These two: A long awaited update.

I am constantly amazed at how blessed I am to have been given these two sweet spirits.  I love them so much!  They are so fun, funny, cute, ridiculous, and full of their own unique personalities.  It's so fun to watch them grow and learn new things.  It's been awhile since I've given any updates on them and I'm sure I'll forget stuff but I'll do my best!

Colton:  Colton is a man's man...in little boy size.  He loves anything cars, trucks, & dinosaurs.  He loves to climb, wrestle, jump, run, and a lot of things that make no sense (a total man quality).  Recently, he  loves to impersonate animals- especially dogs, lions, and dinosaurs.  Of course, he loves the loudest ones.  I often feel ridiculous when I go out shopping because Colton will just bark in the cart, as loud as he can, pretty much the whole time.  I've even had a friend comment that she immediately knew we were there when she walked into a ward function because she could hear Colton's growl.  Yes, it's a bit ridiculous and sometimes embarrassing, but I love his imagination and determination.  He will bark all day long at you until you confirm that he is being a little dog and he has a great bark!
He is learning so much lately!  He knows lots of new words and can identify almost every animal he sees a picture of (even walrus's and camels!)  He can now count to 8 all by himself, and he knows his colors and shapes pretty well.  His favorite games are telling mommy what animal to draw and then what color to color it.  Unfortunately, mommy is a TERRIBLE artist.  A friend thought my drawings were Colton's.....yeah, it's that bad, and "Get you" where he runs and I come "get him".  He loves his baby sister!  He would smother her with his love if he let him!  He gets really distraught whenever Katie is crying and will say, "Oh no, baby crying.  Baby sad."  And then it often leads to him crying as well.
 He ended up needing glasses.  He has really bad eye sight in his left eye and normal in his right so his brain was started to compensate and only use his right eye- making his left go lazy.  Thankfully, he has adjusted to his glasses really well!  I'm so proud of how well he's doing!  If I forget to put them on after a nap, he'll tell me, "Oh no!  Glasses!"  He always brings them to me if they fall off and he rarely takes them off himself.  He is only at half his prescription right now, but there is already a noticeable difference in what he is able to see.  He has an appointment next week where the will be upping the scrip.  It'll take a couple more times til he's all the way to his prescription!
He's still a SUPER picky eater but I guess maybe it's getting a little better.  Now that Halloween happened and we can bribe him with "Trick-or-treats" to eat his food.  

A Funny and a Sweet Moment from Colton lately....
1.  We had just returned from a trip to MN and we left him buckled in his seat while Jon and I were unloading the car.  We brought a load into the house and as I headed back to the van I heard him yelling.  When I got to the car, I very distinctly heard him yelling, "Ayuda-me Ayuda-me"  ....Thanks Dora.
2.  I was headed out to the store Saturday morning with no kids.  I went to Colton and told him that I was going to the store and that he needed to stay home with daddy and be a good boy.
Colton says: "Ok.  Hugs!"
Hugs given.
Colton: "Do you have your keys?"
Me: "Yes, I have my keys."
Colton: "Your phone?"
Me: "Yes, I have my phone."
Colton: "Ok.  Love you!"
And then he blew me a kiss!  So SWEET!  It seriously melted my heart!

New Glasses!

Playing with his favorite friend, Tate, at the Park.

Colton and Tate.

First time the kids could swing together!  This is they day after Katie got her harness off!

