New Swingset!

They had a swingset on sale at Toys 'R' Us this week, so on Sunday we bit the bullet and got it. I don't know who was more excited, Hayden or us. Here are some pictures. He woke up first thing this morning and asked to go swing. We can't wait to get our fence put up so that we can just open the back door and let him go!

Kindermusik

For the past 10 weeks or so, Hayden has been attending Kindermusik. There were only 2 other kids in there and they were both younger, but he still enjoyed going to his music class every week. Ms. Jennifer is a great teacher and really did a lot with them. They always sang their hello and goodbye song and played instruments 3 or 4 times intermittently. She usually also read them a book and taught them some of the instrument classifications and musical words. Their favorite thing, though, was probably the parachute and scarves. I will definitely take Livee when she is big enough!

Playing instruments! We learned about steady beats and different voices (calling, singing, whispering, etc.).

Under the parachute!

Parachute time! Up and down like a carousel.

Can You Catch Me?

Here is a random picture of Hayden. He put on my shoes along with his Wolverine "claw" and asked me to take his picture. He's too funny sometimes.

27 Weeks, Doctor Visit, and Sugar Test

Well, I am 27 weeks along and had a doctor's visit today. Dr. Hutchins did an ultrasound and Livee is measuring perfectly for her gestation date. She is 2 lbs, 5 oz.

I had gained 8 lbs this month, which is a big "Yikes!" for me. But I'm just going to try to eat better next month and regularly exercise, something I had been slacking off on. My sugar test came back at 138, and the cutoff is 140. So my doctor said to watch the sugar intake, which I had planned to do anyway. I told her I eat less sugar than most people, but I have been pretty bad the last month or so. Sugar is one thing that I can really get addicted to eating.

Anywho, I've gained around 15 lbs so far and if I can keep it under control then I will more than likely gain 25-30 overall. Here are the updated baby bump pictures.

On the left is 23 weeks, and on the right is 27 weeks.

I will go back in 3 weeks for another check-up and then will be scheduled for non-stress tests, which I do not look forward to doing. They're just so boring! I don't know how many I will have to have, but Dr. Hutchins sounded like it would be pretty often. After that I will go back every 2 weeks a couple of times and then every week. They will more than likely do another ultrasound at 32 weeks, then every 2 weeks after that.

I feel like I'm in the home stretch now, but then sometimes it seems like July will never get here! The critical period for monitoring Livee's growth is coming up, simply because 29 weeks is when it's more likely to stall, so keep us in your prayers!

Easter Basket Video!

Easter!

Let me preface this by saying that last year Dave and Hayden had the stomach virus on Easter weekend, so we really enjoyed not being sick this year!

On Friday Hayden had a playdate at the jumping place with our friends the Pilgrim's. He loves his friends Ryan and Emily and we are so thankful that they have "adopted" us. Then we came home and just had a typical day of activities: painting, coloring, playing, napping, etc. On Saturday, Dave and Hayden dyed Easter eggs. Hayden really enjoyed putting each egg in the dye and flipping them over to get the perfect color.

That night, Hayden put out his basket with the eggs in it for the Easter Bunny to collect. (I don't know why I came up with this, but since we didn't hide them I figured he needed to do something with them.) Sunday morning I woke up and went down to breakfast. I thought for sure that Hayden would be up any moment, so I hurried and got ready. He didn't wake up until 8:45! We had to dress him upstairs and then let him come down and look at his basket right before we headed out the door to church. The Easter Bunny left him Bumblebee (a Transformer, which could have been the only thing in the basket as far as he was concerned), a superhero book, bath tub crayons, a baseball glove with ball, a Veggietales DVD, a cup with his name on it, Transformers fruit snacks, and candy. Hayden had begged for Bumblebee for at least a month, so needless to say he has not let it out of his hand since he got it!

I just couldn't get a smiling picture of him in his Easter outfit! He's a goober!

Note the Bumblebee in his hand!!!

Our church service was awesome and even Hayden said "This was great!" when we picked him up in the nursery! We really are lucky to have found a great church that Dave and I both enjoy. We became members a couple of months ago. Our preacher is awesome and I have to say that they really went all out yesterday. The music was spectacular and they had witnesses giving testimony. Everyone there was touched in some way.

After church we hit the road to Birmingham. We stopped and ate lunch at Subway because it was 12:45 at that point and the pregnant lady needed to eat! We arrived at Dave's parents around 3:00 and looked at their new table and carpet, which looks great. Then Hayden opened his Easter basket that the Easter Bunny left for him at their house. There were washable markers, a Spiderman kite, and candy. I think we have enough candy to last until Halloween! Then Gramma had fixed plastic eggs with money and more candy inside, so Hayden got to hunt Easter eggs. We sat around and visited after that, and then we ate dinner. We had pork tenderloin, potato salad, deviled eggs, green beans, broccoli and rice casserole, and baked beans. For dessert there was strawberry shortcake or brownies with ice cream! Yum! It was all delicious! The most surprising part was that Hayden ate his whole plate of food. We couldn't believe it!!! That made it not quite so bad that he had a ridiculous amount of candy yesterday. At around 8:30, we headed back to Georgia in the rain. Poor Dave had to drive b/c I was exhausted at that point, didn't have my glasses, and he had taken a nap (sitting straight up in a chair) earlier. Overall, we had a great day and were glad to get to spend Easter Sunday in the 'Ham.

Livee's Picture

So I went to this website - makemebabies.com - and made a "picture" of Livee. Ha!

Funny stuff...

So yesterday I was spray painting a clay pot outside and Hayden decided he wanted to come out. The only problem with that was that he only had on underwear. I told him he needed clothes, which he interpreted to mean that he needed shoes. In a few minutes, he came downstairs with shoes and underwear on. I told him that he needed clothes again and that I would help him find some after dinner. He then got mad and went upstairs saying he would do it himself. Uh-huh...

A little while later he returned and said "Look Moma, I did it!" Bless his heart.

Everything was backwards. His shirt was inside out and his shoes were on the wrong feet. He was so proud though.

This morning I got up and looked outside and there were these 2 birds sitting in my flower basket on our front porch. I swear it's my parents fault b/c at their house every year they have birds that nest on either their front or back door flower arrangements. We have not had any birds like this around our house until after my parent's visit with us last week! I called my mom this morning and told her she was Snow White. Ha ha! They flew away after I took this picture, but since they are doves they will probably be back. You can see the male on the outside and the female is sitting inside the basket. They tend to stake out somewhere and return to nest, so we may have some baby birds before too long!

Never Trust a Quiet 3 Year Old, Take 2

On Thursday, my parents came and hung out with us for a couple of days. My mom helped me clean out the nursery and get it ready so that I could take everything I didn't want or need to our church yard sale yesterday. We also went shopping and got a few other organizational things for the house. I don't know how I would have gotten all of that fixed without her! Thanks Moma! :) Last night after they left I was working on a lamp shade for the nursery (covering it with fabric), and ran out of hot glue gun sticks. So Hayden and I decided to ride to Dollar General to see if they had any, since it's right up the road. They didn't, but they did have washable markers that I had been meaning to get for Hayden. When we got home, he sat down at his little table and started coloring, so I called my sister-in-law to chat for a few minutes. I thought he was coloring and drawing so nicely...until he came over to ask for something.

And this is what I saw:

That's right, folks. Black and green smiley face...plus the nose. I was too tired to deal with it right then, so I waited until we went to wash his face for bed and then noticed that there was blue on the back of his neck. Hmmmm, don't know what that was supposed to be.

Will I never learn my lesson about a quiet 3 year old?