A Day At the Arboretum

Twitter

Just FYI, if you follow me on Twitter, my account was hacked into and has now been suspended. So.... this means no updates from me nor can I see your updates. Booo.

36 Days and Counting...

Yikes.... 36 days!!! But, I must say, I am SO ready to meet this Brenley and SO ready to not be pregnant anymore! :) Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE being pregnant! I love knowing and feeling the little life inside me. I feel so overwhelmingly blessed to be able to carry two babies in my womb. I would not trade the aches and pains of pregnancy for anything... that being said... I am ready for the end.

Kyle says that the Lord created us this way, so that we would actually want to go through labor and not remain pregnant forever, and that I think is so true. Even though I have been through the labor process before. I was in labor from start to finish for about 9 hours with Ryland. There are so many unknowns and so many steps to go through before meeting our sweet baby. But... if that means that I can actually feel comfortable in my own body once again, then I am ready!

My official due date is September 2nd, but when we had our sonogram they estimated more around August 31st. But, I feel like it could be sooner. Oh no.... I better not have just jinksed myself. We were 10 days.... yes.... 10 days LATE with Ryland. So anything before 10 days late would be better! I never even felt a single contraction with Ryland until being admitted into the hospital. Things are quite different this time around. I feel contractions just about every night. I think part of it is just being exhausted from the day and needing to rest, because once I fall asleep they stop, but still.... it makes the evenings not very fun.

And, I think Ryland is ready for her mommy to not be so large! :) Every time she tries to sit in my lap she get VERY frustrated at my belly and pushes on it until I tell her to stop. She wants my belly to move so she can sit there comfortably. Within about three mins or so she either gives up and goes to Daddy or sits next to me, aggravated. I find it pretty funny, but I better not laugh or she gets mad at me too!

Praying...

Please join me in prayer for sweet baby Stellan!!! I have talked about them before on my blog, but he is in really bad shape right now fighting to hold on to life with everything he's got. My heart hurts for their family. He NEEDS us to stand in the gap and lift him up to our Healer!

Touring the New Cowboy's Stadium

Fun with Paparino & Ammy

Summer Fun in Oklahoma

Make-up Time

This is our everyday routine! Ryland cannot go anywhere without her make-up first! :)

Bigger?

Here I am 34 weeks along with Brenley Grey. I feel bigger, but I am not sure that I look it. I have not gained any more weight with this one then I did with Ryland and I am measuring perfectly in line with weeks.

This is 34 weeks along with Ryland, I think I was actually more exhausted being pregnant with Ryland because I was still working full time and driving just over 50 miles one way to work each day. I DO NOT miss those days!

Update

OK, I know I have been absent from the blogging world... sorry. But, I have not felt like writing much nor have I had the motivation to. But, I will give you faithful readers a quick update on what is going on in the our home:

Ryland is growing up faster then our minds can keep up with! She is talking in sentences and says pretty much anything she wants to now. Mind you, sometimes it still all runs together and you can quite understand what she is saying, but most of the time, you can get the gist of it. She is SO much fun to play with. She has such a huge imagination and can entertain herself for hours with just a spoon and a bowl. She LOVES going places and usually asks to go somewhere by the end of the day if we have not left the house at least once that day. She has started to become a little bossy, she tells me what to do in the morning like, "Let Toby Outside" and "I hungry" and "Where Juice" and my favorite "Get up Momma." She eats everything big people food, no more toddler or baby snacks in her diet at all. Her absolute favorite thing to eat is cheese and will eat how ever much you put in front of her.

Brenley is doing great. Just getting bigger and bigger everyday! Her due date is still around August 31st, but I have am having no intuition if I think she will be early or two weeks late like Ryland was. We have almost everything we need for her and we will be finishing her room up this coming weekend. If you ask Ryland where Brenley is she will pull up my shirt and point to my belly. She will even give her kisses sometimes. But, I think she still gets a little confused because the other day Aunt Tal asked her where Brenley was and she pulled up her own shirt and pointed to her own belly. Who knows.

I am doing good. Seriously questioning why the Lord wanted me to go through the end of this pregnancy in 104 degree weather... but I'm not complaining. :) I feel much more aches and pains with this pregnancy then I ever did with Ryland, but I have heard that is normal your second time around. I have MAJOR hormones and I totally know that is what they are, but still choose to take them out on Kyle most of the time. Poor guy. But he is a trooper and usually says nothing at all... but hey, at least I know that's what they are and I don't actually hate my husband for doing nothing wrong. :) I am starting to think that I do not make for a very good pregnant woman, but there is an end in site and I would not trade the feeling of Brenley stretching inside me for anything (bring on the hormones baby)!

