Cupcake Cake

I just wanted to post some pictures from the cupcake party so that you could see how cute the cake was all set up!!

Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes!

Cupcakes are so popular now. And they are so much fun to decorate! I had 65 cupcakes to decorate for this past weekend. And one giant cupcake cake! I have wanted to make one of these for the longest time and I finally had an opportunity to! Twenty-five of the cupcakes went with the cupcake cake. We decided to ice them to go along with the colors of the sprinkles on top of the cake.

The remaining cupcakes were for my niece's birthday. They were iced in pink (of course!). I made cute white chocolate 4's and S's to go on top of these cupcakes; however, since it was 100 degrees by 10am here in Mississippi, the white chocolate didn't hold up long enough to make it. Sad. I don't currently have a picture of the pink cupcakes, but will post a pic if I can get my hands on one! Here are some pics of the toppers.

Let the sports wars begin!!!

This past weekend I was asked to do a cake for two boys' birthdays. One was an LSU fan and one was an Ole Miss fan! Now, I've been to an LSU/Ole Miss game and it was ugly! These two teams seriously hate one another. When I was putting the two sides of the cake together I felt like they were going to repel one another... the way magnets do when you try to put the like sides together. Overall, I think the cake turned out cute though. One side is chocolate fudge and the other is french vanilla. The cake is covered in buttercream.

Cookies!!!!

I've been wanting to try these iced cookies for awhile and finally felt up to it this week. I wasn't that pleased with the taste of the cookie because I used half white and half wheat flour, but I'll know better than to try to make a cookie healthy for next time!! I also am not a big fan of royal icing, but it is necessary in order to make these cookies look the way that they do. From what I've read, the cookie has to be the real standout when making these, not the icing. They turned out cute and I can see them being teacher/school happies for us this year! I'll keep working on them until I am please with how they taste! Here are some pictures.

Sports Ball Cake

I did a cake last week for sweet Reece's 1st birthday, which was sports themed. His mommy wanted to incorporate several different sports and had this design in mind. We did a 3 tiered cake with the bottom layer french vanilla torted with buttercream and covered in marshmallow fondant to look like a basketball. The middle layer was milk chocolate fudge torted with buttercream and covered in marshmallow fondant to look like a football and the top layer was french vanilla torted with buttercream and covered in marshmallow fondant to look like a golf ball. Reece's smash cake was a large french vanilla ball covered in buttercream to look like a baseball. Cute, cute!

LucyPalooza

I made a cake! And I enjoyed it so much! I can't even remember the last cake I did before this one, but when Haylie asked me to make a cake for Lucy's first birthday I thought about it for about 1.5 minutes before I decided that YES, I was definitely ready for it. I had told myself that I would resume cake decorating when Lillian started sleeping through the night. Well, unfortunately that hasn't happened yet, but I think I just needed to do something that I really enjoy!

Lucy had a princess party, so I did some researching on the internet and found several cakes that I really liked and just pieced them all together into one beautiful cake fit for a princess! The bottom tier was strawberry (to go along with the mounds of pink that was strewn all through Haylie's house!) and covered in white buttercream. I did a quilted pattern on the bottom tier and put edible pink pearls on the cross pattern. The top tier was french vanilla covered in pink buttercream. I piped a sash around the top tier and added some pearls to it. I topped it all off with a white chocolate tiara that I hand piped. I added some of the edible pink pearls to dress it up! The whole thing was sprayed down with a good coat of lustre dust to make it shimmery... princessy!

Lucy's smash cake was a miniature carriage in coordinating colors. The wheels are white chocolate. Cake is french vanilla covered in buttercream. Here are some pictures, but once again, I took them with my cell phone so the lighting is bad!

Taelyn and I made some cute princess cupcakes, too! Yep, Haylie even had the three year olds working on the party!!!

The entire party was truly amazing! Complete with a huge castle that Nick built out of big boxes, a craft table with crowns, tiaras, swords and wands, and a horse drawn carriage giving rides around the neighborhood! Happy first birthday, Lucy! I am so honored to have been a part of it!

To co-sleep or not to co-sleep

                                                     

Co-sleeping... it's such a debated topic among parents these days. In my opinion, if you enjoy sleeping with your children and it works for your family then do it. No judgement here. One of my best friends co-sleeps with her children and she is happy doing this. I think it is great. However, those of us who do not want to co-sleep shouldn't feel like we are being judged or considered any less of a mom because of that decision.

