Praise God for grandparents. Matt and I are both blessed with wonderful parents that love our little girls SO well. A week after Reese was born, my parents visited for a few days. Theee hardest goodbye I've had in a long time (I'm still getting choked up over here) but we had a really great time with them. Any tips on how to talk your mom & dad into moving to Florida are greatly appreciated.

Here are a few little photos of our week:


Farmers Market...Emery's about to get her fruit fix.

Swinging.

Sliding.

Tic Tac Toe.

We miss you guys!

Sister, Sister

Today is our first day home - just us girls. Thanks to a pretty great husband, I got a nice chunk of sleep last night.. so today isn't as scary as I was anticipating. Reese likes to sleep all day. I tried keeping her awake as long as I could...but that lasted about 23 minutes. I've been meaning to take more photos of the two of them together, but I've been meaning to do a lot of things that I haven't in the past few days. Oh well. :)

**Dora was on TV.  Notice the distracted gaze in a few photos.**

Such sweet little girls.

Reese Olivia

I'm not much of a "read my entire baby story" kind of girl...but here's a bit of what our experience looked like. :)

I was induced again this time. We checked into the hospital on the evening of Tuesday, January 31st. And yes, I had an epidural. I wouldn't be surprised if they serve pitocin in hell.

On Wednesday, February 1st at 1:01pm, Reese Olivia arrived. 8 lbs 12 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. I still can't believe I had an 8 lb baby. I though for sure she was going to be smaller than Emery was (7 lbs 10 oz). I was wrong.

Of all the people there, I was excited for Emery to meet her sister the most. I wish I could say how excited Emery was, too...but she was way more concerned with consuming the graham crackers I had next to me.

I CANNOT BELIEVE WE HAVE TWO CHILDREN.

Emery was able to visit a few times. Each time she was distracted by other things.. like trying on that newborn hat.

We were in the hospital for 48 hours - almost to the minute! A much faster experience than our 5 days with Emery.

Learning how to survive on little sleep again. It's a whole lot different with two. But we are so blessed.

Sometimes you feel like a duck...

I typed that while humming the Almond Joy song in my head. They definitely don't say duck. But it still works.


I waddle now. I'm slow. My arms have a noticeable swing to them when I walk/teeter totter. I'm just big.

I have to physically SIT UP in bed in order to turn over from one side to the other. Let's not even talk about how many times I get up in the middle of the night.. and how each time is a  c h o r e.

I am quickly running out of clothing options.. I may or may not rotate 3 outfits a week. Yep.

It's funny how much you forget. I don't remember any much of this with Emery. I do recall the temperature being 95 degrees and dripping with humidity in August. I do remember gaining 40 pounds. But I don't remember being so uncomfortable. Pregnancy is wonderful. I love being pregnant. But praise God, it is short lived. I'm sure I'll soon forget my physical state with this pregnancy as well - and then we'll have another. Surely that's why the Duggar's have twenty kids?

[we are not having twenty kids. who knows if we'll even have 3 kids, thank you very much.]

I'm counting on having 2 babies by this time next week - which means this is our last weekend as a family of three. Ah!

I used to update about Emery monthly. Once she hit a year old, I started slacking. But she is doing SO MUCH right now.

First of all, she continues to mimic anything and everything she sees. She covers her mouth when she coughs. She blows her nose using a kleenex. She shakes out the laundry if they're wrinkly from leaving them in the dryer too long. And her biggest, most hilarious imitation that has turned into quite the task for us during mealtime?

She loves to dip her food. Chicken tenders in ketchup. Pancakes in syrup. Crackers in water. The girl will dip anything in anything. I've tried to get creative, as she eats really well if given something to dip her breakfast, lunch, and dinner in. I'm half-tempted to start pureeing some veggies for her to "dip" in :)

She really enjoys brushing her teeth with her dad..

We've been enjoying these last few weeks with just one baby. Trying to give Emery as much attention and affection as we can while she's still an only child. This past weekend, we visited the playground & she got to spend time with her two favorite things: daddy & the swing.

and last but certainly not least...she's developing her own sense of style. That's all I really need to say.

Grateful for you and your joy, baby girl.

Emery's New Room

I am officially back in the decorating spirit. After being too exhausted (to say the least) to even think about doing any new projects around the house, I've been itching to start something new. The holidays are over, and though we're waiting on the arrival of another little baby within the next month, I can't sit still! Thankful for the energy and motivation...I just need to decide what I want to do!

We've talked about redoing the guest room - which will become Emery's new room once the new baby is here and sleeping in her own crib. We're leaving the current nursery the same...it's all set for a little baby girl already! (Plus, we put up flowery wall decals in there [which were pretty costly and time consuming] and I'm too afraid to ask Matt to take them down just yet ;) )

I've been pinteresting away...trying to look for the right wall color & decor. I've never really been a huge fan of pink. Emery has changed my mind a little...but I'm still very picky (too picky, my mother would say) in what kinds of colors I even let her WEAR. Anyways...I am really liking a soft pink these days. Here are a few of my favorites:

Those stripes are growing on me.

I want every single paper doll picture!!

Really like those peach curtains.

Do you not LOVE that tree branch curtain rod???

I'm excited to figure it all out. There are so many great ideas...and I feel like this will be the last room of hers where I actually have some input. Taking advantage of it!

Well, I kept to my word - sort of. I've taken only 3 belly photos of my own...but did manage to get a few extra nice ones in with my friend Toni. She is a gem.

5 more weeks!