June Recap

I can't believe June is over already.  We've had a busy month.  We did all 3 of our summer vacations back to back.

We started off our summer with a trip to Hilton Head with the Parrish  Family. 

So fun to begin summer at the beach.  Cole loved the sand, the waves, & the pool.  He also loved playing with his cousin Brody. 

Next we headed to Fontana Lake in the mountains of NC with the whole Barnes clan.

We hiked, swam, and spent a day on the lake.  Even Coleman took a turn tubing  with his Dad.  The lake was clear and beautiful. We had beautiful weather and enjoyed spending time with all our cousins. 

Our last vacation was to St. Petersburg, FL with the Rueters. 

Even though I lived in Florida for 6 years I don't think I ever saw the gulf. It was beautiful with white sand beaches and a fun resort with lots of activities.  Cole loved the beach again and even played putt putt for the first time.  He didn't want to stop and wanted to hit everyone's balls.

It was a busy, fun June.  And now we are on to a calmer July. 

Cole has some news...

He's getting a baby brother!

Baby boy is due in October 2014.

 

Everything is going great.  At 20 weeks today the baby is healthy, growing, and moving.  I am being monitored closely even though the hemorrhage that caused Nora's anemia is very unlikely to happen again.  We are very excited and feel very blessed that the Lord would grant us another child to add to our family. 

I've found that it is possible to experience so much grief and so much joy at the same time.  We still have so much sadness in our hearts and lives over losing Nora even though we are filled with joy for this new baby boy.  We have trusted God with our past and we continue to trust him with our future no matter what the road brings.

Little Gym End of Season Show

I have been taking Cole to The Little Gym since he was about 6 months old.  It was one of the first things we started doing when we first moved to Knoxville.  We had nowhere to go and not much to do without knowing anyone that we started a little class and have been going every since.  I'm still friends with two women we met in the baby class :)

At age 3 kids move out of the "mommy and me" classes into a regular class where just the kids go in with the teacher and parents wait outside.  Cole has been going on days that I have been at work this year so it was really fun for me to go to their end of season "show" and see him in his new class and all he had learned. 

I love that this class is a place he can release energy, learn to follow directions, gain strength and coordination and have fun with friends.  Cole loves it!  (P.S. - there are more boys in his class, they just happened not to be there this particular week;)