A costume for the dogs

My sister Shannon bought a bannana split costume for her dog, Bella. We put it on her tonight and she was pretty funny....


Peyton couldn't stop laughing hysterically at the dog and she just didn't understand why the dog had a costume on and then wanted to try it on for size herself.

It was beyond amusing!
Peyton has a slight fever tonight, coughing and sounding just miserable. I am praying a good nights sleep, the humidifier and some Motrin will help and we can at least feel somewhat up for trick or treating tomorrow.

What did you say daddy?

John has been doing grocery shopping for us since that is just too much for me to take on. He scored a deal on dog food at Target and got a $5 gift card. When he explained this to me he mentioned that it was not be used at Starbucks and Peyton put her hands over her ears.

Hmmm.....my little Starbucks lover in the making!

Funny thing is that we do go to Starbucks together a lot when we go to Target so I can get her a milk box thing and she normally can pick out a pastry. That way she munches while I get most of my shopping done. Apparently she didn't want this privilege taken away.

School Costume Parade

This Thursday at school Peyton had a Halloween Costume Parade! Well, I had ordered a mermaid costume for her about a month ago and pregnant mommy brain ordered the wrong size so we had to make do with what we have around the house. I gave her the option that morning to be either a princess or a Longhorn cheerleader. She without hesitation picked the cheerleader. She is so not into princesses, even the movie Cinderella is about mice not a princess!

I couldn't get any great shots of her before we left as she was more concerned with what Dora the Explorer was doing but she was super cute!

We will see what she wants to be on Sunday for Halloween! I can't wait to watch her go Trick or Treating! She is going to LOVE it!

Pumpkins and Pumpkin Coffee

Tonight John and I were exhausted, slightly low on patience and it was only 6:30 PM so I decided to call my parents and see if they were up for us coming over to carve Peyton's pumpkin. I figured between four adults we could accomplish it and not be too frustrated at the end and worse case John and I could just make a run for it and leave her there!


I was surprised that Peyton didn't love the messiness of it considering she loves dirt and painting with her hands. She was actually grossed out and would only use her ice cream scoop.

At one point she made everyone smell the pumpkin seeds which she thought was pretty amusing. She is so bossy! Also, check out the CRAZY hair! And true to Peyton form she made sure to inform dad how to properly dispose of the pumpkin.
John did a great job following the design that Peyton colored on there beforehand and it turned out to be a pretty cool pumpkin.


And no pumpkin carving experience would be complete without enjoying a cup of Pumpkin coffee....

I couldn't leave that picture on here without some explanation! My dad made us all Pumpkin coffee when we were done well little miss adult Peyton wanted some too. So, my mom convinced her to wait patiently in the living room while she made her "coffee"......aka.....chocolate milk in a coffee cup. She was so excited to have her "coffee" and was hilarious throughout the whole time we were sitting there. She was watching everyone on how to properly hold her cup, she crossed her legs, she would appropriately drink a little, put her cup down and engage in our conversation and even at one point did a social laugh. She was hilarious and we all couldn't stop laughing. She ended up having three cups of "coffee" and thought it was the greatest experience ever. I really think she just like the adult/grown up aspect of it. We all laughed that when she tries real coffee when she is older she will inform them (probably very matter of fact) that this is not real coffee as she has been drinking coffee since she was two.

As John said....like mother like daughter....let the Starbucks trips double!

Oh and the mark on her face....permanent marker from the pumpkin. When my mom told her to draw the eyes she managed to also point to her eye and make a beauty mark. Nice but in case you were wondering Sharpie comes off pretty easily with just a baby wipe.

Finally but so exciting....John felt baby boy kick several times tonight! I didn't realize he was kicking that hard but I guess so! It is crazy that John was already able to feel him and a couple of times considering he probably only felt Peyton twice the whole pregnancy!

Baby #2: 19 weeks and resting.....

Today I am 19 weeks....which means we have at a minimum 18 more weeks until he is full term....that is a LONG TIME!

