Pappy's 62nd Birthday

For Pappy's birthday we surprised him with lunch at Duck-In (one of his faves), then a shopping excursion to the Mast General Store.

Later, we had a party at Bab and Roc's house. Bab coordinated a smashing spread of foods. We had all of gis favorites- ribs, mac and cheese, salad, homemade rolls and raspberry butter, butter beans, corn and Mimi made his traditional German chocolate cake. I think he had a good birthday!

Pictured: Duck-In, Bab dressing up Lo at Mast General in some weird Halloween decor, Mast General decor, Pappy blowing out the candle.

Nana's Birthday

Bab, myself, and the kidlets all went and celebrated with Nana at the nursing home for her 83rd birthday.  She was having such a good day today too which was so nice to see.  She laughed and talked the whole time we were there.  Aunt Ri threw her a big party in the dining hall with all of the residents...we even sang happy birthday to her twice.

 Waiting for the party to start- the kids entertained themselves by using E's fake mustache as a uni-brow, mustache and beard on Lo.

 Reading a card aloud all by herself!  The kids "helped" her the whole time, they were so sweet.

 One of the only shots I have of Bab...why didn't I get some of her with Nana and her kids?  I could kick myself!  And since this isn't the most flattering picture of her...I'll add one of myself-

Me having a laughing fit. Bab was taking pictures with my camera that has a super bright flash, I'm pretty sure this one elderly resident thought that she was being struck by lightening every time the flash went off.  Bless her heart!

Mother's Day 2012

We had a wonderful Mother's Day this year.  People kept congratulating me on my first "official" Mother's Day.  Hubby got me a beautiful silver necklace with Lo's Monogram on the front and her birth date on the back which was such a sweet sentiment. I know that he put a lot of thought into the gift, and it is something I'll treasure and someday pass on to my baby girl.  We also got flowers, chocolates, cookies and muffins at church.  And to end off the day, a steak and crab leg dinner with the fam.

I was thinking about a few women in my life today that haven't had the opportunity to have children, knowing all too well that this is a difficult day for them and so many other women.  I remember Mother's Day last year being especially tough since it was on the heels of my miscarriage.  I was away from my family that day and was reminded over and over and over again that I wasn't a "real" mother.  People kept commenting at church about how I had no children or said things like "one day you'll be a mother".  I knew that they meant well and none of them had a clue that I had just suffered a great loss, but their words still stung.

My heart goes out to all of the women out there that have lost babies, are waiting to adopt or struggling with infertility. I truly believe that all women are mother's in some way- we mother our nieces and nephews, kids in the neighborhood, little ones at church. So to every woman out there I say- Happy Mother's Day!

Lo's Blessing

Miss Lo was blessed by her Daddy on April 22 at my parent's house with some of our family and friends in attendance.  It was a perfect day, we couldn't have asked for better.  Traditionally we Mormons bless our babies at church but we wanted to do it in a more intimate setting so everyone would feel comfortable.  Lo wore my blessing dress that my Mom made for me. 

We wanted to be sure that we had the right spirit when it came time to bless her so my sister gave the opening prayer, then my Dad said a few words, then Hubby blessed our girl with the most beautiful words and then my brother gave a closing prayer.  I think we succeeded because most of us were teary, it was a really sweet experience.

Three generations- me, Mimi and Lo

Aunt Heath

Babs and Roc with Miss Chunk

Hubby, Lo, myself and Juju

Our little family

Daddy's girl

The "Lion King" pose

Me and my little lady

Aunt Nell and Lo

The whole family

Ant, Kat and Baby P

Cliff and her mini me

Hubby, Lo, me, Shell and Captain

The best view of the dress and my funny Hubby.

Easter 2012

We had a really good Easter weekend. First, we celebrated Hubby's birthday on Saturday by having a barbecue with the fam. We had BBQ, collards, sweet potato soufflé, mac and cheese and chocolate ganache cake for dessert...all of Hubby's favorites! He, my Dad and the nieces and nephews had a nice day outdoors fishing and boating in the lake behind my parents house. I kept Babs company indoors while she cooked up the birthday feast. Later that day we went gun shopping and then to dinner at our favorite Greek place with some friends.

On Sunday we woke up to a home cooked breakfast by my Dad (we stayed at their place Saturday night). Then we all got on our Sunday best and headed out to church. This was Lo's first time at church so we only stayed for the first hour. It was a beautiful service, one of our dear friends (Kelc) gave a powerful talk about the Saviour and we were so glad that we went. We visited with friends after the service for awhile and then went back to my parents for lunch. Later that evening we went to Jas and Nell's for Easter dinner. We had a feast! Nell worked so hard at making everything perfect from the food to the decor. We had a wonderful time!

I should also mention that Miss Lo has so many dresses that I brought 3 outfit changes for Sunday...I ended up only doing 2 because one dress was still a little too big.

