Happy Third Birthday!!

 

 Who needs a big party when you are THREE YEARS OLD?!! Dinner with the family and then a FREE outing to a local mall with a water feature, what could be more fun?! Colton had the best time, you would think he had done this a million times. Poor thing, we had to pry him away from the water while he shivered and shook and said, "I'm not cold!"

On the way!!

The adults are staying as far away from the water as possible!!

Actual birthday celebration day fun:

 

 

I LOVE trucks!! 

  

 Some big guy! Getting ready to play with water on the deck! Then water gun showdown with Uncle Eric!

Fun with Nana and Papa L under the dining room table with balloons!

Partying is hard work! Time to relax!

 Can't believe our little guy is already 3!! He seems so old sometimes, then we peek on him when he is sleeping and he is so sweet and little. He is a joy, even when he is driving us crazy! Recently he has mentioned an old classmate at school and said, "Joseph bites me sometimes (he hasn't been at school in at least 6 months) but I still love him." So sweet!! We have been telling him that we love him all the time, even when he is throwing a fit or being ugly, but that we might be sad at him when he is ugly. He likes to check and make sure this is true and ask us on a regular basis.

Colton's First Time Bowling
He did really well as far as patience and seemed to really enjoy the first round. He was also very good a cheering for Nana and Papa L and Mummy.

We all wanted to use the kiddie ramp!

Funny words he says are "Ugee" (ugly) and finally says "other" instead of "uh" as in, "I saw him do that the uh day." He also likes to say, "ola bar" instead of granola bar, though he can say it if prompted. He often is trying to find the "emote" control for his toys. He has a hard time with the letter L, sounds more like a Y so the front door is "yocked" and he is "yooking" for something.

Fun in the great outdoors!

These are not all in order but are some of my favorite shots from hiking at Stone Mountain this spring and summer.

Poor Sweaty child!!

Don't forget to stretch!!

Colton REALLY likes when people have walking sticks, and he knows just how to use them when he made his own!

Colton has been climbing inside this stump since he was big enough to stand. He calls it "my tree" and tries to find it each visit. He is about to be too big for it though!

 

 We love to see the train and wave at the passengers!

 "Fishing" at the neighbor's pool!

Sharing the news!!

So, we FINALLY shared our secret in August, a good time at about 3 months along. I took videos of when we told Justin's family and mine, however, trying to be sneaky with a camera at odd times to have a camera out resulted in some diasterous videos. We bugged Auntie Sarah to tell us when cousin Katy Grace's birthday party was so we could plan to tell everyone. Too bad my nonchalant camera angle resulted in some headless people and some not so fun angles of people in bathing suits! And when we told my parents, I double checked to make sure my camera was ON, which resulted in me turning it OFF and missing the moment and taping a few minutes later. BUT overall it was great fun as we got this adorable shirt for Colton to wear to both events and he was very happy to share his big news! Auntie Sarah thought we were just being goofy and put him in that shirt because we are nuts. :-) Everyone was very excited and WE were excited to finally share our news about Y baby number 2!



We also sent this photo out to family and friends we wanted to clue in to the news. I actually told some close friends at work before we shared with family (just because of timing) and mostly that involved me showing them samples of shirts like I got for Colton above and telling them I wanted them to help me pick out a cute shirt for Colton. Took some of them a minute to catch on! I actually showed this shirt to my supervisor at the time who said, oh that is cute! but took a few minutes to really catch the reality behind the shirt.

The Preggo Shots begin:

THREE MONTHS: 

While we are at it, here are my before and after hair shots before my 5th or 6th donation to Locks of Love. I told Justin I would wait til I got into the pregnancy to chop it off, but wasn't going to grow it back til at least 4 months AFTER new baby Y arrived. I recall the massive hair loss and dreadlock-like hair I had after having Colton and I'm not doing that again!! 

So much lighter!!

Yosemite and BIG news!

We were blessed to be able to travel to California at the end of May/early June to attend Justin's cousin Peter's Bar Mitzvah. We haven't been to California to visit Mel, Steve, Claire and Peter since our 6 month wedding anniversary! :-) It was great to see everyone again and we also got to hang out with some other family members who attended also. We had a whilwind trip, though, and crammed in a few days at Yosemite since we were SO close. Colton had such fun with the gang at Mel and Steve's that when we returned from Yosemite and everyone had left and Peter and Claire were back at school, Colton came into the kitchen and asked Mel, "Where is everybody?" He was so disappointed that his "gang" of friends, new and old, were gone!

