So Blessed

 I am so thankful for this little girl!! She really has brought so much joy and fun into my life! You always here "There is nothing like being a mom" ... but until you experience it, you don't really get it. From the moment they put Lydia into my arms, I was head over heals in love with her. That love has only grown stronger since then. It's amazing how such a little person can come into your life and totally change you! She has a way of refreshing my life like nothing else.

This was in my Bible study last week and I LOVED how the girl put this ...

"Sometimes when I look at my child, I think that this is the closest I will ever get to God. It's something in his newness that is so peaceful to me. It's like he came straight from the Father, a gift that I will never deserve but will cherish with every part of me. From the first time they laid him on my chest, it was as if a chamber of my heart that had been there dormant came to life. Like I am just now beginning to learn how to love."

We had a very relaxing Mother's Day. Wonderful morning at church, lunch with Jeff's family, an afternoon at the park, and dinner just the 3 of us ... well, almost 4! =) Love spending time with my family and truly feel like the most blessed person in the world! 

Here are some pictures from our afternoon @ the park!

 I lost count how many times she went down this slide!

 Can you say "static electricity?!?"

 Climbing the ladder. She's getting really good at this!

 Loved having Mimi and Papa go down the slide with her!

 "Don't worry, I'll catch you, Daddy!" SO sweet!

 She also caught Mimi! =)

I think Papa may have a new running partner! Maybe not the first time I met Tim and Karen, but not too long after (almost 9 years ago), Tim would ask me every time I came over if I brought my running shoes. Well ... I was not a runner then (still not!) and of course never had running shoes! I'm thinking Lydia may be his new running partner! She LOVES to run and can go for a LONG time! She's a little slave driver too! When you need to slow down and take a break, she says "Come on ... Run!" =)

Missed not being with my mom on Mother's Day, but hopefully we can go celebrate soon!! So thankful for all the moms that God has placed in my life! As the title says ... So Blessed!

Mother's Day Project

Lydia worked very hard this week on a Mother's Day Project. We started Monday morning and finished Saturday morning. Here are a few pictures ... Well, okay, more than a few! =)

We started off my making cards for her grandmothers and great grandmothers.

 She is SO neat! She made sure she threw away every little piece of trash. She didn't want to make a stack, she wanted it straight in the trash!

 The next part of the project was painting flower pots. First we did her hand print on them.

 She was not a fan of getting her hand all nasty, but thankfully she didn't fight it too much!

 Such a hard worker!

 Love that sweet smile! Wish I could catch it more often ...

 Daddy even got in on the action!

 She was working so hard, she couldn't even look up for a picture! ;)

 Guess I snapped this picture @ just the wrong (or maybe right!) time! Check out that face?!? Whew! So thankful that it was not directed at anyone ... Hopefully we won't be seeing this face very often! =/

Posing with her pots and flowers she picked out!

 The last part of the project was planting the flowers!

 She did so good with this part!

 Multi-tasking ... Holding her rubber ducky she got @ the dentist and planting flowers. She's good!

 Check out her Dora gloves and shovel! Kept her hands clean and she was more than happy about that!

 Giving the plants a little drink of water.

Finished product! She did good, didn't she?!?

She had so much fun working on this project. Hopefully everyone will like their little gift! So thankful Lydia is blessed to have so many great women in her life. We could not ask for a better family!

Mother's Day Dinner

 Jeff and Lydia took me out for Mother's Day dinner tonight. Love these two SO much and so thankful to God for them. We went to Mimi's Cafe and had a great time. Lydia was a little restless, but we made it through dinner without too much drama! I never know these days!

 Not the best picture ... But it's all that I got! Maybe we can get a better one tomorrow!

 After dinner we went to a local frozen yogurt place for some dessert. Lydia was SO excited. When we got there, she asked if she could go sit down while I fixed her yogurt. She sat SO still ... it was cracking Jeff and I up! We would look over and she would just be watching us and would mouth to us "I want fro-yo!" It was SO cute!

 Needless to say ... she finished her bowl, ate the last bite of Jeff's and was ready to move onto mine! You think she loves this stuff?!?

Love these two more than words could ever say!!!

Dentist and Sno-Cones

We had Lydia's first dentist appointment this morning and she did GREAT! I was really nervous because she's not a fan of strangers or of people messing with her. But all in all, she did wonderful! I was so proud of her!

 Totally engrossed by "The Little Mermaid" while waiting on her appointment. She's never seen it before and really seemed to like it. It's one of my favorites, so we may have to try and find it some where! She kept looking at me and saying "They were skating" because several of the characters were at Disney on Ice.