This week has been interesting and full of ups and downs. I left the appointment on Tuesday, excited and happy that everything checked out fine and then woke up Wednesday frustrated and again in pain. I didn't do very much at all on Wednesday and by lunch I was in so much pain I couldn't even sleep during Peyton's nap. So, I tried again on Thursday to see how much I could do and after just getting Peyton out the door to school, me resting and then getting my haircut the same end result. Finally, I came up with a plan for the weekend, John was off Friday so I only got up to make myself food, go to the bathroom and that was about it. Result...pain. Saturday, I rested all day then pushed myself to attend a baby shower that I was co hosting and of course by the time I got home I was in intense pain (about a 8 out of 10). So, here we are today and I am at my mom's house on complete bed rest and my pain is about a 1...there but not too bad. Interesting......the reason for my experiment was so I can call my doctor and ask for some more answers/second opinion/something because I can not handle pain for another 18 weeks!

Other baby news.....we (more like John and a friend as I am completely useless) will be painting the nursery hopefully this week and then putting in the furniture. My mom finished the curtains and we have a couple more sewing projects but we are making some great strides. I have so much stuff bought and we just need to start installing. I also bought a frame to make a bible verse for his room, some shelves to paint which hopefully will give me some low key crafts to do and feel like I am contributing. My mom bought some canvases for some paintings she will be doing for him and again I am so lucky to have an artist in my family! I can't wait to see his room come together and the biggest decision left is lighting! I know it sounds silly but I am having such a hard time picking out lamps for him.

As for his name....we are pretty set but waiting on confirmation from John that I can start telling everyone!

All in all and as frustrating as this week has been in regards to the unexplainable pain and not being able to interact with Peyton as much as I want, I am thankful that little baby boy is healthy, kicking me and I am not having any more complications. I am praying for some relief and some answers this week as to why I am in so much pain. Also, please pray as I adjust to not being able to do whatever I want when I want with Peyton. I wasn't able to go to church for the second week in a row, missed a Halloween party today, will not be able to be as involved in carving the pumpkin this week, won't be able to go trick or treating. It is just hard and makes me really down.

I just realized that this post is really down....sorry....but I am just frustrated and trying to hang in there.

Baby #2: 18 Weeks

Today was an exciting day because we got to see our precious little boy again!

We had our ultrasound with the specialist to check his anatomy and make sure everything is growing and forming like it should be and to follow up on the placenta previa issues from my last appointment. I have tons of pictures but none are really recognizable as anything so I am not going to scan them for now.

Check out my huge baby boy bump! I feel huge and just know I have so much more to go. I don't know why my body explodes into a blimp!

I have gained a little over 10 pounds and having INTENSE heart burn! I didn't have heart burn with Peyton until the end so who knows how I feel in a couple of months. I am feeling the baby kick pretty regularly throughout the day which is so nice because Peyton never kicked. I am loving it!

We are pretty much set on a name and just continuing to try it out for another couple of weeks before we announce it but after narrowing the names down from a starting list of 40, I am pretty sure this is the name for our little man!



Baby Acord #2 is for sure a boy which was a relief since we have started on his room! He is growing right on track and his heart, spine, brain, kidneys, stomach and everything is just perfect and working how it should. It was an amazing sight to watch his heart work and watch the blood flow and just see God's amazing attention to detail! I love it!

As for my placenta....it appears to either have moved considerably on its own in two weeks or they read the ultrasound wrong two weeks ago. The specialist was very happy and fine with my placenta placement but had no answers for why I have such bad cramping and so much pain. My cervix looks fine and she really didn't have an answer besides that I have a possibly, "irritable uterus that just might not like being pregnant." What! An irritable uterus! What is that!?! Anyways....I am to continue to take it easy and rest as much as I can and just monitor it. I also went and got a maternity belt to help relieve the pressure and weight in hopes that will help. I was a relieved that the placenta previa is no longer an issue because that clears up a whole lot of potential issues but it was a little frustrating to not know why I am in such pain and what that could mean. I am going back in four weeks to see the specialist so we can make sure to closely monitor my cervix and make sure things don't change for the worse and I have my regular OB appointment next Thursday.

Check out the women in our house and their growing tummies....isn't she adorable!



And here she is giving baby a kiss! I can't wait to see her love on her little brother and I know she will be amazing!

4 years later....

On Wednesday, John and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary!

We didn't do anything to celebrate and celebrated on Sunday since he was in Austin for work and I was home with Peyton....the more I think about it...it wasn't really fair!

