Fathers Day 2013

Father's Day 2013 was Casey's 3rd, but his first one with 2 kiddos! Here are some pictures of that day!  

Dayton even wore his Longhorn jersey because it was Daddy's special day! :)

Some of Casey's daddy moments with each child :)

What a good daddy he is!

Easter 2013

I never blogged about Easter last year and well, since it's almost Easter again, I figured I better get busy.  Easter is self-explanatory, so this will mainly be picture heavy with one video of the kids' egg hunt. This year Dayton will be able to participate. :)

I can't believe how bald Dayton use to be!! 

Our Easter 2013 picture!

Big Girl Bed

This post has been way over due, but I wanted to make sure it hit the blog at some point. Back in May of 2013 Sawyer decided to start crawling out of her bed over and over. I actually had her do it for me in person so I could video it ;) That same day we transitioned her into her "big girl bed" (same bed, but with a toddler rail) so that she wouldn't ever hurt herself crawling out in the middle of the night!

This all happened a month after she turned 2 and I had a 5 month old newborn as well. Needless to say, as soon as Sawyer was transitioned into her toddler bed, life got a little more crazy for me! ;)

helping her daddy out :)

"you mean I'm free to get in and out as I please?" 

She slept great in it for a solid 2 weeks without getting out. She would even wait for us to come get her in the mornings. And then…it hit her…all toddlerhood let loose. She's been in our room almost every night since ;) We now have a cot set up so when she comes in in the middle of the night she just lays down there and doesn't disturb us (as much) while we are sleeping. Every now and then she stays asleep in her room all night long and doesn't migrate over to ours, but that's rare, haha. She always starts out in her room, though, and usually lasts about 3-5 hours before coming over to ours. Oh well. It's better than all night in our room!!

Cannot believe she's about to be 3…

Coats Family 2013 Blessings and Review

Every year since 2009 Casey & I sit down around the end of the year and write down all of our blessings from the past year. It is always so neat to see how God blessed, provided, and proved faithful again--year after year. We both feel just a little bit better after writing down all of the blessings we encountered in 365 days. Some things are more personal or confidential, so they might not make the blog list, but there are still many to share with everyone!!

2013 Blessings

All 4 of us are healthy and well!

Lauren was able to stay at home with the children for another year

  Casey was promoted to Campus Pastor at c|Life West Campus

Lauren graduated with her Masters of Science Counseling after 3 years of classes and internships

Lauren got a great internship at The Vale

Lauren was later offered a position on staff at The Vale upon graduation

Dayton turned 1 year old and had many friends and family come to celebrate him

Casey & Lauren went on a free (highly discounted) 5 day cruise to Mexico (sans kids)

Lauren got a grant to pay for part of her last semester

Our Community Group has grown closer and provided us with good friendships

Casey was able to go on a mission trip to Guatemala over spring break

God continued to stretch our finances with small things throughout the year like free meals, gifts of diapers, wipes, and formula, and gifts of money and gift cards from unexpected people.

Sawyer needed another ear surgery and her great-grandparents offered to pay for it

Casey & Lauren were able to attend Catalyst for a second year in a row

The new Momentum Service at the West Campus was started and is going well

Lauren is able to bring the kids to Momentum on Wednesday nights and lead a CG of 11^th & 12^th grade girls while a volunteer babysitter watches the kids up at the church

Dayton was dedicated at church on April 7^th

We found a babysitter we really trusted with a newborn and 2-year-old—Ashlee was able to watch the kids while Lauren worked in the summer

Sawyer was able to do a month of gymnastics in the summer with her friend Avery

Sawyer was able to do swim lessons for another consecutive summer

Lauren, Sawyer, & Dayton were able to have many playdates with their friends Kristin, Avery, & Ally in the early days of Dayton’s life. This helped keep Lauren sane. ;)

Casey & Lauren were able to do pre-marriage counseling with a couple for several weeks before Casey performed their wedding

So many people have contributed to babysitting our kids when we really needed it: Casey parents, Casey’s grandmother, Lauren’s mom, Lauren’s grandma, Ginni, & Natalie

Lauren’s best friend, Lauren Stevenson, was able to come down to stay with her for a week when Casey was away on a mission trip

So many people brought us meals in January after Dayton was first born

Lauren’s mom paid to have a housekeeper come to clean our house once a month in 2013--man am I going to miss that!!!

2 great friends took some pictures of us and our kiddos for free—Christie Harty & Ginni Rickerson!

c|Life d|Now had over 400 kids attend and many accepted Christ!

