First trip to the zoo!

Watching the polar bears with Daddy.

Very excited just to see some ducks in a pond with a big fountain.
Reed loved seeing the gorillas. We got to see a huge silver back!
This was Emery Claire's brief awake time, she slept most of the time we were there--of course!
Such a big boy riding the carousel with Daddy.

This week was one of many eventful happenings in the Willis household. The most fun to mention is our first trip to the zoo! Reed, being almost 21 months old, and Emery Claire, just turning 1 month yesterday, both got to experience the Cincinnati zoo on Thursday. It has been mostly in the mid-upper 70s here, so we thought we'd take advantage of the cooler and less humid weather and venture to the zoo. Reed was awe struck basically the whole time. We spent about 3 hours there, and he did great! He seemed to keep big wide eyes and basically few words as he looked on in awe at every animal we saw. Casey took him on the carousel, and I took him on the train. He was so cute just soaking in every minute of all he saw!

Happy Father's Day!

September 23, 2006, he became a Daddy.........




Last year, Father's Day 2007......


This year Father's Day 2008........

"Happy Father's Day Daddy, you are the best Daddy ever! We are so blessed and thankful for you, and we love you so much!" (Reed and Emery Claire)

We've only experienced 2 Father's Days now, since Reed is just 20 1/2 months. But I am amazed to watch my sweet and precious husband love and nurture, our now 2 children. The Lord has blessed them and me with this godly man who loves us all so greatly!

A homerun!

I know I've posted several pictures of Reed with his new baseball set, thanks Nana :)

But I had to post this video today too. EC and I were gone to Lexington for most the afternoon today, and the boys had lots of fun here. Casey helped Reed master his swing, so he thought it was too cute and that Nana especially should see him in action with his new baseball set! And everyone else can also enjoy this homerun :)

Sweet baby girl!

EC after a bath; she is happy at this point once she is warm and all bundled in her towel!

Well, Emery Claire is 2 weeks and 1/2 weeks now! I thought it went by fast with the first one, but I can tell this time I will blink and she'll be 16! She is such a sweet baby, and such a joy to us. It's funny how having your second baby seems so much easier than the first time. Not that Reed was a difficulty baby, but I suppose it's all so familiar this time around that you just don't even really have to think about what you are doing. She continues to sleep most of the time, and rarely fuss. So we are enjoying that for now. She continues to nurse well and only wake up one time in the night--yeah! I'm truly amazed that God has entrusted these two precious babies in our care to love and nurture them. It's such a privilege and a blessing. I continue to pray that each and every day they would constantly see Jesus in how I love them and care for them---not because of something I do but all because of Him!

Praise the Lord!!

From this............

to this........Yeah! Praise the Lord!!! We got a wonderful report at the orthopedic doctor we went to see on Tuesday.....Reed's leg is NOT BROKEN! We are so thankful for this good news! So off came the splint, and as you can see here he is today in the backyard swinging that baseball bat again! He is slowly, but surely, walking more and more the past couple days. The doctor said his x-ray looked perfect, and there was no fracture at all! He also said there may be some weakness since the leg has been casted for the past week, but within several days up to a week he should be back to his old self! They don't know why he wouldn't initially stand or walk on it, maybe a bone bruise, a sprain, or twist of the muscle, but all that matters is it isn't broken! He is still limping slightly, but everyday he is walking more and more in the house and the yard. He had lots of fun outside today as you can see!

Learning the ABC's

This last week Reed worked hard, with his Gigi's help, to start saying his ABC's. He can't quite do it on his own, but as you can see in the video he will imitate most of the letters after we say them. And we also are talking some about his hurt leg. Sorry for the camera movement, he kept moving that leg, so I in turn would move the camera. So it's not the best filming job, as usual, but he still is very excited to say his ABC's!

Week 1

We've had an eventful first full week at home with baby Emery Claire, as many of you saw with our incident with Reed's leg earlier this week. Here are some of the pictures we've taken over this past week. So far EC is eating and sleeping great--such a blessing! She is still only waking 1x in the night--I pray it continues! Reed woke up 2x a night, and then settled down to only 1x. So it's been nice to have longer 3 1/2-4 hour stretches in the night of sleep! She is such a sweet, sweet baby and we are so privileged and blessed she is here with us!

Posing with Nana before she left. Reed got to spend so much time with her the week she was here, which usually he only sees her for a couple days. So he loved every minute of it!

After a few "practice rounds" of Daddy showing big boy how to hit the baseball, he really hit it hard! Of course, this was pre-leg incident, so this week we've not been able to do much of any sport.

Big brother loving on his "baby", which is what he calls her. He gets so excited when he sees her and shouts "baby!" He wants to be close and "kiss" her (which is usually mouth to the head or something like that). He also loves to rub his head against her head, it's so funny to watch. I hope this sweetest will continue and that soon enough they will become the best of friends!