Two big weekends!

April has been a busy, but super fun month so far! Last weekend Gray had two birthday parties to attend. Saturday morning was Grace's third birthday party at the park. The weather was warm and sunny and Gray had a blast.

We drove both cars so Paul could stay longer and party with Gray while I went to lunch with some girls from our Bible Fellowship class. Time with friends and time away from Gray is important and I am SO thankful that Paul agrees and encourages me to go and do things like that! Girl time plus the best Thai drunken noodles in town made for a great break in the day.

That evening was Mason and Landon's birthday party. Landon turned four and Mason turned seven, which is insane considering it was just yesterday that I went to meet him in the hospital. Their birth-dates are only two days apart so they always have a joint birthday party. Unless Walker comes way early, that is definitely the plan for our boys. Gray is pretty much obsessed with Mason and Landon so this party made for the perfect ending to an already fun Saturday.



Paul didn't know I was taking this picture, which makes me love it even more!

Easter weekend was another eventful one. Paul was off on Friday so we'd decided that would be the first day Gray would sleep in his new bed. We knew we wanted to start with a nap so we could keep our eye on him and see what kind of stunts he might pull. We moved the glider from the nursery in there so we could still have our usual routine of reading books, rocking, praying and singing before we put him down. We will move it back in the nursery in a few months once Walker is sleeping in his crib but for now it seems necessary for Gray and for this big 'ol pregnant mama. Gray seemed all fine and dandy until we turned on his sound machine and then it was like it hit him that he was really about to go to sleep in a new room. He whimpered and whined a little and definitely seemed somewhat freaked out. We expected him to try to stand up and get out of his bed but he isn't afraid of anything so that was the last thing we expected. Thankfully that only lasted for a few minutes and he was settled down before we put him in the bed and he went pretty much right to sleep. We counted nap number one as a success! That night went even better. He didn't seem afraid and although he played and moved around for a while, he didn't try to stand up or get out at all. He did great the rest of the weekend and so far this week. We are so thankful the transition has been as easy as it has.


He didn't fall asleep like this but he often slept like this in his crib with his feet on the bumper so I thought this was funny.

The door to Gray's new room is a lot quieter so I've been able to sneak in more to take pictures and just watch him sleep, which never gets old to me.


He wants nothing to do with a pillow and/or blanket right now.

We had another birthday party Saturday morning and I didn't take one single picture-whomp, whomp! That night we had our Easter dinner with my family. I ate entirely too much and could have cried from misery the rest of the night. I clearly don't have as much room in my stomach anymore but self-control is lacking so I end up swearing I'll never eat again a lot these days. We had some sweet family time that night and Gray thinks the world of his older cousins, which makes my heart happy. He talked about Matthew and Bryan the whole way home and asked to pray for them that night before bed.

Sunday we woke up excited about church and celebrating Jesus' resurrection. We had an awesome time of worship and our pastor preached yet another amazing sermon. I really am thankful to worship a God who's not dead! The only disappointing things about this Easter were 1) we never dyed Easter eggs-I even bought a cheap kit from Aldi several weeks ago, you know so we would be well prepared and not let two years in a row go by without doing so. And I think Gray would have been really into it this year. But I guess between all the birthday parties and big boy room shenanigans, time just didn't allow. Also, we really don't plan on "doing" the whole Easter bunny thing but we did want to fix Gray up a cute little Easter basket with a little bit of candy, some stickers, books, etc. and never did that either. Last year we didn't do it on purpose, knowing he wouldn't have a clue what was going on. This year I just wasn't prepared. I didn't want to buy him stuff while he was with me and I never made the time to go out and get it done while Paul was home. But you know what, if not dying Easter eggs and not giving Gray an Easter basket are the worst things about our resurrection holiday, then we just have another opportunity to be reminded that we don't want "stuff" and traditions to get in the true meaning of any Christian holiday in our family. Anywho, maybe next year we will have the perfect balance of celebrating what Easter really means, all the while dying Easter eggs and having cute little Easter baskets for our boys.

After Gray's nap we took him to his first baseball game. They had an Easter egg hunt on the field before the game. He really wasn't into that part at all, especially when he spotted Bolt (the team's mascot) and the Easter bunny walking across the field. He'd never seen either of these characters but that didn't give him one ounce of fear. Our friends Mary and Mike brought their daughter Olivia, who Gray knows from church, so they played together while Mary and I both sat on our super pregnant, feet swelling behinds and watched our hubbies and kids have a good time. Between the running and playing, Gray obsessed over Bolt so he and Daddy made several trips around the ballpark searching for him. None of us could tell you one thing about the actual baseball game, but we sure had fun! I think I've heard "Bolt!" about five-hundred thousand times since we left the game Sunday.

 



Sharing slobbery French fries with Daddy!

I was a little weirded out when the Easter bunny picked Gray up but he sure thought it was more than fine!

I always hate when Mondays roll around and Paul has to go back to work. But if we didn't have the work week the weekends wouldn't be so special. Happy Tuesday, y'all!