Abby's Name!

Abby asked me to post this picture of her name! Handwriting is a little frustrating for Abby, but she is finally really getting it!! Look at those "B's." We probably wrote about 25 "b's" today. Abby was so PROUD when she wrote out her entire name and it looked a lot like the way I write it!! She wanted to give up, but she kept trying!! WAY TO GO ABBY!!!

Some Girl Time for Abby!!

Dear little Abby spends all her time with the boys (Christian and Nate), so it was time for her to have a little girl time. She had a "tea party" today with her friends Ellie and Kate. They made cookies and enjoyed pink lemonade in real china cups. They also had tiny little tea sets that they put water in and enjoyed pouring "tea" and "sugar" for one another!!
Thank heavens for sweet girlfriends!!! Kate and Ellie's visit made Abby's day!! She was ready this morning at 7am with her dress all picked out. She didn't want to be late.
Ellie and Kate also brought their Polly Pockets to share!! How did they know that's one of Abby's favorite things! What great friends!!

Just an update!

I just had to post this cute picture of my dad (PopPop) with Christian and Abby. PopPop spent the weekend with us and the poor guy never got a break. Someone was always climbing on him!! Look at the delight in Christian and Abby's faces!!! They love their PopPop!

I also wanted to let you know that if you double click on one of the pictures in this blog it will enlarge the picture so you can see it clearer. Sometimes it's cute to see facial expressions a little closer.

I headed back to the doctor today to get my offical ultrasound report. Everything looked great on the ultrasound. I have to have another one because they didn't get a good picture of the spinal cord, but it's nothing to worry about. I wasn't all that surprised when they told me that my little girl was measuring big. Christian was a 9 lb baby and it sounds like I'm right on track to have another one. YIKES!! According to the latest measurements she should come about 10 days earlier than originally planned. We'll see what happens. The doctor changed Christian's due date half way through my pregnancy last time and he was still late, so I'm not going to get my hopes up about this baby coming early. The baby naming debate still continues in our house, but we've gotten it narrowed down to three names. I'll keep you posted!!

Enjoying the last of the Summer weather!

I decided that it was time to use up the last of the swim diapers while the weather was warm again. Christian and his cousin Abby had a great time running and squealing in the water! Nathan ran around the sprinkler, but somehow managed to stay dry.
This is a picture of Abby telling me the water was too cold!! She asked me if I could turn up the hot water. I had to explain that unfortunately it doesn't work that way when you're outside! And yes, Christian opted to go without the swimsuit, although he does have a swim diaper on under his shirt.

Baby Name???

Everyone keeps asking if we have a baby name picked out yet. The answer is NO! Ryan and I are definitely at odds over this one. He is set on a name and I'm just not so sure. My nieces have names picked out too. Abby thinks it should be LUCY. I think it's cute, but not the choice for us. Emma thinks it should be CHRISTINE (probably in honor of one of her favorite aunts). I think Christian and Christine would be way too confusing. Emma assures me that it would be just fine. I'll let you know when we have finally decided. Thankfully we've got a few months to work on it!

It's A Girl!!!

It's a girl!! Well, we are about 95% sure!! The ultrasound technician seemed pretty confident that she was correct!! Our ultrasound lasted for about 1 hour and everything looked great. We meet with our doctor on Thursday to get the official results, but from what we could tell things are looking good. The picture above is of the baby's profile. Christian came into the room at the end of the ultrasound and he was pretty confused about everything. He couldn't figure out where this baby was that we were all talking about. He also thought I had a boo boo since the "doctor" was checking my belly. When we got home I showed Abby (who is almost four) the pictures of the baby (we've got about 10 of them) and she got a little frustrated. I was showing her an ultrasound picture of the baby's hand and she said "Auntie Judy, I just don't know what you're talking about. I can't see a thing.


I've posted a short video clip of our little girl. I hope this works, since I've never done it before. This video is of her face. It's hard to tell because she was kind of laying against the placenta. You should be able to see a little hand move and you should be able to make out a cute little nose and mouth.

Ryan and I are both thrilled to be having a girl!! I can't wait to be able to buy cute dresses and fun hair bows. I guess we now can start thinking about piano lessons and dance recitals. Thankfully my sister gave me a ton of her girl clothes, so I'm not too concerned about needing lots of pink stuff just yet! Well, I've gotta sign off for now. I need to get the big brother up from his nap or he'll never go to sleep tonight.

Fun Weekend!!

