The Day-To-Day

I feel like lately I have posted about a lot of trips or big weekends.  I love that we have had all those opportunities, but I am also grateful for the memories we are making each day just doing our normal stuff.  Just have to include some of those pictures and stories on the blog to remember later on…

First here are a few cute pictures of Jordan and some of her best little buddies at church a few Sundays back.  These 3 girls are within about 5 months of each other age-wise, cute as buttons, and gonna be trouble!  Love them!

I have shared in an earlier post that Jordan is not crazy about school starting back.  She either doesn’t want Cole to go, or she wants to stay too.  The whole dropping him off and leaving thing is NOT COOL in her mind!  Last week I had to work at our church’s children’s consignment sale.  Cole was in school that day, and Jordan was going to be in the childcare provided for workers.  We played it up that she got to go to school that day too- just like Cole.  She picked out her 1st day of school outfit and posed with her backpack and lunchbox.  She was SO proud.  Her school day consisted of a lot of playing, some coloring, and eating her lunch there.  She was so happy every time I checked on her.  Cutie Patootie!

She has seemed to grasp this week that Mommy/Jordan days can have their perks.  On Tuesday, she planned our whole day.  We visited daddy at work, had lunch at Chick-Fil-A where she played on the playground and had chocolate milk, and went to Target.  She cracked me up when we pulled in the driveway after seeing Murray and said “Momma, can we go to Target?”  Who says no to that?!?!  While we were there she picked out several treats for herself in the dollar section and then told me we needed to go look at “Clothes!”  After finishing up my workout at the gym today, we got in the car, and she asked if we could go get ice cream cones.  Spoiled rotten!  Glad she is happy to be with me now though even if she is taking advantage of me! 

This video is from Tuesday and really is nothing special.  I had to tape her saying “Momma” though.  I don’t know exactly how she has changed it, but it sounds different to me.  I love it and think it is the cutest thing ever which is good because she says it a million times a day now!

On to Cole… Here is a picture of him with his first homework assignment.  He had to decorate this t-shirt to tell about himself.  I asked him what his favorite show, sports team, food, etc were, and this was the end result. He is 4 years old, has a sister and a mommy and daddy, loves Jesus, cheers for the grizzlies, plays baseball, rides his bike, eats popcorn, and watches Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  Love that he loves school so much!

He likes it so much that he wants to do it at home too!  Luckily on our Target trip, Jordan and I found this great dry erase board for him to practice his writing.  He concentrates so hard, and you would not believe how many times he erases and starts over to get it just right.  I started out saying I would pick the best letter in each column and put a checkmark by it.  It became quickly apparent that this was a bad idea on my part and drove his poor little type A self crazy so every letter got checkmarks because they were ALL so great!  And of course a big smiley face!  While working on his letters this time, he looked up at me about half-way through and said “Why are there SO many letters in the alphabet?!?!”  Haha.

This day he wanted to write all the names of people in our family.  I would tell him how to spell the names, and he wrote all the letters from memory with no help from me!  I wasn’t the only one proud of him either! 

He has struggled with no naps at school though.  They have a naptime, but he doesn’t sleep.  One day on the ride home he said with panic, "Momma- my eyes keep trying to close, but I want them to stay open!" Guess who was a mean momma and drove the long way  home?

One of my favorite times of day is snuggle time.  When they first wake up from naps, we watch a tv show and cuddle on the couch.  Love this shot because it shows all 3 of my babies!  Pretty sure we are going to need a deeper couch though!

One of the things that having days with just Jordan has made me realize is that it is so fun to not be in a hurry and to let her decide what we do and when and how we do it.  I am trying to do better about this when I have both kids with me as well.  That may mean something as simple as letting a curb be a balance beam, looking to see how deep a storm drain is, or seeing everything as a jungle gym or something to jump from, but watching how happy those little things make my kids makes me even happier than they are. 

We have also loved going to the pool/splash park at our gym this summer.  The kids and I went this week.  Trying to soak up as much time as possible before it closes after Labor Day.  First of all, how cute are they in their swimsuits?!?!

My bathing beauty!

This didn’t happen all that often this summer, but the kids totally entertained themselves and had a blast.  I enjoyed getting to sit and watch them!

Poor Jordan did this about 10 times while Cole tried to work the video on my phone.  He was trying so hard!  My little tough girl just kept going under for the sake of a good video!  By this time, she was cold and over it so she didn’t start out exactly happy, but she still jumped.  Got to love the determination!

