A Lazy Saturday

playing with Daddy

sweet boy!

Mommy is so funny!

Rain, Rain go away....or maybe not! This weekend has been very dark and rainy but it gave us a great excuse to stay inside and relax as a family. Rhonald finally had the entire weekend off which was awesome for all of us! I think Cole really misses Rhonald when he is at work so it was great for them to have some time together. Cole is growing up so fast and sometimes I feel guilty because I get to be with him so much and I never have to miss anything. I know Rhonald would not have it any other way but I also know that he cherishes days like this one very much. We all just laid around watching movies and the NCAA basketball tournament, playing and napping. I am so thankful for the rain today - it helped us to slow down and focus on our family which was amazing!

Cole was full of smiles and funny faces but whenever we try to capture them on camera he gets very serious...he stares at the camera wondering what in the world it is. He is laughing out loud now and he loves when we raise him in the air above our heads and make faces at him. Cole is starting to enjoy looking at the pictures in books when I read to him ... the colors fascinate him so much. He still loves his activity gym. He has been drooling a ton and chewing on everything (his hands, our hands, etc) - we recently noticed two small pearly white tooth buds in his little mouth. He is so young but according to my parents I had 3 teeth at 3 months of age. He is not bothered by them and we hope that lasts! He is awesome - we are so blessed to have him!

Cole and Mya

One of my dear friends, Marla, has a 6 month old daughter, Mya. Marla is the mommy friend that I call on good days to celebrate and bad days to ask advice. She has kept my sane over the past few months and reminded me to take a deep breath and not get too worked up over every little thing. We were so excited to be pregnant together and be able to watch our little ones grow up together. As you can see Cole and Mya are friends and are starting to really enjoy each other. Mya is just learning to crawl and the other day all she wanted to was to crawl to Cole and grab on to him. It was so cute! For the first time Cole actually focused on Mya and watched her cruising around...she even made him laugh! It is so neat to watch him develop relationships and learn from watching other people! I hope that they are friends for a long time!!!!

A Night With Old Friends

A couple of nights ago we had dinner with some friends that we met at Harding...Matt and AJ Wilson (and their son Adam) and Charlotte Graham. AJ and Charlotte were in the science department with Rhonald. It was a lot of fun catching up with them and hearing about all of the new things that are going on in their lives. The biggest thing for Matt and AJ is that they are expecting their second son, Drew, in just a few weeks. We look forward to having play dates with Cole and Drew in the future. It is sad how little we see each other yet we live so close to one another. We always have so much when we get together...hopefully these little boys will give us more of an excuse to hang out! A little addition to this post: soon after writing this post we found out that AJ and Matt had baby Drew on Friday, March 29th - the day after we hung out! Congrats guys...we cannot wait to get to know Drew!

Cole's First Easter

Look what the Easter bunny left for baby Cole!

Our first Easter as a family

enjoying a day with Grandma and Grandpa Searcy

We had a great first Easter with Cole! It was so much fun shopping for things to go in his Easter basket and putting it together was even better. Although he had no idea what was going on, Rhonald and I had a blast! Another special thing that happened on Easter was that we took Cole to church for the first time. It was so amazing to have him there with us and everyone really enjoyed meeting him. Singing praises to God are even more special now that I can look down into my arms and smile at the biggest blessing we have ever been given. We were a little bit nervous about how Cole would behave during church but he was a true angel - he slept the entire time! Rhonald's parents were here with us over the weekend. They had not seen Cole since he was one week old so you can imagine the shock - they could not believe how much he had changed! We were so happy to have them here to share the holiday with us. Cole had a great time playing with his Grandma Searcy and I am sure he looks forward to seeing them again!

A Champagne Brunch

Cole getting ready to go to his first brunch

A family picture

Cole enjoying a stroll through Dogwood Canyon

On Sunday, Rhonald treated me to a champagne brunch to celebrate our anniversary. We woke up early in order to get everyone dressed and fed (boy have things changed!) and then made our way to Big Cedar Lodge near Branson, MO where we enjoyed a beautiful brunch. Our friends, Jim and Emily, met us there which made the day even better. We dined on shrimp, crab legs, omelets, desserts and much more!!! After we finished at Big Cedar we went to Dogwood Canyon Natural Park to walk off our brunch and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Although it was a little cool outside we had a great time! Cole was a real trooper all day. He took several naps and was really a joy when he was awake. As you can see, he was dressed to impress and got lots of comments throughout the day about how cute he was! We hope that everyone had as great of a weekend as we did!

A Big Month

It is so hard to believe that our baby boy is 2 months old already! Time has flown by and we can't even remember what life was like before Cole was born. Cole has his 2 month check up on Friday and he now weighs 11 lbs 6 ox and is 22 1/2 inches long. He had to get several immunizations which broke our hearts but actually turned out ok. His doctor said he looks wonderful...actually I think her exact words were, "He is perfect." and we had to agree! Now that the weather is getting nicer we have been taking Cole out more. He has been on several walks in his stroller, which he loves. We have taken him out to lunch a few times and to the mall. He is changing so much every day. It is such an amazing blessing to watch him discover things and learn new things. We are so thankful for him and the gift he is to this family.

Another big day this month is today. Today is our 5 year anniversary! We have spent the day together relaxing and reflecting on the past 5 years and all of the memories we have made. It has been wonderful - there is not one thing I would change if I could. Rhonald and I were married at the Capital Hotel in Little Rock, AR during his 2nd year of medical school. Even as I write this, memories are flooding my mind and putting a big smile on my face! As I look back on that day I remember being so overwhelmed with love for Rhonald. I never thought I could love him more than I did on that day, however, my love for him has grown more and more each day since then. I remember looking in to his big brown eyes and never wanting to be anywhere he was not - I remember saying my vows and listening to his and thinking life would never be more perfect than it was at that moment. Being married to Rhonald has been a huge blessing to my life. He is my very best friend and life partner and I thank God for him each and every day. Happy Anniversary Rhonald - it is a true honor to be your wife and travel through this life by your side!

Cole's Photo Shoot

This past weekend we had so much fun with Cole and his first professional photo shoot. We were blessed to meet Kim Lowery through our friend, Rachel. Kim is an amazing photographer! She came to our house this past Saturday and spent a few hours capturing such awesome pictures of our boy! The pictures were put online today and we spent the better part of the evening looking at them and trying to decide which pictures to order. As you can see from the photos even Cole enjoyed looking at himself on the computer. If you would like to see our little man's big day please go to kimlowery.com/proofing/password:cole. I know we are just a little bit biased but there were some pictures that brought tears to our eyes!

Splish, Splash I Love My Bath

Giving Cole a bath is something that we completely love! It is actually Rhonald's time with him but I love to be there and see how much fun he has getting cleaned up. As you can tell from this photo he has just about outgrown his bathtub. I cannot even begin to imagine how much fun bath time will be once he can actually play in the water. I'll be honest, there are times when we use bath time to our advantage. If Cole is having a fussy night we give him a bath and he calms down right away. He usually laughs and kicks around and then falls sound asleep once we lotion him up and get his jammies on. It is so fun to watch him enjoy something so much at such a young age!