The Covington Family

1 Month Old

2012-02-12T20:17:00.000-06:00

Kate turned 1 month old on Saturday. We have been enjoying this sweet child soooo much. This month has just flown by! It feels like we just brought her home from the hospital yesterday! We have gotten into a nice little schedule though and everyone has adjusted wonderfully! She nurses every 2-3 hours during the day and is starting to sleep in longer increments at night. The little girlfriend certainly doesn't miss a meal. When she decides she is hungry, I only have about 30 seconds to do something about it before she tries to alert the neighbors. ;) The past 4 nights she has only woken up twice to nurse and went right back to sleep. I am loving the extra sleep! She still sleeps most of the day too. When she is awake, she loves to just lay there and listen to us talk/sing to her. She is so low maintenance right now. I am embarrassed to admit how many times Curt and I have looked at each other and said "Where's Kate? I thought you had her." ha!

I am LOVING that she is a little Mama's girl right now. Will never really seemed to prefer me over Curt (or vice versa) when he was a baby, but Kate seems to prefer Mama. It is so sweet!

Kate has just started to take a pacifier and seems to like it. The only troubling thing we have noticed about her is that she doesn't seem to care for her car seat. Will loved his car seat and would sleep in it for hours. Kate, on the other hand, only lasts about 5 minutes. This could make for some interesting grocery store trips. We'll see how it goes when we go on our first road trip in the next couple of weeks. :)

Kate is just such an easy baby. She is a little joy. It has been so fun watching her grow this month. I forgot how quickly newborns steal your heart. This little girl certainly has captured all of ours!

We love you sweet girl!

Bath time

2012-02-10T12:22:00.000-06:00

Our routine is to do baths right after breakfast every morning. Mostly we do this because Curt doesn't like the chore of bath time so I try to get it done before he gets home, but also because I like the feeling of everyone being clean to start our day--even if it only lasts 15 minutes. Will loves the routine. He knows that he gets a bath and then Kate is next. He will even yell after he is done "Katie turn!" (he calls her Katie). Well, when our schedule changes a little, Will flips out.

On this particular morning, Kate slept a little later than usual, so Will had already eaten and had his bath by the time she got up. I had to feed her before she could get a bath (if you have ever bathed a hungry baby, you know it's not pretty), and Will was irate that we were going out of order.

In case you can't understand him, he is grabbing my pants leg while yelling "BATH!"

And 20 minutes later, he was still mad...

We were trying to get a sweet video to send to Daddy...that obviously didn't happen. :)

I was really hesitant to post these videos of my child when he obviously was not acting his best, but I thought they were just too funny to not post. And, come on, everyone's toddler throws fits like this, right? Please say yes. ;)

Have a happy weekend!

Baby Kate

2012-02-09T12:39:00.005-06:00

5 days new.

This is the best picture we could get with Will. He was being stubborn that day. Such is life. ;)

LOVE this one!

Love. Love. Love. this little sweetheart.

Weekend with Family

2012-02-07T13:51:00.001-06:00

My sister and brother-in-law came into town to meet Kate last week and we had such a fun weekend with them! It was great to have so much help with my babies...I don't think I had to change a diaper all weekend! Which was a nice break from the 50 a day I usually change (not that I am complaining! ;).

We spent much of the weekend lounging around and just enjoying all being together...

We managed to get a few pictures after church on Sunday before Will melted down and demanded lunch and his nap. :)

Love this picture of Kate staring at Nana.

Dancing on the coffee table.

They will be the best mom and dad some day!

Will was done with pictures by this point.

Papa and his boy going to the park. These two are inseparable.

My cousins even got to come by to meet Kate. Caden and Will enjoyed playing together...

I am so thankful for the blessing of family. I hate it that they live so far away, but it only makes their visits that much more special. And hopefully they will be moving here in the next couple of years. Fingers crossed! ;)

Pretty Day

2012-02-02T13:46:00.000-06:00

The weather has been so uncharacteristically nice lately that we have been trying to do something fun outside every day. A few days ago, we enjoyed side walk chalk and bubbles.

Will has some pretty good handwriting, wouldn't you agree? ;)

Love that dirty bottom! ;)

Kate just relaxed in her swing while Will and I played.

She enjoyed the break from her brother. Poor girl typically gets way too much attention from Will. Here are a few pics of our girl...

This is how she starts off her day...

And then Will spots the bow...

And snatches it off of her and says "uh oh!" and hands it to me as if it was an accident. ha!

Last night was a glorious night. Kate only woke up 3 times between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. (and went back to sleep immediately after nursing). And Will slept until after 7 this morning. So I feel like a new woman today! We've got family coming into town tonight, so today is my Friday. I am excited for a fun weekend!

Scenes from our Weekend

2012-01-31T18:30:00.002-06:00

We enjoyed a low-key weekend at home. It's so nice to have the whole family home and no plans! Will and Curt played outside most of the weekend and Kate enjoyed lots of snuggle time!

He looks so big! I have no idea when that happened.

This picture sums up our life. I am constantly guarding Kate and Will is constantly testing us to see how close to her he can get and how hard he can "pat" her.

He loves playing in Kate's cradle. :)

Love this little spaghetti face!

I love the way he looks at her. He needed a little girl to love. She already has him wrapped around her finger.

And a few after church on Sunday...

We actually made it through the service without having to take either of them out--well, Will had to have a quick diaper change. Kate was awake the whole service, but didn't make a peep. Will could learn a thing or two from her. :)

Little snuggle bunny.

This week is back to reality. We have been so lucky to have WONDERFUL friends from church bringing us meals for the past 2 weeks, but we got our last one on Monday. So that means I have to resume my job of being a mommy and a wife. I've enjoyed the break and Curt has enjoyed all of the delicious food! :)

Due Date

2012-01-30T18:52:00.000-06:00

Today is Kate's due date. I am so thankful that God decided to let her come into our lives a little early so that we could enjoy her a little longer. Although she has only been in our lives for about 3 weeks, it feels like she has been part of our family forever. She is one of us. She makes our family complete. She is our sweet girl.

I am also thankful that God didn't make me carry her to 40 weeks. I like having my babies at 37 weeks. When I got my 40-week pregnancy email this morning, I quickly hit delete and said a prayer of thanks for not having to go that long. ha! I much prefer being a mommy to being pregnant. ;) Especially when the reward is this great...

And being this little guy's Mommy is pretty rewarding too. ;)

2-Week Checkup

2012-01-29T19:55:00.004-06:00

Kate had her 2-week checkup last week and she was doing great! She gained half a pound since we had seen the doctor the week before, which is great! Here are her stats...

Height: 20 1/2 inches (75th %)
Weight: 8 lbs. 5 oz. (50th %)
Head: 25th % (they didn't write down the actual measurements for this for some reason)

Kate is such a dream baby. When the doctor was poking around on her and looking in her ears and nose, she just laid there and didn't even cry. She seriously only cries if she is hungry. I know she's mine, but she is just the sweetest little thing! Will went to a friend's house during the appointment, so I didn't have to attempt to take them both to the doctor. I don't think I am that advanced yet. :)

And these pictures have nothing to do with the appointment, but we took them after church a few weeks ago.

Will says "hold her!" at least 100 times a day. He LOVES to hold Kate. The only problem is that he just throws her off when he is done. We are working on that. ;) Now when he holds her, he says "gentle, gentle." ha! At least he is listening to us!

And he loves giving kisses. Such a good big brother!

And hugs...

Have I mentioned how much I love this cutie pie?!? He has a thing for pirates these days, so this little outfit is so fitting for him!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Kate's Room

2012-01-28T17:55:00.000-06:00

I have been meaning to post pictures of Kate's room for a while, but I thought I had a little more time before she got here to get that done. :) We literally got her room finished just a couple of days before she got here! It took months for it all to come together, but I LOVE the way it turned out! I absolutely love all of the pink! I wanted it to be classic and pretty...just like our sweet girl! ;)

I absolutely love the crib! It was a gift from Nana and Papa. I hope that one day Kate's (or Will's) babies will get to use it! Here are a few pictures of my boys putting it together...

Such a good little helper!

Some pictures of the final product...

Close-up of the bedding...Kate makes it ever prettier! :)

This is the dresser that Curt and I restored/refinished...

Lots of blood, sweat, and tears went into this! :)

This is one of my favorite things in the room. It's Prissy's old bed and I use it to hold several blankets. I just couldn't bear to put it in the attic and I love the way it looks in Kate's room. I love that our first baby girl has a special place in Kate's room. She will always hold a special place in all of our hearts.

I adore this ballerina painting that Aunt Nan got for Kate!

This china doll was mine when I was a little girl. She needs a new dress, but she's in pretty good condition considering that she is over 20 years old!

Curt picked out this bible verse for Kate's room and I can't think of anything more fitting!

And, of course, lots and lots of bows!

And more in her drawers...

A view of her closet. I didn't get around to organizing this until the day before she got here. Thank goodness I didn't wait another day!

