a 5th and 3rd birthday party...

Since my girls birthdays are just a couple weeks apart and since both their birthdays are so very close to my due date we decided to make things easy this year and do a joint birthday outside the house. I highly recommend it.

It was the first year I've ever had a party not at the house. SOOOOO nice!

Grace and Emma had said they wanted a gymnastics party, but since we had lots of little friends coming we decided it would be easier to do at a bounce house place.

The party theme was castles... inspired mainly by the fact that the only thing Grace asked for was a castle cake. She had been talking about her castle cake since Christmas so I went with it.

Since transporting a castle cake sounded like a challenge to me, I made the cake for her real birthday. I know why bakeries charge so much for cakes...

Here is the final product. Don't look too close :)

So back to the party... here are the girls before we left!
The girls were line leaders for the day...

Having fun down the slides...

All their little friends. Yes all girls.

We have been blessed to know a lot of little girls around the same ages as our girls!
To carry out the castle theme.... I found these cute little cupcake toppers! Pink and purple per the request of 2 little ladies...

Singing happy birthday! Grace got a little embarrassed... oh the life of girls!

And when we got home the girls had a blast opening all their gifts.

They aren't spoiled at all...

Overall the party was fun, the girls had a blast and having a party outside your home is totally worth the money... especially when the mommy is 9 months pregnant :)

37 weeks and 2 days

Well I made a little progress in a week. I'm now 3 centimeters. I probably should be more excited but you see my good friend who is due 2 days before me is headed to hospital to have her baby girl today. I can't help but feel a little jealous. So excited for her but just wishing I could join her.

I know Layla will be here very soon. I'm just anxious to meet her and to not be pregnant anymore. :) hopefully my next post will be that she is here! But more than likely it will be post about my baby girl that turns 3 next week!!

36 weeks and 4 days pregnant

So it's 4am and I thought I would post a little update.

I had an ultrasound 2 days ago and little Miss Layla was measuring 6 pounds 11 ounces and 19.5 inches long. Perfect and on track to be about an 8 pound baby if I go to full term.

That said... I'm already 2 centimeters dilated. I was never dilated this far with Grace (until I was in labor) and with Emma I was about 38 weeks when I was dilated to a 2.

The doctor was asking me questions like how far I live from the hospital and she went over all the reasons I need to call her and go to the hospital.

And while yes I'm so excited to meet Layla and feel more comfortable, I feel like I have 10,000 to do. This week alone I have the girls birthday party, a dentist appointment for them, their 3 & 5 year well visits, haircuts for them and of course I even have friends coming over next weekend to hang out.

So clearly I don't have time to have a baby yet. The worst part is my following week is even busier. My big brother and his family are coming into town and we are celebrating my dad's 60th birthday!

(This also doesn't include the FIVE children's birthday parties we have been invited to before my due date. I think nearly every one of our friends have children born in February and March... and now I'm adding another to that list!)

Honestly, I've never thought for one minute that I would deliver. Based on my track record I like to cook my babies past their date.

So I made plans.

This said... I would happily cancel any and ALL plans if it meant I get to meet my precious new baby girl. :)

ps.... yes its 4am... not sleeping much these days. Tired but just can't sleep. It's fabulous :)

My 5 year old Valentine

How can this girl be five??!!

Grace is such a blessing to have in our lives. She is a such a happy little girl and is usually in a good mood.

Grace loves playing with her friends and loves going to school even more.

She loves dolls. Really I thought dolls were for little little girls, but this girl loves to be a little mommy. She has recently gotten into her American Girl look alike. Thankfully she doesn't know hers isn't real. Her doll is named "Sally". Although most of her dolls or babies are named Sally.
She is also quite goofy. She has started to pose more and more when I try to snap a picture. Here is a little proof:

And some more...

And like I said she is just a happy girl.

And she loves her sister dearly... it is so fun to see these two. While yes they do argue and fight, they really truly love each other and watch out for one another. I hope they welcome their new sister with open arms. **************************
Other things Grace is up to: (more for me)

*She can count to 30 alone and can count to 100 with help. She needs helps starting at each new ten.

*She can write about 10 words from memory. But she is very good at writing her name and Emma's name. She is also pretty neat with her writing. Her teachers tell me she takes her time and is always working hard to finsh her work perfectly.

