Spring Is Here!

Okay, so all of you who don't live in sunny Florida, I'm apologizing now but I am SOOOO glad that our warm weather is back!! I think that if we had snow, winter would be more fun but we don't so bring on the sunshine and the beach! Much has been happening at the Bates house lately. We're had our house up for sale and on the market for a weeka and a half now, but only 3 calls. It's a tough market out there so we have to remember to be patient. We're awaiting the final draft of blue prints from our contractor (love him! He's so honest and gives great advice on space usage) this week. After we receive these, it's off to call contractors for bids. Whoo-hoo!

Avonlea and I have been enjoying the outdoors a lot the past two weeks. We've been swimming in her little paddling pool on our backyard patio. She loves to swim. We're also planted a veggie garden out back as well. We started the plants in pots since we're moving and didn't want to clear out a big chunk of our new sod (Yeah for sod! It's finally in and finished.) We have tomatoes and green beans growing (well, just sprouting is more like it) along a trellis and carrots and pineapple in bigger pots. The pineapple won't produce fruit for maybe years so that's especially why they're in pots, so we can take them with us when we move in May. It will most likely be the week of May 21. We might be moving into an apartment though while the construction begins seeing that we'll have a 20-month-old and a newborn baby. I don't think that drills, jackhammers and construction noise will mix well with two parents who will have been up all night with a new baby, not to mention the dust and lack of privacy! God will lead the way in the timing of everything. We're getting so excited about the changes.

The three of us took a trip to the Florida Aquarium in downtown Tampa yesterday. What a fun outing! The aquarium held Avonlea's interest for a short amount of time (eventhough she loves to watch fish), but there is a whole seperate kid's section on the side by the water where we stayed and played for two hours. It was totally worth it! Luckily I had packed a swimsuit and swimdiaper just in case. WE had a blast and are thinking about buying annual passes (they're so reasonable for what you get).

Avonlea is just in the very early stages of potty training. We haven't put underwear on her yet (although I bought some Elmo-her favorite-underwear for her the other day). We also got her a potty and a few potty books to start. She knows what her potty is and loves to just run into the bathroom and flush the big potty. She gets a kick out of the noise. A friend of mine also suggested the DVD Elmo's Potty Time. She's watched it a few times and it's very cute and straightforward about using the potty. I'm hesitant to start her full-fledge though because she can't tell me when she's wet and I'm not so sure I'm ready for pee-pee on our carpet. :) When I start, I plan on being very consistant and just using the underwear. I potty-trained a little boy whom I used to be a nanny for and this worked SO well. We skipped the pull ups altogether because they felt too much like a diaper. Stay tuned for more "Potty News". (he he)

(This is a really long blog, but I've got much to share!)
I found Avonlea an Easter basket and gave it a little touch of my own. Lately, she has been practicing with some plastic eggs we got at the store. She loves it when I hide them around the house and she goes to find them and put them in the basket. Needless to say, she'll be ready to hold her own this Easter during the Easter egg hunts.

Last news (I promise), through much thought and research, we have decided to go ahead with a second C-section for Lincoln Cole this June. Unless the little slugger decides to come early, Dr. Cuadra (she is AWESOME and delivered Avonlea) will be delivering Lincoln on June 11 (Monday) at 5:00p.m. With the move and everything, things are going to be pretty crazy, but we know that God is in control and everything will work out just fine. I'm a little worried about how we're going to care for Avonlea (a C-section's recovery time is a full 6 weeks) afterwards, but Rob and I are the best team and I know we'll work together to keep Avonlea a happy camper. He's planning on taking off work the whole week and we're playing it by ear the following week. I'm just a little worried about lifting Avy, since she's quite the clingy girl lately.

Well, I'm signing off. Have a wonderful week everyone and I hope that as you are preparing for this year's Easter, you remember that it is CHRIST'S RESURRECTION that we celebrate!