Pre - Whitt's Arrival

We celebrated Daddy's 32nd birthday the Monday after Easter.  The girls insisted that he have balloons, so I let them pick them out.  He got a Mickey Mouse and a red star.  

I took maternity leave from teaching AWANA on Wednesday nights since Spring Break.  It gave me a break, and also afforded us some alone time with Annabel since Adeline was still attending AWANA.  One of those nights we sprung for some sno-cones.  Don't tell Adeline!

Daddy spent a lot of time taking the girls fun places like this so I could rest toward the end of my pregnancy.

We spent one Saturday morning watching Peter Pan and doing our nails.

Then later on that day we took the girls bowling for the first time.  Unbeknownst to us it was our last fun family outing before adding Whitt.

I love sweet linen dresses.  I found these both at consignment stores.  Pink is their color.

That Sunday afternoon, Adeline and I attended Jamie's bridal shower.  Adeline refused to smile for the camera.

That evening, Adeline's pre-school choir performed at church.

Annabel is fairly easy-going most of the time, but she has displayed some two year old behavior here and there lately.  This was a text from her teacher at school one day.

The last week of April was pre-recital week for dance.  We had practice almost every day that week.

And one morning the girls and I went to the library for story & craft time.  They were most impressed with the snacks.

Annabel helping me with the weekly pose.  She's holding up two fingers because we thought it was going to be two weeks before Whitt's arrival.  However, it turns out that it was really two fingers for two DAYS!

Shannon and her kids came over to play one morning.

More dance practice pictures..

And Whitt's high-chair arrived that Friday night.  When you've done the whole parenting thing before, you become really picky about certain baby products.  The high-chair was my thing this time. I wanted one that the cushion was either all hard plastic, therefore easy to wipe, or could easily be removed and tossed in the washing machine.  You wouldn't believe how disgusting a high-chair seat cushion can get.  I also wanted it to have wheels on it because we roll it from the kitchen to the dining room and sometimes into the living room.  I also wanted the tray to be able to fit in the dishwasher.  I started searching for this holy grail of high-chairs as soon as I knew I was pregnant.  Finally, finally found one on Zulily a few weeks ago.  I'm so happy with it.  I know it'll be a while before Whitt uses it, but I think it's going to be perfect.  It's a Zuma brand.

The girls tested it out on all their babies.  (It's adjustable height which I also wanted since our dining table is pub-height while our kitchen table is a standard table.)

And those are the occurrences before Whitt's arrival!  He came the following day, on May 3.  Those details coming soon....

Easter Weekend

We started off our Good Friday with visiting our friends at a local nursing home.

Annabel is telling the lady here that her bucket is empty and she doesn't have anything for her.

Since Easter fell so close to my due date this year, our family was sweet enough to come to us, rather than us travel to Texas.  What a blessing!  We got to go out to eat with my parents and cousin Kasey on Friday, then Kasey and the girls got to swim in the indoor pool at the hotel.  I found these suits at Walmart and I'm pretty sure they're the only ones my girls will want to wear this summer.

I asked my dad several months ago if he'd build a shelf to hang above Whitt's dresser.  Anyone who knows my dad, knows he's a perfectionist, and he didn't disappoint when it came to this shelf.  It's probably the nicest piece of furniture we now own.  I know only a carpenter would appreciate what went into this, but y'all, it's awesome.  I still need to find a few things to put in it and on top of it, but this wall is pretty much done, now as well.  (That's an antique tool box my dad bought Whitt sitting on the very top.)

The print hanging on this wall is a prayer I've been praying over Whitt pretty much since I found out he's a boy.  It says, "Lord, let Whitt grow into a mature man whose stature is measured by Christ's fullness."  It comes from a passage in Ephesians chapter 4.  The Holy Spirit fell all over me one morning in my quiet time as I was praying for my children and I just knew this was the life verse for Whitt.

The girls received one of the most exciting pieces of mail we've ever gotten on Saturday.  It was an Easter basket full of goodies with a note from our dear Ms. Kalee asking them to be flower girls in her wedding!  We are so excited!!!

Saturday night we celebrated Jon's, Shane's, and Emil's birthdays at Shane & Juliet's house, but I didn't take any pictures.  It was such a nice night with our families, enjoying bbq on their deck.

Easter morning the girls were surprised with their Easter baskets.  And I realize that the background of this photo is very "keeping it real."  Don't judge.

