Showering Baby Girl #3

Though she may be #3, she is still just as cherished, just as important, and has made her way into our hearts just as quickly as #1 and #2.

And while this story may seem cut and dry, a family expanding. It is anything but that. It is a story that took many years of God's timing and planning to unfold. To some, three children seems like a lot and for a family to make it there, may seem easy. This journey has been hilly, tricky, heart-breaking, sad and joyful. While we celebrate this sweet blessing, we also think about those that didn't get to meet the world here on earth, we celebrate those angel babies, their precious baby feet that get to run with Jesus. Those chubby baby arms that are waiting to greet their mama, daddy, and 3 sisters one day. Though we never saw their face, some day, we will get to be embraced by their smiles, their tender hearts.

Life. It's a blessing. Whether 1,2,3 or 4,5, and 6.

And that is why, we wanted to celebrate this life. This sweet babe, that we get to welcome earth side...some day real soon.

So we threw a shower. And made it all things girly and all things sweet My sister in law took charge of this one as I was not in a state of being able to plan and orchestrate. I was able to shoot ideas over via Pinterest and together we decided on a "Sweet" theme.

And nothing says, "sweet" like a dessert bar, paired with mint green, gold, and pink. We had way more desserts than was probably needed, but we tend to get carried away when it comes to food for showers. Plus, options are always nice to have. Especially when pregnant with your last.

And since the Mama happens to LOVE cheesecake, we made sure we didn't deprive. Elaine, my SIL made the most amazing and beautiful lemon cheesecake with a freshly made raspberry sauce.

And Shannon was responsible for the cute garland both on the cheesecake and on the wall.  Have I mentioned before how thankful I am that she likes to be crafty? I love that I can literally send her a link with instructions and she goes and just whips it up for me! saves me from having tissue paper torn to shreds, and stuck all over my fingers, while I sit in the middle of it crying. I do enough of that when I make my cupcakes. :)

Speaking of which, this is where the second cheesecake comes into play.....

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes.

My oh my, you almost were the last straw for me. The whole purpose of Strawberry cheesecake cupcakes is to make sure you put strawberries in them.....yeah, well....lets just say after this cupcake escapade Kyle actually told me that I should stop trying out new recipes for parties like this....that, I....ummm....stress myself out too much.

Who me?

Well, thankfully Kyle was able to convince me through sobbing tears, that I should just stick some strawberry pieces into the already poured batter and call it good. Well, because he has common sense, these cupcakes were saved. And they were good, and well worth tear fest.

If you want to make these delicious little bites, then head on over to here.

My mom made my all time favorite little cookie, and it was probably a good thing that I cant' handle much sweets, otherwise I probably would have plopped myself down and eaten every last one. They are that good! If you want the recipe let me know and I will get it from my mom. :)

She also was the baby whisperer for the shower. Miss Ellie, just didn't seem to be a big fan of so many new faces in her familiar surroundings. But put her in her Nana's arms and she did pretty well.

See? What did I say?  And look at those totally scrumptious cheekers and thighs....gah, I love baby cheeks!

That same baby whisperer also is known for her homemade pudding. It is seriously the best! And it just so happened to be the only thing Joy could keep down during her first pregnancy. So we thought it would be sentimental to include some in this shower, for memories sake. And make them all prettified, as my mom has a way to do.

Aren't they darling?

And then Trader Joe's was kind enough to start carrying pretty little things called macarons, they just so happen to be one of my weaknesses. (well, prior to this pregnancy) And Elaine finished off the spread with cream puffs....those, my tummy handled quite well....and I may have popped more in my mouth than I care to indulge.

Overall, it was such a wonderful time together with close family and friends. And I am so thankful, that while I couldn't be involved in every single aspect of planning, and made as much as I would have liked.....I still got to be there and share in my sister's joy. To rub her big ole belly, and celebrate the precious life inside.

And we got to give belly kisses, because we lucked out and were able to share in our last pregnancies, together, just as we always dreamed. God's timing, impeccable.

Can't wait to snuggle more baby cheeks in a few weeks, she will help tie me over until I have my own baby cheeks to snuggle all day (and probably all night....) 

Baby Girl,
We love you so much, you are so dear to your mom, your dad, your sisters and of course the whole rest of the family you inherit as you live on this earth. Because of you, your parents get to call their family complete. Because of you, there are smiles instead of tears. Because of you, there is hope, and love, and so much miracle wrapped up into your tiny little hands and tiny little feet. we love you so.

Please Feel free to grace us with your presence any time soon, real soon....your Auntie is getting impatient!

