Update (kind of...)

Hey everyone,

I am so sorry I have slacked off my blog in months past. Since around March 1, I have been overtaken by the morning sickness monster. As a result, simple tasks like washing dishes, cooking, and even blogging have seemed more like a climb up Mount Everest! I have felt a little better this week, so I am hopeful that in future months, I will be back in blogging form. We have been doing quite a bit this spring, I just neglected to capture it on film to share. Sarah went to her first Hillbilly Days (which was a smashing success, caught on my father's camera...I will try to post his photos when I get hold of them). I wrapped up my work for UK and have about a month left of school at Lafayette. It looks as if I will not be returning to LHS next year, due to a little Coleman entering the world in October. Maybe I will go back in a year or two...only time will tell. We (by we I mostly mean Chris) have been spending the warmer weekends organizing our attic and back building, finding maternity clothes, inventorying baby items, and anticipating the wonderful changes that will be coming our way soon.

Sarah is so excited about this baby! She honestly thinks 3 are coming home with us! I have shown her the photos but she will not be swayed. She said she would like to name the baby "Bubba" if it is a boy, and "Isabelle" if it is a girl. I just love that child! She is a hoot! She has even "decorated' the baby room. She found some ribbon and created a masterpiece all by herself!

She has also declared that she will be giving her treasured "Baby" to the newest member of the family! I was shocked. She has slept with Baby since she was 4 months old and only parts with it because it has to go to "school" during the day. The reason we created this ploy is because she ONLY sucks her thumb when baby is in hand. She is now content to see him during naps (which are almost nonexistent at this point) and at bedtime. I asked her if this meant she would stop sucking her thumb when the baby came and she said "yes". I promise, this is from no prompting on my part. If this goes as she has planned, I will be so thankful. (I am not holding my breath, when she wakes up at night and cannot find her yellow friend, she panics) But, for the most part, I am amazed at Sarah's giving nature and willingness to share with her new sibling. I know, I know, the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. Only time will tell if she really means what she is saying now. But, I must say, the transition from one child to two will be much smoother if she keeps this loving attitude toward Baby Coleman. Her excitement is definitely contagious. I love my little girl!

Here are some cute photos of all of Sarah's "babies". The yellow one is her most special friend in the world. The other ones were bought in an attempt to wean her from sucking her thumb. For years, she paid them no attention. Now that I am pregnant, she has taken to mommying all four like they are her babies. She has named them baby bunny, blue baby, peppermint baby, and of course just "baby" for her yellow one. She drives them around in a stroller, lines them up next to her in the bed at bedtime, and even teaches them in her version of preschool or "prettyschool" as she calls it.

I promise that when I start feeling consistently better (and it better be soon) I will remember to snap the funny moments and other adventure of the Coleman 3 (soon to be 4). Have a great week...or two...depends on the queezies :).

Later.

Easter Weekend Fun

Hello everyone,
We had a great Easter week in the mountains. I took Sarah home because a) the family wanted an escape from the stresses of home and work, and b) because my babysitter could not keep Sarah this week and I needed a babysitter while I worked. Mom and Dad kindly offered to keep Sarah, so we headed home for some Easter fun.

I include this photo which was taken weeks before because I want to pretend my child was in the mood for photographs on this visit. But I am only fooling myself. She usually is quite ready to pose for the camera, but not this weekend. My aims to preserve the holiday for posterity directly interfered with her aims to grab her Papaw by the hand and look for mischief. You will understand as you read on...

We decided to have our egg hunt on Saturday when we arrived. This was mostly because Sarah had colored eggs the night before and could not wait for us to hide and her to seek her prizes. Chris placed them high and low, in the grass, on the porch, flowerbeds, and even on the hill behind the house.

The hunt is complete. Look at the pride on this face.

and this face....

