A true sport

Standing with some help from Daddy.

Scoot, scoot, scoot....he still manages to get all around--nothing stops our little, active guy!

As some of you have heard, our sweet boy has a broke leg--or so we think! Monday he was going down a slide and his left foot got caught behind him. So Casey spent the next 7 hours in the ER with him, making it a very long day! They could never find the break or fracture on several x-rays that were done, but because he wouldn't stand to bear weight on it or attempt to walk, they assume it's broken. So for now it has a splint on it--a half cast around the back and sides of the leg, with ace bandage wrapped up all around it. He truly has been a sport in handling it all. Though we can see he is getting a little more frustrated with it everyday. It is finally so warm and beautiful up here, and he has gotten so many fun and new outside toys, but can't play with any of them right now. So I feel so bad for him. Casey's been great to take him on walks, and swing him in the yard. Mom is here too, so they've been blowing bubbles and sitting on the porch lots. So at least he can enjoy the nice warm weather, though I know our active little guy would love to be running everywhere in the yard if he could! So you can pray for us all right now, as the next few weeks will probably be very trying and we will need the Lord to give us lots of grace to one another and sustain us too! We go on Tuesday next week for a follow up appointment with a orthopedic to see if the "brake" is healing (apparently they can see the healing process of the bone, in bone growth, if it is broken in later x-rays when they never could see a brake in the initial x-rays). And of course if it was never broken then I guess it will all be removed and we'll hopefully be back to normal. Of course I'm praying for that to be the second opinion, but Casey feels it's really broken, so we'll see!

20 months old

In all the craziness of having a new baby I didn't want it to get overlooked that our sweet boy turned 20 months on Friday! It is so wild having a new tiny baby, Reed seems like such a giant now in comparison to her! But he continues to be so fun and so full of energy! He has mastered climbing on the furniture now. He could climb on some things, but now can really pull himself on most anything, including the dinning room table--yikes! He has learned how to open all the cabinets by manuvering the child proof locks and opening them anyways. He is imitating most anything we say, so speech does seem to continue to progress. He still LOVES being outside as much as he can, but what toddler doesn't. He is just sweet, sweet, sweet! It is such a joy and a privilege to watch him grow, learn, and explore his environment each and every day. And just such a privilege that the Lord has blessed us with this precious boy, who we continue to pray will never remember a day without hearing the great and glorious truths of our Lord, Jesus!

And more visitors

Grandpa and Grandma Debby came to meet EC.

Liz and Karen came by with some yummy goodies for us....thanks girls, it was fun to see you!

Another visit by big brother Reed....

When we came home the Terrell family came by to meet baby EC. Here is Reed with Macey, Madison, and his girlfriend, Hadley!

So many visitors

Emery Claire has had lots of family and friends come and visit her. Here she is with Gigi and Aunt Jess the day she was born.

The Hardins also came to see her.

Sarah Jane brought Bella Claire (who is so very excited that her and EC share the same name) and the sweet Joe P. who was visiting all his cousins also got to come by and meet baby EC.

Family of Four.....

"Big Bro" came to visit his new little sister in the hospital......he was so sweet to love and kiss her!

Our sweet little Emery Claire....sleep, sleep, sleep seems to be all she does, such a change of pace from a very active toddler who is so busy these days!

We came home yesterday afternoon. It is so nice to finally be home, though the hospital was probably a little more quiet and relaxing than our wild house! But so far Reed has been sweet to his sister, or as sweet as a 20 month old can be. He tries to pat her, though it's a little rough, and he kisses her. Right now he is thoroughly enjoying having Nana's undivided attention. And getting lots of new "surprises" from all his grandparents. Nana brought a tricycle, Grandpa and Grandma Debby brought a sandbox full of goodies, and next week Gigi and Pops are bringing some other sort of fun surprise too! So thank you to you all, for helping us and being many extra sets of hands with our busy boy!

She's here.....

Tuesday, May 20th at 8:21 a.m. we welcomed our sweet baby girl into the world! I know many were awaiting to hear her name.........

Emery Claire Willis

she weighed 7lbs., 4 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. She was born via C-section (which has truly been so much better the second time around verses after an all night labor with Reed and then a C-section). So this is day 3 at the hospital, and tommorrow morning we will be headed home. Of course we have taken lots of great pictures, but also of course, forgot our cord to be able to download our pictures onto the computer while we were at the hospital. So as soon as we are home and settled tommorrow I will definitely be posting all sorts of pictures of Emery Claire. Which by the way I think we will call her Emery Claire, Emery, and Casey's nickname already is Emmie (which will probably be what Reed says too since it's easiest for him to articulate). He got to come by and meet her yesterday and it was too sweet! Lots of kisses and pats from big brother, so hopefully these two will continue to bond and be big buds!

