it's a . . .

We are so excited to meet this little lady in September!  I shared this video on Facebook and Instagram in May, but am just now getting around to posting it here (sorry for the really bad quality!  It was the only way I knew how to compose a small video).  As you can see, I've already started shopping for girl clothes.  I'm trying to resist the temptation but they are so cute!  Just this week, I started on her nursery and I'll share the progress here soon.  H loves hanging out in his sister's room.  He can now identify a baby when he sees one.  When we ask him where the baby is, he either lifts his shirt up and points to his belly or lifts my shirt and point to mine.  So we're not really sure if he fully understands what's going on here. 

I'm currently in my 28th week and feeling huge!  I swear I'm a lot bigger this time around.  I'm more tired and seem to run out of breath more easily these days.  Baby girl is kicking and moving around comfortably in there which makes it hard to fall asleep sometimes.  But an active baby means a healthy baby, so I don't mind at all. 

September will be here before we know it!

a month of celebrations

June is one of our busiest months since we have lots of reasons to celebrate all throughout the month.

We started the month off with National Donut Day!   Did you get yours?

My better half turned the big 3-0!  I made this cake/pie for him since we're making it an annual tradition to have it on his birthday.

Our little man hit 18 months!  He is babbling non stop and can say up to 19 words (and counting).  Although he is a lot of fun these days, we're also dealing with a lot of fits and tantrums lately.  No one told me the terrible twos start a lot earlier!  I pray for patience every. single. day!

Our Father's Day celebration was very low key.  Poor Paul.  H was in the worst moods that day.  I wish we can have a do-over.  There is always next year.

Celebrated our fourth anniversary on the 19th.  I'm thankful I get to share the rest of my life with this wonderful man.

Bailey turned 7 and has entered her "golden years."  She's a little plumper, a little older, but she is more fabulous than ever!

And of course, summer has officially started!  What are your plans this summer?

i'm back with some BIG NEWS...

I'm so sorry for the three-month hiatus.  It's gotten busy around here.  Keeping up with a toddler is hard work!  Little H is now a walking machine and loves to babble about who knows what.  He's got quite a personality and Paul and I are enjoying these moments with him.  We're so proud of the little man that he's become, that we've promoted him to...

june highlights

Hello, friends!  Sorry for the month long absence.  I've been trying to survive live life day by day and these summer months sure are flying by fast.  Let's get caught up, shall we?

Our little man turned a half a year old!  The biggest milestone this month?  If you look closely you'll see them.  Give up?  

Our baby's got some chops!  Currently, he's sporting four baby teeth and they have completely changed his smile. 

Here's a great pic of three generations on Father's Day.

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary by going out to Rick's in downtown McKinney.  This was our second time there. Over dinner, we decided on making it a tradition to celebrate future anniversaries there.

And speaking of weddings, we went dress shopping with my sister and future sister-in-law.  After visiting several places, my sister finally said yes to the dress!

This little lady turned 6 years old!

I've got a few more to update you on, but thought I'd break it down into a few posts to get things rolling again on this sad and neglected blog.  See you very soon, I promise!

and she said...

YES!
  

My sister got engaged to her best friend last Thursday!  I was so sad I couldn't be there for the actual proposal, but luckily it was all captured on video.   My sister's fiance (weird) had all of his nieces and nephews along with Little H (that's him doing a Macaulay Culkin/Home Alone expression) help with the sign.  He knew my sister wanted family involvement if ever she was proposed to, and I thought this was a good idea to incorporate family.  They've come a long way to get here and I'm so happy for the both of them!  

Now I have a good reason to start pinning wedding things on Pinterest without feeling weird now that we have two weddings to plan.  I'm overwhelmed yet so excited for our growing family!

the day i became a mommy

On Tuesday, December 11th, 2012 at 5:46pm, our son was born.  He weighed 7lbs. 7oz. and was 18 inches long (although his Dad would argue that he was at least 19 inches).  

Little H (as we'll refer to him for now) is three weeks old and is changing every single day.  He's been keeping us busy day and night, but we just can't get enough of him.  We've received so much love from our family and friends.  It's such a good feeling to know that they are just as excited as we are and love him just as much.

It's hard to believe that we created this beautiful miracle.  Little H has only been with us for a few weeks and we already can't imagine life without him.  We are so honored to be his parents and he is everything we could have ever hoped for. 

J + T engaged

On Saturday, December 8th, my brother proposed to his girlfriend.  I offered to spy capture the moment for them (with the help of Paul).  Unfortunately, when I thought I hit "record" on my camera, I actually turned OFF the recording.  But all is not lost.  I still got some good pictures of the actual proposal.  Here are some pictures that I took of the couple after my brother popped the question.