There are several reasons why I choose not to co-sleep. The main reason is that from the time I wake up in the morning until the time that my children fall asleep at night (and even during the night with my 10 week old) I am needed by them. I am holding, cuddling, feeding, playing games, changing diapers, wiping tears, entertaining, reading books, etc. My priority all through the day is my children. It is exhausting, but so worth it. However, I need time for myself. I feel like this helps me to be a better mom. On a good night, after my children go to sleep, I will typically have 2 hours all to myself before I go to bed. Usually I use this time to get in bed and read. I like having this time each night where I am not being needed. I can just relax and enjoy the quiet. If my children were sleeping with me, this would not be possible.

I feel like the majority of the pressure to co-sleep comes from the breastfeeding community. I feel strongly about nursing my children. I nursed my oldest daughter for a year and plan to nurse my little one for a year as well. Breastfeeding proponents make me feel like I should have my daughter in bed with me at night so that she can nurse all through the night anytime she wants. That does not sound like a good night sleep for me. I am a light sleeper, so I wake easily to noises and movements. We all know that babies make a lot of noises and move constantly in their sleep. I've read in books that to co-sleep safely you should put your mattress on the floor and sleep without blankets. And you need to wear clothing that allows your nursing child to latch on whenever they want through the night. Well, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if my mattress were on the floor and I didn't have any blankets on me I wouldn't get a wink of sleep. And as far as nursing through the night... they say that most of the time you won't even wake up when the baby latches on and nurses - HA! I promise if my baby latches on and starts nursing I won't be able to sleep through that. And if I did sleep deeply enough that I were to be able to sleep through a nursing session I would definitely worry that I would be in danger of being one of those parents that accidentally suffocates their child while sleeping in the bed with them.

The reason that I have been thinking about this so much is because I read this article last week: http://www.slate.com/id/2143241/. The article is called "Go ahead - sleep with your kids." It is subtitled "the urge is natural. Surrender to it." It is written by a father who feels like the natural thing to do in life is to sleep with your children and nurse them around the clock. This article really infuriated me because to me he is insinuating that you are selfish if you aren't okay with what he is suggesting. Well... I think it is really easy for this FATHER to point fingers at MOTHERS and say this is what you should be doing. He isn't the one that has a child latched to him all day long. And he isn't the one that is being needed constantly by children and doesn't have time to himself. I don't know anything about this man's personal life, but I'd be willing to guess that he goes to work away from home each day and has plenty of time to feel like a grown man and have adult conversations with others. I'd be willing to bet that he doesn't spend his days in the floor pretending to be cinderella's wicked stepmother, reading books and playing Cootie over and over again. And I know that he isn't feeding his child with his own body countless times all day long. Yet, he thinks that mothers are selfish if they are asking for a couple of hours sleep in their own bed away from their children each night.

Well, Mr. Wright (ha, ironic name, huh?!), I think that you are wrong about this. I don't think that mothers are wrong if they choose to co-sleep and this works for them. If they are happy with their children in their bed then it is great. However, I don't think that I am wrong for choosing not to co-sleep. And if he would like to come nurse my child all day long, then I may be willing to give co-sleeping a try!

Such a Slacker

I know that it has been a month since I've blogged. It's not that I haven't had the time to blog, it's just that I really haven't had anything to blog about. My days are consumed with feeding baby, changing baby, getting baby to sleep, and then it starts all over again. And thrown in the middle of that is Taelyn playing Cinderella and I am the wicked step-mother. I'm always the wicked step-mother. Boo. I wish we could play outside, but it's really too hot for Lillian to be out there more than a few minutes. And she can't wear sunblock yet, so that really complicates things.

Taelyn did take swimming lessons for two weeks that that was great. The first two days were really difficult and there were tears, from Taelyn and from me! The teacher was really hardcore. But at the end of that second week, Taelyn was jumping in the water from the side and swimming half-way across the short side of the pool with her face in the water. She can also come up and get a breath and put her face back down and keep swimming. She's only three, people, so I'm really proud of her! I can't wait to get her around her cousins because I think watching them will really help her as well.

