Overdue friends update

Claire, Liam, and Maddie were way overdue for an updated friends pic!! These kiddos just keep growing and changing!

2 months

5 months

9 months

16 months

They are all such little toddlers now! Can you believe all three of these kiddos are soon-to-be big siblings?! Maddie's little sister is due in June and Liam and Claire's siblings are due just four days apart in August. Those three new babies will have to start their own little friends picture when they are all here!!

Oh, and p.s. if you haven't already commented on my last post with your gender guess, please do!! It's so fun to read what everyone thinks!! :)

Take a guess!

My 20 week ultrasound, when we'll find out the gender of the baby, is scheduled for April 8th... just two weeks away! Leave a comment with your guess -- boy or girl??

Oh, what a day!

I had the perfect day on Monday, celebrating my 28th birthday. I love having a March birthday because it's always getting warmer, with the promise of spring soon to come. It was a beautiful, sunny day!

The day started with a delicious brunch made by my mama! My sister and her kiddos came, too, to help celebrate. Everything was so pretty, girly, and yummy. I loved it!!

After brunch, I dropped Claire off at my friend Bridget's house for her nap and I got to go shopping ALL BY MYSELF!!! It was such a nice treat!

After naps, we met some more friends downtown for some play time at the ped mall.

We even got some yummy birthday gelato!

Then my friend Lindsey stopped by with some pretty birthday flowers. Justin came home with a fun present from "Claire" - a cookie cake! I've always told him I want one sometime for my birthday and he remembered! Look how pretty it is.

He even had them write "Happy Day Day" on it, since that is how Claire says Happy Birthday. It was so sweet and thoughtful and, in pure Annie fashion, it made me cry! :)

And I loved the card he got me from Claire so much that I had to take a picture of it. Sooo cute and funny!

I also got the most amazing gift from Justin - a gift certificate for a manicure and pedicure, spending money to go shopping, and a 'coupon' for a day of watching Claire while I go enjoy my main/pedi and some shopping. How sweet and thoughful is that man?! After all of that excitement, Justin took me out to a special dinner at Vesta. It was delish! What a totally perfect day! Thanks to everyone who made it so special!! :) I felt so loved!

Recent Fun

Just a bunch of random pics I wanted to share!

Claire and her buddy Liam, just hanging out with their matching pacis and sippy cups!

Cousin Georgia's first birthday!! Happy Birthday!

Being silly

Someone learned to drink from a straw a few weeks ago! All ready for church.

This girl LOVES to brush her teeth. She may only have 2.5 teeth, but those are some clean teeth!!

Just being cute with her beloved baby.

Finally!

I finally took my first belly pic of this pregnancy! I've heard that I'm not updating enough on the pregnancy, so I'll do my best to improve that! :) Something about having a very spirited 16-month-old running around somehow seems to consume my time lately!!

Anyway, here's the pic from last week - 16 weeks along!

Saying Goodbye

We had to say a very tearful goodbye last weekend to Jason, Roxanne, Anni, and Evy as they had back to Africa today. Goodbyes are hard. So hard. Especially knowing that we won't see them again for two years. That's a looonng time and so much will change between now and then. When they return, Claire will be almost 4 and Baby Shoe #2 will be almost 2!!! Evy will be running around and talking and Anni will 5! We have been so so spoiled having them around for the past five months. Claire has fallen in love with her cousin Anni and it brings tears to my eyes when I think that she won't even remember that when Anni comes back. Hopefully plenty of Skype calls will keep Anni fresh in Claire's mind.

We love them dearly and will miss them more than we can explain. Tonight they board the plane and will be traveling with their two sweet girls for over 24 hours. If you think of it, pray for safety, easy traveling, and super perfect behavior from their girls!

Big group goodbye

One last Engstrom family pic

This was the last picture we took before they left the first time, in 2008. Look how much our family has changed and grown! God is so good!

Playing Dress up

Can this girl already be getting into the dress-up phase? This morning she brought me her bathing suit (how she found that, I don't know!) and sat down, trying to put it on. She (obviously) couldn't do it herself and was grunting and groaning so I could tell she really wanted it on. I helped her put it on (about as far as we could get it over those jammies)! She went back into her room and came back with a bow she found somewhere and was saying, "Bow, bow.." trying to put it in her hair. She was very happy once the bow was in her hair and the bathing suit was on.

I told her to go look in the mirror and she walked over to the full length mirror, looked at herself, and smiled with approval.

Showing Off

Please excuse my proud mom moment and check out this video of Claire doing all of her latest "tricks." :)

Practicing

Claire has been getting in lots of soon-to-be-big-sister practice. She is very interested in babies and has really been into playing with her baby doll lately. Yesterday I was putting away cloth diapers and she brought one over to her doll and tried putting it on her baby! She also likes to share her paci with her baby doll.

She's been practicing with real live babies, too! :) Here she is checking out cousin Evy.

My friend Lindsey came over with baby Jack the other day and Claire kept touching him, looking at him, and even reached out her hands to hold him. Lindsey was brave enough to let Claire give it a try!

She even snuck in a little kiss on his forehead!

Claire & Sadie Part 2

Remember this post from when Claire was just 4 months old? Well, Claire's love for Sadie definitely hasn't died down over the last year. She just can't get enough of her! Her favorite way to show affection for her feline friend is to tackle Sadie and just lay on top of her. It's so cute! And, don't feel bad for Sadie ~ she just lays there and purrs the whole time!