Destin, Florida: May 28-June 4, 2011

It has been a month since my last post and it is now summertime in KY! We were still having occasional cool and rainy days before we left for Florida on Memorial Day weekend, but ever since we have returned, life has been full of my favorite summer activities! There is so much to say. So much has happened in the last month. Emily continues to grow and change and learn new words (AND sentences!) every day. I love her so much. I could just eat her up!

The week leading up to vacation was pure craziness. Jeremy had loads of work on his plate, I was busy, too, and also having to do all of the clothes washing, shopping trips, and packing for Emily, myself and some for Jeremy. Getting organized, planning for a long car trip with a toddler, and trying not to forget anything too important was about to drive me crazy! We left for Bowling Green late Friday night and left for Destin, Florida, Saturday morning at about 8:40 am. I believe it took us close to 11-12 hrs. from L-ville to Destin, but I kept getting confused about central or eastern time and so who really knows? It was all day and a long trip to say the least. But, it was so worth it as my photos will show!

The last time we took a Lee family vacation was about 7 yrs. ago. Jeremy and I were dating, but we weren't engaged or married yet. Stephen and Becca probably didn't know each other yet, Laura and Will were married, but of course none of us had kiddos. This vacation was quite diffierent, but full of joy and fun with having 3 toddlers to keep us smiling. Luckily, mom found a large home for us to rent for the week: 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, 3 balconies, a patio, garage, game room, and a dining room large enough where all of us could sit together. The home was large enough for each of us to escape somewhere for some alone family time, but not so large that we didn't have plenty of opportunities to be together. It was about a 5 min. walk from the beach. You could see the ocean from the 3rd floor balcony.

I have hundreds of photos not to mention all of the photos I still haven't received from Mom, Laura, and Stephen. Looking back at our photos, I realize we didn't take many photos of the house or of everyone together. Most of mine are of Emily (big surprise there!) Mom hired a photographer to take photos of the whole family on the beach, but I don't have them, yet. We are hoping he will send us the unedited photos since for some reason he thought it was cool to edit them VERY old school. Anyway, it would have been near impossible to snag a good photo by ourselves with a tripod with 8 adults and 3 toddlers!

Our Home Away from Home: Miramar Beach

Emily laughing as I chase her. Love the setting sun on her sweet, happy face!

Quick shot of Emily and me before the photography session

I included this photo because it almost captures her "silly" look that she does quite frequently, but I can never manage to get a photo!

Cooper at almost 14 months reminds me of Emily last year at the beach. No fear!

Cooling down in a wagon full of salt water? No problem.

Cooper finally made it to the beach after a few days of feeling rough.

(upper respiratory infection and ear infection)

The Burnham family enjoying the breezes at the Backporch restaurant

I would have sat Emily in the chair, but it had just come a quick shower.

Jeremy and Emily after dinner one evening

Chillin' in the shade with Daddy.

Taking advantage of a calm ocean day to let Cooper float on the wake board.

Emily and Hunter loved these pint sized chairs on the 3rd floor balcony. One day Mom found a water hose, and a new water game was born. Emily and Hunter pushed these chairs all over the place and sometimes fought one another for them. In this photo, Mom was having them sing silly songs with her and we enjoyed watching them do the hand motions.

Emily's preferred set up: sitting on a wake board with several toys within reach and at least one bucket full of water.

Nan's little granddaughter!

Emily finally "braved" walking through the soft sand when we asked her to go see Pop and have him full up her water pail.

Wish I looked that cute in a bathing suit!

Hunter enjoyed the pool more than the beach. His favorite pool game was jumping into Will's arms from the side or "pushing" his Dad or uncles into the pool so they would make a big splash!

Memorial Day: waiting patiently for the homemade ice cream!

Yum, yum! Emmy loves strawberry icecream. I must have 20 photos of her walking back and forth to get one more bite!

Fun Beach Day!

Emily needed lots of love and encouragement on her first day or two at the beach, but she adjusted quickly and loved it by the end of day two. I will never forget how she took tiny, tentative baby steps in the sand and then reached forward as far as her little arms would let her to get a favorite toy. She was trying her hardest not to walk more than necessary in the dreaded sand!

Needing Daddy's shoulder for a minute...

"Brave" Emmy finally getting the hang of walking in the sand.

Hanging Ten! That's my girl!

Happy Girl!

Pointing to the ocean or "wah-ney" in Emily-speak. Water = wa +ney.

You missed a spot, Hunter. Let me get that...

