Oh, how I wish I had time to upload pictures today, but alas, we are loading up the U-haul in less than 4 short hours and we still have lots of work to do. However, in spite of the busy days, we have news that we just can't wait to share...
IT'S A GIRL!!!!!
That's right, Claire is going to have a little sister, and we couldn't be more thrilled with the healthy little girl growing inside of me. Praise God that He knows just what we need, and we are so blessed and privileged to be the parents of 2 sweet daughters. We pray that we can raise them up in the fear and the love of the Lord, and train them to be godly women who love HIM with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. We pray that the Holy Spirit will begin drawing them from an early age (even from the womb!) to see their great need of a loving and holy Savior.
We are so excited to welcome Baby Girl Shugart #2 into our family!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
22 Months and 15 Weeks
Well, I'm not doing a very good job at keeping up with the blogs, am I??? Maybe after we move and get settled I'll get back into a good routine again! For now, my days are filled with packing up boxes, repacking the ones that Claire unpacks, and taking things out of boxes when Claire tries to "help." Just a couple of weeks left here in the place we've come to call "home." We surely will miss this place and these wonderful people, but we are excited about the opportunities that God will give us to grow and to serve when we move.
Anyway, here are some things I would love to remember about Claire at 22 months old...
My favorite new development is her new-found love of singing. She will often sing with me when I am singing, and if I exaggerate the last word of each line she will quickly catch on and sing that particular word with me. She also loves to make up songs, sometimes consisting of nonsense sounds and sometimes made up of words strung together. I could listen to her sing all day long!
We think we figured out her "squint" face. She will often look at us with squinty eyes to make us laugh, and we recently discovered (we think) the reason for this: My eyes disappear when I smile. They always have. I have been told that I smile with my whole face, and my eyes just go all squinty when I'm really happy...Well, if you tell Claire to "smile like Mommy," she'll make her squinty face!!!
Claire's favorite new discovery is Play-doh. Oh, she loves it. And everything she makes is a "snake."
While she loves the kind of bubbles that you blow outside on a summer day, she is terrified of bubbles in the bathtub. I've never seen anything like it. It's slightly hilarious.
Claire loves to read. At about 7:00 each night, she will walk on over to her bookshelf, grab a book, and request to read on the couch. We will read together for at least 30 minutes, sometimes even an hour! I never thought she would get to the point where she would sit still through one book, let alone an hour's worth! But she loves it. And she is also starting to "read" by herself at times. The other day I heard her chattering and peeked in her room. She was sitting in the rocking chair "reading" her Bible. This is what I heard..."blah-blah-blah...Jesus...blah-blah...water...blah-blah...night-night (I could see the picture and it was the story where Jesus was asleep in the boat during the storm!)...blah-blah-blah...tee-tee...poo-poo..." Oh, well, the story was going really well until the end.
Claire continues to adore Ivy. Here she is with Ivy and Ivy's new baby sister...
She is starting to use more and more phrases and short sentences. My favorite is when she wants something really badly but she can't quite remember how to say it, she will default to, "I want me!"
The other night I took Claire to the park to run off some energy before bedtime. She literally ran off some energy. There is a walking track that is 4/10 of a mile long at the rec park, and she seriously ran around the entire track, only stopping once to go down the slide about halfway around the track. At this rate she'll be running a 5k by the time she's four.
New concepts she is learning or at least gaining more understanding: colors (she can identify pink, purple, blue, green, red, and yellow); letters (she can point out pretty much all the letters of the alphabet and also knows what sound most of them make); and numbers...Up until today I thought she didn't really get numbers at all yet because she counts like this: "2...2...2...1...2...1...2...2..." And then today while we were riding in the car I started counting and then stopping suddenly and Claire called out the next number in the sequence...and she did this all the way from 1 to 10!!! So that was pretty exciting. I had no idea she had that good of an understanding of number sequence!
She loves her baby brother or sister. She thinks the baby is in my belly button and sometimes I'll even catch her pulling her shirt up and looking intently at her own belly button, as if a baby might be in there. Sometimes she'll come up and say, "Hey baby!" and tonight she started laughing and then tickling me, saying "Tickle baby!!!"
