Hello family -
I can't believe that it is time for another newsletter. Time just flies past, as I am sure you are all well aware of. Things here at the Cowan household are just truckin' along. The kids are all growing like weeds, school is almost out, summer is just rounding the corner, and we don't have a lot planned for the break. We are expecting our fourth child, Baby Girl Cowan, in just five weeks. When the last newsletter was written I wasn't very far along and we weren't telling anyone yet. Now I am telling everyone and I am just weeks away. This pregnancy should go pretty quickly for you guys huh? Nice. We were recently able to purchase the townhome we are living in. We are excited to finally own our own home and we are quickly learning about better money management. We were also able to take a quick trip down to Sea World recently. My mom and sisters were planning on going down there for Spring Break and we decided to crash their party and join them on their journey. We had a great time and the kids are still talking about it.
Well, Nate is busy working hard for us still. His office is still growing and he had to get an assistant to help him out with all of his responsibilities. It has taken quite a bit of stress off him and he is able to work more efficiently now. Nate is still the eleven-year-old scout leader in the ward and he is enjoying working with the boys. He anxiously plans campouts and he is excited to take Porter on the Father-and-Sons campout in the next few weeks. Nate was recently elected to be the Vice President of our Association Board. He is excited to serve and has many great ideas about how to improve our neighborhood. Our eight year anniversary is coming up next week. I can't believe how quickly the time has flown.
I am keeping busy getting ready for the baby. The last few weeks have just flown by and now I am starting to "nest". I've just started my lists of all I need to finish before the baby gets here. I know that I have five weeks still, but I am sure that it will fly. I have been doing a lot of projects that I have really enjoyed. I have made several blankets for the baby. I also had the urge to learn to crochet. I wanted to make one of those super cute beanies with the big flowers on it. I have enjoyed teaching myself and I can't wait until she can try it on. A couple of my friends wanted to do a boutique at their house with "mommy-made" items so I decided that I would make a few things. I have been working on some beautiful halter tutus that turned out super cute. They are the kind that sell at online boutiques for $80. It has been fun. My bishop told me that I will probably be released as the Primary President pretty soon. If not, I hope that I can keep up with all of the demands of four kids at home and Primary responsibilities. I am sure that if the Lord still wants me in there that he will provide a way to get everything done. This pregnancy has been pretty uneventful for me up until the last couple of weeks when I passed another kidney stone. I had one with Porter and it was awful. This time I happened to have another one while we were in San Diego hoping to enjoy a day at Sea World. Dang. Thanks to the prayers of lots of people I was able to have one good day and we were able to have a fun time. The kids had a blast. Thanks, also, to Kent and Sheryl for letting us crash at your pad for one night. It was fun to see you.
Brinley (7 in July) is having fun in first grade. She is very smart and her teacher thinks the world of her. She doesn't even have me come in and visit with her during conferences. She just calls me on the phone to let me know that Brinley is still doing fantastic and she doesn't have any concerns. She is in a special reading group with two other girls in her class. They read on such an advanced level that they have to go to another room to work with another group for their reading. She is such a good big sister. You can tell that she is the oldest child. She is always trying to mother the other kids and is very good with the younger neighborhood kids. She does have quite a temper though, so we try and steer clear of that. Brinley is definitely growing up. She is constantly worried about her hair and is always wondering if it has a bump in it. It has to be perfect before she leaves for school in the morning or it is meltdown city. She has only certain clothes that she will wear and she will only wear them a certain way. I don't remember being so concerned with my looks at this age. She catches me off guard quite a bit. We love her.
Addie (just turned 5) is anxiously awaiting the start of kindergarten. We recently went to the school to get her registered and to have her kindergarten evaluation. She thought for sure that since we had gone to the school and talked to the teacher that she was starting soon. It has been hard to explain to her that she won't actually start kindergarten until after the summer is over. She is so excited. Her preschool has been very fun for her and she loves going twice a week. You can tell that Addie is definitely my child. It has been so fun (okay, maybe not so fun) to see things in her lately that my mom has said about me since I was small. She asks a billion questions, she is such a lolly-gagger, her side of the bedroom is always messy, and she is extremely stubborn. Oh, that poor child. She is such a sweetheart too, though. She is always wanting to hug and kiss people. She is always stroking me or trying to cuddle. She calls herself a "cuddlebug" all of the time. What an angel.
Porter (3 next week), oh what can I say about him!! He can be the sweetest thing at times, and then, BAM!! he can become your worst enemy. He has recently hit his horrible threes. That kid keeps me on my toes at all times. I can't turn my back on him for more than thirty seconds and he is getting into something or causing some kind of mischief. He has developed such a naughty mouth recently too. He and the Tabasco sauce are becoming quite familiar with one another. On the other hand, his grin can sometimes just melt my heart. There is something about his cute little smile and his ultra blonde hair that just get me. I potty-trained him several months ago and he did a great job. It took just a day and a half and he had it down. It has been great not to have to buy diapers for a while. We are going to put Porter in preschool this coming school year. Normally I don't send my kids to preschool until the year before they enter kindergarten, but it will be a good social thing for him in the three-year-old class. With the new baby here it will be good for him to be able to get out of the house and be with some other little kids for a while. I think that he will really like it. He is such a sweetheart.
Now for the last little one. We don't have a name picked out yet. Nate and I don't have one that we can agree on. We are just going to have to wait and see what she looks like. I hope that we can come up with a name before we leave the hospital. Trying to find a name for this baby has proved to be the hardest one yet. I guess naming the third child of the same sex is the hardest. We have already used the names that we really liked. We'll see how it goes. We are excited to have another addition to the family. The kids can't wait until they can meet her. They are going to be such good siblings. What a blessing.
Well, that is about it for us. I think that this is the most I have ever written. I hope that I didn't bore you with the details of our existence. We love you all and hope that all is going well for you. Check in on us on our family blog www.thecrazycowans.blogspot.com. I am not the best about updating it, but you will get an occasional post about the happenings of our family.
Love you guys,
Nate, Melinda, Brinley, Adalynn, Porter, and Bria-Halli-Kamri-Ella-or-whatever-it-happens-to-be Cowan
Nate & Mindy Cowan