egg! egg!!!

this is all i have heard for the past 2 days. ever since the easter egg hunt at mother's day out on thursday, lily has been an egg fiend. its pretty cute, but the unfortunate part is that she also expects there to be something in the eggs every time she opens them.

we went to our church's easter egg hunt this morning and she had such a blast! here are a few pics from the day, our last saturday as a threesome!!

off to the hunt...




she is standing on top of a fire truck waving to the
crowd yelling 'hi everybody!!'
she is very very shy ;)


getting an explanation from kevin about why it wasn't time to egg hunt yet


grumpy about having to wait to egg hunt...


woo hoo! egg time!








yummy peanut butter egg- wrapper and all!


playing after the hunt






sad its time to go


worn out!!

today is good friday- my last friday as a family of 3. its hard to imagine another blessed soul entering this family... or me being able to keep up with another one!

the depths of my pregnesia (limited mental capacity due to pregnancy) know no bounds and i'm counting on it leveling off once this tiny one is living life on the outside. i left a hollow chocolate bunny in my car yesterday for 6 hours. in texas. in 90 degree weather. i managed to turn lemons to lemonade and enjoyed a lovely banana dipped in melted chocolate as an afternoon snack, but wish this did not mean i need to make yet another trip to the store before easter.

the emotional side of me is a little bit heartbroken that my time with lily as a twosome is coming to an end and that so much is changing for her that i really have no way to prepare her for or even warn her about. i know she will roll with the punches like the sweet girl she is, but it still squeezes my heart a little bit to know things will never be the same.

in a few months i am sure i will look back and not be able to even remember life before baby b. entered our world, but for the next 7 days i will do my best to sleep as much as possible, allow myself to be irrationally emotional, and enjoy all the chocolate that crosses my path.

lily had her first ever real slumber party saturday night! e and mike picked her up after her nap and brought her back sunday afternoon. kevin and i had a fabulous dinner at bess (sandra bullock's restaurant) and saw 'i love you, man'.

the dinner was delicious, movie was hilarious, and sleeping late was delightful! :)

here is an email i got from erin saturday night recapping their afternoon:

4:10 shared ice cream with m&m's with e and mi

4:30 ran around screaming 'hi everybody' at cruz's soccer game

6:00 ate mimi* while saying 'hi stella' throughout all of dinner

7:30 had a bath and played with mike

7:45 pointed at the red smoke detector light in her room and cried

7:46 mike took down the smoke detector

8:30 finally fell asleep

*mimi is lily's word for pizza... we aren't sure why :)

here is a quick nursery progress update. the room will stay as-is until i know whether to butch it up for a boy or go full on girl! the boy plans include prints from 'where the wild things are' and girl plans call for a few bright colorful prints with birds.

either way i'll be framing some newborn black and whites on either side of the window and the brown chair will be swapped to lily's room for her khaki glider.

mobile was spotted by my sister at ikea and i cut off some length and painted it yellow

pillow was made in my requested color combination from missmosh on etsy

lily and i failed miserably on bluebonnet pics this morning. even auntie e couldn't get her to smile. such a stinker! we'll see if i have the energy or interest in trying again in the next 2 weeks. bluebonnets are few and far between this year due to a dry fall.

here she is in her easter finest...

i usually try to separate business from pleasure on here, but i am soo excited today to not share! i have my first full wedding feature up today on thebridescafe.com. it is the cutest site that always features rockin brides with fabulous taste and the amazing pics that accompany them. so humbled but excited to have my own work featured today!

go check it out! thebridescafe.com

i got the disc of my maternity pics tonight and these two just made me laugh. lily's little personality just makes me so happy- she is such a joy and seeing her develop into her own person is really a sight! :)

i have a computer print out of an email i received on january 10, 2003. i printed it the day i got it and i believe at the time i folded it into my journal, but somehow it showed up in a box of papers i am going through while trying to organize my office.

it was just a kind word from a co-worker at the time that really hit home and made me feel good about myself at a time when those moments were few and far between in life. i have no idea where this person has gone, but their email made it to my 'keep' pile. its too bad they don't know that the moment they took to send a sweet thought over 6 years ago still makes me smile.

i should write people random thoughts of kindness more often.

lazy babies or comfy uterus... you decide.

here i am with 3 1/2 weeks to go and this baby is following in its big sister's footsteps and refusing to head south! so either i have lazy babies or my uterus has some kind of comfy head rest at the top that is irresistible to babies.

i actually bought half n half at the store yesterday that expires AFTER the baby is scheduled to arrive. it was a little freaky, i won't lie. either that dairy has a shockingly long shelf life or i'm having a baby really soon...

my campaign to reduce our family size was largely unsuccessful. when it came down to it, neither kevin nor i felt right about turning bea over to a new family. i would have laughed in your face 2 years ago if you had even suggested i'd consider the possibility, and here i was lobbying for her quick and immediate departure. oh how quickly things change.

