Birthday Parties

With Phillip and Avery's birthdays so close we thought is would be fun to do their party together, and also do something separate for each of them on their birthday.

 For Phillip we went to McDonalds. We did this for Avery's 1st birthday and really enjoyed it. Phillip loves the Chicken McNuggets, and had fun playing in the Play Place.
He was a little hesitant to go at first, but once we got him going he had fun exploring.

For Avery's birthday we were going to go to Little Monkey Buisness, but both kids were sick with croup. Avery had been wanting to go buy more fish for a while, so we went fish shopping and bought a crab as well.

 Phillip's birthday was on a Friday, Avery's on a Monday, so we decided to have their party on Saturday. We invited family from both sides and the kids enjoyed eating their birthday cupcakes and opening gifts.

Happy Birthday Avery and Phillip

Avery is 3!

Avery is growing up so fast and learning everyday. Over this past year Avery has made really big accomplishments. She switched from the crib to a toddler bed to a big bed; she switched rooms from the baby room to her "Tangled" room; and she moved from diapers to panties and is completely potty trained - she even uses the big toilet instead of the little training toilet. We are so proud of her and amazed at how well she has done. She also became a big sister this year to Phillip which took her about 6 weeks to adjust to someone new in the family, but she was always sweet to Phillip. She is still out little helper and likes to help with dishes and laundry - I know that won't last long so enjoying teaching her while she's interested - and likes to help feed Phillip.
Avery has done really well with colors and numbers this year and we are working on the alphabet. She enjoys watching the Leap Frog videos - Phonics Farm and Numbers Ahoy on Netflix. She also got this Fisher Price iXL learing book that she is pro at and teaches me how to use it.
Avery still has an interest in Phineas and Ferb, Dora the Explorer, Diego, Cars, Princesses, and her new interest at the moment are Monster Trucks - the Dalmatian puppy truck is her favorite.
Foods: she still loves her Cheerios, she likes Chicken rolls, veggie straws, broccoli, sweets, fruit, and new this year - pea pods.
Avery contiues to love to dance and sing and we've been told from the Nursery leader that Avery is the star singer in Nursery. I love listening to the songs they teach in Nursery, right now it's been, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", and the "Happy Family" song, and "Happy Birthday" - which she's added the word Birthday this year. She use to sing the song "Happy to you" which was really cute.
Avery also says the funniest things. Right now she's learning amazing and awesome so it's cute to hear her say, "Mommy your amazing!" or "That's awesome, Mom." She also says "That's weird", "Just a minute", "Little Man" to Phillip, "Let's do this" when she is racing around the house with bug (push toy), "I can't see my eyes" when it's dark.
Avery loves to be outside and run around, play at parks, go swimming, jump on trampoline, ride her Dora bike, play in the dirt, play in the snow.
We love our Avery and love to listen to her sing, watch her shake her hips and run around dancing, listen to the funny things she says, watch her learn and grow each day, have her help around the house, watch her make Phillip laugh, listen to her giggle, race around the house with bug. She is so much fun and we count the blessings that she is in our lives.
We love you Avery!!



3 year stats: 27 lbs, 36 inches tall

Phillip's First Hair Cut

I've been dreading having to cut Phillip's hair because I love his curls and especially the ringlets behind his ears. But his hair was getting so long and was always his his eyes, or he'd get food stuck in his hair. So I decided we would cut his hair before his 1 year birthday party. My Aunt Cindy is a beautician and offered to cut his hair for us.

The before pictures




Hair cut in process, Phillip hated every minute of it because I had to hold his head
and keep it from moving.



As my Aunt Cindy kept cutting, Phillip's hair was getting lighter and lighter. Who knew he had some blonde hair underneath his dark brown curls.
Now his is definately not a baby, but a handsome little man.

The after pictures

Phillip is 1 year old!

My little Phillip Jamekins (as I call him) is now 1 year old, now a toddler, no longer an infant.


Looking back over the past year I'm amazed at how far he has come and how much he has learned.
From when he was born and sent to the NICU, I wasn't allowed to hold him, I could
only comfort him by holding his hand. Perhaps from that experience is why Phillip is such a cuddle bug. He loves to be held and I love it when I hold him and he rests his head on my shoulder, giving me a hug, and just stays there for a few minutes. Or he'll just sit in my lap and is so content to just be held.
He is my smiley boy and has even figured out that he is suppose to smile for the camera.
Phillip held his head up at 3 months, rolled over at 4 months, sitting up by himself 6 months, I believe between 8-9 months he started crawling and he also cut his first 2 teeth on the bottom, 9 months he really got into pushing things around and loved the walker. He would push the walker all over the house which really helped him learn to walk. He started to let go and stand for a few seconds. 10 months, almonst 11 months he took his first step, and at 11 months started walking but a few weeks before his 1 year birthday he really mastered walking. He cut his top 2 teeth and the next 2 on the top are soon to come. He also goes upstairs and just recently before his birthday has done well going down a few steps. Still has to practice going down all 13 steps in our house, but so far I've seen him do 4 steps on his own.
He is also learning to talk and can say a few words: Mum (his first word), Daddy,
drink, hi, hey.
He loves his big sister Avery, and is always giggling at the things she does, and always smiles when he see's her in the morning. It is cute to see how he adores her and is chasing to keep up with her.
He loves to eat, he likes oatmeal, Gerber's blueberry yogurt, Cheerios, and loves Veggie Sticks.
He is also a little mischievous man and loves to go to the stairs, try and get into the dishwasher, the trash can, and the bathroom to get into the toilet - such a boy.
He giggles when we chase after him, and we usually always keep the bathroom door shut but if it's open he beelines for it.


He likes cars and right now his favorite things are monster trucks. A passion that he shares with his Daddy and sister, Avery, at the moment.


He is our sweet little man and we love his so much. We count the blessings of having him in our lives.


We love you Phillip! Happy 1st Birthday, and many more to come.
1 year stats: 20lbs - 10th percentile, height 2 feet 6.5 inches - 75th percentile