Katie: Katie is still the sweetest little girl ever!  She is so funny!  She loves to play games and purposely tries to get you to play games with her.  She loves the yelling game of yelling loud until we do it with her, stopping, starting, stopping starting, etc.  She also loves the head shake game.  She'll shake her head back and forth, over and over, with big smiles trying to get you to do it with her.  She can roll both directions now and is getting really good at sitting up!  Her legs are still pretty weak for her age but she's making progress and getting stronger!  She loves the jumper and daddy's little homemade physical therapy treatments.  She has an appointment in December to check if her hips start regressing but we're told it's very unlikely.  She has two teeth in the bottom front and her eyes are almost all the way brown!  She loves to be loud and make noises.  She also loves playing with Colton, until he gets too rough.  She is turning into a little daddy's girl and starting to wrap him around her finger as well.  She turns to all smiles and cackles (a pretty fitting description for her laugh) whenever he walks in a room. She is struggling with solid's.  She either won't eat it, or she violently throws it- and everything else she's eaten all day- up.  This has happened a few times with pears, bananas, and oatmeal.  She won't eat carrots, sweet potatoes, or apples.  The ONLY thing she likes to eat and can keep down is green beans.  Weird little girl :)

...I'm telling you, she's got personality!

Best friends! They always get each other's best laughs :)

Jon and I are doing well!  Things are great here in Iowa and we finally upgraded ourselves to a King Size bed so life couldn't be better!  Haha, ok, maybe it's not all bliss and roses but we're happy and we love our kids and we're so thankful for the blessing we have to raise them!

Why it's GREAT to be SIZE 8!

Hi.  My name is Emmalee, and I am a 25-year-old mother of two.  I currently weigh 137 pounds and I am a glorious size 8.  I am the smallest I've ever been in my adult life and I can honestly say I don't want to be any smaller.  Now before you start thinking I am writing this post to brag, pause, and let me assure you- I am not.   I've actually put off the prompting to write this post for a couple months now because I don't like putting myself "out there" this much and worried about negative responses.  I finally realized that the whole point of this post was not worrying what others think, and I should just get over myself and spill all my secrets in the hope that it will help someone else.  So here goes...

I first started thinking about several months ago when I was out shopping with a couple of friends.  As they perused through the size 2's, 4's, small's, and extra smalls, I jokingly excused myself to go take a look at the "big girls" section.  At this, they both laughed and responded with phrases such as, "Whatever!"  and "Shut up, you're skinny!"  I thanked them for the compliments but excused myself to go as I did, in fact, need to go look at the bigger sizes if I was going to find anything for myself on this shopping adventure.  It still took a minute for them to believe that I wasn't just dissing myself and actually telling the truth.  They were both very surprised, if not shocked, to learn that I was a size 8/L.  Fast forward to today.  Since that experience, I have had several similar responses from girlfriends when they find out what size I am.  I can't deny I'm flattered that I apparently look smaller that I am, but the nagging question I can't get past is, "Since when is size 8 big?"

I've had body image issues basically my whole life.  Let's be honest, I think most girls do.  I grew up in a small town, went to a small high-school, and was surrounded by tiny girls.  I wore the biggest pant size of all my friends.  I had less dates than all my friends.  I knew why.  Obviously, it was because I was fat.  I remember one specific time when a good friend of mine- probably size 2 at the most- was complaining about her belly.  I asked her if she'd rather have mine and she told me "no", and then gave some excuse that it was because she really like her belly button...  Yeah.  That pretty much cemented my belief that I was huge.  I had some amazing friends in high school whose influence kept me from doing anything TOO stupid or dangerous to lose weight.  We clung to each other through our four years of splendid high school glory and I'm pretty sure we all saved each other from a lot of things.  That being said, I still felt fat. 

It wasn't until I got to college that I first started to realize that maybe my perception was off.  That first year at BYU-Idaho I really had a turn-around.  I started to realize that not only was I not "fat" in comparison with the average person, but maybe even on the "thin" side.  This blew my mind.  Still, it's taken years of time and a lot of education to get to where I am today.

I spent five years at BYU-I and BYU in Provo studying to be a Health Teacher, Coach, and Physical Fitness Instructor.  The more I have learned, the more passionate I've become that weight and size mean nothing.  Fitness and health are the only important indicators.   THERE IS NO PERFECT SIZE!  We're all different and my healthy size is going to be different than Jane's healthy size, and so on.  The media has warped our minds into believing that in order to be worthy, we need to be "skinny".  We all obsess about losing weight, and the focus on actual health is getting lost.  Let me blow your minds.  Just because Jane is size 2, it does not mean she is healthy.  In fact if size 2 Jane isn't exercising, she is indeed LESS healthy, and more likely to have heart disease, than size 14 Sally who exercises regularly. 