Will and Kate's bathroom. It is a jack and jill bathroom between their rooms.

Kate sleeps in a cradle in our room so she hasn't actually slept in her crib yet. But let's hope that she loves it as much as we do! ;)

Welcome to the Big Leagues

2012-01-25T19:46:00.001-06:00

Well, it's official...we are definitely a multi-kid family now. Our snazzy double stroller was delivered today...

I intended to have this before Kate got here, but she surprised us with her early arrival! :) I think I researched double strollers more than I did what college I was going to attend. ha!

Will definitely approves! Now all we need is a van! ;) And yes, I realize that my finger is blocking part of the pictures above...I'll blame it on sleep deprivation.

And in other news, I actually got out of the house with 2 kids, 2 days in a row. Granted, I was at least 15 minutes late both days, but we all have to start somewhere! Today we went to a friend's house to play, and both kids were worn out by the time we got home...

Such sweethearts! If you look at Will's right hand in this picture, you will see that he has Kate's bow. He ripped it off mid-way home. And so it begins... ;)

Heavy Sleeper

2012-01-23T20:01:00.000-06:00

One thing we have noticed about Kate so far is that she can sleep through anything. Thank goodness. Because there is a certain loud, rough little boy who lives in the same home as her. Today, after I put Will down for his nap, I walked into the kitchen to pick Kate up and this is what I found...

That's a Bullseye (the horse in Toy Story) sticker on her forehead. I am sure you don't have to think too hard to imagine who put it there. At least it didn't disturb her sleep. That poor girl. :)

A Few Firsts

2012-01-22T18:30:00.000-06:00

Kate had several firsts over the past week and a half.

First bath...

First time to go to church...

Sweet smile.

No more pictures Mom! :)

This actually was a DISASTER. ha! Now that it's over, I can laugh about it. Kate actually did wonderfully. She only woke up once to nurse and quickly went back to sleep. And Will did fine, too. The problem was that both kids needed me and there was only one me. And Curt is teaching a class right now, so he is tied up during that time. I don't think that we will be going to class for the next couple of weeks until Curt can help out a little. Oh, and it didn't help that Will randomly woke up at 5:55 a.m. on Sunday, so he was exhausted by class time. Which is also why he is not in any of the pictures above. Oh well, you live you learn. ;) We all took much-needed long naps when we got home.

And just a couple of pictures of Will enjoying the beautiful weather outside after he woke up...

We looked outside and Will was just laying in the grass with his puppies. Sweet boy.

Such a good ending to a wonderful weekend!

These are the Days

2012-01-21T07:47:00.000-06:00

These are the days I have waited for my whole life. One baby sitting by my side holding my hand. One baby in my lap completely content to just lay there and be talked to. The icing on the cake is when my big baby looks up and kisses me for no reason at all.

Love the smile in this one. And love that sweet little foot in the bottom left.

I dread the day he no longer wants to rock. I dread the day it's no longer cool to hold Mommy's hand. I dread the day they grow up. I seriously would forgo sleep for the next 20 years if they would just stay this size forever.

As futile as it may be, I hope they never grow up.

Holding sister's hand.

P.S. I seriously should start putting on makeup if I am going to post pictures of myself, but being 1 week post-partum has left me feeling less than motivated to get dressed up. :)

And we can't forget my big baby

2012-01-19T08:35:00.000-06:00

Just so you get your Will fix too..

When Kate's not in the swing, Will likes to give it a whirl. ;)

Loves Woody and his hat!

My parents took Will to the see Beauty and the Beast in 3D a couple of days ago, and I honestly was quite skeptical as to whether he would sit through it, but he LOVED it! He sat through the entire movie and ate popcorn and a pickle. He came home talking all about the beast. :)

Got his 3D glasses on!

Sipping on some Sprite.

And a few pictures of my goofy boy. He has gotten lots of attention during the day since Kate sleeps so much. He has handled everything so well!

Loving our after-nap fruit snack and rocking time.

Love my sweet boy!

Alright, off to change some diapers. I'm like a diaper changing factory over here! I have a feeling that won't change for a very looooong time. :)

Milk Monster

2012-01-19T08:21:00.003-06:00

We took Kate to her first doctor's appointment on Tuesday and the doctor said she looked great! In fact, she was already back up to her birth weight. It took Will a couple of weeks to get there when he was a newborn. She is a good little nurser...especially at night when she likes to eat every hour and a half. ;) I don't mind the extra snuggle time though.

Here are a few pictures at the doctor's office...

And a few when we got home...

She was hungry and determined to get some milk out of those sweet little fingers. ;)

And just a few more pictures of the sweetest little girl in the world...

This is what she does most of the day.

Any time she doesn't have a bow in, Will points to her head and says "bow??" ha! He thinks she needs a bow in at all times too! ;)

More Hospital Pictures

2012-01-16T19:59:00.000-06:00

Here are some more pictures of our sweet girl from the hospital. We had some wonderful friends and family come by and visit us and we could not have had a better hospital stay. If it wasn't nap time or bedtime, Will was there the whole time and he did great! My parents were great about making sure he was always taken care of!

Our gorgeous flowers and stuffed animals. Our room looked like a florist! ;)

Sweet kisses from brother.

The Russells came by the night she was born. We love this family and are so thankful for their friendship!

Carly loved Kate!

Tara and Josh came by the night she was born too.

One of the elders from church came by when she was just a few hours old and prayed over her. It was so special to us.

Family of four. Love these 3 so much!

This picture isn't flattering of either of us, but it's so special to me. I am so happy and want to remember this moment forever.

Curt's mom was able to come on Thursday night.

Getting ready to go home on Friday...

All loaded up and ready to go!

Showing Kate her new room...

Let's hope she likes pink!

She has been an angel baby so far and sleeps about 90% of the time. We love this sweet girl so much! Will says "hold her, hold her!" about 20 times a day. He is such a good big brother already! It seems so surreal that we are a family of 4 now. I feel like Kate has been the missing link in our family. We are so glad she decided to come a little early so we could enjoy her longer!

The Story of Kate

2012-01-14T21:50:00.003-06:00

Warning: this is an obnoxiously long post with more pictures than anyone wants to see, but we are so in love with this little girl. And I desperately want to remember every minor detail of her birthday. I want to savor every moment.

I still can't believe that our baby girl is here. I am 100% biased, but she is absolutely the sweetest little thing ever--aside from Will of course! ;) She already has us all wrapped around her little finger.

On Tuesday, January 10th, I had my 37 week doctor's appointment and I was 3 cm dilated and 60% effaced. The doctor warned us that the baby could come at any time and that we needed to be ready. I am glad I listened and came home and packed our bags. That night I woke up at 11:40 pm with contractions that were only about 5 minutes apart. Thankfully, Curt had convinced me to go to bed early that night instead of staying up late to watch Biggest Loser, so I had actually gotten a couple hours of sleep before the contractions started. I was convinced it was false labor because I thought the contractions would be further apart if it was the real deal. But a little after midnight, my water broke and the contractions started coming every 2-3 minutes. I kept telling Curt that I didn't think it was actually my water that broke because there wasn't enough liquid, but when we were standing in the bathroom and he looked down and saw a puddle of water in the floor, he insisted that we get ready to go. Smart man. ;) I was trying to wait to call the doctor until I had had contractions for a solid hour, but they were just way too close together and intense, so I called the doctor around 12:30 and she told me to get to the hospital. I called the sweet lady from church who was going to watch Will and finished up packing our bags.

We left to go the hospital around 1:30 and got there in about 20 minutes. It seemed like the longest drive ever. The contractions were so intense that I honestly was afraid I was going to have Kate in the car. ha! They were only 2-3 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute each, so I only had a minute or two of rest in between in each one.

Just the week before, I had decided that I wanted to try to do a VBAC just because the recovery would be easier and I would get to hold Will afterward and not have to wait the typical 2 weeks you have to wait with a c-section. While, despite it's risks, I was completely on board with the idea of a VBAC, I was also very nervous and hadn't planned myself mentally for having to go through labor and delivery again. That was probably for the best though. I would have definitely talked myself out of it had I known the pain that was involved. ha!

By the time we got to the hospital and got checked in, I was dilated to a 5 and 100 percent effaced. With a VBAC, an epidural is mandatory in case you have to go in for an emergency c-section, so they called the anesthesiologist to come in. He was there within 15 minutes, but by then, I was already dilated to an 8 and the contractions were coming so fast that he was having a hard time catching up to them. He kept having to up the dosage, and by the time I finally felt some relief I was dilated to a 10 and ready to push. I am so thankful that Curt talked me into going to the hospital when we did because we definitely didn't have any time to waste!

After the epidural took effect. Last preggo picture!

We waited to start pushing until around 3:30 a.m. so that I could have a little bit of rest time and the doctor could get there. We pushed for almost 2 hours, and with the help of a vacuum, Katherine made her debut at 5:20 a.m. Every labor pain immediately went out the window and I would do it all again times 10 for our perfect daughter.

