Brock's 2nd Birthday!

Our friends Amber and Clayton have a little boy named Brock who has been featured on this blog before. Brock and Claire are almost exactly a month apart and have been friends since birth! (On a side note - Cole and Jude - their 2nd baby will be almost 2 months apart so they will also be playmates!!) There first official play date was at 4 months - we love that they get along so well with one another. Well, today was Brock's 2nd birthday! We were so excited to get to celebrate his big day with him. He and Claire really enjoyed running around the backyard and playing with all of his toys! Happy Birthday Brock! We hope it was a great day!!


Claire eating her 2nd cupcake...
The birthday boy!!!

Brock has these really cool motorcycles that are battery powered. Claire was not as good at making it go, but was getting the hang of it!

What a cute biker babe! We think she needs one!

They weigh about the same amount so they pretty much balanced each other out on the see saw!

This picture is for my uncles and my sister - SLAM DUNK!

Playing in the sand and water table

Sonic!

I have been having a weird craving from Sonic lately. It is a drink that is not even on the menu called a Cool Breeze. It consists of sprite, cherry, coconut, and pineapple - it's delish! Well, today as I was going through the local Sonic, I decided that Claire needed a special treat as well! So I ordered her an apple juice slush and she LOVES it. She won't put it down. I think this might be a summer treat for the two of us :)

28 Weeks!!!

This week we hit the 28 week mark! I can not believe we are this close to Cole being here! Our doctor's appointment went perfect and he says that Cole is growing and sounding healthy. One thing you can pray with us about - the doctor told us that the only way I will not have to have a c-section is if Cole weighs between 7 1/2 and 8 1/2 pounds. Could you pray that if it is God's will that Cole will not weigh over 8 1/2 pounds? The desire of my heart is to have this baby naturally but I also want this baby to be healthy and never at risk. So please pray that either he would weigh the right amount or that God would work on my heart for me to be ok with a c-section.

Morning sickness/ nausea- Well last month I bragged that I had not thrown up in over a month. I am pretty sure that the very next day I started throwing up again! The good part, if there is a good part to throwing up, is that I was never sick to my stomach - I would just all of a sudden need to throw up and then it was over and done with. I am glad to say that the past week has been a good week in this department.

Weight gain - I am 4 1/2 pounds total weight gain. The doctor did say that the next 13 weeks is when all the weight should start packing on - my goal is to be around 15 pounds total. However, Cole is moving like crazy these days and I have been hungry all the time!

Maternity Clothing - Everything I wear!! I am now realizing that spring weather is here to stay and that a lot of my cooler weather clothes are not going to be working, so I am on the lookout for some affordable maternity spring and summer wear!

Movement - All the time and increasing everyday! At one point yesterday I was concerned that he was moving too much - ha!
Gender - BOY!!! Cole! Looking at all the fun boy clothes and boy toys has been such a change around this house!! Cole's crib also came in this week! I can not wait to get it together. We are also currently saving to buy his bedding! I can't wait to have him here with us.

Amanda's shower

Today I got the honor to help host my cousin Amanda's Bridal Shower. She is getting married at the end of May to Stuart and we are really excited for them. We decided to have the shower at my house in my back yard. We have been praying that the weather would cooperate with us today and that the wind would not be as strong as it has been over the past 2 weeks. Well, the weather was PERFECT!! We could not have asked for a better day.

Amanda with her family
My mom, Ammie, Amanda, Lesley, Jan, Sharon, Me, Megan

Amanda with her hostesses
Mom, Amanda, Me, Andrea, Lesley, Mary Beth

The backyard

The table
My cousin LOVES coffee so we made coffee punch, citrus water, petit fours, cake balls, and strawberries

I would like some milk...with cheerios.

Claire has become obsessed with cereal with milk in it. The way she asks us for it is - I would like some milk please...with cheerios. It's pretty cute. She has also become very efficient with her spoon while eating cheerios. She only gets frustrated when she has to chase the last 3 cheerios around the bowl.

This morning before church Claire asked for cereal for breakfast!

On Sunday mornings we let her watch tv while eating - she wasn't too happy that I kept asking her to show mommy how she can eat!

Michelle

Our friend Michelle is leaving for West Africa this week. She will be gone for 2 years. It is a bitter sweet thing with her leaving - we are sad to not have her around for 2 years, but we are SO excited to hear about how God is advancing His kingdom through the work that Michelle will do.
On Tuesday night we had Michelle over for dinner - she had requested crawfish etouffee before she left for Virginia, so I had to make sure she had some before she was gone. We loved having Michelle over - we talked and laughed and laughed some more. She, shared with us a lot of what will be happening while she is gone, and it gave us insight into how exactly to pray for her. Like I said, we are super sad that she is leaving, but so much more excited to see all God is going to accomplish in West Africa.

Easter at mom and dad's

Being the only grandchild on one side of the family is hard stuff! My parents decided to stuff and hide eggs just for Claire around their backyard. We had to dump her Easter bucket out 3 times so she could continue to hunt all the eggs!!! She had a blast. Some of the eggs had smiley faces on them and each time she would find one with a smiley face she would say "Look! It's a happy egg!" She had us cracking up the entire time she was hunting! I was thinking that next year Cole will be here so she would maybe have some balance in the candy department - but then I thought A) he won't be old enough to hunt eggs next year and B) mom and dad will probably just buy more candy and eggs!!

Cole's Bed

We ordered Cole's bed yesterday!!! It should be here within the week. Thanks to my amazing parents and my kiddos at school we were able to get the crib we wanted and not settle!!! We love it!

Easter Egg Drop

This year instead of a traditional Egg Hunt our church hosted an Egg Drop! We have several families in our church that own aircraft and one of them volunteered to drop hundreds of Easter Eggs out of their plane and on to the awaiting field below. I wasn't really sure how it was going to turn out - but I can officially say - It was AMAZING! I think that kids and adults both really enjoyed watching the plane make sweeps over the church and dropping eggs out of it. We also had the Easter Bunny at the drop to take pictures with the kids. As you will see from the pictures Claire was not into the bunny this year. I would have loved to have had a shot of her with this bunny - because this particular Easter Bunny will be in Africa for the next 2 years.

The plane dropping eggs

Claire coloring for the coloring contest

Looking at all the kids

Hunting eggs - she was pretty good at it!

Waving at the plane on its last pass by.

I think I will pick some flowers

She loved "taking pictures" with my dad's camera

The Easter Bunny playing peek-a-boo with Claire

Claire did rub noses with the Easter Bunny!

This is Claire's picture "with" the Easter Bunny