33

My parent's relationship is the very first example I have of a marriage. I don't remember much about when I was younger but as I've grown I've come to learn how (and how not) a good working relationship looks like. Being in a country where the divorce rate was is so high, I've drawn upon their past experiences to make better and informed decisions about my own. This is not to say that we do everything that they do/have done or that their relationship is perfect- but what it is, is filled with love, respect, and the definition of a partnership.

I pray that they will continue to grow in their relationship and continue to learn and be exemplary to others. I have often heard other people say they look up to my parent's relationship and that it a wonderful thing. So, I want to take a moment to wish my parents a Happy 33rd Anniversary!!!



  And they are coming to visit us this weekend- I am looking forward to it!  

It's a......!

For our first baby we decided (with lots of reluctance from hubby) to remain team green. I had a number of reasons for doing so- some of which included advice from others. I know they are well meaning as people tend to draw upon their own experiences when giving advice but sometimes advice is not what's needed. I also opted to remain team green because I had intentions of reusing a lots of baby items to reduce costs down the road. Therefore, gender neutral items mean we an reuse items and my future son wouldn't be swinging in a pink swing or vice versa. Of course the fact that we even have these items to begin with is a blessing but I'd rather it not look silly nonetheless.  As a result we have a ton of great items to reuse this time around.

I also liked the suspense of finding out who would be joining our family in the delivery room. And I quite honestly didn't understand the stand point of "I'm a planner so I need to know". There wasn't a single thing that I didn't have planned ahead of time before my son was born. Not one single thing. And I also liked seeing how many people would be wrong or right when guessing baby's gender. We had a pretty even split of guess the first time around but the reasoning as to why some people guessed one gender over another was pretty funny. Especially those who determine their guess by the way a woman "carries" her pregnancy. So far everything has been identical so those people would sure guess boy this time around, right?!

This time around almost no one guessed boy. I think people want the ideal "one of each gender" for every couple as they deem this to be perfect- but all logic and reasoning goes out the window when you already have a child. Suddenly everyone seems to root for the opposite sex.

My husband and I opted out of having a second baby shower. It's just against all etiquette rules, plus we were really good at saving things from our first baby. But I still wanted to do some pre-birth festivities for this one. I am a chronic picture taker and my son has tons and tons of "baby" books already, so when this one looks back on life before his or her arrival he or she might think that we weren't happy to welcome them into the family. Or maybe they won't care.

After mulling it over for a while and going back and forth between a few ideas, we decided that we would do a small gender reveal with close family and find out along side them. However, planning such a feat was proving to be a bit more than I bargained for. My wish list was as such:

- Have "everyone " be present: I didn't want them to find out via text, email, or social media. You needed to be there.
- Announce/find out in a way that presents well in pictures. Cause you know I'm a chronic picture taker and it looks cute on social media announcements.
- Not make it too big of a deal. While everyone was sooooo exited for us- I realize that we aren't the first couple to have a baby, nor do a gender reveal.

So here's what ended up happening. I chose a date that "everyone" was most likely to be available around a time when doctors can check for baby's sex via ultrasound. Once I could find I - I wanted to know. I certainly didn't want to outshine a holy day but Easter Sunday fit the bill. I would be 22 weeks and have had my anatomy scan two weeks prior. That gave me enough time to order what ever it was that I was going to order for the reveal. I didn't want to do balloons in a box because everyone does that now. There's nothing wrong with it but I just didn't want something overdone. Plus that would be harder to pull off without someone "knowing". Also, my family would be together for Easter dinner and that would be over half the crowd who needed to be there. I reached out to my mother & sister in law and they were able to make it! So it was on!

I will admit I wanted fancy decorations, a themed dessert table, and to have everyone make an official guess before doing the big reveal- but it just didn't work out that way. It wasn't cost effective and there would be some other stuff going on that weekend that would have prevented me from being able to do all of that. So I just went with it. I sent out e-invitations and set up a potluck style dinner. Everyone responded and signed up for a dish. Since my parents were hosting ( as she tends to do with holiday events) it helps her out for everyone to bring a dish rather than having her cook everything for 20 people.

