My boy

I was reading through some of my old blog posts and reading my cousin's blog, when I realized I've been seriously neglectful of writing about Emmett. I wrote a post about every month of Evie's life until she was 1, but I haven't posted about my lil man at all. Huge oversight. In all the craziness that moving to Korea has created, I've neglected to write about him, and since this is basically my journal, here it goes.

Our (not so) little Emmett is now 3 months old, and time really has flown by with him. In his short life he has been moved from Virginia to Wichita, Wichita to Provo, and then Provo to Seattle and Korea. He has been carted from place to place and has never complained.

He is huge, but not exactly chubby. He has big cheeks that I can never seem to stop kissing and is in the 70-90 percentile for just about everything. 

Our Emmett is a dream baby, and I mean that he is straight out of my dreams. He loves when you talk to him and tries his hardest to talk back by making the cutest coos and grunts. He is the sweetest and most content baby I have ever met and I feel like I won the lottery because he chose me to be his mother.

Before we moved to Korea, he would sleep a solid 9-10 hours every night, which was amazing. Since we've been here, though, he hasn't been sleeping well at all and I feel bad that I get so frustrated with him at 3 am because he is still so happy and content, but all I want is for him to be asleep.

He loves to stand up or be sitting up, but can't do either by himself yet (obviously), so he expects you to hold him upright all day long. He doesn't like being laid down on his back for happy awake time, so don't even try it.

Emmett is constantly smiling and giggling at everyone. The other day, the cleaning lady walked by Dan and Emmett and he wouldn't stop smiling at her. He seriously wins everyone over as soon as they meet him. He thinks his sister is the greatest thing on planet earth. If she is anywhere near him or if he can hear her voice at all, he gets the biggest grin on his face and looks around for her.

I like to think that he is a momma's boy and that I am his favorite, but I'm the one who feeds him, so that could be why. He squirms harder and smiles bigger when he hears me, so I figure that means he likes me best.

He has black hair and dark blue eyes that are just gorgeous and I hope more than anything that he keeps them. Where did he get dark blue eyes, I don't know, but I swear he's mine.

He still has pretty bad cradle cap, but we are working on it.

After having Evie, he has been a breath of fresh air. I real angel. That isn't to say that Evie is hard or that she's a bad kid, because nothing could be further from the truth, but she was really colicy. I would have nightmares all the time before Emmett was born that he was colicy too, and I just didn't know what to do. Luckily, he is a very mellow and content little dude.

Oh Emmett. We love you so much. Words cannot express how much joy you have brought into our lives. I was so afraid of having you and moving overseas right after, but you've just been amazing. I cannot imagine my life without you now. I love everything about you, beautiful boy, and I can't wait to watch you grow up, but not too quickly I hope.

so, we moved to Korea

After all the stress, anxiety, and paperwork, we are finally in Korea, together, as a family. I can't even tell you how blessed we were to be able to travel together. Every person we talked to said it wasn't possible, that it would never happen, that I would be going it alone with 2 babies. But then heavenly Father stepped in, and now here we are.

So, about the flight. It wasn't nearly as bad as I was thinking it would be, which was a huge blessing. It was about a 9 hour flight to Japan, and then another 2 hours to Korea. Here's how it all went down:

On Saturday evening we flew from Salt Lake to Seattle because that's where our flight to Korea would leave from. We were hoping to just check into our flight (super) early and then spend the night in the USO. Turns out, the flight we were taking was a military flight, so there was no way that was going to happen. There was no one at the desk, so we couldn't check in or get rid of our baggage and we weren't sure what we were supposed to do, so we went up to the USO and asked them. As fate would have it, every single person in the USO was in the same boat we were. They told us to store our luggage in the annex, and then hang out until midnight, which is when we needed to go get in line for check in because check in started at 2:30am. WHAT!? I guess on military flights they don't assign you a seat until you actually check in, so everyone was scrambling to be first so they can get on the flight and get a good seat. We were doubly stressed because we wanted to be able to sit together, not just get on the plane. As in traditional Army fashion, is was completely ridiculous and inefficient. Dan left us upstairs so the kids could sleep a little and went down to stand in line, but was then told that his family had to be with him to hold his spot. Again, what!? It wasn't too much of a sacrifice on our part, though, because we were sleeping on the floor, so I wasn't even asleep, and Evie wasn't sleeping well. The good news is that they made a separate line for families, so we got in pretty quickly and got 4 seats together. After we checked in, we went back to the USO and tried to get some sleep. I think Dan and I got maybe 2 hours and Evie got about 4, but lil Emmett slept the whole night and woke up at his usual time. Wouldn't it be nice to sleep in a car seat and have everyone just carry you around? He's such a champ. Then we made it through the enormous line at security and got on the plane. The plane ride itself is a bit of a blur because I was so exhausted, but from what I remember, Evie and Emmett both did great. Evie slept for the first 3 hours or so because she was so tired, and that made things a LOT easier. The food they gave us was surprisingly good, and Evie was mostly content. Our only mishap was when Emmett blew out his diaper and I didn't have a change of clothes for him. The poor kid had to just wear his sleep sack for the rest of the day. I regret not taking any pictures of him, because he seriously looked like a little redneck kid in overalls. We stopped in Japan at a military base there for a couple hours, which was weird. It was weird because I knew we were in Japan, but it didn't look any different cause it was an American installation. Everyone scrambled to find outlets to charge their many devices and mostly just sat and waited. And waited. And waited. Luckily they had a tiny kid play place, so Evie was able to run around and play with other kids. We finally got back on the (dang) plane and headed for Korea. Again, I don't remember much because I was running on fumes by this point, but I remember getting to Osan, Korea just fine. Once we were there, they brought us all into a big room and gave us lots of lectures about customs and immigration, blah blah blah,which was completely unnecessary if you ask me because the Korean guy at the immigration desk barely looked at our form and sent us on our merry way. Customs was even sillier because they just asked us if we had any contraband items on us, and when we said no, THEY sent us on our merry way. After that, they sent us to some buses and we did a lot more waiting. The buses then took us to Yongsong, which is where things got pretty interesting.