*She has made amazing strides in her speech class. Most people are surprised to know she is in speech but it has been great to her. She has made so much progress and is ready for Kindergarten.

*She knows how add most single digit numbers (like 2+5). Maybe bound to be a math person like her daddy? Definitely doesn't get it from me!!

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And for fun I always love to look at how much kids change and grow in such a short time...

Grace at 1 week

Grace at 1

Grace at 2
Grace at 3

Grace at 4
Grace at 5! (same shirt as last year...)
Happy Birthday sweet girl!! We love you and proud to have you as our daughter.

January 2011

I know it say it often but really this past month flew by. I sort of figured it might go slow being pregnant and all, but this morning when I woke up (to a snow day!) I realized it was February.

Really when you have young children the days just somehow turn into weeks and months and somehow years.

Our January was busy. So busy that I rarely brought my camera (no surprise!). We had 6 birthday parties, 3 baby showers (1 for Miss Layla and 2 for friends), a trip to East Texas, a few doctors visits (for me and the girls), preschool registration (sort of a huge deal around here), and of course we took part in a Sibling class at the hospital where Layla is going to be born.

Oh and one weekend we even had the pleasure of having the class monkey, George, come to our house. George had a busy weekend when he came to visit. 2 birthday parties and a trip to the hospital. He even got his own seat :) Also, notice Grace moved up to a booster seat. Now this might be no big deal in your house, but I liked big Britax car seat. It is the safest seat for her. But all her friends have been getting boosters and honestly she has been begging me for one. So as a Christmas present I asked my in-laws to get her one. She loves the pink trim the most. She has been telling everyone about her new seat. What a silly girl.... so excited about a new seat! I can't believe Kindergarten is just months away.

The girls LOVED the Sibling class at the hospital. Each girl made a sign to hang on the baby's crib with their picture that says "I'm a Big Sister". Emma was hilarious on this day. Most of the kids in the class were 4 or 5. Emma was by far the youngest, but that didn't stop her from answering all the questions. She was VERY into it!

Grace was a little more reserved, but was really taking it all in. I think she enjoyed the hospital tour the most. Although they both were quite confused when we didn't leave with the baby. I guess they thought we were going there to get the baby :)

With Miss Layla's arrival only 6 weeks away (can you believe I'm already 34 weeks!), some of my close friends insisted on throwing me a shower. To be honest, I've always kind of thought that showers for anything but your first baby weren't really okay. I didn't have a shower with Emma, but I really didn't need a whole lot besides diapers and wipes. But with this baby, we really had gotten rid of some key items (like our car seat!) both because they were worn out after 2 kids and because we weren't sure we were going to have another... so I was okay with it. Of course I told them to send out an evite and have a small shower with punch and cake. They didn't listen!

The shower was amazing. Every detail had been thought out. It was perfect. Miss Layla was spoiled rotten! And this is why I learned that having showers for your second, third, etc baby are more than okay. Each baby is special. Miss Layla has a lifetime ahead of hand-me-downs so it was wonderful to have some wonderful new treasures for just for her.

Here are all my SIX hostesses! Yes 6! I feel so blessed to have each of these women in my life. They really blew me out of the water with their love for baby Layla.

I wont bore you with a 50 pictures from the shower, but I do have a couple just to show you how perfect everything was.

All the guests enjoyed "mamatinis"... basically a martini minus the rum :) They were so cute and fun.

And of course a sweet cake with Layla's initials. The cake was strawberry and so yummy!

And I guess that about wraps up January. I'm hoping to post some belly shots sometime next week! You would have thought after I got dressed cute for the baby shower I would have done that... but no. Hope you had a wonderful January as well! Now off to do laundry and enjoy the rest of the day (probably week) indoors... high isn't suppose to be above 20 degrees until Friday!! Brrrrrr....

Test from the iPhone

Adam got me the new iPhone 4 for Christmas. I feel so spoiled! Would you believe that is the first phone we have ever paid for?! We have always gone for the free ones. It is such an awesome phone.... So cool that I can even blog from it. Maybe I will blog more. No promises :)

baby practice

The girls love babies. They love baby dolls and real babies too. Lately it seems like all they talk about... guess they are excited. Wonder if that excitement will be the same once Layla is here??

Here the girls are cuddling while watching a show. Grace told me to take a picture and said that they were practicing holding the baby. Notice Emma has her pinkie finger in the baby's mouth.

