My "Lily" Moments

I thought getting pregnant again would wipe the slate clean. Not wipe her memory away completely, but I thought it would feel more like a fresh start. Instead, being pregnant again just feels like a constant reminder of what we lost.

 

When someone asks which number this new baby would be, I think about them, especially her. When I look on Facebook, it seems like there are always stories of miscarriages, or babies who made miraculous recoveries because their mothers held them. I feel like I'm thinking about her all the time. I just can't shake it.

 

I don't feel depressed, but there's always this feeling, a heaviness, that I thought would have gone away by now. I know time will continue to temper those feelings. I know they'll come and go, but right now, they're here. And I guess I'm just a little surprised, because I thought the new pregnancy would be one of those times that the sadness went away.

 

 

Little Bits Of Everything

Today was a rare day when I actually remembered to take pictures of normal life. Nothing too exciting happened, but sometimes I like to just write down what we did throughout our day. To remember the little things.

 

 

My project for the day...hanging our new coffee mugs under the counter. During our move, our old coffee maker broke, and we never bothered to replace it. Steve drinks coffee, but when he's at home, he tends to like his coffee "fancy", so he has his own espresso machine.

 

We realized, though, that when people come over, lots of people like coffee! Okay, my story's going way too long...so, basically, we bought a new coffee machine, and I got to buy new mugs! (Yes, we were, like, the only Americans who didn't own coffee cups. Although, technically, we owned a few, but they didn't match, so I needed new ones. Yes, I know that I have control issues...)

 

The mugs didn't fit in the cupboards, and since they were so simple and pretty, I decided to hang them under the cupboard. I love them!

Steve and I keep talking about how we need to start measuring the girls for fun. Today, we started!

 

Evelyn was very excited and proud to stand against the wall after Bella did! They're getting so big! Can't wait to add Little #3 to this wall!

 

I think traveling last week knocked Evelyn out. I found her like this during naptime and she didn't move for almost four hours!

 

Dinner tonight was chicken and dumplings from scratch. I haven't had this dish since I was a kid; my mom made it the best! I added too much rosemary, but it was still delicious!

Mother's Day Was Busy!

I told Steve that all I wanted for Mother's Day this year was his help gardening. 

We just got home from Florida yesterday, the man spoils me rotten on a daily basis (especially with all of the pregnancy craving runs!), and as much as I love gifts and surprises, this is not the year to spend a bunch of money just for him to show me that he thinks I'm a good mama. (I had already been saving for new plants, so they didn't come out of our budget as "gifts".)

Being silly before church this morning!

So! Back to gardening and Mother's Day...

Mel met us at church, so we could all hang out together for the afternoon. After church, we grabbed a quick lunch at the delicious Honeybaked Ham Cafe and then headed to Home Depot to pick out some plants for the front yard. 

The previous, previous owners installed some huge flower/shrub beds, so I'm trying to go slow and not get overwhelmed with what we want to change or add to. Today, we just wanted to focus on the area around the front door.

Steve ripping out all of the dead underbrush in one of the beds. This front yard is so fantastic, but there are HUGE shrubs and it could easily look like the "crazy lady who lets everything get overgrown and no one can get in the front door" - kind of yard. We're trying to purge the shrubs that have gotten way out of hand.

This is looking at the front door...the large, green bush had two, dying azaleas on either side, so we ripped them out, trimmed the shrub, and planted two different plants on either end.

We planted a blueberry tree on the left side. I don't really care whether it actually produces blueberries; I just love how the branches seem more "spindly" in contrast to the thick shrub behind it.

On the right side, we planted a Golden Barberry. It looks really tiny here, but it should grow nicely into a yellow-ish shrub! We needed some contrast with all of the thick, dark green vegetation in this yard!

Looking out the front door, we planted (well, Mel planted) a row of red annuals and a rose bush at the end. 

A closer view of the rose bush. It's so hard to wait for plants to get bigger! I wish we could buy them huge from the very beginning! We made a good start, though, and I'm excited for the plants to grow and bloom!

 

This guy worked so hard! We both have some seriously sore muscles tonight, but it was worth it.

It was such a fun, relaxing productive day, and we loved being together with the girls! I love being their mama and I am so thankful to be the one who gets to watch them grow and learn!

My baby girl

My Squirt

Baby Announcement Pictures

This first trimester has been overwhelming with two other littles, and I haven't been as excited or up on my baby documenting as I should have been. (Sorry, Little Human #3) When we were finally ready to share our news publicly, we wanted to take some pictures that included the girls, too.

 

I love how these came out! I'm really hoping some of them will print out well! The girls cooperated with their construction paper hearts much better than I thought they would, and they seemed to sense that it was important for them to be sweet!

 

 And our silly ones...

 

 

Little Human #2 was trying to escape!

Florida Pictures

Steve had a job in Tampa this week, so we got to travel down with him and spend a couple of days with my family.

Don't you wish you looked this sassy in a bathin suit?

Bella's first taste of corn-on-the-cobb. It was delicious! Especially with how much butter and salt Mimi piles on!

Snuggling with Papa

Papa picked up a wading pool for the girls and they had a great time in it all week!

 

Good ol' fashion fun in the sprinkler!

Evelyn thought it was the best!

Steve graciously let the girls paint his fingernails in a bright array of colors! He's such an awesome Daddy to his girls! I do believe he was saying a prayer at this exact moment that maybe the third baby would be a boy, though!

 

We painted Bella's and Evelyn's, too, and don't we all look fancy?

Enjoying the beach with Daddy!

Braving the choppy surf!

Seriously, she rolled around in the sand and whinnied like a horse for about 10 straight minutes. I'm going to have the BEST stories for her future boyfriends!

 

15 weeks down and about a bajillion more to go! 

Evelyn's Backyard Birthday Party!

We had the most fun and the most relaxed birthday ever for Evelyn's big event on Saturday! Since we had so much going on with Bella's birthday, Grandma and Grandpa coming to visit, and going down to Florida next week, it seemed like a good idea to keep Evelyn's birthday low-key.

 

We had the Rookes and the Sapps over for a cookout and cake, and just let the kids play in the backyard. It was perfect! Evelyn felt like the center of attention, the adults got to sit and visit, and no decorations had to be cleaned up at the end.

Look how cute she is!

Solid proof that kids are not always as picture-perfect as you would like them to be.

Evelyn was super excited about her cake!!!

The whole gang! (And I was hiking up my pants...super classy.)

Charli is the little princess of the group.

Madeline is becoming quite the little mother! She is helpful and sweet, and here she is serving all of the other kids their "tea".

Since I didn't get a fancy picture before the party, here are the girls on Sunday morning. Evelyn's little personality is shining brightly in this one!

Bella's Big-Girl Bicycle

Bella got a big-girl bike from Grandma and Grandpa for her birthday! She loves it! It's a Disney princess theme and she got to pick out a fabulous unicorn helmet to go with it. She could not be prouder! Can I share a stupid mom chuckle? When she first got on the bike, she tore off right away and was really brave! As I was watching her, I was thinking, "Wow, I'm a little surprised! She's balancing really well and riding at a good speed!" Then it dawned on me that the bike had training wheels...oh well, an overly eager mama moment.

 

Here are some pictures of her new adventures...

 

And one of Evelyn, trying to be just like her big sister!