Almost jumping to Daddy!

She really loved her float this year. We pushed her back and forth between us, twirled her in circles, or just let her lay her head down on it. It is nice that she will stay in it and not demand that we hold her the whole time.

Mother's Day Weekend

This year, Mother's Day and Derby Day were the same weekend which makes for some busy times around Louisville! The Derby event we did this year was the Great Balloon Glow--a first for us. It was an evening event with about 50 hot air balloons grouped together at Bowman Field Airport. We were able to stroll around and check them out and as it got dark, the balloons would periodically light up. Emily's favorite balloon was the Energizer Bunny balloon and all night she kept pointing to it and saying "Bunny." Emily enjoyed the spectacle, but her enjoyment was somewhat subdued since it was about an hour after bedtime!

Next year, we will have to plan to take her to the parade if the weather is nice. Over 250,000 people checked out the Derby Festival parade downtown this year and the weather was gorgeous! You never know about Derby weather in Kentucky, but overall it was pretty nice this year for Oaks and Derby although all the April rains caused flooding on the Great Lawn downtown causing many Festival events to be moved or cancelled (e.g. the Steamboat Race was NOT safe to travel the high Ohio River.) I have noticed that every year I get Derby fever too late--like the day before! By then, it is too late to head to the Oaks or go to the Derby with friends or even throw a party! Jeremy and I have attended the Oaks once, but I was 6 mon. pregnant and didn't get into all the fashion as much since it was a maternity dress! I really hope we can attend again soon because we really had a great time. I would LOVE to go to Derby with some or all of our siblings. I can just see Ed in a snazzy coat, Stephen kickin' back mint juleps, Becca enjoying the search for the perfect hat, Jen placing her $2 show bets, and Laura and Will comparing the crowds to trying to walk the streets in Delhi.

Kentucky Oaks Day 2009

Jeremy, Emily and I at the Oaks! (Emmy is under the dress.)

We were lucky to be able to spend time on Mother's Day weekend with everyone. We had brunch at our house at 9:30 am for Don and Nancy. Jeremy and I love a good breakfast and it was nice to be able to share that with his parents and give Nancy her Mother's Day gift. We left Saturday afternoon for Bowling Green. We timed our trip so that Emily would take her nap in the car, but she decided she didn't want to do that. She was actually pretty good for most of the trip, but started melting down from total exhaustion right before we got to Mom and Dad's and WOULD NOT give it up and fall asleep. Saturday afternoon/evening we spent at Memommy Lee's house. Sunday morning was church, then lunch at Mom's, and some nice front porch sitting after lunch. The weather was perfect and we laughed at the little ones as they played together and were incredibly entertained by a pail of water, some rocks, and a few balls. I laid in the hammock for a half hour and drifted off to a light sleep only to be awakened every now and then by one of the toddlers. I love seeing those little nephews. Wish they would stop growing up so fast.

Emily and Grancy on her birthday 4/30/11.

Emily greets Don and Nancy after completing their mini-marathon walk. Yes, they WALKED 13.1 miles!

Mother's Day 2011 with little Emmy (21 mon.)

Hugging Hunter

Mom and her kids

Emily walking barefoot on the grass. Yeah! (usually, she insists on shoes)

Four generation photo: Sara Meisel, Marylan Meisel Lee, Amanda Lee Reiss, Emily Morgan Reiss

Four Generation photo: Emily Reiss, Amanda Lee Reiss, Eufema Eadens Lee, Mike Lee

Front Porch Sittin'

Meeting Elizabeth

We visited our little niece, Elizabeth Corley Hannah, a few weeks ago. Emily LOVED having a baby in the house. She really liked pushing Elizabeth's swing (especially when she was in it!) She was very sweet with her little cousin and gentle. She was always saying "baby" and could say "EB" when we reminded her of the baby's name. I wish we could see Ed, Jen, and Elizabeth more often. Our long weekend trip went by so fast. Hope we can see them again this summer. I am sure they will be dying to come to Louisville to show off their pretty baby while she is still a baby!

Cooper's First Birthday

Little nephew, Cooper, had a wonderful first birthday celebration a couple of days early on Saturday, April 9th. We loved spending the weekend with the BG family. Here are a few photos of the day!

Dad and Emily enjoying some play time.

Cooper's cake!

Pretty girl all dolled up for the party!

Hunter decides to help Cooper out in the eating department!

Playing with the toy from Emmy

Reading Time with Dad.

Opening lots of presents with Mama!

Cooper isn't sure what everyone is doing at his house today.