Watching the Horses

One day last week while I was running errands Casey took Reed on a drive and went by a horse farm. I thought these pictures they took were cute of him by the fence, so I thought I'd post them. He said Reed loved it and of course we're still working on calling them "horses" and not "dogs." As he also does this with cars and trucks, trucks are "cars." Casey said the other day there was a firetruck outside our house working on the hydrant and as usual Reed's eyes got HUGE as he pointed and yelled with excitement---"car, car," so they went out there to talk to the firemen and see the truck. Casey said at that point Reed actually did say "truck"--yeah! I haven't heard it yet, but at least we know it's in there. We're still mostly hearing lots of single word approximations, and I think he sometimes gets real frustrated when we don't know what exactly he wants. So we're working alot on really modeling some of the words he has a harder time with in his vocabulary.....so we're getting there with speech. But of course his speech therapist mom is trying to be as patient as she can, knowing this is so typical for boys, and that the important thing is that it is changing and progressing---just a slower than I'd like it to.
And with little sister arriving in a matter of days now, he is about to have a huge transition! Praying that he adjusts smoothly and quickly---as he did with the removal of paci. That went great by the way......he has attached to Teddy very nicely and after about 2-3 days of crying for 20-30 minutes at nap and bedtime, it was over! So yeah, so glad that was a smooth success!

Happy Mother's Day

This is our Mother's Day picture from the weekend.......We never got around to taking any yesterday, with church, lunch, then immediately naptime.....whoooo, it was a good day, but lately (as in true toddler form) some days are more challenging than others---and unfortunately yesterday (after nap til bedtime) was kinda rough. We do have a sweet, sweet boy, but he is a toddler, so the days of testing and power struggles seem to be quite often.
On another note, after quite some praying these past 9 months, we have scheduled a c-section for baby girl Willis next Tuesday, May 20th, at 8 am. I really desired to try and go for a v-bac, but at this point we feel the Lord is giving us more clarity and discernment to make this decision. Unless of course she decides to come before that date, which the past two weeks I've progressed some, but no labor on its own yet. So I'll be 38-38 1/2 weeks then, so I know she'll be fine---I almost wish we could do it this week, poor Reed is having to have a Mommy ask for his forgiveness ALOT lately--as I feel my patience and nerves are at the end of their rope! So I'm definitely ready to have this baby and not be pregnant. I definitely feel the Lord is sanctifying me, as all I seem to see is my sinful heart these days.....oh but how sweet the Gospel of our Lord Jesus is, and I'm so thankful that as I remind myself of it I have the privilege and opportunity to share it with my sweet boy who also is a blessing from God!

The discovery of suckers.....

So yummy!

Reed has discovered suckers,or I guess I have introduced them to him. And he does love a having a sucker for a treat! Several friends have told me that they are very occupying when in a store and the little man needs to stay in the shopping cart---and they are! So here he is at home enjoying his sucker that Casey gave to him.....his Daddy loves candy too, so it was only a matter of time before he offered some to him anyways.

Derby Day

If you're from Kentucky the Derby is a REALLY big deal! But since we are from TN and GA, we watch it, but as you can see from our pictures--this is the exciting celebration of the Willis household this past Saturday. Reed is eating pizza in his chair, I'm sitting on the couch, and Casey was actually out still running some errands for us. So yes, we are probably considered sad in the comparison to most Kentuckians. One of our neighbors asked Casey if we had a derby party to go to....he laughed and said no we didn't. But thought I would at least post our pictures from that day......I did get Reed to cheer "Go, Go, Go!" as the horses ran the track.

Happy Birthday Nee-Nee!

Today is Aunt Nee-Nee's birthday! So we want to wish her a very happy birthday and hope she has a wonderful day!
We Love You!

No more paci.....

Well, I thought since we're about to have a multitude of transitions I would try to space them out. Baby, moving, big bed, no more paci.......which is the only one I can do right now, so today is day one of "no more paci." He survived two naps---which is another area we're working on, but since I had a doctor's appointment today Casey laid him down for a brief period this morning so he could get some work done. So after crying for about 30 minutes (both this morning and afternoon) he did fall asleep without the paci. So now it's bed time and it's so sad to listen to him crying right now! We are trying to replace paci with his "teddy"--which he seems to love to hug and snuggle, it's really sweet-- but I know he's wanting the paci bad! So hopefully this transition won't be too traumatic for us all and in the next couple days quickly be past us!