The first time I got to meet Kate. My heart immediately expanded times 100. I had no idea how in love with her I would be. This moment will forever be written on my heart.

Curt got to cut the cord. He was the best labor coach ever. And probably the cutest too. ;)

7 lbs. 8 oz. of pure sweetness.

Daddy put on the first diaper.

First picture with the 3 of us. I wish I had on makeup, but when labor happens in the middle of the night, that's not exactly a priority. ;)

Our first mother/daughter picture. Love love love this little girl.

She looks so much like her brother it's almost scary. :) Will used to make that exact same scowl when he was a newborn.

Dr. Reyes. She delivered both Will and Kate. I absolutely love her! She is like part of the family for us.

My parents got there around 4:00 a.m, which is amazing since I didn't call them until 1:30 and they live 3 hours away. I actually didn't even think they were going to make it to the delivery in time because it was going so fast. When I finally got the epidural, I called my mom and was crying because I thought they were going to miss it. She assured me they were going as fast as they could and that they were praying for us. When I got off the phone, one of the nurses whispered in my ear, "You are going to have that one day." Ahhhh, my heart melted. I can't believe that one of these days, my baby is going to have a baby and I will be the one she calls and wants there.

A few pictures when they first met Kate:

Curt's Dad came as soon as Curt called him and was there to greet Kate when she was only a few hours old...

My parents went to the house to wake Will up and they brought him to the hospital as soon as he got dressed. He was excited to meet his baby sister! He was even sporting pink for the occasion!

But he wasn't interested in taking a family picture. :)

Kate even came bearing gifts. She brought Will a Woody doll. He was thrilled!

And a few more pictures of the sweetheart who first made me a mom...

First bath.

Kate's whole birthday was so surreal and such a wonderful experience. It truly was a perfect day. The recovery for me has been great and I am up and moving around and feeling like myself already. Will has been handling everything wonderfully and hasn't shown any jealousy at all. We'll see if it continues after Nana and Papa leave. :) Kate has been absolutely perfect. We have all been fighting over who gets to hold her next. We just realized that we haven't put her down, other than during the night, at all. We just can't get enough of her! I could just eat her up!

"A daughter may outgrow your lap, but she will never outgrow your heart."

I have a lot more hospital pictures that I will post later. For now, I am going to rock my sweet baby. My heart is so content when I have this perfect baby in my arms.

Katherine Elise Covington

2012-01-12T18:30:00.002-06:00

She's here.

She's perfect in every way.

We are so grateful for her health and her safety. We are overwhelmingly in love. We are blessed.

Will obviously shares our excitement. ;)

From the fullness of his grace we have received one blessing after another.

John 1:16

Full Term

2012-01-09T08:52:00.002-06:00

Kate is officially baked! We have a wide range of emotions around here--some panic, some fear, but mostly just ready to meet our daughter. She can officially come whenever she feels like it. Watch this little girl decide that she wants to hang out in my tummy a couple weeks past her due date. ha! Totally kidding, that won't happen. We have a date picked out for her to be here...it's nice to know there is an absolute end date to the pregnancy. As of last Tuesday, I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced, so we are making progress! There were several times last weekend when I thought I was in labor only have it stop--which is way discouraging. But good because we needed last weekend to get ready for her. Honestly, I would love it if she would wait until next week to come because I want to do some fun things with Will this weekend since we will probably have to hibernate for several weeks after she gets here. But I guess the choice is hers now. :)

Yes, I know...I am huge! I have had 2 complete strangers tell me I looked like I was about to pop in the last week (yes, of course, they were both men).

I feel like the weekend flew by. It was just what we needed though! My parents kept Will all weekend so Curt and I could relax, go out to eat, go to the movies, clean, run errands, etc. It was probably the last time we will go to the movies for a loooong time. And we are much closer to being ready for Kate now. I was starting to get panicked! And I know Curt was stressing about getting Kate's linen closet organized too. ;) We even bought some newborn diapers. That means she's definitely coming. ha! I still have a couple of small things to do to get ready for her (including packing our hospital bags). But if she decides to come soon, we are pretty much ready. We have plan A, B, and C lined up for Will in case she comes early (thanks to some wonderful church friends!) and I even have an instruction manual for Will on the fridge. Which might be slightly extreme. ;)

Will had a great time with my parents...maybe a little too much fun. He actually cried for 20 minutes on the ride home and yelled "Papa!" Mind you, he didn't shed a tear when I left him on Friday. Ha! He knows just how to make his Mama and Daddy feel loved. ;)

Here are a few pictures from lunch...

He is obsessed with shooting people now (he points his finger at people and yells "pow!"), so when we shoot him back, he plays dead....even in the middle of a restaurant. :)

I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow to take measurements, check on Kate's position, etc. It will probably be the last time we see our girl while she is in my tummy. I can't believe the end is so near!

Time to enjoy my little man while it's still just the two of us. Today we not getting out of our pj's. We are going to play, read books, watch movies, and maybe a little laundry. ;)

Christmas Round 2

2012-01-04T08:13:00.000-06:00

Curt's parents came up last weekend to celebrate Christmas....so this year was like the never-ending Christmas! Will loved getting to open gifts a second time! :)

On Friday night, Curt's Aunts and cousins and came over. It's always great to see them!

Will loves his cousin Jonathan!

Playing with Aunt Patti.

Aunt Dee Dee and Will.

Reading a book with Tara. They are expecting a little girl in April...we are so excited for them and can't wait to meet her!

Will anxiously waiting for us to put together his toy from Aunt Patti. It's a pirate ship and Will has been saying "pirate!" non-stop since he got it.

Playing with Cameron. Will LOVED playing with Cameron and Jonathan! I think he would have stayed up all night playing with them if we would have let him!

On Saturday morning, Curt and his sister ran a 5k in town. It was a little cold outside, so Will stayed home and played with Mimi during the race.

When they got home, it was finally time to open gifts!

Will was ready to open!

Will got some fun toys, including this little tool bench.

Love this picture of my sweet boys! Will has been such a Daddy's boy since Curt was off of work for a few days.

Now, it's back to reality! I think Will is finally adjusting to no grandparents. He has actually slept better the past 2 days than he has in the past 2 weeks. I think he was always afraid of missing something, so he he would wake up early in the morning and from naps when people were here. Yesterday and today, he has slept 13+ hours at night and taken 2.5-3 hours naps during the day. He is catching up! :)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T13:37:00.003-06:00

Happy 2012! I can't believe it's already here! When we found out we were pregnant last May, and her due date was in 2012, I remember thinking that we had all the time in the world because 2012 was so far away....and now it's here! It's really crept up on us. 2011 was such a great year for our family and I think we did a great job of really savoring our time as a family of 3. I am so excited to see what God has in store for us in 2012, but I am also a little sad to see 2011 go. Last night as I was rocking Will to bed, I was thinking how limited his days as an only child are, and while I am sad to see them go, I am excited to have our little family grow.

I decided to only make one resolution this year. And that is to survive next year. ha! I know it is going to be hard having 2 kids under 2, and I know that life isn't going to always be perfect or pretty. But if we can get through this next year with healthy, happy kids who are beginning to know and love Jesus....and in the process make some great family memories, then that's good enough.

I completely ignored my mom's advice (despite her repeated reminders) and didn't make any black-eyed peas yesterday. I could blame it on being huge and pregnant, but in reality, I was just too lazy to cook them. I need a break from the holiday cooking! Oh well...Curt reminded me that it really doesn't matter since 2012 is supposed to be the end of it all anyway. ;)

The Christmas decorations are now down and I am in full-on "get ready for Kate" mode. One thing is for sure, there is definitely a lot of change in store for us in 2012! And this little sweet heart's world is about to be turned upside down... :)

Holly Jolly Christmas

2011-12-28T11:47:00.000-06:00

Christmas came and went so fast this year. But we savored every minute of it and were all spoiled rotten. The toys are slowly finding their way to a new home in the house...Santa was good to all of us, but Will was definitely the star of the show!

Here is Papa helping him open a gift on Christmas eve...

He was excited about the fudge he left out for Santa!

After Will went to bed, Santa's helpers went to work putting together toys...

Since Christmas fell on Sunday this year, we didn't open gifts until Sunday afternoon. Here are a few pictures before church on Sunday morning...

These pictures crack me up. Will was so happy as long as he was in Nana's or Papa's arms....

But the second Curt or I tried to take him, he would start crying and screaming for them...

So we had to settle for a family picture with just the 3 of us. ;)

A few pictures before Christmas lunch...

And after nap time, Will got to start opening gifts! He started with his stocking...

Papa got a new gun.

Even though Kate isn't here yet, she definitely wasn't forgotten....

And a few pictures opening gifts...

Will loved his new spring horse and cowboy hat from Nana and Papa!

So did Papa. :)

I have no idea what this is, but my Dad and Robert had fun with it. I think it's some sort of hunting equipment. That is one expensive hobby! ;)

I am sure Will's toys were meant to be ridden by an almost-nine-month pregnant woman. Thankfully, it didn't break. :)

We enjoyed lots of fun family time...