On the baking side of things (I know... its been awhile since I've even mentioned baking!), once Lillian is sleeping through the night and we are on some sort of schedule (I live for schedules), I plan to start baking cakes again. I'm going to start slowly with one or two a month and then try to work my way into it. And ... I want to try my hand at these painted cookies that are all the rave in the baking world these days! I've got some cute design ideas in my head and I'm really excited about them! Hopefully they will go over well!

My bible study with Good Morning Girls is really good! I suggest you check it out if you are looking for a good study. We are going through the amazing book "The Ministry of Motherhood" by Sally Clarkson. It has been a really good book for me to read. I suggest it for all mommies! Click the link in my sidebar if you would like to look at the blog.

Alright... that's all of me wasting your time with the nothingness that I am blogging about. I'll try to come up with something interesting to say next time!

More Things I Love!

I'm adding to the list of things I love for babies! The items on this list are mostly things that I didn't use with Taelyn but that have been very helpful with Lillian!

...continued from the previous list...

#4: Peanut Shell sling: I had a sling with Taelyn that my sister-in-law passed on to me, but I never felt comfortable using it. I only tried it a few times and then I gave up. I wanted to get a sling that I felt more comfortable with this time around because with a 3 year old I knew it would be important for me to have both hands free. I LOVE this sling! I've used it a pretty good amount at this point and I have gotten really comfortable with it. And Lillian loves it! She gets so snuggled in and comfy in there and it is just like I am holding her. She usually falls asleep in it. I was worried at first about all of the negative publicity surrounding slings and babies suffocating in them, but if you get the baby positioned in it correctly I don't think it is a concern at all. I plan on using this thing with all of the different holds as Lillian gets older. I even carried Taelyn on my hip with it one day and was perfectly comfortable!

#5: Summer Baby Touch monitor: I am in love with this monitor! We didn't have a video monitor with Taelyn and both agreed that we wanted one with Lillian. I did some extensive research on video monitors (as I am prone to do) and the Summer Baby touch had the best ratings and reviews across the board. The video screen is about the size of my iphone and it is a touch screen. You can pan and zoom the camera from the monitor. We found one for a great price on ebay about 3 or 4 months before Lillian was born and put it in Taelyn's room. I don't know how I lived without a video monitor when Taelyn was a baby. I would have gotten so much more sleep with her! About a month before Lillian was born we had really gotten used to having a video on Taelyn during the night (even though she doesn't do anything but sleep!), so we thought it would be nice to get a 2nd camera for the monitor. That is another great thing about this monitor - you can have up to 4 cameras. Haylie got us our 2nd camera as a baby gift and it is wonderful! The monitor switches between both cameras throughout the night so I can keep an eye on both girls! I absolutely love it. And the picture is so clear - see for yourself! And this is the picture on the  monitor taken with my cell phone!

#6: Miracle Blanket: This is another item that Haylie let me borrow. It is a swaddle blanket, but it has the little cloth tabs to wrap around baby's arms so that they can't break loose! It was featured on the Today show at some point. It has really been great. At first Lillian would squirm when I would start wrapping her up in it, but now she seems to really like it. She is perfectly calm as I wrap her up in it. And she doesn't try to break out (I guess she figured out that she can't!). This isn't Lillian... it is just a good picture from the internet that shows how the blanket works!!

#7: Bebe Au Lait nursing cover: I never used a nursing cover with Taelyn because I was never comfortable to nurse in a place where I would need it! But I knew with Lillian that I would have to get comfortable because with Taelyn I can't just stay in the house all the time the way I did when she was a baby. She needs to get out and get rid of some of her never ending energy. So I got a nursing cover. It's ironic to me that nursing covers are so brightly patterned and colored. Isn't the point of the nursing cover discretion? Well, after some searching I found this white eyelet cover by Bebe Au Lait and I love it. It is double lined but not hot at all for Lillian. I have already used it a ton. It is nice to not feel like I have to leave the room now when people are visiting and Lillian needs to eat. I'm sure it will get a ton of use over the next 11 months (geez... 11 more months until she's one!?).

That's all for now! I'll continue to add to the list!

Good Morning Girls Bible Study

My friend, Krista, posted about a bible study on Facebook the other day. I had just been thinking about what kind of study I was wanting to do for the summer and so I visited the link that she posted. The study looks so good and I am so excited about it so I wanted to share. Visit www.goodmorninggirls.org if you would like to look at the study as well.

