Tate is 1!

Yesterday we celebrated Tate's 1st birthday with a swimming party at Lolly and Poppy's house. It was a beautiful (and very warm) day to be outside in the pool. He was the perfect little one year old. Just his usual happy self. And he totally hammed it up when it was time to sing to him and smash his cake. We would have been surprised otherwise :)

 Seriously, where did the last year go?? It doesn't seem that long ago that we were praying for this precious baby to get out of the hospital!! Praise the Lord, he did and he hasn't stopped growing or smiling since :) 

                                      

I feel the need to document our little swimmers' progress so far. 

Collin officially won the award for most prepared swimmer yesterday. Between the goggles, ear plugs, swim shirt, sunscreen, and floaties, I think he had everything covered ;)

He is jumping off the diving board (with floaties) and going under, and he is loving it. He is so proud of his swimming skills!! And so are we. Mr. Cautious finally made up his mind that it's ok to go under water.

And here is wild woman. No floaties, no fear, no problem. And no one to catch her either. She is full out swimming. It scares us to death, and we never let her out of our sight, but she handles herself great in the water- deep end and all. 

She reassured me that she was a really good swimmer, and that she "wouldn't get drained in the water." She also told us if the new baby gets in the water, then she will jump in and get the baby so it "won't get drained."  

I feel good about it! ha

So true!

A friend on Facebook posted this last week. I can't even remember who it was, but Thank You to whoever you are! It really made me stop and think. I get so caught up during the day trying to "get just one thing done without being interrupted." If that sounds familiar, maybe these words will help you like they helped me this week. And yes, those dishes will still be there when you are done reading :) :)

Guess who we saw today??

Our new baby!!

We went for the 4D ultrasound this morning. Daddy, Collin and Brantlee got to watch. It was so funny to watch the kids' reactions. Brantlee really thought the ultrasound tech was going to get the baby out of my belly button today. I mean, that is where they come out of after all ;) ;) Collin was just fascinated by the whole process and could very quickly see and tell what all the parts were. If we wanted to know the sex of the baby, we could have definitely found out today. Baby Crager was very excited to show its business!! So we were told to close our eyes a few times. But enough babbling. On to the sweet pictures of "TyAnsley"!

We tried and tried to get TyAnsley to move that arm, but it just wasn't happening. 

A "smiling" picture :) 

How weird is this?! Open eyes!! And of course the arm near the face...

Back to sleep for a while. On another fun note, the tech told us the baby has hair. She couldn't really confirm a lot or a little, but considering how lacking Collin and Brantlee were in that area, we'll take what we can get :) 

We also had a dr. appointment this morning. The heart rate has slowed to around the 140+ mark, which I am told is normal because the baby is getting bigger. Measurements look good. And mommy is just trying to take it easy and not swell too much :) I am up 23 pounds at 30 weeks. ALL the aches and discomforts (and rising numbers on the scale) are so worth it, especially when I see these sweet pictures! I cannot wait to kiss those cheeks!!

Slip & Slide

Collin and Brantlee got a slip and slide as an Easter present from Mee Maw, Paw Paw and Pammie. Needless to say, it has been put to good use. This little contraption entertained the kids for no less than 2 hours one afternoon. Kyle decided he would take one for the team and "supervise" the kids (in the lawn chair, in the sunshine, etc.) Looks like he had a little fun himself.

We are ready for summer!!

Spring Program

The school year is winding down (which is so hard to believe.) Last week was Collin's spring program, and it was so precious! I have no idea how those teachers get 80+ 4 year olds to cooperate for that long. They sang 5 or 6 songs and said the Ten Commandments!! So sweet!

Collin had several spectators. Below are some very special ones...

Soccer also ended last week. We had an end of the season party at Eatza Pizza. The team got medallions and played all the arcade games... WAY better than any ole soccer game :) :) 

The boys had a great season, but I don't think Collin or Coach Kyle are sad that it has ended, ha.

 Brantlee might be a little sad tho. Games are always a big social event for her ;) 

Stairs Talk

Yesterday evening I captured a very funny and precious moment, I thought. We normally don't let the kids play on the stairs. I mean, what good can come of that, right? But yesterday I was trying to clean up from their painting and get dinner ready at the same time so I let them up there. Collin assured me they were just up there to "talk" anyway. As I was cleaning, I overheard their conversation that went something like this:

Collin: "Now Brantlee, what would you do iiiifffff one of your friends fell down at school? Would you be nice and help her up???"
Brantlee: "Yeah! I would help her up!"

Collin: "Ok, good Brantlee! Now, what would you do if one of your friends didn't have any popsicles??
Brantlee: "Well, I would share mine."

Collin: "Ok good! Now... what if your friend didn't have any toys to play with?
Brantlee: "I would let them come here and play with my Barbie Dream house!'

The conversation went on for several more minutes and "what ifs." I really don't know what compelled Collin to ask these questions but it totally cracked me up! It can be so hard to teach sharing and kindness. And we are never 100% sure our kids practice what they preach, ha. Let's face it. Adults don't always do it either.

Here are a few more recent "moments" 

Lunch outside in the tree house

Lunch with this poor lizard who was clearly at the wrong place at the wrong time :/ Sorry buddy.

Here we have evidence of our frequent night time intruders. But aren't they cute :) 

Well hello 3rd trimester!

You have certainly crept up on us!

Here are Baby Crager and me at 28 weeks. We are all amazed at how fast this pregnancy is going by. Other than some horrendous (but only occasional) heartburn and lots of harmless Braxton Hicks contractions, I really can't complain. It has been a very easy pregnancy so far. We joke about how smart and well-rounded this baby must already be.  He/she has heard soooo many stories about Peter Pan and princesses, listened to multiple lectures on being nice and sharing, and attended lots of dance classes and soccer games. We joke that this baby must be thinking "what in the world is going on out there?!" ha.

AND... we have names!! We actually decided on two names months ago which is SO unlike us.

Ty Brannon Crager

("Ty" just because we liked it, and "Brannon" is Kyle's middle name too.)

OR

Anslee Kay Crager

(This is actually what we liked while pregnant with Collin. "Ann" is a family name on my mom's side. "Kay" is   the middle name of Kyle's mom and my aunt.) 

Collin and Brantlee are getting more and more excited everyday. They (especially Brantlee) are always talking about what they are going to do with "TyAnslee." I have caught Brantlee crawling around a few times pretending to be "Baby Anslee." We have had the first of many talks about what they can and cannot do with a new baby (e.g. try to feed baby what we are eating, try to get baby out of its bed, give it "big kid" toys like Barbies.) We aren't a bit worried about Collin. But if you've met Brantlee, you know these talks are very necessary ;)

We start the 2 week appointments this week (what?!?!). Here we go... :) :)