Craft Time

I have officially had a new job title of Stay at Home Mom for 7 weeks.  This Monday marks my 8th week.  You would think by now I would have some sort of schedule and have this thing figured out.  But alas, I don't.  I'm still winging it around here trying to convince Ronnie I've got my act together. 

Avery and I are managing to get along though and one thing she really does enjoy is when I bring out a craft or two.  The last few weeks I've pulled a couple things for her and she's loved it.

Hobby Lobby had their summer crafts on clearance not too long ago for like a bajillion percent off.  I picked up a package of foam visors on the cheap thinking it would be fun for Avery.  I was right.

The package was actually a pack of 6 with pink and blue visors.  Can you guess which color Avery picked?

Crafting is serious business and Avery does not take her responsibilities lightly.

Although Avery does know how to spell her name (A-B-E-R-Y - per Avery) she doesn't quite know her letters.  I did help her with her name addition.

Avery was quite proud of her finished product and wore her visor around for a while.  She even wore it on a trip to Sam's with her cousin.  We lost the visor for a brief moment, but thankfully it was found.

One of Avery's favorite things to do is paint.  But lets be honest, what 3 year old doesn't love to paint? I picked up a wooden car at Walmart on a whim one day and finally pulled it out and let Avery create a masterpiece.

I love watching Avery concentrate so intently on her projects.

Ronnie came doing during the time she was painting and had to "help" with her car. Avery was sweet enough and let her daddy get his paint on.

After lots of work and lots of paint, Avery and Ronnie both finished the car.

The picture on the left is Avery's side of the car.  I think it's perfect and beautiful.  The picture on the right is Ronnie's side of the care. Not too shabby. 

So there you have it.  Craft time at our house. It should be a regular occurance. It doesn't get much better than this.

Do you have a favorite craft you do with your kiddos?

More adventures to come.

Random Vidoes

I haven't blogged in a while.  I have some pictures from some recent adventures but haven't been able to actually get them from my camera to my computer.  So in the meantime I'd thought I'd post a few videos I've taken of Avery recently.  Grab some popcorn and enjoy!

Avery loves to do flips off the couch.  R taught her how to do this.  I'm pretty sure he regrets it.  I'm constantly afraid she's going to break her neck.

Since I've been staying at home with Avery, I try to take a picture of video of Avery every day and send it to R while he's at work.  It's usually not much but I think he enjoys it.  This is one that required no prompting from me.

This video cracks me up.  Avery was singing a song she made up and I was trying to get her to sing it to me.  Then she started doing flips.  The girls loves to be upside down.  PS- please disregard all the laundry on the floor.  My maid hadn't done her job for the day. PPS-she's wearing this bib/smock because she was either getting ready to paint or had already painted.

Alright, last video.  This summer, we've tried to spend a lot of time outside.  The weather has been hot, hot, hot but we've really tried to power through it and be active.  One of Avery and R's favorite games is "Blast Off".  They've done this since Avery was small.  I love hearing Avery's laughs and giggles. And I love how great Avery's dad is!

So it's not much but a little glimpse into some actual video of Avery.

More adventures to come!

Forgotten Pregnancy

They say (whoever "they" are) that you forget about the childbirth experience and that's why people have more than 1 kiddo.  If women fully remembered the experience of childbirth, there would only be 1 child families out there.  Well, I didn't have a "normal" childbirth experience with Avery.  I was induced and during contractions Avery would distress so I had to have an emergency C-section.  And honestely, it wasn't all that bad.  I mean, I got to stay in the hospital 4 whole days.  Someone at my beck and call (nurses), someone that came by and checked on Avery daily (pediatrician) and someone to cook every meal for me (cafeteria).  So all in all, the experience wasn't all that bad.

Here's what I did forget about.  Pregnancy. I just forgot the toll that it takes on your body.  So I decided to come up with a list of the things I forgot about pregnancy.  A David Letterman sort of list (just not as funny).

The Top 10 Things I forgot about pregnancy:
1. Sleeping
I'm sleeping like crap lately.  I've always been an "asleep before the head hits the pillow" kind of girl.  I would go to sleep and not wake up until my alarm clock goes off (much too early by the way).  But with the pregnancy, if I'm not waking up 14 times to go to the bathroom, I'm waking up because I can't roll over, or my back hurts, or I'm all around uncomfortable in the laying down position.
This is not good.  I'm a "needs all the beauty sleep I can get" kind of girl.  I'm not going to lie, I take full advantage of Rest Time in our house.