Also these days, we love watching our sweet baby Hayes move around!  The kids think it is awesome, and Cole told me yesterday that Hayes’ feet are getting bigger because he kicked Cole’s leg hard during snuggle time on the couch.  Haha.  Have to admit, I am a little worried if he stays this active once he is born!

And then there is always the crazy fun that only Murray can provide!  He turned on MC Hammer in the car, and Cole immediately said “Dad, turn it up so we can jam!”  In case you are wondering, this is what jamming looks like!

I know the previous video makes this next statement seem false, but we have also been trying to have less radio on in the car to encourage more conversation.  Some days I love this, others not as much!  It has made for some serious talks (which I’ll post later) and some hilarious moments though so all in all it’s worth it.  On a recent road trip (with no movie players) Murray and I were trying to talk, but Cole had a MILLION questions and things to say.  We were trying to teach him to say excuse me and wait for us to finish.  At first he just said excuse me over and over or “Momma, I said excuse me!”  I explained that he was supposed to say it once and then wait.  The next time he says “Excuse me… I'm waiting, I'm waiting, I'm waiting..." Still working on it!

Another thing that Jordan does right now that I love is she gets SO excited about everything.  When this happens, her voice moves up like 2-3 octaves by the end of her statement.  For example, after the clothing sale, I was showing her the clothes I got her.  Literally with each thing I would show her, she would say “It’s for ME-EE?!?! THANK YOU!”  There is no way to type it and accurately portray the cuteness of how she says it, but her pure joy exudes!

She also sings all.the.time!  Sometimes she will start a song and say “Momma, I can’t remember.”  Or other times she will ask if we can all sing a song together.  Most of the time though, she is just content to sing all on her own.  Tonight in the car it was “The Bear Went Over the Mountain,” but it ranges from all sorts of bible songs to children songs to her own made up songs.  She has the cutest little singing voice (not always on pitch) and when singing along usually is about 1/2 a word behind.  Man it will make you smile!  Here she is singing Jesus Loves Me.

Ok… I could go on and on because seriously I adore my kids and think everything they say and do is wonderful.  That’s not 100% true because trust me we have our moments- like trying to get them to eat dinner, go to sleep, or play nicely with each other at times- where I think I might go nuts!  At the end of the day though, I am incredibly and undeservingly blessed.  That being said, I know I have probably lost everyone who started reading this post so I’ll wrap it up and save more for later. 

Me & Murray

Murray and I got to have a kid-free weekend a while back.  My parents took the kids to the lake with them, and we worked a little around the house and played a lot!  It is always so nice to have time with just Murray.  I love our kids more than words can say, and I always miss them when they are gone for a while.  That being said, getting to have uninterrupted time with Murray is a little bit of Heaven on earth!  He truly is my very best friend, the guy who can make me laugh so hard I cry, and my biggest earthly blessing.  What can I say- I love him!  Anyway, here are some pictures from our fun weekend…

First we started out the weekend with dinner out followed by a little shopping.  Too fun!

Saturday morning, Murray had his 2nd sprint triathlon.  He did great, and I was a proud wife!  Love watching him compete after all his hard work training.  I actually got quite a workout at this race myself.  About 8 till 8, they announce that once the race begins at 8, the roads through the state park will be closed so nobody will be able to get out.  If I wanted to see Murray throughout the race, I had to get back to the car and out of the park by 8!  Not too horrible except the start was about a mile (at least) from where we had to park.  So I had hiked all the way up to the start and had to run all the way back to the car.  I made it though!  One more reason I’m glad I have continued working out.  I would have never made it!  Haha.

I had plans to swap Cole and Jordan’s room with the nursery as soon as we got home, but Murray dangled a carrot too tempting for me to pass up right in front of me.  He suggested going to the pool without kids!  What a great idea and nice nap!

We did work on their rooms after catching up on some rest.  The kids were so excited when they got home, and have LOVED their “new” room.  The nursery turned out sweet too.  It has been fun digging out Cole’s old stuff.  Brings back sweet memories.

Had to add this one in… we built and hung new shutters on our house!  We didn’t do it this weekend.  It was a process over several weeks with the help of my dad, but still.  They look so great if I may brag and really changed the look of our house. 

Saturday night, Murray took me to the drive-in.  So romantic!    Actually, we watched a pretty awful movie.  I would not recommend Grown-Ups 2, but the atmosphere and company were great!

Hoping to have at least one more kid-free weekend with this awesome guy before Baby Hayes makes his debut… hint-hint Nonny or Mimi!  Haha. 