The ladies behind this blog are going through the book The Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson as part of the book club. They have 2 chapters of the book assigned per week The then have a scripture passage assigned for each day with a very neat way to study scripture. They use the "SOAP" method which stands for:

 1.  S- Write out the scripture passage for the day.

2. O- Write down 1 or 2 observations from the passage.

3. A- Write down 1-2 applications from the passage.

4. P- Pray over what you learned from today’s passage.

They encourage you to get with a group of women to do the study; however, it can all be done via the web. On Monday's they will post a video by the author of the book. On Wednesday's they encourage you to share comments on their blog and then on Friday's you discuss answers from the discussion questions with your group. This can be done through email, facebook, twitter or you can meet in person to discuss. 

This study begins on Monday and I am really looking forward to it. I will probably be posting about it in the upcoming weeks. If you would like to check out the study, click on the Good Morning Girls circle on my sidebar.  If you want to join our email group, just email me and let me know and I'll put you on the list!

New Moms Lie

This is a phrase that gets repeated a lot in our house. It started when Taelyn was a baby and has gotten used several times since we've been home with Lillian.

Let me digress a bit. I've found it interesting how many comments I've gotten on my past few blog posts and my honesty about our life when Taelyn was a baby. Other mom's need to hear that everything isn't all sunshine and baby laughs every single day when you bring a new baby home. However, we, as mothers, have a tendency to want to give this impression to others. I think the reason is because it makes us look like we have it all together as a mother. That we know exactly what we are doing and do not ever have a down day, or a day when we are just frustrated, or melt into tears every time our darling angel melts into tears.

When we came home with Taelyn and I was a complete mess (as I've described in previous posts), I needed to know that there were other mothers who were going through what I was going through. I would call the other moms that I knew who had delivered around the same time that I did. I would ask how nursing is going and I would get a, "Great! We haven't had any problems at all," while I had mastitis 3 times.  I would ask how the baby was sleeping and I would get, "Doing so well. He/She started sleeping through the night at 3 weeks," while I was a complete zombie waking up sometimes 5 times a night with Taelyn. It seemed like all of the other mothers had it all together while I was the only one seriously struggling with life with a baby. It made it so much worse not having someone else to be able to sympathize with me or tell me how to handle what I was going through.

I would vent to Scott about this and complain that God had given everyone else these perfect babies while we had one that didn't sleep and wanted to eat every hour and a half. And Scott's answer to me was always, "Casey, they are lying." My nature is to trust people until they give me a reason not to, while Scott tends to be... skeptical... of others. So, I automatically just believed all of the other moms that were saying that baby was sleeping through the night with no problems, never cried, and never had dirty diapers (okay, that one was never said). But it just made things worse for me. I finally got to where I knew Scott must be right... New Moms Lie. I couldn't figure out why, but after a lot of thought I came up with what I mentioned earlier - just to make themselves look like good moms. But I wish that we, as mothers, could see how hurtful this is to other mothers. If things are going great, then it is fine to say that, but I do think we should be HONEST about what we are experiencing. I remember talking to one mother who had her little boy 2 weeks after Taelyn was born and asking her about nursing. This was in the midst of my extreme pain with mastitis. She said that everything was great! I remember having a conversation with her almost a year later... after we had both finished nursing, and she told me that she had also had mastitis. Now, I would have greatly benefited from hearing that when I had it. But she chose to keep that information hidden when I needed to hear it.

There was one wonderful family in our sunday school class that was honest about their trials with their first child. I completely attached myself to this family and loved hearing them tell their hilarious stories about what they had done in the middle of the night when up with baby. From this I learned how to laugh at the situation the way they did. Nothing was ever funny in the middle of the night, but the next day I realized that I could laugh at how ridiculous I had acted. Bless this precious family for being honest and letting me see that there were other people out there that weren't blessed with perfect babies! I will never, ever stop appreciating them for their honesty at a time in my life when I truly needed it. They continue to be great friends of ours and I continue to love their honesty about life!

All that to say that this is why I choose to be brutally honest about our difficulties with new baby. If you need someone to sympathize with you, please call or email me and I will listen or tell our new baby stories or whatever you need from me!