Don't mistake me.  I'm not saying that being overweight or obese are suitable lifestyles.  It's a very unhealthy and risky way to live your life.  Do these people need to lose weight?  Yes, absolutely.  The quality and longevity of their lives will be greatly improved if they do.  However, I feel that focusing on a ideal weight or pant size goal is also unhealthy.  We should make fitness and healthy eating goals instead of weight goals.  By focusing on eating healthy and becoming more fit, the weight will come off and it will happen in a way that's healthy for your body.  You can't be fit and severely overweight.  It just won't happen.  

To give the example of Jane (because I have had friends like this), if she is eating healthy and exercising regularly at size 2, she should stop trying to be a size 0.  It's probably not a healthy size for her.  For Sally's example (I've also had several friends like this), if she is eating healthy and exercising regularly at size 14 and not losing weight- she is probably at good size for her body and she should not be concerned about being "fat",based on her pant size.  I can tell you this.  I will never, ever be a size 2.  I'd probably have to be dead.  I will never, ever weigh 120 pounds... unless I had a severe eating disorder...or had a limb amputated. 

Finally, after years of feeling horrible about myself and obsessing about weights and pant-sizes, I feel like I can be confident in who I am and what I look like.  I exercise 3-5 times a week for about 45 min (my goal is to shoot for 5 times a week of at least 30 min continuous exercise), I eat lots of fruits and vegetables, make most of my grains whole grains, eat lean meats sparingly, and try to overall just eat a balanced diet.  I still eat pizza, burgers, and treats- but try to keep it under control and make it an occasional food rather than my regular habit.  I can honestly say that I feel like I'm pretty healthy. 

Do I still have moments when I feel fat?  Yes.  Especially when I'm trying to lose the baby weight!  Can you blame me when I'm constantly assaulted by media messages that tell me to lose weight and get skinny so I can be beautiful?  I just hope that we can move away from our culture's obsession with numbers on the scale and in department stores and start focusing on getting healthy!  Who cares what size you are!  As I said earlier, I am a size 8 and it feels GREAT!  Why does it feel so great?  Because I am healthy at this size, and healthy is all that really matters.  So whether you're size 5 or 50, I just hope that maybe this post will help someone else out there realize that sizes are just numbers and you probably care about it more than anyone else.  Try to get healthy, whatever size you are.  Tell yourself it's all that matters ,(because it really is!!), and I promise you that you will be a happier person!  You'll feel better, have more confidence, and live a longer life!

For those interested:  The current reccomendations for adult exercise (ages 18-64) is 2 hrs 30 min (150 min) weekly of moderate-intensity aerobic activity with muscle strengthening activities on 2 or more days of the week.  For more information and tips to get started click here!

http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html

Summer, Sprinklers, and Broken Legs

Summer has hit the Quad Cities and we are loving it!!   Well....for the most part :)  Sure there are the some bugs, sweltering humidity, and occasional super scary thunderstorms but it's nice to finally be able to play outside.  Colton has been loving having a back yard and getting to play on the swingset, run through the sprinklers, playing with bubbles and sidewalk chalk, and even just running around growling at the dogs across the fence.  I have to admit that I've even had some fun running through the sprinklers myself.  It brings back warm fuzzy memories from childhood.  We love our home here and all of our wonderful friends!

He got thirsty with all his playing.

Recent pic of Katie being her cute self!

We also love being in driving distance of some of Jon's family in MN.   We decided we were a little burnt out a couple weeks ago and we took a trip up to visit family.   Colton loved the big rope swing and trampoline and playing with his cousins.  Jon and I had fun spending time with the adults and getting to relax a little.  Some of the weekend events included grilling steaks, late night appetizers at Applebees, Jenna taking me to a spin class (SO HARD!!!), Jon golfing with Mike and Mark, basketball competition with Mark and Jenna, Jenna giving me a manicure, and lots more fun!  Our only complaint was that the weekend is too short!

