March Madness!

Definitely not the basketball March madness, but oh my the crazy, get ready for baby, get ready for Easter, get ready for Clayton and Chloe's second birthday, get ready to hopefully move, madness! We waited to transform the office into a nursery until we knew how close we would be to moving into a new and bigger house. Unfortunately, the house we have been hoping for is taking a really long time to go through. We thought we had it, but then learned there was a number mistake on the bank's end, so we are waiting again. Ryan and I are hopeful we will hear something in the next week or so. Otherwise, we haven't found any other houses that meet our growing family's needs. We intend to be in this next house "forever," so I'm being pretty picky. The baby's room is ready besides all the cute decorations and bedding that truly make it a nursery. As soon as Nonnie knows whether her fourth grandchild is a boy or girl, she will be on the phone ordering the bedding! Daddy has been busy repainting the nursery a neutral color (we will paint more specifically when we move), putting furniture together, taking furniture apart, cleaning, etc. He's been in "nesting" mode too! I've lately gotten into a real DIY mode, so I have high hopes for what I'm going to create for the baby's nursery once he or she is here. I bought a paper cutting machine to help me with all of my projects. I love it! Ryan has always encouraged me to find a hobby and while my new crafting hobby isn't necessarily one that is solely for myself, it makes me happy to create meaningful things for my children. My next projects include Clayton and Chloe's Sesame Street birthday party, an advent calendar for Christmas, and personalized keepsake boxes for each child to keep all of their memorable stuff in. Fun stuff!

Here's some highlights about Clayton and Chloe in the month of March...
Clayton is a talking machine. He is putting together sentences and has more words than I can keep up with. It amazes me how he just knows a word based on hearing it and not being told "this is a ______." His letter recognition is unbelievable. He completely knows A-V now and recognizes them in other contexts too (signs, books, anywhere!). Chloe is doing fabulous with her letters too. She completely learns from Clayton. I used to have to tell her "this is an A, Chloe say, A," but now I show Clayton the card, ask him what letter it is, he says the letter, and then I show it to Chloe, ask her what letter it is and she repeats it. She doesn't quite have the identification part down, but listens to Clayton and repeats. We find this modeling concept to be true in a lot of aspects of our twins' lives. Clayton does whatever it is first and then Chloe follows some time later, but will do or say the same way as Clayton. It's pretty incredible. Another cute thing they both do is "read." They have a duck and goose book that follows the same pattern..."Is the pumpkin under the water goose?" on one page and then "No" on the other page. The pattern repeats with different beginnings for a few pages. I point to the "No" and they say "Noooo" and shake their heads. It's so cute and another thing Clayton did first with me and then Chloe just did without my prompting. Clayton is such a boy. He loves balls and knows every book that has a page that has some sort of ball on it. He's a super climber, can jump, swing from a bar, has an awesome throw, can shoot and "dribble" a basketball, is very aware of anything new or different, doesn't like anything out of place, can say his name, count to 10 (with prompting), and absolutely loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! He has also started singing. He knows some of the ABC song, twinkle twinkle, and several other songs we regularly sing. It's priceless. Chloe is our goofy little girl. She still does the silliest little march and her jump is magical. She bends down super low and stands up over and over again! She can swing from a bar, loves to color, can count to 10 (with prompting), calls her brother "sissy" which is what Ryan, Clayton, and I call her (another modeling thing!), gives the sweetest impromptu kisses, she loves to eat, loves ice cream, loves her daddy so much, and loves to sing and dance. She does the cutest hand motions for "twinkle, twinkle" and "head, shoulders, knees, and toes."

We are days away from little peanut's arrival. This is my last post as a family of four. In a few days we will officially be a family of five!

Here's some pictures that capture the March Madness!

Summertime in Winter!



No day is complete without a trip to the park!



Play time at bed time in Sissy's bed!



Our visit to the Easter Bunny...Clayton absolutely adored the bunny and Chloe was absolutely terrified!







My work so generously gave me a shower before my last day. It was so sweet of them to spoil little peanut.



Full term baby bump! 39 weeks and ready to meet sweet little peanut!


Our office has been transformed into baby peanut's new room, but it won't truly be a nursery until we know whether Peanut is a he or she and we can decorate it with all things baby boy or baby girl!