HAPPY EASTER!!! 2011

This was truly a wonderful Easter. It seems like one of the best Easter's I've had in a long time. Spending time with the three of us, since our families all live so far away, made for an awesome weekend. Malachi is getting older and starting to understand more and more. This year he had the hang of hunting eggs. But more importantly he is learning who Jesus is. We have a wonderful kids church who help us teach him about the love of Jesus. I'm so thankful for Northplace church. And now to tell you all about our weekend.

We started out Saturday morning with Nick and Malachi getting their haircuts and mommy preparing the eggs to be dyed along with Malachi's Easter basket. I love doing a basket for him. And even though it's not much, it takes me back to Easter when I was little. My mom always had a basket for us and we always hunted eggs. I think I know why Easter is my favorite holiday. Every Easter for as long as I can remember, all of the family would gather for church and friends we didn't see that often. After church was the egg hunt. It was always so fun hunting them. And then, after all that, my family would all go to my granny and grandpa's for lunch. We would just hang out, play, laugh, hide some of the eggs again, and then eat them. I love remembering those times. This was the first year Malachi and I dyed eggs. I wish I had a picture of his face when he saw his basket. He loved it! His words....OOOOHHH MAANnn!! lol We dyed eggs and then he an daddy played with his new ball and glove.

Later that afternoon we went to the community egg hunt right down the street. Tons of "crazy" people. :) We had fun though. It was fun watching Malachi get the eggs. After the hunt, we got ourselves some cotton candy and popcorn and headed to the bounce houses. This boy would stay in a bounce house ALL day. He was plum tuckered by the time we left. But rest assured, HE.DID.NOT.TAKE.A.NAP :( Around 5:30 we went to some friends house where we had a potluck. So much good food and so much fun watching the kiddos hunt eggs in the front yard. Laughing with friends and hanging out......perfect end to a perfect day.
Sunday morning we went to church (like we always do) and listened to the wonderful message Pastor Bryan had for us. It was such a wonderful reminder of just how much Jesus loves us. Praise the Lord, HE IS RISEN!!! After service we took a few Easter family pictures. I'm so thankful for these two wonderful people I have in my life. I'm so blessed to have such an amazing husband (who by the way cooked Easter dinner for us) and a wonderful little boy. I can't wait until we have Lawson with us to share all of these memories.
This was a perfect weekend. Family, food, and remembering that Jesus died on the cross but 3 days later he rose again!!!!

I can't breathe!!!

What in the world am I going to do this summer?? I'm 20 weeks right now and I already feel like I can't breathe. I can only imagine what this summer will be like. I guess I'll be lounging in the kiddy pool quite frequently. It's so interesting to me to see the differences between my two pregnancies. Malachi......felt fine at 5 months. This time...still gaggy, want to sleep ALL THE TIME, out of breath, etc. I can now see Lawson kick and moving. Sometimes though, just like his brother, he kicks and it does not feel good AT ALL. My favorite thing right now is at night, Malachi will kiss my belly and say good night baby Lawson. It's the sweetest thing EVER.

Malachi is growing like a weed. Obsessed with being outside. This year we are prepared with a breathing machine. Thank goodness!! Sunday we took him to the circus. He loved it. His favorite things were the elephants, motorcross bikes, and the human canonball. He is fascinated with motorcycles. His face was priceless. While they were doing their tricks, he would say Be careful. lol He's so funny. Speaking of funny....he's really in to laughing at himself right now. When he tells us something or when he does something silly, he will just laugh and shake his head. He tries to do it when he knows he's in trouble too. Potty training has been going great. He tells us when he has to go poop and pee. It's great. I knew at some point we would have the set back phase and well that happened this weekend. It was like he decided, nope, not using the potty today, really don't feel like going to all that trouble. All well, everyone has accidents. I'm so proud of him though. He really has been a big boy using his potty. And...like any man I guess, when he goes poop, HE HAS TO HAVE THE FAN ON! Seriously???

Here are my boys both at 20 weeks.

Malachi at 20 weeks

Lawson at 20 weeks

Queen of the House!

That's right, I said it. I am now officially queen of the house. Wednesday we found out we are having another little boy, Nicholas Lawson Cowan. We plan on calling him Lawson. Due date: August 22. At first, I was a disappointed. I really did want a little girl. What? She was disappointed? She isn't happy? Of course I'm happy. But ANYONE who was wanting one and found out it was the other deep down inside, you feel that disappointed. And if you say you don't, well then yes, I think you are lying. Don't judge.

So moving on.....I am thrilled to be having another boy! Malachi is going to have a brother, a road dawg to hang out with and play with. I often find myself sitting and thinking about if they will be alike or if they will be different. Yesterday I started thinking, well what if one wants to play summer football and one wants to play t-ball. What will I do? I can't go to one and not the other. How will I divide myself? LOL I know, if that's all I have to worry about then I will be ok. ;) I'm now loving the thought of having boys surrounding me. The protection and the love........what a great feeling. And now, I have become QUEEN OF THE HOUSE! :)

Am I nervous about having two kids? A little. My biggest worry? Making them both feel equally loved and my attention divided. I know I will love them both the same but showing them that it just seems hard. I know it will be fine and all adjustments will be made. At least this time I don't have to be so panicked about that dagum circumcision. Geez. That stressed me out more than anything with Malachi. lol

Here is what Malachi has picked out so far for his baby bruder. I want to keep him as involved as possible and let him help make decisions. Well you know..................