Swinging at Grandma's!

Colton LOVED this!

Updates!!

Jon: Jon just finished his CPA exam!!  Yay!!  We are so happy and I'm so proud of him!  It's a four part exam with 4 different tests that need to be passed within an 18-month span, so Jon decided to stretch them out.  It sure is nice to have those out of the way and Jon's enjoying not having that in the back of his mind anymore!

Emmalee:  I feel like I'm finally getting back in shape!  I feel better, my clothes are fitting better and I have more energy.  I've been able to run up to 5 miles at a time so far and have also been doing some P90X and Tae Bo work outs throughout the week.  I've been really good about not having sweets and exercising 45min-1hr 4-5 times a week.  It's quite frustrating that the weight is still pretty slow to come off, I still have about 11 pounds to go but I'll try to be patient and hopefully I'll just keep going down!

Colton: Colton is getting better at saying words and understanding things.  He currently loves dinosaurs and is frequently running around the house growling at all of us.  He loves his little sister and is always giving kisses, both to Kate and us.  He's going through a bit of a stubborn phase and thinks he doesn't want to take naps anymore, but mom will win this fight.  I will NOT give up nap time!

Colton "helping" me bake.

KISSES!

Katelyn: Katelyn's sad update is that she broke her leg about a week and a half ago.  I feel so bad and completely guilty about it but I'm grateful it wasn't worse.  I tend to put Katie's bouncer up on the counter when I am working in the kitchen because she likes being able to see me and because Colton is always climbing all over her when she is on the ground.  We have a really wide/large counter so I've never seen it as dangerous, but on that morning I forgot to buckle her in and she wiggled herself down and fell out of the bouncer, off the counter, and hit the kitchen floor.  I saw her fall but couldn't get there soon enough to catch her.  She hit, what looked to be, on her bum and then fell back and hit her head.  She immediately started screaming and I rushed over and scooped her up.  I felt so horrible!!  It didn't look like she hit that hard so at first I just thought she was scared.  I held and bounced her for about half an hour before she finally settled down and fell asleep in the swing.  She slept for about an hour and a half and then woke up happy.  I was relieved thinking we had dodged a bullet!  I picked her up and started feeding her and about 2 minutes in she pulled away and started screaming again.  I tried to get her to keep eating but she wouldn't stop screaming.  All distressed I called Jon at work and he decided to come home to help me out.  When Jon got home, Kate was still screaming so Jon stayed with Colton and I took her to the doctor.  When I got there, the doctors were all out of the office so a nurse looked at her.  She didn't tell me much besides that she couldn't see or find any bumps or bruises on her (which I already knew) and I could wait a couple hours for the doctor to look at her or take her to an urgent care.  I decided to just take her to the Trinity emergency room.  There the doctors spent all their time focusing on her head and spine, even so far as to give her a CT scan.  I was grateful for this because I wanted to know that nothing was wrong with her head, but I also told them several times that I didn't think her head was bothering her.  It didn't look like she hit it that hard and it seemed like her bum or the lower part of her was hurting.  She screamed the most when I was changing her diaper.  I asked if they thought anything could be broken like her tail bone or something and they said, "It's REALLY hard for babies to break their bones and even if she did break her tail bone, there's nothing we could do for it."  I asked why she was crying so hard then, and they said it was just cause she got bumped up a little.  I took her home and when she still wouldn't stop screaming, Jon started poking around and discovered it was her left leg that seemed to be hurting her.  We decided to take her back in to the doctor's office.  This time the doctor was in and examined her.  He agreed that something in her leg was bothering her and sent us back to the Trinity emergency room for xrays.  We got xrays and then waited around for half an hour for the results(throughout this whole day, katie pretty much never stopped screaming).  When they game back they said that Katie had fractured her left femur, just above the knee.  We were then sent about 20 min across town to Genesis West Emergency room where we waited another 45 min to an hour for the on-call doctor to show up and then he put her leg in a cast.  She was so much better after her leg was casted and I could tell she was exhausted, she fell right asleep when we put her in the carseat.  We didn't get home until almost 10:00pm, about 13 hours after it happened.    All in all it was probably the worst day ever.  We are so grateful that the injury wasn't worse though and that they were able to finally figure out what was wrong and help her to feel better.  Kate has been such a trooper with the cast.  I can tell it bothers her sometimes, but for the most part she is still her smiley-happy self.  She is an incredibly sweet and loving little girl and I am so glad that we have her in our lives!

