Mothers Day "Cards"

I love crafting and diy-ing. I'm not creative enough to come up with ideas on my own, but I love trying to pull off ideas I've found online. Our Mother's Day "cards" are one example. I found the idea online a while back and (of course) immediately pinned it for future reference.

Source: sometimescreative.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

We basically mailed a hug. We traced the outline of her upper body with arms outstretched, decorated and colored it, then rolled it up and mailed it off.

She was very excited to get started!

Big Sis got a kick out of me tracing her, and she loved decorating her hair, shirt and belly button. :) We used the roll of paper that goes with her chalkboard/whiteboard stand, and all we needed to buy for the project were cardboard mailers. I am pretty sure the grandma's loved their gifts, and it was so much fun creating them together, too.

The finished product!
 

Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day as a Mama of two was laid back and spent with my favorite people - in other words, it was perfect. After church, we had an impromptu photo session in the back yard followed by lunch at my favorite sushi restaurant. I spent the rest of the day enjoying the company of our little family.

Words cannot describe how overwhelmingly in love I am with these two little people. They are always in my thoughts, and I just don't know how we ever managed without them. Life as their Mama is wonderful.



Oh, and this sweet little girl who made me a Mama just a few short years ago... She'll never know how much that day changed my life. xoxo


My loves, my world.

Meridian Trip

We finally took a road trip "home" to introduce Baby Brother to Mamu & Papaw.

At this point, Baby Brother is not fond of guys. He screamed his little head off when Papaw tried to hold him, thus the very confused and upset look on his face! I don't know what it is about this phase. Guess he's just a Mama's boy! ;)

And par for the course, he was perfectly fine when Mamu held him!




While we were in the country, we enjoyed a very warm morning of fishing with Bubba and PawPaw. Big Sis got to use her new Barbie fishing pole that she got for her birthday, and even though she was very excited about going fishing, she got tired of it pretty quickly.



Being such a good boy and taking it all in!




Her guilty face. Trying to sneak away or get into my camera bag, I'm sure... Silly girl!

Siblings

Remember growing up when you couldn't stand your little (or big) brother and sister? How they were *so* annoying and you fought over the silliest of things? And then you grew up and moved out and kind of lost your connection with them because you just didn't have much in common?

And then you all grew up. And you became best friends. And you wondered why life wasn't like this all along.

I don't know where I'd be today without my little brother and sister, and I'm so thankful my kids will get to experience the bond and love of a sibling.

At the end of this month, we enjoyed a sibling date at, of course, the ball park! I can't wait for our next get together!





Love you Bub & Dede!

April Randoms

April is always a fun month - from Big Sister's birthday to Easter to family get togethers, Opening Day and so much more - we are always running and enjoying the beautiful weather that comes along with all the fun. Here are a few fun random pics that give a glimpse into our excitement! ;)

Two cuties!


Unsuccessfully working on tummy time.

Learned to break out of the swaddle

Big beautiful brown eyes run in the family

Decked out and watching Opening Day from the couch

Wanna fight?!

Big Sister's favorite book. She can "read" it front to back!

Such a good helper!

She loves to "hide." Bet you can't find her!

:)

Daddy does great "Cindy Lou Who hair"

And, oh, the smiles!

Mama - She Really Does Exist!

If it weren't for family pictures, you might not think that I really exist. I am the only one crazy about taking photos in our family, but I've been making it a point lately to tell Anthony when and where to take my picture with the kids. That, and I take a lot of iPhone photos of myself - I feel a little silly and juvenile doing it, but the precious photos are worth it. ;) I don't want to look back one day and wish I had these photos, so my new goal is to get in the pictures with them as much as possible. I hope that all of you other Mamas reading my blog are getting in the pictures with your kiddos. If not, hand the camera off and tell (don't ask!) someone to take your picture. The photos may not be technically perfect, but you'll cherish them nonetheless.

See this? My, what three weeks will do to a precious little baby.

 4/3/12
 
4/26/12
 

Three Months

We have a baby who sleeps through the night!!! I did not expect this, but it's been a pretty awesome blessing. We attended a friend's birthday party March 24 (he was 8.5 weeks) at a playground, so he was too distracted from all the excitement to nap that afternoon. He fought sleep so hard on the way home, so when we got home, we were quick to put him to bed. The next morning, he finally woke us up - about 8 hours later! We thought it was a fluke because he was so tired, but he just kept sleeping every night after that. It's been almost a month solid of sleeping 8+ hours, so I think we are safe to say he really does sleep through the night! This is particularly exciting because Big Sister woke 2-3 times a night until she was about 7 or 8 months old (and she's also reverted to waking up every night here lately, too, so Mama is still actually pretty tired!).

Baby Brother has been finding his voice lately and practices his "talking" quite a bit. He enjoys his playmat and toys, and he's quickly become a fan of his bouncer (or, as Big Sis calls it, his bouncy chair). He is still kind of, eh, on the swing. He'll tolerate it but doesn't particularly love it. He still loves being carried around in the carrier - I've pretty much switched to the Ergo with the insert now, as it's already getting a little too warm outside for the Moby. He is not a fan of tummy time, just as Big Sis wasn't. Our boy has also started giving us the biggest, best gummy smiles, which take away every care in the world.

In the past month, he's also started daycare and done really well there. His teachers comment all the time about how laid back he is and how he never cries unless he's hungry (hope I'm not jinxing myself here). He is the youngest in his class, but there is one girl just a few weeks older than him. He also went to his first Texas Rangers game this month! Well, first game since he's been born - there were plenty where he was technically present last year! He was an angel the entire time. The crazy crowd didn't phase him one bit.
 

This boy is such a blessing and we are all head over heels in love with him!