We did celebrate with a nice late lunch/early dinner at Pappadeux's (minus Peyton) and then some shopping! We went and bought the rug for the nursery which I am so excited about! I love Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids but never buy anything from there but I loved this rug and looked everywhere for something similar and couldn't find anything so I caved and bought it! We then went to Ikea and got his bookcase and dresser! Next week it is painting and then putting furniture together!

These past four years have had many highs but many lows and it has been difficult figuring out this whole marriage and then parenting thing. But I am so blessed and happy to say that we are in such a good place right now! We have worked through some frustrating times and have learned how to be better spouses and most importantly learned that we need to serve, love and fall in love more and more with our creator everyday before we can ever expect to be the spouse the other person needs.

I am so looking forward to another 40 plus years with John by my side! I am a blessed woman!

Here we are over the years....I need to get a four year picture and am working on it! I will add it when we finally remember to take the camera with us and get someone to take it.

Leaving our wedding on Friday, October 13th!


Celebrating our One Year Anniversary in Puerto Vallarta

Expanding our family! Year 2!

Celebrating 3 years in the Hill Country visiting wineries....without Peyton!

Pumpkin Patch

Sunday afternoon we took Peyton to a local Pumpkin Patch. We were going to take her to a farm called Dewberry Farm like we did last year but with everything going on with baby we thought it would be too much to walk around a huge farm, go on a hayride and just participate. I was pretty bummed that we didn't get to go but we had fun anyways!

So we stuck to something much, much smaller, closer to home and a better fit for us now. Peyton thought it was the greatest place ever and had a blast. I can't imagine what she would have done if we went to the farm!

She wanted to pick up every single pumpkin, loved the green and bumpy pumpkins! It was crazy to see how much she has changed in terms of mobility, vocalization and how much she has she has grown! She is so silly and so adorable!

My allergies went CRAZY being out there. I don't suffer from allergies but think that since we did work in the study and all of the dust started getting to me and then going outside did me in. I feel awful! But just looking at the adorable pictures and joy in Peyton's face made it worth it!

Baby #2: 17 Weeks and Getting the House Ready

Today I am 17 weeks...or based off of baby boy's measurements, I could be 18 weeks since he has been measuring big every ultrasound. Either way, this pregnancy is moving SLOWLY! Based off the doctor's thinking we might have to have him at 37 weeks (hopefully we can push that out) we have between 19-20 more weeks! Crazy!

Here are some pregnancy updates, I am still cramping and having a good amount of pain by the end of the day especially when I do too much (and apparently even just loading/unloading the dishwasher and taking care of Peyton) but even when I take it easy all day and do barely anything, I am still in some pain by the end of the day just not as bad. I am going to go this week and suspend my membership to the gym because even if I am given the go ahead to start exercising again I don't see it being a decent enough workout to allow me to go to the gym. I am sure a walk will be about the extent of it or some at home Yoga!

We have four top names at this time which is exciting and we are just trying them on and getting a feel for which one feels right. I am excited though that we finally settled on four that we both are really happy with!

We have made so much progress on the nursery yet it is so much more work than I remember Peyton's being. We live in a three bedroom house and so when Peyton's room went from a guest room to the nursery, we had another room to store things, now we don't and we are trying to maximize space in the master bedroom closet, laundry room and storage in the attic and making sure to purge, purge, purge. I am not one for much clutter/keeping things around for the sake of it but even still we have a good amount of stuff. We have the closet of the nursery completely cleared out and all baby stuff only in there and pretty much all that is left in the nursery is the old study furniture which leads to our other project........a GARAGE SALE! We are getting ready to sell a whole bunch of stuff this coming Saturday to help clear out the attic and garage and just make some money to help with buying everything for baby boy. It is a good amount of work but I am excited and I have already gotten people asking on several of the big items and wanting to come before the sale to pick them up! Sweet!

Once the garage sale is done we will have everything out of the nursery and can start painting, putting furniture together and making it baby boy's home! We are picking up the fabric tomorrow so we are well on our way!

Other baby stuff I need to do is get a flu shot, continue to convince my toddler why I can't pick her up and learn to take a deep breath when my house is a mess and I can't do anything about it.

