Saturday is a special day

As the primary song goes "Saturday is a special day because it was the day we got ready for Cole's blessing." Ok so that doesn't exactly fit the tune of the song but hey, it's the best I could come up with.

On Sunday, which just happened to be our 8th anniversary, Jeff blessed Cole Royal. Why we always time having children when we have the 9 am is beyond me but we made it on time.

Now I'm sure every father gives nice baby blessings, but Jeff gave Cole a beautiful, unique, and extremely touching blessing. Not the typical things I seem to hear in most baby blessings. He also gave Pearl a beautiful blessing. And each time I forgot to bring some tissues or even a burp cloth for him. I don't want to embarrass him, but it's the only times I've ever seen him get emotional about something. It just makes my heart melt to know he loves our kids so much that he'd tear up over them. In both of Pearl and Cole's blessings, Jeff spoke about how important it was for them to know how much they were loved both here on earth and by those who have passed away and to have a desire to treasure their families and ancestry (not in those words though). I just loved hearing this because it was important for us to give our kids names that had meaning behind them. He also blessed Cole's eyes to have vision to see the beauty of this earth, his bodily organs to have strength to do the Lord's work, and his mind to be wise. I am so blessed to have a husband who loves his children as much as he does and who is worthy and willing to give them a blessing.

After skipping out on the rest of church, we came home for a feast. Pearl was very excited that her baby brother was finally getting his own party, with a "birthday" cake. She thinks every party is a birthday party apparently. It was nice having everyone there but I was sad my Grandpa couldn't come since Cole is named after him. I knew we only had about 3.7 seconds to get pictures before Cole really started screaming for his lunch so these are the best we could do. I know Pearl treasures her pictures with her family and I'm hoping Cole will feel the same way someday.Someone please tell me my face isn't that fat still! I'm blaming my brother who took the picture.The Men... Jeff's Dad, Jeff and Cole, my Dad, my Grandpa AllenJeff's parentsMy parentsMy Grandma and Grandpa AllenMy Grandma just loves the little "man child" as she's dubbed him.

Since "Lavernius" as Jeff calls him (Lavernius Cole is some NFL player... I don't know who he is) was more interested in eating and napping on all the grandmas, we didn't get any pictures of just him. So on Monday I decided to try a little photo shoot with him. It wasn't until the last second possible before rushing out the door for church that I decided on an outfit for him. We knew we would bless him in one of the kimono outfits we had but Jeff wanted brown (Cole is very handsome in browns) and I wanted white. Obviously he ended up in white... I just thought he would look like a little angel all dressed in white with that blonde hair. Plus I was in love with the teddy bear on his butt! It sort of went against everything we both had said about blessing your kid in these expensive wedding gowns (we blessed Pearl in a blue dress) but I couldn't help myself. I think the results speak for themselves, even if Cole was NOT happy to be getting back in his church clothes!

Take one (pre-screaming and feeding)This is my absolute favorite picture!Ok, so maybe this is also my absolute most favorite picture!
Don't you just love this teddy bear butt? Take two (post feeding and now napping)
Take three (post nap and pre 2nd round of screaming)
He's rabid... he's foaming at the mouth!Not sure what this smile is all about.
Obviously he's bored and done with this whole thing.

I just can't get enough of my baby boy! Jeff's prayers were answered because he prayed for a strong and beautiful baby and that's exactly what we got!