faye louise

our beautiful daughter has finally made her way into
our world... and we couldn't be any happier!

she was born on the 20th at 8:07pm
she weighed 8lbs. 10oz. and was 19in.

i was induced at the hospital. far from having
the natural homebirth i had planned for but
we had the most amazing birth experience
that i cannot think of anything better.

we are so blessed that faye is healthy and doing
well. very well. she is so sweet and calm.
she's made the perfect addition to our family.

we love you faye louise!

entry #163

hmmmm... what am i thankful for today?

1. getting some gifts made up

2. sloppy joes

3. pb cup ice cream

4. getting stuff done that i didn't even care
to get done before baby comes. i'm sure
today will hold even more of that nonsense.

5. cinnamon sugar toast this morning

yes 3 of these are food related but my life
is pretty basic waiting for labor...

entry #161 - #162

Today I am thankful to be where I am in my life....

1. a wonderful unexpected dinner night with
our children at one of our favorite restaurants.
we were supposed to go to a birthday party but
my hubby took the wrong exit and was going to
take an hour to get to our destination.

2. putting together a cute outfit for church. this
is a big deal when you're VERY pregnant. makes
you feel way better!

3. getting great sleep lately. i'm not used to it
so it's leaving me feeling tired(er)

4. getting a bunch of junk groceries and easy meals
to last us this week in case labor were
actually to produce a baby.

5. finally (after months) enjoying a starbucks
hot drink. by that i mean i didn't feel the
need to throw up or take a heartburn pill
from the indigestion hot drinks cause me.

6. getting a day with my hubby yesterday
to have him at home for my last pre-natal
check-up and membrane stripping
and acupuncture appointment. i was
nervous and emotional and had way
too high of expectations for these
possible labor starters....

7. having a late night chat with my hubby
about life and the meaning of our baby's
name and strange people we use to know
and people's opinions and silly ideas of what
age is appropriate for having children. and
how much we love our life....

8. getting my very tiny to-do list done

9. all of us on the couch last night. me
holding a sleeping Liam and Jess playing
computer games with Olivia.
i love the quiet moments.

10. finding out about more precious babies
to be born in June and July!

entry #160

today i am gathering encouragement from
taking a notice in my blessings....

1. having contractions even if they are annoyingly
slow to progress because i know they are bringing me
closer to having my baby.

2. getting some time tonight with my husband
to re-group. thank you to my in-laws. i'm sure
you've been missing some time with the kids
anyways. :) (my brother-in-laws and
mother-in-law have been on the road)

3. getting wonderful sleep last night. still had 3
bathroom trips that when walking up and down
the stairs made me feel like i'd been riding a horse
for my whole life. but still i didn't wake up with
heartburn or restless legs. it's as close as i can get
to the blissful non-pregnant sleep.

4. finishing up some gifts so i won't have to worry
about it during the first weeks of having a newborn.

5. getting thankyou's sent out in no time today
and laughing to myself that my to-do list for the
day was so incredibly small that i added 'have a baby'
just for the heck of it.

entry #158 - #159

i am counting my blessings today no
matter how small they may seem...

1. Getting out of the house on Tuesday with my little man
while Olivia hung out with my mom. It's fun to just focus
on one of your children at a time, at times.

2. Our neighbors across the street blessing us with an
unexpected meal to relieve the stress around having
a new baby and trying to cook meals. Although baby
isn't here, it is still much appreciated and got put
into the freezer for when she is here and
when we need to eat.

3. My hubby getting his big project at work done so
he won't be distracted while enjoying our new baby.

4. Accidentally making too much chicken pot pie
the other night that has fed our family for 3 nights
in a row and some lunches. It's sooo yummy.
And I haven't had to cook!

5. Getting out of the house again yesterday to go
shopping with my mom and sister.

6. Finding skinny clothes with a good deal thanks to
my mom's coupons. Can't wait to wear them!

7. My sister buying me boots unexpectedly. She knew
I was hesitant to spend any more money on myself.
Thank you soooo much Jen!

