Na Nee

Na Nee is here!!!!

For those that don't know 'Na-Nee' is what Hunter calls my baby sister Shannon. I know most of you are wandering how in the world he came up with that nick name. Well, when Shannon was little my brothers and I used to call her Shanaynay because of her ghetto *****....well, just because! She rightfully so would get very upset, so being the thoughtful sister that I am, I decided to shorten it to just 'Nay-Nay'. So I called her this nickname pretty much since we were in high school. When Hunter was born, he could not pronounce this nickname, so he made up 'Na-Nee', and to this day he still calls her this name. We love Shannon, Nay-Nay, or Na-Nee....and we could not be happier to have her here.

Birthday Bash

Hunter woke up Monday morning, and the first thing he said was

' Mom, I am ready to party'!

We have been counting down the days for his party for months, and the day finally came. We went to backyard adventures, which is an indoor showroom for giant playsets. We were able to rent out the whole store and the kids just get to run around from one playset to another. It was a blast:) I am so thankful that Hunter's brother or sister decided to wait to make their presence, so their big brother could enjoy his special day with both mommy and daddy there.

Hunter and the boys

BATMAN CAKE

PRESENT TIME

Overall, Hunter bear had a great 5th birthday party, and he is excited to spend his 'real' birthday on Friday with Nay-Nay and Grammy, and maybe even his new brother or sister....you never know.

Thank-you Hunter for reminding me to enjoy the small things in this life....I love you and feel like the most blessed person alive to be able to be your mommy:)

Stream of Consciousness

37 weeks....full term....we made it! I have been kind of an emotional wreck this last week. I feel excited, anxious, and scared all at the same time. I am so eager for our little baby to make his/her presence, but I also want baby covill to wait until my extended family is here which won't be until April. I am trying really hard not to stress about this because fortunately, my baby's arrival is not up to me.

I am so blessed to have such a patient, laid back husband, a son who is so filled with life, a mother in law who has been so helpful during my pregnancy both physically (she is a PT and has some cool 'massage tricks' for late pregnancy back aches) and emotionally, and amazing friends who have kept me company and helped entertain my son when the days seem to drag on.

Paul and I have spent hours trying to prepare Hunter for being a big brother. As much as I wanted my kids to be closer in age, I have come to appreciate that details like the age of my kids are not in my control. As I think back to the last five years, and how much one on one time I have spent with my son, I could not be more grateful. I feel so blessed to be his mommy. He is such a special little guy, who has changed my life in so many ways. My new outlook has been to thank God every day for allowing me the opportunity to spend 5 years devoting all my attention to Hunterbear. I just hope and pray we can help Hunter adjust to sharing our time with his new brother/sister. Somehow, I think he will be just fine and I KNOW he will be such a wonderful big brother.

Well, that's all for now....until next time

Big brother time

These last few weeks, I have been to tired too pick up extra shifts at work. So instead, I have spent pretty much every waking hour with my almost 5 year old ( Oh WOW). He just continues to melt my heart with how sensitive, funny, and smart he is. He always asks me if I need anything, and is getting pretty good at being able to tell when mommy needs a nap....He has learned to just say 'mom you should go lay down, while i play in my room, Deal?' Gotta love my boy.

Last weekend he attended a big brother class with Paul. He took a tour of the hospital, got to see a newborn through the nursery window, learned how to hold baby, and learned how he can help mom and dad when the big day arrives. He is so excited!

Here is a video of Hunterbear getting all ready to be a big brother. Enjoy:)

PS. The blank picture frame in the video will eventually hold a photo of my two loves...just FYI

February Highlights

We had a busy month during February. We have so much to update you all on. Here are some pictures from my two highlights this past month.

First of all, my good friend Brach threw me a baby shower over Valentines Weekend. the party included some of my old friends from nursing school, my friends from my old job, my old neighbor, and my mother-in-law. I didn't even know you get a baby shower for your second baby, but I guess that is the benefit to having them 5 years apart. We played games, recorded every one's best guess on my due date and the sex of the baby, and of coarse enjoyed DELICIOUS food and cake.