Emily's expression is priceless!

Stephen and Becca with their birthday boy!

Cooper sharing his cake with his cousins.

Stephen and Becca finally had to take away the cake to keep her from getting sick!

Cooper loves his new chair!

Busy Life, Good Life

April has been full of good times. We have been so busy living life, I haven't really had a chance to sit down and reflect about anything. We started out April 8th with Emily's 20 mon. "birthday." April 9th was Cooper's big first birthday party in Bowling Green. April 14th-April 17th we were in Texas visiting Ed and Jen and new baby niece, Elizabeth. April 22nd was our anniversary and Karrie and Darrin McKinnon's couple's baby shower, April 23rd was the day Jeremy and I actually celebrated our 5th anniversary, and April 24th was Easter! This coming weekend is Nancy's birthday and the next weekend is Derby and Mother's Day weekend. Having a little hard time keeping up with all the events.! Plus, I left out that we recently had refinishing work on our kitchen floors from water damage from our fridge. We had to remove pretty much move everything out of the kitchen except for what was inside the cabinets right before we left for our trip to Texas. It took me a week to get everything back together. I'm currently waiting for our contractor to come back and start my closet project. Yippie! (The largest closet in our house has never been organized properly. It is just a big empty space with no rods or shelves or anything.) We had to remove everything out of that closet, too. Can't wait to have a more functional closet to store toys, out of season coats and clothes, etc.

Emily 20 months:

Vocabulary keeps growing to the point that I can't keep up with all the words she knows and can say now. She is able to put a few words together now and form simple sentences. Here are some Emilyisms:

1) "I want ____ " usually I want juice, or milk, or car or choo choo, etc.

2) "I got poopo" or my personal favorite "I gotta big poopoo." "BIG is our current adjective of choice."

3) "I down me" or "I done me." We aren't sure what she is saying, but she says this when she wants to get down out of her high chair and she is all done with eating.

4) "I sit me" She likes to sit down beside us in the chair when we read books. She still lets us hold her, but she also likes to sit in the big chair without being in our lap.

5) Possession words. "Daddy's shoe, Mama's shoe, Emmy's shoe."

6) She puts the ending "ney" at the end of many words. For example, she calls fruit and gummy snacks "fruitney" and Aunt Jen is "Jenny" and chocolate is "chocney."

7) "I driving." She says this all the time while sitting and driving her little red cozy coupe! She LOVES this car so much that I halfway feel bad for not getting it sooner. She wants to sit in it all the time and she likes to get in/out of the door, push it around, even "pretend" wash it with a sponge!

Language development is the most interesting thing right now. In other 20 month news, I have noticed that her left foot tends to toe in quite a bit and as a PT, it makes me wonder if I need to be worried. Articles I have read online don't seem to be too concerned about toeing in at this age. I will definitely bring it up at her 2 yr appt. and talk to our peds. therapists about it. I'm trying to get her to change positions whenever she starts "W" sitting and I stretch her from time to time. We moved Emmy from her highchair to a booster seat at the table with us, but I may change it back. The change was motivated more by having nice, shiny kitchen floors and getting tired of highchair marks on the hardwood more so than a "need" to change. The past few nights, we have noticed that Emily asks to be let down before eating much of her meal. We've had more trouble getting her to sit and eat at the kitchen table compared to the highchair. Tonight, she fussed at the booster seat and wanted to be let down. We allowed it and then put her back in her highchair after she had run off some energy and she ate everything. Coincidence?

Emily's bedtime has been stretched back to about 8:30pm since Jeremy doesn't get to see her as much due to his new job. We still wind down at 7:30 with a bath, PJs, books, etc, We just have extended the cuddles and books on most nights. She usually sleeps from 8:30 to 7 am or so. When she wakes up, she cuddles with us in bed until we all have to get up (between 7 and 7:30.) Nap times can be inconsistent. She NEEDS 2 hrs, but sometimes she likes to get by on an hour or so. Sometimes she will fuss for a short time after waking up after an hour nap and immediately go back to sleep for another hour without much protest and other times she will not go back to sleep unless she is held. Then, there are the glorious days when she will sleep 2 hrs or more without any interruptions.

Life with a 20 mon. old is full of giggles, hugs and kisses, chases around the house, kissing "boo boos", redirecting melt-downs, and enjoying much laughter!

First Picnic of the Year

I need to preface this video by saying I talk too much! Enjoy

cute Emmy and hearing her sweet little voice and try to ignore

mine!