Baby Girl #2!

It's official! I will be induced on Friday, just three more days! We can finally say we are ready for her arrival. The nursery is complete, diapers have been purchased, swing and pack-n-play are set up, what else is there? Emmy continues to call her LaLa and keeps calling for her to come out. We have decided on an official name as well. Her name will be Alexis Kate Condra, and we plan to call her Lexi. She may go by LaLa too since Emmy has been calling her that for about 4 months! 

We are excited to become a family of 4. Here are a few pictures of little Miss Lexi's room. It is the same room as Emmy's nursery, so many things have remained the same.

Updated pictures

Go Hogs! Watch party in October.

Emmy's big girl room

Thanksgiving kids' table with Buck and Caroline

Halloween 2013...our ballerina!

Sweet girl

One of my favorites!

New tricycle for Christmas 

Dentist appointment #2

Sweet Valentine

Princess birthday party for Caroline

Gymnastics class

Happy 2014!

Yes, it has been over a year since I have posted anything on this blog. No excuses, so I will just get started. Emmy is 2 1/2...how did that happen? It is almost annoying the amount of people that stop you to say, "Cherish every moment, they grow so fast, etc.." but it is so true! I find myself wanting to say that to others with newborns. I know they've heard it, so I refrain. Emmy is truly a joy and a blessing to our little family. She keeps us smiling, laughing, talking, and very busy. She is starting to use more and more sentences every day, and she amazes us with words that she has picked up. I still have to do some translating for her daddy, but he is learning her language more and more!

We just spent our third Christmas with her, and she might be starting to get the idea a bit more. We had a small family Christmas here before heading to Arkansas. Emmy got a tricycle, train track, broom set, and a doctor kit from Santa. Still awaiting warmer weather to get outside and enjoy her tricycle. We really enjoyed visiting Mountain Home and Little Rock for Christmas this year. Emmy was the center of attention, and she loved opening all of her presents. She received her third, yes third, Bitty Baby from Nana. She got a "puter" (computer) from Cici and Grandad,  her first camera from Aunt Jessica, and a Doc McStuffin's doctor coat and kit from Aunt Casey. Needless to say, we shipped home a couple of boxes.

Back home, she is playing with all of her new Christmas toys all of the time. She LOVES playing babies. She puts her babies to sleep in all the rooms in the house, closes the door, and then tells us, "Shhh...my babies are sleeping". She also loves making "dinner" for us in her kitchen she got last year for Christmas. We have many dinner and tea parties every day. We watch her go in our kitchen and take things to put in her own kitchen. It is pretty funny! Hopefully she will be able to cook like her daddy some day.

We just started Emmy in a gymnastics class on Sunday mornings with her best little buddy Alyssa. She is really liking it, and she appears to be somewhat coordinated. Thank goodness she did not get her mommy's genes! She is learning a rollover, crabwalk, hanging on the bars, and just running around to get out the energy. She would much rather have help from Mrs. Lisa the instructor than either one of us while there.

Emmy moved in a big girl room over the summer. Her crib was getting too small for her. The transition was pretty easy. She loves her new room, and she has never gotten out of the bed on her own...amazing! Just wait until that happens for the first time, we will be in some trouble. We decided just to keep the nursery and wait until we have another one. Well, we will be preparing that room again soon, as we are expecting baby #2 in early August! Emmy is adorable talking about a sibling. We haven't exactly said that there is a baby in mommy's belly, but we have asked her if she wants a baby brother or sister. She always says she wants a baby sister. Then we talk about what could we name a baby brother or sister. She now asks us if we want a baby boy or girl. She knows her daddy wants a baby boy, and she also asks "What it's name be?" It is really cute to hear her talk about it. It probably won't be so cute once there is an actual baby living in her space, but for now we'll enjoy!
Here are a few recent pics of Emmy...

Thankful!

Thanksgiving is a few days away! It is so hard to believe that 2 years ago we were just telling our families that I was pregnant. I am so thankful for our little 17 month old mess! She is still into everything and starting to say more words. She absolutely melted our hearts last week when she laid down on a pillow in the living room and said, "Night Night". She now says it in her sweet little voice every night before going to sleep. She is also saying please and making the sign at the same time...equally adorable! Her main vocabulary consists of mama, dada, milk, bye bye, night night, please, and baby. Surprisingly, "No" isn't in her vocabulary yet. I'm sure it is coming soon! Right now, she just shakes her head when she doesn't want or like something. Her latest trick is to get into somersault position and wait for someone to flip her over. We aren't sure where she learned this one, but it is pretty cute! I've posted some recent fall pictures below.

We bought Emmy a ladybug costume for Halloween, and she absolutely HATED the headpiece. She doesn't like hats or headbands, so this was not a huge surprise. She screamed every time we tried putting it on her, but we had to snap a picture anyway!

