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!!!')

more g love from her second day of life

welcome to the world.

genevieve ann
7lbs, 2ozs

i can't tell you how many times i have cried today. at least 5? just a rough estimate. tears of frustration, of laughter, of fear, of love. i just keep crying.

the latest episode was putting lily down for bed. kevin was holding lily and she had her sweet head on his shoulder and we were in a 3-way hug and the tears started rolling down my cheeks again. i just love her so much and i have so many emotions running around in my heart that they are oozing their way out my eyes.

i feel so proud of her and yet i worry about how she will handle so much change. i know she is going to amaze me (as always) but still my protective side wants to keep her from any confusion or fear that she may have tomorrow and in the days and weeks to come.

i am afraid for myself. everything is changing... right when i felt like i was getting the hang of things. nothing like throwing a wrench in a adequately working set of gears, huh? :)

i think one aspect of my concern for lily is that i don't know how to help her be a big sister. i'm NOT a big sister- i don't know what that feels like or how those struggles can and will change her. i do know she has a fabulous big sister role-model in auntie e, and this will be just another way that their relationship becomes something that i value, respect, and am a teeny tiny bit jealous of.

i'm sure my posts for the next few days will be far more hopeful and lovey dovey than this as i meet and fall in love with my new sweet child and see lily embrace the role of big sister, but for tonight, i'm just plain scared.

stress and frustration can be all consuming and i have been so anxious lately i have a hard time even managing a deep breath (though a full term baby inside has a little something to do with that...). i waiver back and forth between wanting to get tasks done to feel the satisfaction and calm that comes from an orderly and clean house to wanting to lay on the couch and be lazy and let it all build up...

so far the task side of me has won over and i'll admit i have a level of calm about the house being in order before chaos insues. nothing adds to stress like a toddler who is exercising their new-found 'independence' but on the other side of that coin, nothing can make stress melt away like the laughter that same toddler brings you on a daily basis.

watching a baby turn into a toddler is an amazing thing. hearing the things that come out of their mouth brings so much joy and laughter and awe every single day.

i was so frustrated the other day that i gave up trying to be productive and took lily into the bathroom with me to take a long hot relaxing shower. as i stood there relishing the hot water, i did what any reasonable pregnant woman would do at that moment... and then heard my 21 month old child point to the floor of the shower and excitedly call out 'YELL YOWWWW!'

i could not stop laughing and had to actually sit next to her and give her the biggest hug and finally managed to say 'you're right lily, that was yellow' :)

more than once i've joked that you can't throw a rock in austin without hitting a photographer. its a competitive world out there, but lately its been all blessing :) not only do i love having friends to talk 'shop' with, but i also end up with these amazing images that i know i will cherish always. these are both from a playgroup a month or two ago.

thank you bonnie for this picture. i love :)


thank you kristen for capturing an every day occurence for us with beauty :)

ok people, we've officially hit the 'big time'. my blog entries will now be featured from time to time on thebump.com, baby sibling (haha) of thenest.com.

check it out!!

and here is my badge of honor to prove it ;)

i'm going to blame pregnancy hormones once again for my tears at church this morning. easter hymns have always been particularly special to my mom, so they hit a nerve with me to begin with, but once the water works started coming this morning i couldn't stop them!

we were singing a song that referenced the leopard changing its spots and i just felt this welling up of hope that i have the potential to continue to become more of the mom and wife and friend that i know God can enable me to be.

the sermon was based on acts 26:18

open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

i know God has opened my eyes, but i feel like i still struggle to see which can feel defeating when you feel yourself not turning towards the light in some moments and you don't feel worthy of the forgiveness and inheritance that follows. then i thought about the baby opening its eyes on friday and i will snuggle and cuddle that sweet baby, but it will not see me clearly. its vision will be blurry and still developing and yet they will be seeing as best they can.

it just made me feel some hope and maybe my 'vision' will continue to develop and i can make my own efforts to see more clearly. its nice to feel hopeful when life is about to get completely crazed and my patience and character will be tested on a daily basis again :)

all in all it was a fabulous easter! we were lucky to have great friends over for an easter celebration with super yummy food and even better company. the weather turned out completely gorgeous and we spent hours just sitting outside talking & laughing. lily loved having company of course and put on quite the show for everyone. it doesn't get much better than that for our last sunday as a family of 3.

and because i can never resist a cute pic or two, here is lily in her easter dress (lovingly handed down from cousin lucy) loving her cake egg.

how cute are those?! staci made them inspired by bakerella and they were delish!

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