A belly at last

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that as of this morning (I know, I may be jumping the gun) I feel like I may be turning a corner. I actually woke up...quite early (thank you Cole), and my first thought was, I don't feel like I need to bolt to my zofran! Then in my head I decided I would try not taking one and see how it goes......

So far so good. (fingers and toes crossed)

With that being said, I'm going to take advantage of this greatness I'm feeling and whip up a little belly post. All while watching the Food Network, something I have had to avoid like the plague. Aaaah, this is lovely. It really is.

Sooooo.....

Truthfully, I was a bit surprised when I actually looked at this picture. Because in my own mind my belly appears to be much larger than what the picture shows. But whatever, there IS a bump and by the end of the day I swear it is 3x's larger than that picture. I even caught Kyle staring at it the other night, and he kept saying how he couldn't believe how pregnant I looked. He meant it in the sweetest way possible.

Alright, here we go with all the stats and stuff.

How far along: 12 weeks! We are almost peeking over at the 2nd trimester, so crazy...yet, I thought it would never get here!

Total weight gain: Not sure, I go in this week. But I'm guessing at least 3 or 4 lbs.

Maternity clothes: Nope, not yet. I can't stop buying stretchy maxi skirts though....so comfy!

Sleep: I am tired All.The.Time. I fall asleep at about 9:30 every night, on the couch, while trying to convince myself I can make it through my favorite shows. I haven't been taking naps during the day any longer though, so my energy level must be coming up some. I also have to say how incredibly thankful I am that I am not dealing with the horrid pregnancy insomnia I had while preggers with Bennett. I honestly don't think I would be able to survive on 1-2 hours of sleep a night.

Have you told family and friends: Absolutely! I am terrible at keeping secrets and can usually only hide it from FB until weeks 8.

Best moment this week: Not feeling like I needed to take my zofran...and then not regretting it (yet).

Food cravings: I have been on this tomato kick. And have been eating avocado, tomato, and cream cheese sandwiches sprinkled with salt and pepper. Sooooo good! I also crave anything fresh: peaches, apples, salads.  And lime Greek yogurt, it's the only yogurt I want to eat. Salt and Straw ice cream (see below)

Food Aversions: Sweets. :( With the one exception of Salt and Straw's Salted ice cream with caramel and their Toffee and salted ganache ice cream. It's a terrible terrible craving to have....
I also can't think about or smell cilantro. I was growing it and had to let it die because the boys kept picking it and the smell would be all over their hands...and I, would be running to the toilet. Oh, and cumin....same thing, can't smell it or look at it. Garlic and onions, stay away.

So cooking has been real fun around here. ;)

Have you started to show: Yes, I actually started having a little bump pretty much right away.

Gender predictions: Oh man, I go back and forth. I say maybe girl...just because this has been a polar opposite from my other two. But honestly, I just can't imagine having a girl...I know boys. I eat, breathe, and play with boys. It's what I know, what I love. So who knows. I am always wrong with my predictions, so probably just shouldn't make them.

Labor signs: Nope.

Happy or moody:  Well......

Looking forward to: making it completely past the icky part, and getting to know this sweet little baby more and more.

There you have it, my 12 weeks in a nutshell! Hopefully soon (within the next couple days) I will be able to get up the baby shower we just threw for my sister's third baby girl! It was so much fun, we sure are getting excited to meet all these new babies around here!

Famous last words.

Me: "Honey, I've been feeling really well the past couple days, I'm out of my Zofran.....I don't think I will refill it."
Kyle: "I really don't think that's a good idea....."

I even took the liberty to tell people that I thought I might be coming out of the sick-like-a-dog-all day morning sickness and was feeling pretty great.

I should know by now that I married a very smart and very right kind of man. How I wished I had heeded his caution when I was running to the toilet at 3 AM. And then again and again the next morning. And bless his heart, my husband, the one who warned me not to neglect getting my Zofran refilled, went and picked it up for me in the middle of his work day. Just so I could survive.

He's a good man, my husband.

I don't have any belly pictures, kind of slacking this time around. Hopefully once my Zofran gets back in my system I will feel like giving a smile to the camera. In the mean time I have pics of how we have been surviving.

It's taken a lot of creativity, a lot of (not so) understanding toddlers at times. But we are getting there. Day by day, little by little.

And some days required cookies. And I gave in, because it wasn't like I would be feeling like eating them myself any time soon. And then, this is the look I get after just one, "Bum more ooooeeee?"

So yes, I gave them one more.....survival mode folks.

