Yay for nice weather! We were all able to get out together and go on a bike and walk through out neighborhood.  It was Brutus’ first walk on a leash (which seems crazy since we’ve had him two months!) and he did well.  Lily was so excited and had a great time but by the end she was pretty sore. We really shouldn’t be walking her with her torn CCL in her right knee. Griffin is so awesome riding his balance bike. He loves to bend his legs backwards and totally balance himself. He really loves to get out and ride his bike. We have had some really warm and unseasonable weather which has been great for being outside!

Valentine’s Day was a lot of fun too. The day started early in the morning giving Debbie and Sam their gifts and he was given an awesome Lion Guard shirt. He was excited for Debbie to wear her necklaces (and to get to wear some too!) 🙂
I surprised Griffin at school for his Valentine’s Party! It was fun to arrive and see him with his classmates. They had a special lunch that day, followed by filling the Valentine bags of each of his classmates with the Valentine cards they each brought. Afterward it was a couple of crafts and activities like making Valentine crowns and playing games. I got to read a Valentine book to the class and since Finn had Tony the Tiger over the weekend Miss Irma read about Tony’s adventures with us with Finn up at the front of the class. It was so cute to see.  This is Finn and his best bud Jaxson. These kiddos just love to play together in their Tiger class! For a special dessert Finn and I made a Lemon Pound Cake to go along with our Heart-shaped cheese ravioli dinner.  Yummers! Finn helped set and decorate our table too.  These are Finn’s Valentine’s for this year – glow stick bracelets in a card that we made. The idea is from Pinterest, of course, chosen by Finn himself. I’ve always loved that Finn’s birthday is 3/16 as it has always reminded me of John 3:16. In his class at school this week they tied that verse to the word Valentine. Cute!And here are a few of Finn’s favorite things! It is fun to hear what he talks about at school 🙂And he also did some fun art projects at home with Debbie! On Thursday I had a regular OB appointment with Dr. Costa along with a growth scan ultrasound (28 weeks, but a week early) and my glucose tolerance test. I arrived early as they have to draw your blood exactly 1 hour after you finish the sugar-drink. And this never happens, but they were running ahead so rather than doing my ultrasound at the scheduled time they did it early – and Kevin was on his way but wasn’t there yet :(. I was so bummed since Chestnut was breech and in a perfect position for them to get great images. For the growth scan, they measure the head, belly, and femur as well as the amniotic fluid.  Everything looked great, they estimated 2 pounds 6 ounces and he was in the 65th percentile, which Dr. Costa said is good and not unexpected since Kevin is a tall guy. The ultrasound tech asked if I wanted 3D images, so I said sure! Apparently not everyone wants them.  But check these out – they are the clearest things I’ve ever seen.  So different even than the 3D we had at 18 weeks in December. This first one is just a regular (not 3D) profile pic.  This is the 18W 3D on 12/21/16 on the left and the 27W 3D on 2/16/17 on the right.  And for comparison, here is a pic of Griffin that Amy sent me from his newborn session. They look more alike than I originally thought! Thursday night we had loads of fun swapping around all of the beds in our bedrooms and converting Griffin’s toddler bed into a big kid bed! Even Lily and Brutus got in on the fun.  This always makes me laugh – the three of them in the smallest space possible, our bathroom closet!
Finn’s mattress arrived like this – I had no idea it wasn’t going to be a large flat rectangle! Turns out this is a pretty awesome way to get a bed – we didn’t even go to the store or have to pack it into the van 🙂 First things first, we took apart the queen bed that has been in Finn’s room since he was born and moved it to the front (and now only) guest room which is next to our room. Finn was a great helper. Then Finn and Daddy took apart his toddler bed. He would go and get every tool like Kevin had so that he could do the same things that Kevin was doing to take the beds apart and put them together.  The mattress went from this to on the bed frame in about 5 minutes! Check out these big boy digs! His room feels so different now!  Fast asleep – he had no troubles at all his first night in his big kid bed! And check out all of these clothes that needed re-homed during our bed change-out activities. We have been beyond blessed with so many hand-me-downs from the Bethune’s! When I look at how many clothes Finn has outgrown and the number we’ve bought compared to what has been given to us it is astonishing! Thanks, Bethune’s!And here is a look at Chestnut’s future room. For now it has a full-size bed, which Likely won’t stay. Not the best picture as there are no lights in there and this was taken at night with a flash from my iPhone camera.  And here is the final of the now guest-room in the front of the house. Brutus perfectly matches the bedding and is ready to hit the hay himself.