I can't believe my "baby" brother is engaged!  We are so glad we had the chance to witness this moment.  All the walking, crouching and kneeling on rocks (ouch) was worth it.  Jennifer has been a part of our family for the past six years, and I'm happy that they will soon be making it official.  Let the wedding planning begin!

1st blogiversary

  {via}

I can't believe it's been one year since I started this little blog!  I'm actually surprised I was able to keep this up for this long.  One of the things that Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, did during her search to find happiness was to "launch a blog" (thanks to Tincy for the book recommendation!).  Keeping a blog was a little challenging, but each post was very rewarding.  It's nice to look back and see how much life has changed in just one year. 

Blogging has introduced me to so many others who share the same interests as me, and I hope I've at least inspired someone out there (hello?).  Thank you for allowing me to share bits of my life with you and for sticking around.  Here's to documenting another year.

PS.  New to blogging?  Check out these useful tips for beginning bloggers from Geraldine at The Everywhereist.  Her blog is pretty funny too!

labor day BLUES

I hope everyone is having a very fun and relaxing Labor Day!  Sorry for those of you who had to work today (like Paul).  I guess you would have the Labor Day blues =(  And speaking of blues, I wanted to share some good news with you.  We found out a few weeks ago that we are having...

A BOY!

We are over the moon with excitement!  We actually knew that we were having a little boy at 12 weeks when I had an NT screening, but we wanted to wait and announce it when we were absolutely sure.  During my 21-week sonogram a few weeks ago, they confirmed that it was still a boy!  I'm already dreaming of nurseries (pretty evident if you are following me on Pinterest) and hopefully I can share my ideas and inspirations here in the next few weeks.  Unfortunately, we won't have a house for me to start decorating a nursery just yet (this is another topic on its own), but I can start planning ahead - well, as much as I can anyway.  I really need to start our baby registry!

As for baby and me, we are doing fabulous.  Oh, and my due date really is December 20th (read more here).  Based on my last sonogram, baby is on track as far as size, so we were right all along.  I guess he was just a little late bloomer.  I will be 25 weeks this Thursday and am getting bigger and bigger every week!  I can finally feel him kicking and it amazes me every time!  We might have a little star athlete on our hands!  Paul is excited to teach his little rookie about sports, and the fact that he will no longer be outnumbered.  Let's face it, Bailey and I run the house!

So if you have any tips on how to raise a baby boy, let me know.  I'm all ears!  I heard baby boys are very sweet to their mommies.  I can't wait for all those hugs and kisses!

this has GOT to be a record!

Before we even had a chance to breathe and for me to mention it on this blog, our house sold in pretty much TWO days!  We officially put it on the market last Monday, had two showings on Tuesday, and had an offer - at full price - Tuesday night!  I must admit, I was hoping for a bidding war, but we couldn't be happier with how things turned out.  We didn't have to mess with people coming in and out of our house for too long and having to keep the house clean 24/7.  We just got the results from the inspection this week and besides a very minor fix, we're good to go.  We close on September 24th so that gives us about two more months to enjoy our first home.  It's going to be bittersweet but we're moving on to bigger and better things.

I'm hoping to share some pictures with you as soon as we get back from our Europe trip!

some saucy news

When in doubt on what to make for dinner for the week, we always fall back on spaghetti.  It's easy, and you really can't go wrong with pasta.  I usually get the one with lots of meat chunks or the three-cheese sauce, and I like to add some fresh mushrooms, oregano and thyme for extra flavor.  I have yet to try and make my spaghetti sauce from scratch though.  Does anyone have any good recipes? 

Here we are talking about spaghetti, and all I really wanted to say was, I'm...

!!!

I'm now 16 weeks pregnant and had a very good first trimester.  No morning sickness really, which I'm thankful for.  My clothes are fitting a little snug, and I'm constantly hungry, although no crazy cravings yet.  I've been taking weekly pictures of my belly with Paul's help.  We found out when I thought I was 5 weeks, but was really only 4 weeks along. 

Our "true" due date is Christmas Day!  I say true, because we originally thought it was December 20th, but we were actually 5 days off based on the baby's size.  Hopefully the baby comes a little sooner so he/she will have their own special day. 

We are so grateful for this little miracle that we've been blessed with!  Baby T has changed us so much already.  My Aunt did say, "savor every moment you spend with your child - this [stage] is the closest you'll ever be!"  She is so right (as always), and so far, I'm loving every minute of it!