Speaking of baby, he/she is now 15 weeks! We got to see our little love about a week ago on an ultrasound, and in two weeks we go back to try to determine if the little peanut is a he or a she! Baby was resting comfortably at first, but once the ultrasound started to poke and prod, he/she woke up and put on a show! Kicking, doing flips, sucking thumb...What a little ham! I have actually been able to feel this baby move for about 3 weeks already. I was amazed when I actually felt the first flutters at 12 weeks. What an amazing feeling!
Alright, no promises, but I'll do my best to keep the updates coming!
Anyway, here are some things I would love to remember about Claire at 22 months old...
My favorite new development is her new-found love of singing. She will often sing with me when I am singing, and if I exaggerate the last word of each line she will quickly catch on and sing that particular word with me. She also loves to make up songs, sometimes consisting of nonsense sounds and sometimes made up of words strung together. I could listen to her sing all day long!
We think we figured out her "squint" face. She will often look at us with squinty eyes to make us laugh, and we recently discovered (we think) the reason for this: My eyes disappear when I smile. They always have. I have been told that I smile with my whole face, and my eyes just go all squinty when I'm really happy...Well, if you tell Claire to "smile like Mommy," she'll make her squinty face!!!
Claire's favorite new discovery is Play-doh. Oh, she loves it. And everything she makes is a "snake."
While she loves the kind of bubbles that you blow outside on a summer day, she is terrified of bubbles in the bathtub. I've never seen anything like it. It's slightly hilarious.
Claire loves to read. At about 7:00 each night, she will walk on over to her bookshelf, grab a book, and request to read on the couch. We will read together for at least 30 minutes, sometimes even an hour! I never thought she would get to the point where she would sit still through one book, let alone an hour's worth! But she loves it. And she is also starting to "read" by herself at times. The other day I heard her chattering and peeked in her room. She was sitting in the rocking chair "reading" her Bible. This is what I heard..."blah-blah-blah...Jesus...blah-blah...water...blah-blah...night-night (I could see the picture and it was the story where Jesus was asleep in the boat during the storm!)...blah-blah-blah...tee-tee...poo-poo..." Oh, well, the story was going really well until the end.
Claire continues to adore Ivy. Here she is with Ivy and Ivy's new baby sister...
She is starting to use more and more phrases and short sentences. My favorite is when she wants something really badly but she can't quite remember how to say it, she will default to, "I want me!"
The other night I took Claire to the park to run off some energy before bedtime. She literally ran off some energy. There is a walking track that is 4/10 of a mile long at the rec park, and she seriously ran around the entire track, only stopping once to go down the slide about halfway around the track. At this rate she'll be running a 5k by the time she's four.
New concepts she is learning or at least gaining more understanding: colors (she can identify pink, purple, blue, green, red, and yellow); letters (she can point out pretty much all the letters of the alphabet and also knows what sound most of them make); and numbers...Up until today I thought she didn't really get numbers at all yet because she counts like this: "2...2...2...1...2...1...2...2..." And then today while we were riding in the car I started counting and then stopping suddenly and Claire called out the next number in the sequence...and she did this all the way from 1 to 10!!! So that was pretty exciting. I had no idea she had that good of an understanding of number sequence!
She loves her baby brother or sister. She thinks the baby is in my belly button and sometimes I'll even catch her pulling her shirt up and looking intently at her own belly button, as if a baby might be in there. Sometimes she'll come up and say, "Hey baby!" and tonight she started laughing and then tickling me, saying "Tickle baby!!!"
Speaking of baby, he/she is now 15 weeks! We got to see our little love about a week ago on an ultrasound, and in two weeks we go back to try to determine if the little peanut is a he or a she! Baby was resting comfortably at first, but once the ultrasound started to poke and prod, he/she woke up and put on a show! Kicking, doing flips, sucking thumb...What a little ham! I have actually been able to feel this baby move for about 3 weeks already. I was amazed when I actually felt the first flutters at 12 weeks. What an amazing feeling!