And of course, we enjoyed several competitive card games as well. I believe Team Covington were the ultimate champs. ;)

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas with your family!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T05:00:00.002-06:00

Christmas Eve Eve!

2011-12-23T13:44:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's Christmas Eve Eve! This month has just gone by entirely too fast. But I think we are ready for the big day!

The Christmas baking is well underway....

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care...

The presents are all lovingly wrapped....

The house is all clean (including all bathrooms and laundry done...which is a rarity around here!) and smells like cinnamon, dinner is prepared for tonight, and family is almost here! I am so excited for Christmas!

Our little sweetheart has been slaving away in the kitchen all morning and is now resting up for lots of family time. Let the spoiling begin! ;)

Daddy should be flattered

2011-12-20T12:58:00.000-06:00

I was making a batch of fudge this afternoon and Will was being so good and playing by himself in the living room. He got really quiet, so I knew he was into something he shouldn't be, but I thought I would just pick up whatever it was after I finished with the fudge. So I went to get him when I was done and he had gotten into the DVD cabinet and dug out P90X. I asked him what he was doing and he handed me the DVD box and pointed to the man on the front cover and said "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Does this man resemble Daddy? Well, I will let you decide for yourself. ;)

Daddy should be quite flattered. :)

34 Weeks!

2011-12-19T13:22:00.003-06:00

I am 34 weeks pregnant! And I am getting HUGE! I am at the point now where I just feel like a whale. I can't even remember what it feels like to be skinny. ha!

But we are definitely in the home stretch. Kate could be here as early as 3 weeks. She weighs 4 3/4 pounds and is about the size of a cantaloupe. I am not ashamed to admit that, in the privacy of our home, I now proudly waddle from room to room. ha!

Before I make this next statement, I want to preface it by saying that I completely realize how incredibly blessed we are to be able to experience this miracle--and that's exactly what it is--and I know there are so many couples out there who have to try a long time to get pregnant or are still trying and would love to be in my shoes. And I really do try to not complain too much about it. But, with all of that said, I am so tired of throwing up. ha! I'll admit that this has been one tough pregnancy. Maybe that means that Kate is getting it out of her system now and will be an easy baby! Wishful thinking... ;)

Anyway, I feel like December is slipping away so fast. I am trying so hard to soak up all my time with Will. I know things will be so different when Kate comes and we will have to develop a new normal, but I am loving our little schedule now. Will always loves to watch his cartoons in the morning with his milk and puppy....

It's one of my favorite times of the day. After watching for about 3 minutes though, he turns to me, and says "hungy" (hungry) "sausy" (sausage). ;)

And here are a few pictures before church yesterday....

I love this picture of my boys. I love the way Will is looking at Curt here. Will copies everything his Daddy does and thinks he just hung the moon! And in case you are wondering, I did not pick that tie out. Curt had to wear it on Sunday because he got it at the men's church Christmas party last week when they had an ugly tie exchange. So don't think it was just a bad fashion choice on my behalf. :)

And one funny story. Yesterday we met Curt's parents for lunch after church. After lunch we went to grab a cupcake and there was a woman there (who had a newborn baby in the carseat with her, so she was obviously a new mother) in the line behind us. Will ran up to her, reached for her tummy, and said "Kate." ha! Bless that sweet, innocent child. Meanwhile, I wanted to crawl under the table. :)

Only 1 more week!

2011-12-17T13:11:00.000-06:00

I can't believe Christmas is only a week away! I am so excited for Christmas this year, but also don't want it to come because I don't want it to be over. Ha! I LOVE this time of year and it's even more special with Will. I can't wait to see him open some of his presents. I think he is going to love a few of his surprises! I am a little sad that most of our Christmas cards have already come in the mail. Will and I look forward to the mail every day for the Christmas cards!

This is our usual spot to sort through the mail.

And just a few more pictures of our cutie... ;)

He looks so big in all of these pictures. This is him a little over a year ago. What in the world happened to my baby?

Ahhhh, it breaks my heart looking back at his old pictures! Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones, but I highly doubt it. ;)

Alright, back to the holiday baking. Have a happy weekend!

Christmas Playgroup

2011-12-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

For playgroup this week, we had a Christmas book exchange and the kids got to decorate Christmas cookies. The kids had so much fun! Here are a few pictures...

Will needed a granola bar to tide him over before playgroup. :)

An attempt at a group shot...

Opening his book...

Trying to get everyone else's book. :)

Will and Carly getting ready to decorate cookies...

Yummy!

Thanks to Amanda for hosting! We had so much fun! I am sure she will be cleaning up sprinkles for the next few weeks. :)

Angel Breakfast

2011-12-12T12:46:00.000-06:00

Our church has an annual Angel breakfast and it is so much fun to take Will to. Although I have to admit that it is a little exhausting too. Will just gets so excited when he's around a lot of other kids and is into everything! So it's hard to keep up with him! :)

Here are a few pictures before we left...

And a few pictures at the breakfast...

Kate, Will, and Kyle. ( I can't believe we got them to sit still and all look at the camera!)

And our picture with Santa....

Haha! I had a feeling he might do this. We have already seen Santa once this year and this exact same thing happened. I thought it may have been because it was nap and lunch time, but apparently not. Apparently this is the year that Santa scares Will to death. ha! Everyone has to have one of these classic pictures, right? :)

And a few more pictures in another one of his cute Christmas outfits...

This is what he does when we ask "Where's God?"

Love this sweet little deer! :)

Thoughts for Friday

2011-12-09T17:56:00.002-06:00

Warning: this post has very few pictures. I have been horrible at taking pictures lately!

1.) Will has gotten really into praying lately and it is seriously the sweetest thing in the world. He closes his eyes really tight, puts his hands together, and starts rattling off all of the names he knows. He often gets stuck on one name and repeats it over and over. Today we were in the grocery store and he prayed for "Tantie" ("Auntie") at least 20 times. I know God smiles so big every time Will prays.

2.) I finally got my driver's license renewed today (I am finally a Covington! ha! That only took 2.5 years...what can I say, I had my doubts! I am totally kidding!). Anyway, the lady that was helping me asked me what my current height and weight was. I told her I didn't want to give her my weight because I am 8 months pregnant and asked if I could give my pre-pregnancy weight. She told me no because we don't know if I will weigh that again after I have the baby. ha! At least she was honest! Well, I was not about to share my current weight with a complete stranger (I don't even want my husband knowing that when I am in this condition!), so she had to go get permission from her supervisor to put my pre-preggo weight on there. haha!

3.) One of the things I love about Christmas is the Christmas cards. Will loves them too! He has recently started learning the names of his friends and every time we walk by them, he says their names. It's so sweet!

4.) In the past week, Will has started to have what I thought was separation anxiety. He seriously doesn't want me to leave him anywhere. I asked his doctor about it this morning, and she said it was not separation anxiety, but he was beginning to show signs of regressing with the new baby. She said that a 20 month old toddler who has never had any separation anxiety would likely not start it now, and since I am starting to show a lot, she was almost certain it can be attributed to the new baby. As soon as she said "baby," Will yelled "Kate!" The doctor said he knows a lot more than we think he does and that we will just have to endure this for the next few months. It breaks my heart for him!

5.) Will has started telling us "I love you." It melts our hearts!

6.) Exactly one month from today Kate will be full term (37 weeks). Will was born at 37 weeks. Scary, but exciting!

And just so this post meets grandparent approval, here are a couple of pictures of Will playing outside in the cold. I really think he would go outside to play even if it was 30 below!

We have a fun weekend planned with lots of fun Christmas stuff! I hope everyone has a great one!

Kate's Baby Shower

2011-12-07T13:09:00.003-06:00

On Sunday our church threw a baby shower for Kate. It was such a wonderful shower and we got so many great things for Kate! I have had so much fun going through all the gifts this week. It seriously feels like I already had my Christmas! ha!

Getting so much stuff for Kate made me so ready for her to get here. And it finally made it feel real that we are going to have another baby soon. One of the cards my friends got me said this...

Her little hands will touch so much...

your heart,

your life,

your love.

This brought tears to my eyes. I am so excited to meet our sweet girl!

Okay, here are a few shower pictures...

The dessert table.

Autumn made these adorable little stickers for the table. She is so talented/crafty! She also made the pretty pink cupcakes above! They were so good!

I am so glad my sweet sister--and my mom, of course--were able to make it!

Me, Autumn, and Glenna. They were 2 of the hostesses. I totally forgot and didn't get a picture with all of the hostesses together!

And here are a few pictures of some of the gifts Kate got...

The guys came after the shower and Will LOVED the punch... ;)

Okay, and I have a confession to make. Will found several of the little toys that Kate got at the shower and he was just begging me all day yesterday to open them for him, so I finally gave in and let him open one. It seriously is an infant toy, but he has LOVED playing with it. ha! Bless his little heart. He likes it better than all of his toys! I think it's because he knows that it's Kate's.