And this face. I chose to show you these three photos (which look very similar) because they were the only good photos we took all weekend. Sarah was so proud of "winning" the Easter egg hunt (in which she was the only competitor), she stood still for a whopping 10 seconds while I snapped these photos.

This is the only semi-good Sunday morning Easter dress photo we got from Sarah this year. Usually, she is very photogenic and will pose for great photos. Today, she is preoccupied with a kite she was convinced she would be able to fly on this morning. This meant no time for photos today.



The happy girl plays with her Papaw. They are truly best "buddies". Mom said when she woke up on Monday morning and he wasn't there, she asked, "Where's Papaw?" Mom said, "at work". Her response was priceless..."Oh no! I won't have any fun today!" Enough said.

Our little chatty Kathy couldn't stop talking long enough to pose.

Here is the source of my frustration on this morning. Why did we have to bring this kite?


This is our ONLY family Easter photo for 2009. Dad asks her to put her hand down and then....

She rears back and hits the back of her head on the mantle. So much for family photos....



On a positive note, it was a beautiful Sunday to hang out outside.
Sarah had a blast riding her tricycle.

She also loved helping my Dad work on a plastic flap that came down under my car. This is why she loves him so much...he includes her in every activity he is doing while she is around. I guess it makes her feel important.


Here she is explaining what Papaw needs to do for this vehicle. My little know it all!
All in all, it was a great weekend, even if I have few photos to show for it!
I guess I will have to keep it all preserved in my minds eye.

Big News!!!!

Well, I think it must be in the water here in Georgetown. Karen, Denise, Ashley, and now me! The Coleman family is adding a new member this October! I am due on October 29. I went for my first ultrasound on Monday and so far, everything looks great. I wish I could show you the baby's little head, bobbing as if it were listening to rap music. So cute! I guess the photos will have to do, so I now introduce you to baby Coleman!

It was very active in the ultrasound. It's hands and feet moved often and the heart rate was in the 170's. It is so amazing to see life this early!

I have been very nauseated of late (Doctor says it is acid reflux). What I didn't mention about our hard drive back from Georgia in the last post was that I made it worse by throwing up in the car during the time of the dozen tornado watches and warnings all around us. I must say, that was the single most stressful "vacation" day I have ever experienced. But seeing the photo of Baby Coleman, I see what all the sickness is about, and that helps. We are so thankful to God that everything is progressing normally so far. Please pray for us as we enter this new chapter in our lives.

I am sure the next question on your minds is, "how did Sarah take the news?". The next three video clips will show you the answer.

We are so blessed and excited to share this news with all of our family and friends.

More updates to come :>)

Watch out Disney World, here we come!

*Note* Click the Blue "Watch out Disney World, here we come!" heading to cut the French music (this goes with the next post and will make no sense with the Disney World Photos).

Hello again,
I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything significant, but March has been a crazy month! Chris's new job (though still at Lexmark), has kept him busy (I don't think the word "busy" even covers it). He spent 8 days away from us in France, and Sarah spent time in Pikeville (as did I for a couple of days). He returned on Saturday night only to prepare for our next adventure, Disney World! We knew we were going south for spring break (I am so tired of the cold weather...see late fall posts...) but we did not decide where we would head when the time was right. Disney World fell into place on Tuesday night and we had to begin the gigantic task of finding all our warm weather clothes by Thursday morning! I am tired just thinking about it. Needless to say, when Sarah found out she was going to meet Mickey, she was ecstatic. The funny part was she wasn't exactly sure what Disney World was. She kept asking questions like, "Do they have toys there?" I think she thought we were going to a gigantic Disney store like in the mall.
Wednesday was crazy. Sarah began "helping" me pack. Yikes! She brought me every pair of pajamas she could find and piled them up in a suitcase. I undid everything while she napped so I wouldn't hurt her feelings. Once we got the dog feeding lined up (thanks Jason and Papaw Coleman, we owe you one), we were ready to go!