Alright, no promises, but I'll do my best to keep the updates coming!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Charleston
We were so blessed to be able to get a week of true vacation before all the changes that are coming up in our very near future start to take place! Mrs. Kay (aka "Dobby") invited us to join her for a week in Charleston, SC, and we had a blast!
Claire was a bit apprehensive of the water, but she sure did love the sand!
And of course, she adored spending so much time with Dobby!
We nicknamed Spencer "The Professor." This is what he did, well, pretty much the whole time...
Claire in her sun-hat, chilling in the boat...
The professor did manage to pull himself away from the books a few times!
Taking a snack break...
We were also excited to get to see Spencer's brother some while we were there. Travis lives in Charleston, and one night he took us all out to see the minor league baseball team play...
Here is Claire, cheering for the Riverdogs...
The ocean is one of my favorite parts of creation. I always think about how Scripture tells us that the voice of God is like the sound of many waters. I seem to remember better when I am at the beach, just how vast and beautiful and powerful and breathtaking God really is.
Thank you, Dobby, for a wonderful trip!
Claire was a bit apprehensive of the water, but she sure did love the sand!
And of course, she adored spending so much time with Dobby!
We nicknamed Spencer "The Professor." This is what he did, well, pretty much the whole time...
Claire in her sun-hat, chilling in the boat...
The professor did manage to pull himself away from the books a few times!
Taking a snack break...
We were also excited to get to see Spencer's brother some while we were there. Travis lives in Charleston, and one night he took us all out to see the minor league baseball team play...
Here is Claire, cheering for the Riverdogs...
The ocean is one of my favorite parts of creation. I always think about how Scripture tells us that the voice of God is like the sound of many waters. I seem to remember better when I am at the beach, just how vast and beautiful and powerful and breathtaking God really is.
Thank you, Dobby, for a wonderful trip!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Not much has happened here lately...
No, not much at all. Let's see, just a few things like...Finding out I am pregnant...Spending my first trimester as a "single mom" as Spencer completed his last 6 week clinical in SC...Spencer having shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum...Spencer GRADUATING from PT school...
Nah, not much at all.
It has been hard to keep up with blogging lately. We have had so much going on here, I feel like I haven't even sat down much at all in the last 2 months. And it's been doubly hard with Spencer being gone and then having surgery as soon as he got home, and quadruply hard with the ridiculous "morning" sickness I've had with this little peanut. I was not even the least bit queasy with Claire, but this time I have been sick all day every day! I think it's waning, though; I've been feeling gradually better over the last week and I am starting to be able to eat more like a pregnant lady :)
Here's a bit of old news...Claire took swim lessons this summer, and though it was exhausting to go every evening for 2 weeks, the consistent exposure to the water was well-worth it. Claire now loves to blow bubbles and "swim" in the bathtub every night!
Of course, the major news in our house is that the Coach is done with PT school! Here is Claire on graduation day, so excited that her Daddy gets to be home more now!
And waiting for graduation to start, what else would she do but eat a snack???
I had to put this picture in, so you can see this face. We have a little comedian on our hands. She LOVES to make us laugh, and any time she wants to do so she just has to look at us like this. I don't know where the squinty eyes came from, but she just thinks it's hilarious, and well, we do too. Last night we spent a good 10 minutes at supper laughing because Claire would look down at her food and then slowly lift her head and look at one of us just like this.
I can't even tell you how excited Claire was that Jeni and Ben came to visit. They were awesome. When it was time to fill the auditorium and take our seats, Jen and Ben walked Claire around outside until graduation started so that she wouldn't have to sit any longer than necessary. Claire has talked about "GG and Beh" ever since.
The graduation itself was really well-done. The class has become super close after spending their last 2 years basically living in the Moore Building at WCU, and it was a really sweet time for them to celebrate together. The class voted on 2 awards to give to classmates, and we got a pleasant surprise when Spencer won the Leadership Award. Actually, it wasn't that surprising at all, but it was so encouraging to hear the comments made by classmates about Spencer and know that the Lord has used him to make a difference in his friends' lives.
And here he is, hooded and all graduated and stuff.
The "Spencer Shugart Fan Club."