8. My mom buying Faye some adorable clothes. Her and
my sister have been so wonderful with buying the
cutest stuff! It's been a huge blessing.

9. Getting a couple more hours with my little man
and going on a long long walk with him. It helped
get the baby to drop more!

10. Waking up to sunshine this morning and my
children playing in our bed under our covers.
I love when they make me smile just by being the
cute kids that they are.

entry #157

Dear crazy hormones,

Thank you for only visiting me once thus far. Let's not
do that again. Good thing I have a husband that can
talk me off the crazy ledge and to think normal again.
(i was beginning to curse my choice of having an all
natural homebirth because at this point, with an OB, I'd
be induced and finally holding my precious baby. Oh,
and I was convinced that God wasn't listening to me
and didn't understand my urgency in being done)
All is well now!
Unless I'm still pregnant for Thanksgiving....

Dear Amy,

Thank you for watching our kids on Friday night
so we could go out and finish shopping for the baby.
Our kids love you and we really appreciate it!

Dear Lord,

Thank you for speaking louder then my
emotions. In the midst of the crazy I always
feel that I have two options. To give in or
to trust You. Thankfully I've been trusting
You the majority of the time. It's making the
end of this pregnancy more bearable for me
and my family. They thank You too!

Dear Children,

Thank you for keeping us laughing all weekend
long. I had so much fun on our walk and hanging
out with you guys. You're pretty cool kids!

Dear Husband,

Thank you for being so loving when I'm not so loving.
Thank you for being willing to go out and get all my
crazy strong cravings at any hour.
You're a great husband.
Oh, and the yard looks wonderful. Thank you!

entry #156

Dear Husband,

Thank you for holding me last night while I cried in pain.
You are a great comfort. Even when you laugh at me when
I'm laughing/crying at myself because of my humorous
maneuvers to stop the pain. I know we'll make the most
interesting team during labor.
(be prepared brande and malory,
it's gonna be funny. it's ok to laugh)

Thank you for the last 7 years. We have learned
so much from eachother and we have a deeper love
for eachother then I could have ever imagined.

It was sweet to think back to that night of card playing,
chaperoned by your brother, that we decided to
start dating. You asked me when and I wrote down the date
on a piece of paper and handed it to you that night. I was
ready to date you and get smothered by unfamiliar love.
So glad I did even though it was a little strange
at first because I'd known you for so long. I just never
would have guessed that you were 'the one' all those years!

Life is pretty great right now. We're about to
have our 3rd child and we're homeowners now. Imagine that.
And we have 5 and a half years of marriage under our belts.
I'm pretty stoked to see what's in store for us.
I love you and I mean every bit of what
loving you entails.
(minus your snoring, slouthlyness , and eating noises)

Dear Children,

Thank you for being our's and for gracing our lives.
We are better people because of you. You are such huge
blessings that I couldn't imagine not
having had you. Life would be pretty dull. I love you!

Dear heartburn pills,

Thank you for getting me through the past couple
months and ecspecially the past couple of weeks
that have been rough. Soon we will part our ways.
You served me well. I will not chew another
terrible tums.

Dear National City,

Thank you for rewarding us with the points system.
It's great when you forget you have them for almost a
year to discover that you can get 50$ in target giftcards.
They will be well spent tonight as we venture out
to pick up some last minute things
for baby. Every little bit helps!