Thanks to Brach and all my

girlfriends who came out to celebrate baby covill....you really made my day:)

After my baby shower, my boys and I drove to Kansas City to spend Valentine's Day together as a family of three before Baby Covill arrives. We went to Great Wolf Lodge. For those that don't know, it is this fun filled family hotel with a huge indoor water park and lots of fun activities for kids. Here are a few pictures from your trip. It was so much fun to be home on the weekend with my family (I am usually working all day on Saturday and Sunday), and to just relax and enjoy each other because in only 4 weeks, our family will grow:)

What do you get when you put a Giant pail of water and a curious boy together

+ =

SPLASH ATTACK

After we swam for what seemed like hours, we enjoyed the rest of the hotel activities. Hunter was able to get a magic wand which allowed him to make some animal statues scattered around the hotel light up and talk to us. He felt like a little wizard. Paul and Hunter also played a scavenger hunt game using his wand. Mommy took this time to nap, but the boys had a blast.

We are officially on the countdown. 4 weeks to go, 2 weeks until I am full term. YEAY! I have so much more to update you all on. Future posts will include some pictures of our new car, our nursery, and some of my favorite baby things I have gotten over the last 9 months. So check back soon!

New comitments

32 Weeks

Wow, time has flown by. I can't believe in 8 weeks, we will have a new member of our family. Scratch that, we already have a new member, but we will finally get to meet him/her. Everything we do these days, we already involve the baby. For example, if Hunter wants to wrestle, I say "Do you think that is smart to do with baby?" or if he wants to go to MacDonald's, "Do you think that is healthy for the baby?". I only have 8 more weeks to use the baby as an excuse for what I can and cannot do....and then we are no longer one.

As I have said before, this pregnancy has been so different than with Hunter. First of all, I am of age ( well, sort of). Secondly, I am embracing my new look. I have enjoyed sporting my baby bump, and actually will be kind of sad to say good bye to it....NOT! I have felt so much better this time around because I have stayed committed to working out and staying healthy (somethig I did not do when I was 18).

The biggest difference between my two pregnancies is that surprisingly with this pregnancy, I have been way more anxious. You'd think being an unwed young mother in school would stress me out more, but in fact I remember being relatively calm about Hunter. It was probably me just being naive, but oh how I wish I could feel like that now. This pregnancy has unfortunately been cursed with anxiety and stress, 24/7. That is until I heard something very powerful that I wanted to share.

I was reading a blog the other day about a young mom who is watching her baby fight for his life after nearly drowning in his bathtub. One of her posts simply read, ' I have discovered, there is not room in your heart for both fear and faith...what will you choose?' When I read that, it was like a switch went off. Despite all my wonderful family and friends (including my patient, patient Husband) telling me not to worry and that everything would be OK, it took a stranger's words to really help me to see that I have a choice. I can choose to live every day in fear about my health, my baby's health, and the health of those around me OR I can choose faith. Well folks, after a lot of lengthy conversations with the guy upstairs and mostly with myself, I have decided to choose Faith. It is so amazing that by simply making that commitment in my heart, I have felt UNBELIEVABLE relief that I have been searching for these past 32 weeks. I now just wait for the baby to wake up and start kicking me, instead of laying down for an hour and anxiously waiting to feel some movement. And surprisingly, I feel like baby has started moving so much more since I have stopped worrying about it....amazing how things work.

So I will leave you with this. Is there something in your life that has happened or is currently unfolding that forces you to choose fear or faith. If there is, than I challenge you to make the commitment to faith, and make that commitment whole heartedly. And I promise you, your life will change drastically. Choose to believe, and choose to trust that God has you in the palm of his hands and no matter what happens, he is not going to let go!

Field Trip

Last week, to beat the cabin fever, we met up with a new friend and headed over to our local Science Center. I forgot how entertaining and educational this place is. Hunter had so much fun, we even stayed an extra hour after our friends left. Some of the highlights for my little man were....

Riding the stationary 'bike' that had a pickerupper thingy on the end (sorry for the lack of description, but I honestly have no idea what it was, but it sure entertained him for a while...hmmm, maybe i should get one for our house)

We threw balls up in the air and watched the air blow them through this neat concoction on the wall...it was kind of like a maze, where the balls rolled down ramps and blew across the wall threw the 'blow guns', as Hunter called them.

Hunter got to experience being a weather man. I think he enjoyed holding the green cloth infront of himself and making parts of his body 'disappear' because it blended in with the green background....did you know this is why weathermen can't wear green?

We also enjoyed seeing the different reptiles...this was a very special treat because it has been quite awhile since we have been to our local zoo, so to be able to see at least some animals despite the freezing cold weather outside was so neat

We build paper rockets and raced to see who went further (Everything is a competition to him...he is definitely his father's son)

And finally, we all got tons of laughs with this...I this picture says it all

OH TO BE A KID AGAIN!!!!!