We Made It!!!

The 3 amigos - Cole, Jackson and Ben

Cole with his teachers - Miss Sadeta and Miss Tasha

Well, we made it through an entire year of Mother's Day Out and let me tell you - it has been a huge blessing both to Cole and to myself. When we started out the year I had Cole signed up to go one day a week and I was anxious about us being apart that much. Soon after he started and I saw how much he was learning and how much he liked it I increased him to 2 days a week. I quickly began to enjoy my time too. Being able to get a haircut or run errands by myself was great and also gave me more quality time to spend with Cole (no errands means much more fun). I cannot tell you how much he has changed this year. When he started he was so shy around new kids and new surroundings. While he still finds comfort in his family and close buddies he is much more willing to try new things. He is so much more social and has learned more than I ever thought he would (he even counts to 10 in Spanish now). I feel like we have been so very blessed by his school. Not only is he spending his time there learning about letters and numbers and colors but he is also learning about Jesus from women who love him. Tears came to my eyes when I hugged his teachers good bye. They will never know how much we appreciate them and the time and love they shared with Cole. I am so excited to have a whole summer with Cole...our last one before Lily Kate arrives...but I am also so excited to start school in the fall and see what is in store for us there too!

It's A Girl!!!!!

We are proud to announce that we are expecting a baby girl! I must say, I was not at all surprised because I have felt like she was a girl from the day I found out I was pregnant. But it was nice to have my feelings confirmed. It was awesome to see our sweet little one rolling and kicking and moving so much. She was actually not very cooperative at all which is why we did not get very good pictures of her (not even the normal profile pic since she was pushing her face against my uterus). The above are a couple of 3D pics of her hands and one of her leg right before she gave me a really hard kick! Everything looked great on our ultrasound which is such a relief. Our sweet girl was a bit private at first. The ultrasound tech said that she was 90% sure we were having a girl but would not commit. She sent us off to see our doctor and when we were done she took another look. This time baby girl was not nearly as shy and showed herself off to all of us. She even turned her head to look at us as she stretched her arms and played with her fingers. We could not be happier to welcome this sweet baby girl into our family. After our appointment we went to the mall to buy her an outfit. We were a bit overwhelmed with all of the shoes, dresses, bows, sunglasses, etc. Cole is very excited too and told his baby sister that he was very excited to show her his toys (he still calls her Jesus by the way). We do have 2 names we are debating between and will share our choice as soon as we make it. This is like a whole new world to us and we are so excited to learn about little girls and all things pink! Only 19 more weeks to go....

"Everything grows rounder, wider and weirder and I sit here in the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be."

---Carrie Fisher

Sweet girl we cannot wait to meet you face to face!!!!

Tulsa Zoo

Last Saturday we woke up and decided it was a great day to take Cole to Tulsa to the zoo. We have taken him to a couple of other zoos before but he was too little to really enjoy it. When we mentioned to him that morning that we were going to go to the zoo he packed his bag and was so excited to get going! It is about an hour and a half drive from here so we set out that morning and arrived a little before lunch. It was so cute to see Cole take everything in and enjoy it so much. He agreed to ride in his stroller in between exhibits but as soon as we would pull up to a new one he would shout "hold me up!" I swear that boy is so smart...he would tell us things about the animals that I had no idea he knew. For example, he saw a patch of bamboo in a garden and he said "Panda Bears eat bamboo." Who Knew he knew that?! Anyway...we had a nice picnic lunch and got to see every animal that they had. What made the day even better was that the zoo had a train. Cole wanted to ride that train as soon as he saw it and so, of course, we did! The smile never left his face. He got to run around and play on a neat playground and then we found the petting zoo. Oh my! Cole was in heaven there - he was able to pet the goats and sheep and look at the rabbits. After about 4 hours we were all pooped and decided to head home. I am so thankful for times like this. It was an absolute fantastic day - one that I will not forget.

Spring Fun...Searcy Style

We have been enjoying this nice Spring weather so much lately! A couple of weeks ago Rhonald and I took Cole to Toys R Us and bought him a tricycle. It is so funny to see him try to ride it by himself. Although he still needs a little help getting going he is learning and doing better every day. Another thing Cole is really into this Spring is sidewalk chalk. He loves going out and coloring. I think his favorite thing is to have Rhonald draw him things (luckily Rhonald is terrific at drawing). I feel bad when it is just the two of us...the best I can do is either a fish or a simple Robot! We have tried to be outside as much as we possibly can and we all feel better because of it! I am super excited about this summer...our last summer with just Cole. I have many plans of being at the pool, playing at the park, eating snow cones and simply enjoying each other's company!!!!

Just Like Daddy

Cole has always loved his daddy but lately he is really into doing things that daddy does and wearing things that daddy wears. For example, he will wear a baseball cap if Rhonald has one on and he wants to wear a belt if Rhonald is wearing one. He has started asking to help Daddy run errands and do things around the house. It is so sweet. Another thing Cole loves is to watch Rhonald and I get ready in the morning. He has always thought watching Rhonald shave is so funny. I cannot tell you how many times he has asked "Why you doing that Daddy?" or say something like "I want beard like Daddy." The other day Cole and I spent the morning at our favorite toy store playing with the train set and looking around. I can normally get out of there without buying anything but on this day Cole saw a bathtub shaving kit and HAD to have it. He was so sweet at the check out - telling the sales woman that he would be "just like Daddy now." When we got home he ran in to show Rhonald and wanted to get right in the tub to try it out. He had a blast "learning" how to shave with his new kit. And Daddy had a blast teaching him. I can't even believe that a day will come when Daddy will teach Cole how to shave for real...it doesn't seem possible. Right now I am happy watching my 2 boys pretend!!!

17 weeks and Counting

I feel like this picture makes me look huge - I am showing but am not huge...just to clear that up :)! Things are going very well. I am still feeling wonderful. I had a Doctor's appointment this past week. The baby's heart rate was 154 and Dr. M said he felt like things were going great! I started feeling the baby move consistently at 16 weeks (Rhonald still isn't able to feel very much yet) and everyday those movements get stronger. I love feeling those little kicks and punches...it is so reassuring. Cole is still very excited about becoming a big brother. I cannot wait to find out if our sweet one is a boy or girl so we can prepare him a little bit more. We scheduled our ultrasound for May 21st ... just 3 weeks from now. I have said it before and it really is true...I cannot believe how fast time is flying by with this pregnancy. We have been receiving lots of birth announcements in the mail lately from friends and family and every time I see a picture of a tiny baby I get even more excited to hold my own! 23 more weeks....