She's here...

Kate arrived this morning at 9:25.

She weighs 9 lbs. and she's 21 inches long.

She's a very healthy and hungry little girl.

Almost Time...

Today we are 36 weeks pregnant and Kate is scheduled to arrive three weeks from today on December 8th. We feel pretty ready and prepared. Her room is in order, the car seat is in the car, everything is planned out for Mimi to take care of Joe and I and G to take care of Brady. : )

So, I've been reflecting a little lately. I LOVE our little family of three! I am so excited to add to our family but I am also nervous to see the bond between the three of us change.

I just love these two guys so much!!

Goodbye family of three...hello family of four!

We have a name!!!

Today we're 20 weeks and 1 day. Last Thursday we found out we're having a girl.

Her name is Katherine Reese Chavis.

We're calling her Kate! We're so excited!!

Our camera is NOT broken...

Our camera is NOT broken. I have no excuse for why we haven't taken many pictures lately. We've done a lot of "picture worthy" things, but we have forgotten the camera. Here are a few pictures that were on my camera from a few weeks ago.

I can't believe how much Brady has grown.

Mimi, Brady and I went to Isle of Palms for the day a few weeks ago. The water was a little chilly, but Brady didn't care at all!

These are two examples of what I get from Brady when I ask him to smile for a picture. ; )

Brady fishing with Dad at Pop's Jamie's house. Brady has his own Batman rod now and he loves to practice casting it. He's so proud of himself. One of our neighbors who is 3 years older than Brady tried to cast it the other day and he couldn't do it. So, Brady said let me show you how my Dad taught me to do it. He actually taught the other boy how to do it.

This picture sums up our lives lately. We are outside ALL of the time. We go in to eat and take a bath and sleep. Well, does the screened in porch count as technically eating "inside"?

Easter...

We had a great Easter Weekend!

Friday night we went to the Easter Egg Hunt at church. There was so much to do there and Brady had a great time. Saturday we went to Brycen's birthday party in the morning and we spent a few minutes dying Easter eggs in the afternoon. Brady did a great job with this.

Sunday's service was beautiful and very moving for Joe and I. I wish I could say the same for our Easter family picture...but it is what it is...you take what you can get. This is the best picture we got of Brady...thank you Katie. Wouldn't this be a great sibling photo? Too bad you all know she's not ours. : )

This is how we felt about pictures once we got home!!

We quickly changed our clothes and headed to Mimi and G's for lunch and an Easter egg hunt.

After nap Joe and Brady did some yard work.

Then we finished off the day with a picinic dinner outside.

Catching Up...

Saturday March 13th Joe and Brian helped Bill and Caroline move so Tasha and I took the boys to the Saint Patty's celebration. The boys had a great time riding all kinds of rides together.

Saturday March 20th Joe and I took Brady to Farmville at EdVenture. They had all types of farm equipment and activities set up in the parking lot. The weather was beautiful and this was a lot of fun.

Brady loved "driving" this little tractor.

The wheel barrow races were serious business!!

Brady really liked these little goats.

Of course sitting on all of the tractors was a big hit!

A Great Dad...

Today is Joe's birthday so I want to share a little story about him.

For those of you who know Joe you probably know he finds great pride in being able to fix things himself. He pretty much refuses to pay someone to (and I quote), "fix something I can fix myself." There is one small exception to this rule which applies to Brian and our computer...Joe gladly accepts defeat in that area. : )

AND he did let me pay someone to paint our kitchen and playroom before we moved into our house BUT he painted the laundry room.

You get the point...

So, my garage door opener has been broken for a few weeks. Joe took it apart and figured out what was wrong and ordered replacement parts online.

(New door = $200 Replacement parts =$25)

He worked for several hours a few Friday's ago and it still wouldn't work. He finally had to stop working and walk away from it Friday night. Saturday morning he was in the garage before 8 am trying to figure out what he was missing. Brady and I could hear the door go up a little then stop and go back down. I knew Joe was about to scream!! Brady went to the garage door and knocked and yelled for Joe to let him come out there. As frustrated as Joe was he let Brady come out and "help" him. Brady was really serious about this. He put on his work vest (over his PJ's) and got his tools and climbed up the ladder.

I'm sure Joe was thinking, "Well you sure can't hurt it, it doesn't work anyway."

This is Brady basically stunned because, "If Dad can't fix it who will?"

Then Brady touched a sensor with his screwdriver and a lightbulb went off in Joe's head!!!

Then I got this picture!! VICTORY!!!

Thanks Joe for everything you do for our family! Thanks for always including Brady!

He loves you and so do I! Happy Birthday!!

Up Close...

I love these pictures G captured of Brady!

Apparently no Klenex at the farm!?!

The Farm...

Saturday G took Brady to Mr. Sease's farm in Newberry. When I say farm I really mean it. This is not a large garden. Mr. Sease takes care of his family's farm. Brady loves going here and he had a great time Saturday. Last time he went he got to help "Sease" feed a calf with a bottle so he was very excited to see how big the calf was going to be this time.

Brady said riding on the 4-wheeler was his favorite thing!

Brady was perfectly happy sitting on hay watching the cows.

Hey what's in there?

At home Brady lined up the tractors from his bucket and pointed to each one saying, "Sease has this tractor. Sease doesn't have this tractor." He was really paying attention.

I know Brady and G had a great time. I'm so glad Brady got to have this experience.

Thanks G!!!

Birthday Party...

Sunday was Brady's birthday. We had his party Saturday at Marionette Theatre. His party was in the Dino Park room and the show was A Dinosaur's Tale.

The kids enjoyed coloring dinosaur pictures, playing Twister, getting dinosaur tattoos and eating cake before the show.

Brady was first in line to let Joe put on his tattoo.

Brady enjoyed opening a few gifts at the party. He opened the rest of his gifts at home Saturday afternoon. He was so excited about everything he got.

Brady's dinosaur cakes. One was vanilla and one was chocolate.

A few of Brady's friends waiting for the show to start...being silly! : )

The puppet show was fun. The T-Rex was the big hit!!