So, I um... sort of forgot I had a blog

Alot has happened since I last posted...

Me: I graduated with my masters and have a new job! I am the Health Educator for Texas Tech. I'm the health education department manager, which is funny because I'm the only one in the department. I'm loving the job so far though. I give presentations and put on events covering just about any college health topic you can think of. I also advise a peer health education organization called Impact Tech... they're a great group of students!

McLain: Nothing much new has happened with McLain. He's still the loving, supportive, helpful husband and awesome dad he's always been. He's still working hard at Eco-Drip making sure the Levelland store runs smoothly and taking care of all his customers in Oklahoma and Northeast Texas.

Emerson: I saved the best for last. Tons of new things have happened with Emerson! We recently got him all recovered from a nasty case of RSV (respiratory syncitial virus), which involved lots of medicine and breathing treatments every 4 hours around the clock. However, he's all recovered and doing very well now!

So, all my blogging friends with kids always do this cute little stat/update thing to show what's new with their kids; so I guess I'll conform and do the same... =)

Age: 8 1/2 months
Foods: Definitely all 3rd foods now- he likes the soft chunks. He almost won't eat the mushy stuff now unless you mix cereal with it to thicken it up. He loves bits of soft table food and of course puffs. He ALWAYS wants to feed himself. I have to give him a spoon to play with if I want to try to spoon anything into his mouth myself. He’s still breastfeeding at night and in the morning, but I think we’re going to start transitioning to just formula pretty soon.
Clothes: 9-12 month
Teeth: 2
Sleeping: through the night, from 8:30PM-7:00AM... finally, thank God! This is a recent accomplishment. He was sick for awhile and his sleeping and eating schedule was totally wacky!
Mobility: he rolls around, scoots, and shimmies to get what he wants currently... no interest in crawling so far, but he absolutely loves his walker and standing up.
Speech: just baby noises and giggling for the most part. He says dada, but just for fun... although McLain swears he knows what it means.
Other stuff: He loves to clap... constantly. He also LOVES music- he does this dancing head-banging thing. However, he doesn't necessarily need music to do it. We call it "rockin-out".

Anyway, here are a few pics for yall to enjoy...

Emerson Videos

Kristen shot some fun videos the other night...

He thought Darren was hilarious

He mostly just coos in this one, but it's hilarious at the end... typical Emerson

Happy Halloween and Thanksgiving... a little late

McLain spent halloween fishing with his dad and some friends. I dropped him off to meet up with guys and went on to see our friends Jacob and Lauren Morath. They have three beautiful little girls- the twins, Charlee and Sydney (3 1/2 yrs) and Audrey (9 months). Charlee is our god daughter. We had a great week!

Thanksgiving was fun this year. We spent most of it making deer/pork sausage... let me know if you would like some- we have an entire freezer full.

Check out pics below...

His shirt says, "I love my mummy!"

At a halloween party, we were a bee and a flower.

Charlee, Audrey, and Sydney

Emerson's other costume

His shirt says, "Daddy's little pumpkin!"

My little stud muffin

Zeke giving Emerson kisses

Long time no see... er, um,.. post

Some people say that the more letters you have behind your name, the crazier you become. I totally agree! As of Monday, October 12th, I passed my thesis defense and I do believe that I drove myself crazy in the process (yes, I know, short drive). I TOTALLY underestimated how hard it would be to write a thesis while caring for a baby (not to mention a colicky, refluxing, sleep-hating, yet wonderfully precious baby). The week before my thesis defense Emerson decided it was growth spurt time (read: wanted to eat every two seconds), and just to make things more fun, I was so stressed out that it affected my milk production. Now, I refuse to statistically analyze these data, but I do believe that these data would reveal a statistically significant increase in screaming episodes with a p value of less than 0.05… hours of sleep. In the end, (thank God) everything worked out thanks to my saint of a mother who came and stayed with us to take care of me and Emerson and McLain and dishes and laundry and cooking and shopping…and…and… you get the point. Just goes to show, you’re never too old to need your mommy! When my brothers and I were little, we gave my mom jewelry that said, “MOM”, and we thought it was so cool because when you flipped it over, it said, “WOW” (yeah, we were easily impressed). So, sometimes mom signs stuff (cards, etc.) “WOW MOM”. Well mom, I’d just like to say WOW… MOM, I really don’t know what I’d do without you. I’d also like to send a shout out to Kristen (Emerson’s favorite babysitter) for helping me out so much lately.

Unfortunately the world does not stop while one is stressing over thesis writing and baby rearing. So, we’ve been up to a lot since my last post… Emerson’s baptism, trip to New Mexico, etc. Pictures are below.

He loves talking to the fish on his swing mobile-hilarious

Blessed baby!

McLain was so proud (as was I)

Emerson loved the hammock

Chillin in the hammock

I'm sure this is the first of many father son fishing pics to come

Look how big my nephew Zeke has gotten!

Growing Up

Emerson is getting so big! It feels like just yesterday when we brought home our little 5 pound, 11 ounce baby and now he's a whopping 11 pounds. And he's getting so tall! He is 23.5 inches. The pediatrician's office is always amazed at how long he is. He is in the 90th percentile for length and the 25th percentile for weight! He's lifting his head, grabbing things, and flashing us brief little gummy smiles! Here are a few of his latest pics.

Stratford Visit

Brady Visit

Emerson hanging out around the house