Friday the 16th...our baby turned 4!

This past Friday...at exactly 1:31 AM, Marissa Kate turned 4 years old. I should probably say things like, I just can't believe she's four or, she's getting so big I can't believe it....but I can. What I mean is, she acts so grown up these days...she is basically self-sufficient with everything. Today, I watched her make lunch for her sister and herself, not because I couldn't do it or I was too busy, but because she "just wanted to". By the way, she made strawberries, bread with grape jelly on it and a big glob of peanut butter on the side. I'm not sure why the peanut butter went on the side instead of on the bread, but they both loved it. Their plates were clean. :)  I am so excited to see her with McCoy because I know she is going to be so wonderful with him and such a big helper for me. She already is:)

So, on Friday, her actual birthday (not to be confused with Sunday, which was her birthday party...which actually was very confusing for her...) we did a few things we knew she would love.

The first thing was she got to open her gift from Miss Jill, which was a clipboard filled with crayons, markers, paper, stickers, etc. She loved it! Here she is showing all her goodies to her sister:)

Next was DONUTS!!! As you can see from her smile...this may just be one of her very favorite things to do in the world! Today, she chose the donut that daddy likes...the cinnamon crunch.

Mommy and her birthday girl. I love this girl so much.

Marissa and NeeNee. Marissa has her camera smile perfected, don't you think? :)

Miss Jill came along for the fun, and of course, Allie has her silly camera face perfected. (You will see just where she gets that from later on in the post....)

Finally, a normal smile. But, I also took this to show you how Allie eats her donuts....notice the top (the icing) is totally gone and the bottom is perfectly intact. And she's done.

Sweet Sisters :)

The girls with the birthday girl at the donut shop!

Miss Jill and Marissa, they love each other!

So, after we got home, it was time to do another one of Marissa's favorite things....dress up like princesses. This time they added the scarf veil for an even more dramatic effect :)

We then went outside to play. Allie must have been playing hard, she needed a little water break.

Marissa was jamming on her guitar!

To end the night, we had her favorite dinner with most of her favorite people. (There were some missing...) We had chick-fil-a with Bryce, Avery, Adam and Layne! She loved it and as you can see, got a little bashful as we sang Happy Birthday to her!

Blowing out her candle...thanks to NeeNee for making her some extra special and yummy cupcakes!

Avery was very excited about her cupcake!

Big, cheesy birthday smile....all she is thinking is..."Please stop taking my picture so I can eat this cupcake!!"

Adam and Bryce enjoying their cupcakes!!

Layne looking sweet and pretty and Russell looking like....who is it that is always sticking their tongue out?! Oh yea, ALLIE! Now we know where she gets it!! See the picture below and the resemblance. :)

Monkey see, Monkey do!

I think it's safe to say Avery really enjoyed her cupcake!

As did Allie.

Marissa got to end her birthday with one more favorite thing...playing computer games. She was showing Bryce and Allie her favorite PBS kids games...they were all very into it.

Happy, Happy Birthday sweet Marissa. We all love you so much! 

Pregnancy Highlights-36 weeks!

36 weeks! We are officially in the home stretch! 4 (or less) weeks to go...

Pregnancy Highlights: I had an appointment yesterday and will continue to go each week until he gets here...I am 1 centimeter dilated, which when she said that, I said, "So, basically that means nothing." She laughed and told me it would probably be a couple more weeks, but she thinks that when the labor begins, it will happen very quickly! Good thing the hospital is just a couple of blocks away and my husband works right next door to our house...
Anyway-she said everything looks great and he is still head down, which is great! According to babycenter.com, McCoy is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long.

 Symptoms: For the most part, I am still feeling pretty good. I am able to sleep through the night only waking up one time to use the bathroom and I don't have any swelling, which is good. However, he has decided to move on up into my ribs, which makes just about everything uncomfortable and the heartburn is still there, but that will go away once he gets here :) I am still pretty tired by the end of the day, but going to bed before 9:00 helps, which I do just about every night! We lead a very exciting life here at the Nichols' household these days :)

Baby-Related Purchases: His nursery is about 80% complete, I just have a few last minute decorating touches to complete, but I am so excited with how it has turned out!! I will post some pictures very soon! I had to buy a little bit of extra fabric for the windows, but other than that we haven't had to purchase anything. He is now set for pretty much everything! Especially clothes!! I thought the girls had a lot of clothes, but oh my goodness...this little guy has got quite the wardrobe, thanks to some friends, baby showers (more to come on that) but mostly from my sweet nephew Kaden. Heather, my sister-in-law and Zach sent us two HUGE bins of clothes all the way from Germany! It took Gail and me almost a whole day to go through everything and get it sorted...I was so incredibly grateful for their generosity! He will be a very stylish little guy!

Maternity Clothes: Yes please. Tights are now my new best friend since the weather has turned a little cooler. It's been nice to wear something other than dresses and flip flops...I am enjoying this change of season!