He has started to become keenly aware of Kate (I think it's because I am getting bigger) and he says her name a thousand times a day and has started acting out in different ways. I know his world is going to be turned upside down next month and it makes me feel so sorry for him. So if he wants to play with her toys, then that's what he gets. ha!

Curt and I are so so thankful for our church family. We truly have been blessed to find such a wonderful church home to raise our kids in. And I think I would go crazy as a stay-at-home mom without these girls! I am so thankful to have so many sweet friends. And Kate is lucky to be so loved!

Busy but Fun Weekend!

2011-12-05T11:42:00.000-06:00

My whole family came into town this weekend for my baby shower and to celebrate my Dad's birthday. We had such a great weekend being all together! We packed a ton of stuff into 2 days. I am not sure how much fun they had though....I put them to work! This whole nesting thing is driving everyone around me crazy! :)

Will enjoyed tons of attention, as usual...

And my family even brought up a few gifts for him so he wouldn't feel left out since Kate was getting so many gifts at the shower...

Curt even wore an OSU t-shirt that Robert brought down for him. ha! He lost the bet when OSU played A&M. :)

Robert did tons of work in the house, including putting the chandelier in Kate's room and painting Will and Kate's new bathroom. It's so nice to have a house full of handy boys! Including the littlest handy man at the foot of the ladder...

On Saturday night, we took my Dad out to eat for his birthday.

We tried to get a picture with Will, but he couldn't be pried from Papa's arms. So it's just the 3 of us in this one. :)

Such a beautiful couple!

Angie made the cake last year, so I made it this year. He requested a hummingbird cake.

And he had a great little helper to blow out the candles...

These next two pictures make me laugh. My Dad gets up at the crack of dawn, but he never misses a nap! And I am just pregnant and don't sleep well at night. :)

We had so much fun with everyone this weekend and hated for it to end! Thank you so much Nan and Robert for coming all the way from Iowa! We love yall!

I have the dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer all running right now and the Christmas music is blasting. I love this time of year! We have tons of errands to run, but it's so cold today, I think we'll just stay in our pj's and enjoy our Monday! It's going to be a good week! :)

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-27T20:36:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday, we picked Nan and Robert up from the airport and headed to Comanche for Thanksgiving. We loved all of the family time and the endless, delicious food. I think I probably gained 10 pounds. ha! The guys hunted the majority of the week/weekend, so my mom, sister, and I (and Will, of course!) got to spend lots of time cooking, shopping, and watching girly movies. I love time with my mom and sister! And we were grateful that Will is too young to go hunting....I know that he will soon probably choose hunting over The Devil Wears Prada. ha!

Yes, he's on top of the garage. Don't worry, Will will never get to do this as long as I have any say (which, truthfully, may not be that much longer ;).

Not bad!

Robert shot a buck! I think this is a 10 point.

And a few pictures from Thanksgiving lunch...

Will wore his last pumpkin outfit of the year. Now it's time to break out the Christmas outfits! ;)

Will loves his Auntie! He has gotten so good at saying "Tantie" (Auntie). We are still working on Uncle!

So glad Granny could join us for lunch! There is never a dull moment with her around. :)

Our last Thanksgiving as a family of 3!

Love my Mom and Dad! If you happen to notice the stitches above my Dad's eye, it was a hunting injury. ha! I honestly don't really know what happened...but it somehow involved the scope of Robert's gun. Anyway, it's a good thing my sister is in her 4th year surgery residency (and she will be CHIEF resident starting in July! So proud of her! :).

All of us.

Will spent lots of his time this weekend doing this...

And this....

And this...

Do you notice a pattern? ha! If he wasn't running around playing, he was in someone's lap/arms all weekend. It will definitely be tough for him to return to reality tomorrow! :)

We had so much fun together last week and I was so sad to say goodbye to everyone today. But, not only is Christmas right around the corner, but Nan and Robert are coming in next weekend again for my baby shower and to help on Kate's room. We can't wait to see them!

And here is one last picture of our little sweetie sleeping on the way home...

I seriously could watch this child sleep for hours on end.

So Thankful...

2011-11-24T09:39:00.000-06:00

Today, and every day, we are so thankful for this little turkey.

You are so loved. Celebrate the blessings in your life. Celebrate the moments shared together as a family.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

30 Weeks!

2011-11-21T05:47:00.000-06:00

I am 30 weeks pregnant! So in 7 weeks, we will be full term! I feel like I am getting huge. But I am at the stage now where she is gaining 1/2 pound a week, so I guess we are both growing! And I am sure it won't help that the holidays are right around the corner and I have little to no willpower. ;)

I am going to the doctor every 2 weeks now, and we are going to schedule a c-section date next time we go. It's all seeming so real! But I am so excited about our last holiday as a family of 3! I can't believe that next year at Christmas, we may have two kids that are walking!

And a few pictures of our little sweetie from the weekend...

So, in our house, it's beginning to look at lot like--dare I say it?--CHRISTMAS!

I know, I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but we won't be home next weekend, so Curt gave me the green light to decorate before Thanksgiving. And Will has been GREAT about the decorations. When he woke up from his nap on Saturday, the trees were up, and we told him not to touch, and he really hasn't tried anymore. There has only been one broken ornament, and that was my fault. :) I just love this time of year! I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving week!

Catch Up

2011-11-16T06:18:00.000-06:00

It's been a super busy week so far. I have been in the kitchen cooking/baking for various things all week, and that coupled with an aching back, severe anemia, braxton hicks contractions, nausea, and a child who still has not adjusted to the time change and wakes up an hour early has exhausted me! I know, I know, the woes of a stay-at-home mom! ha! Fear not, I am so very thankful that these are my concerns now and they are not of the law variety that used to keep me up at night. :)

So, in my busyness, I failed to post pictures from last weekend. So here is a quick catch up...

And don't you think the chocolate on the mouth adds so much character to this picture? ;)

Alright, I am off to get this little pumpkin, who has been yelling "Mama!" in his crib the past 15 minutes. What I wouldn't give for my extra hour in the mornings back! ;)

Dizzy

2011-11-11T11:29:00.001-06:00

Will literally never gets tired of doing this....

He says "Gain!" any time he wants to do something again. It is so cute. He insisted that Papa swing him around at least 100 times last weekend. I seriously don't think he would have ever gotten tired of doing this! Even though he was so dizzy he couldn't stand up afterwards!

I think he is definitely going to love amusement park rides! ;)

Progress

2011-11-09T11:16:00.000-06:00

We got the nursery painted last weekend! And I can't tell you how happy it makes my heart to have a whole room that is pink in the house! I now feel like even if she were to come tomorrow (but let's pray that doesn't happen), it will be okay because she has a cradle and a pink room. ha! I also got the bedding in last week and am now waiting on the crib, which should be here any day. Here are a few pictures...

And Kate's sweet Daddy spent his birthday weekend painting her room.

And a few pictures after church on Sunday....

Oh, and Curt got a bow for his birthday. He played with it all weekend. I am somewhat concerned that it is going to take my place in our bed. ha!

I am loving this cold weather! We have had the fire going almost every day and this pregnant lady is so thankful for no more sleeveless shirts! :)

Happy 30th Birthday to My Special Someone!

2011-11-07T13:01:00.000-06:00

Yesterday my sweet husband turned 30 years old! The world became a much better place when this little cutie made his grand entrance 30 years ago....

I am so honored that Curt chose me to spend the rest of his life with. I am still not sure how in the world I got so lucky! He is the backbone of this family and I know that he would do anything in the world for us. He is such a Godly man and a wonderful spiritual leader of our family. I can't thank him enough for being such a wonderful example to our son. There is no better feeling in this world than the comfort of going to bed every night feeling protected and loved by your best friend.

Happy birthday to the man who God made perfectly for me. I love you more than you'll ever know and I look forward to being by your side for the next 30 years.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-05T15:35:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday before Trunk-or-Treat we took Will to the pumpkin patch. And, at the risk of sounding extremely cheesy, he was the cutest pumpkin in the whole patch! ;) But first, here are a few pictures after church...

Don't you just love all of those sweet smiles? Well, they didn't last long. We came home from church and let Will nap, but he unfortunately woke up a little grumpy and refused to be held at the pumpkin patch. He just wanted down...in fact, he was yelling "DOWN!" at the top of his lungs the whole time. I don't think we got one smile the whole time we were there.

But even when he's grumpy, he is just the sweetest little thing in the world...

And he LOVED the hay maze, which is part of the reason he wouldn't let us hold him...

We'll take this pumpkin! ;)

The best family picture we got...

And I include this last picture not because it is flattering of either of us, but because sometimes this is just our reality...

I love our blog because it really does represent our real life....the good and the bad. And sometimes, you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed. :)

30th Birthday Dinner

2011-11-04T12:53:00.001-05:00

Last night, we had a 30th birthday dinner for Curt with some of our closest friends. We had so much fun visiting with everyone and, of course, celebrating the birthday boy (even though his actual birthday isn't until Sunday). I was so busy chatting with everyone that I completely forgot to take pictures. But here are the few I did get....