16 Weeks....

This Monday I turned 16 weeks. Why is she blogging about 16 weeks you might ask? Why not 15 or 12? Well, I'm trying to capture this pregnancy at the same times I was pregnant with Malachi. So, at 16 weeks is when I took a picture with Malachi. I'm not sure why, but this pregnancy seems like it is going by so much faster than my first one. I'm equally as excited so maybe its just that I'm not as "worried" and I know the things to expect. With Malachi, I probably called the Dr. once a week maybe once every two weeks. The only time I've called this time was to make an appointment or to find out blood test results. So....I think I'm doing pretty good. In just a few weeks we will find out what we are having. Boy or girl???? I would be lying if I said I didn't sway one way or another.....I really would love to have a little girl now. But, with all that said, as long as he/she is healthy who cares. We are trynig to find creative ways to tell our parents this time what we are having. Since we live so far away from all of them, it's hard to come up with something. With Malachi, we couldn't wait to do something creative, we called them right up to tell them He was a BOY! So hopefully when the time comes we will have thought of something, if not, we'll just call them again. lol :)
I was hoping the gagging and nausea would be over by now but it's not. I can tell it's getting better, I just want it to go AWAY completely. All in all, it's been good. I started really feeling the baby move last week (15 weeks). I can't wait for Nick and Malachi to be able to see it move and feel it. I'm wondering what Malachi will think or will he even care.

This week we are on spring break. Praise the Lord!!! Work has been crazy lately so I'm ready for a break. We are ready to spend all day everyday playing and doing things with Malachi. We also plan on getting his room painted and fixed in to a "big" boys room.

Baby #2 on the left and Malachi on the right.

This world is not my home...

As most of you know, my sweet granny went to be with the Lord last Thursday, Feb. 24th. It's always hard losing somone so close to you. The thought of never touching her sweet face, hearing her gentle voice, and seeing her face to face......it hurts. But, at the same time, there is joy that floods my heart. A joy from knowing she is with Jesus now. A joy from knowing that she isn't in anymore pain. A joy from knowing she is once again with my grandpa and together they are singing praises to our Lord. What a wonderful thought isn't it?

As I sat at the funeral and watched loved ones gather around one last time, to get one last glimpse, in my mind I could only think, we will see her again. As the people passed by and touched her sweet face and kissed her one last time, I could only think, that's only her body, cause she is in heaven.

For some, when a loved one passes, life and all that you have in this life, become a bigger realization and you become much more thankful for what you have and who you have in your life. And I won't say I didn't think to myself how thankful I am for my family but the bigger realization for me was HEAVEN. To sit and think of what heaven may be like is always so refreshing to me. No more pain, no more tears.....this is the place I want to be. We've all heard songs like This is my temporary home and This world is not my home......I am so thankful to know that I have a home that far exceeds any mansion on this earth.

Nick and I had a wonderful talk about heaven and death. What would we want at our funeral? Where would we be burried? For some it may be something you would never talk about but for me, it felt peaceful. It's a wonderful feeling knowing that Heaven will be my home someday. I would love to see my kids grow up and grow old with my amazing husband...but should the Lord choose me to go today, I've been saved by the blood of the Lamb and I'm ready.

Are you?

Wonderful Week

This week was wonderful!!! The sun was out and the weather was perfect. I actually got hot sitting in my office on Friday. I loved it!! Since the weather has been nice, we have been able to take Malachi to the park. He loves the park. Climbing, sliding, running, everything a kid wants to do. Waxahachie actually has a lot of nice little parks that we can go too. Nick took him to one Thursday evening while I was at work and today we took him to a different one. I love getting to spend that time with the two of them. Being outside, enjoying the nice air.

This morning we babysat my friends sweet 2 week old baby girl, Willow Bryn. I forgot what it was like to hold such a tiny little thing. Malachi loved her. All he wanted to do was hold her. Watching him with her really made me think about our new little addition and how our family is going to drastically change.....for the BETTER! It will no longer be Nick and Jessica and their little boy, but Nick and Jessica and their 2 kids. So weird to say but so exciting. I can't wait to find out if he will have a little brother or sister. I know he will be an awesome big brother. We were talking today about the first week we brought him home. I would eat supper, then Nick would eat. Then we would go to sleep about 8:00p.m. on the couch b/c we knew in 2 hours we would just be getting back up to feed the hungry little thing. It's so funny to sit and think about everything with Malachi and how we "plan" on things being a whole lot different with this one. We shall see. Or maybe we just need to look for and EXTRA KING SIZE BED.

Sweet.....Sweet....Sound!

Today marks the end of the 1st Trimester!!! Yahoo! It also was the day we got to hear that sweet little sound.....our baby's heartbeat.

Even though you see that little heartbeat in the first ultrasound, it's still such a huge relief when you can actually hear it. It was a strong 162 bpm. So fast!!! This had to be one of the longest appointments I've ever had. Why? Because this little one was trying to be funny. Today we were doing the ultrasound to determine any chromosome problems. Well, the sono tech tried and tried to get the baby in the correct position and she just couldn't do it. I layed on both of my sides, still nothing. I stood up, walked around, did toe touches and still nothing. The little booger still wouldn't give us a profile picture. He/she seemingly just kept looking at us, smiling, and waving. LOL Finally, I just went on to my appointment which was quick and fast. We then went back to the ultrasound room once again to see if she could get the picture. After about 15 minutes of moving and pushing we finally got the picture she needed. Then it was time for blood work. The normal lab lady (who is fabulous) wasn't there so the nurses were having to do all the work. After 4 pokes and rooting around in my arm, they finally got 4 things of blood. Nick said he was beginning to wonder if I was actually giving blood or having surgery. lol

With all that said and done, I would have let them poke me 10 times if that meant hearing that little heartbeat. We are always amazed at the ultrasounds and just how amazing they are. Baby Cowan #2 was very active today. Turning flips, waving, kicking. Let's just hope he/she cooperates a little better when it's time for the gender testing. :)