Oh Geez

Oh geez is right! Where have I been? Where did May go? I can't tell you really. Work, church, Em, family, new job training, I suppose.

But let's talk about Em, shall we? This girl just makes my day every day. She's after my own heart with her love of dots! I think it's a genetic predisposition really.

Em is UBER expressive. All the time. She makes hilarious faces. Lately, she wants to play monkey see, monkey do with facial expressions. Silly face to smiley face - you have to do as she does. She just started adding activities to the game. Yesterday we were dancing, bouncing, waving, shaking our heads and anything else you can imagine. And she laughs so hard so I do too!

Lately, she's gotten a little shy around people. It's sometimes very unpredictable who she will act shy around; sometimes it's somebody she's never met or sometimes it's one of her favorite people. Kids - they're fickle. 

And talk about monkey see, monkey do! Emersen will copy almost anything we do - not on command though. Here she is using her play phone as the remote control. And the other night, Wes was talking and leaning against the wall with his ankles/legs crossed. Em walks over, leans against the wall next to him and crosses her legs and just stands there. I....almost....died - it was HILARIOUS! 

We're having so much fun talking to Emersen. I think she learns at least one new word a day lately. We've been trying to make a list of her words. It's hard to keep up. Some of our favorites include up & down...specifically "down" includes a completely different tone of voice. She's putting two words together as well: daddy hat, daddy go go. She's added home to her vocabulary, which is cute. She's say "my baby" or identify and object and who uses it. The big couch is mommy's, the chair is daddy's, the pink couch is obviously Emmy's, the rocking chair is Gaga's. She knows shoes, eyes, garbage can, ball, some numbers and some letters (verbally only), and last night we kept telling her to go "out back" to play, not out front or in the garage and she said "out back." Of course we squeal and cheer because, I don't know why we're amazed, but we are amazed! I think we had added up over 60 words she knows and you can pretty much understand. Of course, we know the word for bib and blanket but anybody else would think it was jibberish. Last night she kept saying her generic word that could be anything - she says it when she's trying to say something but doesn't know how to say the word. It was after her bed time and she kept saying it. We asked her to show us. I asked her about blanket. She said yes and took it. But kept saying the word. Then I told her to show us. So she got the pillow off the couch, and put it down against the couch and laid her head down. Wes asks "do you want to go to bed?" and she said "DA! (yes)". WHAT!? Love her face. 

We've started getting the "when is the next one?" and "she needs a sibling" comments/questions lately. If you ask me what my dream job would be, with no risk and money isn't an issue, I will say "stay at home mom." So know that my heart is being a mom to some babies. Only God knows when and how many and all those details. I catch myself trying to plan for it - when would work best for being morning sick, or just sick, or really big with swollen feet, etc. Don't say it! I know - I don't have ANY control whatsoever on getting pregnant or having a baby. I do know this. I know this from last time - the best laid plans....usually make God laugh, right? So we'll continue after God and depend on Him for guidance. I have another month of work, I'm pursuing some training on a career change and Em's only a toddler. SO - if anything changes for our family, we'll let you know!

Emmy

Miss Independent wants to put her shoes on herself. She's not there yet - she does help fasten them when we put them on her.

Em with her Thirty-One Carry All Tote - purchased from my friends party I hosted. She LOVES carrying little things and immediately started playing with this at the party. 

Go ahead - eat her up.

One of her "gogos".

Her other "gogos" - she tries to say helicopter. You have to know that's what she's trying to say to know what it means. Otherwise, it's just jibberish. She likes to put her "gogos" in her little tote and carry them.

Tickle monster, obviously. 

Em's motto is to play hard, never mind what it does to her hair. Love it.

Another tickle monster attack from Daddy.

Emersen's vocabulary is increasing almost daily. She's clear on the question, "What's your name?" and she says Emmy. That's because she can't say Emersen, not because she's going by that now.

She knows her animal sounds.

Mommy, Daddy, Gaga, Pap-pap are frequently used, not in context, just because I think she wants to talk and knows those words. Uh-oh is still a favorite. 

She has differentiated between ice and eyes and pokes us in the eye to tell us her word. She's using cup and up. bubbles and bible, and today I discovered she knows keys. She knows up and down, on and off. When we're getting ready to leave, she points at the power button on the TV and says off. Same with when we turn the fan off in a room. She knows apple - of course, all fruit is apple. And she knows ball. She still has a word for blanket that sounds nothing like it. She's gotten very good with using baby as well. Something else she is doing is identifying objects and the people who use them. She was helping pull laundry out of the dryer, a favorite past time, and would say "daddy" to the shirt that was his and "mommy" to a nightgown. She does it with our cars as well. She does a really good job mimicking our intonation of a phase more than the actual words. But she is still saying "I know" when we say I love you. And she'll mimic "no no" when we say it to her. Not in a snotty way, she's just repeating it back. She is also learning about letters and will just throw them out there in succession sometimes and it sounds like she's spelling words. 