And now we're all put together like the picture-perfect family we always are...hah! (extreme sarcasm there)

And after church, everyone came to our house for lunch and an egg hunt!

Sweet little cousin Margot.  We wish she didn't live all the way in Dallas!

Murry Bell excited about her finds!

And we deemed Annabel the hands-down winner of the egg hunt.  She was so proud of herself.

Juliet brought some fun confetti eggs.  Adeline had a blast cracking them over her Nana's head.

Uncle Emil pushing two of his nieces on the swings.

Annabel showing her grandparents how she can climb the rock wall.

And Happy doing more swinging..

Everyone left to go back home after egg hunting, and we all took a nap.  When the girls got up, we finally got around to dyeing eggs.  The weekend had been so busy we had never gotten a chance until this point.  I found these cool egg holders at the Dollar Tree.

What a fun weekend!  We are so blessed with such a loving family, but even more blessed by our loving God who sent His Son to die for our sins!  Wow!  How awesome is that?

Early April Happenings

Even though every day seems to drag on as we wait for Whitt's arrival, when I look back, April has really flown by.

Annabel has decided that not just crown tattoos go on your forehead.  Thankfully they wash off easily!

The girls were playing dress-up one evening and I told them to pick out what they wanted to wear to supper.  This was Adeline's choice of dinner attire.

Annabel had her first trip to the dentist.  She was a pro!  Both girls got good reports.  No cavities!

I found these great divided paint cups on pinterest and just had to have them.  They're a hit!

We had a "check us out" day at church where we were supposed to wear checks and tweet or instagram a photo of ourselves wearing checks as a way to get the word out to visit our church for Easter.  I love participating in all that kind of stuff.  I'm that girl who dressed up for every single Red Ribbon or Spirit Week or Homecoming, etc in school.  I'm pretty sure this was the first time in Jon's life he ever participated in anything like that.  I know he loves me for it.  :)

One day Adeline said, "What are those lines on my forehead?"  I told her they were wrinkles and showed her how mine did that, too.  She said, "why do you have more than me?"

I finished the crib wall in Whitt's room one Monday while the girls were at KDO.  My sweet friend, Amanda got me the print I hung by the rocking chair.  The last paragraph of the poem says, "Cleaning & scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow, for babies grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.  So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep.  I'm rocking my baby, as babies don't keep."  I definitely get that more than I ever imagined when I was pregnant with Adeline, so I just had to have this sweet poem in Whitt's nursery.  I still can't read it without tearing up.

One day my girls shut themselves in their bathroom and Adeline yelled, "we made a big mess in here, but we don't want you to see.  You can come in when we get it all cleaned up."  Y'all!  I could have just melted.  I pray every day that God will use her sweet sweet spirit to glorify Him and bless others.

One evening Cousin Murry came to play because both her parents had work stuff.  Juliet hadn't been gone five minutes before we had her dressed like a princess and posing for pictures.  Although she doesn't look super thrilled here, she really did enjoy it.

We've had some beautiful days this month, so we've spent a lot of time outdoors.

Little Miss Independent helped herself to some jelly beans, her milk, and her bible one morning.  I love it!

Adeline loves napping with Mommy's big pillow.

My small group girls had a little "sprinkle" for Whitt and me one night at Chuy's.  This is the only picture I got, but it was such a fun night!

We've had several picnic & park play dates this month, as well.

This particular play date wore this little one out.

And here I am at 35 weeks outgrowing my maternity clothes.

My little cuties all decked out for their Easter parties at school.  (It was like 36 degrees this particular day.)

I got their big sister gifts for the hospital all wrapped and ready to go.  I can't wait to give them to them!

She wakes up with her hair almost exactly like this every single morning.

One day, about an hour after I put her down for a nap, I caught this girl playing on an old iPhone.  I asked her why she wasn't sleeping and why she'd gotten the phone without permission.  Her response was, "I came in the living room to ask you, but you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you up, so I got the phone and played quietly.  I tried to go to sleep, but somedays it's just hard hard hard for me to take a nap."  Once again, melt my heart!  She got a cookie for a reward.

One night Annabel kept asking to eat supper.  I told her we had to wait until Daddy was home.  She ran to the dollhouse, came back with this, and said, "this daddy here, let's eat!"

Adeline helping me count down....4 more weeks to go (at the point of this photo).

We are all so ready to meet Whitt!  Come on, May!