Time Flies....When You Are Raising a Toddler!

I can't believe I am more than halfway done with this pregnancy!  Holy Moly!  I have a lot to accomplish before this bundle of lovin' arrives!!  I feel great and have so much energy!  Second trimester is like being young, vibrant and in the best shape of your life...well, besides being slightly inproportioned:). 

Time flies a lot quicker when you are pregnant and caring for a mini person that's for sure!  I think about the little baby often and love HER so much but I am not as "obsessed" as last time.  I guess for one, its less scary this time since I kind of know what to expect and everything has been going great so far and just like last time.  For two, Paige keeps me very busy!  She appreciates a lot of attention and activity in her life and I gladly give it!  For three, just like last time, I have a laundry list of things to accomplish before she arrives!  Since Paige came three weeks early, I am using caution and have set a timeline of completion for projects by November 15th.  That is less than 4 months away people!!!  Here is my agenda for the next few months (I will also include my current challenges for at least humerous purposes):

*Get Paige & Baby Sis's swingset built (trying to find someone that will build it for less than $400!!)

*Master Bedroom renovation completion (mattress ordered and need to hang drapes and accessories-also looking for the perfect chest but not in any rush for that-still own my old one and it serves the purpose-want the perfect piece so I can wait)

*Girls' room redo-not too many major changes in here--we love this room!  Just adding a big girl bed that belonged to paige's great-great grandmother!  Isn't that precious?!?!  Janet and I will work on bedding for the little munchkin and probaby make accessories for Paige's bed.  A little re-organization of toys and furniture will also be in order. 

*Powder Bath gut!  I already have the design complete and cash in the bank to pay for this project!!!  BUT I am waiting on the contractor I want to use.  Me no like to wait when I have a plan and $$$$$.  But good things come to those who wait but I am oh so excited to have a clean, fresh bathroom!  I hope he breaks free soon!

*Hall Bath redo-I have a general idea of what I want to do in here but not an exact plan yet.  Need to finalize plan and as soon as powder bath is crossed off, we will move on to this bathroom.  Hopefully two out of three bathrooms will be renovated in our house before baby girl comes!  Our master bath will be last because we forsee it being the most expensive since we want to expand it and move plumbing.  The other two are just clear out and put back together.  I CAN"T WAIT!!! 

*Family room furniture-we have been talking about changing the furniture in this room since we moved in.  We know what we want BUT our d-o-g thinks its his furniture so until we have him 100% off no new furniture!  Hopefully by Christmas we can have this room done.  I can handle a few sofa deliveries after my babe comes:). 

*Tyler plans to replace all of the interior doors and knobs as soon as it cools off and we have some tree plans for the outside this fall.  Hopefully since my new addiction to gardening, I will actually plant tulips this year-Tyler's fave flower! 

For those of you that have been pregnant, you know all about these mad plans for your life, especially home before baby comes!!  For those of you that don't have kids--you probably think I am insane!  I can't wait to start crossing items off my list!  Hopefully the master and the playground get crossed off in the next week! 

I looked for a pic of myself at 21 weeks from last time to compare to this time but it looks like I took a week off so here's how Baby Girl is looking on the oven these days....

21 Weeks!!  She is kicking and squirming and loves for Paige to tell her stories!!  Paige keeps begging to "go see Christmas" because I keep telling her Sissy will be here by Christmas!  Also, Boppy and Grandma will be here and she is obsessed with them!  She will be here before we know it!

               

Herb Garden Update Photos!

So the herb garden I put in back at the beginning of April has done SOOOOOO well!!!  In fact, it is by far the most successful and beautiful flowerbed I have ever done.  *That second part doesn't actually mean a whole lot since my gardening experiences are fairly limited BUT I am soooo excited!!  I have dabbled in gardening for the past 4 years since Tyler and I have been married but not until this year have I finally got it kind of figured out. 

We both love this flowerbed so much and even if everyone on the planet thought it was ugly, we would still be soooo happy with it!  To me, it looks like a professional did it!  Probably because I love herbs and the color combination turned out so beautiful!!!  It smells soooo good in the mornings and in the evenings!  The greatest part is 75% of this flowerbed is perennial, meaning these friends will be coming back for FREE next year!! 

Janet bought me a basket of petunias last year for Mother's Day and I fell in LOVE with them!!  They have the best colors, bloom so long, grow and spread so much and are pretty tough cookies!  They like a lot of water but if you are lazy skip a day or two on watering, they will forgive you!  They don't come back but are super cheap and a tiny little plant goes a LONG way!!  If you don't remember how small this garden started, go visit my original herb garden post!  This was by far the easiest one I have put in with the most reward!  I love how the purple ruffle basil is flowering right now and the lavender is getting its flower shoots!!  My jalapeno plants are starting to produce jalapenos and the petunias are just cascading over the bricks! 