Fun with the Georgia cousins! Grayson and Katy Grace posing nicely after a long game of "throw the basketball all over the place and at everyone you can see.."

We didn't take any pictures at the ceremony (trying to entertain Colton to keep him from running everywhere) but I love the expression of Peter's before he left the house to go. 

Cooking with Aunt Mel. This picture is so adorable. There is another fun one where it looks like Mel might be trying to cut Colton's fingers off. Colton is fascinated with scissors!

Yes, that is Uncle Carl cooking a traditional Jewish meal that I can't recall the name of but it has eggs and matzah crackers and was yummy!

Fun in PJs. Grayson is keeping a close eye on Colton who wants to try out that game.

 Ice Cream tastes best when it gets all over your face!
















You always have to check an new house for bugs. I think Colton had Mel check every rock that was in the yard (don't tell Uncle Steve that some probably were moved!).

Uncle Steve is imparting very important knowledge to Colton. 

Here is Peter teaching Colton how to "Tets." It was very serious work.

We stopped at this Rodeo Museum on our way back from Yosemite. It was pretty lame but it was only $1 to get in and they had this hilarious set up for kids to pretend to be rodeo cowboys. This first picture is of Colton trying to put on the "seatbelt" which cracked me up! Safety first!

They even had toddler sized chaps!

The sign above clues you in on our location. :-) It was the last place we visited in the park. We also got to watch and be watched by some wildlife on this portion of our trip. Colton thought he could walk right out there and join them and they seemed to be willing to let him!

 Colton aquired this lovely Dogwood blossom for me to wear. Here he is telling me all about it.

This was our first view into Yosemite Valley. It was amazing!

The first night we spent in the park. Better known as "The time we lucked out and didn't get the Hauntavirus when we stayed in Curry Village." We stayed about 1-2 weeks before the awful outbreak that affected and killed numerous park visitors to these same tent cabins. We are germaphobes so we sanitized everything (note Colton's towel on his lap as he ate dinner in the cabin.

Colton has a tendency to roll everywhere when he sleeps so we had to rig up the bed area to lessen the likelihood of him rolling onto the floor. I had to sleep with him to be the other barrier. Justin would have gotten the best night of sleep since he had his own bed BUT...tent cabins are basically regular tents that are not spaced out very well so we got to hear everything and everyone in all the cabins nearby. All night. Poor sick baby nearby, her parents were so upset but there was no where to go in the middle of the night

Family shot at Yosemite Falls

This monkey backpack comes in so handy!

Who needs to see the falls when there are sticks and bugs around?!

Oh, look there are waterfalls over there!!

Hiking is hard work. Think I'll try to hold up this rock a bit.
















Bridal Veil Falls

On our way to Vernal Falls. Better known as, "The day the mosquitos almost ate Brigette and Colton alive." I have never seen so many and they swarmed us like I have never seen. They paid no attention to Justin. Thank goodness for good bug spray that worked wonders, but it was an all natural type that made us smell like crazy herbs for the rest of the day. Mix that with sweat from the hike and we were smelling super good after we got back. Thank goodness our B&B (well, it was a B) had a nice shower!

Colton was SO overtired. We almost didn't make it to the falls due to some lunchtime/naptime meltdowns. The time change did NOT sit well with him. He said he needed a rest here. People hiking by were all laughing at his resting spot.

Much better sleeping arrangement.
















Waiting for the bus to pick us up. "I'm not tired. I'm resting!"

  

Maps at the Grocery Store

We take Colton hiking and to parks so much that we went to a grocery store this summer and he stopped when we walked inside where the have the weekly ads. He said, "Wait! We have to get a map!" and unfolded it and said, "we need to go this way!" and led us around the store. It was so funny!

When I Grow Up

My mother was babysitting Colton one day this summer and asked him what he was going to be when he grows up. He looked at her like she was crazy and said, "A grown up!"

Colton also likes to tell us about things he can do when he is big. "When I get big I'm going to drive Poppa's Jeep and you can sit in back and Poppa can sit by me." I am not sure Justin is willing to share the Jeep, even in 13 years from now!

Big News!!

While we were in California, I started to have some symptoms that included morning and afternoon nausea. Shortly after we returned we confirmed...

Expecting Y baby number two!! I can't change the blog name, but it should now be:

Brigette and Justin plus another one!

More to come, promise!