2. How cute you look at 22 weeks and how miserable you look at 36 weeks.
I'm not trying to say that I'm looking pretty cute right now at 22 weeks but let's face it- 22 weeks pregnant looks way cuter than 36+ weeks pregnant (unless your Jessica Alba who looks amazing).  And while I'm quite content to be fitting into my maternity clothes right now and even have some things with some room to spare, I know that I'll outgrow some of my favorite pieces.  And I'll have a big, puffy face to prove it. Evidence below (about 37 weeks preggo with Avery).

3. Weight Gain
It's not that I didn't expect to gain weight.  I mean, I'm growing a child inside of me.  But does it have to come on so quickly?!  Here's something to may not know about me.  I'm a compulsive weigher.  There I said it.  I weigh every day.  When I go on vacation, I'm tempted to take the scale with me (I leave it home) but it bugs me not to be able to weigh.  Sometimes I weigh in the morning and before bed.  I know it's crazy. So it's just annoying to see the scale go up and up and up. 
I've actually done much better this time around (I'm at 24 pounds right now).  But it's going to go up even more.  I do have a goal that I think it realistic for me and something I can acheive so I keep working towards that.

4. Nails
For the love of Pete.  What has happened to my nails?  They grow like crazy, yes, however they break, peel and crack.  Even with my prenatal vitamins.  I'm thankful I'm not losing hair so I count my blessings where I can.

5. Maternity clothes
I'm not sure if you've heard but this summer has been H-O-T!  And for any pregnant girl, it's even warmer. Not only does pregnancy increase your internal body temperature (at lease mine anyway) maternity clothes are not exactly cool.  I mean, they are cool in the fact that there are cute maternity clother. However, they aren't cool as in "It's 189 degrees outside. I think I'll go cool off and put on my full panel maternity pants that hate my thighs".

6. Where did my hips go?
No one has ever accused me of having a stick figure.  Nope. I'm curvy.  It's okay. I've learned to embrace it.  I have hips.  And those hips help keep up my pants.  But with pregnancy my hips have disappeared into my belly.  I'm constantly tugging at my pants and it's annoying.  I'd think I'd like to have my hips back please.

7. My husband still finds me attractive
I know that God is real for many reason.  One of those reasons is that he made men to still find their wives attractive when their bodies are doing weird things.  I love that R tells me almost everyday how good I look.  And the thing is that I know he means it. I think it's so sweet and it's another reason I fall in love with him over and over again.

8. Walking
When did this become so difficult?  After I put on 24 pounds?  Oh yeah. It's just become more difficult to walk for long periods of time comfortably.  The good news is that R and I have a Vegas trip coming up in the next few weeks.  Can someone tell me what I was thinking when I thought a trip to Vegas would be great at 26 weeks pregnant?!

9. Bending Over
Goodness gracious.  Bending ovver is getting more and more difficult.  Thankfully I'm due in December because I'm not sure how much longer I can shave my legs. Let alone paint my toe nails. R may be on toe nail duty soon.  I simply ask that if you see me or any other pregnant girl with chipped toe nails, don't judge us.

10. Baby Movement
I love this part of pregnancy.  It's so amazing to feel this sweet baby girl moving inside me.  But it's also the weirdest feeling ever.  There is a baby growing inside my body!  Does anyone else find this feeling just a little bit strange?  Don't get me wrong, I am in constant amazement of the miracle of life, but my sweet little miracle can stop kicking me in the bladder at any time.

Here's the deal.  As much as I've forgotten all the weird amazing parts of pregnancy I wouldn't change it for the world.  I get more and more excited by the day to meet the New Kid and am thankful God has chosen her to be a part of our family. And without pregnancy, I'd never have this little cutie.

More adventures to come!

SnoCones!

Another way we like to beat the heat this awful beautiful summer is to go get snocones.

Sprinklers and Snocones. It's the theme of this Summer!

So off to the snocone stand we go.

No snocone visit is comeplete without princess shoes.

And of course you have to sport the sunglasses. Dad's make the best accessorie though.

If you are a 3 year old princess, the only snocone for you is pink. Flavor doesn't matter.

Most of us use straws.

Unless you're weird. Which, let's be honest, we all know R is pretty weird at times.

I could get snocones everyday. They are cheap, delicious and of course are the epitome of summer.

And this girl loves them as much as I do.

I could eat her up!

Go forth and eat snocones this summer! It's what all the cool kids are doing!

More adventures to come!

Sprinkler Summer Fun

With this crazy heat there are only a few ways we like to beat the heat. One of Avery's favorite ways is to play in the sprinkler. And that girl can play!

It doesn't matter what kind of sprinkler it is. We got this crazy sprinkler this summer.

It's wild and crazy. Just like the girl that plays in it.

But Avery is no sprinkler snob. She'll even play in R's rainbow sprinkler (there may be a more technical name for this but that's what I call it) when he waters the lawn.

I mean, really, is there anything much more fun than playing in the water?

I'm pretty sure this girl would tell you no.