We were supposed to have a room set up for us at the Dragon Hill Lodge on the Yongsong base once we got here, but there was some sort of blackout or something, so they couldn't access our reservation or make any room cards. We opted to just go to a different hotel for the night instead of just wait around for them to get their system up and running, so we ended up at the Capital Hotel instead, which was off base. By this time, we were all barely functioning. And I mean, barely. Emmett and Evie were both totally asleep and Dan and I were complete zombies. Not to mention, we all smelled terrible because Dan, Emmett, and I had been 2 days without a shower and Evie had been a record 3 days. They sent us up to our room and when we got into it we just sort of looked at each other and giggled. It was a little tiny room, but they managed to squeeze 2 twin beds, a kid bed, and a crib into it. Seriously little. The best part, though, was the bathroom. The counter came up to my knees and the toilet was so low to the ground it was ridiculous. Again, we just had to giggle, due to our state of hysteria. I guess Dan and I will just have to resign ourselves to being giants for 2 years. The beds felt like we were sleeping on a wooden board, but man were we happy to see them anyway. The next morning, a bus came and took us back to the Dragon, which is where we are now. It's super nice and has all kinds of things inside, like shops, a play place, restaurants, shopette, salon, and many other things.

That's all the update I have for now. We spent our day yesterday watching movies, so we haven't really done or seen anything yet.

View from the plane, flying into Japan

The Capital Hotel lobby

Korean

View from our window. So pretty.

mother's day (i'm bragging a little)

This mother's day was pretty great, and it was all thanks to my wonderful husband. He took me to see Iron Man 3 yesterday, which was great because it's the first date we've had since Emmett was born. Plus, it was a really great movie. Then, this morning he made me breakfast in bed and gave me some gifts. To understand the significance of these two presents, we have to venture back in time a couple months.

A couple months ago, we went to Virginia Beach hoping to play some putt putt golf. The golfing didn't last very long because Evie got bored of it, so we walked around this souvenir shop for a while instead. While we were there, I found this super cute VA Beach picture frame and told Dan that eventually I wanted to buy one of those and take a picture at the beach to put in it, that way we would always remember that we lived here. Then, I promptly forgot about it. After that, I saw this super cute dress and commented on how much I liked it, but since I was pregnant I would never fit in it. Then I promptly forgot about that, too.

So, back to this morning. I open my presents and what should I find? That picture frame and that same dress. Well remembered, sir. It was touching to see how much thought he put into getting me something, but most especially it was touching to see that he really listens when I say things. Even meaningless, passing comments.

this is the dress. it's SUPER soft. wish you could feel it.

Dan also gave a talk in church today about mothers, which was just outstanding. I had to go out to the car and re-do my make up because I cried so much. I swear I was glowing from the inside out because I was so proud that he was my husband. Everyone should be jealous. He said some wonderful things about me and about his mother, and the whole thing was just phenomenal.

After Sacrament meeting, the young men went around and gave all the women some Godiva dark chocolate truffles. Yum. Then, all of relief society was spent chatting and eating yummy snacks.Not too shabby.

We ended the day by Dan making dinner and promising me a massage later.

Seriously, I could not feel more pampered or loved. What a wonderful day. I wanted to document it, in case I ever forget. What a great man I married, and what great children I have. I am so blessed.

I am also blessed to have such an amazing mother of my own. I wouldn't be who I am today without my mom, and words cannot express how much I love and appreciate her.

Alongside my mother, is my mother-in-law. Boy, did I win the lottery with her. I am so lucky to have a woman like her in my life and I love her more than I can say.

