Nada

Wish I had something interesting to share today... a story to tell, a great baby update or a recipe we tried. But, I have nothing! Bed rest has consumed my soul (I'm kidding). I am still pregnant for 13 more days and I am still on bedrest. The only update on that, is that my blood pressures still aren't great, I still have protein and kidney battles, still on bed rest but Brittyn still looks perfect and is weighing in around 6lb 9oz. There ya have it, folks. I have been to the doctor a total of four times this week by Friday but we did get some precious looks at Brittyn's face when we had an ultrasound with the high risk doctor yesterday! I can't wait to kiss those cheeks!!

Anyways.. Here is what I have been doing...

• Stalking Find Hailey Dunn and The Big Country Homepage.. praying for one of our precious West Texas babies that has been missing for over two weeks now. Things aren't looking good and the drama continues to unfold. Pray for this sweet little girl!!

• Trying to convince a 2 year old, that really wants a Dora birthday party, that I really don't want to plan a Dora birthday party.. :) I was thinking more like an ice cream party, a ladybug party, or a circus party!! She isn't buying any of those ideas so looks like I will be planning a late March Dora party.. with a smile.. I think! :) So, if any of you know of any Dora party ideas.. send them my way!!

• I've been obsessing over etsy.com for big sister/middle sister/little sister shirts! My awesome cousin, that has an amazing embroidering machine, has made the shirts for the girls to wear when Brittyn is born! I can't wait to get them in the mail and post pictures!!

• I've been thinking about my checklist of things to get done before Brittyn is born and wishing that I wasn't on bed rest to get them done. I'm kidding, it's mostly complete.. but I still browse the list on my phone everyday..

I've been working on all the paper work that has to be done for me to be off work for FMLA and maternity leave. It is an ordeal... let me tell you! 

• And I have been enjoying being the mommy to these two precious angels before we become a family of FIVE!

My heart is overflowing with joy and excitement to meet Brittyn and it still makes me anxious to know Happy wont be the "baby" anymore. I remember the exact same feeling with Braelyn when Happy was about to be born... so I know we will be just fine. But it's still bittersweet :) Brittyn will be here in less then two weeks and our family will be complete. Thanks for all your prayers and messages as we battle through these last couple weeks on pregnancy with preeclampsia. I appreciate every one of our precious friends and family!!

December recap :)

Happy New Year!! I am more than excited about 2011 because we get to meet Brittyn Hope!! We celebrated New Year's Eve very low key at Jeff's parents house. Seeing as how I am 34 weeks pregnant, we have two toddlers and I was recovering from the last 24 hours with food poisioning, our plans weren't wild and crazy, ha! But we had a great time and I had fun trying to explain to Braelyn what New Year's was.. :)

I have to do some catching up from December cause we did some really fun things, always a good month!

One of Jeff's closest friends is a Marine that is stationed in Japan. Him, his wife and daughter got to come in town for the the begninning of December and we had a lot of fun. It was soo good to meet Chiaki and sweet little Arize!

 One of my favorite events of the year is the Abilene Christmas Parade! It was really cold this year and the parade is really long but we had so much fun! The kids loved every second of it and I did, too! :)

   

The girls and I had a major mission the first week of December.. Christmas cookies! We do lots of baking at our house but making the cookies was a lot of fun! We even did homemade icing.. it was soo good! I love these memories with them!!

 Also, the first week of December.. on the 7th, I turned 27 year old! I had a fun birthday and decided to make myself a birthday cake because it was a recipe I had been wanting to try for over a year. I made myself a Rainbow Cake.. it turned out soo pretty but honestly, I am not a fan of white cake so I didn't like the taste that much. No worries, I think Jeff ate the whole thing!!! :)

 Just for documentation purposes, our black tree was back for year number 2 and I still love it! I can't do clear lights, by the way. It just doesn't feel like Christmas to me unless there are pretty colored lights on my tree!!

And just because my two year old is so cute.. Here is Happy Faith! :)

Our second project in December was a gingerbread house. I totally cheated and bought a kit. We did not make gingerbread from scratch and assemble a house. I bought a kit and iced it together, which by the way was still a pain in the rear! It's not as easy to assemble or decorate as the box looks, ha! Luckily, between me, Aunt Kristie, Braelyn and Happy.. we ended up with this beauty of a gingerbread house.. don't laugh :) Anyways, we had fun and displayed it for December and then I trashed it :)

Braelyn's preschool class had a Christmas party the day before Christmas break and we brought the whole fam! Braelyn was so excited to show off her baby sister, Happy, to all her friends. They are just too cute to each other!

 The girls Christmas tree in their room.. I love it! I bought it for Braelyn's first Christmas back in 2006..

 Here are the pictures I took of the girls before we went to Jeff's parents house on Christmas Eve! They are just so sweet.. I am pretty lucky to be their Mommy!!

  

 Sweet angel, Braelyn and my bitty princess, Happy (she wasn't feeling it to take any more pictures :)

 Then we went to Jeff's parent's house and had Christmas with his family. We had a great dinner and time with his family. The girls got waaay too many presents but it was precious! This year was fun because they are both perfect age for Christmas and had great expressions while opening presents! (See Braelyn's faces below, ha!)

  

  

The next morning we did Christmas at our house after Santa came so I will have to blog about that next!

Over all, the holiday were blessed for us. I am so excited to know that 2011 holds another precious miracle for our family and I can not wait to meet her! Next year Christmas will be even more full and blessed!!!

October 2010

I decided since October was full of so much fun, it needed a post of it's own! We had a lot going on and I had to look for as many reasons as possible to get the kids in their cute costumes!

In the beginning on October, James and Dylan came a for a visit! It was fun. We miss them being close so much. The girls and Dylan are more like brother and sisters than cousins and they were back to their playing, giggling, arguing selfs in no time :)

These were just some of my favorite of the girls in October. I still love matching clothes and it still drives Jeff crazy.. but they are so cute!!

 We also had to take the girls to the pumpkin patch.. I love that fun and the pictures we get to take there!!

 The weekend before Halloween was Boo at the Zoo in Abilene. We almost didn't get to go cause a cold front came through with lots of rain the day of the event but thankfully, it cleared and warmed some right before it started. It turned out perfect! The girls decided to not go with a theme this year, which makes me crazy lol, but they are getting older and have ideas of their own now :) Braelyn was Jessie from Toy Story and Happy was Dora, her favorite!

 The weekend of Halloween I decided to attempt Cake Balls like pumpkins. It was so time consuming but they turned out cute and they are always delicious!

 Then Halloween night, we went trick or treating at Jeff's parents. The kids were cute and got lots of candy! It was a good time.

Excuse my brother-in-law's butt in the last picture with my kids. He thinks he is funny lol.

October was a fun month and once Halloween is over I get excited cause the big holidays are finally here!!!