Eight.

If ever there was a reason to have 8 kids it's because of this picture.

This is a picture of my Mom and her 7 siblings. I'm posting this today because it's my Grandma's 84th birthday. She's celebrating in Heaven and we miss her very much.

But this picture embodies all that she was and the family she created. My mom (front, middle) and her siblings have the most fun of any group of people I've ever been around. Add husbands, wives, kids, grand kids and now great-grand kids and you get one heck of a party when we all get together.

I can guarantee that we will never have 8 kids (or even half that) but some days I think of all the fun these guys have an contemplate it, but just for a second.

I hope into the future we can keep this fun going!

Happy birthday Grandma!

This pregnancy sponsored by.....

*Saltine Crackers
*Tums
*PSI anti-nausea bands

This pregnancy started off fairly similar to the first one. Tired, lack of energy, a little nausea in the morning.

But then at week 14, things took a turn for the worse. I've had horrible heart burn and morning sickness. Yuck!! I feel like all I've eaten for the past few weeks is saltine crackers and Tums and I'm over it. Plus, it's a whole different ball game when you have a 3 year old running around!

Which leads me to think it's a boy this time? We'll see in a few weeks!

And then there were 4......

For some reason the video isn't very clear here.

In case you didn't catch Presley's quick message..... we're expanding our family! We're happy, nervous, scared. All of the above. We've gotten pretty good at this "single child" thing. Now we're crossing into unfamiliar territory with the responsibility of not one but TWO little people. Yikes!

I'm sure we'll be fine, lots of people do it and succeed right?!

How does Presley feel about this? Well depending on the day, you'll get different answers. Some days she's excited to teach the baby things and share her toys. Other days, she says she will not give up her bed for the baby and doesn't want to name it! I'm sure once it's all said and done, she'll be an amazing big sister.

She'll get to practice a little in June when my younger sister has her first baby. I'm hoping this will help her ease in to the cousin role first, experience a newborn and then make the transition to big sister that much easier. Fingers crossed.

Baby Yearout #2.... coming in September! Stay tuned for more updates.

Pay it forward

Yesterday was a particularly trying day in the world of parenthood for me. Presley is really independent and stubborn right now and had a major meltdown in church.

After that, I needed a 5 minute break so I decided to head to Starbucks for a little pick-me-up.

I ordered my tasty treat and waited behind another car to pull up to the window. As I pulled up and got ready to hand my card to pay, the Barista told me "No need, the car in front paid for you. Have a great day!"


This totally caught me off guard but made my day. So glad to hear that there is still a little bit of good in the world. Thanks to the stranger in front for the yummy coffee!

I'll be sure to pay it forward when I have the chance.

Presley's first haircut

I finally bit the bullet last night and decided to have Presley's hair cut. For the longest time she didn't have any hair and it was really hard for me to decide to cut it once it finally did start growing!

But, it was turning into a mini-mullet and a rat's nest when she would wake up in the morning so I decided it was time.

My sister, Lindsey, has been begging me for a long time to cut it. She does this for a living so I decided Presley was in good hands!

Presley was actually pretty excited and was funny the whole time.

You can really tell that big of a difference, we just evened out the back. And of course I saved a few little curls for her baby book. One more step in the direction away from baby/toddler-hood towards being a big kid! Sad. :(

She held very still! 

Little chatterbox.

Update!

As always, I've fallen behind on this little blog of mine! Seems like I post, then months fly by and I just forget. Oh well. Here's a quick update of what we've been up to since my last post in May.

June:
This month came with a little anxiety as we knew it was when we were going to have to take Presley up to Kansas City to have surgery to repair her kidney. Long story short, all went well. It was a rough few days but she bounced back quickly! The rest of the month was spent laying low and making sure she was too active so she healed ok. (a task that was a little tricky with a 2 year old!)



July:
July came with new expectations but this time, it was of FUN to come. Matt and I snuck away for a weekend trip to Las Vegas. This was much needed and was had a blast!!

August:

We had a pretty low key month. Just hung out, did some swimming, house projects etc!  

September:

Stay tuned for more detailed updates!! 

The Beach!

We took a little family vacation down to Galveston, TX over Memorial Day weekend. Matt's Mom lives in Galveston.

She works at a resort there so we were able to score an awesome hotel room right on the beach. It was so much fun and Presley LOVED the beach and the water. She's still taking about it and whenever we say we're going somewhere now, she asks "to the beach??" 

Here are a few pics to recap the trip.

Building sand castles

Chillin' in her beach chair

On the beach with GiGi