i'll take a break from our regularly scheduled programming of adorable eve pictures to share this fun announcement- i've been published!! one of the images i took for sugar mama's bakeshop here in town is featured in an article in austin monthly magazine's may issue!

i wish and hope and dream for my sweet girls every day. as i watch lily's imagination literally growing before my eyes and her interest and observations of the people and things around her continue to impress me, i can't help but wish and hope for her.

i hope she will always know how much i love her. i wish that she will one day realize that the boundaries and discipline we exhibit are because we love her and want her character to reflect how amazing she truly is. i dream that she will never lose her enthusiasm for life, her creativity, and the humor that she displays already.

i have only begun to wish these things for my sweet eve. most of the time i just wish for her belly to feel better at night and for her to sleep well :) but soon i will learn more about her developing personality and who this beautiful creature is that God gave to our family.

most of all i hope for their relationships to be strong and supportive. for their sisterhood to mean as much to them as mine does to me. for our relationship to be even a fraction as close as mine is to my mother. for their faith to be strong and solid. those things would make me happier than any worldly success they achieve.

my mom is leaving tomorrow. i can't even type that without my eyes welling up with tears. i don't know what i will do without her. i know i felt the same way when she left after lily was born and somehow i managed to pick myself up off the entryway floor, dry my tears, and not kill the child when left alone with her, so surely i will find similar success with two. Emotionally its overwhelming to picture handling all of this without her support, then throw in some post-partum hormones and its a recipe for a tearful disaster.

is it bad to one day wish i am this indispensable to my own daughters?

genevieve keeps hearing about her big sister's big beautiful eyes and wanted to do her best to show off her peepers today. heehee

and she wanted to show off her *brand new* belly button!!

also, don't forget those gorgeous lips...

as always, miss jen cota does not disappoint! she came by friday to take pictures of our growing family and i love the amazing images so far.

here are just a few...














a few more on her blog - thegooddays.wordpress.com! thank you, jen!

i finally sat down to organize some of the images from our past week. i'd like to credit my amazing husband for all of the birth images- didn't he do GREAT?! :)

prepare for picture overload- i have over 50 'favorites' from the first 6 days alone!

the last pregnant belly shot of me (most likely EVER!)


my amazing husband makes me laugh even minutes before surgery


not her first picture, but the first picture suitable for viewing (yuck!!)


















first smile :)












our love affair begins








silly lily




awwww




leaving the hospital


arriving home


precious

and now a few in color...

gaga just tucked lily in for a nap with her blankie on one side and her baaaa (lamb) on the other side and lily looked up at her and said 'perfect!'

pretty much sums up our day.

after hearing mixed opinions about the woman recently arrested in new york for kicking her bickering kids out of the car, i was reminded fondly of my own dad's unique and cutting edge parenting way back in the late 80s.

we had recently moved to atlanta and our family of 5 was all riding in our suburban while apparently tim, erin and i were fighting in the backseat over who knows what. my dad reached his breaking point and promptly kicked us out of the car about a mile from our house and drove off without us.

we had to make the walk of shame home only to find he had locked all of the doors to the house and was not interested in letting us ingratiate ourselves back into the family fold. after arguing on the front porch about who should ring the doorbell and beg forgiveness, my dad opened the door wide enough to say 'why should i let any of you back inside?' and as we stood there dumbfounded and speechless, he shut the door again.

the three of us then stood there trying to come up with the 'right' answer, wondering who would draw the short straw and have to knock again. eventually dad let us back inside and i have no memory of the magic words that he was waiting for, but in the end we have a hilarious memory of my dad's creative fathering skills as well as a time when he managed to turned us from a group of arguing kids into a team working together towards a common goal.

now i'm not planning to throw my toddler and newborn from the car anytime soon, so no need to call the cops on me, but i definitely hope one day my own creativity can trump my kids' stubbornness and that they have fond memories even of being in trouble :)

ahhh... sweet genevieve!

lily's response to her baby sister has been somewhat underwhelming. she isn't terribly interested in her, but she still loves reading her 'big sister' book and has started pointing to the baby in the book and calling her 'eve'.

upon their initial meeting she said 'hi baby!' and grabbed her nose and said 'honk! honk!' i consider that a good sign she isn't taking any of this too seriously ;)

so far lily hasn't really noticed i can't pick her up. she has plenty of gaga and moon attention to keep her adequately distracted and plenty entertained! god bless them for all of their help and love. kevin even marveled yesterday 'your mom does so much laundry that i couldn't find the towel i used this morning because she had already gotten it out of our bathroom to wash it!'

all in all life in our house is happy and adjusting a little every day. i feel like i turned a corner today on feeling better and am definitely on the mend and walking slightly faster than your average 80 year old. :)

i'm in love

(lily saw this picture and said 'owie!!!')