The dentist said that her teeth looked really good. He went through his speech about how important brushing was and told us that we needed to start flossing with her. Once he took a look at her teeth, he said that we could not ask for a better set of teeth. He said that they are spaced out just enough that with good brushing, we should not have to worry about cavities too much! Hopefully when we go back in 6 months she will be a little more comfortable.

 Since she did so well, I took her to Chick-Fil-A and let her play for a little bit. She had SO much fun!

 My lunch date! =)

Tonight, after we ran to the grocery store, we had our first sno-cone of the season!!

 Waiting patiently for her cotton candy sno-cone!

 YUMM!!

Obviously I didn't plan ahead very well ... White shirt AND pants and a RED sno-cone!! She only dripped a little bit and hopefully that will come out! =/ 

I am sure there will be A LOT more trips to get sno-cones this summer! One of our favorites!!

29 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 29 Weeks

Size of baby: A little bit over 15 inches head to toe and 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash)

Maternity Clothes: Wearing maternity pants because they are so much more comfortable! Mostly maternity shirts but some regular. Able to wear some of my spring/summer dresses from last year!

Gender: A baby BOY, Jack Henry

Movement: He is a very active little boy! Love feeling him move around ... and get the little hiccups! So sweet!

Sleep: Waking up every hour or so to roll over and/or use the bathroom. Thankfully I can usually go right back to sleep. Also love being able to take naps while Lydia is napping ... helps SO much!

What I miss: Sleeping on my belly

Cravings: Salads and fresh fruit

Symptoms: Just normal pregnancy stuff ... Trouble bending over, painting my toe nails, indigestion, etc. I also can hardly give Lydia a bath anymore. =( Thankfully Jeff does it most of the time! Starting to feel him up in my ribs more, which makes breathing really hard at times. 

Best Moment this week: Had a wonderful doctor's visit last Thursday! Always so reassuring to hear his heart beat and get a good report. I go back next Thursday and will continue every 2 weeks until he starts to see me every week! 

Can't believe it's almost time to meet Jack Henry! I feel like we have SO much left to do to get ready, but I know that it will all get done ... or it can wait! =) Jeff only has a couple "free" weekends left until he starts working 7 days a week for about a month straight, so I am hoping we can get a few of our projects knocked out before all that happens. I will feel so much better once we get Lydia's room painted and all of her stuff moved to her new big girl room and we can get Jack Henry's room all organized.

Lydia wanted to be in the picture this week! She looks so little standing there ... can't believe she's about to be a big sister! =)

Back To the Library!

We headed out this morning to story time @ our local library and Lydia was SO excited! It's been a while since we've been and I am hoping we can get back into a routine of going.

Sweet girl all ready to go!

 They gave all the kids maracas to play with to go along with the Cinco de Mayo book they read today. Glad there were not any more kids there today! It would have been LOUD! =)

 After they read a couple of books and sang some songs they did a little mouse craft that was super cute!

 Lydia loved using the glue stick.

 Working very intensely!

 Doing her silly smile while posing with her mouse.

 One of her favorite things @ the library ... the beads!

 We were so excited that Missy and Brailey were there today. Lydia had so much fun playing with Brailey!

 Lydia and Brailey on the computers! Lydia really liked playing on these. It was so funny because when she would talk to me when she had on the earphones she would talk SO loud. It was cracking us up!

So serious!!

We spent 2 hours there this morning and Lydia had the best time! She never got bored! Loves all the books, puzzles and games. Can't wait to go back next week!

Rain Rain Go Away!!

We have had some CRAZY weather around here lately. First we had some really bad storms that came through ... wind, hail, rain and tornadoes. No fun at all. We spent too many nights watching the TV and radars to see if we needed to go into the laundry room and hide from the storms. I am not a fan of storms and unfortunately all of these hit at night. =( Thankfully, we never got anything too bad. 

Saturday evening it started raining and it pretty much rained nonstop until early this morning. Have not heard a final rainfall amount but it's probably somewhere between 8 and 10 inches! CRAZY! Lydia has been dying to get out and splash around in her new rain gear she got for her birthday and yesterday we got out! It was raining and only 50*, but there was no storms so out we went!

All ready to go!

 Finally outside!

 Splashing around on the side walk.

 She got some crazy hair underneath that hood!

 Are those rain boots not the cutest? They even match her suitcase and backpack!

 If you look closely, you can see how wet she got! She was SOAKED!

 But she LOVED jumping and making the water fly EVERYWHERE! I probably poured a cup of water out of each of her boots!

Reminded me of our entry way after playing in the snow!

She had so much fun playing in the rain. Hopefully next time it will be a little warmer when we play in the rain! =) Not that we are looking for any more rain for a while! We've had enough to last for a while!