The dessert table.

I scattered several pictures of Curt from when he was younger. Everyone agreed that their favorite picture was the zoot suit, complete with a pocket chain, from his high school prom. ;)

The girls' table...

Singing happy birthday...

The cute birthday boy!

We are so thankful to all of our friends for coming to help us celebrate. We love all of these sweet families so much and are so so thankful that we have so many wonderful friends going through the same stage of life as us.

We are going to continue celebrating the birthday boy this weekend by working on Kate's room. :) I hope everyone has a great weekend!

27 Weeks

2011-11-02T13:28:00.002-05:00

I am 27 weeks pregnant! So in 10 weeks, I will be full term. This is also the start of the 3rd trimester. I can't believe how quickly the second went by!

I have started to have pretty bad cramps in the past week, but I read that it's not too early for Braxton Hicks contractions to start. Maybe that's what it is. I never really had these with Will, I just went straight into labor with him, so I am not really sure what they feel like. I am going to talk to my doctor about it next week. And, unfortunately, the nausea has returned. I had a good 10 week break, but it seems to be back. I actually lost a couple pounds last week, and my appetite has really decreased. She may just be getting bigger, so there is not as much room for food.

In my weekly email this week, it said that she is 2 pounds now. It also said that I needed to stop doing any chores that required me to bend over like mopping or sweeping. So I have decided to just not do those things anymore and save them for Curt after he gets home from work. ha! I am kidding! :)

Our sweet girl is cooking away and will be here in no time. I am so excited to meet Kate, but I am really trying not to wish away this time (no matter how bad I feel) because I know that these are the last few weeks of Will being an only child. We are cherishing these final weeks as a family of 3.

Here are a few random pictures of our little sweetheart in the past couple of days...

Enjoying the fire. He says "hot hot" every time he walks by it. So cute.

And one last thing (I know this is a completely random post) Will has started doing. When we are sitting down to eat, I ask him what we do before we eat, and he says "paaaay" ("pray") and then he crosses his hands in front of him. Oh my goodness, it melts my heart! I just love this little boy so much!

Trick-or-Treat!

2011-11-01T12:03:00.001-05:00

We went to our church's trunk or treat on Sunday night. There was such a good turn out! Autumn did a great job putting everything together! I didn't get many pictures because we were chasing Will around all night. But I did get a few of him and Carly together....

Carly was such a pretty little pirate!

And these next two pictures crack me up. We couldn't get them to sit close to each other (I think Carly was scared of Will in his costume), so I told him to go give her a hug, and this was her reaction...

Ha! She wasn't having any of it! So cute!

And here is a picture of them together last year at trunk or treat.

Haven't they both grown so much? I am so glad we get to see our kids grow up together!

Glenna, Carly, Me, and Will.

We took Will trick-or-treating in our neighborhood on Monday night. He loved riding around in his wagon!

We only went for about 45 minutes because we could tell Will was getting tired. He actually skipped his afternoon nap for the first time ever yesterday (great timing for our Halloween plans). But it was my fault. We went to the playground with some friends, and then ran errands and he fell asleep briefly in the car. So he wouldn't go back to sleep when we got home. I shouldn't have kept him out so long. Oh well, lesson learned. And he loved handing out candy when we got home. He got so excited every time the doorbell rang.

We had such a great Halloween this year and got to enjoy lots of family time! So I guess it's time to retire the monster costume. So sad. I can't believe next year we will have two kids at Halloween. That means twice the fun! :)

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T09:45:00.001-05:00

Isn't this the ~~scariest~~ cutest little monster you have ever seen?!?

We took Will trick-or-treating downtown on Saturday night and he loved it! He was great at going up and picking out the piece of candy he wanted. The only problem was that he INSISTED on eating the candy while we were trick-or-treating and absolutely refused to wait until we got home. ha! We were on the verge of a melt down before we just gave in. :)

We did lots of fun Halloween things this weekend, so more pictures will be posted soon! Will definitely got the use out of his costume. And we are going trick-or-treating again tonight in our neighborhood. That's all we need...more candy! :) I hope everyone has a fun Halloween!

Family Farm

2011-10-29T12:37:00.001-05:00

We took Will to a local family farm/pumpkin patch yesterday that is in our neighborhood and he had such a good time! He LOVED the animals! He was making all of the animal noises the whole time. Here are a few pictures...

My cute boys! Love them so much!

He was running everywhere and had to stop for a water (limeade) break. ;)

Picking out our pumpkins to take home.

Hayride.

This is the best family picture we got. The shadows are horrible, I know.

Feeding the cows. Will's favorite animal is a cow and he has been mooing non-stop ever since he saw them.

When we got home, we let Will paint one of the pumpkins. He loved the mess!

Daddy got him started, but Will quickly took over.

Fun fun!

I love that this cold front came in just in time for Halloween! It just doesn't seem like Halloween if it's 80 degrees outside! We are going trick-or-treating tonight and I think Curt and I are more excited than Will! :)

I love all the family time we are getting this weekend! I hope everyone else is having a great weekend!

18 months

2011-10-28T12:19:00.003-05:00

We blinked and Will turned 1 1/2. It was actually on October 15, so I am a couple weeks late. It seems like we were just celebrating him turning 1 yesterday! Curt keeps telling me that I am going to have to stop counting by months soon, but for some reason that makes him seem so old to me! When he is 5, I will probably tell his teachers he is 60 months. Ha!

We had his 18 month appointment last week, and the doctor said he looked great! Here are his stats:

Height: 33 1/2 (75th-80th %)

Weight: 24.1 lbs. (50th %)

So really no big change. The doctor did give me some tips on how to make the transition easier when Kate gets here and I am reading some books on it, so I am hoping to make it as easy on him as possible. I think he may be starting to kind of understand what is going on, because he comes up and kisses my tummy several times a day and has started saying "Kate?" He has also become obsessed with other babies. His favorite book right now is a big brother book we got him and he will ask for us to read it to him by pointing to it and saying "baby." I am sure it will all still be a huge shock for him when she comes home with us.

He is going through the sweetest stage right now. He just loves his Daddy and me so much. He comes up to us and kisses us and pats us on the back 100 times a day. And if I ask him to be sweet to me, he says "Mama," and hugs me and pats my back. Ahhhh, I love it! I never want him to grow out of it!

We are now officially on 1 nap a day, and it's working out well for our schedule since we are usually so busy and have lots of things to do in the morning anyway. His nap usually starts around noon. I look so forward to going and getting him out of his crib because when he sees me, his face lights up and he gets so excited. It's like he thought I was never coming back for him. So sweet!

He is saying new words every day and loves to jabber. One of his favorite new words is "donut" ("don don"). It's actually one of the first things he says every morning. And he prefers boston cream donuts. ha! He knows what he wants! He also says "slide" ("shliiiiiiiiide") a hundred times a day. He just figured out that he wasn't scared to go down by himself and we cannot keep him off it now!

I am loving these last few months of it just being me and him during the day. I want to soak up every minute we have together. But I know he will love his sister too!

And this is how excited he was about taking pictures...

He came by it honestly. Reminds me of his Daddy.

I can't believe how big our sweet boy is getting. I guess with only 6 months left, I need to start planning the second birthday party. haha! I am kidding! I just wanted to scare Curt a little. :)

We are excited for Halloween this weekend! I am just hoping that he will wear his costume and not insist on taking it off. Wish us luck! ;)

My Sunshine

2011-10-27T07:09:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, I get so caught up in this world that I forget to count my blessings. And then I hear this laugh....

This precious, precious laugh. This gift sent to us, straight from God. And I feel the touch of a loving husband who could not love me more. And I am reminded of God's abundant blessings in my life.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

1 Chronicles 15:34.

Weekend in Comanche

2011-10-24T12:29:00.000-05:00

We went to Comanche last weekend, and had such a fun weekend! Will, of course, loved being around my parents all weekend and Curt got to hunt every day, so he was happy as a clam! I love being at home. We don't get to go often enough, but I never want to leave when the weekend is over!

Curt had been out of town since Tuesday of last week (which makes for a long week), so I picked him up at the airport and went straight to Comanche. Nana had bought several new toys for Will, but I think he liked the little sand box the most...

The weather was perfect and we spent hours playing in the sand! My mom felt sorry for Will because I have a no-sandbox rule at our house. I know, I am a horrible mom, but we spend so much time outside and he would be in it all the time and I really don't want sand all in my house. I am sure I will eventually give in, but for now, we are delaying it for as long as possible! :)

Do you see how dirty Will is? That's mud on his mouth. Such a little boy!

We also spent some time at the park. Will just loves to be outside so much!

And, of course, Will got lots of quality time with his Nana. He just loves her so much. It's so sweet.

My parents have a pasture behind their house that has a few cows in it and Will was asking to go see the "mooos" all weekend. This morning when he woke up, the first thing he did was run to the door and say "mooo." ha! He was disappointed that there are no "mooos" here.

