Baby Curls

     Emily had her fourth (and hopefully final for a long, long time) surgery this morning.  This one was to have her ear tubes removed since they were not falling out on their own AND to patch the holes up in her eardrums that were left there.  The right side was an easy patch, but the left tube had migrated some and left a larger than normal hole.  Hopefully this will heal on its own as well, but if not, she will be having surgery a few years down the road to correct it.  While getting her ready for surgery this morning, Stephen told me he thought it was time to cut her hair finally (as he was brushing out all of the tangles).  I had been thinking it was time lately and our family "hairdresser" (Stephen's Mom, Cindy) was in town watching Matt for us this morning.  I can count how many times Stephen has had his haircut by an outside source on one hand...  So this afternoon, Emily had an "impromptu" first haircut by her Nini!  She likes twirling her new, lighter hair around even though all we did was trim a little off the bottom.  She is feeling good this afternoon with no repercussions from the early morning anesthesia and is being spoiled to no end by everyone.  Pictures below of my grown up girl!

Before 

During

Shaping it up

After...

I will MISS her baby curls!!!!

Matt's Baptism

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in Truth" 

3 John 1:4

Two Months Old

     Time is flying by as usual and Matt is two months old already!  He is the happiest baby and loves to smile and coo all the time.  He still really only cries when something is wrong (hungry, wet, etc.) and has figured out also that if he cries, someone will come and entertain him.  Just this past week, he has started sleeping through the whole night!!!  I must go ahead and pat myself on the back and say I am very proud that I have moved him out of my room already to his crib.  (Big sister slept in my room for 9 months).   It was a good move too because that's when he started sleeping through the night- he must love his crib!  Last week, Emily AND Matt both had check-ups as well! Emily weighed 32lb and was 35in tall putting her height only in the 10% and her weight in the 60%.  Maybe she will follow after her 4'10" Aunt Ali... :)  Matt has grown again of course!  He weighed in at 12lb 1oz and is now 22.5in tall!  This put him in the 60% for weight and the 30% for height.  Both of them are super healthy, and I am one happy mommy!  Here are some pictures from the past month!

Happy Baby

A Real Princess!

Playing outside

Loves to sleep with blankets on his head...

Loving on her baby brother!

His favorite spot-- on someone's shoulder.

Little Bug

Miss Sassy Pants

Always smiling!

Easter Sunday

A late Easter post but better late than never...

     We traveled to Spartanburg for Easter Sunday this year and it was actually both Emily and Matt's first time attending the Easter service at church! (Stephen and I just started taking Emi to church this past year now that she is older.)  Being a nurse, I often have to work on Easter Sunday so it was awesome to be home with both of my children and worship with them. Matt did great for his first time in church and slept the majority of the time. He was not a huge fan of the organ pipes but Emi loved all of the music. Below are pictures of Easter egg fun with Chad, and my cute kiddos on Easter Sunday!

Dyeing the Eggs!

Emily and Chad had fun laughing at each other and their eggs.

My babies on Easter Sunday

The Easter Bunny came!

Emi got the chocolate bunny she was hoping the Easter Bunny was bringing her!

Yummy!

 Her "Easter Face" from her party at school.

Full Circle

     The kids and I headed to myrtle beach over spring break last week for a long overdue trip with our best friends, the Whitaker family. Unfortunately not everyone was able to be there buy considering its been about 5 years since we did a trip together, we did good getting who we could there! I felt like my life had come full circle spending that week with my childhood friends and watching our children form relationships with each other that will last them a lifetime.

Short history- out parents were friends through work before we were born and we grew up together in our very early childhood. We were basically family! Then the Whitakers moved for job reasons and ended up living in Delaware. Due to the distance, our families met "halfway" once a year at the beach for a week of vacation and fun- this became a longstanding tradition for all of us but sadly stopped when wedding budgets started to put a crimp on the vacation budget... Now us "kids" have kids and they met for the first time during our Spring break which just happened to coincide with their spring break! The Whitakers are family to me and will always remain so- they have always been the best kind of friends-- the ones that no matter how long it's been since you've seen them or talked to them, you pick right back up where you left off and it's as though no time had passed. 

     We have vowed that the yearly tradition will start back up and I cannot wait for our 2014 get together already! I know Our children will be just as close as we are...  Here are some fun pictures from our week at the beach!

And P.S.  Emily learned how to swim by herself!!!  :)

Emi, Grandpa, and Chad

Matt's first trip to the beach!

Sweet big sister showing Matt the beach

Swimming by herself!

Makenna and Emily~ Best Friends just like their Mommas

Group Hug

Double Trouble 

Beach Baby

Playing!

The Three Musketeers

Cousins!

Taking a break from the waves and watching a movie

Flying their barbie kite- which shortly flew away afterwards when Emily let go of it!

Sleeping with the ocean "sound machine"

Tired Beach Baby

Playing Putt Putt!

Three!

     I feel like I have blinked and my sweet baby girl has turned 3!  Here is a quick recap of some of the events from over the past year, some of my favorite things about Emily at this age, her favorites, and some funny things she has said.  I love you little girl!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 

• You had one surgery in September
• you potty trained at 2 and 2months and gave your pacifier to the little babies
• you went a whole year without an ear infection!!!
• you became a big sister
• you moved into a twin bed and moved into a bigger room now painted pink
• you learned how to ride a tricycle
• you were in your first wedding in which you ran down the aisle
• Chad is your best friend
• you believe that if you eat green beans you grow bigger at the same time while you eat them-- and then you stand up to show us how big you are
• you love the princess Emily story, silly squirrel, super duper plane, and monkey stories before bedtime
• you know your alphabet and recognize SOME of the letters
• you can count to 30 although you skip a few numbers, and you can spell your name but you like to combine the E and M together and spell it by saying "M-I-L-Y"
• you like to play with Caroline and Ava at school and will only eat macaroni and yogurt
• you like to go to sleep on your "elephant bed" at night
• you learned how to say the "family Poole blessing" as you like to call it and we now hold hands when blessing our food at the table

A FEW things I can remember off the top of my head that you have said recently...

"Mommy, he has a tractor!!!" -- spoken loudly in Publix regarding a man in his motorized wheelchair.  We repeated this one on the next aisle too when we saw him again.

"I'm a big sister now!" -- first words she spoke when meeting her brother at the hospital

"I'm going to work!" (while riding her tricycle around the house.)  "Emily, what do you do at work?"  She replied, "I eat soup."

"What you want for eat?"  or  "Mommy, I got you something for eat!" (you love pretending to cook me food in your kitchen)

Lellow-- Yellow

Pasketti-- Spaghetti

Appy Juice-  Apple Juice

Birthday Shirt from Rhett

Talking to Matt in her bed...

Loves her baby brother! 

Emily and Rhett at her Easter Egg hunt birthday party, has her "shy face" on and of course, a princess dress!

Smiling with Mama during the egg hunt!

Decorating cupcakes

Cried after everyone sang happy birthday to her!

Daddy with one of Emily's new crowns.

A whole new gown, shoes, tiara, and wand for a tiny princess!

Blowing out her candles on the cake!

Feeding Matt on her Birthday!

My Three Year Old...