its not that i don't love my dogs. its that they are dogs. i have currently 2 humans, soon to be 3, that rely on me for their basic needs (okay, okay maybe kevin can fend for himself most days) and there just isn't a whole lot of love left over for the four-legged family members.

now that it is clear they are both staying with us, i have petitioned for help in dealing with the hair cleanup, vet appointments, barking obsessions, penchant for eating anything left within 4 feet of the ground, lack of understanding of 'personal space' for anyone on ground level, and let's not forget the urinary incontinence.

wait, why are we keeping them again? ;)

we went to the rodeo this morning and lily loved the tractors and all of the animals. in fact she had no fear of the *actual* cows, just the man dressed up as a character cow. i'm not sure if that makes her smart or crazy ;)

here are a few pics from the day. the weather was a perfect 65 degrees, but the sky was pretty gray so i opted for black and white :)

you can see all the pics HERE

a sad day. its a sad day indeed when you have to whip out a bra extender because your rib cage is busting the limits of your largest bra, which is already 2 inches wider than your normal size.

at least i'm still in denial about how big these suckers are gonna get in a few more weeks. i have the distinct memory of calling my mom into my room about 4 days post-partum with lily and saying LOOK HOW BIG THEY ARE! while naked and having my well-endowed mother nod her head in astonished agreement.

lily has a special love for her miiiiii. or 'mike' as the rest of us call him. he is e's better half and lily pretends to call him on the phone and as soon as she sees erin she always asks for miiii.

here she is with her coy smile coaxing another cookie out of him on sunday afternoon...

she's a natural flirt, what can i say? like mother like daughter ;)

what a lucky girl i am to know so many amazing photographers. and even luckier when they become friends! this sweet friend took maternity pictures for us yesterday and i stalked her blog last night until bedtime and woke up to a sweet surprise.

only 5 weeks to go until we meet the sweet surprise inside!

here are a few of my favorites- you can see all of them on her blog - jcota photography blog

what a gorgeous weekend! we've spent most of it outside- yesterday we planted flowers and kevin went to the driving range. today we played so much at the park and in the backyard that lily needed a bath by 11am :) that's a sure sign of a good day!

i love these days of all the windows being open, the outside sounds filling the house, and gorgeous sunshine that doesn't quite melt you yet :)

suuuper lily! (note the dirt on her face!)


mmmmmwah!


child labor

throughout lent i've committed to limiting my computer 'socializing' time to a maximum of 30 minutes a day. its such a temptation for me when i wake up, when lily is playing independently, when she is napping, or after bedtime to zone out and blog-hop, facebook, chat and before you know it, all of your 'free' time is gone and your house and laundry are neglected.

i can honestly say my house has never been cleaner, my family more organized, or my stress level so low. disorganization is something that typically causes me a LOT of stress- yet i wasn't doing anything to really figure out how to eliminate the issue and get on track.

so far i feel mixed about the results. i enjoy the cleanliness and sense of fulfillment from having my ducks in a row, but at the same time i feel like my life has become about 'things' instead of people. surely there is some kind of happy medium i can find...

sometimes a girl just needs a sussy.

sussies go way back in my family. any little unexpected gift can be properly categorized as a 'sussy'. today driving home from picking up lily at school i got stopped at a red light and used that as a sign i should take a right turn and go buy myself a necklace i've been eyeing for a few months.

i wore it out of the store. lily took one look at it and said 'tweet tweet!' i love it.

my two baby birds

you can get yours here :) they have some very precious stuff- i love it all!

lily and i hung out with some rockin photographers yesterday and i was the only one who didn't whip out my camera during our playgroup. i felt guilty today and pulled it out for a walk around the neighborhood :)

first we found some flowers...

















then we tap-danced on a utility cover
(they make great sounds when you stomp on them!)


a big favorite- the mail station!





note: a playground is less than 100 feet away, yet we are at the mailboxes





right after this she turned to me and said 'dirty!'

just another day with lil :)

some things just never change. i just found this letter:

10-30-77

To #3,

We thought at first a girl, then a boy. Your mom said today you're definitely a girl, well I still bet at boy. I've got to tell you your mother is correct 90% of the time.

You seem calmer than the previous happenings- confident almost. Its hard to believe you are our last. So much happiness in such a short time.

We want everything to be perfect for you- with what and who you have to face you may need some help. We will not treat you as the baby of the family- you should be the best. We've already made all the mistakes with Erin and Tim. just ask them!

You won't believe your mother. How in the hell she puts up with my schedule and bad temper plus runs the house and keeps you kids in line. You have a good example of love in her.

I'm so nervous, hiding my excitement I think. I drove Erin and Tim buggy today with my nervous energy. Your mother wasn't fooled. I can't tell you how much your mother means to me, you will just not believe the love and admiration I have for her.

You are very close tonight- too bad there is no stork. I will see and hold you in the morning. Sleep tight- I can't wait to hear your first cry.

Love, DAD