On a shopping trip to Target this year we bought a couple small baby dolls to give as Christmas gifts. Grace put the baby under her shirt and said "I've got a baby in my tummy"... and so it began. There are babies in a lot of tummies in our house. Besides mommy baby, Emma has a baby in her tummy often.

11 weeks (or maybe a little sooner) Miss Layla will be here!! Oh and her room is officially pink!! Painting is done.

Christmas 2010

What a busy Christmas season we have had. December was filled with parties and programs, 2 cookie decorating parties with friends, book exchanges, light looking and even a couple events for the adults :)

Here are a few pics from Christmas eve and Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve we headed to church and managed to take a couple pics after.

The girls loving on eachother. I promise they aren't always so lovey but for some reason when we are in public they are BFF's... its sort of funny.
One of our last pictures as a family of 4. Hard to believe that Miss Layla will be here in 11 weeks or less. (don't you like my festive black for Christmas... sliming is what I was hoping for!)

Christmas morning the girls woke us up around 7:30 and told us that Santa had come. Here are the girls posing. We were pretty simple this year since the girls just got new beds and bedding (another post) so a doll for everyone it was... including Miss Layla who Santa was sweet not to forget and brought a little plush doll for (in the middle on the floor).

The biggest hit of the day was unicorn pillow pets from their Aunt Tricia and Uncle Todd. They have been dragging them around the house everywhere too.. who knew that was the toy of the year!

Hope you and your family had a very Merry Christmas!

A name...

Baby girl #3 has a name....

This was really the very first name I suggested to Adam totally thinking he wouldn't go for it, but he liked it so it was added to the list. A very short list I might add. This time was much harder because we wanted something that went well with Grace and Emma and we wanted a name that a friend or family member didn't already name their child. We mentioned our top 2 names to the girls and somehow Layla just sort of stuck. The girls have been calling her by her name for sometime now, but we just weren't quite ready to write it on paper.

We are thrilled to bring Miss Layla into our family in just about 11 weeks!

Santa 2010 (and years past)

Another good picture with Santa. Both girls were really excited to see Santa this year. Emma wasn't too sure what to think though once she sat in his lap. This was the only picture we could get of her looking at the camera... she just kept starting at him. Grace told Santa she wanted playdou for Christmas and Emma wouldn't say anything so Grace told Santa that Emma wanted a baby (news to me!).

Here was the infamous picture with Santa and for fun all the past years. I love that we can visit the same Santa year after year. :)

2010

2009
2008

2007 2006

my third sweet baby girl update... 27 weeks

I can't even believe I'm 27 weeks and 3 days.

Last week I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed that we had done NOTHING to prepare for this sweet baby girl growing inside me. So in a weeks time this is what we have done...

1. moved all Grace's old furniture out of her room and set up the baby crib. (We actually moved Grace and Emma into a room together a couple months ago and they are doing great and love being with their sister.... most of the time... I'll post pictures of their room soon... when its finished!)

2. Ordered an infant car seat and stroller. Early this year (before I was preggo) I sold my old car seat and stroller mainly b/c it was going to expire (yes car seats expire after 5 years) and really I thought IF we had another baby it would be a long time from now. My parents graciously offered to buy a new car seat for the baby and we were lucky to find a great deal!

3. Bought paint. Yes we only bought the paint. A very very pale shade of pink. Hopefully we (meaning Adam) will get a chance to paint sometime this month. I'm so excited about the pink. Grace's nursery was yellow and Emma's was green, so its fun to actually have a pink girly nursery! :)

4. Registered at the hospital. I actually had not thought about this, but my OB told me at my appointment this week to go ahead and get registered. And the hospital I'm delivering at has online registration. So easy and fast!

5. I think we may have decided on a name for our precious third baby girl.... not quite ready to write it down and make official, but we can't manage to think of anything that would be better. I'll let you know soon.

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On another note, I've been meaning to make a note of all the things the girls have been saying these last couple months. They are so excited and its so cute to see their excitement. When I was pregnant with Emma, Grace was still so little so this is all very new.

Things Grace says:

- We were at shoe store a couple months ago and when we were checking out she told the cashier "my mommy has a baby in her tummy"... that was the first (of now many) times she has told a stranger about the baby. This has now turned into telling random people at even more random times about the baby growing in my belly.

