Mike Cope

I just love our preacher. This picture, to me, perfectly portrays the kind of person that he is. The little girl that he is holding is Hope - a sweet little girl with Downs Syndrome. She is actually the daughter of our familydoctor. I have only talked to Mike personally maybe 3 times, but he has taught me so much. I learned so much about growing up and developing my own faith during college. Now, he has taught me much about how to be a good parent, a patient, forgiving person, an honorable wife and daughter of Christ. I am so thankful for him. Mike's eyes are closed, and he is just hugging on her with such sincerity. This picture just brought tears to my eyes! (Some of that is probably hormones!) Check out his most recent blog for 2 other awesome pictures.

Out of the mouths of babes....

I was making grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner - this is how Kaitlyn understood it:

"Mom, only you and me can have a girl cheese sandwich, and Daddy can have a boy cheese sandwich."

What I did this weekend....

* Experienced Vicotin for the first time. That's a nice one to start with! I've been having really bad headaches with this pregnancy and after some other options have failed - this is basically my last chance. I was so nervous about taking it, even though my doctor told me it would be okay. It took me 4 days to even go pick it up from CVS. I took one on Friday night and don't really remember anything else about that evening. I was out like a light. And I remember having a head ache until I fell asleep - so not sure if it even worked. Probably won't take it again.

* Went to an awesome sale at Old Navy! I spent $26 and got Kaitlyn 4 shirts, 2 skirts, a pair of shorts, a pair of shoes, and a shirt for James. Crazy! Everything was like $1.99! That's my kind of sale!

* Got a pedicure! This was my 3rd one of the summer. I think I'm addicted. Despite James' efforts for me to get a huge 'J' painted on my big toe - I ended up with a French pedicure with a small flower.

* Took Kaitlyn to a little dance class at church. Yes, dance - at church. This sweet lady is raising money for a new orphanage that just opened in India. She is from England, and used to teach ballet for many years. So, for 3 Saturdays she is teaching a little class to girls. It really is a sweet class - and she holds all the kids attention because of her awesome accent! Kaitlyn loved it the first week. This week, I had to participate with her a little bit. She kept saying she just wanted to go to Chick Fil A.

* Taught the 4 year old class at church. James and I signed up to help teach this class together for the month of July. I have to give a shout out to Jody Reese - the head teacher. She is amazing with these kids. She also teaches kindergarten and I'm sure is a very respected and sought after teacher. It's fun to watch her and learn from her. We have enjoyed 4 year olds. You never know what they are going to say - or draw a picture of.

* I may have felt the baby move. You would think after already being pregnant once, I would know exactly how it feels. There have been a couple of flutters - especially when I am perfectly still or when I try to get away with laying on my stomach. No more of that.

* James brought home Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and frosted chocolate donuts for me! I will be standing backwards on the scale when I go back to the doctor.

* I got to meet a fellow blogger! Courtney came into town to visit her sister Lindsay (who I work with), and they came over to visit for awhile. It was fun to meet her and her sweet Landry in person! Kaitlyn and Landry got along great, and we all enjoyed a short late night walk. Good to meet you Courtney!

* We had a small game night at our house on Thursday night. The girls whipped up on the boys in a game of Trivial Pursuit - Pop Culture! When you have someone on your team that lived in LA for a few years, you're gonna get a lot of answers right! Sorry boys... maybe next time.

* My brother came through town on Sunday. It's always good to see him, and Kaitlyn loves to play around with her Uncle Neil - and his best friend Micah who she said she wants to marry.

That's about it!!

Hope you have a good Monday!

Random....

Kaitlyn was pretty talkative this morning on the way to get a donut and then to school. Here is some of what she said:

"Hey Momma - I like to eat lobster." (She has never had it in her life)

"Hey Momma - I like you."

"Hey Momma - I care about Natalie and Connor."

"Hey! That flag says ACU!" (She is really into finding things that say ACU - Tshirts, flags, billboards, etc)

"That lady sure is wearing a lot of lipstick." (This is the Jack 'N' Jill donut lady that has worked there since I was in college).

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I love borrowed maternity clothes. I have two friends that have had babies recently that let me borrow theirs. This makes me REAL happy.

I could never work at Sonic. I would never be able to figure out people's change right then and there. I would have to whip out a calculator.

Why is it 137 degrees outside all of the time?

James drives around in an unairconditioned car ALL DAY LONG, and he has never complained. I would complain all the time. He's just not a complainer - one of the things I love about him.

Why is it that guys can lose weight so much faster than girls? I am over here getting fatter and fatter by the day - James has lost 19 pounds in less than 3 weeks. While I am very proud of him - I am a little jealous at the same time.

I love chocolate donuts.

Have a good Wednesday!

Pictures

Again, here are the rest of the pictures that go with the blog below.

Kaitlyn and my Papa - her great-grandfather.

Two of her 2nd cousins - Abby and AnnaLea

Most of the kids swimming.

On the way home - totally worn out....

