Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Easter 2014

He is Risen!

If I'm being perfectly honest, Easter is not at the top of my list for favorite holidays. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful to celebrate! I'm usually just so busy that I hardly get to enjoy it. If I didn't enjoy all the things I do, I would not agree to participate. However, this usually means I'm at church 5 different nights during Holy Week, around for every service, and ready to pass out by lunch time on Easter Sunday because I've been up since 5 am.

With Phil's injury, I had to be extra vigilant about getting everyone ready to go and where we were going on time! By the grace of God, we were able to make it to everything in a timely manner :)
{Jillian with the family Easter basket the bunny left for us! She was very excited :)}

{David chilling on the couch before we all got dressed}

I thought I'd be able to get some cute pictures of the kids dressed up before church. My toddler had other ideas...
{Outtakes of David in his Easter outfit}

{He's so adorable in that hat!}

Jillian was unfortunately in a cranky mood most of the morning. This is the best picture I got of her before we left for church.
{Are we done yet mom?}

Then I tried to get them together. This is how well it went.
{Yep}

I did get one decent one of them looking at their daddy!
{That's better...}

Then we did a group shot before we left for church.
{The Coghills on Easter 2014}

Jillian got to do the egg hunt at the church playground! She would say the color of the egg before she picked it up. Then she decided she needed some of the rocks in the playground too. When we got home, there were ants in the bucket :-/ We washed it out, and she still had plenty of candy :)
{Egg Hunt Action Shots}

Like my family growing up, we got home and just crashed. We were at church nearly every day that week, so we were happy to hang out at home in our pjs the rest of the day. We called in for pizza, which is super fancy you know ;)
{nom nom nom}

We had a good day, and we were so happy to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus!

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

David Tries Rice Cereal

Since I am a glutton for punishment, I decided that during Holy Week, and adjusting to Phil's injured leg, we should start giving David rice cereal! Well, it needed to happen anyways because the poor boy was eating an average of 36 ounces a day after we got home from Minnesota. You can see the post about Jillian trying rice cereal here.

Tuesday, April 15th, I got David ready for his first taste of rice cereal! Cuteness ensued...
{All set up and ready to go!}

{Here comes the wind up...}

{and the pitch...}

{GAG!}

{His face told us it was disgusting, but he kept most of it in his mouth}

{Jillian stuck her hand in the bowl of cereal, so daddy had to wipe off her hand}

Jillian asked if she could feed the baby. We reluctantly told her yes.
{Big sister feeding the baby}
{She did well, but she did gag him towards the end. The eating stopped shortly thereafter ;)}

{This is probably my favorite picture ever. It's a little blurry, but it's just hilarious!}

David probably ate about 1/4 of an ounce, but that's pretty good for the first time.
{Overall? A successful first taste of solid food! Next up, Oatmeal :)}

Monday, April 28, 2014

Phil's Injury

The exciting thing that happened the day of David's baptism? Phil injured himself.

Well, let's start from the beginning.

Two years ago, when Jillian was about the age David is now, Phil bent down to get her out of the swing we have. When he did that, he heard a big "pop" in his right knee. It hurt pretty good, but he was able to work it out. From then on, his knee would give him trouble from time to time. Times like when he ran a 5K last year, kneeling to bathe Jillian, etc.

On Sunday, after we got a little rain from the storms, I had an idea. We have this bush in the front yard that looks dead, and I thought we could get it out. The next morning was trash day, and the ground would be soft because of the rain we just had. I thought it was perfect timing!

Well, this "dead" bush is not dead at all. It looks like it, but the root system is pretty strong. So strong, in fact, that it broke our shovel. {That's right.} So Phil had the idea that he would get a board from our garage, and pivot it on a rock to get this plant out of the ground. He got on ok, but then he stepped back onto his right leg. That's when it happened.