More kids than ever are attending Momentum & CGs and many have accepted Christ!

Sawyer had a super fun 2^nd Birthday Party and Elmo made an appearance. It was a great time for her & her friends.

Casey turned 30 and we had a great surprise dinner for him with good friends—so much fun!

Casey's parents, & grandparents as well as Lauren's parents & grandparents have babysat the kids many, many times so that we could be where we needed to be or have date nights!!

2013 was a very blessed year for us!

Some Stuff Sawyer Says…

Lately Sawyer has said some of the most hilarious things and I just want to make sure I right it down so that I can look back and remember :)

One day we were going over the really tall bridge that goes from Hwy 30 Westbound to 635 South and Sawyer yells out "Momma, we're so tall!!!" Then when we got off she said "Momma, now we're short!"

We went to visit a friend's baby and Sawyer said "That's McKenna's baby. Momma, I want one." I guess Dayton isn't little enough for her anymore, ha.

I eat Chips Ahoy cookies and Sawyer always refers to them as "Momma's cookies." No other food in the house is referred to as "Momma's" or "Daddy's," but she knows the cookies are serious business. ;)

Sawyer will open the fridge and say, "Ummm…How about a chocolate milk shake?!" She just recently started to talking to us like she's an adult using words like "umm" and "like" or phrases like "how about."

Lately she tells us things from her baby doll's perspective, "Momma, my baby wants me to drink some milk." or "My baby doesn't want me to go to sleep yet."

When we just mention giving Dayton a spanking (which we do not do yet) she says very vehemently "NO! Dayton's too little to get a spanking!!" She gets very protective of him.  I like it. Sometimes I pretend he needs a spanking just to get her worked up a little, ha ha.

Sawyer sings constantly and always combines all her favorite songs together: ABCs, Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, & Ring Around the Rosies. Her favorite song to dance to is The B-I-B-L-E.

She cracks me up on a daily basis! :)

My Officially Potty-Trained Toddler

Man oh man, have I been waiting on this!! Sawyer Grace is officially potty-trained and it feels so good!! It was more hard work for her Momma & Daddy than it was for her! Ha! Now she goes days without accidents and takes naps in big girl underwear and hasn't had any accidents during nap so far. She wears a diaper at night, but so far she gets up when she needs to use the potty and her diaper has been dry. We're just giving her a little while to adjust, but we're probably about to take the plunge and just put her in her big girl undies at night, too! She is super proud of them and prefers them anyway.

Sawyer wants to do everything herself in the bathroom from getting on the potty to washing and drying her hands. She is super independent and very proud of it. 

Good job, baby girl! We are so happy we don't have to spend $40 bucks a month on your diapers! ;)

2.5 Years of Little SG!

Sawyer Grace is halfway to 3 and I can't believe it. When did that happen? She is now 36" tall and weighs about 25 pounds. She is mostly 2T clothing and wears pullups during the day and size 3 diapers at night (same size diapers as Dayton since he was 7 months old)!

Most people say "they are so sweet with a spunky streak," but with Sawyer we think it's the opposite. This little girl's got sass and I'd say she's spunky with a sweet streak. ;)

She's super, super verbal and says almost anything and will repeat us constantly. I've already learned that I need to watch what I say...including the attitude in which I say it. She's super perceptive and will notice if I am in a bad mood or not happy.

Sawyer loves school and has lots of friends there! She does so well there. She loves to come home telling me all about her friends, her teachers, and the buggy rides she took! She also loves telling me about Stretch-n-Grow and songs and toys and games she plays. This month's shape is a circle and she has been drawing them like crazy at home. So fun to see her learning. Her teachers tell me all the time that she is so nice and sweet and friendly at school. I've asked them multiple times if they ever have to correct or discipline Sawyer and they've pretty much responded that she's perfect...so I guess she's saving all of her fits and tantrums for us at home...and believe me, there are plenty! ;)

Sawyer has gotten more and more smitten with her little brother. She wants me to go get him as soon as she wakes up in the morning. She likes to play in the same room with him and wants to interact with him. She gives him hugs and kisses and tells him "good job, bubba!" when he does something she deems good. Ha ha!

I thought this would be a fun age to do an interview with Sawyer. The first time I tried asking her more than 3 questions in a row she ran away from pretending to be an airplane so I had to wait a while for a better attention span. ;)

Interview with Sawyer at 2.5 years old....

