A Baby Shower Full of Blessings!

Words can't express how blessed I am with wonderful friends!  They showered my baby boy and me with so many useful goodies and now I feel so much more prepared for his arrival.  Andrea hosted our morning brunch at her house, so many brought yummies, Mandy photographed everything, and we all had a great time.  I'm so thankful for my friends that took time out of their busy Christmas schedule to come and celebrate with us and missed those who couldn't be with us.  Thank you ladies for a wonderful morning and for being such wonderful friends!

 Sweet Kallie and Quinn

 Rebekah and Stacey

 I wanted Raleigh to feel included so I brought her along, but the girl had gifts open before I could process what was in the one before.  I'm glad she was excited (and she's at an age where gifts are fun to open) so hopefully she'll be just as excited when he gets here!

 His very own tractor!

 Thanks to Pinterest and me pinning lots of "letter walls" Andrea helped to plan for everyone to bring a letter for me to then use to decorate baby boys wall in his room.  I couldn't have been happier because I wanted to do this, but had no idea how in the world I was going to find/come up with 26 letters!  Have I mentioned that I have wonderful friends?!?!  The best part is that some of the letters have something on them that reminds me of the family that gave them to us so I think of that family every time I look at the letter.

 Little Alexis sporting baby boy's frog hat that was made by Tiffany

Andrea set up a photo booth in her bedroom and we had so much fun...especially with the signs!

 Can we say huge?!?!  I guess it's a good thing I love being pregnant!

 This photo needs to be submitted to awkward "friend" photos!  :)

 Love this one!  Since I'm writing this after the fact I'll share this story.  When I sent a text out that we were on our way to the hospital Christa sent me a text back telling me that it would be ok to tell her the name then.  :)

 Only Cindy!

 Thanks Mandy!!!  Is it odd that someone so photogenic as Mandy was the one behind the camera? She needs to be in front of the camera more!

 Raleigh displaying her name for baby boy!

All the letters on the wall...a perfect gift!

As a favor to everyone, Stacey gave each person a card with the letter that she brought that has a verse or blessing on it for them to pray for us and our baby boy.  She also gave us a set.  So appreciative for all the time and thought she put into this!

34 weeks!

This pregnancy is flying by!  Only 6 more weeks to go and I'm sure they'll go quickly with Christmas coming up.  My checkup went great and our baby boy's heart rate was in the 130's.  It sounded great!  Two more weeks and we'll be back for another check!  So thankful to have made it this far after all the bumps in the road near the beginning!

 Happens every morning and all throughout the day!  So sweet!

Tea Time!

So that I wouldn't stress out with planning a birthday party this year we thought about taking a couple of friends to the American Girl store and having lunch.  Well, we decided against it and I thought I could make it simple and have it here at the house.  For the most part it was simple, but I still always stress out a little.  Jason had the task of getting as much of the house painted as possible.  He did great and knocked out the dining room in a day and although he didn't finish the kitchen he did fulfill my request to have the two walls with samples on them painted.  He's the greatest!!  I was still able to make the cake and it was the easiest one I've made and may be my favorite (thanks to copying a friends idea and taking an idea from the internet).  Thanks to some great teamwork we got it done and were not up all night!

We had a craft and tea party.

We made some perler beads to make different shapes.  I thought this would be a great craft, but it ended up being a mommy craft since it took so long and the beads kept falling off.  :)

The other craft was a glass ornament with glitter inside.  These turned out really cute!

Then it was tea time...sandwiches, fruit, crackers, and cheese.

Then time for cake and ice cream!

And finally time for presents...bad news is Christmas is only 3 weeks away!

 Not from party...gift from Todd, Cindy, Lacy, and Robby...birthday dinner at Rafferty's (my girl knows what's good!)

Raleigh loved it all...friends being her favorite part!

Happy 4th Birthday Raleigh!!

4 Already?!?!

Dear Raleigh,
I really can't believe it's been 4 years since you were born.  I remember being terrified to actually have you here because I had no idea what I was doing.  In four years I've learned that I still don't know what I'm doing, but I enjoy trying to figure it out.  You definitely challenge me to figure things out!  You are learning so much that I just want to slow it down!
I love how at random times you will call out to me or daddy that you love us.  Although lately you enjoy telling baby brother that you love him more than us and giving him many kisses and hugs throughout the day!  :)  I hope you love him that much once he's born!
You are very shy when you are in a new place or around people you don't know well.  Once you see that everything is ok you will open up and start talking.
You have a wonderful imagination!  Many times we think you're talking to us, but you're talking to your "friends" whether it be Bubba, Tinkerbell, Ashley, Kelly, your many brothers and sisters, or maybe your babies.  It is amazing the things you come up with to say to them.  You definitely treat your babies like a mama would...you'll be an amazing mother one day!  You also pretend to be a teacher sometimes.  You may be teaching a school class or a ballet class, but you do it well!
You also have a wee little bit of a temper when things aren't working the right way or you don't get your way.  I think it comes from daddy, but daddy says it comes from me.  I think when things aren't working right it comes from daddy and when it's not your way it comes from mommy. It's definitely something that we all need to work on and mommy is trying to work with you on other ways to handle your frustration.  Hopefully we can get it under control.  :)
I can't wait for your baby brother to be born so I can watch you as a big sister!  I think you'll be a wonderful helper (and sometimes probably more than I want you to be).  I'm looking forward to being home with you and him for a couple of months.  I know it will be a big adjustment for all of us, but I'm excited that I will finally get to take you and pick you up from Child's World.  I can't wait and have been counting down the days!
You are definitely my sunshine and make me smile and cry all at the same time!  I love you so much and can't even remember what life was like before you.  Although daddy and I enjoy having some time to ourselves sometimes, we wouldn't trade the laughter you bring into our house for anything!  We love you!
I hope your birthday was wonderful and you enjoyed your time with your friends!
I love you!
Mommy

Family of 3 ornament!

Since it is our last Christmas as a family of 3 I wanted to make an ornament this year showing that.  I did this when I taught Kindergarten on candles and thought I could do it on glass ornaments that we already had.  It turned out pretty cute (I think).  The only problem is that my finger did not want to go on the ornament straight.  :)

Ready to Party!!

Raleigh has been anticipating her birthday "party" at Child's World all week!  She picked out her cookie cake and was very excited to take it with her.  Can't wait to see her birthday crown that they make for all the kids on their birthday!