Happy 3rd Birthday to our Sweet Kate!

It's Kate's birthday today.  For Jeff and I, it was the most amazing day and a miracle happening right in front of us.  We feel so humbled in the presence of God's goodness to have this little princess as a part of our family.  Happy Birthday to our sweet girl.  We can't believe you are already turning three.  You bring so much joy to everyone and we are blessed to have you as our daughter.  We pray that you continue to grow, learn, and play with carefree innocence and that this is the best year yet!

Here are a few snow pictures from a trip to the mountains over Christmas break.  Hopefully, I'll post more pics soon!

Baby Boy Update-32 weeks down, 7 to go!

The big news is we set the date for the c-section.  March 10th will be this little guy's birthday, unless he decides he wants to be early.  There is lots to do, but the Costa household is pretty excited.  I'm not sure how much longer Kate can wait!

How far along? 32 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: gaining a steady one to two pounds every two weeks (this is following the same pattern as Kate)
Maternity clothes? yes
Stretch marks? not from this baby
Sleep? Not great, but so thankful for my body pillow.  Jeff gets less and less room in the bed every week.
Best moment this week: Setting the date for the c-section.
Movement: Yes-lots and lots
Food cravings: None this week-just recovered from a pretty nasty stomach virus.  The IV of fluid the doctor pumped into me on Thursday was pretty good!
Gender: boy
Name: We've almost reached a decision-Kate has accepted that it will not be Wyatt.
Belly button in or out? almost flat
What I miss: being able to easily bend over and walking up the stairs without getting out of breath
Weekly wisdom: Maternity massages are awesome!
Milestones: Started getting the nursery set up.  Jeff and I also went on a nice weekend getaway and had a wonderfully relaxing time.
What Kate is saying this week: Mommy, your belly is huge!  (Thanks sweetheart!)

Baby Boy Costa Update-Week 23 (over half way there!)

How far along? 23 1/2 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: not sure I want to say

Maternity clothes? yes-but thanks to my sister, some very cute ones

Stretch marks? not from this baby

Sleep? pretty good, except when UNC has a late basketball game-then I don't get enough

Best moment this week:  this baby is practicing his flips and Jeff had been able to feel the kicks

Movement: Yes, so much so that I actually have had to pause during lectures to my classes because he makes me laugh, my students think its hilarious.  He is much more active than Kate ever was.

Food cravings: pretty much anything that is put in front of me

Gender: boy

Name: no-this will take a while

Belly button in or out? in

What I miss: having a second cup of coffee in the morning

Weekly wisdom: Appreciate your husband!  Jeff has been awesome-doing grocery shopping after soccer practice even when he's been standing in the soaking rain for two hours, giving Kate a bath for me anytime he is home in the evenings, cooking dinner, bringing me juice in the morning and running downstairs to get milk and pumpkin bread for me at nine o'clock at night-I could go on and on.  I don't know what I would do without him.  Thanks sweetheart!

Milestones:  Baby is moving and it feels like he can hear his sister.  When she's talking loudly or laughing he seems to get excited.  

What Kate is saying this week:  Kate is telling everyone that her baby brother's name is Wyatt (after Super Why from the Super Readers-her new favorite show).  I have to keep explaining to everyone that it will probably not be the baby's name even though I told Kate it was a nice name.  She also keeps telling everyone that she is going to share her toys with her brother-we'll see if that holds true.

Here is a picture of my sweet hubby.  This was taken the while Jeff was watching the first Duke basketball game of the season with Kate snuggled next to him reading many, many books out loud and Kate's favorite doll, baby Gail, wrapped up "sleeping" on top of him.  If you know us, you know we are a bit basketball crazy, and Jeff is very dedicated to watching every Duke game.  Notice how he is patiently trying to concentrate.  He's come a long way...

Happy Birthday Drew!

We went to the Marbles Museum with the Flythe family last week for Drew's 3rd birthday.  We had a fun time visiting and sharing laughs over pizza.

The Mr./Mrs. Potato Head play area was a big hit.  Kate, Ella, and I had a good time.  Ella kept wanting me to pick her up, I think a few times she thought I was her mama because my hair is similar to her mom's hair.  It was so precious and I didn't mind at all!

Carolina Football

We went the to the UNC/Duke football game a few weeks ago.  Kate is so cute in her Carolina cheerleading outfit.  She had a great time saying Go Heels!  We had beautiful weather and it was a good game-with Carolina winning of course.  A few days later Jeff and I went to a UNC basketball game and had a great time-it's the most wonderful time of the year when college basketball starts!

Making Grandaddy proud-

All tired out by the 2nd quarter!

