Easter...

We had such a fun Easter weekend!

The day before Easter our church hosted an Easter Egg Hunt for the community.  It was such a fun opportunity to have people from all over Birmingham come, have fun, and hopefully see a glimpse of Christ through our church members.

This sweet little boy kept putting all of his eggs in Watson's basket :)

This was our first Easter Sunday on staff at a church.  Needless to say, it was a busy day!  We had three services that day...two at our main campus and one that evening at our church plant downtown.  Because of the crazy schedule, we ended up doing Easter baskets with the kids at my parents' house before lunch.  We never talked about the Easter Bunny...just gave them these baskets to add to the excitement of the day.  I really, really do not want the focus of Easter to be anything but Jesus...His death and resurrection...and just what that means for us as believers.

Cannot get over how big my baby boy is getting!

My cool dude - he can rarely be found without sunglasses on!

Sweet baby girl.  You'll notice that this is the only picture of her...she quickly went down for a nap after this and slept the rest of the afternoon :)

This is one of my favorite pictures, ever. 

Watson loves his "Nana" so much!!

Beyond blessed by these two and the example they are to our family.  I am so thankful to the Lord for the relationship my parents have with Him and how they lead our family in a way that always points back to Him. 

My dad set up an Easter egg hunt at their house...next year Watson will have a smaller basket for this activity :)  Poor thing was lugging around this basket the whole time that he could barely get to the eggs!

Love this girl to pieces!

Best friends.

Trouble.  :)

Growing up, we would always have time around the piano at my Grandmother's house singing hymns.  My mom decided that we should start that tradition back up with the kids...and, well, it didn't go quite as smoothly as we had imagined :)  It did call for lots of laughs, though, so that was fun.  And hey...I'll take any excuse to sit behind the piano...I miss playing so much!

Papaw and Dad - it has been a blessing to watch their relationship grow over the past couple of years.  I am so thankful that I am able to see my grandad so often and that he is so involved in my kids' lives!

Could not love these two more!

11 months...

Size diaper: 3
Size clothes: 9 months
Sleeping: 12-13 hours at night, 2 naps a day
Eating: Nurses 4-5 times a day, eating all table food for meals except for a few baby food pouches - those are a life saver!  Favorite table foods are bananas, sweet potatoes, puffs, Cheerios, pancakes, shredded cheese, avocado, baby mum mums, green peas

This month Emma had a double ear infection - poor baby girl was so miserable :(  She never had a fever so unfortunately it had gotten pretty bad by the time I took her in to the doctor.  Thankfully it cleared up quickly with some antibiotics.

Separation anxiety has improved drastically!

Very sensitive little girl - cries any time we get on to Watson

LOVES iphones.  She just wants to hold it.  All. Day. Long.


She will let Watson do just about anything with her...for example...

Pulling up to standing position some, but not consistently

 

LOVES music - dances, claps, smiles...it's precious!

 

Laughs a lot - especially with Graham and Watson

 

Has started playing pretend by imitating things that she sees us do with her: putting on makeup with her play makeup set, trying to put bows in her hair, feeding her baby dolls, drinking out of a play tea cup, trying to put her shoes on

Goes to bed easier these days...will go down awake for both bedtime and naps, but just plays for a little while in her crib before falling asleep and after waking up

She would be perfectly content being held 24/7...and is therefore at my feet reaching up, or in my arms 24/7 :)

March...

 March in pictures!

Watson loves doing some work in Daddy's office.  He is still a little confused about Daddy's office being at church...but I think he is starting to understand!

Moe's...our go-to meal...Watson's favorite!

Nothing like riding your scooter, wearing your helmet, button-up and khakis, while eating a granola bar :)

Getting some yard work done

Hampton showing off his impressive baseball skills!

Beautiful Abby before her dance pictures

Wild man swinging from the slide...

FaceTime is a lifesaver when your best friends live states away!  Love this picture of sweet Ella Rae :)

Reward for behaving at the Galleria = playing in the car rides...works like a charm!

Watson loved mine and Graham's boots so much that we had to get him some of his own.  They stayed on his feet or RIGHT by him for about 72 hours straight.  No lie.  The only time they came off was bath time...he even slept in them!

A rare (and blurry) pic of the two of us!

Rainy day movie time at the Anderson's.  FROZEN!

Cool dude.

LOVED getting to see these sweet friends and celebrate Christina and baby Aidan!

Love this beautiful friend so much!

10 months...

Size diaper: 3
Size clothes: 9 months
Sleeping: Sleep training is in full force at bedtime.  She used to fall asleep while nursing, but now she seems wide awake after nursing and therefore screams when I put her in her bed...no matter how long I rock her before putting her down.  I don't know if this is a separation anxiety thing, teething, or what...but it has been tough!  Overall, though, she is sleeping 12-13 hours at night..usually waking up once during the night about 3 or 4 days out of the week.  Nursing is still the only thing that calms her down in the middle of the night and I'm not sure if that's because she is actually hungry or just wants the comfort of it.  Either way, I don't mind doing it because I know this is not going to last forever and there is a part of me that absolutely LOVES this time with her.  So...sleep training at bedtime, Mommy to the rescue in the middle of the night :) She is taking two naps...both anywhere from 1 1/2-3 hours. 
Eating: Likes most baby food, loves all table food she has been given.  Eats food three times a day, but still nursing four to five times a day and therefore getting most of her nutrition that way.  She is starting to get extremely distracted when nursing, which makes me think she is getting ready to drop a feeding...we shall see!

Fun things to note this month...

Clapping all the time...and oh so proud of herself when she does!

Waves bye-bye pretty consistently

Smiles all the time and scrunches her entire face up when she laughs...it is the absolute cutest thing :)

Her personality shines through her facial expressions - I love this about her!

Separation anxiety is going strong.  She always fusses when I drop her off at church or at the gym, but her teachers say she calms down quickly.

Emma LOVES toys - she will sit and play with them forever!  She wants to get alllll of the toys out..and really manages to do so..every day!

 

Don't be fooled by the look on her face in this picture...Sweet girl adores her brother and wants to do everything he does, play with everything he does, eat everything he does....I think Watson is picking up on this too so we are having lots of talks about being a good example for his "Sissy."  I pray this will always be the case in their life! 

 

This girl is QUICK!  She can get from point A to point B in no time...and nothing is going to get in her way when she is trying to get somewhere or do something!

Sweet baby worn out after church!

 

 Words cannot express how much we love this sweet girl!!!