mike was his team's coach! Harrison LOVES his daddy and they have had a great time playing together and talking to and from the games!

A little jealous...

The first week or so that we had Caleb home Emilee would not take a picture next to him. I don't know if she was jealous or just not quite sure about him. Here is an attempt to get a picture of the three of them.

Two more attempts on another day...


Finally got a good one!!!

Big girl

Emilee is now tall enough to reach her arm up into the silverware draw and reach things. She thinks this is really great because she "helps" Harrison with his chore of unloading the clean silverware out of the dishwasher. She carries a utensil to the draw, reaches up on her tip toes and drops it into the corner. Then Harrison puts it where it goes.

On this day I had given Emilee a piece of pound cake to eat. She decided that she needed a "spoon" (that is what she calls all the utensils) to eat her cake with. When she came back from the drawer, I looked up and this is what she had been able to reach! She had a great time eating with her giant "spoon" too!

Big Brother and Big Sister

Caleb enjoys having a big brother and big sister. Lots of people to hold him and love on him!

We had another baby...

a month and a half ago :)

Here are some cute pictures of our beautiful new baby boy - Caleb Michael Knight
He was born on September 2, 2011 at 7:03 in the morning. He weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long. He is a wonderful addition to our family!

I am still here...

Hi! I know I have been gone for a VERY long time, but I am going to try to start blogging again. I have so many wonderful memories of Harrison on here and I want to continue putting memories of Emilee and Caleb on here as well. We will see how it goes. If anyone is still coming back to look and see if I post anything on here anymore - leave me a comment - it might be the motivation I need to keep this up!