Such a Joy

I Just have to say that this little girl is such a joy...

I mean, we are just eating her up right now! She's so verbal, it's crazy! Today she was repeating "flower," "moon," and she already says, "bye bye," "mama," "daddy," "mml" (milk), "moo," "boon" (balloon), "night-night," "eieio." She wants to turn all the lights off in the house to conserve energy (well, not really- she just likes flipping the switch), she gets SO excited to eat fruit, it's just hilarious.

Also, Claire does stuff like this, and you can't help but laugh. Her "gigglebox" is contagious! Daddy sure knows how to make her laugh!

McBaby Girl #2... Update!

Well, we have reached the 30 week mark with our second baby girl. This has been the fastest pregnancy ever! (Well, for me it has been... not so sure Mark agrees.) The baby weighs about 3 lbs. ish right now. The doctor informed me that I indeed have gestational diabetes again. Boo. Although, I do agree that I should be eating more like this anyway. Well, I will be cutting back on sugary and carb-ish foods and taking my blood sugar 4 times a day. After having a kidney infection (brutal), I'll take this, any day! Here are a couple of recent belly pics of our sweet, 2nd baby girl. As for names, we have 2 that we are playing with. We set a date of December 1 to have her named, but we won't disclose the name to anyone but Claire until she arrives!

I can't believe we only have 10 weeks left. I'm sure it will fly by with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's in there. Yikes! The pictures below were taken around Halloween. McBaby Girl #2 was about the size of a head of cauliflower. She's much bigger now, or at least it seems that way. Ha!

Anyhow, we've been enjoying the little kicks from this sweet girl, and although Claire is only interested in my belly button and not the baby in my belly, I'm sure she is gearing up in her own way to be a big sister!

Our Sweet Girl is One!

One year ago, today, the Lord blessed our lives with this sweet little girl...

And what a blessing she is! Life has been so exciting this year, and Mark and I have learned so much about ourselves and have grown closer as a family. It's been wonderful!

Claire's First Birthday "Button" Pajama Party:

We had a family/friend pajama party on Saturday morning for Claire. It was a "button" themed party because we have always called Claire our little "button." We feel so blessed that our family and friends (mostly) are local and could share this special day with us. Everyone has been so supportive and helpful through all of our many ups and a few downs this year, and we felt honored to have so many of our family and friends share in Claire's big day. It was amazing!

I was determined to make Claire's cake... I think it turned out pretty cute. She LOVED It!

I also made "button" cupcakes with the help of Kimberly. Yummy!

I made Claire a "button" bow to match her big girl pjs. I also found these fuzzy slippers for her. She was very snuggly...

Claire loved spending time with all of her guests, including her boyfriend, Kaden. :)

The "after" of the cake...

Nana brought balloons, and they were a hit! Claire lit up every time she saw them!

Claire loved all of her presents!

Love this smile...

These pics were hanging from our windows.

We draped pictures across our fireplace of Claire from the day she was born until now.

Is it naptime, yet?

Rise and Shine Birthday Girl!

I decided it would be a fun tradition to be like "Santa" on Claire's Birthday... have something in her room in the middle of the night so when she woke up on her Birthday, she would be excited to start her day. Claire LOVES balloons, so I tied a balloon to her crib (1 balloon because she's 1!) I may do balloons and add one for every year, or maybe something different, who knows. I have another year to decide! :)

Before church, we took C to breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast places near our house. We've never ordered from the kids menu, and C hasn't had chocolate, so we thought it would be a lot of fun. Boy were right! It was so fun...

Once we got to church, her sugar high wore off. Right before the sermon started, C fell asleep in Daddy's lap. It was precious. A very sweet moment on this special day, I must say...

Church Friends Party

After church and lunch we had our friends from church over for dessert to celebrate C's special day. Our church has been a HUGE part of our lives this year. The day to to day, prayers, watching C for us, sending meals when we've been sick; they have been wonderful.

Mark and I with our 1 year old girl!

Cake! Round 2...

Have you seen anything cuter?

She was still smiling after all that fun!

And that's a wrap! It was a wonderful day. One that we will never forget! We look forward to so many more moments of laughter, tears, and memories with our sweet girl(s). It's hard to believe that she is one, and she is now considered a "toddler." It's going to be a fun ride...

Happy Birthday Button. We love you so much! Love, Mommy and Daddy

Family Photos and Gearing Up for C's Birthday

We are gearing up for Claire's First Birthday... sob. It's just so bittersweet. We are so excited that we have survived and enjoyed a year with our sweet girl, but at the same time, it has gone by so quickly. Time seems to zoom by when you have children... I mean lightning speed.

Last weekend, we were blessed to have family pictures, Claire's one year pictures, and maternity pictures taken by a great photographer, Averi Blackmon. This session was actually a gift from Keith, Kim, Josh, and Stephanie when Claire was born. It was initially supposed to be a newborn session, but Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed to be so close to when she was born, and we felt like it would be more fun to capture her interactive moments anyways. So, we rescheduled for June. Well, then I found out I was pregnant, and we just decided that we could do "3 sessions- in - one."

Well, she did a great job, and we had a great time capturing this time in our lives. Knowing that this was our last few months with only one child, to be expecting, and to have our sweet girl turn one... it was very special. Here's the link if you want to see the rest. http://blog.averiblackmon.com/the-growing-mcspadden-family/

We are so blessed!

Our Little Pumpkin... Our Little Lady Bug... Our Little Aggie!

Wow! October was a busy month... obviously. :)

Our Little Pumpkin...

We had a great time introducing Claire to pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. She had so much fun!

Our Little Ladybug...

We were excited to have "pre" trick-or-treating in College Station and Claire got to go to 3 houses when we got home. She was the cutest ladybug I've ever seen!

Our Little Aggie...

Last weekend, we headed to College Station to cheer on the Ags (well, not really) and see Keith, Kim and Brooke who were visiting from Pittsburgh. We were also excited to stay with our good friends, Matt and Bree and their new baby, Jonathan. We got to introduce Claire to bubbles, tailgating, Blue Baker, and all things maroon. She loved it!

What a fun month it was! Blessed, blessed, blessed!