It's been a fun weekend, but I'm exhausted now!! We got a surprise visit from my brother Tim and his family this weekend. It was great to see them. Adam is Christian's age and he is not a timid boy, so he and Christian did well playing together. Abby and the twins (Hannah and Elizabeth) are the same age and they just adore each other. All of the girls cried when it was time to say goodbye!! Since there were seven kids around, we ate all of our meals outside. It was a beautiful weekend and the kids could play while the adults could actually sit around and enjoy a meal together. Christian's jeep was the popular toy of the weekend. Everyone took turns driving and running into trees and various people. There were a few times when I found four kids riding on the jeep at the same time. It was an exciting time. Nate showed off his new climbing skills (I can't figure out how to get the picture turned the right way...sorry). I'm heading to bed right now. I've got my baby ultrasound tomorrow morning!! I can't wait!

!!! JOY in my heart !!!

You're probably wondering what I'm doing posting these crazy pictures of the kids running around. Well, this is a moment of JOY that I captured on my camera this morning. I'll be the first to admit that it's been a little stressful adjusting to having three toddlers around instead of just one (I've been watching my sister's two kids since she moved here). Christian has especially had a rough time with it. He's had a hard time sharing and dealing with his space being invaded. We've been experiencing lots of crying and sadness, so I've really been praying that God would make these three little kids a happy family. That they would love each other and show gentleness towards one another. Today we had a break through.
We turned on one of our favorite CDs (A CD where all the songs have Christian's name in them...thanks Mandy)!!! And Abby, Christian and Nate chased each other around and giggled for over 30 min. I just sat on the steps and watched. My heart was filled with JOY!!
In this picture everyone is taking a little rest waiting for the next song to start!! Abby also had another great day of school and the boys colored the whole time!!Keep praying for us that we will continue to have these moments.

Daddy's Home!!

Daddy was gone on a business trip for almost a week and he just got home last night. Christian was so excited to see him. Daddy knows his little boy well, because he brought home the best surprise ever...a TRUCK!!Christian got to stay up way past his bedtime, because he was having such a great time playing with Daddy.

Abby's First Day of "School"

Last night when Emma was getting ready for school, Abby decided that she was ready for school too!! She picked out school clothes, got her backpack ready and packed her lunchbox with a snack. This morning she arrived ready to learn and SOOO excited about her backpack full of supplies! Today we worked on the letter "B" because it's a big part of Abby's name!! I was shocked at her ability to sound out words!! We made a collage of all the words that start with the letter "B" and she sounded out the words like dog, spoon, tree, house and flower and knew that they didn't start with a "B" sound!! What a smart little cookie!!

We also worked on writing her name and that's going to take a little more work, but she's doing great for someone who's not even four yet!

And of course, the first day of school has to include a little cookie baking!! We counted how many people were at our house, then figured out how many cookies to make so everyone could get two!!

Cousins, Cousins

Lately our lives have been filled with cousins. Christian's cousin Gracey came to visit us for the first time just a few weeks ago. They had a great time playing together and truly became friends. It was so fun to see two little Chattertons playing together. I love this picture of Christian and Gracey because you can tell Christian is just loving this hug from the smile on his face.
Abby, another cousin, also loved playing with Gracey. She's told me a couple of times lately that she misses her!!
We tried and tried to get a really good picture of Christian and Gracey together, but I guess that is asking a little too much when you're dealing with two 2 year olds!! Gracey even had her special blanket, and Christian had his special pillow and we still couldn't get them to look in the same direction at the same time. Oh well...we've got years and years to get it right!

The Chattertons

BabysHere.com

Life Changes Quickly

I've decided to start a blog mainly because our family is spread over so many different states and this is a fun way to keep in touch with everyone all at the same time. We have family in Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts and Illinois and we have friends in numerous states and even countries!!

As many of you know, our lives seem to be changing rather quickly around here. We are thrilled to be expecting our second child. Make sure you check back sometime after September 24th to find out if we are having a boy or a girl!! I can't wait to find out. The birth of child #2 should take place around Feb. 19th!!

We also had another big life change take place in the last month. My sister, Amy, and her children moved in across the street. This is the first time I've lived near family in the past 11 years!! We love having Emma (6), Abby(almost 4) and Nate(almost 2) right across the street. It's so fun to be able to see them whenever we want. It's taking a little getting used to for Christian. He's always thrilled to see them and then sooo frustrated when he has to share. I guess it's all part of being 2! It's been an adjustment for me too! I seem to find ponytail holders all over the house and we now have Polly Pockets, Strawberry Shortcake and babydolls to play with. As you can see in the picture, "Uncle Ryan" is adapting to his new role too!! (He probably won't appreciate the fact that I'm posting this picture).

Feel free to leave comments about my postings and check back often for new updates on our lives!!