Randomness...

Here are some random pictures from my i phone. 

Lane (L) and Blake (R) at swim class!   They are learning to do exercises from the steps instead of Mommy or Daddy holding them. (I'm SOOOO for this !)

Blake and Lexi at storytime.  I love going to the library every week.  They sing songs, read books, then do a craft.  Blake loves to pick out books to bring home and read.  

Blake sleeping soundly with her Bible in her arms. 

Oh and if anyone has a recommendation on a SMALL digital camera, I need one.  Someone, who shall remain nameless, borrowed mine without me knowing and it is now considered lost :(  I love my Canon but also like to have a small camera to have in my purse for trips to the zoo, etc.  I want it to have video capabilities also.  So, if you know of a resonably priced but quality camera I'd love some suggestions. 

Big Girl Room

My Mom and Grandma are here and they brought with them Blake's new bedding.  My Grandma is so talented, she made all the bedding, pillows, bedskirt and curtains.

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I made these letters to go above Blake's bed.







My Grandma Brown

So there you have it, I officially have a BIG GIRL!! 

I'm not a huge fan of forwarded email, but this one seriously made me pee my pants...

You NEED speakers to get the full affect, but just try not to laugh when you watch this video (thanks, Aunt Rennie for the email!)

What's in a Name??????

To all you curious friends/family/stalkers....

I'm going to reveal PART of "new baby's" name. I'm only doing this out of desperation to find the perfect name....so, here is what we know for sure, well...kinda for sure, well....what we're leaning toward anyway.

She will be named:

"Kathryn/Katherine" which means "pure" and probably be called "KATE". That is set.

If you like the name, that's wonderful. Negative opinions can be happily kept to your self.


What we don't know is if Kathryn will be the first or middle name.....so here is where I need YOUR help. What names go with Kathryn??? We've thought of a few, and there is one front runner, but no decisions yet. So here's your chance to give me your ideas :) and having bragging rights forever if we choose your name.

If you ask Blake her sister's name she will tell you "Ho,Ho,Ho" and we'd rather not fall back on that.

It's a good possibility that the full name will be kept quiet until her arrival. But wouldn't it be fun to know you had a role in naming sweet "new baby."

Love,
Nick, Sarah and Blake

Post-Nap Routine

Every day after naptime Blake and Benson cuddle up on my bed to watch Dora the Explorer....to think we were so worried about these two getting along when Blake first came home...

More or Less?

More - baby name talk.  I think we have a winner and the strange thing is it's not a name we had even talked about before. But we both like it and I'm hoping it's a keeper.  I'm going to give it a few days to make sure it "sticks" then will post for everyone to know.

More - time alone with God.  The sermon and small group lesson we had a church this past weekend was very powerful.  I'm convicted to spend time in complete silence alone with God.  For now I'm doing atleast 5 minutes (timer and all) of quite solitude with God.   It's such a short time and I've been looking forward to it every night.  I've always been so hit and miss with my quiet time and this is holding me accountable.  If I can't give Him 5 minutes am I really showing Him how thankful I am for His son, My family, His sacrifice for me?

More -  reading God's word to Blake.  We are doing a mini quiet time at 7:30 every night. I've set my alarm on my phone so I can't forget.  We read a short story from her Bible and prayer and then go to bed.  Her little Bible is her new comfort item. She wants to take it everywhere she goes (she even sleeps with it.) It's so precious.

More - Big girl bed time!  A few weeks before Christmas we moved Blake to her new room complete with a big girl bed.  She really transitioned easily, except at night she would get up once right after we put her down to be rocked, then would lay down and go to sleep. THEN, she started sneaking in our room aobut 6 every morning. So, to remedy this we put a child safety knob on the inside of her door.  The first time she got to try it out I felt SO bad.  But she just crawled right back up in bed and went to sleep. Sucess!!!  I'm working on getting her room picture ready for the Blog.  My Grandma made her curtains which are now up and we will get her new bedspread/dust ruffle/shams when we get to see her again, THEN I will post pics.  No use in posting the unfinished room :)

More - Quality time with Blake.  I get tons of this already.  But I just want to soak up every minute of it being just us.  I'm excited about this new little one, but all I've ever known is me and her and I want to take in every day of it left. 

More - years married!  January 5th marked Nick and I's 9th wedding anniverary.  It came and went without much hooplah, but that's pretty standard for us.  We had dinner while our family watched Blake and that was that.  Actually Nick was hunting in teen weather on our actually anniversary, but I honestly didn't mind.  I'm so glad we have a marriage where we support each other's "fun" time. 

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Less - Time till "New Baby" makes her grand arrival. I'm officially in my 3rd Trimester.  Whoa, it's flown by.  My nausea is but a distant memory but is replaced by back/leg/hip pain and a constant need to feed myself.   I had to go about 2.5 hours without food (including breakfast) on Monday and you would've thought I hadn't eaten in days.  I'm gaining a constant 4-6 pounds wiht each month....but now starts the every 2 week appointments, which is where I really went out of control last pregancy and asked the nice nurse to please stop revealing how much I had gained.  

Less - worry.  Less worry over my house mainly.  For some reason knowing that in less than three months I will be juggling a baby and a todder is making me MUCH less type A about my home.  I honestly consider this a good thing.  I'm enjoying not stressing to clean clean clean during nap time and taking time to enjoy reading and napping myself.  So here are my aplogies for the dog hair and toys all over the house...

My Utmost

"The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him."

This quote came from yesterday's reading in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.
I really needed to hear it and thought maybe you did too...
If you want to read the whole excerpt go to www.myutmost.org and it's the reading for 1/6