Picture Perfect

Not that I am the definition of a perfect picture, but I got to take some great maternity pictures from a fellow home-birthing mom. Lily even participated with me. They came out wonderful and I can't wait for her to take the newborn photos of Chloe. Cindy with Weaselbee Studios is my go to for photos. I'll introduce her- she is great!


http://weaselbeestudios.smugmug.com/Family/Michelle-Maternity/11908727_JoMQu#842970885_yGDf3

Seriously- any day now, any hour now

Miss. Chloe has decided to make us wait, and get anxious and wait. I started having contractions on Sunday morning, which dwindled into nothing by 10am. So Corey and I missed church expecting labor to commence. Yesterday I awoke at 6 am with deep contractions and bloody show. Of course, I was extremely excited because that is how I expected labor to start, as was my experience with Lily. Lo and Behold, nothing happened until about 4pm.

After a good nap with Lily, the contractions started up and went on for hours, becoming more tense and lasting about a minute. As soon as I called the midwife at 8 and we called Grammy to come get Lily however, they stopped. Mary (the midwife) said they may start again in the middle of the night after some rest. Sure enough, at 2:30 I woke up to contractions that would not stop. They came about every 6-10 minutes and lasted a good 60 seconds each. I got up and watched TV. I discovered there is not much on at 3am without cable. I finally roused Corey at 4:30 and we went for a walk. After he had been caffeinated of course. As soon as we stepped foot back in the house, everything came to a halt. Mary told me to rest because active (real) labor will come like a flood, but there is no way of knowing the hour or the day. Since I am still having bloody show on and off, that means something is giving way down there during these few contractions.

So we are going to pop some popcorn, put on a movie and relax with some acupressure and snuggling on the couch and see if "Lil Miss" decides to be born tonight.

Blooms and Eggs

What a beautiful spring we have been having. The rains of fall and the roaring of March has given us numerous wildflowers this year. We were finally able to take some great pictures of Lily in the Bluebonnets. We found a spot by the church at Mopac and Bee Caves. You can park in the church lot and walk over the hill to the side by the on ramp. There were some fairly flat spots where the bonnets had been laid on, but you can't tell once you get the flowers all around.

The fragrance of the field was heavenly. It is so neat just to think about how much love God puts into each flower and tree.

How can you not take photos of a child this adorable?

Susie got a good picture of us together. Lily did not want to sit long, she enjoyed going up and down the hill.

Easter was green and blue and yellow and red like I have not seen in a long time. The last few years have been sparse at best with the flower production. Lily hunted eggs at church with her friends in her silky white dress made by her Nana for a Sweet 16 party she was the princess in.
I just adorned it in yellow to make it more Seasonal
Corey went to church at 8am for Pastor's Prayer Partners while I slowly drug my pregnant self out of bed and fixed Lily and I breakfast. We hid her basket until he came back home. I think he was more excited about the candy than she was!
Of course she got her share of cupcake icing on the white dress so we had to swap it to take pictures of her hunting eggs at our house with her Grammy.
She had to stop hunting eggs to pick a few "blow 'ems" in the yard-and the neighbor's yard. I don't think they would miss them much as they only mow twice a year anyway.
Daddy and her polished this one off together.
1-2-3 jump spot of the tree. It was a real egg too, I think he was trying to sabotage them so I would not get the chance to store them in the fridge to eat during the week.

Chloe's Party

Femia, Angelica, Angelita and Angie all came together to throw me a party to welcome Chloe. Tyneshia, who is a culinary graduate, made me the coolest looking baby shower cake ever. It was as delish as it was pretty- Corey took one bite and his eyes widened. He immediately told me to call Tyneshia to let her know that was the best thing he had even put in his mouth. Lily ate all the balls of fondant off of it and kept calling them chocolate.

Here are the booties that were sitting on the very top.

They were so cute, but didn't taste very good!

Most of the women in my family were there, my sisters, my mom, step-mom, mother-in law, aunt and grandma and even my big sister's mother in law. This was almost like a mini reunion as my older sister has not seen our younger sister before, or our grandma and aunt in 25 years. All the cousins played together in the yard and had a great time. This time, Cash wasn't out numbered because he had Jack on his side!

I got yelled at for holding both toddlers at once. My mom said she didn't want a call at 2 am saying I had gone into labor from picking up Cash too. And Jack was not happy about being asked to come in from playing to take dumb pictures.

One of the best things about a shower will always be the games. My step-mom had to eat baby food along with some of the gals from church. My mom got fed vanilla pudding by a lady in a blind fold. They actually did really well with their communication so my mom didn't get messy. Mimi however, got it all over her face and hair because she was laughing and moving around!

And of course, everyone had to see how big I was. 12 squares- I think 3 people got it right on, and there were a few 18-20 guesses too!

I had a wonderful time and felt all the love directed to Chloe. She made out with adorable outfits, blankets, a bag, some yummy Burt's Bees baby care and lots of diapers.

Thank you to everyone who thought of us!

Shower

I am going to have my shower tomorrow, my sisters, my aunt, my grandma, my mom, mother in law, step mom will all be there!

I feel so blessed and am so excited for Chloe to come!

2 months to go

I hit 31 weeks yesterday so in just 5 weeks we will be full term with possibly 3 more weeks left until Chloe is here. We are so excited for her arrival, as is Lily. Big sister picks out things that are too small for her and tells me very matter of fact that "this is for baby Sister".

Amanda and Aaron King welcomed their first baby, Fifer Lee on Valentines day and Lily was in awe of her. Seeing a teeny tiny adorable baby made it more real that we are going to have one of our own very very soon. It also reminded me of how quickly they grow as I watched Lily talking to everyone she met for the first time with no hint of shyness.

Corey still comments on just how much pink we have in the closet of their room. I am sure he made the same comment when it was just Lily we were expecting.
One day God will give us some blue to balance out all the pink in the house- but for now, daddy will just have to enjoy his tea parties. Although he does love to teach Lily to spit off bridges. I think it is more fun for him to teach a girl to do gross things then for a boy to pick it up.

Daddy's girls they are.

Meat and Potatoes

What's for Dinner Tonight?

1 lb ground turkey
3 medium red potatoes (preferably organic) diced small
1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 pkg Lipton onion soup mix
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil

heat olive oil in large skillet. add onion and turkey and a dash of salt and pepper and cook until brown. add diced potatoes and brown. mix water and soup mix together and add to skillet. cover and cook on medium heat until potatoes are tender, scraping bottom of pan occasionally.
MMMM good, cheap and easy~!