Three Weeks and Counting...

The day of our baby boy's arrival is looming in the very near any.day.now. of our future, and while one part of me is so thrilled to meet this new addition to our little family, I'm also a little anxious about having two little ones. Addison is my girl. The past two years we've been a sweet, little tag team.

I'm not so sure she's ready to share me, but more than that, I'm not sure I'm ready to share myself. And I wonder how I could have enough love to go around, but I know I will. I already love this baby in my belly. This boy who will not let me forget he's there. He's constantly on the move, working his way around his temporary home, disregarding any important organs or ribs that get in his way. He perks up at the sound of music and his big sister's voice among other things. We've already had quite a few talks and I think we're both looking forward to the big changes ahead.

I'm excited to see Addison assume her new role as big sister. I'm sure a lot of days, she'll want to be the mommy. And a lot of days, she'll just want to be mommy's baby again. No one can change that. No one can swoop in and fill this role, that only I can fill. I am her momma, and I always will be, but now there will be two.

It's intimidating to be the one responsible for developing the character of another. I hope and pray that with the help of the good Lord, my daughter will grow up to be a virtuous woman and that I can be that example for her. I have never had such an important job!

Our adventures as a tag team of two are coming to a close, but I look forward to adding a third stooge in our day to day adventures. These days are oh so precious to me. My heart still melts at every sweet word and smile. No matter how many times she says, "bless you momma!" when I sneeze, it will always be adorable. And at the end of every challenging day, I remember motherhood is my highest and most precious calling as I disciple and lead my own flesh and blood, my children, to know how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, that they may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Eph. 3:17-18

On Potty Training (minus all the gory details)

First forgive me, for writing about bodily functions. I hope you can appreciate this as much as I do. I know, there was a day, where I would wonder why anyone would talk openly about such things. 

The past three days have probably been three of the longest and most exhausting days of my life, although not without some great celebrations. I am 35 weeks pregnant and determined to at least get the basics of potty training under our belt before baby number 2 comes along and I'm not able to devote three days to being a 12 hour pee-pee/poop monitor. 

In short, day 1 was a lot of clean up. 

Day 2 was amazing! She told me when she had to go and had several successful number 1's and a POO in the potty resulting in stickers, gummi bears, and smarties!!!

Day 3 Addison truly impressed me with her uncanny ability to hold it for hours and hours. And then pretty much downhill after that. 

That's all I'm going to say. But, amidst all the crazy, I had no choice but to take some pictures, because it is pretty dang cute when those short little legs are dangling from the toilet, soo far from the ground, while little miss is reading. 

This is a play by play of Addison working on a poop. And let me tell ya, it wasn't coming easy, because she wasn't in her usual stance standing in the corner bracing herself on a wall. 

I. Just. Can't. Help. Myself. 

She sets this book on the counter and says, "another one?" 

  

An instagram update: my mother's day

If you've never read the book "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman, I highly recommend it. It revolutionized my relationship with my husband and taught us how to show love to each other. As newlyweds, Matt would get home from work and busy himself doing things that he considered helpful, but one of my love languages is quality time so I really just wanted him to sit down with me! He was trying to show me love in a way that didn't speak to me!

Fortunately, in the last almost 8 years, we have both learned a lot about loving each other well. This year my 30th birthday fell on Wednesday, May 9 and Mother's Day is tomorrow, the 13th. Matt had the 10th off work for a weird holiday so he took Friday off as well and we made an extra long weekend of it. We spent plenty of time at the house relaxing and working on the yard, but we also made some special trips to the park, a Friday night stroll in downtown Greenville, complete with Marble Slab and live music in the street, and this morning, a spontaneous trip to DuPont State Forest to do some LIGHT hiking and see some waterfalls.

I couldn't have asked for a better birthday/mother's day weekend. (not to mention, he along with our parents, gifted me with an iPad for my birthday!!)

Here's some highlights from our hiking trip...

A nursery sneak peek

I have been planning to make a piece of art for baby boy's nursery for awhile now and this week, I finally started and finished it! I am so tickled over how it turned out. The entire nursery isn't done yet, but I just couldn't wait to show you how this turned out.

I saw the idea on this blog a few months ago. It is a tree mod-podged onto canvas. The original was made from pages of a novel, and one was made with sheet music for her college-aged daughter, but I envisioned something a little different for the nursery.

I got lucky when I found an old Winnie the Pooh Golden Book from the 1960s that was already falling apart (so I didn't feel tooo bad cutting up the pages). The pictures were fantastic and since I was creating a tree with the pages, it was appropriate that the title of the book was "The Honey Tree."