What's your name? "Sawyer"

How old are you? "I'm 2 years old. 2." (while holding up 2 fingers)

Where do you live? "Sawyer's at Rockwall"

What do you like to do with mommy? "don't know, momma, I don't know." When I explained to her what I meant she said "I play with Momma."

What do you like to do with daddy? "play with Daddy!"

What is bubba's name? "zero" (She got his name confused with his age) When I asked again she said: "Dayton!"

How old is Dayton? "zero" (and she makes a zero with her hand)

What do you like to do with Dayton? "I play Bubba"

What do you like to do at church? "play at church!"

What do you like to do at school? "play at school!"

What color do you like? "red and blue"

So as you can see, the common theme is playing. :) She hasn't gotten the art of answering questions down yet, but she sure can talk a lot without being prompted. Ha ha! I love my big 2 1/2 year old.

Scare Me Silly…

Last night around 4am Sawyer scared me to death…

I went to check on Dayton because he was crying, and I noticed Sawyer's door was wide open (she sleeps with it closed), so I went in to check on her and she wasn't anywhere in her room. Then I walked around the house saying "Sawyer! Sawyer!" using the light from my phone. She didn't respond, and I didn't see her anywhere, so I went and told Casey that she wasn't in her bed and that I couldn't find her! I thought that someone must have come in and taken her! (My mind goes to the worse place, I know). I also thought that maybe she had somehow gotten out of the house (she recently learned how to open the gate to the fence in the backyard and gotten out while she was playing, so I thought maybe she had learned to open one of the doors to outside). 

We started turning on lights and there she was laying on the couch completely asleep. She never woke up even when Casey picked her up and put her in her bed! So funny. Wish I could know how long she had been asleep on the couch…There were some toys around her like she'd been playing with them in the pitch black and then fallen asleep. We should have taken a picture.

Two-year-olds.

5 Months of Dayton

Dayton is such a happy, laid-back baby! He laughs and smiles easily and rarely cries (I hear from others that he cries occasionally, but for me, he's easy as can be!). He is growing so fast and recently I went through all of his clothes in his dresser and closet and came out with 2 diaper boxes full of clothes to give to Goodwill and 4 boxes full to give to my friend Alycia, who is having a baby boy in September! I cannot believe he is only 5 months old and I am already getting rid of 6 full boxes of clothes! I kept 1 box for myself of his newborn clothes, hats, and pjs that I couldn't part with. Every kid needs a box of clothes to open when they are expecting their first child! I loved getting a box from my mom and even Casey had his own "going home from the hospital" outfit that we were able to put on Dayton. So fun. :) 

Dayton has become a mover, so capturing his 5 month picture was a bit more difficult! As a result, it's a little blurry. Oh well.

This month he learned to:

roll over from his back to his tummy (he now rolls both ways!)

May 17th - first time to have rice cereal

Firsts:

swing in an outdoor swing at the playground

rice cereal

formula (still on breast milk, but also supplementing with formula)

overnight without mommy!! (I went on a retreat and left the kiddos with Casey)

His favorite things this month:

Momma

Daddy

Big sister, Sawyer

the jumperoo/exersaucer!

his baby swing

his paci

toys, rattles, teethers

ice cube pops!

Things he hates this month:

getting stuck in between the slats in his crib at night!

the car seat, but only sometimes

His sizes this month:

3-6 months clothes

3-6 month pjs, some 6-9 months pjs--had to put away some of my favorite pjs of his:(

newborn or size 1 shoes

size 2 diapers

New places he has been:

Pancho & Lefty's!

Important Events:

celebrated my 3rd Mother's Day and my 1st Mother's Day with Dayton! (Technically I was pregnant with him last Mother's Day, but that doesn't count;) Casey made a card that they both "signed" -- Sawyer actually colored on it, but Casey held the marker in Dayton's hand, haha. He also made me a slideshow of the 2 of them and I also got a gift certificate to my favorite nail salon! We went to Mother's Day lunch with Casey's parents and then a movie just the 2 of us that evening. 

Here's my cutie pie from the last month…

loving on his momma ;)

Dayton was added to the mix!! 

top picture is from April 2011, bottom picture from April 2013 :)

sissy covered me in stickers… 

sweet sibling time 

Dayton's 1st Mother's Day (outside of the womb, haha)!

Playdate with Ginni & Mathis!

These 2 are going to be good buds. Only 4 months apart.

1st time to try rice cereal! 

1st time to swing!

Such a FUN age! Casey and I have always said that our favorite "baby stage" is around 7-10 months. He is getting close to that and I am super excited! He is already becoming so interactive and it is a lot of fun! Bring on the summer!!!