She woke up by the 4th quarter to see a couple of touchdowns and the fireworks.

Halloween Pictures

Carving the Pumpkin with Daddy

Dancing Dora is ready to go!

Dora, Daddy, and the finished pumpkin.

Kate had a great time trick or treating with her friends.  Grandma and Grandaddy went with us.  We finished the night with dinner at Nana and Papa Tom's house, complete with an appearance be Swiper the Fox!  Kate was full of giggles.

Happy 85th Birthday Great Grannie!

Last night we celebrated Grannie's 85th birthday with dinner at a local bed and breakfast and then cake back at my parent's house.  We had a great time with friends and family celebrating a remarkable woman.   Happy Birthday Grannie!  We love you!  Here is Kate dancing for everyone at dinner.

Kate and Scarlett admiring Kate's card (full of Dora stickers) she made for Great Grannie.

Kate and Scarlett "practicing" for their concert.

Kate and Scarlett giving their concert (after a few creative differences!)

The grandkids!

Craft Day at the Matthews Homestead

Last weekend Kate and I joined Scarlett and her parents for a craft day and Grandma and Grandaddy's house.  We made some pretty cool stuff.

Kate's Scarecrow.

Carving the pumpkin.

The finished product

The State Fair

October has been a very full month of fall festivals, the state fair, and getting ready for Halloween.  We had a great time at the fair.   Kate got to ride every kiddie ride with Daddy and then again with Grandaddy when he and Grandma met up with us.  From watching Kate slide down the super big slide to the pony rides to milking a cow to the food, it was a fun day had by all.

The State Fair cont.

More pics! Here is Kate milking a cow!

Kate has her first official "crush" on Wyatt from the PBS show Super Why!  You can see on her face how excited she was at getting her picture take with "him.  It is seriously like an 11 year old seeing the Jonas Brothers.

Oh Boy! It's a Boy!

We're having a boy and he's a Tarheel already!  Everyone is very excited, including Kate who is happy about having a baby brother.

Fall Festival Time!

Nana and Papa Tom took us to Hill Ridge Farms today as an early treat for Mommy's birthday.  We had a fun time looking at all the animals and watching Kate explore lots of different things from a fort to a hay maze.  We even had a hayride and picked out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch.  Thanks Nana and Papa Tom for a fun day!  Here are the three pumpkins getting ready for a train ride.  Don't they look cute in their orange!?

Kate loved the HUGE slide.  She and Daddy were going so fast they almost flew onto the gravel.

Here comes Papa Tom...

Here is Nana going through the hay tunnel with Kate cheering her on.

Even I got in on the action by racing ducks-Kate won every time!

Time for the hayride...

Here are the lucky pumpkins Kate chose to come home with us.

We are ready for Fall!

Baby Update-Week 16

I'm borrowing this idea from a friend who is also pregnant, thanks Christy, who borrowed it from a friend of a friend.  I've made a few of my own modifications, but all my girlfriends out there who are also pregnant-feel free to use this too!

How far along? 16 1/2 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: not sure, probably about 10 pounds
Maternity clothes? sometimes, it's still mix and match, but a full maternity wardrobe is fast approaching!
Stretch marks? not from this baby
Sleep? I'm up a lot at night between the backaches and bathroom breaks-already using a body pillow
Best moment this week:  finally, not feeling exhausted all the time
Movement: not sure, hard to tell
Food cravings: anything salty-especially french fries
Gender: we'll find out on Tuesday
Name: no-this will take a while
Belly button in or out? in
What I miss: getting a full night of sleep
Weekly wisdom: Eat iron rich foods, even though some of the foods on the list are not very appetizing.  I've been anemic most of this pregnancy (that didn't happen until much later with Kate) and, until recently, it has certainly affected my energy level.
Milestones:  We're into the 2nd trimester-energy level is up.
What Kate is saying this week:  "Don't squish my little baby sister or brother!"  (this is when Jeff hugs me or when other little kids climb on me-except, of course, when Kate is the one climbing on me)

Saturday Mornings

 We received a few emails indicating that many of you out there did not really enjoy Kate's injured toe.  Sorry!  She was insistent about recording the injury.  So here is a cute picture to make up for it.  There is nothing better than a lazy Saturday morning when there is no rush to get out the door.  On mornings like that, we usually cook a big breakfast, followed by a few cartoons while Mom and Dad read the paper and enjoy some coffee.  Here is Kate doing her imitation of her parents-watching tv while working with a laptop on her lap and the newspaper right beside her-talk about multi-tasking.  Notice that the tv remote is to Kate's right and the ceiling fan remote is to her left.  Does this girl have it made or what?????  Thanks for the ballerina pjs Grandma!