1.28.2012

Captured on iPhone

I'm sure I could find plenty to write about but after updating Parke's scrapbook for 2 hours today I thought I would just post my iPhone pic's that capture some of my favorite times. On the baby girl news...I am nesting at time but in a different way. There are a few things that have to be done every day or I get a little on edge...like sanitize the sponge, clean the sink and countertops, all dishes put away at night so I start the day fresh (which always happened anyway...do you know who I live with). See, they are just little but they kind of drive me crazy when they aren't done. We are also going through our little minds to see how exactly we are going to fit baby girl and all her "things" in this house. I'm actually excited to stay here and have our family expand in this house. I'm excited to see it work and be flexible and a little "out of sorts" with it all. We'll figure it out...no biggie. We are almost decided on her first name but middle name is a tough one! Any help is welcome. Oh yeah, and she's growing...and I'm growing. 

Sick Baby with Hand Foot Mouth. He felt miserable.

Ice Cream treat because he has Hand Foot Mouth...he is dancing to music as well.

Just woke up from his nap. He likes to cuddle for a while after. 


This is not posed. Both boys working on electronics...same exact pose!

Parke will do anything to "shave" like daddy. This is a bath toy with a motor. He walks around shaving.

He loves to put shoes on and has recently advanced to 2 shoes at the same time!

Let's read to the animals! We sometimes sit on a blanket to read. It makes it a little more fun somehow.

I don't know but this happens often.
Painting. He loves this.

Donut date with Mom. Turns out, he doesn't care for donuts.

He told me he was "hiding". 

At the Dallas Aquarium. We were in the tunnel under the water!

That's about all! Fun little pic's to capture our every day "blink" moments. I love this boy!


1.02.2012

It's A Girl!!

Christmas Morning
We had a sonogram the Wednesday before Christmas weekend. I asked her to write the gender on a card so we could open it Christmas morning with our little family of 3! Blake and I were CONVINCED it was another boy. We probably could have even named him the next day. We love the boy world of Parke and just enjoy him so much it was hard to fathom a little pink world! I wish the picture above was Blake and I's face when we opened the envelope! We were in pure shock-joyous shock! We were giddy and couldn't believe it. We asked Parke if it was a boy or a girl and his answer was "girl" before we opened the envelope! I have to say though- he will repeat whatever the last word of your sentence is so since it was girl we had a pretty fair shot of him being correct. We also had the sonographer write it on a second envelope and hid it in the Shipley's house. We text them Christmas morning to tell them where to find it....they didn't rise as early as we did so it was a couple hours later! We repackaged our card and had my parents open one as well. It was a fun morning of surprises.

My mom had bought presents for a boy or girl. We got to open the girl package! We are still hoping whatever sono. we have next says the same thing but for now, we are believing this baby is a little girl. We are scrolling through girl names with most of them ending with a resounding "no". Thankfully we have months to decide! We are thrilled and think Parke will be a perfect big brother to this little one. I need to upload pic's from Christmas to tell you a little story that was so sweet about him being a big cousin to his new baby Emma (my new and only neice).

We are thrilled and will be praying for this sweet girl. I can't even imagine what she will look like since Parke came out the spitting image of Blake. Maybe, just maybe I have a chance. We'll see.

Hope ya'll had a Merry Christmas. I'll upload pic's soon to share our Christmas joy with everyone. Oh and if you have names...send them our way!

11.22.2011

A little recap in the making...

It's been a while since I have sat down to blog about our life happenings! I'm trying to remember the order of events over the last month...or months I should say. What did I even blog about last, no idea. So here it goes.

I think the first thing to blog about (in order) would be to tell everyone we are pregnant. Crazy, awsm surprise! Everyone knows our story and I really did let go of any and all ideas of how many children we would have, how far a part and what genders when the Lord worked on my heart during infertility. I wanted to believe we could be surprised some day but also thought we might just go through the same song and dance again. I was ready or should I say praying I would be willing to walk whatever road again. But much to our joy and surprise I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. I had been wondering b/c a) our walks around the block had become quite tiring b) 30 day shred seemed as though I had an extra 20lbs to shred and I just had this feeling that before I fully enjoyed the fall selection of pumpkin ale I should take a little test...We were shocked. It was awsm. We went to the doctor and had several blood tests and everything is great. We are currently 14 weeks pregnant, due May 20 (one day after Parke's bday). We are going to find out the gender this time. I think I want to wait and Blake wants to know so we'll go with the finding out for a change around here. I was also a lot more sick with this baby. Well, a lot might be an overstatement seeing as though I never actually threw up. I dry heaved  A LOT though. It would start in the morning and end at night. Parke got to where he could imitate me quite well. I took naps with this baby too which I did not do with Parke. I started to feel the baby here and there around 11 weeks. I still don't feel the baby often and wish I did but I'm thankful for the times I do.