For now I have to get lunch served so that I can go get a nap to catch up from a lack of sleep last night while Lillian grunted for hours!!!

We did it, we did it, we did it - HOORAY!

Anyone with young girls will appreciate the Dora reference in the title. That is how I feel today. I made it through my first week home alone with both girls and here's the kicker... I managed to get a shower every single day! In the morning, too... not waiting until Scott got home like I had to do to get a shower when I had Taelyn. I feel very accomplished in my career as a mom! The past two nights have been BAD with Lillian, but I've managed not to zombie around the house. When you have a precious 3-year old for motivation, it's easier to conjure up that strength for her sake. I've implemented "Taelyn-time" this week, which is just set time that Taelyn has to play by herself in her room. This gives me a little quiet time during my day. We have also taken walks around the neighborhood with our new handy-dandy sit and stand stroller (more to follow). This morning we made homemade pancakes (or pancircles as Taelyn calls them), we gave the baby a bath, we caught up on the ever-famous royal wedding, and we gave Doughnut a bath. Giving the dog a bath is the last thing on Earth I wanted to do after not getting much sleep last night, but Taelyn REALLY wanted to so I gave in. Now we will have naptime in 2 hours and a little play time this afternoon and then daddy will be home for the weekend!!

I am excited because I am going to see Water for Elephants tomorrow. I think that I will probably be going by myself, but I don't care. It will be 2 hours of pure bliss where I can get lost in a movie! I talked my BFF, Haylie (previously mentioned), into reading the book this week so that we could go see the movie together in a few weeks when she and her family come to visit. So she read the book in about 1.5 hours (which is typically how she reads books) and then called and said that she couldn't wait that long to see the movie and she was going without me this weekend. What a friend, huh?! So I figure I'll go see it by myself this weekend too and will enjoy every minute of the alone time!

Okay, now I want to do a follow-up to yesterday's "I'm not a fan" post. This is the "I'm a HUGE fan of:" post! So, here it is. I'm sure this will be an ongoing list as well.

I'm a HUGE fan of:

#1: The Joovy Caboose sit and stand stroller - We found this at Hudson's a few weeks before Lillian was born for a great price. I had decided not to get one and that Taelyn was just old enough to walk when we go somewhere, but this was such a good price so we went ahead and purchased it. And I am so glad that we did. I used it yesterday for the first time to walk around the block and it was wonderful! Taelyn could sit on the bench seat in the back, or stand on the platform. She was able to jump on and off as she wanted to and it really was wonderful. It is also very easy to steer. I haven't folded it up yet to go in the car, so I'll have to keep you posted on that aspect. Everything else I really liked about it though.

#2: The Boppy lounger. I had the regular Boppy pillow (the intertube looking thing) with Taelyn and I never used it. I pulled it back out to use with Lillian and I still haven't used it. Scott has used it more than me! But the Boppy lounger I love!! Haylie let me borrow this (as well as a whole myriad of other items) and I have used it so much. It is great to prop Lillian up in. She likes being able to sit in it and look around and what is going on around her!

#3: The Snuggle Nest: which Haylie also let me borrow (okay, I guess all of this stuff that I am using of hers makes up for the whole movie bit). This is like a little bed that you can take with you. I think the real purpose of it is if you want your baby to sleep in the bed with you (which we don't), but I have this inside her bassinet and she sleeps really well in it. It also has this wonderful nightlight on it. The first few nights we slept with Scott's closet light on, but it was way too much light. I realized that I could just turn on this little nightlight when I needed to change and feed Lillian during the night and it was the perfect amount of light. Love it!

I'll keep this list going! I have to find some laundry to do or something else to keep me busy now or I am going to fall asleep sitting straight up.

Things I am not a fan of...

