"Special" Pajamas

So, my sister (unlike me) is sentimental and keeps everything. Although I'm not like her in this regard, I LOVE the fact that she keeps everything because I almost always benefit!! I've been meaning to post a picture of Emily Kathryn in the special pajamas Holley gave me. While they seem ordinary to everyone else, my sister and my mom will be happy to see them again. My Mammaw Holley (my mom's mom) gave them to my sister when she was expecting her first child. All of my sister's kids have worn them and now my children can wear them too. So, while they are just an ordinary, everyday set of pajamas I find such joy in seeing EmK wearing something that my grandmother picked out....I really miss her! I finally got around to taking her picture in the pj's and it's a good thing because we are quickly growing out of them:)

Holley and mom, I hope you like the pics!

Vacation - Orange Beach

Last week we went to the beach with my family. We had a few glitches in the beginning (including my nephew getting the chicken pox the day before we left), but we had a GREAT time. We stayed at the Caribe in Orange Beach and I highly recommend it -- my sister's kids kept calling the pools a water park!!!

I have to thank my mom big time for taking care of EmK. As I've discussed with many of my friends who have had children in the last year, the beach just isn't the same once you have kids:). The days of relaxing by the pool or being lazy at the beach are over unless you are lucky enough to have a grandparent with you. We were very lucky to have my mom with us the entire trip who took such great care of EmK when she no longer cared about being by the pool. Thanks mom!!

Here are a few pictures from the week.

Evan (2) LOVED the water slides!!


Charlie and Ethan (5) sliding together!


Do I have enough sunblock on?


Jordan, Elizabeth (9), and Janna getting ready for the SkyCoaster


Elizabeth was terrified when it started!!


Me and my sister


Jordan, Ethan, and Evan

EmK loves watching Evan

I think EmK and Jordan have the same hairstyle:)


He's just SO cute!!!


Evan loves, loves, loves Jordan. When my sister had to leave to take care of Ethan(who was sick the first half of the week), Evan only stayed with us becuase JORDAN was there.....he was like his little shadow. It was fun to watch them together!


Trying to play paddle ball:)


EmK loves this pink water stick


She loves it even more in her mouth!!




Raise your hand if you had a GREAT time on vacation!!!

5 Months

Yesterday Emily Kathryn turned 5 months old. She recently figured out how to roll over from her back to her stomach. Up until this point, she hasn't liked being on her stomach, but this last week I have found her on her stomach a lot. She hasn't seemed to figure out on her activity mat that once she's on her stomach she can roll back over to her back...guess those are just details:) She also seems to enjoy sitting more than lying these days. She still needs help sitting up, but maybe by next month she can enjoy it on her own!! She LOVES her exersaucer!! We tried oatmeal again this week and she seems to like it better...no crying this time....but she still seems indifferent to it. I have to confess that my real reason for trying it was that I heard it helped some kids sleep through the night and a week ago we were still getting up at 4-5am for a bottle. Two days after we started the oatmeal I went online and discovered that my idea for giving her the oatmeal was a myth. So I'm not sure if I have the oatmeal to thank, all the advice from friends, EmK's new skill to roll over on her tummy, or just pure luck but EmK is sleeping through the night!!! When I say "sleeping through the night" I mean 7:30pm - 7:30am. Many people told me that 7pm-4am was pretty much through the night and they were right, but man does it feel good to not get up at 4am. I hope blogging about this HUGE milestone doesn't cause us to backtrack. I loved our quiet mornings at 4am...being able to hold and rock her without her really moving much. These days she is all over the place when you try to feed her a bottle and really enjoys hanging upside down for some reason:) So the morning bottles were a sweet and precious time for us, but...it's been 5 months and I am ready to sleep past 4am.

So here are a few pictures! Love, love, love this child!!! I didn't even realize this amount of love was even possible....I'm just so amazed!!!