Fall!

Recently- Collin has started crawling!! AHH! My Grandma Terry thinks that he is too young since he was just born in August...haha! She is having a little trouble remembering things, lately. Collin is right on track with Emilie. They have both started crawling now at 7 months. Wes is trying to get used to a crawling baby! He completely missed that phase last time!! :) Emilie loves for him to try and come to her room. She loves her little brother and is a VERY proud big sister!! She tells EVERYONE in the world that she is the big sister and that Collin is her little brother! Most mornings Emilie will go into his room and get in his crib just to play with him. Recently we caught the two of them on video. Emilie is singing "This little light of Mine". It's a little dark but you get the jist!

Seems crazy to think that we've been in the states almost a year now. Where does time go?! We are really loving being so close to our families!

Before & After

Our House Before & After

So the last few months have been busy...to say the least! We've been working on our house and getting used to a new baby. Collin is a blessing! He's such a good baby. He'll be 4 months soon, and I can't believe it! Emilie loves him and is adjusting really well! She loves being close to family! She's so much fun and talks a mile a minute!
Anyway, here is what we've been doing for the last 2 months! Wes has been so busy...working on the house and getting used to a new job! dWe are mostly done with the remodeling part...just so many small projects left!! Remodeling a house together really makes you learn things about each other! We tend to micromange each other on all the projects we have done! We've decided that it's best for us to just be husand and wife and not co-workers! Emilie's room has been my favorite to decorate! It's just so much fun making a princess room! I love it!

Emilie's Room (no before pic)

Both bedrooms we've painted, took up carpet, and sanded the floors.

Collin's Room

Before & After

The Kitchen Before & After

We took the wall out between the living room and the kitchen to make a more open floor plan. Then we put down tile in the kitchen floor, new kitchen cabinets, and appliances.

Our Bedroom

Before & After

Again just painted, took up carpet, and sanded the floors

Living Room

Before & After

We painted, took out a window, pulled up carpet, sanded the floors.

Bathroom

Before & After

We painted, put tile down on the floor and on the tub surround, put in a new sink, and put up the white faux wainscoting.

Took about 2 months to get it where it is now but we still have work to do! :)

In the last few months....

Well, we landed in Louisville with roller skates on!! We went looking at houses 2 days after we landed for a house close to post. We stayed with Wes' parents, who are conveniently located only an hour away from Fort Knox. Then Emilie turned 2 on March 7th! Our little girl is no longer a baby!!! We had a little birthday party for her with her cousins, aunt & uncle, great-grandparents, and grandparents! It was so great to have so much family together! Emilie LOVED it. She is such a people person. She gets so excited to see any member of her family! She talks so much and we are still working on being potty trained. It's a MAJOR process...not something that happens in a few months but she is getting there! All the travel and moving around have kinda messed her up a little! She is adjusting SO WELL to Kentucky! So that was February & some of March!

So then..........we moved into a temporary apartment about 20 minutes from post until we could find a place. THEN....next thing we know, April 11th arrives and we are booking it to the hospital on post. Contractions were coming every 4-5 minutes. Throughout the 20 minute ride, Emilie kept us laughing as she was groaning and breathing just like Mommy and saying "Oh NO! Water broke!!" Next thing we know, just 3 short hours later, Collin Wesley Lum was born. 6 lbs 12 oz and 19 1/8 inches long. It was love at first site. We were soooooo excited that he was finally here! Emilie was in love. She wanted to pet him! That was so funny! The first week he was home, she managed to push him, hit him, and throw a cup on him. She wasn't being mean at all, just trying to be helpful! :) It's been amazing watching the two of them together! Collin has a little bit of reflux but we have gotten that under control. He's such a good little baby...loves to cuddle and be held! Imagine that! So far he's a polar opposite of his sister! He HATES riding in the car seat and not a big fan of being away from home while Emilie is my little go-go girl....ALWAYS ready to go somewhere! We bought Emilie a Dora movie that is all about being a big sister. So...now she seems to understand that she is a big sister b/c she'll look at Collin and say..."Mommy had a baby!!! Emmy BIG SISTER! Collin little brother!" So...after trying to explain it for a few weeks, Dora did an excellent job! :)

So now..................now we have found a home. 3 bedrooms/1 bathroom ranch style home. We closed on it May 11th! We officially have 2 houses!!! It's crazy! We are going to be moving in sometime before the first of June. Wes has been working night and day (literally) trying to get it ready for us! Emilie keeps saying she wants to move into the new house! It has a pretty big yard compared to the little balcony she has to play on at our apartment! So......we will post more pictures of that later! Well, that about wraps up the last 3 months!