Here is our happy little girl watching movies on the way down with Lamby and Winston. Notice the gigantic piles of stuff surrounding her. We need a bigger car for this! Once we made it there, we dropped everything off at the villa and jumped back in the car for an evening Magic Kingdom visit.

This is our first tram ride into the park. Sarah couldn't wipe the smile off her face.

Notice the Minnie Mouse shirt. Brandy brought this home for Sarah on her last visit. She was so excited to show it to Minnie and Mickey.


We're here! Isn't the castle beautiful?




I wanted one of those oh so cute photos of Sarah in front of the castle. She would have none of it. She wanted to find a ride. Oh well...


As we closed in on the big guy, Mickey Mouse himself, Sarah spied Pluto's doghouse.


Here is Mickey's bedroom! He was so kind to let us invade his private space.
Yea! We found Mickey! Sarah had to bring her smaller version of him to show big Mickey.

That night, we watched a beautiful parade. Sarah was awestruck.


It's a small world had to be Sarah's favorite ride in the park. We rode it multiple times.
Here is the happy girl on the boat floating through countries.



The castle at night was spooky but beautiful.




Our tired little girl let me hold her for one last photo before we left that night. What a successful night it was! We rode about half the rides in the park in a span of 5 hours! I am so glad we ventured out at night.





The next day was Hollywood Studios. The real thrill of the day was meeting some of the Little Einsteins. Notice the shirt. She was trying to impress them with her Einsteins clothing as well.



She was also happy to see Handy Manny.





But nothing compared to the thrill of Leo and Annie. She loves these two the best.



Next, we moved along to find Woody and Buzz Lightyear.





Unfortunately Buzz had to leave for a mission, but she was happy to meet Woody.

My highlight of the trip was getting to visit the "American Idol Experience." As you can see, the stage looked exactly like the real thing. They had clips of Ryan, Randy, Paula, and Simon and had three real contestants sing per hour with the audience voting for the winner. The finale at night featured all the days winners. The final winner received a golden ticket to take them to the front of the line at the real American Idol auditions. I could have stayed here all day (but my family wouldn't hear of it). Fantastic show!




This was the lady who won our hour. She was good!

Sarah was pumped to see Mickey two days straight! This Mickey hugged and tickled her and wouldn't let her go. It was so cute!

She was pretty excited to get a Mickey hat at the park on this day.

Our last show at Hollywood Studios was "Beauty and the Beast". It really seemed Broadway worthy. The singing was great and the costumes were beautiful.

At Animal Kingdom, Sarah met Pocahontas. She seemed less sure of going up to a real person and not a character.

Jiminy Cricket asked us all to join in a photo.

I think this was Sarah's main attraction of the day. We moved into "Africa" and she couldn't stop playing these drums. I love this photo. Sheer joy!

I must admit, the lines at Animal Kingdom left a lot to be desired. It seemed that everyone in Florida was there on this day! We got a fast pass for the Safari Ride that morning and I am so glad we did. It was the most fun ride of the day. It seemed very realistic.

Meet the crocodiles.
A termite hill (made of termite spit???)
The elephants.

The rhinos...
The tired child. This week really wore her out. This was the only stroller nap she took all week. There was just too much to see and do. I really hope she is able to remember this trip. I know I will cherish many fond memories from this spring break as well.

Our last day at Epcot was cut very short. I forgot the camera so sorry, no photos. We jumped in the car at 1:30pm with the intention of driving 8 hours to Atlanta for the night. But it was not to be... After driving through dangerous sever thunderstorms for hours (with tornado's touching down in towns all around), we called it quits south of Macon. It made for a long Wednesday journey, but it was worth it. We all slept snugly in a king size bed at the Hampton Inn.

I will admit, Sarah did have a hard time driving that many hours in the car. She kept saying "Are we there yet?" and "Get me out of here!" But I wouldn't trade the pain for the great fun we had in Florida.

Now for the unpacking and laundry... May the force be with me.