Braelyn's 2nd Birthday

Yesterday was Braelyn's 2nd birthday.  It's so hard to believe that 2 years have come and gone without her.  This year felt different than the last two.  We have Cole here with us, and finally my life feels complete again.  I think about Braelyn every single day, and I know she is always with me.  But there is also something to be said about having a baby in your arms.  I hope that I can teach Cole about how special his sister is to us.  And I hope that some day he will be able to choose something special to do each year to celebrate her life.

We had a pretty low key day, but we definitely remembered her and celebrated her life.  We worked on the flannel diapers a bit, we went to church, we went out to the lake, and last we took Cole out for his first taste of ice cream for the birthday celebration.  It was a perfect day in my mind.

Lake Evergreen 10-7-12

Cole at Lake Evergreen

Eating Birthday Cake Batter Ice Cream from Cold Stone
First taste of ice cream!

Diaper Update

Oh my goodness!  You people are so amazing!!!  I can't even believe how much you all have contributed to my project of making flannel diapers for angel babies.  When I started this project I thought that if I managed to sew 10 sets of diapers and donate them I'd feel really good about helping 10 families.   Well, I underestimated big time on how many diapers we are going to donate.

The last I counted we had about 400 diapers total that we are going to be able to donate!  Did you read that???  400!!!!!  I can't even find the words to thank everyone that has participated.  I have had several people donate money, fabric, time to cut, and sewing abilities.  We still have a long way to go to actually finish all of them, but man-- I think by December 15 we are going to have a huge donation to drop off in Peoria at the Children's Hospital.

This has not been a project that comes naturally to me.  I had never sewn anything before in my entire life...but I learned and have been sewing away.  Actually, the funny part is that Matt is the one who read the instruction manual for my mom's sewing machine, got the thread and bobbin all ready and started sewing.  He's done way more than I have so far and all of his look great!!  It's so fun to see this side of Matt. :o)

I really can't wait to update you all once I have all of the diapers paired up and tied pretty with ribbon ready to be delivered.  If you are reading this and have contributed to my project, I want to apologize for not writing a thank you note to you personally yet.  I promise they are going to be on their way soon...  I have just been so busy trying to work on the diapers and also I wanted to have something done with your donations before I wrote to you.  So for now, please take this as my heartfelt thank you!  I couldn't be doing this without all of you!  You should feel so proud of yourselves for helping families in need of something good on a day that will forever be etched in their minds.

Here are some pictures so far of the process:

Cole is 9 Months!

I'm so behind in updating my blog!  Cole turned 9 months old on September 21.  He is just growing and changing right before our eyes.  He has finally started crawling and he can move across the room pretty quick.  We have been busy baby-proofing everything.  And, as you can see, he's hard to get a picture of!

A Buddy and A Boss

Cole was super excited on Tuesday to find out if he was getting boy or girl cousins.  We found out he is getting one BOY (a buddy) and one GIRL (a boss) cousin!!!  It was so much fun for my sister and brother-in-law to include us when they found out.  My sister is super creative and had a balloon shop fill two boxes with the appropriate color of balloons.  They did not know until they opened the boxes what each baby's gender was.  Their reactions were priceless.  I hope my sis doesn't mind that I am sharing some of the pics on my blog.  I am thrilled to get a nephew and a niece!  I can't wait to spoil them!!!!

My sis is in heaven getting a little girl! 

And Kyle was literally jumping for joy when he realized Baby B is a boy! 

So happy for them! 

Baby Cole is so excited to be a big cousin x 2! 

Our Nations Capital

Matt and I went to Washington DC on September 7-12. We went because Matt had passed all of his CPCU exams at work and they sent us on an all expenses paid trip to the conferment conference. Luckily we were not required to go to all of the sessions about insurance and we were allowed to explore the city.

We went with a list of places that we really wanted to see. Neither one of us had ever been to DC before and we were really excited to hit all the major sites.

On Friday when we got there we went to the National Zoo first and saw the famous panda exhibit. Then that night we hit up a Washington Nationals baseball game. Their stadium was amazing!

Saturday, we started our day off bright and early with a tour of the White House. It was pretty cool to say that we have been there, but we only saw about 4 rooms. Not that I was expecting to see the President's bedroom or anything...but we didn't see much. One thing I found interesting was the wallpaper in the rooms we saw was made out of silk. It was pretty fancy. The only question I asked the Secret Service was if all of the huge beautiful flower arrangements in each room were real...and they were! After the tour we walked over to see the Washington Monument. Then we we also went to the Museum of Natural History. Then went to Ford's Theater. This is where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. They had a lot of very interesting things to see. Including the seat he was in when he was shot. And we finished the day off by going to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.

Seat that President Lincoln was shot in (Ford's Theater)

Natural History Museum

The Hope Diamond

On Sunday we rented bicycles and rode to Georgetown. It was a pretty cool area filled with high end stores and a lot of restaurants. The bicycle ride was a bit terrifying on the streets of DC. But we made it...and then took a cab back to our hotel :). Late on Sunday night we went with a group of friends to a place called Bier Baron. It is a bar that has the largest selection of beer in the US. Our bartender knew everything about each beer on the list. The list was about 10 pages long. We were impressed.

Monday we got moving pretty early and went to the Holocaust Museum. Talk about a sobering experience. It's hard to believe something that terrible actually happened. I'm glad we went though. Then in the afternoon we had a tour of the US Capital Building. It was probably my favorite building in DC. It's beautiful from the outside and even more so inside. Plus we got quite the history lesson while walking around. Monday night we took a bus tour to see all of the major monuments. We actually got off of the bus to see the Lincoln Monument, Jefferson Memorial, MLK Jr Memorial, Iwo Jima/Marines Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and Korean Memorial. They were awesome to see at night all lit up.

On our last day, Tuesday, we crammed everything else that we could into the day. We started the day at Arlington National Cemetery. It was breathtaking to see how many white stones lined the grass. It just went on for miles. We saw the JFK Eternal Flame and gravesite, General Robert E. Lee's home, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as well as the changing of the guard ceremony. Then we walked around the cemetery to see the Pentagon. It was actually 9/11 and the President was at the Pentagon. We saw his helicopter fly over us at the cemetery. Then we went and had a tour at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Next up, the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. We also walked to see the WWII Memorial. We finished our day by walking around the Museum of American History.

JFK Gravesite and Eternal Flame

Air Force Memorial

Flags at half mast @ Washington Monument on 9/11/12

WWII Memorial

I'm sure I have already forgotten some things that we did or saw. In between seeing all of the sites, we ate a ton of awesome food, navigated the somewhat intimidating metro, and saw some very intriguing people.  As you can see we were very busy. We walked non-stop the entire trip. But looking back we are glad we did not spend time just sitting back relaxing because we got to do and see so much. We joked that we needed a vacation from our vacation.

Cole stayed with my parents and also spent a lot of time with Kate and Kyle too. He was one spoiled and loved boy!! We missed him but kept so busy that 5 days away just flew by. Although I got the best sleep I've had in 9 months while we were in DC :). It was so great to get home and see him though. I swear he changed so much in a week.

Cole and Grandpa mowing together

Grandma, Grandpa and Cole

I hope some day we get to go back to DC and take Cole when he is old enough to appreciate the the significance of everything there.  I can't believe I waited until I was 29 years old to travel there.  I would recommend it for anyone!  Even if you are not really into history (like me) the city has something for everyone.