 

Emmy and R.L. at the Reston Zoo. We thought she would love all of the animals, but she was a little scared. She did love the ducks, and she kept "talking" to them.

 

 

Saturday night out for dinner.

We had so much fun seeing Angie, Sid, and Elizabeth when they came in town. We went to the pumpkin patch, and Elizabeth was so cute taking Emmy by the hand!

 

Emmy and her friend Ben going for a ride!

 

One of my fall favorites!

 

Emmy Summer Updates

Emmy is 15 months old today. Since I haven't posted what she is doing lately, I wanted to take some time to do so. Emmy literally started walking almost on her 1st birthday. She was taking a few steps here and there, and while we were in Forth Worth, she started taking off. I'm not sure whether she was just ready or that my grandparents have carpet and that helped her to walk. Needless to say, she was excited to walk to everyone and has been all over the place since. RL and I will say, "I'm gonna get you", and she will take off almost in a run now. She is so cute trying to run, waddling back and forth! She is waving hello and goodbye. Her wave looks like a Miss America wave, and she gets a big grin on her face when she waves. It is pretty cute. She claps her hands, kicks her feet, just started giving hugs, and even more recently has given kisses to mommy. Her kiss is a wide open mouth coming straight for my mouth. It is the best and makes me so happy!

She doesn't have too many "words" yet, but says ma, da da, and the beginning sound to many words (Buh for book, bunny, bath and ball; duh for dog; nah for snack; muh for milk). I've tried sign language to avoid those frustrational moments when she cannot tell me what she wants, but it hasn't taken too well. I'll keep trying! She is learning her body parts, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, head, fingers, toes. She says "mmmmm" when we ask what a cow says.

We are absolutely in love with this stage. She is such a sponge, soaking in everything around her. She amazes us with something new all the time. I wish we didn't live so far from our family and close friends so everyone could see her more often! We had a great summer of traveling and relaxing some too. We are ready for fall now!

Here is Emmy at 12 months at the airport on our way to Fort Worth to visit. First Steps!

 

 Happy Fourth of July in Fayetteville with family!

 

Beach trip with the Gearharts in July!

 One of my favorites! My dad pulled her down to the beach every day in the wagon.

 

A great ending to our summer...and our first trip to the Homestead.

Happy 1st Birthday...3 months later!

Yes, it has been three months since Emmy's first birthday. Our little girl is almost 15 months now! I will post updates on her in my next blog, but I want to share about her big day first! We decided to keep her party small, just a few couple friends that have babies. I got in trouble by several friends that weren't invited, so we ended up inviting more! Next time we will know that everyone wants to attend first birthday parties! The weather was beautiful, and we grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and the babies played in the playroom and in the baby pool, well sort of! RL filled it up too cold and they all cried when they got in! We all got a laugh! It was really fun having everyone over and getting the babies together. We don't do that often enough! RL and I made cupcakes, and I must admit they were really good! We also made Emmy a "smashcake". She wasn't at all sure what to do when we set it in front of her and started singing. She stuck her thumb in her mouth and stared at the cake. We had to put some on our finger and let her lick it. Finally, RL handed her a big hunk of cake and she started digging in. A couple minutes later, I took it away fearing how much sugar I knew was in it! Here are some pictures of our sweet little one year old's big day!

Gone But Never Forgotten

I have so many things that I would like to post, from Emmy's first birthday to all of our summer trips. For now, something takes precedence. I want to post a tribute to my Grandaddy. Grandaddy passed away on August 19, 2012. He was 88 years old. He was one of the most amazing men I have ever met. Anyone that knew him, would definitely never forget him. He was a family man... kind, sensitive, passionate, smart, and devoted. He never met a stranger, and he was so proud of every member in his family. Growing up, Jessica and I spent so much time in Fort Worth visiting Grammy and Grandaddy. They took us on our first beach trip...Galveston, Texas! We spent countless hours playing in their pool and having tea parties on their deck. Grandaddy was always a big part of it all. He was an amazing cook. His breakfast spreads were unbelievable, and we had to have his tapioca pudding every time we visited. There are so many things I will never forget about my Grandaddy. I am a better person for knowing him, and I feel so fortunate for having him in my life for so long.

I am especially fortunate that he got to meet his great-granddaughter, sweet Emmy, two different times. We visited in September when she was just 4 months old, and we visited again about 6 weeks before his passing. We happened to be in Fort Worth on Emmy's first birthday. Even though I know Emmy will not remember these visits when she gets older, it was so special for all of us. We captured a few pictures of Grandaddy with Emmy on our most recent trip. They are below. We will never forget such a wonderful man that made this world a better place. I love you, Grandaddy.

Grandaddy holding Emmy in June

 Grandaddy and Emmy, Emmy 4 months

 Celebrating Emmy's first birthday, June 30, 2012:

Grammy, Jennifer, Emmy, Grandaddy, Alex, and Candy

 My Amazing Grandfather