He yelled in pain, hopped over to the grass where I was, and laid down. He told me he couldn't straighten his leg at all. We ended up going to the emergency room to make sure he didn't break anything. The good news was that he didn't have any broken bones. The bad news? We would have to take him to an orthopedic doctor.
{At home after the ER trip}

Fortunately, there is an orthopedic doctor at our church who squeezed us in on Tuesday. The only issue we had to confront early on was the fact that Phil couldn't drive because it was his right leg. He wore a brace all week, and even bought crutches on Amazon to help him get around.
{He still did things like read to the kids. This just warms my heart :)}

After an exam, and an MRI, we found out Thursday morning that he would have to have surgery to remove a piece of his meniscus that was stuck in his joint. {This is why he couldn't straighten his leg}

We somehow made it through Holy Week with one car, and an injured leg. I still don't know how we got everywhere, and on time. It was truly God's grace. Fortunately for us, the doctor could fit him in on Monday morning for the surgery. It was nice to know Phil would get relief soon!
{Phil's main mode of transportation}

He got pretty good at maneuvering around with his crutches. He was even able to play with Jillian in the playground at church!
{Cuties}

Sunday night, Phil's dad drove down to sleep on our couch. Then at 4:30 am Monday, the three of us got up and headed to Phil's surgery. We had some lovely people at church volunteer to sit at our house while the kids slept so I could be there. 
After about 40 minutes, Phil's surgery was over! They worked on the best case scenario, and he should back to his old self in the next 2 weeks or so. He was a little cranky when he woke up, but that's ok ;)
{Resting at home after surgery}

I'm so thankful we were able to get him fixed up as quickly as we did. I'm also so thankful to have the support system that we do. I honestly would not have made it through Holy Week if I didn't.

If anything, having one of the hardest weeks of my life coinciding with Holy Week and Easter Sunday was such an eye opener to me. It showed me not only do I need a little more work to have a servant's heart, but it showed me just how amazing grace truly is. Giving it, receiving it; all of that is a blessing. Without the sacrifice of Jesus, I would not be granted grace so freely. I don't deserve it, but it is given to me as a gift. How beautiful love is when you see it through the eyes of God. I may have not been the perfect wife and mother that week, but I definitely see love, and Easter, in a whole different light. Thanks be to God!

Phil has some physical therapy to go to, but overall he is healing well. The doctor did explain that this is a chronic thing and we would have had to do surgery at some point soon. At least it's over and done with!

Saturday, April 26, 2014

David's Baptism

April 13th, Palm Sunday, we baptized David and welcomed him as a child of God :) We go to a church that baptizes children as young as the parents want. You can see a recap involving Jillian's baptism here. Also, if you're ever curious why we believe that, feel free to send me an email :)

The morning of, we took a few pictures of David with my parents before we went to church.
{Handsome men in their stylin' hats ;)}

{David and his Jemma}

We don't take pictures during the actual event because it is a part of worship. But trust me, it was adorable! David smiled really big when Pastor sprinkled the water on his head. <3
{From left to right: Phil's dad and mom, Intern Ron, Courtney, Jillian, Pastor Falk, David, Phil, and Courtney's mom and dad}

{From left to right: David's sponsor Mr. Tony, Courtney, Jillian, Pastor Falk, David, and Phil}

We ate a quick lunch at Freddy's, but then the grandparents had to head home. My parents had to hurry back to Minnesota and it was a bad weather day. Luckily, both sets of parents missed the nasty stuff, and all made it home safe and sound.

Unfortunately, something else exciting happened at our house. That'll be my next post...

Friday, April 25, 2014

Jillian's First Haircut

On April 10th, Jillian got her first haircut! We went to the salon my mom goes to near their house. I've not only met the stylist before, but she has a daughter about 2 weeks younger than Jillian! I knew she'd be a good person to see for this special occasion. Since Jillian has never met a stranger, she went right up to Miss Sam, and did excellent! And of course, she got a sucker which made everything better :)

We decided to just trim her hair in the back, and then give her bangs. Sometimes Jillian pulls her hair ties out, so hopefully this cut will help her stop this habit.

I got a short little video of her, but its mostly me talking while she sits eating her sucker. I figured I wouldn't subject y'all to that!
{Sitting in the chair like a big girl}

{It's not so scary when you have a nice lady, and a sucker!}

{The happy girl telling Miss Sam "Thank You!"}

{The finished product!}
{And my silly mom ;)}

Jillian did so good, and Sam was just so sweet and accommodating. I hope her next hair cut goes as smoothly!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Meeting A Blog Friend

In this post, I listed my to-dos for the year. One of those items involved meeting a fellow blogger. If I'm being honest, I had a particular person in mind :) {I hope that doesn't sound as creepy as I fear!} With my parents living in Minnesota, I had a feeling I could get in touch with Lesa at Growing and Sewing Lesa pretty easily. Lucky for me, she was willing to take a chance on me, and agreed to meet up! We met at a local park, and had a good time!