After church, my cousin & I set up my son's Easter egg hunt while my husband and father helped my mom set up in the kitchen. Then after the food was prepped and set up  everyone joined us outside.

After my family teased me about how easy I made the hunt (I really under estimated him) they headed back inside to continue to set the table, seating, etc.I was so so excited I was absolutely no help otherwise. Slowly but surely the rest of the family began to arrive. We had to wait until my cousin got off work (at 3 pm) to get started and it seems like it took him forever to get there! He swore to me that he would be there by 3:30, so I was outside promptly at 3:30 waiting for him to turn the corner but nope. Not until about 45 minutes later. I thought I was gonna pass out. As soon as I saw the front bumper of his car turn the corner I made everyone head outside for the big reveal.

The weather wasn't terribly bad but it was a little chilly once the sun went behind the clouds. Also I opted to do this outside because I figured clean up would be easier (the verdict is still out on that one).

Then finally, the moment arrived- everyone was here, in place, and ready to find out. I was nervous and excited as all get out. I'm so excited to say IT'S A.....

I made a 15 second video of the moment we found out. Check it out! We are so happy to welcome a baby girl into our family!!!

Mother's Day 2015 recap

I always enjoy Mother's Day- even before I became a Mom myself. And since we are in the era of social media- it's always fun and sometimes emotional to see other's tributes to their mom. So many people have this overwhelming love for their mama. There are the few who do not but I find that even they have a mama figure that they choose to honor.


Somewhere along the line I began to view Mother's Day (and Father's Day too) as a weekend celebration. I can't be sure exactly when that started but my guess is that it started when I began to date my now husband, we wanted to spend time with his mama too! We had a wonderful compromise of spending the day before Mother's day with her and then Mother's Day with my mom. Unfortunately this year, due to work obligations we couldn't travel back home (well, we could have but it wouldn't have been 'worth it') so my parents & brother came to visit us! We FaceTime with them weekly but we hadn't seen them in person since Easter (5 weeks prior) and my son was really missing his grandparents. He talked about them all day in school telling everyone that they were coming to visit him. I don't know how they got him to take a nap at school! Imagine his joy when they arrived to actually pick him up from school! I wasn't there to see it but I've seen his reaction before and I bet it was priceless!

When they all got back home I was presented with the loveliest of Mother's Day projects from my son. I knew they had been working on them because his school notifies parents of the weekly lesson plan (and Mother's Day projects was on it) but they kept it a secret from us! I have all of my son's mother's day projects from when he first began going there (and will probably keep them all for the rest of my life) and this will be now different. His teacher's are a bit younger so I find that they put a 'pinterest spin' on a lot of their projects and I don't mind one bit. I'm a pinterest girl so I'm loving how they make a lot of these ideas come to life.

Love this! I'm currently looking for a shadow box to frame this in. 

This one makes me cry every time I read it. Every.Single.Time. Like I don't know what it says or something. But it's so true. One day I won't need to wipe away his little hands print from my walls or windows- I'm never wiping this one away. I bought a frame for this one too. I'm putting it up in my office at work until I have a bonafide home office of my own to hang it up in.

And they made these adorable cards- and signed their own names!

I have no idea how to frame this. Maybe just put it in a keepsake box?

My agenda for the weekend was as follows:
Friday night- my parents arrive so we stay in and have taco night
Saturday- sleep late, enjoy the weather, eat lots of grilled food. anxiously wait my brother's arrival
Sunday- enjoy a picnic at the apple orchard, sadly say goodbye


And it pretty much went like that! Last year, I felt like I was running around like a banshee trying to make sure everything was in order for the weekend and I was determined not to do that again. I put a reminder in my phone for one month in advance of Mother's Day but that still didn't stop me from forgetting some greeting cards. I usually don't do card store cards (there isn't anything wrong with them- they just tend not to say what I want them to) so it's essential that I prep in advance because not only do I "make" my own cards (via shutterfly) but I also have to account for shipping times too. Needless to say one card arrived late, and one not at all (my fault not theirs)- it's on it's way though along with an apology.

