Three against one...unfair odds

We had our sexting (Margo doesn't think that's the correct use of that word) appointment today. And we are not into keeping stuff secret, it is too hard. Drumroll................we are having a girl. We are very excited. We are already having proposals for arranged marriages because so many of our friends have boys and very few girls.

We have also decided on a name for her, Clara Pete Hale. We like old names and Clara is the one we narrowed it down to. It was actually the 7th most popular name in the U.S. in 1885. Slightly shocking middle name we know, let it sink in. I realized today that being a joking/non-serious person that people don't believe you when you tell them something that does not seem right, like a unique middle name. But I am serious. Clara Pete. We wanted to use a family name of mine with this one since we used a family name of Margo's with Esther (middle name Louise - Margo's grandmothers). One of my most favorite/most influential people I have ever known during my life was my grandmother on my dad's side. She lived the next town over when I was really young and we would see her often and I would stay with her for a week during the summer. When I was 12 or 13 she moved to Mena where we lived. I spent lots of time at her house and I would always stay with her when mom and dad were gone. She was one of the most fun, loving, and Godly people I have ever known and I can only hope that I can be half the person she was. I have lots of great memories of her and I think of her often. One of the saddest days of my life was the day that she died. I won't forget her funeral, instead of somber talk about her, everyone told funny stories about her and the things she had done. That is the way she wanted it to be. Anyway, her name was Wilma, which is itself a cool old name. But her nickname was Pete from the time she was little. Just about everyone who knew her closely called her Pete, or Aunt Pete, or Granny Pete.

When I told Margo that I would really like to use that name for a middle name if it was a girl, she was totally on board which made me happy. We like the uniqueness of it and that it does have meaning for our family. I will enjoy telling Clara and Esther about their great granny. Here are some pics that we got today and scanned in.

Profile

We were able to do 3D pictures also. They told us the 3D and 4D are better when they are a little older, right now it is more skeleton looking. The pictures look better in person also. The 3D and 4D are pretty cool.

Face

Hand over face. You can see the little lips also.

Here is my granny at our wedding

Birthday Party

Saturday evening we had a little party for Esther's first birthday. She has not told us who her friends are yet so we just decided to invite our friends over. Our friends Billy and Savanna let us have it at their place since our place is a little small. We are so thankful to them for letting us invade their house. It was pretty fun overall. Although it seemed like we should have been doing more since it was a bday party. But Esther can't do a whole lot so we can't play games and stuff like that. So, we basically just sat around and talked.

Unfortunately for Esther, she was sick and did not get maximum enjoyment out of her party. She was still running a fever from her ear infection and basically just sat in someone's lap with a straight face. This is highly abnormal for Esther, she is normally smiling, talking, and on the move. We felt very sad for her. When we got her home she had a 102 degree temperature and that was with tylenol on board. She is a tough cookie. Hopefully the antibiotics knock out her ear infection and she feels better soon.

We are not really big on Esther eating sweets. But we finally decided we would let her have cake for her birthday party. I don't think she enjoyed as much as she would have if she wasn't sick. But she really liked digging around in the frosting.

Here is her little cake after we decided she was done with it. As you can tell from her eyes, she did not think she needed to be done with it.

We told people not to bring presents but it is hard for grandparents and some others to resist.

This is a picture just to show you how Esther felt, her face says it all.

Margo and I decided we wanted to get her something for her birthday that would last her a long time and hopefully she would still have it to give to her kids. We really enjoy getting her this kind of stuff. One of our close friends who just had a baby had a kids rocking chair that her parents gave her when she turned one. We really liked this idea and decided to do it. As you can tell, Esther loves the rocking chair.

Happy Happy Birthday

It feels so crazy that Esther is a year old. It seems like time has gone by so fast. It is kind of happy and sad at the same time. She is so much fun and we can't imagine life without her. Today was kind of a bummer day for her though. She was running a fever so we had to get her from daycare. We took her to the doctor because she has been running this fever off and on for over a week and has been more fussy. It turns out she has an ear infection so they gave her some antibiotics. This is her first ear infection and her first medication. Hopefully she feels better for her party tomorrow. Here is a little slideshow of the year in pictures.

Happy Birthday

Happy 29th Birthday Momma

Without you, life (and taking a picture) is harder.

Tattoos and Daycare

I like tattoo's. If they are good ones and done well that is. I know the older generation was not a big fan of them (except maybe military guys) but they don't bother me at all. Anyway, one of our friends recently opened a store in Fayetteville, The Mustache. They sell interesting and fun gifts, and cool clothes and shoes. The other day he got some fake baby tattoos that we could not pass up. They are really funny, they look like classic tattoos but are baby themed. We tried a simple one out last week for church and it was a big hit. We will definitely be using them in the future for special occasions. Here is a pic.

Today was a big day in our lives. Esther started her first day of real daycare, up until this point she has been staying with friends. But we came to a point where no one could continue to watch her for us. So, we toured some daycares around town. Most of them won't do part time but we finally found one we liked and felt comfortable with leaving Esther at. It is called the Sunshine House. (funny side note: the daycare I went to a kid was called Sunshine House also) I think she is going to really like it, she is very social and enjoys being around others. I also think she will learn a lot. I think her first day went really well, except for one thing. She got bit by another kid. She is in the 12-24 month old class so she is the youngest. One of the kids is in that biting phase that most kids go through, and she got Esther. The teachers were really upset that this happened especially on Esther's first day. But we totally understood that this happens and thought it was a little humorous. The teachers were also surprised that she did not cry at all when she got bit. But we were not surprised, Esther hardly ever cries when she gets hurt. She's a bruiser.

Here is a pic of the bite mark. I guess we can consider this another type of tattoo.

Pregnant Women

I keep forgetting to post this picture. A little info first though. We know lots of people who are pregnant right now....lots. I am not sure what the count it currently because some people have had babies now. But as of a couple weeks ago we had somewhere around 15 girls at our church pregnant (and our church is not that big). Just in our Community Group (Bible study group of about 15 or so people) we had 5 girls pregnant and we already had 3 kids under the age of 1. And we know several other people who are pregnant as well. Anyway, we had some of these good friends over to hang out a couple weeks ago and took a pic of the girls.

Left to Right: Savanna-15 weeks, Margo 16-weeks, Ashley-6+ months, Emily-13 months (not really, but it looks like it)

This is their miserable face picture, Emily's is the most realistic because that is really how she felt.

And here is Benson who was born June 27th, 2 days after this picture to Evan and Emily.

Seriously? Nine?

That's right folks, today was Margo and I's 9th anniversary. It is very hard to believe. It makes me feel old. I do have to say that this past year was pretty amazing. Not only did we get the amazing gift of Esther, we also had a miracle happen and will have a second amazing gift from God. I know that all you all really care about is pictures of Esther so here you go.

She gets into everything and "no" does not register with her.

Breaking Records

On Sunday we had our 4th annual Fourth on the Farm. I love the Fourth of July and I especially love fireworks. We always throw a big shindig to celebrate. I was not sure how it would go this year with the new place which is a lot smaller of house and less land. We decided to invite less people this year to test it out the new place. That did not work so well, it seems that our numbers grew bigger by the day as we got closer. But we had a lot of fun and we now know we can handle a lot of people if they are mostly outside. And we got to test out the new deck and grill with a lot of people and they both worked out well also.

Anyway, we broke a record this year. Our previous record was like 63 I think. This year we had 74!!!!!! and if you could unborn babies 79!!!!!!!

I hope everyone had a good time. I would show you pictures but I was so busy that I did not take any. If anyone out there took some, send them my way.