Wordless Wednesday

Two for the Day

This past Thursday was Katherine's first day back to work and I got to keep sweet little Jacob for the day.  He is SUCH a good baby....so so laid back.  Emily was so excited to have her cousin Jacob ("Baycup") hanging out for the day.  She did not want to let him out of her sight for lunch or nap time.  Jacob was down for a morning nap and started crying in his pack-n-play.  Emily started running down the hall saying "crying...Baycup....crying....Baycup."  She was on a mission to rescue him!  

It was definitely good practice for having two.  I would say the most interesting part of the day was when I was trying to feed Jacob and Emily wanted attention.  She would try to climb up in my lap or go into the other room and climb up on the kitchen chairs.  I wanted her to play quietly at my feet, but that didn't sound like as much fun to her.  Thankfully Jacob is laid back and a great eater, but we'll have to see how the feeding time goes once Hannah arrives.:)  

I was excited when I realized they were both going to be napping at the same time.  I got Jacob to sleep and then it was Emily's turn.  She finally fell asleep and 5 minutes later Jacob woke up.  I picked him up to calm him down and rock him back to sleep and literally 3 minutes after I got him back to sleep Emily woke up crying.  I couldn't help but smile.  I truly seemed like they had coordinated who was going to cry when before they went to sleep!!  Finally, Emily fell back to sleep to finish up her nap and Jacob stayed asleep in my arms. I so enjoyed just rocking him. He was just so peaceful and content....I loved every minute of it!  

All in all it was a GREAT day!!  Emily and I loved having Jacob to play with, and it really did give me a few good things to think about before Hannah arrives.  We're going to get to keep him a few days next week too and we're already looking forward to that.  

Here are a few pictures I took of Jacob on Thursday (3 months).  

I thought this picture was so cute!  He's giving me a smirk!:)  

This one's my favorite...I can't help but smile when I look at this one.:)  

Bay Leaf Toy Chest

Today was the 18th annual Bay Leaf Toy Chest.  This was the second year we've been able to participate.  It has been such an amazing blessing!  Here's some info on it that I got from Bay Leaf's website....http://www.bayleaf.org/toychest/

What Is The Toy Chest?

Bay Leaf Baptist Church collects donations which are used to create a huge “toy store” open one day only for Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary(SEBTS) students. The toys are sold for a minimum price, allowing these students to provide Christmas gifts to their children during their years of sacrifice and study.

Who Is Eligible?

The following students with children are eligible - 
The College at Southeastern students: enrolled a minimum of 9 credit hours
SEBTS Graduate/Masters: enrolled a minimum of 6 credit hours
SEBTS Doctoral/Ph.D./Ed.D/Th.M, etc : Full-time status

What Types Of Toys Are Available?
We buy a variety of gifts for preschool, elementary, and youth. All toys are brand new. (There is an aisle upstairs of lightly-loved items for 25 cents.)

How Much Does It Cost?

• All toys are priced at about 10% of our cost (i.e. A $50 toy would be priced at $5).
• Families can spend $7 or get 3 items (whichever first) per child
• Bicycles purchased separately for $10 - limit of 1 per family (first come first serve, ~40 available).
• There is a quarter aisle upstairs of lightly-loved items for 25 cents and these do not count towards the $7 limit.

We were able to buy Emily three gifts for Christmas for $6!  It's going to be so fun to be able to give her these gifts.  We definitely wouldn't have been able to afford them without this ministry....we're SO thankful!  All money raised by the Toy Chest goes to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, an offering the Southern Baptist Convention takes up every year to support world missions, which we also love.  It's so encouraging to see all the volunteers there.....they are ALL smiling  from ear to ear.  They are so excited to be able to bless us with these gifts.  You definitely can't help but feel loved!  

Thank you, Bay Leaf, for blessing us yet again.  Your heart for giving is an example to all of us!  