Kyle is doing fabulous! He is starting to get stressed about having a second baby, but that is to be expected. He just finished a GREAT quarter at work and is providing for our family in so many amazing ways! He is loving his role as Daddy. He comes home and greets Ryland with a huge hug and makes her belly-laugh every night. He has taken on the role of putting her to bed and settling her back down in the middle of the night (if she wakes up). Frankly, he is better at it then me. I hate that, but love that for him. She prefers her Daddy in the middle of the night and would much rather just play with me. Ultimately will work great when there are two to put to bed and two possibly waking up at night... easy split... unless Brenley prefers him too and then I will just feel sorry for him! :)

All in all, we are doing great. Getting ready and trying to enjoy our last few weeks with our only child. I have tons of pictures to post and will do that soon! Thanks for staying in there with us!

Noticed...

Wow, has anyone noticed that the baby ticker for Brenley says I only have 55 days to go... holy cow!!! Um.... there is so much to do in so little time!!! Yikes!

Etsy anyone?

OK, I know there has been a lack of posts, sorry and I will make no promises for more within the next few weeks. We are just crazy busy in the full swing of summer and posting is just about last on my list of to-do's. But... today, during nap time, I was in the mood to shop, although we have a lack of shopping funds for some reason :) so I "virtual-shopped" and would to share the things that I would have purchased during today's shopping splurge had I had funds in my non-existent shopping fund. :) Enjoy!

I'm a sucker for handmade pottery. These fresh mugs are found at KarenLorenc on Etsy.

Matching hats for the girls would be perfect for this fall! These are adorable and are found at NuxieMade on Etsy.

This O-So-Cute apron made at Bella Bee Designs, Etsy shop of course!

The Tuesday Necklace from Beau and Stella on Etsy.

Earrings from Beau and Stella - my new FAVORITE Etsy shop!

Six Years Ago Today...

Six years ago today I married the man of my dreams. I will remember that day like it was yesterday, perfect in every way. We have been together since the age of 15, so over 11 years now, but the past six years have been the best years of our life so far.

I love this man.

I love every fiber of his being.

I love the way he loves the Lord.

I love the way he loves me.

I love the way he is totally head over heals for his daughter.

I love how he provides for our family.

I love how he desires to grow and better everything in his life.

I love how he plans for our future.

I love how he relies on God.

I love the way he looks at me from across a crowed room.

I love how he misses me when I am away.

I love that we talk about everything.

I love how encouraging he is.

I love the sacrifices he's made so I can have the life of my dreams.

I love how I fit just underneath his shoulder when we hug.

I love that he always knows just what to say.

I love that he makes me a better person.

I LOVE THIS MAN!

Happy Anniversary Babe, I have loved the past 6 years and can hardly wait for the rest of our life!

Angry

I am so angry. I know that the Lord had a reason for all of this, but really, I am angry. I got sucked into this woman's story of her terminal pregnancy that she was caring to term. I checked her site on a very regular basis to see what was happening to her and her baby. I felt for her, I cried for her, I hurt for her. Only to find out, after a whole day of labor and delivery updates, 6 hours with the baby alive, then the baby passing on.... found out that it was all a LIE!!! All of it!

I feel stupid for being dragged into this blog and now, sadly, I will question every blog I read from here on out. There are so many questions that I have that will probably never be answered, but I know that although I am mad at this woman, I will continue to pray for her. She desperately needs prayer and I hope that she finds the truth in God's sweet grace through this whole thing.

If you would like to read an article written about her by the media, click HERE.

You can also go to this site to read more about the unfolding of the untrue events by clicking HERE.

Summer Fun!

Sorry for the lack of posts. We are still enjoying the company of our best friends from college, going on a week and a half now, so my time on the computer has been very limited! The great news is that we LOVE having them here! I thought it would be a little stress full to have 6 people, 4 dogs, 2 cats all in our tiny house for over two weeks, but it has actually turned out to be SO MUCH FUN!!! The kiddos (mostly) love each other and playing together, the dogs love playing together, the cats get along relatively speaking, and we don't want our game-playing partners to leave!

Today, Whitney and Jarrett took Shaun to work, to let us have a family day, since its Kyle's day off. So, we took Ryland to her favorite place in the world right now, Pump It Up Jr. its a indoor bounce house for little ones 3 and under on Wednesday mornings! Her and Kyle had a blast running around and climbing up and down the big slide about 150 times! She actually does it all by herself, climbs and slides down, no hesitation at all!

We also got a small pool for the backyard, and Ryland loves it! Jarrett enjoys sliding into it and running through the sprinkler. We actually have a really nice backyard, which I am just now realizing, so I think we will spend most of our afternoons back there.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I will get some this week of everyone and post them later. By the way, this is my last week to drive the beautiful Traverse, so if you wouldn't mind, swing over and vote for me one last time (or 50 lasts times)! Thanks!!!