Baby #2: 16 weeks and a little bump along the road

This past Sunday we hit 16 weeks with baby #2....working on a picture but I was too tired Sunday, yesterday was crazy and tonight John is out so I don't know if I will up to take a picture when he gets home. Working on it.....

Here is how I have been feeling.....

I have gained around 7-8 pounds already.

I can wear some of my regular clothes, jeans that I bought post pregnancy last time before I fit in my regular jeans and some tight/small maternity shirts.

I am getting crazy headaches which I am attributing to difficulty sleeping.

I don't crave anything and really don't have a great appetite but am at least able to eat.

I am tired. Hence why I put my 2 weeks notice in at work last week so I can take time to prepare physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually in the coming months for baby #2 among other reasons.

Here is what my doctor had to say at my appointment today....

Blood pressure, urine sample all look good which is an improvement from the last two times

And this is where it gets interesting....when I brought up some weird cramps I have been having pretty much everyday starting around noon and get progressively worse until I can't stand anymore at night time. She asked a bunch of questions and determined that she needed to check my cervix. Checked that and everything was fine, more questions and determined we should do an ultrasound. Waited for about a hour, had an ultrasound and determined that the placenta is either partially covering or very, very close to my cervix which is also known as Placenta Previa. She called the high risk doctor who does my screenings (down syndrome and anatomy scans) to see if we needed to move my next ultrasound with her up from the 19th. They talked and talked.

Verdict was...I am to go on pelvic rest (want to know what it is, look it up, but I am sure you can guess what it all entails), take it easy, limit how much I pick up Peyton, limit housework/lifting and whenever I feel cramping to rest until it stops. Then in two weeks, we will go for my ultrasound and we will evaluate the situation. There are two outcomes right now that we can see happening....One....as my uterus stretches/grows the placenta will move away from my cervix and although still be too close it won't be too bad and will just need close monitoring. Two...the placenta is indeed on my cervix and it doesn't move and we will monitor closely, I will go on bed rest at home at around 26-28 weeks and then be admitted to the hospital around 35-36 until I have the baby (dates vary based on what happens).

I started freaking out and was quickly reminded why I see my doctor as she very calmly reassured me and told me not to worry and that the baby is fine. I also thought she was awesome to staying in during her lunch hour to make sure that she was there to help read my results and then just had someone pick up lunch for her. I appreciated her staying with me and waiting through all of this. I did get to see more of the baby after we went through all of the placenta worries to just document his size etc and he is measuring a week early and is still a boy and healthy and growing!

I didn't get any pictures because it was so last minute which stinks because I wish John could have seen him. He will just have to wait until the 19th!

I am not going to lie, I am scared! I trust my doctor's and I know I need to trust God and His protection over our little boy but I am scared. So, please pray for me to relax, not be anxious or stressed and trust in God that he will see us through this no matter what.

Alright....waiting for pizza to be delivered and then since John is gone tonight it is movie night for me and Peyton....I can't feel guilty right? I am supposed to be resting!

Happy Birthday to Me!

This past weekend was my birthday! I turned 27 on Friday and was very spoiled by my family!

Earlier in the week my work took my out for Chuy's which was wonderful. We just had a Chuy's open by us so it was fun to finally check out the new place!

My actual birthday morning started out with a Starbucks delivery by my wonderful husband along with a gift card for a future outing. Then that evening I was given a gift certificate for a pedicure and I was informed that free babysitting was included in that!

That night we went out to eat at Villa Capri with my family and enjoyed a wonderful dinner outside on their patio. My mom took pictures so once I get them from her I will post some of them. We got a super cute family picture with Peyton!

We went early (around 5:00) so we wouldn't be disturbing other customer's dates/evening out by us having Peyton but she was so well behaved it worked out great! At dinner I was spoiled with tons of gift cards for clothes, some TOMS shoes and an offer by my dad to build me a coffee table bench like the ones below that I have found at Pottery Barn I have been wanting! I just have to figure out the dimensions, look and finish! I am super excited!



Then when I got home the UPS guy dropped off my last gift of perfume! I was a very lucky girl! I really don't feel that old and many times feel like I should be older than 27! Either way I feel incredibly blessed to have a wonderful husband, a precious daughter, another little one on the way and great family and friends surrounding me! I have a feeling this year will be a little more crazy but I am super excited to see what it has to bring!