We also did some shopping this weekend for Kate. Look at all of these adorable outfits my mom has gotten for Kate....

This isn't even all of them. She is such a good grandma!

And these precious outfits are from Aunt Nan (I have no idea why the picture is sideways). That tiny pink tutu makes my heart happy! :)

We had so much fun this weekend! It's always so refreshing to go to Comanche. We can't wait to go back for Thanksgiving!

The Fair

2011-10-19T09:40:00.001-05:00

First of all, I want to thank everyone for your kind comments, emails, and phone calls. It meant so much. I really don't know how I could have gotten through the last few days without my family and friends. Any time we go through tough times, I am always amazed at how God always shows us so many other wonderful things in our lives. I am so thankful for a husband who just lets me cry and never reminds me that she was just a dog, a mom who cries with me and doesn't minimize my pain, a sister and brother-in-law who sent me a beautiful plant to brighten my day, wonderful church friends who give me a hug and don't make me feel ridiculous for being so emotional about my pet, and this little sweetheart who hugs loves me unconditionally (until I take his lovie away ;)...

The past few days we have had to stay busy to keep my mind off of Prissy. We busied ourselves getting ready for Kate. Our wonderful friends let us borrow their sander and Curt and I refinished and painted a dresser and nightstand for Kate's room. I love it! The dresser is from the 50's and I love the shape of it. I can't wait to see it in her room!

A couple nights ago we went to the fair with the Russells and had a great time! Will loved it too! Between the 3 of us, we ate a corn dog, buffalo chicken wrapped in a flap jack, corn on the cob, fried brownies, sausage on a stick, a fried cheese stick, dippin dots, a hot dog, and several lemonades. Needless to say, I didn't dare step on the scale the next morning! :) Will loved the corn on the cob...

And the petting zoo...

He loved poking the animals in the eye. So sanitary I am sure.

Will and Carly were exhausted by the end of the night!

I was worried that Will would be too young to enjoy the fair, but he had such a good time! I am so thankful for this cooler weather. Yesterday Will walked outside and said "coooold." ha! We are headed to the park this morning with some friends to enjoy the "cold." :)

A Sad Goodbye

2011-10-15T10:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a sad day at our house. Our sweet puppy passed away and our hearts are so heavy. I spent the majority of the day crying and moping around the house. She was such a huge part of our family. Today would have been her 10th birthday. I got her when she was 6 weeks old. She lived with us in Lubbock, Dallas, and Rockwall. She spent countless hours in my lap while studying for accounting tests, law school finals, work research and memos, and even spent hours in my chair as I nursed our first-born child. She was with me when I graduated undergrad, law school, got engaged, got married, had my first baby...she was by my side for all of the big events.

Our first Christmas together in 2001. She is the best Christmas present I've ever received.

Angie's graduation from Tech.

Christmas 2009 in Curt's and my first apartment together.

This is how we spent so many hours together on the couch working.

Pregnant with Will and sick. She never left my side.

Meeting Will for the first time.

My heart breaks that she will never get to meet Kate. And I am sad for Will too....he keeps saying "sissy?" It was just so sudden and unexpected. Just the night before she was fighting with Will over pizza toppings. She had just been to the vet about a month before and he said she was in good health considering her age. I guess her body was just tired and it was her time.

She really was the best dog we could have ever asked for. Curt and I both agree that if we ever do decide to get another dog again (which is highly unlikely), there is no way it would ever be as good a pet as Prissy. She was so easy to take care of and so loving. And with those big brown eyes, she was the prettiest little Yorkie I have ever seen.

Our house seems so different without her here. I think it is going to take years to get used to not having her around. I woke up this morning praying that yesterday was just a bad dream, but today it feels so much more real. I know I am an adult and there are far worse things in life than losing your dog, but I just wish my heart felt the same way. I feel like God gave her to me before I had babies and she was so needed and appreciated during that time in my life.

She has slept in the same bed as me for the past 10 years. It breaks my heart that I will never cuddle with her again. We buried her right outside our bedroom window so she can sleep close to us. We laid her on top of her favorite pillow and with her pearl necklace.

Prissy and CiCi. I have no idea what happens to dogs after they die, but I would like to think that they are playing together this morning.

But I take comfort in the fact that she went peacefully in her sleep and it must have just been her time to go. She had a good life and was so very loved. She was more than a pet...she was a part of our family and she will never be forgotten.

Priscilla ("Prissy") Escobar (Oct. 15 2001 - Oct. 14, 2011)

I hope she knows how much she was loved. Today is Will's half birthday and we had plans to celebrate, but none of us really feel like celebrating today. Today is Prissy's day. Happy birthday my sweet Puppy. There will never be another you.

How I Love this Kid

2011-10-13T20:23:00.000-05:00

I went to a 31 party at a friend's house tonight and while I was gone, Curt sent me this video...

Melt. My. Heart.

2011-10-11T20:31:00.000-05:00

Nana and Papa came to visit us Will this weekend and Will loved all the attention as usual. We also got a lot of stuff done on the nursery while they were here. Well, we don't actually have anything yet, but we got the crib and the bedding picked out and ordered. I LOVE it and can't wait to get it in! But it takes 6-8 weeks, so I have a long wait. But I should be getting fabric swatches any day now, so I can start picking out paint, curtains, etc. I am so excited for Kate's nursery! I am just going to love tucking two babies into their cribs at night.

We were so busy that we didn't take many pictures this weekend, but here are a few before church on Sunday...

Will literally asks to go outside 100 times a day. He wakes up every morning and I hear him on his monitor saying "mama, dada, nana, papa, side (outside)?" I am going to be in trouble when he can open the door by himself....

And this is his reaction when we turn him down once in every ten times...

This kid has one tough life. ;)

We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and Kate is looking great! She is approximately 1 lb. 7 oz. Next time we have the glucose testing, so I am praying I don't fail the first one like I did with Will. We only have two more monthly appointments and then we start the bimonthly appointments. She's coming right along! :)

TGIF!

2011-10-07T16:57:00.000-05:00

I spent the majority of this week cleaning. I have bleached all the baseboards, doors, and door handles, cleaned all kitchen appliances, and every electrical socket in the house, dusted, cleaned the cabinets, swept and mopped floors, cleaned under furniture, cleaned all bathrooms, etc. Then last night, I spent an hour researching the best steamer/vacuum for hardwood floors (let me know if you have any recommendations!). Curt asked me why I was cleaning like a mad woman, and I said "because the last thing I want is for this baby to come home to a filthy house." He responded by saying "and where did you build the nest?" ha! I didn't think it was possible to be nesting this early, but I googled it, and apparently it can start as early as the fifth month, and I am 5 & 3/4 months pregnant (according to my nifty little iphone app). That also explains why I have had this sense of urgency to get the nursery done (like laying awake at night thinking about fabrics and paint colors). I essentially begged my parents to come up this weekend so we could get started. ha! Everyone probably thinks I am crazy! But I should be able to get lots done in the next few months if this continues. Well, as much as you can get done with this little stinker making more messes than I can possibly clean. ;)

Yes, that is celery he is eating. Don't worry, he just likes to chew on it and spit it out. He wouldn't dare do something outrageous like actually eat it. :)

Hanging out in Daddy's shoes.

I am so glad it's Friday! I took Will to the doctor today to make sure his ear infection had cleared up and the doctor said he looked great! I also did some shopping today and bought Will some new fall clothes, and my mom has been sending fall stuff in the mail for him every day. I am so ready for the cooler weather!

This is how Will likes to watch his "show."

I know it may appear that my kid only wears a diaper all the time, but, believe it or not, I pick out clothes for him to wear every morning, but by the time lunch is over with, we are usually in a diaper because he has food all over him. Meal times have become such a struggle! With Will yelling "me me me" the whole time, but not quite being able to navigate the spoon to his mouth, you can probably imagine the pasta and cheese stains on his clothes! So we spend the majority of our time at home like this...

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

This and That...

2011-10-03T20:09:00.000-05:00

I am 23 weeks pregnant today. I was laying in bed on Saturday morning around 4:00 am and it dawned on me that in about 3 1/2 months, Kate will be here. Panic set in, and I didn't go back to sleep. ha! I can't believe I am already this far along! Needless to say, my mom and I devoted most of Saturday to looking at crib bedding online. I just can't make my mind up!

Anyway, here are a few pictures...

Here is a picture when I was 23 weeks with Will...

I think I am about the same this time around. As you can see, this is just when I really get large. Blah.

On Friday night I drank some apple juice and it must have really given Kate a sugar rush because she was moving so much that we were able to just lay there and watch my stomach move from side to side. She must have been doing flips in there!

Here are a few pictures of my sweet boy after church on Sunday...

I just love this little mischievous smile.

He is so cute when we pray with him before his meals because every time, right before we finish, he yells "Mamen!" ("amen"). It's so sweet. Melts my heart every time.