26 weeks

26 weeks down....14 to go, and I'm feeling great!  I took these pictures last weekend (closer to 25 weeks).  So far, this second trimester has been amazing!  I have so much energy back (though not as much as I did before I was pregnant).  Probably my only "complaint" would be having to try and sleep on my side.  I'm so much more comfortable on my back.  I feel like the fact that I'm not supposed to sleep on my back has been bothering me more with this pregnancy than it did with the last.  Who knows why?  My sister is letting me borrow her monstrosity of a pregnancy pillow.  It seriously takes up so much room, but I'm really hoping it will make sleeping on my side more comfortable.  Bert's definitely not jumping up and down about this huge pillow, but he's being sweet about it.:)  As far as cravings go....for the last few weeks I've started craving pizza.  This is funny b/c during the first trimester of my pregnancy I couldn't even think about, much less look at or smell, marinara sauce.  Oh, how things change daily when you're pregnant.:)  Anyway, poor Bert's been having to eat pizza about once a week.  I really don't think he minds, but if this continues for the rest of the pregnancy I'm sure he'll be ready for a break. 

I'm beginning to get ready to start cleaning out, organizing and making room in our apartment for little Hannah.  The girls are going to share a room so I have lots to do to make room for Hannah's things (right now Emily has definitely taken over the entire closet and all the drawers).  I wouldn't call this nesting, but I just know the holidays will fly by and once we get back in January we'll be very close to D-Day.  Too close for me to wait and organize everything then.  The only problem is that I'm not sure where to begin.  Ummmm...  Hopefully I'll figure it out soon.:)  

We had a check-up for Hannah and me on Wednesday afternoon and we got a great report.  Hannah's heart was beating 152 bpm.  When the doctor put the heart beat monitor on my stomach Hannah started kicking the monitor HARD.  She made the monitor bounce back up.  Emily was sitting quietly in Bert's lap (for that moment) and the doctor started laughing and said she didn't think Hannah was going to be as calm as Emily...she thinks Hannah is going to be our feisty child!  Haha...we'll see!:)  

Nea's Visit

Renea flew from NM to NC a few weeks after Emily was born to spend several days with us.  She was such a huge help!!  She just came back (a few weeks after Jacob was born) to spend several days with Katherine.  Thankfully, Katherine and I only live about 17 minutes apart so we were able to spend lots of time with Renea on this trip too!:)  Mama, Daddy, and Stanley decided to drive up to Wake Forest from GA to hang out with Renea while she was visiting the east coast.:)  This past Friday was Katherine's birthday so we were also able to throw a birthday celebration into the mix.....so much to celebrate and be thankful for! 

Here's Renea reading a book to Jacob and Emily...

On Friday (Kate's birthday) Katherine and I went to get our hair cut by a lady in her church.  Judy was so sweet to do it and work around our crazy feeding/napping schedules.  Judy had a couple dogs and Emily thought the whole trip was great fun!  She kept telling the dogs "sit down" or "come here" or "no, no."  No surprise there...she gets so excited when she gets around a dog of any kind that she just starts spouting off all the "commands" that she knows.  Thankfully, the dogs completely ignored her.:) 

Renea was in charge of holding Jacob.  I'd say she was doing a pretty good job of keeping him happy.  He was loving hanging out with his Aunt Renea. 

Katherine let Emily "help" with bathing Jacob.  She thought it was soooo much fun! 

Renea, once again, spoiled us rotten.  She cooked for us all weekend long and she left us (BOTH) with several meals to just pull out of our freezer.  She had fun while she did it if you can't tell from the picture below.:) 

 Mimi and Papa Stan loved being able to see Renea AND their grandbabies!:) 

Katherine and Brett haven't had to child-proof their cabinets yet and Emily has definitely figured that out.  One of the first places she goes when we get to their house is to their tuperware cabinet.  It's a full time job to try to keep her from pulling everything out of the cabinet.  Here she is playing with some of her finds and "telling" Mimi about it.:) 

We decided it was time for another cousin's picture (Emily 19 mo and Jacob 3 months).  Renea gave Jacob the cute little green frog that you see in the picture.  We handed Emily a book to hopefully keep her happy while we took their picture.  

 

Emily reached over Jacob to get the frog that he had.  Thankfully, Jacob is laid back and didn't mind.  

Jacob's facial expression looks like he's saying "WHAT are you doing, Emily.":)  Haha!

And finally....they're both looking in the same direction.  We'll take it!  Love these cuties!;)  

After Emily and Jacob finished their photo shoot I had the bright idea to get a picture of Emily and me.  She had other plans.  She wanted down and was not in the mood for another picture.  I decided to include this picture b/c it just shows the stage we're in.  My sweet girl will have a melt down in the blink of an eye.:)  I love this stage, by the way...it definitely keeps me on my toes! 

Here we are celebrating Katherine's birthday!  Happy birthday Kate!!  Love you!
 