Dear God regarding my body,

Thank you for carrying me through my life thus
far and for giving me 2 healthy babies. I am trusting in my body
and YOU to know what you're doing with this 3rd
one. I am getting a bit stretched for my taste
and I am nervous about the size of the shoulders I can feel in
my pelvis but I trust you know what you're doing. I
am surprisingly calm and at peace.
(except when a little head feels like a knife jabbing it's way out
at unexpected times)
During the nights of complete discomfort and agony
I cry out and find peace in YOU and that
all will be taken care of. Thank you.

happy birthday!

a few pictures from our celebrations yesterday....

he got train tracks from my sister and
we got him the remote controlled train.
he's loving it!

the kids helping daddy work from home.
my hip was out and i couldn't walk on it
so he worked from home. it worked out
wonderfully. he claims he gets lots done!

we ea. made our own pizzas.
it was a huge hit with the kids!

after dinner we got starbucks and a bunch
of junk food and came home to watch a movie...

we ♥ you stinkerboo!

Liam Kingston

2 years ago you entered our world and our hearts

as soon as i saw you, i fell in love
a special love that only a mother and son share
you were such a great baby and you
are such a great toddler

you bring so much joy to our family
i love your personality
the ornery and the sweet

you are a special little guy and i
couldn't imagine our lives without you

i never thought i'd actually get a boy seeing
that most of the children born to my side of
the family are girls. (until now) but i always
desperately wanted a little boy.

and now i have you.
blonde hair, blue eyes, and way cuter then
i had ever imagined (that goes for your sissy too)

i love your knock knock joke about bananas
i love how you get so excited over the little things
i love that you still love to snuggle with me
i love your pucker when you give out kisses
i love when you try so hard to tell us something
i love when you try to dance
i love that you love music so much

i ♥ you

our world is a better place with you in it

entry #153

today i am thankful for....

1. my husband sleeping on the couch so we both
could get a good nights sleep. and for him trying to
put liam back to sleep after he woke up screaming.

2. my midwife coming to my house yesterday for
my check-up.

3. the beautiful weather we're having. now i just
need to find the energy to take the kids out to play.

4. my morning snuggles with my son while he eats
his marshmallow cereal and watches tv

5. my kids peacefully playing 'beach' together
at the moment. i hope i don't jinx myself.

entry #151 - #152

1. getting all of our to-do list done before baby arrives.
the list will grow again once i've recovered. we still
have to go out and get a few things from the store but
that's the fun stuff!

2. my husband getting the front hedges trimmed. he did
a lovely job.

3. all of the wonderful family and friends we have that
showed up to celebrate our son's birthday. it was
heartwarming. plus i'm pretty sentimental these
days.

4. my mom and little sister coming and cleaning our whole
house while i baked all the goodies for the party. it was
so wonderful to not worry about doing it all.

5. food. i really like food right now.

6. the fact that november is upon us and
we're 24 days away from one of my favorite
holidays and 52 days till christmas!

7. the sun shining through our windows this morning.
it makes it so much easier to wake up.

8. our heating bills staying low so far with all the
times we had to turn it on this past month

9. having our first trick-or-treaters as married people.
silly i know. but i just feel so adult now.

10. christmas commercials and movies

our 'wild' halloween...

this year we celebrated our son's 2nd birthday on halloween.
it worked out wonderfully since we never do much on
halloween anyways. as most of our family and friends
cause we had a full house!
we took our kids trick-or-treating
before things got underway. they had lots of fun. liam
didn't quite understand and wanted to give people candy at
their doors.

the theme was 'where the wild things are'.
i posted earlier about his costume. it turned out perfectly!

liam didn't understand the gift opening thing and
had his sissy help him. it was cute. he keeps asking us
if all these new toys are his. it's keeping him very occupied
so thank you everyone!

here are my pictures from the evening!

the invite my hubby created and we printed off ourselves

our wild thing

our belle

all the goodies i made

these cupcakes were time consuming
so there were only 7 of ea. with actual faces.
hubby stepped in and made the pictures for the
toothpick sticks.


i made the banner just out of paper and yarn



and that is all i snapped. we did get more on video
once the party started and i'm sure my mom got
some great pictures. i'll have to get them from her
and post them here.



i should mention that i got the idea for the party theme from
party perfect and the cupcake idea from craft magazine blog.