Claire is 3!

Today Claire turned 3! For her special day Cole took her out to breakfast, then we had photo shoot, then we had a birthday lunch, then we said "bye-bye" to her pacifiers! She has loved them since she was a little baby and I've only been letting her have them to sleep, but we figured the time had come for her to give them up completely :). It was a sad day for Claire-bear. But she was cheerful about it. We tied them to balloons and released them into the sky... only to have them fly straight into the trees. Oops. (They blew out later, so who knows where they are now.) She also had a princess party on Sunday, but I'll share pics of that later. It was a lot of chaotic fun! 

We love our little Claire. She is sweet and sunny and such a joy to be around in this stage of life. She is soaking everything up like a sponge and is so very eager to please us. In fact, when she saw her birthday decorations on Sunday, she said "Oh mommy! Thank you, thank you! I'm so proud of you for putting up my decorations!" What a girl! We love you, Claire Ann Nickell :)

What's going on?

Well let's see here...

- We are homeless. Yay, we sold our house!!!

- We are jobless. Cole has finished up at NCPC and has a couple of weeks before he starts at The Vine.

- Cole and I have been married 5 years! (1/5/13 was our anniversary)

- We spent last weekend looking at 3 bazillion houses... not really, but it felt like it. We may have found THE ONE though!

- At least one person in our house has been sick for the last 3 weeks.

- Cole started packing today and got rid of lots of junk!

- Our kids are growing up wayyyyy too fast!

Chat more later! Claire has a "Princess Party" for her 3rd birthday on Sunday, so you can bet you'll be inundated with cute pics of little girls :)

Happenings...

Here are some happenings from the past week or two...

We had a youth group Christmas party at our house and Cole made everyone squish together for a picture so that he could "look back and remember all y'alls smiling faces" ;) 

Jooj came home from college and we had fun goofing off, working out, shopping, getting her ears double-pierced, etc. She left yesterday and I miss her already! 

 We had Christmas in Asheville and of course we had to take a cousin picture of Caroline & Claire showing off the dresses mom made! 

 Christmas day was as blurry as this picture! Seriously. Craziness with five kids running around! Claire, Caroline and Bruton all got dress-ups and loved running around together! 

Claire's gift to me was puking all over my lap and mom & dad's office floor Christmas night. Then she got a cold and cough to go along with it. Yay. Not!  

 Clay-man was pretty bewildered by a the fuss and threw me for quite a loop by deciding that he wasn't going to nap anymore. I'm still trying to convince him that I'm the mom and I'll decide when he's old enough to quit naps (I'm don't think he's listening though... he's hollering at me from his crib as I type). 

My little brother James decided to gross us out with his molestache ;-) 

 The kids all used uncle Sammy as their playground on the one day it was nice enough to go outside. 

We came back to Aiken for second Christmas and finally got a family picture! 

 Claire got a cookie-making set from Dee & Pops and proceeded to serve all of us :) 

Then New Years came and I ushered it in with a bladder infection. Gross, I know :) Was that too much information? I guess I just want you all to share in my pain. It is horrible! I finally got some drugs today and feel much better. 

Also, we're house hunting and that is so much fun! Best shopping I've ever experienced! We're going to Atlanta (actually it's Cumming GA where we'll be living and working, but I say Atlanta cause it's easier) next week to look at places, both to rent and to buy. Woo hoo!

That's it! 

7 months

Once Clay turns one, I'll probably stop posting monthly updates. But I found the ones I did of Claire's first year so helpful, that I figured I'd keep going with his for awhile, if only to look back on them for reference someday.

Clay at 7 months old:

Height: who knows...

Weight: who knows...

Sleeps: not so great. I don't know if it's a growth spurt or his new found love of moving, but he hates naps these days. He is still a great night sleeper though, going from about 8 am to 8 pm.

Eats: still loves the bottle and is eating a larger variety of baby food.