Happy mother's day to all you mothers and future mothers. It's the greatest job in the world. 

Evelyn is two

My Evie Lou is now two! I guess now I can't call her Evie Lou Who, who is no more than two, but I probably will anyway. She is so silly and fun, so let me tell you about her.

At two years old, Evie:

• loves to play at the park
• plays with her stuffed animals and pretends to feed them, change their diaper, etc.
• says full sentences! 
• knows her colors and shapes, and she can count to 5!
• mimics everything we say. My favorite is "oh gosh" and  "look at that!"
• loves blues clues and "sings" along with the songs
• along this same line, she is constantly trying to "skadoo" into her coloring book
• actually kind of likes her baby brother. She calls him baby Emmett and gets super concerned when he's crying
• is still an incredibly big eater. I don't know where she puts it all. 

She is so sweet and so much fun to be around. She loves to play with her dad the most of all, and I can't say I blame her. Recently she's wanted to watch more big kid movies, so I let her watch The Emperor's New Groove, and now she says "no touchy" and "awesome". Haha. That's my girl.

She no longer throws tantrums at the drop of a hat and is actually a really great helper for me. Watching her grow up has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. How did I get so lucky?

 Opening her present from Grandma Christensen

 She was super excited about the coloring, painting, and stickers book

For her birthday dinner, we had noodles and chicken. Two of Evie's favorite things.

yummy

I just thought this was cute. She loves to talk to him.

So, this was the world's ugliest cake, but she loved the frosting anyway

"oh no! mess!"

Cheese!

Opening presents from mom and dad

 She got a dry erase coloring book and another drawing pad that uses water. She was very excited.

 She got a whole bag of clothes, but she was not as excited about that. The little bag had a whole lot of bouncy balls, which went over a lot better than the clothes.

 parent victory

I can't believe it's been 2 years already! We seriously can't imagine life without our Evelyn Louisa. She has brought so much joy and love into our lives already, so I'm excited to see what this next year brings. 

Emmett

Our little Emmett is already 3 weeks old, so I thought I should finally post about him. He was born on March 21 at 3:11pm and weighed in at 8 lbs even. He was a big boy! I remember thinking, "8 lbs!? How did he fit in there?". I was actually induced with him so that my mom would be here when he was born, but mostly so that we could get started on all the paperwork we needed to do to move to Korea. They wouldn't change Dan's orders to include us until after Emmett was born, and we were fast approaching the point where they wouldn't have time to amend the orders and we wouldn't be going with Dan at all, so I was induced. I'll omit all the things about my doctor and the actual practice I went to, because anything I say will be negative and I want this post to be positive. I'll just say this, trying to get them to induce me was more work than the actual labor and delivery. There. I'm also going to skip the story about my actual labor because, again, anything I say will be mostly negative. I will say that I didn't push long, maybe 6-7 pushes, and then he was here. He was super red and super cute. His poor little face was bruised and his lips were swollen because of the whole being born thing, but the swelling went down after a couple hours. After they wrapped him up, he didn't cry again. Even when they took him up to be circumcised, he just stayed asleep. The only thing that was a little concerning was that he wouldn't eat for almost 24 hours. I tried to nurse him every 2 hours, but to no avail. The nurses said that he was born so fast that his mouth and stomach was still full of mucus, so it took quite a while to get him to want to eat. Ever since then, though, he's been a very good eater. For the most part, he's also a very good sleeper. Most nights he will go 4-5 hours at a time, but there are also other nights when he won't go back to sleep at all and we want to die. Luckily those are few and far between. Our little Emmett is the opposite of Evelyn in almost everything already. Where Evie cried all day long no matter what we did, Emmett only cries if he's hungry, and even then he will only cry if you let him whine and grunt for too long. He is just the most pleasant, most perfect little boy and we are so in love. It's lucky that he is so good because we have to move to Korea when he's 2 months old. Phew. Also, thanks to him, we may actually have more children after this, but not for a while.

 This is little Emmett right after he was born. Swollen face. He apparently got attached to the towel because he wouldn't let it go.

 Holding him for the first time

Don't be deceived by this smile. I was very groggy and exhausted. But, happy.

 

swollen upper lip. Poor guy

My mom and Evie came to see us after we were all settled.

Add caption

I love my little family. Hopefully we can get a better family picture someday

So, so cute

Emmett and Grandma. She fell in love at first sight, as did we all.

home at last. Look at that face. Seriously.

His first bath

So, say hello to our newest edition. We call him baby Emmett, lil man, baby boy, Mr. Baggins, and our lil Hobbit. If you're wondering about the Hobbit thing, it's because he has seriously enormous feet. Not only are they like little tug boats, but his big toe and middle toe are super far apart, just like a hobbit.

Love you, sweet boy. Thanks for choosing us to be your parents.