But they were too cute, sitting outside munchin on their Joes-O's. Cookies on their mug. We may have dealt with the dreaded sugar spike and naughtiness later one, but it was fun for a few moments of me, with my feet up, avoiding the toilet.

Priceless.

And then some days, I managed to make it to the grocery store, and Cole, asked to pick out a watermelon. Sure, after all, I heard it was supposed to help with morning sickness.

It didn't.

But the boys enjoyed it outside in the beautiful sunshine. So I grabbed my camera, naturally. (P.S. this will be a dumping ground of pics for the past month....I'm playing catch up if you will.) Also, Cole has really been in to cheese ball posing....

They were sooo much fun to clean up, almost as much fun as after our rousing 4th of July we had.

We were kind of lame in the firework department. We both feel it is a waste of money to buy things that you just burn and blow up. However, we had a whole stock pile of sparklers that we had originally purchased for our wedding. But then were unable to use due to super dry weather we had that year.  They didn't seem to mind. Oh, and the lack of clothing in true patriotic spirit may have been due to the fact that I hadn't done laundry in like 3 weeks, and we were at the bottom of the barrel...which may explain the no pants on Cole...

Kyle was awesome (as usual) and set up a tent in the backyard, Cole had been begging us to "camp". We then had a "campfire" by lighting up a fire pit that had graciously been given to us, and the boys feasted on their first s'more and "camping" event ever. Oh, man oh man.

They.Were.A.Mess.

Oh, and for our dining pleasure, we upgraded our s'mores by using Lindt's salted dark chocolate. It was like a little heaven on earth. Fully, 100% recommend that one!

We then let them run and wrestle off their sugar before bed. We also were lame and put them to bed at their usual time, cranked up their sound machines and then promptly went to bed shortly after. Living it up true parent style.

Pictures courtesy of sugar spike.....

Geez, it really looks like we just load our kids up on sugar. Really, we don't. Promise. To prove it, here are some of my other survival (sugar-free) endeavors to try and give me a few moments of sipping seltzer water while both boys entertained themselves.

I got the bright idea to paint rocks.....Cole has been starting a "rock collection" and proudly displays them on our window ledge. There really is no rhyme or reason to his method of picking "cool" rocks. If it's a rock, it's in like Flinn. So I thought it would be fun to add some character to them. He thought it was a great idea.

Originally I was going to bake them and let them melt crayons all over, but visions of two little boys who may not follow the instruction "do not touch the hot rock" and I quickly moved on to plan B.

Paint.

If your in the market for cheap paint, check out Dollar Tree.....I don't go often, but when I do I stock up on their paint. I actually liked it better than the Melissa and Doug ones that I was getting, and you can't beat a buck.

They were both doing great, following rules, keeping the paint on their rocks.....well, Cole at least. Bennett started finger painting, and making hand prints.

And then went rogue.

Apparently the chair was more of a blank canvas than the rock.....and this activity, my friends, took more time to clean up than the actual doing. But they enjoyed themselves to say the least. And in the end, isn't that what really matters?

This next one is a fun one!

Since we have had a strong of really warm days, I try to keep the boys outside as much possible. And this is an activity we have done before, and will do it again. My favorite part is to watch Kyle's face when he see's the patio for the first time after "chalk painting". For a brief moment fear glimmers in is eyes, until I inform him that it is not permanent. :)

Double fisting, true Bennett fashion.

Not only is this a fun activity for their creativity, but it is also a fun way to teach them about making colors. Cole loved to help add the food coloring and watch new colors form. Another bonus, it could not be easier or cheaper to make!

Chalk Paint:

1 C. Water
1C. Cornstarch
Food Coloring
- Mix it all together and let them paint away, when it dries it will look like chalk. ( we prefer regular brushes opposed to sponge brushes, but you can do either)

And there you have it, a summary of life in a nutshell. WE are making it, we are surviving this first trimester. Though Cole may get slightly upset when I can't make it out the door to go "somewhere" before naps. We are getting creative and making do. Although, I have to say I seem to have some days with much more energy and we try and take full advantage. I'm hoping that sometime within the next couple weeks the light at the end of the morning sickness tunnel will be seen.

In the meantime we will continue to grow more and more in love with this sweet little babe inside. Speaking of baby. Cole had quite the revelation the other day about babies in tummies.....

Cole: "Mama?"
Me: "What honey?"
Cole: "When you were little and in my tummy......did you wear sunglasses?"
Me: ....... No........

Life. In a nutshell. Makes me smile.

(Hopefully I will be able to get my act together and get a bump update real soon!)