I have another flower bed that isn't all finished...my original plant scheme just didn't work out...these things happen!  Just like when you bring home an ugly rug...gotta start over.  BUT what I DO love are the Denver Daisies I planted!  Next year I will buy lots more of those and fill in that area.  I love the golden yellow with huge brown centers.  They are plenty tall enough to stand out against my monkey grass border.  We have had a serious weed and grass invasion in this area so we have focused on getting it under control before adding anything else.  I think we've finally got it! 

Sweet Memories~!

Today is Tyler & my four year wedding anniversary!!!  It seems like just yesterday we were planning our wedding and our life together and here we are four years later and we couldn't be happier!  Here are some highlights of what we have been up to the past few years:

2007

Our Wedding! 

Honeymoon Staycation to renovate the house I owned that Tyler moved into and we made a home! 

New wood floors and a completely renovated bathroom got us on our way:)

Tyler gave me an early Christmas present, after MUCH research, we brought home our furry son Oscar-a Doberman Pinscher.  He is our first pet (and son) and he filled our hearts and home with so much love and messes!!  We have learned so much from him and about ourselves since being on this journey "raising" him!! 

We began our legacy of "Party Throwers Extrordinaire" by hosting "The Classy Christmas Party 2007"!  It was AMAZING!!!  Valet parking, amazing decorations, food, drinks, party favors, fancy clothes, and literally over 150 people joined in on the fun!!!   

2008

LOTS of fun stuff!!!

Las Vegas with some of our very best friends to celebrate their upcoming wedding!!!  It was one of THE BEST girls trips I have ever gone on!  So much fun and such a GREAT Vegas experience!  The guys had a blast too!!

CHICAGO for a work conference...luckily hubs and I "have" the same profession so we enjoyed a mostly free trip to an AMAZING city!!  I am obsessed with summer in Chicago! 

Lots of weddings!!  We traveled to Houston for one of my very best friends wedding, stayed at The Houstonian-fabulous!, and went to an Astros game.

We officially SOLD our home and became home-less!  Well, not quite that dramatic...we moved in with Tyler's parents until we could find the PERFECT home! 

We celebrated our FIRST anniversary at a Bed & Breakfast and it was wonderful!

We purchased the most special house!!  A 1955 Ranch home that just needed a little (okay, a lot) of TLC!  We blew out walls, floors, kitchen, wallpaper and started putting it back together!  From the moment I stepped into this house I knew it was "the one"!  We moved in just in time for Thanksgiving!

My grandparents came to be with us for Thankgsiving!!! I LOVED having them with us but am so thankful for all the time with them because my grandpa passed away this past Christmas.  He loved Tyler so much and I am so glad he got to see how well I am taken care of:)

CHRISTMAS!  This was a super exciting time!!  My parents lived in Germany at the time I spent a little over 2 weeks with them and was kind of sickly feeling throughout the trip (mainly in the plane).  But it was a SUPER amazing time and I can't wait to go back to Europe with our family! 

2009

January 3, 2009 We found out I was pregnant with our FIRST child!!!  No wonder I felt so crummy on that plane!!!  I took 2 tests before I left--both negative!  We were absolutely, positively thrilled!  I told Tyler at 3 am (he was more thrilled when it sunk in the next morning after coffee:) ). 

We hosted a party to announce the sex of our baby!!  The first party in honor of PAIGE!!!

We hosted our FIRST Kentucky Derby Party!!

Tyler ran his FIRST half marathon!!

LOTS of house projects including the most beautiful nursery, landscaping, cleaning, on and on...

Several amazing baby showers where we received more gifts than you could ever imagine!!! 

We celebrated our SECOND anniversary by taking a long weekend trip to Dallas and staying at the Mansion at Turtle Creek.  I HIGHLY recommend it!  We felt like royalty!  We shopped, ate a lot, were lazy and just had a great time!! 

My bod was stretched to unbelievable limits!!!!!!!!!!!  Tyler and I looked at this pic the other day and were dying laughing!!  There was only ONE baby in there, I DO NOT have one tiny stretch mark and everything went back to normal after...if that doesn't prove their is a God nothing will:) Enjoy this one...

Our first child/daughter was born!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh Heavenly day!!  Our lives were transformed by her!  Our hearts grew out of our chest and our thankfullness reached immesurable heights!

Our first holidays as parents!  Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas was soooo much more fun!!

We spent Christmas in Las Vegas with my parents and it was Paige's first flight!  Now she is a VIP flyer:)

2010

We mainly spent ALL of our time loving our sweet little girl!  Taking thousands of pictures of her...

We went back to las Vegas with my brother and he got to meet Paige!

Our Second annual Kentucky Derby Party!!

Our home was hit by a major hail storm and Tyler's beloved Tahoe was TOTALED! 

Our FIRST family vacation to Vail, Colorado!  We had a wonderful time!! 

We celebrated Paige's first birthday!

We went to Dallas so Tyler could go to the Colonial golf tourney and we made it a little family weekend getaway!  SOOO fun!

I went on my FIRST mini vacay away from Paige on a girls trip to LA!!  SOOOO fun with some of my bestest friends! 

Tyler and I went on our first vacation together without Paige!  We went to NYC with John-Mark and Tiff and it was unbelievable!!  So much fun and I can't wait to go back when its warm:)

2011

We went to Austin so Tyler could run his second 1/2 marathon!  Such a great trip staying with my bestie Beth!!