Weekend fun

This past weekend we drove to Ft. Worth to spend some time with family that we had not seen in a long time. My aunt and three of my cousins were down from Washington State. They only come once every couple of years or so, so it was really good to see them. Kaitlyn LOVED being around all of her second cousins. It was so fun watching them all play together.

Friday night we drove in and had a cookout at my brothers apartment. It was such a pretty night - so we ate outside and then had a fun evening swim. Kaitlyn thought it was fun to get to swim in the dark. She made quick friends with a nice couple in the hot tub that I'm sure were just looking for a relaxing night alone. She broke that party up real quick. She wanted to stay in the hotel with Mamaw and Pappy that night - no hesitation on my part!




Saturday the boys worked on my brothers truck while my mom, Kaitlyn and I went shopping for maternity clothes and then to visit my Papa. It was good to see him. We recently moved him to an assisted living facility. It's a really nice place, but still hard to see him in there. He was sporting a sweet black tobagan under a cowboy hat. I took a real sweet picture of he and Kaitlyn.

Saturday night is when ALL the family got together over at my grandmothers house. We ate together, swam, told stories.. just enjoyed being together. Kaitlyn learned to swim a little bit with her head under the water. She wanted so badly to do everything her older cousins were doing. She caught a frog later that night - a pretty big one at that. I wish I would have had my camera with me. She got to spend the night that night with her cousins. All four of them stayed in the same room and didn't go to bed until after 11:00pm. Which brings us to Sunday...

She was not a happy camper during church. Fortunately we sat on the back row and it was easy to get out. For lunch we all went to the park and had a picnic so that all the kiddos could run around. Beats fighting a restaurant! It was pretty warm, so we were ready for the air conditioned car!

By this time, Kaitlyn was worn out....

Shocker. Blogger only let me post one pic. I'll try again in a few...

15 Week check-up....

I finally got to hear the heartbeat today! It took the doctor a VERY long time to find it - I was getting kind of nervous! It was beating at 152 beats per minute. Any predictions on boy or girl? I can't remember if 152 would be considered "high" or "low", but I know lots of people make predictions on this - so I thought I would get your insight!

Here is a 3D picture of what a baby looks like at 15 weeks - courtesy of verybestbaby.com.

Pictures that go with the previous blog:

At school during her 4th of July parade/party:

At the Zoo - she loved all the flags and always loves playing on these rocks.

Getting her face painted and squeezing her eyes shut while they sprayed the glitter.

Getting ready to see the fireworks. Kaitlyns usual face for pictures:

So excited to see the show that mom talked up sooo big!!

Man. That was lame.

Happy Fourth of July!

This and That..

Well, we had a fun Fourth of July. Pretty laid back - but that's the way I like to do holidays! We went to "Festival on the Fourth" at the zoo. Kaitlyn enjoyed getting her face painted, glitter sprayed in her hair, jumping in the bounce house, and eating the biggest pixi stick I have ever seen. (We dumped half the sugar out while she was jumping). One of James' customers had a booth set up out there so we even got hooked up with a free lunch! The food business does have it's advantages.

That afternoon we just hung around the house. I cleaned while James mowed the lawn. Kaitlyn swam in her pool for awhile and then took a late nap. We had some friends over for a cookout and then went to the park to see the LAMEST firework show ever. Kaitlyn was way more entertainment out there than the fireworks were. The show was an hour long and there was like 30 seconds in between fireworks. The finale was really awesome, but it lasted less than 2 seconds. Not exaggerating. I'm sure half the people out there missed it. But, it was fun being outside with friends, throwing the football around, and watching Kaitlyn run around and completely wear herself out.

Other things going on:

Kaitlyns new favorite thing is gum. If she sees anyone else with it she has to have a piece. We went to Cracker Barrel last night for dinner and she got to pick out a treat. She picked Bubble Tape. She wanted to sleep with it last night - that didn't happen. But, it was the first thing she asked about this morning.

She got to play the Grandmother at school yesterday when her class acted out Little Red Riding Hood. Her teacher said when she said her lines she even made her voice high pitched and shaky. Hilarious. I would have loved to see that.

I told myself last night that I am DONE biting my nails. It's getting a little ridiculous. I've been doing it for 25 years. That's just embarrassing. Right now they are so bad. My cuticles are all cracked and red, my nails are so short and ugly. Moms are supposed to have long pretty nails! Kaitlyn has even started picking at hers b/c she sees me do it. I took a before picture last night, so if I stick with it long enough to have an after picture I'll let you know. Wish me luck!

I'm almost 15 weeks along now - and finally starting to feel better. I have had the worst head aches of my life the past couple of weeks however. I haven't had one in a couple of days though. I'm in the "fat" stage. Not showing enough to wear maternity, but my regular clothes are so tight. Yuk. I go back to the doctor on Monday. I'm anxious to go, and look forward to seeing that everything is still okay. I'm much more nervous this time around for some reason.

That's about all for now. Kaitlyn's class is acting out Three Billy Goats Gruff today. I'll let you know what part she got to play. I'm thinking a troll would be fitting.

Pictures to come.....