family in town

Last week my whole family was able to come down to the beach. We enjoyed a few days together with everyone and then Woody and I left to be with his family in Watkinsville for Bill's service. The girls stayed behind with my family at the condo they had for the week and had an absolute blast. I think we missed them more than they missed us, if they even missed us at all! They went to the beach and/or pool everyday, which was a treat...since we live here, we just try and go once a week...but to go day after day was so much fun for them. Not to mention the constant attention from Papa and G.G., two aunts, an uncle and cousins that they got! Thanks everyone for keeping the girls for us and documenting it with pictures!

The family shot for July 2009...the Groovers, Deals and Baughers...


Aunt Martha sent dance costumes for the girls to play dress up in...Arden has put at least one on everyday since we've been home.


Harrison holding his own as the only boy in the mix!


Hannah and Christi gave the girls manicures and pedicures!






Arden "helping" Uncle Curt build a sand castle.




Papa and Esther



Aunt Christi with the kiddos.


Fun with Uncle Curt...just glad I wasn't there to see this in person...apparently she LOVED it. Everyone started calling her Esther Williams!

going home

Bill, Woody's grandfather, went home to be with the Lord last Tuesday afternoon. He lived an extraordinary life and fought the good fight, even in his last few months. Bill surpassed the 4-6 weeks he was given to live by the doctors and lived 8 months after being diagnosed with leukemia. A foe he battled 13 years earlier. We'll always remember his love for Jean (Gram), his wife of almost 59 years, his love for the Bulldogs and the smiles the generations in his wake (3 children, 3 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren) brought to his face.

30 weeks

In some ways it's hard to believe that I'm already 30 weeks...the 2nd trimester flew by...in other ways though, it seems like this has been the never ending pregnancy with everything that has gone on! But alas, I'm in the 3rd and final trimester and it has hit with a vengeance! The last couple of weeks I seem to stay exhausted and I've been pretty emotional, which is just lovely for everyone! :) I don't remember my other 3rd trimesters being like this at all, but then again, I guess I wasn't chasing around 2 little ones. Other than being tired all the time and somewhat emotional, I really am feeling well and glad things are moving along. And speaking of moving, she's running out of room in my tummy...she's constantly poking or jabbing me lately, which makes my belly all contorted at times. It doesn't always feel great, but at the same time it's such a sweet and blessed time during pregnancy and I am really cherishing it this time around.

I'm also happy to announce we have finally decided on a name and so no longer have to refer to our third little girl as "baby." Drum roll please...we've decided to name her Chloe, which means verdant and blooming...new life, which we thought was appropriate for this pregnancy. I'd love to tell you her middle name, but decided it best not to share her entire name with the entire world (although I'm very sure there are only a handful of you who actually read our little blog!) If you really want to know you can email me. And so we eagerly await the arrival of our little Chloe!

And finally, today is G.G.'s birthday...so Happy Birthday Mama/G.G.! We love you and look forward to seeing you very soon!!

a happy 4th

Nonie (Woody's Mom) came down to visit and help out over the weekend and we've really enjoyed having her in town! For the fourth of July we all went to Rohde for a church cookout and then the whole group walked over to the fort/waterfront to claim a spot of grass for the fireworks. We had a great time hanging out with everyone and the girls did really terrific while we waited several hours for the fireworks to begin!! I didn't know how well they would do b/c last year we left early, but they did great and Arden REALLY liked the fireworks and kept clapping and saying "Wow...that was a big one...did you see that one?" Esther was a little frightened at first, but never cried...she stayed in Woody's lap and actually almost fell asleep in spite of the loud booming and then popped up wide awake during the finale. It was a really fun evening and a beautiful day to celebrate! I posted a lot of pictures, so bear with me...there were just too many to choose from!

Nonie and the girls...


Woody and Andy playing with the girls' bubbles.


Alex and Esther playing with the parachute (thanks for bringing it Allison!).



This is sort of a group shot before it got really crowded.






Nonie and Arden as the fireworks began.



It's a little hard to see, but Arden's in the bottom middle of this pic...in awe of the whole production...I just loved watching her!

a little scare

We were scheduled to go to the hospital for an orientation, tour and preregistering last night, but instead ended up in the labor and delivery triage. I had some complications yesterday throughout the afternoon and when I called, they wanted me to come in and monitor everything. Praise the Lord everything overall ended up being okay and the baby's doing well. I'm just supposed to take it easy, not do any major lifting and go back in a week. I really don't want to visit the triage again until September! And as it turned out, we were still able to join the tour group and go see the birth suites and nursery.

Woody's birthday

Last Tuesday was Woody's birthday...so yes, I'm a little late in getting this posted! He had to work pretty much all day and then that night had a class (he's co-leading a Crown financial class this summer on Tuesday nights). Usually I'm at the class too, but Esther had a fever all day, so the girls literally saw him a total of 15 minutes all day. We did, however, get a homemade cookie cake made and taken to the class for him to be surprised with.
Saturday night, Woody and I got to go out and actually celebrate his birthday...we went and had dinner and saw Pierce Pettis live at a local cafe! Thanks to Lauren for keeping the girls for us and getting our picture before we headed out.
Happy Birthday Woody/Daddy-we love you!!

recent events

It finally happened...I turned my back for a second and Arden touched the eye on the stove that I'd just turned on. Thankfully, the burn wasn't too bad and as it turned out it was on her right thumb...the one she has sucked since she was 8 weeks old. So if there could be a pro to all of this, she actually stopped sucking her thumb...well for the week that is. Her thumb is all healed now and though we've noticed her sucking it a couple of times, it's only been at night when she's in bed, so we're very happy about this!! Also, she did really great with having the burn...the first time we put medicine and a bandaid on it, she was really still and didn't cry, so I told her she was being very brave. (We have a Franklin book where he goes to the hospital and is brave, so she was very proud of being brave.) From that time on, anytime we put more medicine or a bandaid on her thumb, she would say, "Look Mommy (or Daddy), I'm braving!"

Other happenings...yesterday morning in the car, Arden, who isn't even officially 3 1/2, was talking about turning 4 on her birthday. We then talked about how Esther was still one, but would be 2 in a little over a month....so the girls were saying the numbers 4 and 1 and out of nowhere, Esther counted completely on her own from 4 to 10!! Who knew the girl knew her numbers so well?? I was very impressed, so of course we had to call Daddy and tell him. And last night we got her to count again for us, so it wasn't a fluke!

Yesterday afternoon during naptime, Arden got really quiet (she usually has quiet play time in her room and doesn't go to sleep)...anyway, I went in to check on her and found this...she had put on a bathing suit...the second of the day b/c we'd gone swimming that morning at a friends' pool...and fallen asleep on top of the changing table!! I, of course, had to get a picture before moving her to her bed safely...this is definitely a first...I think we'll need to discuss staying in the bed or on the floor to go to sleep...and finally move the changing table out of her room!



And finally I"ll leave you with some pics of the girls playing on our kiddie pool and slide this morning...







One more thing...still no name for the baby...Woody gave me permission to say he's still dragging his feet! Oh, he did mention Billie Jean, whacha think? :) (So after I posted this, we realized that name wasn't too far fetched...Billie and Jean represent both of Woody's grandmothers!...but no, we won't be using the name Billie Jean!)