37 Weeks and Showered With Diapers

Well, here we are 37 weeks in.  At my appointment this week my doctor seemed alarmed at how big I was measuring.  Let's keep in mind that I have always measured 2 weeks small so this was quite a shock to hear.  I mean, my ribs have been feeling it but I'm a pretty small package to be carrying a baby anyhow.  The doctor sent me to ultrasound where we found out that our little lady is:

*Breech

*Big headed

*Weighing 7 lbs. 8 oz. according to the ultrasound tech, the doctor thinks she's at least 8 lbs.

*Stubborn, she refused to take her hands down from her face for a picture.

*Super Active- every technician has commented on how active this girl is.

So, it has been decided that a cesarean is the way to go and I can't say that I disagree.  I have felt like I would end up going the c-section route the entire pregnancy and was honestly relieved when the doctors suggested it.  I have a lot of factors working against me to go the other route.

 The new ward (church) that we are attending so generously offered to throw me a baby shower.  Since we have been so abundantly showered with gifts of every kind I asked that it be a diapers and wipes shower.  Up until the shower we had only been gifted one pack of diapers and one pack of wipes so we needed them.

 Here is a shot of the spread...well, some of it.  These ladies here really know how to throw a party.  Everything was beautiful.

 How precious are the napkins that were handmade for the shower?  I have never seen so much effort put in to a napkin before.

 We played some games, games that involved candy...you can't go wrong!

And at the end of the night this is some of the loot that I ended up with.  I am still overwhelmed by the generosity of so many people that barely know me.  We are loved!

The Shower

Well, the shower of the century was held a week ago.  It's been a whole week and I just got done washing clothes up to 6 months...we have clothes all the way up to 3T so I've got a ways to go.  The shower was awesome.  My family and friends truly outdid themselves and it showed.  The theme was "She's Ready To Pop" so there were lots of poppies, popcorn, and other pop related food items.  We had baby fruit pizzas, poppy seed salad, ham delights, caprese pops, fruit bouquets, mini chocolate brownie trifles, spinach dip and much more.

The day before the shower my sister and sister-in-law went and deep cleaned my parents house, rearranged furniture and got the kitchen cleared out and ready to go for food prep.  The evening before the shower my sister, BFF Heath, Hubby and I set out decorations and attempted brownie pops...epic fail!  Heath left after midnight and the rest of us had a big sleepover at my parents house.

Heath is ballin'!  The master of the tulle balls and photographer extraordinaire the night before the shower.

 The morning of the shower we woke up early to get ourselves showered and primped for the big day.  Everyone came early to eat breakfast together and to start getting all of the food items prepped and plated.

Making lemonade out of lemons, well...trifles out of failed brownie pops.

Meanwhile, the nieces tried their very best to help but there wasn't much that little girls could do.  They finally all decided to go outside to play and later came in to do a trial run of bringing me presents like it was a relay race.

Kiki showing off the shower outfit that all 4 of my nieces wore.

They also did a little quality control with the popcorn bar.  We had all kinds of gourmet popcorn that included peanut butter and chocolate, caramel, cheddar, butter and the crowd favorite "pinkalicious".  It was a fruity popcorn that was hot pink to go with the pink, yellow and orange color scheme.

Lou helping herself to the popcorn bar.


Then before we knew it, it was time to get the party started.  People started coming by about 30 minutes prior to the start of the shower to drop off gifts.  I think someone said that there was about 50 people in attendance.  All I know is, there were a ton of people!  I tried to speak with everyone, but with only 2 hours to do it in I'm sure I failed.  I was able to mingle for about 30 minutes before present opening, then I did the present thing for an hour and a half.

Munchie and I posing with the "baby prom dress" that she picked out especially for Miss Lo.

 All of the nieces and nephews picked out and wrapped present for our little lady.  Kiki and Lou gave her a precious lady bug ensemble from Gymboree, E and J Man gave her toys, Munch gave her the baby prom dress and Gigi gave her a faux fur blanket.


Hair bow jail!  An amazingly talented woman made all of these for my girl...love it!

 We got so many awesome gifts but this is one of my favorites...look at all of the hair accessories!  Aside from these I think we were gifted at least 30 headbands.  She will definitely be well dressed.

Custom nursery bedding made by my Mom.


My Mom is an amazingly talented seamstress. Not only does she sew but she also smocks.  She made all of the bedding for Lo's nursery.  This is the quilt and the bumper pads that she made.  I will post pictures of the nursery soon.

This picture cracks me up, it was taken after all of the guests had gone.  Check out my ankle socks!

Me, Babs and Nell.  I am exhausted just thinking about all of the hard work that these ladies put in to the shower.  Hubby and I feel so loved. We are continually amazed by the outpouring of love for our little girl.  She has so many people that are anxiously anticipating her arrival.  And when she gets here, we will change her clothes 10 times a day so we can get good use out of all of the outfits!