Hanging out by the fire pit

Unfortunately I don't have many pictures from Friday's taco night nor Saturday's festivities either. I spent most of that time enjoying everyone's company.

So fat forward to Sunday (which was actually Mother's Day) and well not quite everything went according to plan. I was really anxious about the picnic in the apple orchard. Earlier in the week, my husband devastated me with the news that it was supposed to rain all weekend. I was crushed. Throughout the week things kept looking up as he would check the weather forecast and the chance of rain kept getting lower and lower for Saturday (which turned out to be beautiful!) but the verdict was still out for Sunday. I went from being mad at my brother cause he wasn't going to be able to get in until late on Saturday to being mad at my husband for having to work Friday, to out right being mad. My mother's day picnic was ruined! I think it was part pregnancy hormones and part my planner personality but I had an at-ti-tude!

I think I did an okay job of hiding it though because I knew I shouldn't have been mad at anyone- not even Mother nature. The orchard actually had a back up plan for inclement weather that worked out great. Because of our timing we got there with enough time to spare without actually getting wet and was able to have our lunch without bothersome bugs. Then the skies cleared and you would have never thought it was raining 30 minutes prior. We took the opportunity to go on a tractor ride through the orchard. 

My son loved it of course! After that we took the opportunity to continue to enjoy the new found great weather. Much to my surprise the ground dried up really fast!

About a half dozen apple cider donuts, a bottle of hard cider, and a few hours later some more rain clouds started to roll in. So we packed it up and headed home. I was dreading this not only because it was the end of our picnic but because my family was going to be hitting the road soon too.

Not too long ago my mom gave me a bamboo plant to take home with me. I've always wanted to try my hand at growing bamboo. It's low maintenance and supposedly brings good luck. Well unfortunately, it might not have been low maintenance enough cause it bit the dust.And I feel awful about it- I got it from my mom and I couldn't even keep it alive, I mean really?!

Imagine my delight when I received a package on Saturday morning. I was in the bathroom getting ready and Buggy runs upstairs to tell me I have a package at the door. I figured his Dad put him up to it. I went to the door and nothing was there. Yep, my husband put him up to it and it didn't get translated properly.  About 15 minutes later I hear my husband ask "Did you get your package?!". My response was something about about son telling me I had a package but there wasn't anything at the door. So after going back to re-check I found it! I had to put it together (although I didn't mind one bit) but it was the most thoughtful and beautiful present...

Not one but two bamboo's! In the shape of hearts! One from each of my babies!! There must have been little invisible onions chopping ninjas in the room cause I began to have this watery substance in my eyes. I relocated this one (from where I had the last one) and now that I have instructions for the care of bamboo I'm making a promise to make this one thrive. My parent's and mother-in-law also gave me wonderful gifts which I truly appreciate. I plan to go shopping and relax with my gift cards. Gosh, they know me so well!


My mother and mother-in-law both liked their presents too. My only hope is that next year we all get to spend the holiday together again.

Birthday wishes for the Mister!

I have to take a moment to wish my better half a Happy Birthday!!! Sadly, I had to turn to the inter-webs for help on this one but it conveys the message that I want to tell.

"Your birthday means so much to me, it's the day when I must thank the Almighty,

 For bringing you into this world and introducing you to this here girl.

And in turn bless my life by designing me to be your companion and your wife!"

June 9, 2013

*this was supposed to go live yesterday but momma didn't get a chance to*

On this day two years ago my baby boy turned 21 months old. I know that isn't some sort of milestone number or anything but this picture popped up in my flashback photos for today and I had to share!

I took monthly photos of him on the ninth of every month up until he was about 2.  I wish I could've kept them up but on nights like tonight where it's raining and we've been at work & school all day, I don't he'd be up to it, I wouldn't have good lighting, and my house is a wreck so who wants to see that mess in the background?! 

I loved doing these pictures. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and we had just gotten back from church. The weather was gorgeous and we were clearly taking advantage of that. Buggy had always gotten a kick out of the self timer function on the camera and this was no different. We had so much fun being silly. Look at the joy in his face!

I think this qualifies as an official 'Take me back Tuesday' photo. Now only if that were a real thing!