The big DAY and a weekend in pictures

Friday was hubby's first day on his day shift. To make things even sweeter, he is in our area. Meaning, he can come by and eat lunch with us at home or we can meet him somewhere!

I would love to say that I was able to take advantage of his absence and make our bed, clean up upstairs, etc, but I can't. We have been out and about for days and it's been so much fun!

My parents came down this weekend to go with the babies and I to the Azalea Festival. I took tons of pictures, but here are just a few.

Azalea Belles are a tradition for the festival.


They even have little ones! I secretly think it would be so fun if Hollin ever did something like this :)






Harper had his first cotton candy.


My babies :)




On a completely different note, I tried to re-do a few pictures of Hollin with her Easter dress on a few days ago. Harper was so occupied with playing on his new tractor, I knew there was no way I could pry him from it to pose with her.

She did pretty well, but she is wiggle worm.




She is REALLY into sticking her tongue out these days.


She has become such a ham at bath time too.


We also took a trip to the beach on Sunday. Harper wasn't really into it, but he did end up having a good time :)


Hollin is always up for an adventure. This girl is loud and proud.




We went back to the beach today and I took pictures, but my computer is really being a pain. I think it has a major virus :(

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Early Easter Festivities

Yesterday, Harper attended his first preschool Easter Egg hunt!

I really wanted Harper to wear the bowtie he wore on Easter last year, but he just wouldn't have it.

What a handsome little devil.


After listening to them sing a few bunny songs, the hunt was on!




My sweet girl had a great time watching her brother, too. She lights up when she sees him. It's the sweetest thing.


Here is our little ham with the rest of his class.


I'm so thankful for little activities like this. They create so many wonderful memories for the both of us. Now if I can just keep him from fighting other kids over the eggs........

:)

Accepting it.

**I have no idea why certain words are linking up to other windows. I'm looking into it. Thanks!**



A few days ago, I pulled out the big rubbermaid container that stores all of my opposite -season clothes. I was kind of excited to be pulling out all of my spring and summer clothes so early. While rummaging through them I realized that most of what I have are dresses. Dresses are great because they are roomy, cool, cute and most importantly able to grow with the expanding belly I had last year.

I just wasn't in a dress mood today. We were taking Harper to the park and I knew there would be a lot of bending and pushing swings, etc, so I decided to look at what shorts I had.

I pulled on one pair that were a little tight the summer before last, but I could still wear them ok.

I couldn't button them.

The only other pair that fit were in the dirty laundry.

Jeans were my next option, but the one pair that really fits me best right now was in the dirty laundry. Notice a pattern here? I looked down and saw at least 4 other pairs in the drawer.

There are some really cute American Eagle jeans laying at the very bottom of my "jean drawer." They've been there since I gave birth to Harper in 2009. One of them is exactly like the pair that I wore on my first date with Jimmy. On at least 5 different occasions since Harper was born, I've tried to put them on.

*Tried.*

It ain't happening.

I keep holding out hope that those date jeans will fit again one day.

I think most of us moms can agree that things are just different after having a baby. I'm not back to my pre-pregnancy weight yet, but there was a time, in between my two babies, that I was. Even then, the darn jeans just didn't fit.

My hips are wider. My body is different, even at pre-pregnancy weight.

I can get back down to pre-pregnancy weight, but there's nothing that will make my hips their pre-childbirth size.

So, with that, I've decided to let the date jeans go. Those and many other pre-baby clothes that I'm still hanging onto. (What's up with the shirts getting shorter?)

I'm putting everything in a box tonight and hauling it off to Plato's Closet, or Clothes Mentor tomorrow. With whatever (teeny) amount they give me for them, I'll go ahead and start buying things that actually fit.

I feel a little silly that part of me is sad about this. I'm letting go of tangible things that remind me of the size I used to be. I tend to hang onto things for sentimental reasons, but what good are those clothes to me now?

The truth is, I have two beautiful (and some say identical-looking) babies to show for it. I've got stretch marks and a sometimes sore, but always numb c-section scar hiding under my clothes.

I may never be the size I once was, but that's ok. I think that adopting a new body when you adopt the life of a mom is part of the job description.

Luckily for all of us, blousy tops are usually always "in." :)

Goodnight and

GO PACK!!

A special Sunday

On Sunday, March 18, we dedicated our sweet baby girl.

I had been looking forward to this for quite a while, because it was very special in so many ways.

First, Hollin wore a beautiful Feltman Brothers dress bought for her by my dad. I thought she looked like such an angel.


The night before, I worked really late on a bracelet for her. It is made of my late grandmother's pearls and a cross from a necklace that I had when I was little.


I borrowed the following poem to go along with her bracelet:

Psalm 52:8
"But I am like an olive tree
Flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God's unfailing love
for ever and ever."

A dedication gift for our sweet baby girl;
You'll wear this beautiful cross and pearls.

And years from now when you become a bride;
on something "old" you must decide.

Tuck this bracelet in your bouquet with love
from your parents on your special day.

We went to Sunday school where our friends held a nice brunch for us and another couple who was dedicating their little boy.




After brunch, we headed to the Sanctuary where the Director of Children, Jeannie Troutman, walked her down both aisles of the church.