This is a list of things that I am not a fan of:

#1: Baby Grunting - Lillian is a grunter. I'm not talking about the occasional grunt when she is pooping. I'm saying this girl is a hardcore grunter. Last night she grunted constantly from 1am until about 4:30 am when she finally fell into a deep sleep. Then began grunting again at 5:15am. Not a good night for us. I've been googling baby grunting and there is a myriad of reasons why she may be grunting, including: gas, immature abdominal muscles, not knowing how to work muscles together at the same time to pass gas correctly, constipation, and on and on and on. She has regular dirty diapers so I know that it isn't constipation, but I guess it could be one of the other ideas that I mentioned. That is what I've narrowed it down to at least. I tried everything I knew to try last night: nursing - she finally got to the point where she just wouldn't open up anymore! She didn't want to eat, I tried mylecon and that didn't seem to help, I swaddled and reswaddled (see below), I rubbed her back and her belly, I tried to get her to take her pacifier and she wouldn't, and finally I just stared at her. The solution for grunting (according to the all-knowing internet) is that there is no solution. They just have to grow out of it. GREAT! So no sleep for me until Lillian learns to use her muscles in sync to be able to pass gas. Fabulous! If any of you readers have a grunter and have any advice, I'm all ears.

#2: Babies busting out of the swaddle - I consider myself to be a good swaddler. When I swaddle Lillian she is wrapped up tightly like a little baby burrito and I think to myself, "Huh... see if you can get out of that one." And 20 minutes of grunting later I look over to see that little hand waving all over the place in a very uncoordinated manner. So frustrating. I used the velcro "swaddle me" blanket with Taelyn and that worked well, but Lillian isn't big enough for it yet. Her legs barely make it into the pouch. And my BFF, Haylie, let me borrow her miracle blanket, which I decided to try last night, but she isn't big enough for that one yet either. She sleeps fine during the day when she isn't swaddled. Those arms just lay peacefully up near her face or by her side. But boy, when it gets dark outside, its like the arms grow minds of their own. They won't just lay peacefully and let my baby sleep. They are all over her face, in her eyes and mouth... it truly is amazing!

That is all I can think of right now. As of now, everything else "baby" I am a fan of. This child is so incredibly sweet. I'll keep you posted if any other things pop up on my "not a fan of" list!

Taelyn and Lillian

Okay... everyone keeps asking if Taelyn and Lillian look alike. One of the first comments I made after Lillian was born was, "she looks nothing like Taelyn." Then when we got home Scott pulled up these pictures! See for yourself:

 

Taelyn

Lillian

I definitely see differences between the two, especially with the hair and their size. Taelyn was almost a full pound larger than Lillian, which makes her look more filled out. However, I see a lot more similarities than I initially gave them credit for. 

I can already tell that they are different in personality. However, I feel that a lot of this has to do with me. I was so tense with Taelyn that I'm sure she fed off of that. I am MUCH more laid back with Lillian. Taelyn cried a lot as a newborn... and infant. Lillian barely ever cries. When she does she just cries out once or twice to get someone's attention and then it's over. Once Taelyn got started crying there was nothing you could do to pacify her. You just had to wait it out. Taelyn also didn't want anything touching her hands. She wouldn't hold your finger the way most infants will. She would draw her hands up in a fist and hold them close to her if you tried to touch her hands at all. Lillian is really cuddly so far. I am hoping that she will be my cuddly baby!

One very neat thing about both of my babies... Taelyn was born exactly a week and a half before Easter in 2008 and Lillian was born exactly a week and a half before Easter this year. This is why they are both wearing the bunny outfit above during our first week home with them! Sweet Easter babies! I'll continue to post pictures as we get a little bigger!

Changes in our household!

So... the big news here is that we added a new little mouth to feed to our household! Lillian Noel was born on Tuessday, April 12. I went in on Monday for my regular check and had some good progression and was a tad low on amniotic fluid. So my doctor asked me if I wanted to meet her the next morning at the hospital to have a baby! Did I want to??? I could have hugged her I was so happy. So the next morning we went in early and had a very good day that ended with a sweet angel being born! Things went very quickly, thank goodness, and Lillian was born at 12:26pm. She was 19.5 inches long and weighed 6.5 lbs. April 12 was the perfect day for her to be born. First, she shares a birthday with my mother-in-law, who is just thrilled about it! Also, Taelyn's birthday is March 12 and my birthday is August 12, so it will be easy for my husband to remember!! As long as he can get the months right!! Here is a picture of her right after she was born.

Sweet eyes! We are still shocked that she has dark hair!

Meeting Lillian for the first time! Love this moment.

Taelyn seeing her new little sister for the first time!

BEAUTIFUL girl!

My sweet girls! I am so excited that Taelyn has a sister!