She has a precious boy named Parker, and he is about 12 days older than Jillian. He is sweet, and as cute as can be!
{Jillian and David at the park}
{We got there a little early, so Jillian ran around a bit while David and I watched}

Once they got to the park, the kids had a good time playing! It was also great to talk to Lesa. We were able to have a good conversation amidst chasing down our wandering toddlers ;)
{It was cute watching them play}

{Who knew stairs would be the best part of the playground equipment?!}

{Jillian thought Parker was fun, and talked about him for the days following}

{The three kids together!}
{This was the best way to get a picture of the active toddlers ;)}

{And the lovely Lesa and I!}

It was so fun to meet her, and she is truly just as nice and sweet as she seems on her blog! I sure hope we get to meet up again soon. And now she knows I'm not some crazy stalker ;)

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Minnesota Trip

Once we were in Minnesota, we had quite a bit we wanted to do! Though our first full day started as most days do - with breakfast!
{Jemma and Jillian eating some oatmeal}

My dad and Phil were going to the home opener for the Minnesota Twins in the afternoon, so my mom and I took Jillian to the mall. We bought some Easter/Baptism outfits, and rode the carousel :)
{Jillian checking out David's new hat}

Tuesday morning, we woke up early so Phil could fly home. It was hard to see him go, but I was glad we got to spend a little time with him before he had to go back to work! After that, we had a relatively quiet day. 
{Jemma and David having some quality time}

We stopped by my dad's new office, then had lunch at Chili's. We decided to just hang out around the house the rest of the day.
{David was very tired that night}

{Jillian all washed up and ready for bed!}

The next day, we spent a little time with Jemma before she headed to work. We actually got to meet a dear friend of mine, but that'll be a post all by itself :) Otherwise, this was evidence that a toddler had taken over my parents' house.
{We can't take credit for the rubber chicken. That was already around ;)}
{I thought I'd explain what you're looking at via colored arrows. Blue: empty DVD case Red: diaper wipes Yellow: Toy that makes noise Black: various pieces to a magnetic Hello Kitty set Green: Cinnamon Teddy Grahams Purple: a book about kittens that was mine as a child Orange: Infant to Toddler rocking chair with a blanket}

Thursday, Jillian got her first haircut! I'll post about that later as well. Then, we went with my mom to her office in Wisconsin. We ended up eating at the new Culver's in town. We love eating at Culver's, and we can always tell when we cross the Mason-Dixon Line when we see Culver's ;) {I kid I kid}
{Had to :)}

{Jillian and Jemma enjoying their lunch}

{Jillian eating her ice cream, and mama enjoying the flavor of the day: Chocolate Eclair!}

After my dad got off work, we went to the mall so the kids could get a picture with the Easter Bunny! Jillian LOVED it, and hardly waited her turn ;) Once we took the picture, we let Jillian ride on the carousel again with Gee-Chaz, then we got some coffee at Caribou.
{Jillian's blue horse stamp for riding the carousel. She talked about it all the time!}

Friday, we got all packed up, and started heading back to Oklahoma. We had to stop several times, and the trip down was a little noisier/stressful than the trip up. Luckily, my parents are pretty understanding, so we survived. We ended up stopping at a little Amish store. Jillian was able to run around a bit, and we had a good time. We even saw a man driving his horse and buggy, and he waved to Jillian!
{Gee-Chaz and Jillian checking out the "cows"}

{Mama and David enjoying the sunshine}

We spent the night at my relatives' house on the Kansas side of Kansas City. It was good to see them, and their new home was very lovely! The next morning, we ate a delicious breakfast, then headed home! 
{Gee-Chaz and David taking a morning snooze before breakfast}

Overall, we had a wonderful trip! Even though it's quite the drive, it is always worth it. 

But I Know What It Feels Like

This post is going to be awfully vulnerable and hard for me, but I really want to finally say it out loud. I got permission for my daughter ...