Poor broken leg!

She still has her smile though!

Growing UP!

I have two kids.  WOW!  It's so crazy to think that I am already the mother of two beautiful little kids and even crazier to see how fast they are growing.  I feel so blessed to have my precious little Colton and Katie.  They (and my wonderful Jon) mean everything to me! 

Here are the kids sporting their new Deere gear :)  These were gift from Jon's managers.

Colton with his Deere tractor!

Katie in her new Deere shirt!

Colton is almost two years old!!  It's so crazy!  He is 22 1/2 months and acts every bit the part of a two year old.  He is full of energy and loves to run around and he especially loves being chased.  Whenever we have other kids around he is always trying to get them to chase him.  He is a total daddy's boy.  He loves when Jon comes home and is always in a better mood when he's around.  I'd like to say I have no idea why cause I'm so much fun- but let's be honest- Jon is way more fun with Colton.  He is always playing silly games and running around and rough housing with him.  Colton loves it!  Colton also loves being outside and being pushed in the swing.  He likes coloring, cars, tractors, and pretty much all boy stuff.  Lately he has to have a car in each hand in order to go to sleep.  It's pretty cute.  He loves his shows- a trait he learned from his father- and is starting to be interested in movies that are actually semi-entertaining for adults as well.  This is a huge relief because I'm getting REALLY sick of Curious George! Lately he's really liked "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Ice Age II".  He was totally cracking up at the part where the sloth's take Sid to their camp and then copy everything he does cause they think he's the fire king.   He is still a super picky eater- which is very frustrating- but I keep telling myself that at least he really likes fruit and that the bread and crackers I give him are fairly healthy.  HOPEFULLY one day he won't be so picky...

Playing golf with daddy.

Like father, like son. :)

"Helping" me make brownies...

Katelyn is just an adorable little doll.  She is so sweet!  She hardly ever cries and is always smiling.  She loves to coo and be vocal with you.  She will get in little "cooing wars" with you.  It's super cute!  Her eyes are starting to turn brown and that's pretty cool to watch.  She has slept through the night once- and I'm hoping will again soon!!  Normally she'll go about 6 hours.  All in all she is a pretty content baby.  She even takes a pacifier.  It's awesome!!  Colton never did and it was horrible not having a way to soothe him when he was upset but not hungry.   I love to hold and snuggle my little girl!  I definitely feel a special mommy-daughter connection. 

Katie on Mother's Day.

Both little sweethearts are sick this week and it hasn't been any fun.  When kids are sick mom doesn't get any sleep, doesn't get anything done, and feels pretty miserable herself- but the absolute worst part is not being able to make your kids feel better when they hurt!  I love my family so much and I feel so blessed that I have been given a goofy, athletic, caring, hard-working husband and two adorable, sweet, loving little kids :)

My forever family.

2 Months of Precious

Today our little angel is 2 months old!  It's crazy how fast she is growing up.  She is such a little sweetheart.  She steals our hearts with her smiles and is so fun to hold and play with.  She is an extremely content and mild little baby, which I am incredibly grateful for.  I think Heavenly Father knew I needed a mild baby (since I'd been praying for it my whole pregnancy) to help me not stress out and go crazy over the whole two kids thing.  Colton, bless his heart, has also been entering a bit of a terrible two's phase combined with being a complete daddy's boy.  I love that little boy with all my heart but I am so grateful right now to have a little sweetheart who loves her mommy and hardly ever cries!  She also loves baths, ever since the first one!