It's pretty unbelievable the speed of development at this age group. Many people told me how surprised they were as well. It's crazy how each kid is different and what things they pick up first - letters vs numbers vs foods. It's SO fun. She is so fun. It's been fun to take her more places now that she's older as well. I took her to visit Wes at work yesterday and we were there a couple hours and she was great. Same for Grandpa, who takes her to visit Mindy, to his new office, downtown, to the car shop, etc. Good times!

Holidays All Around

Yep, that's an Easter basket for Emersen. Yep, it's May. I can't even promise all signs of Easter were put away by the beginning of May. It's just like that right now.

Grandma Sabiston turned 90 this year - Em wanted to share in the celebration! We went to Louisville to celebrate at my parent's house with a big party - it was fun - and made a stop at the Okolona Baptist Church Easter Egg Hunt. I went as a kid actually. I'll try to find pictures to compare and share!

It ended up being a little cool in the morning. Wes borrowed one of my dad's sweatshirts. 

Lookin' good dear.

Emersen LOVED Jessica and hung out with her in the game room mostly. I mean, who doesn't love Jess?

Miss Ella - she's only a couple months older than Em. They had a good ol' time.

Ring toss. If you've met Emersen, I'm sure you can imagine how aiming at sticks and throwing goes for her...

"Hey, lemme see that friend."

Well surely me and Steph have sat on these stairs as kiddos at the egg hunt before, and now we have kiddos (and she has one on the way) doing it all over again. Interesting tidbit is that this church is also where we got married and people blew bubbles as we walked down these stairs. Ah, memories.

Being a Kid

Emersen is a little nosy... but mostly she uses our side lights to wave hello and goodbye to us when we're coming or going. Or to watch the garbage men on garbage day. Or to check on the neighbor kids when they're playing.

Finger in mouth = new tooth. There can't be many more, her mouth is pretty full.

Sadie from across the street help Em up the hill - so sweet!

Sadie and Mason come visit Em when everyone is outside in the warm weather. They're super sweet kids! Sadie and Emersen share the "tall kid" gene as well - Sadie is younger than she looks. 

It's great being a kid in the spring/summer. Playing out side with the kids in the neighborhood - the good ol' days I guess! Happy summery feeling spring!

Blog Fail, God Win

I have failed to keep up with the blog lately. The true problem is that I've misplaced the cord to my camera that allows me to upload the pictures to my camera. I'll remedy the situation this weekend! 

But things have been crazy good/hectic lately too. Last weekend was the first opportunity provided to those attending TurningPoint Church to get baptized. And 27 people jumped in (literally and figuratively) - in the clothes they came in without a change of clothes for later. Ladies, ya'll know that's kind of a big deal. 

It was awesome to see couples baptized together, on their anniversary for one couple! And our Pastor's father is the first to be dunked. Another father/daughter pair were both baptized that day as well. It was awesome to get a visual picture of the lives that have been changed, by God, at TurningPoint Church so far. 

And only by God, through God, and so forth. The difference between this church and any other I've been involved in is the mission to do everything well and with excellence in order to STAY OUT OF THE WAY so God can show up. Essentially, we want to make everything be top notch and 5 star so that anyone coming through the doors can't get distracted (by not knowing where to park or go, not feeling comfortable leaving their kid in child care, and so forth) and then miss what God had in store for them that day, which could be meeting and surrendering to Jesus for the first time.

With 250 people in attendance, it was an AMAZING Sunday for sure. And we know there will be more to come. We're refusing to put God in a box and limit Him by what we THINK He can do.

With all of the developments at church, that's kept Wes and I pretty busy with leadership meetings, Next Steps classes, tech team meetings and registration duties. We're so grateful to have family members serve us by watching Emersen so we can devote the necessary time and attention to our positions of service at church as well. 

I also recently interviewed for a position with a company in Louisville. It's a BIG switch in industry as well. I'm going to keep it under wraps until I'm further along in the decision making process. So stay tuned!

Happy Oaks and Derby to my Louisville friends, many I know I will see over the Derby weekend!

And finally, here is Em with a photo shoot by Grandpa in downtown Lexington at Triangle Park.