Tyler had a work trip to San Antonio so he brought Paige and I along and it was a blast!  Some of our best friends Jeff & Jonice went also with their son so we got to swim, enjoy Sea World and SHOP!! 

Did I mention we found out we were expecting our SECOND little baby ?!?!?!  Paige is DYING for a sibling!!!! 

3rd Annual Kentucky Derby Bash!!! 

We spent 2 weeks in Las Vegas with my parents golfing, resting and celebrating another one of my dearest friends bachelorette party!! 

We found out we will be having a healthy, beautiful baby girl!!!  We are so excited Paige will have a sister! 

Obviously these are just a few highlights of the past four years and all of the wonderful, exciting things that have happened in our marriage.  We are so thankful, so blessed and so incredibly happy!  I love this journey that this growing family is on together and I look forward to so many more wonderful memories ahead!  I am so thankful to be married to a man that loves me so much, is the best father I could ever dream of having for my children and takes such good care of all of us!  My favorite place on earth is being right where Tyler, Paige, Oscar and Sista Baby are!  They are my life and my heart!  I pray that my girls find husbands that are like their daddy someday in the distant future!  

Thank you Jesus for the best four years of my life and I look forward to so many more with this incredible family you blessed us with!!!!!!!   

(Envision here a picture of Tyler, Me, Paige, Oscar and my belly.  Someday all of us will be in one photo...)

Oh Baby!~Team Blue or Team Pink??

Well, I am almost halfway finished with this pregnancy!  18 weeks checked off the charts and almost time to find out the sex of the baby!!  Are you Team Pink or Team Blue for Baby Beaver?!?!  All of the people in this house say its a girl!  So far the pregnancy is pretty identical!  Almost on a scary level!  I became obsessed with eating spicy, Mexican food when I was pregnant with Paige...sooo spicy that Tyler would be concerned for her well being!  I like to credit her wonderful, firecracker personality to all of my spicy food intake! 

Well, two nights ago Paige and I dined at one of our fave mexi restaurants for dinner while Tyler was out of town.  Last night when he got home, I begged until he took us back so I could eat THE EXACT same thing again!!!  YUMMMMMMM  If you want to know the truth, if any one wants to go, I could do it again RIGHT now! 

A lot of people said Paige would be a boy when I told them all I wanted was spicy, salty food!  I didn't crave sweets with her and I rarely ever eat them this time either!  I feel great just like I did last time! No weird symptoms or illnesses (now that the dreaded first 15 weeks are over).  My skin is generally lovely when I'm not pregnant but back to having a few breakouts just like last time!  My belly pics look pretty exact to last time--I have been meaning to take a pic in the same outfit so you can really tell but it seems you aren't quite as obsessive about these things Round #2!  I promise I will get around to it before week 40! 

Baby and I have made a deal...you see...I am in my dear friend Chelsea's wedding July 30th and my oh so beautiful bridesmaid dress was ordered before I was pregnant!  Thankfully I ordered a 6 instead of a 4 that my measurements said to or else I would really be in trouble!  But I try it on once a week to make sure it still fits!  Yesterday it fit great and the way the dress is, I didn't even look pregnant in it!  So the baby has agreed to keep me in a sz. 6 for 4 more weeks!  Then I have agreed to get as big as baby wants!!  Won't that be fun!  HAHA  My poor, sweet bride friend has not only me but one other gal that found out she was pregnant AFTER the dresses were ordered! I hope we haven't added too much anxiety to her wedding prep hoping and praying we can Crisco our bods into our dresses come wedding day!!! 

Baby has been kicking around quite a bit!  For some reason Baby really liked going to the dentist yesterday and was going crazy while I was laying there!  Although not quite big enough yet to be felt on the outside yet!  I haven't been doing too much baby planning thus far.  Even with Paige, I really waited until after I knew if she was a girl or boy before really getting into it.  I have different ideas in my head for girl/boy but nothing I am just dying to buy or get ready as soon as we know.  I think the second time you realize a) you have all of the necessities already b) they don't even go to their room for several weeks after they are born and c) if this is a girl, we have EVERYTHING she could dream of already.  We will get her new outfits here and there and some new bedding but Paige has so much stuff that wasn't even worn or only worn once so we will definitely take advantage of that! 

The main thing Baby and I are concerned with these days is when our next meal will be!  That isn't all together different from my non-pregnant attitude but Baby really has ZERO tolerance for being hungry.  I stay so much busier this pregnancy so my body actually has a chance to get hungry without me realizing it as opposed to when I was pregnant with Paige and was still working there was routine breakfast then lunch break then dinner with Tyler and not focusing my attention on a toddler!  But I try to not get to the hunger point because Baby makes it a point to make me very, very ill if I get hungry!!  Hmmm...sounds a lot like Paige and I...more signs pointing to girl?! 

Let me know what your guesses are!!  I can't wait to go hear my baby and take a peek and see that everything is healthy and normal!!