Big smiles since the beginning!! (4 wks old)

Little girls are so fun to dress up!

Katelyn's two month appointment went well for the most part.  She is healthy and growing, but we did have a bit of a scare.  Her left hip was popping and has ever since birth.  The pediatrician was worried it could be developmental hip displasia- which can cause problems with walking.  If she had it, she would have to be referred to a special doctor and have to wear a cast until the hip set correctly.  We took her in for an ultrasound this week to check for the condition.  She was such a little trooper!  She just laid on the hospital bed and looked around and kicked her legs, as content as can be, while the lady performed the ultrasound.  Friday we got a call back from the doctor to tell us that the ultrasound was normal and nothing is wrong with her hip!  Yay!!  Katie also had a bad reaction to her two month shots.  She cried during the shots (always so heart breaking!!) but then fell asleep and was fine for the next couple hours.  However, when she woke up she was screaming her head off.  It was time for her to eat and I tried to feed her but she would eat a for like 5 seconds and then pull off and scream again.  Her face was so red from screaming and it was horrible.  We finally found a position we could hold her in that didn't hurt her legs as much and it reduced her cry to a whimper but she was miserable for hours.  It was horrible seeing my little smiley, happy baby so upset and in pain!  The next morning when she woke up she was back to all smiles!  We are so grateful for our two healthy, beautiful little kids that our Heavenly Father has blessed us with!

Katie's Two Month Stats:

Height: 23" -- 94th percentile
Weight: 11lbs 3 oz -- 78th percentile
Head Circ: 39cm-- 86th percentile

Look at those cheeks!

LOVE this smile!

We've also been enjoying the weather warming up lately.  It's so fun to have a backyard I can take the kids into to enjoy the sunshine worry free!  Colton's a big fan of his sidewalk chalk and bubbles he got in his Easter basket!

Enjoying the weather!  He likes the deck much better than the sidewalk...

22 months old and smiling with food in his mouth :)

Katelyn's Baby Blessing

Our little Katie was blessed by her dad, Jonathan William Day, on April 21, 2013 in the Davenport 2nd Ward, Davenport- IA.  We named her Katelyn Emma Day.  Katelyn we just like the name of, it's a pretty name and we liked that it can easily be shortened, and Emma after my mom Emma Bingham Rider.  I got the first of my name "Emma"lee from my mom as well.  My mom inherited a broach from her grandma, Emma Rich, that was carried across the plains by one of our pioneer ancestors.  I'll get it from my mom someday, since I got her namesake, and then one day I'll give it to Katie, since she was named after my mom too- and me I guess.  Also, my mom is just an amazing, awesome lady and I wanted to name my daughter after her! 

We were happy that some of Jon's family was able to come down from MN to be with us for the baby blessing.  Jon's parents, his brother Phil and family, and his brother Mark and his wife Jenna all came.  It was fun to have family around for the weekend and great for Jon to have the support!  Jon, Phil, Mark, Paul, Bishop Snarr, Justin Thompson, Stake President Cropper, and the 1st and 2nd counselors in the bishopric Greg Bredthaur and Brother Galvon all stood in the circle.  It was kind of cool to have the whole bishopric and the Stake president participate even though I'm sure it made Jon kind of nervous.  Jon gave Katie a beautiful blessing, and Katie looked and acted like a little angel.  She didn't make a peep- just slept the whole time.  She wore a beautiful white blessing dress made by my mom, Emma. 

It was a great day all around!  We had a beautiful blessing for our sweet little girl, it was wonderful to have family in town, and the weather was great!  We all enjoyed sitting out on the deck and letting the kids play outside.  Colton was actually pretty sick on Sunday with a nasty cold but he toughed it out the best he could.  He is a trooper and a great big brother!

Notice how miserable poor Colton looks!

Katie with her parents.

Paul and the food. :)

Family :)