#3

We are pleased to announce that baby #3 is on the way.  I am due October 6th, so we will have another Fall baby.  I had my first appointment when I was 7 weeks and 2 days and we got to hear our sweet baby's heartbeat.  It was music to my ears!  Even though it hasn't been that long ago with our other 2, I always forget how that sweet sound makes you feel.  We are confident that this little blessing will be our last, so we have decided not to find out the sex until the day of delivery. Since we already have a boy and a girl, we are prepared either way.  I am mapping out a gender neutral (but not void of color) nursery in my head and am beginning to gather some ideas.  I am really excited about the surprise of not knowing, and I look forward to the day we will meet him or her!  We are going to choose a gender neutral name so that we will be able to call the baby by name throughout the pregnancy.  We are pretty sure we have a name, but have not made any final decisions yet.  We are not keeping the name a secret this time like we did with Maclain.  I think the secret of the sex will be enough for me!

I am having good and bad days as far as how I feel.  Overall, I can't complain... I know it could always be much worse.  I am just thankful for this sweet baby, no matter how I feel physically.  Our last two will be 22 months apart, so they are spaced a tad farther than Maddox and Maclain are.  We really enjoy having our kids close in age and while it makes some things harder when they are young, we feel like it will be great as they get older. 

When I asked Maddox if he wants me to have another baby, he said, "No, I don't want you to have anything."  So we shall see... it will be really neat to see his reaction this time since he is aware of so much more.  He is so sweet and caring and I think he will make a great big brother again.  In a later conversation he asked me if he could hold the baby by himself once it is here.  So sweet!

Fun times are ahead for sure!  We are so thankful! :)

A Week At Home

Last Monday, the kids and I left for a week-long visit back home.  Daniel was gone to Destin to do a bridge inspection with a few others from his company so we took advantage of the time and hung out in Opelika.  Despite the fact that the weather was much colder than we would have liked, we had a geat visit.  I was able to get together with a teacher friend at Amsterdam for dinner one night, and had several playdates with Maddox's buddies during the days.  Me, Mom and the kids went to the Georgia Aquarium Thursday and the kids really enjoyed that!  I was able to check off some of my favorite eating spots from my list, too: Mike & Ed's BBQ, Amsterdam Cafe, and Veggies To Go.  We even got to be there for Thomas and Tucker's birthday party.  It was a great trip and I am so thankful for the flexibility in our schedule to do things like this.  It won't be long before we are bound by school schedules, so I plan to take advantage every chance we get!

Playing with Oranges... who knew it could be so fun??

Maddox's favorite spot at Nana and Pop's

Loving the Aquarium

Enjoying a snack before the dolphin show

Pop with Maddox and Tucker

15 Months

I am a tad late with this one, but nevertheless, here we are!  Maclain is 15 months old and seems to have changed so much in the last month. 

Some things about her:

-Still a great sleeper... if we are home in the mornings she still takes a morning nap but most of the time only gets an afternoon nap.  She will nap for 3 or 3 1/2 hours
-She has 8 teeth.
-Her hair is coming in more and more and it's pretty blonde.
-In 18 month clothes.  I have really got to go shopping for her b/c all of her pants are too short since they are mostly still 12 month
-Has started talking some and we can recognize a few words: "Thank you", "Moo", "Woof, woof", and "Night, Night" are the ones she says most often.
-In the last 2 weeks she has gone from mostly still crawling to walking to almost running.  She is difficult to catch at times!
-Her favorite food is pizza... She wants it whole instead of in pieces and will eat about as much as you give her. 
-She is getting better with some table foods, but still prefers fruits and veggies pureed.  I am using those pouches and she really likes those!
-She loves taking a bath and especially loves to splash.  I think she will love the pool this summer.
-She follows commands really well.  If I ask her if she wants to take a bath or go night night she goes to the bottom of the stairs and waits for me to open the gate.  She is also really good at putting toys back where they go if I ask her to.
-If I ask her where a certain toy is, she will walk all around looking for it until she finds it.
-She loves watching Maddox go potty and when we flush it she waves to the water as it goes down.

These are the major ones!  We are so grateful for such a healthy, happy girl.  She has such a spunky nature and we love her to pieces! :)

Party Time!

We have been to several birthday parties in the last few weeks.  It's getting to be that time of year where it seems everyone we know is having a birthday.  This past weekend we went to Landon's party.  Both the kids had a blast and the adults enjoyed catching up as well.  Maddox rode a pony and did his share of jumping in a bounce house.  Maclain's favorite activity was eating pizza, which we have recently discovered is her favorite food!

 

 

I spent a good chunk of time cutting up half of Maclain's pizza so that the pieces were small enough for her.  But of course, she wanted it whole.  It took her a good, long while to finish that piece, but she definitely did it.  She and Maddox are so different.  He wants his pieces small.  She wants everything big.  Crazy kids!

Also that day we attended Sawyer's 1st birthday party.  I wish I had gotten pictures from it b/c it seriously was the cutest 1st birthday party ever, but Maclain decided to be extra clingy that morning and she would not let me put her down. 

The weekend before we went to Isaac's 3rd birthday party.  It was a Cat in the Hat theme and Renee's dad was dressed up as The Cat in the Hat and also later changed into a Thing 2 costume.  Maddox was hilarious at this party because he would not stop talking to the characters.  He kept asking The Cat where "his brothers" were (I guess referring to Thing 1 and Thing 2).  He was pretty bummed when they had to leave and he has not forgotten about them since. 

 

Her favorite spot was the sandbox

I so wish his eyes were open in this one :(

The Birthday boy in the shirt I made for him :)


 

We have had a great few weeks celebrating special friends and I can't wait until next month when we will be celebrating Maddox's 3rd birthday. My, how the time is flying! 

Spaghetti

As I have mentioned before, I am trying to get Maclain to eat other foods besides baby food.  If it were up to her, she would live only on baby food, rolls, and crackers.  Maddox went through this, too, so I am not in panic mode yet.  But it would be nice for her to branch out a little.  I decided to feed the kids spaghetti for lunch today, knowing how it would go.  I figured Maclain would dump hers out, play in it, then cry.  Maddox on the other hand would sit there, say "EWWWWW!" and just pretend it wasn't there without touching it at all.  I was right on both accounts. 

While she was still having fun...

When she realized this was her only option for lunch... 

 

 And, Maddox's untouched bowl of spaghetti...

What kid doesn't like spaghetti?? :)

Maddox and Woody

Yesterday morning I was working in the kitchen and Maddox came in saying, "Mommy, take my picture with Woody please!". I can count on one finger the number of times Maddox has asked me to take his picture, so I quickly fulfilled his request...

He certainly knows how to melt his momma's heart. :)

Lolli and G Came To Visit

We love it when Lolli and G come to visit.  We had not seen them since Christmas so it was a nice treat to have them stay for several days.  The only hiccup we experienced was when the airline lost Lolli's luggage and they did not deliver it until the day before they left!  She handled it better than I would have for sure! 

We did a lot of playing inside since they brought the cold weather with them this time.  But one morning we braved it and went to the park to feed the ducks.  We had a great time while they were here and as always, hated to see them go!