We really don't go anywhere without Puppy....even on our Friday night stroll before bed time.

I took Will to the doctor today because I just didn't think he was acting like himself and it turns out he has his first ear infection. Poor baby. But it's nothing a popsicle can't cure. ;) And it took us ~~two~~ three packs of gushers to get through the grocery store today. ha! I bet he is wishing he had an ear infection all the time. :) Hopefully the antibiotics will knock it out in the next day or two!

No one ever said this was going to be easy...

2011-09-30T14:27:00.000-05:00

The temper tantrums around here have reached an all-time high. I mean screaming, kicking, tears, red face...the whole nine yards. It has sent Curt and me running for the parenting books (both new and ones that we just need a refresher on). I know some people may think that's weird, but we only get one chance at this and if we mess it up, it definitely won't be for lack of effort or education.

Anyway, we had our weekly library class today and it was definitely an adventure. Imagine my horror when I showed up and learned that the theme was "rhythm sticks" today. If you had a kid who ran around the house with a toy baseball bat all day hitting everything in sight, you would be slightly worried at the thought of handing him a pair or long wooden sticks in a room full or kids (aka "targets") too. I immediately told the teacher that we didn't need any sticks. But, much to my dismay, Will stole a little girl's sticks when I wasn't looking and hit her and made her cry. Great. I have that kid. And Will refused to sit still at all during class. The teacher even talked to me after class to assure me that she had seen other "active" kids before who became well-behaved kids later. ha! I have the only kid in a class of 15-25 kids who refuses to sit still!

My mom assures me that Angie and I were never like this at all. So this must come from his Daddy. ;)

All of this is not to say that I don't absolutely love EVERYTHING about Will's little personality. I just think that he may be a little more difficult to discipline. We've come to terms with the fact that we likely will not always have the perfectly-behaved child, but it will not be for lack of discipline. And I happen to think that his strong-willed personality will serve him well later in life. He just needs a little help shaping his will (spoken like a true Dr. Dobson follower! :).

As we were leaving class I asked him why he was such a stinker during class and he threw his arms around my neck, patted my back, and said "ma-ma." ahhhh! A boy after my heart! How in the world can you stay mad at that?

We love this little boy so much. But that's the easy part. That comes without even trying. The hard part is discipline. I have never prayed for more grace than I do now. ;)

But one thing is for sure, he is definitely the highlight of our day and makes everything so much more fun...most of the time. ;)

Is there anything sweeter...

2011-09-29T19:27:00.001-05:00

Than a boy and his Daddy...

Makes my heart happy that they are mine.

And you're never too young for a basketball lesson.

My sweet boys.

Happy Anniversary!

2011-09-27T09:10:00.001-05:00

Today is our 3-year wedding anniversary! 1 1/2 kids and 3 years later, I would have to say we never imagined that sharing your life with someone could be this good. We've been through a lot in 3 years, with lots of life changes, and there is no other person I would rather share my life with.

I know we have only been married 3 years and are probably still in the honeymoon phase, but I also know that even when it does get hard, we will never forsake or abandon the promise that we made to each other...and more importantly, the promise we made to our Lord.

I did such a good job picking a husband, if I must say so myself! He is a selfless leader of our family and there is not a day that goes by that I don't realize how lucky I am.

Oh my goodness, the depths of this boy's heart! I am so glad he gave it to me. There has not been a day in our marriage--even on the worst day--that I have doubted whether Curt loved me. I know he does. And there is not a better feeling in the world than that of being unconditionally and wholly loved.

There is no one I would rather walk through life with. There is no one I would rather raise kids with. There is no one I would rather grow old with.

We spoke these words on our wedding day and I continue to wear them on my heart.

Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.
Your people will be my people and your God my God.
Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.

Ruth 1:16-17

I've trusted you with my heart from the beginning. Thank you for always guarding and protecting it. I love you more than anything!

22 Weeks

2011-09-26T11:22:00.000-05:00

I am 22 weeks pregnant today and getting bigger by the minute! Literally. Last week, I was still wearing non-maternity jeans, but this morning I put on a pair of jeans that I wore last Thursday and they wouldn't button. With Will, I exploded between 22 and 23 weeks, so I know it's coming. Here are a few pictures...

Kate must be laying right on my bladder because I literally have to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes. She is becoming really active too and I feel kicks all day. Curt was even able to feel and see them this weekend. Such a wonderful reminder that she is just in there waiting to make her big arrival! Hopefully no earlier than 37 weeks though because we will not be ready for her if she is early! :)

Will went to Comanche this weekend, so Curt and I celebrated our anniversary.

Got his bag packed and ready to go to Nana's!

We went out to eat in Dallas on Saturday night and watched our wedding video when we got home. I love watching our wedding video! I cry every time! I also got tons of baby girl clothes from a sweet friend who has a girl a couple years older than Kate (9 huge crates to be exact). I am loving all the pink! We spent a lot of the weekend getting rid of ~~stuff~~ junk that had accumulated in Kate's room and now it's full again with all the bins of clothes and shoes. ha! I feel like I am going in a circle! :)

Will had tons of fun in Comanche with my parents. I kept asking my mom if he was asking for us because he literally asks for Nana and Papa 100 times a day when he is at home, but she said he would only say our names if he saw our pictures. And then when we got him back he wasn't even excited to see us. ha! I always wonder why he likes Nana and Papa so much, but then I get texts with pictures like this...

And he comes home saying "nandy" (candy). Ha! I wouldn't want to leave either if I got to ride ponies and had unlimited candy! Suffice it to say, he was spoiled all weekend! :) But I wouldn't want it any other way!

Nana also taught Will how to give butterfly kisses this weekend...

Isn't this the sweetest picture? He loves them so much!

Oh, and just to rub it in, Curt spent much of Saturday sulking because A&M lost to OSU (where my brother-in-law went to college). So now he has to wear an OSU shirt at Thanksgiving. ha! I am hoping Robert brings him an extra small just to make it that much better! haha! Just kidding. Kinda. ;)

Happy Birthday Nana!

2011-09-23T10:53:00.001-05:00

Today is a very special day. It is my mom's birthday. She is one of the most special people in the world to me and I don't know what our family would do without her. She seriously is the MOST selfless and giving person I have ever known, or for that matter, probably ever will know. Anyone who knows her will agree with that. There is nothing she wouldn't do for our family. And she does so so much! She is always asking if Will needs more clothes or shoes and anytime Will or Curt is sick, she is calling every hour volunteering to come up to help. But what I love the most about her is how much she sincerely loves my family...

She loves Curt and Will like they were her own children. And she treats them the same way. That is so important to me since I love them with all of my heart and they are my world. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said "to keep Will for the weekend." That describes my mom's heart.

I hear grandparents say all the time that the great part about being a grandparent is that you can enjoy the kid until they get fussy and then give them back. Not my mom. In fact, that's when she wants to be there the most--when he's fussy--to love on him and help us out. She even loves Will when he is acting like this...

It's hard living in a town with no family close by, but my mom never makes us feel like they are far away. I know it's hard to keep a family close (especially when one sister decides to move across the country :), but my mom makes a huge effort and we appreciate this so much. They make such a huge effort to be a big part of Will's life and we know it's not easy traveling so much, but she never complains...and she's always here if we even mention we need help.

God must think she is extra special too because he gave her this wonderful weather on her special day! I know I speak on behalf of our whole family when I say that we love you with all of our heart Mom and appreciate you more than you will ever know!

You don't chose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.

-Desmond Tutu

Thank God for my family. I thank Him daily for you, Mom.

MIA

2011-09-22T19:27:00.000-05:00

I know I have been MIA lately. But I have had a sick baby. He is all better now, but it has been a LONG couple of days. Last weekend, Will got sick on Saturday morning and it only got worse from there. On Sunday, he threw up on me 4 times in a 2 hour period. Poor baby. Curt was out of town for the weekend and my parents were supposed to come visit, but they ended up not being able to come because my mom came down with the flu on Friday and didn't want to give it to us. So I was all alone with a VERY sick and feverish kid. That was the second weekend in a row that Curt was out of town when Will was sick. Those are the longest weekends! Will was so so fussy--understandably so--all weekend. I felt so bad for him. Turns out he had strep, so we got him some antibiotics and he is good to go now.

I went to motherly love on Tuesday night and it was so good to finally get out of the house! It was the first time I had been out in 3 days! Will was able to go to church last night and to the children's class today for ladies' bible class. I think he was even sick of being locked inside! This is what he was doing when he was ready to leave this morning...

Will was yelling "mama!" this morning and I couldn't find him anywhere. I finally found him hidden in this cabinet...

Silly boy!

After he got up from his afternoon nap, we spent lots of time outside. He LOVES this cooler weather!

He even has to take puppy with him to help him sweep outside.

Excuse the dirty mouth. He had warm chocolate chip cookies after dinner. ;)

Will is going to visit Nana and Papa this weekend and Curt and I are going to celebrate our anniversary! I am so excited to have a weekend when everyone is feeling well!