Differences

Right now we are at one of my favorite places in the world, Cannon Beach, Oregon. I grew up coming here every summer. In my opinion, the Oregon Coast is some of the prettiest landscape I have ever seen. I have yet to see a more beautiful place. Of course, coming here with my own kids now is a totally different experience. No longer free to come and go as I please. Spending much more time in the room than I would like with a napping or sleeping child. But that is just the season of my life right now. And it is a joy to be able to share this place with my children. Emmory loves the beach. Absolutely loves it. And he hasn't even gone in the water yet (and probably won't be since it's freezing cold). He is perfectly content to play in the sand with his dump trucks and diggers. He would stay there all day if we let him. We have to make him leave each time we are on the beach, and whenever we aren't on the beach, he is asking to go to the "deach". This is pretty amazing for my son who is so busy. I can't think of one thing he loves more than the beach. He will be sad when we have to leave.
But, that isn't the reason I wanted to post tonight. I wanted to post about the differences in my two children. I always knew once I had Emmory that when we had more kids, they wouldn't be the same. But it was just hard for me to picture in my mind what another kid would be like, since Emmory was all I knew. But this trip has been the perfect example of the differences in my kids, and it is amazing how early you can see it. Emmory is so laid back. You might not think so because he is a busy kid, but he is laid back. He goes with the flow, he's very adaptable, very easily distracted, etc etc. Evan is not the same. He is going to be more stubborn, he gets his mind on something and he wants it and doesn't forget. He is more bothered by things.  Of course they both could change, but Mark and I are predicting how their relationship is going to be. And we think as soon as Evan gets a little older and can hold his own, he is going to give it to Emmory once, and that'll be the end of it. No more picking on Evan. Emmory will just find a different way to go or something different to do rather than cross Evan. We think he'll push his older brother around and control the relationship. But who knows, that's just our prediction. But here is a perfect example of the differences between these two. At the hotel we are staying at, there are only two bedrooms to be shared between us, the boys, and my parents. It was not going to work out to put the boys in the same room because Evan has been waking up early and we didn't want Emmory getting up at 6 also....not to mention naps. So we decided Emmory would sleep in my parents bathroom, since he sleeps later, and Evan is in the bedroom with us. So, the first night we got here, I went in our bedroom to put Evan to sleep, and immediately he started crying as soon as I walked in the room. I laid him down and he continued to cry (and scream) for an hour. He never does this at home. It was all because he was in a new place. However, when we went back to put Emmory to bed, we showed him the pack n play in the bathroom (which is a much stranger place to be sleeping than a bedroom), and he said "that's Emmory's room", and I put him down and he went right to sleep without a peep. After this happened I thought, that is a perfect example of the differences in my two boys.
Evan is the second child that I needed. He will test me in ways that Emmory won't. So between the two of them, I should be covered all around with opportunities to grow :) That's the reason we have kids anyways, right? God certainly uses them to humble us, grow us, change us.

Catch up

Obviously my plan to update more often didn't work out :) So I'll play a little catch up with what's been going on the past few months. 

April
Besides Emmory's birthday which I already posted about, we went to Folly Beach near Charleston for a long weekend with Mark's family. We had a great house right across from the beach, and the beach was really nice. There were actually some waves too, which is rare for the east coast, and there were almost always surfers out right where we were. Emmory LOVED the beach. It was actually warm enough to go in the water, and he would go out there with no fear, even when he would get knocked over and go under the water, he would just pop right back up with a smile on his face. When we got back home he kept asking to go to the "deach". Here are a few pics from the trip. 

May

Two weeks after our first beach trip, we headed to Kiawah Island with my Mom, Dad, sister, and brother-in-law who came into town. Kiawah is a beautiful island with lots of nature. Our house was on a lagoon, and we had our very own alligator, which was very exciting for Emmory (and everyone else too). And it was only a two block walk to the beach, so we would load up the wagon with beach toys and Emmory and head on over.

Watching the alligator

Running on the Ocean Course (practice greens), the 2012 PGA

Evan loved the swing on the porch

Mother's Day

 
June

As I think back to June, I really can't believe it's already over! It went by so fast. We didn't do any traveling in June, just stayed around home. Here is a brief update on what is going on with the boys.

Evan: Is 8 months old! I cannot believe it, it has been the fastest 8 months of my life. He started pulling up to stand in the middle of June, and now that is all he wants to do! He will be an early walker no doubt. He also stopped nursing. It was rather sudden, or at least seemed that way to me. He just started refusing to nurse. Had it been just me and him, I might have been able to work with him all day long to get him to, but after two days of him going 6+ hours without eating, and having to take care of Emmory too, I had to start giving him bottles. And then there was no turning back. Was it earlier than I wanted to? Yes. I have always wanted to be able to nurse a baby as long as I wanted to, and be the one to decide it's time to stop. But that's just not how it's been with both boys, and maybe that's what will always happen. It broke my heart. But I am okay with it. What I feed him is not what is important. It's what I live out before him. That's what I'm trying to focus on. He is doing great. He likes to move, likes to watch his brother, likes to pull up on everything. He is happy most of the time. He is driven. Seems like he will probably be a little more strong-willed and stubborn than his brother. But oh, he is so much fun!

Emmory: Is very much a two year old. I am amazed each day at how much he has grown, and the things he picks up on. He is so smart. The memory of a toddler always amazes me. He is a big helper (you know, relatively speaking for a two year old). He is still very much dependent, but there are a lot of things he can do on his own. And he is potty training! We attempted potty training a while back, he wasn't even two yet, but was very interested and would ask to go. So I decided to give it a try. But he wasn't ready. There is a big difference this time compared to last time. He pretty much initiated it again. I didn't just decide one day I was going to potty train him. And it has been surprisingly very easy. He goes on his own and pretty rarely has an accident at the house. However, we still put pull-ups on him when we go out, and for nap time and nighttime. He would need to be moved to a bed he can get out of in order for him to not wear a diaper while he sleeps, and we are not ready to do that yet. We like containment :) He still wets heavy at night though, so he's not ready for that yet anyways. And I just haven't wanted to deal with accidents when we are out and about yet. But that is the next step.
He is very much a boy. He loves dirt, water, and any kind of vehicle, but especially garbage trucks and construction vehicles.
Here are some pics from the last month.

 This is Emmory's "garden". This is where he spends most mornings. He loves to play in the dirt, as I said earlier. And he is either naked or doesn't have pants on because like I said, we are potty training

 

 I walked in and Evan was so proud of himself for pulling up. And yes, we lowered the crib after this

 This is my attempt to blockade him in the living room