Since we got home, things have been GREAT! And I do not use that word lightly. Any of you that were around when I had Taelyn know how completely crazy I was. Crying all the time, feeling mentally unstable, and not having a clue how to take care of baby were just a few of the things that I dealt with. I had never been around babies at all and I was really overwhelmed by all of it. Taelyn was not a good sleeper, so I was also having to deal with all of that on top of no sleep. I was worried that those same feelings would present themselves this time around.

However, I have felt like a completely different person. I know that it is just feeling more comfortable being a mom and knowing what to do with a baby. But it is nice not having the fog to deal with. Lillian's nights and days are a little messed up, but I feel like I have dealt with it really well. I know going into each night that I am not going to be getting much sleep and that helps. It makes me thankful for any amount that I get. I've been praying at night, not for sleep, but just for the patience and strength to deal with no sleep. Meaning: Not being mean to my husband in the middle of the night. Or thinking ill thoughts toward him as he is able to sleep soundly through all of the baby noises!! I have seen that the newborn days do pass. I've been through that before. So now I know that it will get better! And I can try to enjoy these days instead of just wishing them away! 

Taelyn is being a really sweet sister. She has adjusted so well. I know that we will have up days and down days with her as we learn to deal with shared mommy/daddy time, jealousy and all that... but so far it has been fine! She loves being a big helper! Taelyn helps with diapers and putting clothes on. She is still trying to figure out nursing though ... it has been a little comical! Taelyn put one of her teddy bears up to her belly button the other day and said that she was feeding the bear her milk. Pretty funny. I can imagine that would be a little difficult for a 3 year old to wrap their mind around. She is starting to just accept that is how Lillian eats though, so hopefully the questions will drop off about it soon!

I'll end this post with Lillian's life verse and our prayer for her:

"But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds." 

Making Things...

Guess what??? Taelyn actually wore the dress that I made for her to church on Sunday!! And I got compliments on it. I was so excited. I, of course, thought it was cute, but you know how partial you can be when you spend time on something like that. Here is a picture of her in the dress when I was trying it on her at home:

I have some of that blue flowered fabric left, so I am going to make a matching something for Lillian. I hope to get it done before she is born, because I'm pretty sure it won't get finished if I wait!

This is something else that we threw together recently. My sister-in-law gave us this frame about a year ago and it has been in our storage room. We painted it red with the same color that is in our kitchen and I backed it with this cute khaki paisley fabric and hung it up to serve as a dry erase board. My husband has a love/hate relationship with his "to do" list! It definitely helps him get things done when he has a list glaring at him everyday, but I'm not sure that he likes it so much! Anyhow, it turned out cute and it goes well in our kitchen.

I'll keep you posted on when we have a new baby in the house!

Ready!

I finally finished Lilli's painting. I kept adding and covering and touching up until I finally just gave up and called it "finished!" Still not completely satisfied with it, but if I'm being honest I would have to say that I just don't care as much about the nursery as I did the first go around. When I was having Taelyn I felt like her nursery had to be perfect. I think because I didn't know what the joy of actually having the baby would be like and the room was something tangible that I could prepare for. However, this time around I know what to expect. And I have to say that I am much more excited about getting the actually baby out of her current living quarters and into our house!! The nursery has been in the back of my mind this entire pregnancy. She has bedding, a place to change/store diapers and clothing. And a glider rocker. We are set. And I am ready - physically and mentally! So... not as concerned with a Pottery Barn look-a-like for a nursery this time. This is a picture of the painting.

This weekend I am going on a women's retreat with my church. I am really excited about it. Hopefully getting away for a day and immersing myself in God's word and surrounding myself with His people will rejuvinate me! I am pretty worn out mentally and physically at this point.

Did I mention that tomorrow is my last day of teaching... not just for this school year... but for awhile. I will definitely return to teaching one day, but we are planning on me being a stay-at-home mom indefinitely at this point. So, after school tomorrow, not only do I get to turn my alarm off, I get to delete it! I am really excited about it. Unless we have a baby before then I have plans to attend the bible study at church that I used to go to when I was staying at home after Taelyn was born. I also plan to take Taelyn to preschool story time at the library. Oh, and hair cuts! I'm so excited to get my hair cut (not that I couldn't do this while teaching, but I've just been putting it off!).

Counting down the hours at this point until I return to my previous status of "stay-at-home mom!" So excited!!!