Teaser

She has arrived!

Olivia Neil was born Tuesday morning, July 22 via c-section. She and I spent 4 lovely days in the hospital recovering and bonding. We are home now and probably won't have pictures up for another week or two. Thanks for your patience. She is beautiful- if I do say so myself ;)! The boys are absolutely in love with her and part of my daily battle is working with them on the real meaning of being gentle. They try; they just don't have it in them yet. Gentleness is a learned skill in the Jeffcoat house.

The Waiting Game

Even though my actual due date isn't until this Monday (the 21st) I was hoping my activity level throughout this pregnancy would allow for an earlier exit. That would be a no go. So, what are we to do? STAY BUSY. That is exactly what we have done despite my increasing fatigue. Keeping going is much better than leaving 3 very active little boys to themselves during too much free time. We've been enjoying Mimi and Poppy's pool a great deal as well as a sweet trip day trip to the 'Ville. We even had a short visit from some our surrogate family from California (She took all the pictures with her.). Our new found treasure has been the spray pools at the various parks around town. The boys play without getting overheated and then come home and crash for a nap- YES!!!!

Hopefully we'll a have a little girl in our midst soon!

That Cole

The boys were at my mom's for date night last night and, thanks to a generous Poppy, had a lot of junk to eat. Finally, my mom put her foot down when Cole asked for another piece of candy and said, "Not before eating some food." Cole agreed to a (what else) peanut butter sandwich. After my mom fixed it for him, he broke it in half and gave the half to Jonah and then broke his own half again and gave the piece to Judah. He asked for the candy and my mom says, "You didn't eat your sandwich, you gave it away, so no."

Cole, who is very full of expression when he talks, says, using both hands to illustrate, "The picture on my refrigerator at home with my Bible verse says I should do to others like I want done *. Mimi, I'm just trying to love my people."

I'm sure she gave in.

That Cole!

* The verse we are memorizing is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Luke 6:31

Thursday 13

13 Cravings I've Had During all 4 of My Pregnancies
(I craved good stuff too, but these were more fun to post)

Wordless Wednesday

Puddin' Boy

It's All In the Name

Tonight we were having our family devo time and CJ was reading the story of Moses (We have an upper hand here thanks to the movie The Prince of Egypt the boys have seen a lot). At the end of the story, CJ says to the boys, "God had a special plan for Moses and He has a special plan for each of us. How does it make you feel to know God has somthing special for just you to do?"
Cole says, "It makes me happy."
Jonah (who I sometimes liken to Eeyore in personality) says, "It makes me sad."
I responded, "Why does that make you sad, Jonah?"
He replies, "Because I don't want to get thrown off the boat and eaten by the big fish! That will be very scary!"

Maybe having a biblical name could be a bit confusing for a 3 year old. LOL!

Summer Lovin'

What 8 month pregnant mom takes her 4 year old, 3 year old, and 21 month old to the beach one day and the water park the next in 100 degree heat?! Eww, eww, pick me, pick me!!!!

We decided on a little bru-ha-ha to Summerville before Olivia arrives in July. After that, I will be the food source and not able to do a whole lot with the boys alone- much less take the baby into the heat. We decided to go to the beach one day, the water park the next, and do some visitng with our Summerville friends the next day. It was a great plan, considering we were staying at Dena's fo' free while she and Da' Crew were cruisin' (Yay for them, sad for me ;)).

The Jeffcoat boys had an absolute blast!! It was Judah's first time at the beach and he did very well! He was a little freaked about the sand moving when the waves went back out; I think he thought it was going to take him too. Jonah was a bit more brave this year. He actually went out past his ankles! Of course, Cole wanted to be taken to the limit- as far as we could go. For me, that wasn't very far. My mom went too, so she was able to take him a bit further.

The next day, we went to the water park. Cole was SO excited he could get on some of the slides because he is now 42 inches tall. That again, was a Mimi deal. We laughed because Cole could technically go down the really big slide now, but NEITHER of us were about to tell him. We'll save that one for Daddy! Jonah went down the kiddie slide all by himself over and over, but still didn't want to brave the tube slide. Judah was just happy the ground wasn't moving! All of them talked big about standing under the bucket when it tipped out, but none of them would do it when the time came. Oh well, maybe next year. I know this post would be so much better with pictures and we even had a camera with us; but really, with my busy-body boys, there was no down time. We were standing and moving our heads to and fro constantly keeping up with them.

I actually over did it and got a little sick cutting our trip a day early, but it was SO worth it! My mom and I were exhausted and are just now starting to regain some sense about us. I'm looking forward to next summer when we will all be able to do a lot more!!