Birthday

I turned 27! AH! I was not a happy person yesterday! It was all kinda funny b/c 2 years ago when I turned 25 I was pretty emotional that day too. Both times I've been pregnant so I think that may have something to do with it! ANYWAY...Wes and Emmy made me a birthday cake! It was really sweet! This is just the start of the birthday's for us....

Moving Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For about a week now we have been living on love!
The movers came this past Monday and packed up all of our stuff! It was amazing what 3 guys could do in no time. By lunch most of the house was packed up. Emilie stood in the window and watched them. She would knock on the window and they would turn around and wave at her! She was so funny! After everything was gone, she became really possessive of everything! All of sudden, everything was "MINE!" All of her toys and everything she had was gone! She kept saying "Truck...box...plane...bye bye!" She thought that everything was going on a plane with Max! Gotta love seeing things through a 2 year old's eyes!

28 weeks now....and getting bigger!! This baby moves so much sometimes we think he's going to be more active than his sister!! :) Not sure how that's possible......

Wes went to the E-6 board this week and did fantastic! As long as his points match up next month, he'll be getting promoted in March!!

Few more days and we'll be coming home! It's been a crazy and busy month! We are so anxious to get home & settled in!

Shapes

Emmy is learning her shapes! She's such a quick learner! She is also learning her ABC's and how to count from 1-10. She does OK with that but tends to skip numbers!! It's so cute watching her try though! This past week we went to Rome, Italy. She was such a good girl and did soooo well! We were really surprised at how good of a mood she was in all day long! She LOVED being in the backpack. (Kelty) She called it a stroller and even in the hotel room she tried to get in it. It was the best option instead of a stroller! It worked out really well! Italy is by far one of the best countries to visit! The locals LOVE kids. Everywhere we went someone was smiling or talking to Emilie. On the trains, they would point to her in the backpack and then smile. One older gentleman laughed and watched Emilie for about 15 minutes while she ate some gelati (ice cream). Our wonderful guide, Rick Steves, had told us that the Italians loved kids but that Rome wasn't really kid friendly. He was right on, as usual!  It was our last trip and well worth it! We were going to go to Venice and Florence also but Emilie had yet another ear infection and bronchitis so we had to cut the trip shorter. Here are a few pics of our trip!

Update & Christmas!

We got our orders for Ft Knox a few days ago! We have airline tickets....ONE WAY...for Louisville on 15 February!! Woohooo! It's very strange knowing that we aren't coming back here. It's been home for 3 1/2 years. Emilie was born here! It's just always going to be special but family and friends have been so far out of reach!! We can't wait to be back in America, close to family! The next few weeks are going to be crazy! We ship Max home next week, then off to Italy for a week, then we send our household goods! Emilie is going to miss Max so much! She loves her doggie!

Christmas was so great this year! Being all together was the best! It was Wes' first Christmas with Emilie! She was so much fun to watch! Christmas is definitely just so much more fun with kids! She's such a quick learner. She knows her shapes...triangle, circle, and square. She is starting to learn to count and she knows a few colors. She's been asking us "color?" and she'll point to something she wants to know the color of. Her favorites are purple and green. Yesterday she said "Kids!!!! Song!!!!"which meant that she wanted us to turn on the kid's singing CD we have. She picks up on so much. Emmy got a kitchen set for Christmas and she wanted so bad to wash her hands in it! It was so cute! Then she got a German princess backpack and a stroller for her baby doll. Anyway, here are a few of the video's.