She came back and did the same for our friend's baby, Charlie, and then had prayer. Hollin received a certificate, a precious white bible with her name engraved and a beautiful pink rose.


After the service, we had family over for lunch! It felt so great to share such a special day with our friends and family.

We are so thankful for our sweet babies :)

Spring into change

The gorgeous weather lately has had me all kinds of motivated. I've been motivated to do everything.

Cook.

Clean.

Try new activities with the kids.

Shop. (quite limited here :)

Get outside.

Make the house a home.

Party plan.

Craft.

It's fun to have motivation to do all of these things, but as we moms know, there just aren't enough hours in the day. So what do we do? We focus one what we can, when we can. One thing suffers so that we can get another thing done and so on and so on.

I convinced hubby to try something I've been wanting to do forever. Here's a hint. It's SO hard to figure out what we've done:)

(Blurry night photo. Best I've got.)


I'm so thrilled with the result and I will share pics as soon as I can take a daylight photo.

It seems like it takes three times as long to get a project done as it used to. I am busy trying to entertain/keep babies happy while Jimmy does most of the work. He can only work so much when he is always sleep deprived, so we do what we can. Our house is a complete wreck and I would be mortified if anyone came over, but we have a pretty hallway to show for it!

The babies have been pretty good the last few days. Hollin decided to have her worst meltdown ever today and I think it may be because she didn't feel well.

(You'd think I would've learned to remove my knee from baby photos.)

She cried for at least 30 minutes, if not more. I did let her cry it out. I picked her up after I couldn't take it anymore and she fell asleep. Oh and Harper was saying, "Mama outside, mama, mama, MAMA!!!" the whole time she was screaming. It was fun.


So, that is life right now. I feel like I am in a constant state of "overwhelmed" since Hollin was born, but things are constantly changing and babies keep growing. I try to adapt as best I can. Some days I think I rock at this whole mom-of-two thing and then some days, not so much. I'm trying to soak in all of these little moments. Even the screaming infant, the demanding preschooler, the dog that needs to be let out at the most inconvenient times and the teeny changes that we make to our home when we can find the time. Maybe even the balls of dog hair I can see under my bed and in corners of the house. Mixed with dried chunks of play-doh.

There are so many changes happening here and it's all (mostly) fun. My mom is moving here permanently next week. More on that here. I'm planning for Harper's 3rd birthday party, Easter, preparing for construction to begin and trying to make my house presentable for all of the above. I may even try to throw in a pool party some time this year. I wish I could invite every single one of you!

I'm not going to flatter myself with thinking that I have a ton of readers, but what are you changing/looking forward to?

Happy Friday,

Harper at 35 months

Yes, 35. One month away from 3.

How did this happen?

Sometimes it feels like it's been longer than 3 years and then other days, it feels like it went by in a flash. It's so bittersweet, little man.

Last year at this time, I was getting ready to celebrate your 2nd birthday, all while feeling slightly worried that you weren't talking as much as "they" said you should.

Boy did you get over that.

You say and do the darndest things.


Instead of saying yes, you say "ok."

You are always saying, "Mommy do it" when I ask you to do something that you don't want to.

You scream "Hills!" when we are going over the speedbumps on the road in front of our house.

You still want to do everything your way, the same way, every time. For instance, opening the microwave to warm up your milk and then closing it. If I dare do it, you have a meltdown.

We still struggle to get dressed every day, especially days when you have to go to preschool.

You are wearing 3T-4T shirts and still need 2T pants, as long as they are long enough. If you do wear 3T pants, you have to wear a belt.

We've been through about 5 pairs of shoes this school year. Some are way too big, others too small. Different brands have such different sizing, so it's hard to pick the right ones. There's no such things as trying them on in the store :)

You are completely potty trained!

You still wear Pull Ups at nighttime and bedtime , but big boy underwear during the day. Mommy is so glad that she doesn't have to buy diapers for you AND sissy. You are such a big boy!

You are a really great big brother. It took you a little while to warm up, but now you will say, "Check on sissy!" when she cries.


Most nights, you still get out of bed a few times before you will finally go to sleep. You find every excuse to get up.

I can have full-on conversations with you and I remember just a year ago wondering what that would be like one day. It's so funny to be able to talk to you. My days are much less lonely now :)

Mommy and Daddy love you so much. You're getting so big!

Spring is in the air

The weather here is so nice, we took advantage of some outside time today. After preschool and lunch, Harper jumped on the trampoline he got for Christmas. We have been in the new house since Jan 10th, but we just put it back together this morning.

It's a GREAT way to get ants out of little boy pants.


Hollin enjoyed being outside today too.


There is a gorgeous tree (or bush?) growing in our backyard. I love these flowers, but I don't know what kind of plant it is.


A few nights ago, we tried Hollin on her first baby food. Bananas! She had already tried rice cereal a few nights before the baby food, but she didn't like it.

She made some funny faces, then daddy got her to smile.

Harper said he wanted to help.

I'm hoping that the weather will stay spring-like now, even though we haven't had much of a winter.

I love all seasons, but spring is one of my favorites. I'm so excited about all of the fun things coming up!

Happy Monday,