School Reports

A proper post, complete with updates, will come soon...but in the meantime, a brief Nate story for the time capsule...

We get daily reports from Nate's school with the normal information - how he used the potty throughout the day (wearing underpants at school - yippee!), how well he ate, how his mood was, etc. And his teacher always adds a little blurb about what he did that day. Sometimes it is random things he says like - "he told me at lunch that he likes mac & cheese and then he ate it all!" or "Nate said that when it stops raining he wants to go outside and play with trucks!". Sometimes it is something sweet he did like - "Nate gave his friend a hug today when he was crying". I love getting that report each day and reading it with him when I pick him up, it always makes me smile.

Once a week his teacher sends the weekly summary out via email to the parents to let them know how the lesson went for the week. This past week the lesson plan was "Weather" and the report said: During Circle Time we created Wind using the fan and since the children could only feel it or watch things get blown, Daniel asked what color the wind was. Nathan gave a better reply than any teacher would have. He said "Wind blows, no color." And gave a beautiful demonstration of the wind blowing!

I love how much he is learning at school...he comes home talking about the things he learned about each day and is always so proud of the artwork he brings home. The other day he brought home a heart he had painted and he told me "I made that!" and I said "I know buddy and I love it!". And then he had to clarify "I didn't make the paper, I made the heart." He is a very literal thinker...and a little smarty pants. I love how their little minds work at this age...

Just over a week until Matthew's arrival...details to follow!

Baby Update - Week 33

Well, we are officially in the homestretch so it is time we announce our little ones's name...

Matthew Charles Cox

We actually decided on it weeks ago but for some reason I needed to keep thinking on it and saying it out loud before it felt final. But here we are with just weeks left so I am now confident in announcing it! We want to keep it "Matthew" and not call him "Matt" so hopefully that will stick. I have to admit it was really tough coming up with another name for our 3rd boy but Matthew has always been on our list so we went with it.

Baby Matthew is our mystery baby...he has yet to give us a great shot of his face during all of our ultrasounds. All we know is that he is healthy and growing well - he is just over 4lbs as of our u/s this week - but that is all we need to know for now! I start my weekly visits and non-stress tests as of this week so it really feels like he will be here before we know it - just 5 or 6 weeks and the mystery will be over!

As for the rest of us...I am feeling well, just the normal achy uncomfortableness of the 3rd Trimester. I am definitely walking the fine line of being ready to not be pg any longer and knowing what is on the other side so I am trying to take it one day at a time! I don't think Nate understands what is going on...he is intrigued by mommy's belly and if he sees any baby stuff he will say "that's Baby Matthew's", but on a couple of occasions he has asked for a bottle (luckily a water bottle will appease him) and he sometimes randomly says "I'm a baby! Goo goo gaa gaa". So, it's tough to figure out how much to talk to him about Baby and what will prepare him versus stress him out. But I do think he will love his little brother when he gets here. And Michael, poor Michael...he is doing his best to deal with his moody, stressed-out pregnant wife. God bless him.

So, that's about it on the baby front. Making progress in the nursery and hope to have it finished up in the next week or two. Wish me luck!

Snowy Valentines

If you haven't heard...it snowed a lot (by GA standards) on Friday. Saturday was a gorgeous day to play out in the snow...Nate had a blast making and throwing snowballs. We had a hard time getting our little snowboy back indoors for lunch, he cried when we came in. He even put his coat and boots back on after lunch and stood by the door, just waiting to go back out....


Since the weather and roads put a damper on our plans with some old friends on Saturday night, we pulled together a last minute family fondue night. The interesting thing is that my little pseudo-vegetarian kid actually ate steak and chicken...I guess the fun of watching it cook made it more appetizing! This isn't a great picture, I realize, but you get the idea.

We spent today exchanging sweet cards and going to Daddy's tennis match. The snow has pretty much melted now so at the courts there were great mud puddles that Nate decided to play in...luckily he had decided to wear his rain boots again today so it was kind of fun watching him be a little boy splashing in puddles (and making a mess...I had to run up to the nearby Target to grab a new pair of pants)...if only I had the camera with me. :(

Valentines isn't really a holiday that we make a big deal out of...but it does remind me how fortunate I am to have my boys as my valentines!