AK lending an extra hand

Today I took AK to the spray park near our house. I've never taken her before and I didn't even know we had one. Thanks to a researching friend who lives atleast four hours away, I now know we have something fun and free to fill our summer days with. Sadly, I was not well prepared for what a trip to the spray park would possibly require. No snacks, no towel and no sunscreen. Whoops. Really, I just intended on "checking it out", but when you have a toddler who LOVES water and being outside checking it out means being atleast an hour...which is how long we were there. After her nap I realized that she has a sunburn on her scalp and nose. I feel so bad. I hope it doesn't hurt. I've had a sunburn on my scalp before and that's no fun.

Since she had so much fun at the park she got a pretty good nap. And I say good because
one: I put her down at 2 and I went in at 5:30 and kind of had to wake her up and
two: once I got her out of her room and to the couch where I was residing (pretty much from 5 PM on everyday) I noticed this:





She slept so hard that she slept on her hand for who knows how long! How funny is that! My sweet, tired, burnt baby. I love her.

Oh, and I forgot my camera today at the park so I'll for sure have to get some next time.

my latest project

For some reason I got inspired to make my own nursing cover for this next child. I never had one with Anna-Kate and SO wish I did.

I was wondering if it was "too early" to make it but I'm so glad it's over with. I can't imagine being huge and pregnant trying to get this thing finished. There were definitely some rough spots and it's not perfect but I must say, I think I did a decent job. As I brainstorm, I'll have to come up with better ways for doing things but I think it all worked out just fine.

So, here it is!







It turned out pretty good right??? Well, I like it, I guess that's all that matters. We'll see how much I like it once I have to put it to use. I'll let you know then :).




And here are two pictures of AK from the weekend in Waco:


^^^Chillin' out on her new princess couch. She LOVES it!^^^


^^^Watching the Backyardigans on our way home. She LOVES that show!^^^

That's all for now.

today's ramblings

For some reason, this post is going to mostly be about food. :) Obviously a little someone is affecting me in big ways.

Yesterday my husband suggested that I go buy all the necessary things to make broccoli and cheese soup for dinner. I go get it and he'll make it. DEAL! Little did he know that while I was in Waco over the weekend I mentioned really wanting some. Ahhh, the key to my heart. So anyways, I went and bought the stuff and he made it while I cleaned up after him. Such team work! It works out well that way because in the end there is hardly a mess. I like it like that. It was SOOO delicious and I think I might have a bowl for breakfast. Ahhhh.

I love the soup SO much that I'll share the website with you so you can give it a go yourself. Broccoli and Cheese Soup Seriously, it's so delicious and fairly easy! Just make sure you get everything ready and measured out before hand and you'll fly through it. Oh and instead of buying a "bunch" of broccoli you can buy a Steamers bag of chopped broccoli from Wal-Mart. :-) We're all about what's easiest around here.

This morning before AK woke up I decided to make a smoothie. My MIL has been on my tail about making them because they're "sooo good for you" and I just haven't been interested. I kept thinking it would be a pain in the butt. To my delight, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be and it was even yummier than I expected. Wal-Mart has these great value brand resealable bags of frozen fruit in almost anything you could want. I bought peaches, red raspberries and blueberries. YUM. So this morning, I tossed me some peaches in the blender, poured some apple juice to the top of the fruit and blended away. I was a little nervous about how this would taste because I'm not much of a peaches kinda gal but I thought it sounded good yesterday at the store. AND, IT WAS GOOD. Oh-so-yummy! I'll definitely be making this an every morning deal...or almost every morning...or when I feel like it ;). Tomorrow I think I'll experiment with strawberries and banana. YUM!

On another-not-food-related-note, I'm approximately 8 weeks prego now. I go to the doctor here in the next week or two so we'll know something more definite then. I have been mega blessed not to experience morning sickness with either of my babies. The only plague I've been struck with is something I like to call pregxhaustion. It's in a whole different category than just plain 'ole exhaustion. It's an exhaustion you just can't understand until you've had it. You hear me ladies?! Other than that, all seems to be sailing along rather smoothly.

AK is doing well. She's talking a lot and makes mommy and daddy laugh all the time. We can't get enough of her. She's amazing. I can't imagine what it's going to be like to feel this way about two little people. It has to be incredible.

Well, that's all I really have for now. I'll post some pictures eventually :)

Momma's brilliant one

My kid has been amazing me lately. She pretty much amazes me everyday because she's so darn fun and smart. I love the combo. I love that she has such a fun and spunky personality and that she can be intelligent too. I'm saying all this because she's been learning her ABC's lately. Not the ABC song, or them even in order, but she knows her letters. She does know ABCD but that's as far as the order goes.

The other night when we were putting her to bed we were spelling her name, like we do everynight, and Sean started out with, "Aaayyyeee" and she said, "beeeee, ceeeee"! It was so darn funny, cute and awesome all at the same time!

I usually wear shirts that have words on them. Don't ask why, I just have a lot of them. Like mission trip shirts and such. Well, she is constantly pointing out the letters and telling me what they are. She had been calling a Q an O for a long time and then one day out of know where she points to a Q on my shirt and says, "cuuuuue". I almost did a flip right there wherever I was at the moment (I don't exactly remember).

And today, she was doing this letter puzzle thing and she picked up a D and goes, "dee".

Now these stories are just examples of the things I can actually remember but she knows a good amount of the letters. I haven't heard her say F,G, H, J, K, L, M, N, X, or Z yet but I think I've heard her say all the others. It's so amazing the amount of information their brains can obtain at this age. She's not even two! Ah, mommy's little genius!

Apart from being an ABC prodigy to her momma, she's been signing please for everything! We went through a stubborn phase where she absolutely refused to sign please, all done or more! She knew how but wouldn't do it. Even though she knew please would get her what she wants, she'd look at us and walk off. I told you, she's stubborn. But lately she's been saying and signing please for everything! I think she figured out momma has a hard time saying no when she's being so polite and doing as she knows she should. Depending on what she's "pleasing" about, which it's usually food of some sort or a drink, she gets a taste no matter what it is. If it's too much sugar she gets only one. So anyways, yeah, I'm glad she's figuring it all out!

I love her.

catch up part two, in photos...

...mostly from AK's perspective


^^^napping so peacefully^^^


^^^the band^^^


^^^playing with Aunt April (aka Aunt Apple)^^^


^^^drumming with Pappy^^^


^^^The Gathrights^^^


^^^having a "battle" with Uncle Josh (aka Uncle Cool J)^^^


^^^jumping on Aunt Shannon^^^


^^^jumping WITH Aunt Apple^^^


^^^considering a nap? just maybe??^^^


^^^snuggles with Mammy^^^


^^^It all started with the man in a yellow and the short lady in red shirt-crazy.^^^
^^^P.S. notice how everyone is pretty much soaked with sweat? YEAH, it was HOT!^^^