Claire did awesome during the ceremony, though she didn't quite make it to the end...
Proud wife with her crippled, graduate husband.
Eating. Again.
Some of Spencer's family stayed on through the weekend to visit. Claire certainly enjoyed the company. Yes, I do know how she is dressed in this picture. Don't judge.
We drove up the parkway to Waterock Knob, one of our favorite places to hang out, hike, and just enjoy the view. Ooohhhh my. Is it possible that we are about to move from this place?
I will try to be better now about keeping updates current! Especially with #2 on the way, and life about to get crazier and crazier, I want to be intentional about recording our life together so we don't forget these moments!
Nah, not much at all.
It has been hard to keep up with blogging lately. We have had so much going on here, I feel like I haven't even sat down much at all in the last 2 months. And it's been doubly hard with Spencer being gone and then having surgery as soon as he got home, and quadruply hard with the ridiculous "morning" sickness I've had with this little peanut. I was not even the least bit queasy with Claire, but this time I have been sick all day every day! I think it's waning, though; I've been feeling gradually better over the last week and I am starting to be able to eat more like a pregnant lady :)
Here's a bit of old news...Claire took swim lessons this summer, and though it was exhausting to go every evening for 2 weeks, the consistent exposure to the water was well-worth it. Claire now loves to blow bubbles and "swim" in the bathtub every night!
Of course, the major news in our house is that the Coach is done with PT school! Here is Claire on graduation day, so excited that her Daddy gets to be home more now!
And waiting for graduation to start, what else would she do but eat a snack???
I had to put this picture in, so you can see this face. We have a little comedian on our hands. She LOVES to make us laugh, and any time she wants to do so she just has to look at us like this. I don't know where the squinty eyes came from, but she just thinks it's hilarious, and well, we do too. Last night we spent a good 10 minutes at supper laughing because Claire would look down at her food and then slowly lift her head and look at one of us just like this.
I can't even tell you how excited Claire was that Jeni and Ben came to visit. They were awesome. When it was time to fill the auditorium and take our seats, Jen and Ben walked Claire around outside until graduation started so that she wouldn't have to sit any longer than necessary. Claire has talked about "GG and Beh" ever since.
The graduation itself was really well-done. The class has become super close after spending their last 2 years basically living in the Moore Building at WCU, and it was a really sweet time for them to celebrate together. The class voted on 2 awards to give to classmates, and we got a pleasant surprise when Spencer won the Leadership Award. Actually, it wasn't that surprising at all, but it was so encouraging to hear the comments made by classmates about Spencer and know that the Lord has used him to make a difference in his friends' lives.
And here he is, hooded and all graduated and stuff.
The "Spencer Shugart Fan Club."
Claire did awesome during the ceremony, though she didn't quite make it to the end...
Proud wife with her crippled, graduate husband.
Eating. Again.
Some of Spencer's family stayed on through the weekend to visit. Claire certainly enjoyed the company. Yes, I do know how she is dressed in this picture. Don't judge.
We drove up the parkway to Waterock Knob, one of our favorite places to hang out, hike, and just enjoy the view. Ooohhhh my. Is it possible that we are about to move from this place?
I will try to be better now about keeping updates current! Especially with #2 on the way, and life about to get crazier and crazier, I want to be intentional about recording our life together so we don't forget these moments!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
If you don't want to watch a toddler dance...
...then don't watch these videos.
This is Claire's favorite song: "Roll Away Your Stone" by Mumford and Sons. Watch how excited she gets when the drums kick in on the bridge...
And here is what happened when we switched up the tempo and put on a slow song. The girl's got rhythm.
Finally, some "Night-night" shout-outs...
This is Claire's favorite song: "Roll Away Your Stone" by Mumford and Sons. Watch how excited she gets when the drums kick in on the bridge...
And here is what happened when we switched up the tempo and put on a slow song. The girl's got rhythm.
Finally, some "Night-night" shout-outs...
Friday, July 15, 2011
Our Second Little Peanut...
"Children are a blessing from the Lord; they are a gift from Him...blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them!" Psalm 127:3, 5
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