This picture shows trouble with a capital T.  They are all four laughing at something.  Who knows what?! 

These next two pictures are two of my favorite from the weekend.  Mimi with her grandbabies. 

If you know anything about my dad you know one of his favorite things to do is to let a sleeping baby sleep on his chest.  He got to rock Jacob to sleep several times this weekend and Emily once....I have no doubt he loved every second.  Dad had gotten Jacob to sleep and Emily decided she wanted up too.  He loves them so much!:)  

Group shot....

We had such a fun weekend with everyone!  Thankful for family!  

Renea

Renea is my dad's baby sister. She moved in with our family when I was about one, and she is most definitely a part of it.  I could not be more thankful for her. She is so sweet and thoughtful and fun!! Nea was a teenager when I was in my toddler years and I'm sure I made her life "difficult" at times.:) There are many stories of me picking up the phone to try to "talk" to Renea while she was on the phone with one of her friends in the other room. We have video evidence of me getting mad at Renea when I was about 2 1/2 b/c I kept picking up the phone to tell her something and she kept telling me to "hang up the phone, Stephanie." Haha....:)

Renea went to Florida State for her undergrad and I remember sitting on her bed one morning while she taught me how to do a Florida State cheer where you spelled out F-L-O-R-I-D-A-S-T-A-T-E. I've always said that I feel sure "Florida" and "State" were some of the first words that I learned how to spell.:)

I also remember Nea's graduation from college. We all drove down to see her graduate and help to pack up her apartment. I got to ride back to GA with Renea while my parents and siblings were in the other car. Renea was crying as she was leaving Tallahassee and I didn't quite understand why. I remember deciding to read her a book to make her feel better. I'm not sure what I read and I doubt it made her feel better, but that was all I knew to do.:) Just for the record I now totally understand why she was crying when leaving behind her friends and an amazing 4 years....I definitely cried when I left Clemson.:)

Renea lived in Atlanta for several years after she graduated college and Katherine and I got to go and spend the weekend with her every once in awhile. I can't tell you how "cool" we thought we were. Renea would spoil us rotten. She always made the weekend so fun and we always felt so loved while we were there.

Renea and I share a birthday (Apr. 7th), which has always just been fun. April 7th was also Emily's due date, but she decided to come one day later (April 8th) and have her own day.

After moving from Atlanta, Nea moved out west and she's been there ever since. It's sad b/c I don't get to see her as often, but she loves it, so that makes me happy.:) It definitely makes for exciting trips when we do get to go and see her. We've been able to take a couple trips and she is always the best tour guide. She and her husband, Mat, live in New Mexico. It's absolutely beautiful out there.

So, if you haven't already gotten the picture....Nea's the best. She is so much fun to be around. She's always up for whatever. She's the best listener. If' you're having a conversation with her then then she's really listening....you can tell by the questions she asks.

I love, love, love you Nea Nea!:) 

Halloween

This year Emily was a butterfly.  I know I'm biased but she was the cutest butterfly I've ever seen.:)  

I was having a bit of trouble coming up with a Halloween costume for myself (surprise, surprise).  Alison suggested I go as a butterfly catcher since Emily was going as a butterfly.  Sounded easy enough to me so here's me and my little butterfly.  She was very interested in getting my hat and holding my net.  She wasn't to sure why I was carrying around "toys."  

Kyle and Claire, a couple in our small group, hosted a Halloween party last night and we had a great time!!  Every one dressed up and Claire made amazing food for everyone to enjoy.  

Please just look at the pumpkin cake Claire made.  I was SO impressed and it wasn't only cute, it was also soooo yummy!

Claire and Kyle have stairs in their apartment and Emily enjoyed spending a lot of the night playing on them. She was in the middle of telling me something when I snapped this picture.  

We also had a costume contest and the winners won a gold pumpkin.:)  Corey and Sunni won the gold pumpkin with their great costumes....Sunni was the "winner" of a Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes, she was dressed as a surprised lady that opened the door in her bathrobe and Corey was the presenter of the prize. They also had a balloon tied to their "check" but Emily really wanted it, so Corey took it off to let her play with it.  

Em was the collector of all props last night.:)  

 Family shot! Bert went as an "Occupy Protester."  The other side of his sign it said "OCUPPY 309" (their apartment number).

We had such a great time!!  Thanks so much to Kyle and Claire for having everyone over and hosting such a fun party!!!