I wanted my pieces a little messier and less precise than my predecessors, and hanging Pooh from the tree wasn't planned but when my mom found that picture in the book, it was obvious that it would really make the perfect addition to the canvas.

This is hanging over baby boy's crib. Can't wait for you to see how great it looks with the rest of the nursery!

Addison's Big Girl Room

In the process of creating a new nursery for baby boy, I also have been working on Addison's big girl room so we don't need to buy all new nursery furniture. Addison temporarily moved into a toddler bed some friends gave us, and she transitioned marvelously. It wasn't nearly the nightmare I anticipated. What can I say? My girl loves her sleep. So we were able to move the crib to the new nursery. We also no longer needed a rocker in Addison's room so the glider and ottoman could also move to the nursery. And, since Addison's well equipped with lots of drawers in her armoire and closet, we also moved the Ikea chest of drawers to the nursery that doubles as a changing table. Voila. No new furniture purchases necessary.

I am shocked and appalled to say that I do not have pictures of Addison's nursery. I mean hardly any. I can't believe it. I was not a blogger when she was born, so I guess I didn't document so well. Therefore, no before and after pictures. Just after.

Here are a few that I could muster from her nursery, and you'll notice this was before she was born because we changed our mind on her name, and had to change the initials on the wall. :) Now you know why we still have no name for baby boy. :)

I love having furniture with a story, so I'm thrilled with the new room. The green armoire above was an old 1960s piece my mom refinished for the nursery. I love it and it has great storage. Her new bed and quilt are family pieces too.

This old iron bed belonged to my great Aunt Francine. My mom found it in an old family barn and had it refinished years ago. It is absolutely precious. The colorful quilt was made by my great Aunt Lucille and I think it is so fun and colorful for a little girl with a perfect touch of vintage. My mom and grandmother have always treasured this quilt so I was excited to put it in Addison's room.

You'll also notice the lump down the side of the bed.  I took a great pinterest idea, and used a swim noodle under the mattress pad to keep Addison from rolling off the bed. Works like a charm. Unfortunately, nothing hanging on the wall over the bed now, since Addison prefers to pull things off the wall in her reach. Yikes. We'll have to leave those walls bare for now!

The only expense when redo-ing this room was the swim noodle (3.99) and these pink curtains from Ikea that cost a whopping $9.99 for the set. They match the quilt perfectly.

Pooh Bear is sitting in an old vintage kid's recliner from the 1950s thanks to Matt's great Aunt Bluford. Addison loves setting all her dolls and animals at the table and preparing and serving them meals from her little kitchen in the corner.

This is a bookshelf from Ikea that we've had for awhile and my mom painted the flower canvases for her nursery.

The armoire is full of drawer space and I keep her laundry basket on the other side.

And Addison has a fabulous closet for a one year old. Lots of extra space to bed organized. You know I love that.

So, Addison's room is done. Now to finish up for baby boy and we'll be well on our way to being equipped as a family of four.

Highlights from the ATL

Our weekend to Atlanta went fabulously. And now, it's over. boo. And now, I'm going to post way too many pictures. Unfortunately, most of them are the back of Addison's head because why would she look at me when she could look at cool animals everywhere.

Her first sighting.... a warthog, of course. 

She settled in to stay awhile. Until we told her there were more animals to see. Before that, she was NOT going to leave that warthog. 

Watching the elephant, her favorite animal. 

I love how the Atlanta Zoo has the giraffes, zebras, ostriches and rhinos all in the same area. They live peacefully together in the wild, why not the zoo?

Proof that I was there. And sitting on a giraffe, no less. 

I hate birds. Look at that stank eye. 

Looking at the tigers and bears (oh my!), also rooming together. 

Squatting down to chat with the pig. I love when kids squat. They are already so low to the ground as it is. I just find this really funny. 

Telling us that it's a pig....

Walking through the barn with daddy. 

No inhibitions...she walked right up to the goats to pet them. 

This brown goat below, was evidently a good listener. Addison got right in his face and talked his ear off for quite awhile. Seriously. 

still chatting....

On Sunday, we went to the aquarium. I'm so sad I couldn't take pictures during an AMAZING dolphin show! We were nervous that the show would scare Addison. They warn of strobe lights, darkness, scary parts, sound effects etc. and add that children under 3 might not do so well. We risked it anyway, and it was definitely the highlight of the day. Every time the dolphins jumped or did a trick she would point and squeal and talk about it. It was hilarious.

We also saw this Beluga Whale who happened to be around 14-16 months pregnant. (Thank goodness we only have 9!) I overheard Matt telling Addison the following exact phrase. 

"Look Addison. It's a pregnant whale, just like mommy." On that note, I'll call it a night. :)