Douglas Hayes Butler

Yep… that’s right- WE DID IT!  We finally named this sweet boy!  I have to be honest, I was a little worried we would get to delivery day without one.  Murray and I have such different taste in names, and sticking a kid with a forever name is a big deal!  That being said, we both really liked the name Hayes (which is what we will call him), and Douglas is a family name on Murray’s side.  It’s the last name of Murray’s great aunt and uncle that we love very much so we are excited they are letting us carry on their name through Hayes.  So… Cole, Jordan, and Hayes.  Not too shabby if you ask me!

Also good news is that Hayes and I passed our gestational diabetes test!  Yay!  Yay for no diabetes and yay for no 3 hour test!  At my doctor’s appointment, Dr. Miller could not believe how active he was.  She could not even keep the Doppler on his heartbeat because he kept pushing it off or moving away from it.  She was cracking up.  Little does she know that this is ALL THE TIME!  I know this little boy is going to come out ready to keep up with his big brother and sister because he is practicing running and wrestling already!  Murray says he doesn’t know how I sleep.  Haha.  Cole and Jordan have both felt Hayes moving and kicking too, and Cole has even witnessed Hayes making my belly jump and move around.  So fun to watch their excitement.

I am officially in my 3rd trimester now and still feeling pretty good most of the time!  I have had a little more back pain this time around, but I am pretty sure that is because I overdo it.  I don’t know how else to do it though!  Cole and Jordan are both still pretty little and need to be held sometimes. Especially Jordan is always wanting to be held.  I know that will have to change once Hayes is here, but she still has a few more months of being the baby.  Other than my back and being tired (which I promise has not gone away this time- haha), I cannot complain!  I am still working out and feel blessed that I am healthy enough and feel good enough to be doing that. 

I officially pre-registered us at the hospital today.  I also registered us for a “Mind Over Body” class because I really want to have Hayes without an epidural.  Murray thinks I have lost my mind, but he also said he will support me no matter what.  He just said he may need a Xanax that day.  Haha.  We also have Hayes’ room basically done minus his name sign to go over his dresser.  And I went through all Cole’s baby clothes and filled in any gaps at our church’s consignment sale last week.  This boy will be styling!  All these little things make it more and more real.  Crazy! 

I have messed up and not taken a 27 or 28 week picture yet so you will have to make due with a 26 week photo.  I’ll try to get a more recent one up soon.  Anyway, here we are…

As Neesha tells me every time I see her… The baby is getting bigger!!! 

Cole’s 1st Week of School

We started the celebration of Cole’s 1st day back to school Monday night.  It was supposed to be the night before his first day in the 4 year old class.  Murray surprised us with GiGi’s cupcakes, and, if you can’t tell from the pictures, the kids kinda liked them.  Haha.  When Murray asked who Cole was excited to see at school, he didn’t name any friends.  He immediately said “Miss” Sara.  We have been so blessed with such amazing teachers last year and this year!  Very thankful!

Unfortunately our celebration was a little premature because Cole woke up during the night running fever and complaining that his ear hurt.  We haven’t had an ear infection in about 2 years, but poor buddy not only had an ear infection but also strep throat.  First time for that.  He needed some special attention and loving… especially when I told him he was going to have to stay home from his first day of school.  He was so disappointed. 

Jordan needed a cool washcloth too.  And then Cole decided the baby needed one too.  Haha.

Once he started feeling a little better, I set him up on ABCmouse.com, and we did school at home.  He is SO excited about it.  Hopefully he will continue to like it, and we can use it to supplement what he is learning at school.

And once Daddy got home, things got even better!

Luckily those antibiotics worked quickly, and today was the day!  He was so excited and was very happy to have 4 muffins to celebrate being in the 4 year old class now.  He also is such a sweetie and immediately decided he needed to take some to his new teacher “Miss” Sara. 

Love this boy!!!

I put Jordan in a “So Happy” shirt.  She thought she was until after we got to school, dropped Cole off at his classroom, and left.

Then, all I heard was “I don’t want Cole to go to school.” “I want Cole to come home.” “I go to Cole’s school.”  I may have made a mistake keeping her home again this year.  Haha.  Love how much she loves and wants to be with her big brother though.  It is obvious why… For example, when I picked him up today, I asked him how his 1st day was.  He quickly told me that he was going to tell me about it but not until we were with Daddy and Jordan because he knew they would want to know about it too.  When Jordan woke up from her nap, he was SO sweet.  Blowing her kisses, patting her back, and rubbing her leg.  I think they equally missed each other.  Here is proof that Jordan missed Cole.

Looking forward to a great school year!