- She always comes up to my belly and asks if the baby is kicking. She puts both hands on my belly and starts rubbing. It's super cute that is always asking but sometimes she wont get her hands off me.

- Every time we cuddle she is so concerned about hurting the baby. The other day I was laying on the couch and she wanted to lay with me... only there isn't so much room anymore. So she told the baby to move. HAHA! ... if it were only that easy.

Things Emma says:

- She loves to pull my shirt up and poke on my belly button and ask if the baby is coming out. She wants the baby to be here now.

- Emma has been asking if my tummy hurts. I guess it all stretched out just doesn't look comfy.

I guess that's about it for now. I just can't believe how quickly this pregnancy is going. I have to to do yucky glucose test this next week and I also start going to the OB every 2 weeks! I've still been feeling pretty good minus a few aches and pains and weird ailments that I'll save you from hearing about. Let's just say that with each pregnancy it truly is harder on your body... probably doesn't help that I'm trying to keep up with my 2 big girls! :)

The 3-day

I don't think I can completely describe the 3-day accurately. While the blisters and pains I had during the walk are slowly fading, I will never forget the laughs, the tears, and the overwhelming support that we had while we journeyed through those 3-days.

It was over 6 months ago that I took the plunge and signed up to walk 60 miles in the course of 3-days. I also committed to raising $2300. But I knew those challenges were nothing compared to what someone has to go through when they are diagnosed with breast cancer. I know Christee would have much rather walked a mear 60 miles than loose her battle and her life.

What a learned is that everyone deserves a lifetime and that is why I walked. That is why I raised money.

I also walked for my daughters. Some people thought I was crazy to walk while 22 weeks pregnant, but I thought I was crazy not to. I had the pleasure of walking next to women that were clearly going through treatments, twice my age or size and yet they pushed on (many passed me!). If they could do it, then surely I could.

So without going into the details, I thought I would share a few pictures. 3 amazing days with some pretty amazing women that I'm lucky to call my friends. I'm blessed beyond words. Thank you for thoughts, prayers, donations, phone calls, emails and texts. Each one meant so much to me and will not be forgotten.

My team and I at the opening ceremony... ready to walk! Yes it was still dark!

A perfect sign for me :)

And my team at the finish... all 60 miles completed!!

Halloween 2010

If you go to Disney world the same month as Halloween and you have little girls, you have no choice but to be Disney Princesses! :)

Thankfully I think I had 2 pretty cute princesses!

The week we got back from Disney World Grace said she wanted to Belle. Probably b/c we had just gotten Beauty and the Beast that had been released from the Disney vault.

I love this picture of Grace. She is looking so grown up these days!

And my silly girl Emma... I never got a fabulous picture of her all night, but this one will do. She was a beautiful Cinderella! The blue dress really brought out her blue eyes.

For the 3rd year in a row we got together with some neighbors for a little pre-trick or treating dinner and then made a loop around the neighborhood! The girls had a blast... however they were a little scared some of the costumes. Really I'm quite surprised some parents let their kids dress up so scary... maybe that is the girl mom in me talking?! :)

Hope you and your family had a fabulous Halloween filled with fun!

Baby #3 is a.....

GIRL!!!

First off, I feel terrible that I've known for nearly 2 weeks. I guess this is just how things will go with baby #3... things will always be late. But since it was our last baby we decided to do something a little different to announce the gender.

We had our doctor not tell us the sex and had her write down the sex of the baby and put it an envelope. I then gave the envelope to my good friend Melissa. She was so sweet to make us a cake with pink or blue inside.

We then had a bunch of our friends and family come over. We told them to wear blue if they thought we were having a boy and pink if they thought we were having a girl.

As you can see it was pretty split... maybe with a few extra blues?

The Big Sisters had a blast too....

And it was time to cut into our cake...

Our PINK cake that is...

see our reaction!

I'm laughing and I think Adam is thinking about 3 weddings... haha!

We couldn't be more thrilled about a 3rd daughter. We know girls, we love girls and what could be more special than 2 sisters for each of my girls.

We got to peak in on the baby again today to do a full anatomy ultrasound and the baby was perfect in every way. She was measuring 3 days a little small but nothing out of the normal. She weighted in at approximatly 14 oz and is about 9.5 inches long. Hard to believe that in 19 weeks she will be here!!

Thanks for sharing in our joy and excitement as we prepare for our 3rd blessing!!