Movement: this is the big thing I want to remember - he's already standing up! About two weeks ago he pulled up on the stairs, which was great but not that hard to do. Then a few days later he pulled up on the couch and then the coffee table and then me! Now it's all he wants to do :) His balance is getting better and better and he only needs one hand to stabilize himself. Last night Cole was watching him and he crawled all the way up the stairs. Needless to say, I think he'll be walking very soon!

Personality: Loves people and attention. He does not like to be left alone. When I put him in the jumperoo or the swing, he complains and complains! He wants to be out and exploring :) All in all, he's a happy baby. (He's just become a handful with all his movement!)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is upon us and I'm going to be so busy in the next few days that I thought I'd just go ahead and wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

This is the first year that I've tried explaining Christmas to Claire and she kinda gets it. When I mention Jesus though, she always start talking about Matthew because she knows that Jesus, heaven, and Matthew are all linked somehow :). I think it's awesome that I can tell her that Jesus' birth is the reason that we don't have to be sad about Matthew.

It's our hope that all of you feel that peace this year also! May the celebration of Christ's birth renew His hope, love, and joy in your hearts! ~ Merry Christmas from the Nickells ~

He can climb!

Yesterday Clay found the stairs! And today he pulled up on a bench. So it looks like it won't be long before he walks :) Yikes! 

Doesn't he looked so pleased with himself? But 2 seconds later he face-planted onto the rug. Poor little guy! It's rough being a baby :)

6 months

Oops! Clay was six months about two weeks ago. I can still post his stats, right? Do y'all even care? Who knows. I'll just do for myself so I can look back and remember :)

Height: 27 inches (one inch longer than Claire as this age)
Weight: 16 lbs 4 oz (almost 2 1/2 lbs heavier than Claire was)
Sleeps: 3 naps a day lasting about 1 1/2 - 2 hours each and sleeps from 8:30 pm - 8ish am at night.
Eats: 4 bottles and lots of baby food!
Personality: Soooo much energy, just like his sista! He can crawl and sit up on his own already! OMG! I can no longer put him on the play mat and leave him because he pops right up and goes wandering. This house officially needs to be baby-proofed again. He's still a smiley little guy and just lights up when he sees a face he loves :) He looks so much older with his big-boy haircut and he's cutting teeth, so my baby is quickly becoming a little man :( They grow up way too fast!

We're moving!

Whew! I can finally share with you all that Cole has accepted the position of Youth Pastor at The Vine Community Church in Atlanta. We've been talking to them since August, but it wasn't official until last week and we just told our home church, NCPC, yesterday. It's been hard keeping it quiet because we're pretty excited about it! We'd been planning to leaving Aiken for awhile now to start seminary, but Cole has been loving youth ministry so much that we've kept delaying it. Now, with this opportunity, Cole will be able to stay in youth ministry while going to Reformed Theological Seminary in Atlanta part-time. His start date at the church is January 28th.

The biggest thing we need prayer for right now is that we'll sell our house! Yes, we still own 281 Southbank Drive and our renter is out and it's once again on the market. We really, really want to sell it so that we can buy again in Atlanta. We'll probably just rent until that happens.

Anyway, that's our big news for now! We're so excited to start this new chapter, but sorry to leave behind so many good friends behind. We've been through so much in our 5 years here. We began married life together, started a family, lost a child, and so much more. It will be bittersweet to leave...

Thanksgiving

What am I thankful for?

I am thankful for the warm, heavy spot on my chest where my son's head lay last night as I rocked him to sleep. I am thankful for his peaceful, deep breathing as he lay so trustingly in my arms. I am thankful for the absolute joy I felt in that moment. I am thankful that God has turned my mourning into dancing.

After Matthew died, my arms literally ached with the longing to hold him. All I ever wanted was to bring him home and be able to rock him to sleep. The whole time he was in the hospital, that was my goal. To get him home. To have him all to myself. To watch him fall asleep in my arms and feel his peaceful breathing on my cheek. And when that never happened, I was crushed.

So today I am grateful that I've been blessed with another chance to have that moment with Clay. My heart overflows with thankfulness at God faithfulness over the past year and a half.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Family fun!