Avery has such a good time it's hard to tell her no when she asks to play in the sprinkler. I love to hear her little squeals, screams and laughs. Even if it is past bedtime. I know these moments won't last forever.

What do i do while Avery is playing (besides taking pictures)? I rest of course (it was a windy day)!

Such fun times!

How do YOU beat the heat?
More adventures to come.

Girl or Boy? Pink or Blue?

So R and I have known the sex of our little gummy bear since July 7th.

But we decided to keep it a secret for a while.

I don't think our intent was to keep it a secret from our family as long as we did but it just turned out that way. I blame my dad who had to go to Vegas for a conference right after we found out. I know. Rough right? (Hi dad!).

Anyway, we finally decided to reveal the sex to them via pizza.
I know, I know. Pizza is kind of strange. But in case you didn't know R has a Big Green Egg and for Father's day he got a ceramic baking stone.  This means we can now cook pizzas (and cookies!) on the Egg. R has been on a pizza kick since. So he decided he would make a pizza and "write" the sex on the pizza. For the record, I wanted to make a reveal cake.
I let R have his fun.


We'll just go ahead and reveal it to you via pizza too. 

Yep!  We are having another girl! 

I went ahead and baked a fancy schmancy cake for the occasion.

 

Four layers and every layer a different shade of pink. It's actually best that we didn't reveal the sex this way because my frosting wasn't quite hiding all that pink. The cake was delicious though! And it was a fun little addition to the celebration.
(Note to self: do not bake 4 layer cakes in 100+ degree temperatures. your house will never recover)

The bad part is that I slipped up before we served the pizza and referenced the baby as a she. Avery had also spilled the beans to my parents (the girl can't keep a secret) so I'm not sure how surprised everyone was. But the family seems super excited as are we. I'm still not sure that it's sunk in that we'll have 2 little girls running around here. And 2 weddings. And eventually 3 women in the house (if you know what I mean). And more boys than I think Ronnie will ever be prepared for.

In case you needed further proof.

The ultrasound was great though and it looks like we already have a drama mama on our hands. At the time, Baby Girl weighed 8 ounces and was about 6 inches long.

Avery is thrilled to be a big sister and is really excited she is getting a baby sister. She wants to name the baby "Flower Beauty Morris". We don't have the heart to tell her that the name probably won't make the final cut. I mean, we aren't hippies!

So, there you have it. Baby Girl #2 on the way. And I know you're wondering- do you have a name? Yes we do. But we're not telling...

not even to this one.

More adventures to come.

No More Mondays

Not too long ago, R and I made a pretty big decision.  Well, besides the decision to have a baby. 


We decided that I would quit my job. 

Let me tell you.  Before I had Avery I always thought I would work and have kids.  I mean, I am a woman of the 2000's right?  Both my parents worked and raised my brother and I.  Ronnie's parent's worked and raised he and his brother.  So I just thought that's the way it would be.

Enter this cutie face.

And for about a year I was content.  I was somewhat successful at work, worked for a fantastic company and Avery was having a ball playing with her cousins everyday. 

Peyton- this is the cousin Avery usually wants to say 2 prayers for.  She loves her Peyton!

Kelli Lynn-Avery's playmate and teacher.  Everything Avery knows she says she learned from Kelli.

Mason- The oldest of the great-grandkids.  Avery is the youngest for now.  Love they got to spend so much time together.

And then I realized I wasn't THAT happy.  I wanted to be at home with Avery and any future kids.  R wanted to the same for our family so we worked to make it happen.  We had a goal that by the time kid #2 came along, I would stay at home.

I could dedicate an entite post to what we did to prepare for one income.  Most importantly we took a hard look at our budget, made some cuts that weren't easy (getting rid of OU football season tickets and cable, for example) and started living on 1 income. Some things were easy, some were hard.  But we had to remember what we were doing it for.

Tommorrow I start my new job.  Stay at home mom.  The hardest thing I had to do was tell my supervisor I was leaving.  I worked for a great company and had an even better supervisor.  I made some wonderful friends that I know I will be keeping in touch with (in fact, one will be my neighbor, yay!) and I will miss those friends dearly.

But, for our family, this is the right decision. A decision that took a lot of prayer, thought, and a big leap of faith.  I look forward to spending some time with Avery before New Kid comes along.  I know it won't be easy and there will probably be times that I want to go back to work but for now, I'm going to appreciate the blessing we've been given.

All in all, I did it for this girl.  The love of my life.  The one I can't imagine my life without and can't remember my life before her.  And for New Kid.  Who has already captured our hearts and I know will be loved beyond measure.

Tomorrow starts No More Monday's for me. I'm nervous, excited, anxious, scared and many many more. And I can't wait.

More adventures to come.