Jogging... I Mean Walking!

This past Sunday we had our first "official" visit with Kate's birth parents.  We were able to see her birth mom again about two weeks after Kate was born, but this was the first planned visit. We were so excited that they were able to join us at church on Sunday and then we all went out to lunch at Mellow Mushroom.  We had a great time catching up, and are looking forward to building an even better relationship with them.  We love the fact that Kate will grow up knowing who her biological parents are and if/when she has any questions, we love that she will be able to ask them!

After we got home, we were both pretty exhausted from a busy day so we relaxed for a while. Then, we decided to use Kate's new jogging stroller.  I think a more accurate name for this stroller for me would be a "walking stroller" or an "outside stroller" because I highly doubt that it will be used for jogging except for maybe a couple of times a year.  Regardless, it's a pretty awesome stroller and between coupons, a gift card, and some Babies-R-Us rewards it was also a pretty awesome deal.

So, on Sunday Kevin and I decided to take it for a spin around the neighborhood.  I guess if you want to get technical, since we don't live in a real neighborhood, we decided to take it for a spin around the neighborhood right down the road from us.  See how excited Kate was to be bundled up to go on a walk!?

Yeah, she basically slept through the whole thing. She'd wake up a little, look around, and then close her eyes again. She does seem to enjoy being outside though. She loves to sit on the porch and watch our dogs (Max and Cooper) run back and forth.  We didn't get to take the dogs on the walk with us (WAY too hard to deal with them) but they had to check Kate out when we got back.

Max & Cooper checking out Kate

Cooper and Kate

Max & Kate

 And then Kate had to show us just how happy she was with her jogging walking stroller.  She's such a cutie!

Hey- at least now I have the motivation to go jogging.  Now I've just gotta find the time.

Current Family Favorite

One of our youth gave us this outfit for Kate and it REALLY fits our family.  She got to wear it today for the first time...

She was kicked back and enjoying her nap for sure!  And, she's definitely our current family favorite.  Sorry Max & Cooper!  We still love you too.  :) 

Two Showers and An Exciting Week Ahead

Well this has definitely been a fun week!  On Thursday, my work threw a shower for Kevin and me.  We love an excuse for a free lunch! :)  We both had a lot of fun, and left with TONS of great things for baby Kate.

Friday we went to my parent's lake house to visit with them and to take Max & Cooper to the lake.  The dogs LOVE the lake, and we're really not sure when the next time for us to take them there will be.  The weather was so great, and the water felt good.  It was a nice relief from the 100 degree heat.  It was  a quick trip, but a lot of fun.

Today (Sunday) we had another shower thrown by the ladies of our church.  We are so blessed to be a part of this church family and were overwhelmed by their generosity.  We came home this evening and unloaded our car and then we somewhat tried to organize all of the diapers, onesies, burp cloths, wipes, washclothes, towels, pacifiers, bouncer, swing, etc!  I must say, after the past few days we're definitely a little more ready for this little girl to join our family!

Sorry it's a little blurry.  It is the only one I have so far.

Kate's due date is TOMORROW and an induction is scheduled for Thursday morning if she does not come before then.  Please keep Kevin and me in your prayers over the next few weeks as we travel to NC to meet our little girl, and as we wait for the revocation period to pass.  Even after the 7 day revocation period HAS passed, we have to wait for another NC form to go through before we are allowed to leave the state and travel back to SC.  This will be a crazy and exciting week!  We are looking forward to all that is to come, BUT we know that the next week and a half will also probably be very stressful, so please continue to keep us in your prayers.  We'll keep you posted!  And now, time to get back to writing thank you notes.... :)

Max & Cooper- After Church Entertainment

Shockingly, Max and Cooper haven't found their way over to our blog that often yet.  But, here are a few funny videos that we shot today when we got home from church.

First, you have to know that we leave our garage door cracked for the dogs when we're not at home. We leave just enough of a gap for them to get under.  They like to hang out in the garage and lay around on the cool concrete.  Really, who can blame them when it's 100 degrees outside.

Anyway, when we come home they usually hear us from a mile away and are standing at the end of the driveway waiting on us.  BUT, sometimes we can "sneak up" on them.  When we do, we close the garage door on them.  I know, I know.  It sounds mean.  It's not.  They know we're right outside the door and are so excited to see us, so when we open the doors we see this...

Did you watch the bottom of the garage doors as it opened?  If not, it's super short so watch it again.  They're so excited that they won't even wait for the garage doors to go up.  They have to wiggle/crawl out.

Okay, one more video because we were having so much fun.  This is Kevin's new trick that he's been working with them on.  He has a hot dog bun for each of them and they're supposed to wait until he says "release" to eat the bread.  Max has it down.  We're still working on Cooper...