Sleep: Again, yes please. Like I said, I'm in bed by at least 9:00 and there are a few days when a nap on the couch is a necessity :)

Fun moment this past week: Lots of fun moments!!! Our dear friends gave us 2 showers for McCoy, which were so wonderful and we felt so loved! Getting most of his nursery complete! Celebrating big sister, Marissa's, 4th birthday! It's been a busy month, but a wonderful one. :)

Food Cravings: Eh, eating is not so much fun since I get full so quickly and because of the heartburn. I did buy a bag of ice from Sonic which is AMAZING. You should go do this if you haven't before. It's so yummy! Ice cold everything!! Other than that...still no cravings.

Weight Gained: 29 lbs. At my checkup 2 weeks ago, I had actually lost 2 lbs, then gained them back by yesterday. So, it's even. Still don't think I'm gonna stay under the 30lb mark...oh well.

What I Miss: Everything I could do pre-pregnancy....workout, wear my clothes, stand up without Russell hoisting me up, being able to sit comfortably, well....you get the idea. I'm ready for him to get here!

What I am looking forward to: At this point, I just want him here. I was telling my friend, Layne, that I just want to hold him and know he's here and healthy. And I'm so, so, so excited to see what he looks like :)

Moments to Remember: I must have serious pregnancy brain....because I can't really remember anything to remember. I will be posting pictures from the two showers we had for McCoy, which is definitely something I never want to forget! They were both very special and I will most definitely remember how loved and blessed we all felt! McCoy is already very, very loved..God is so good to us.

Until next time....we will keep you posted! Please pray for sweet McCoy and his safe arrival. Love you all.

Nana came to visit!

A couple of weeks ago, we were very excited to get a visit from Nana and Pops! Pops, aka Russell's dad, had some work to do up in Massachusettes, so he and Nana packed up and headed our way. Unfortunately, Pops could only stay a couple nights because he had to get to Boston, but Nana was able to stay and hang out with us for several days! We had a wonderful time showing Nana all the exciting things going on with us these days! I'm sure she had fun, but was probably ready to get back to a little peace and quiet...because while there is a lot of fun and excitement with Marissa and Allie....peace and quiet are basically non-existant :) (Although I'm sure she didn't mind too much...she and Pops had 3 kids, so they know all about it! :) )

The first thing we did was take advantage of our last day at the pool. We brought Nana along to show her how great the girls are in the pool, especially Marissa...who is swimming by herself these days!!



Allie stays right with Mommy, unless she wears her life jacket...then she will venture off on her own. That day she chose no life jacket, so she held Mommy's hand the whole time!

Marissa found a pink tube that she had lots of fun with, while Allie showed us all how her baby could float in the water!



Every bathing beauty needs a little time to relax by the pool....

Now, every single day we went to the pool this summer, Marissa loved jumping off the diving board, but of course, as soon as there was a camera to prove it...she decided she didn't want to. It took a while and a lot of coaxing from Mommy and Nana....

but she finally did it!

This time she got her pink floatie and decided to jump off the board into the tube....

Preparing for her jump....

She made it!!! Off the board straight into the float!!

Marissa also showed Nana how some princesses like to play baseball...

And how all princesses love to play with their princess sister :) (isn't this just the sweetest picture?!:) )

Like any good grandparent, Pops and Nana didn't arrive empty-handed. The girls loved their lunch boxes, coloring books and crayons!!

Allie and her crazy hair and sweet smile:)

They did good, because coloring is one of Marissa's favorite things to do these days!

Hard at work....don't forget those princess shoes. Can't do anything without our princess heels on. :)

Another favorite to do is to go get donuts!!! As you can see, Allie loooooves her donut!

Marissa has upgraded from the sprinkle to the plain chocolate.

They also showed Nana how good they are at driving their barbie jeep...Marissa is still dressed like a priness. Do you notice a theme? Playing princess is a daily occurance at our house. :)  (By the way, Layne, do you recognize that hoodie? Allie found it in the stack of clothes you gave McCoy and put it on and wore it for the next 2 days...I finally had to hide it from her so she would wear something else... :) )

Off they go....

The girls showed Nana one of their favorite things to do on a Monday when the golf course is closed....we like to take a walk and check on Daddy :) That day was even more fun because they got to get their umbrellas and rain boots, which is always exciting!



It was a good thing we got the pool day in when we could, because the weather turned cold and rainy quick!!

Nana got a great picture of the "5" of us before church. :)

And an even better one of our sweet girls!

And of course, one of Allie being silly!

Our last fun thing to do with Nana was take her to Marissa's first soccer practice! Here she is with her favorite granddaughters! :) (Look Layne...same hoodie, different day:) )

Marissa showing off all her new soccer gear!!

And showing off her soccer skills...

Coach Daddy and his player. I love how they are standing exactly alike in this picture :)

I think she likes having Daddy as her coach:)



Go Marissa!!



Well, that was about all we could fit into one week!! We had a wonderful time with Nana and can't wait to see her and Pops again soon!