Amazing Miracle. Hello little one.
And here I am 14 weeks pregnant. Yes, some may say I look 20 weeks pregnant. You're right.



Second on the agenda would be Blake and I turning 30! Whoever thought we would be this old. We had a great celebration with our closest friends at Blake's favorite restaurant and then spent the night at a great hotel and did NOTHING! I didn't make the bed, I didn't clean up after anyone, I didn't get out of bed or even drive anywhere...nothing! It was perfect. We may have ordered just one more Sunday Sack Ice Cream treat at the end of the night and maybe 2 girls finished it off...me being one of them. Hey, only 30 once gotta live big. Ha. I'm not sure who has the entire group shot but I only have this one. Sweet friends.


I think a trip to Beaver's Bend would be our next big thing. It was so fun. Our entire community group including 8 adults and 6.5 kids stayed in a cabin for a weekend. The kids did great and so did the adults! We cooked dinner, played outside, made fires inside and out of the cabin and had great convo's. I was super tired by Saturday night but well worth it! Parke was exhausted too, he slept the entire 3.5 hours home that Sunday afternoon. I think we agreed we want to make it something we do every year. We just don't really get the chance for all of us to be together with all the kids unless it's a bday party. The weather turned out perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better time. Here are a few pic's from that w/end.

Parke made a tiny little hill a "slide" and would say weee as he went down.






And by the looks of those pictures you will see my little baby is growing up. He is now a big boy. He still loves to cuddle and read books but is also gaining his independence. I pray he does and gains confidence a long the way. Most days he still follows me around everywhere and we are little buddies all day long. I love his laugh, how "momma" has turned into "mommy", his toddler waddle, the way he says bye bye especially to his blanket/paci, the way he requests a story at breakfast and folds his hands to pray before a meal. He will try to repeat almost any word you ask him to. He says hi and bye to people in the grocery store and sometimes if he thinks no one is paying attention to him (b/c we are all here for him) he will say HIII...very loudly! Cracks me up. He chases his dad around the house and the other day tried to figure out how to do a push up just like daddy too. He calls macaroni "Roni" and still loves frozen blueberries. I make us a fruit/milk/protein shake a lot of days and put it in a special coffee mug for him. He thinks he is big stuff with that. He will also come running for his vitamins. He is such a joy and I plan to soak up these next 6mo. of it just being me and Parke before his little bro/sister happily join us. Here are some more pic's of my big boy!





That's all folks. My bed is calling my name. Until next month...or months....See ya.

9.22.2011

Hello!

I'm not sure where time has gone but it has done just that...gone. Parke is down to 1 nap and although I still have the same amount of "free time" accumulated into one nap it seems as though I can't get it all done. Seriously! Naturally, blogging has taken a back seat. Here are some pictures of what we have been up to. We've also recently joined BSF and we are enjoying it. Well, I hope Parke is enjoying it- he cries when I drop him off as always but is tear free when I pick him up! We are also enjoying this cooler weather and time with friends during the week.

It's been a while, which means Parke has grown a ton! We are exploring all sorts of things now and he did venture out and take his first steps right before he turned 16mo. He walks around holding one of my fingers all.the.time but just wouldn't let go. We finally gave him his blankie to hold onto instead and he braved the world of walking. Since then he still prefers to hold on to one of us.

A little photo gallery:

 This is his chair for watching baby signing times!

 Playing in the pool.

 Eating mud. I looked away for a second and that little bitty hold you see is his mud of joy!

 Ready, Set...Go


 Love this. All done momma...So proud!

Playing in the tunnel here at the house. 

7.26.2011

Must Make This

Last week as I prepared our menu for the next 2 weeks I went through my recipe box and was bored with everything I saw. So I went to my trusty Whole Foods website and picked out a few new recipes. I made this recipe last Friday night and it was DELICIOUS! Blake said it was excellent-woot-woot!

Here you go:

Picture courtesy of WF
Recipe Here:
Lebanese Style Grass Fed Ground Beef Kebabs

Be sure and make the Quinoa it also give you the recipe for! It will probably be enough for leftovers and you won't be sad you have them.