Thursday, August 22, 2013

Sometimes You Just Have to Say Yes

Last Saturday morning, Wes was out cleaning the pool since we were having his family over to go swimming later on that day.  Emma spotted him and wanted to go outside with her daddy.  I opened the door and went out with her, not thinking much of it since she was in her full, zippered pajamas.  Well as soon as I let her through the pool gate, she headed straight for the water and went right in with her pajamas and everything.  Since she was already wet, I decided to just strip her pajamas (and diaper) off of her and let her "swim" in the water even though it was not even 8 in the morning.


I am so glad I just said yes to her and let her go in- she had so much fun splashing around in her skives. 


Happy girl!  This is the classic Emma face right now- her left eye wide open and her right eye squinted.  


One of her favorite words- ball!


And a nice break from our routine of swim diaper and sunscreen before mom allows her anywhere near the water :).


Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Small Moments- Watermelon

The other day, Emma and I enjoyed our morning watermelon on the backyard porch  in our p-jammers while daddy was snuggling Everly.


It was one of those moments that you ask yourself, does life get any better than this?!?!


In that moment, the answer was no.  My big girl was eating one of her favorite foods and getting the 1 on 1 attention that she craves :).


It was also one of those moments where you are super grateful that the iPhone was invented to capture it all :).

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Maternity Leave To Do List

I know I am already 3 weeks into my 12 week maternity leave, but here is my to do list (or activity list) before I have to go back to work. I feel like it helps to write it all down to keep us focused- as you can see in the picture below, the first day we were at home, I pushed Emma around the house in the stroller so we were in desperate need of a list :).


... take Everly's newborn pictures
... celebrate Wes's birthday
... find Emma's Halloween costume (an elephant), Everly will most likely be the monkey
... take Halloween photos at the arboretum
... go to the zoo with Wes's family
... Central Market Hatch Festival
... have my mole removed
... eat at the Fort Worth food truck park
... take Emma to a splash park
... visit the park by our house at least five times (1 out of 5)
... on hot days take Emma to the parks at the mall  (3 times)
... celebrate 3 years of being married to my hubby
... take Emma to bouncing babies at the library
... take Emma swimming in the afternoon (at least 2 days a week)- she loves this!
... order pictures of Everly
... take Emma and Everly to Fort Worth Day in the District
... frame the prints I bought for the dining room
... visit Bobbob once a week (so far we are 3 for 3)
... take Emma to her first day of preschool
... order 75% of the prints for the gallery wall in our newly designed living room
... share those prints I ordered on the blog
... write Everly's birth story (remember this took me nine months to complete for Emma)
... keep up with Everly's weekly pictures and posts (and figure out if I am still going to do the calendar pictures)
... take Emma on a pony ride at the church picnic
... finish the other half of the family gallery wall
... order a new engineering print with Everly in it
... keep snapfish up to date
... go to the state fair
... lunch with my sisters in Dallas
... take Emma on a 1:1 frozen yogurt date
... celebrate Everly's baptism with a bar-b-que at our house
... take Emma to the petting zoo in the stockyards
... squeeze in one non-anniversary date with my husband
... get quotes on repainting the cabinets in our kitchen
... in the same light, research and scout cork flooring options for our kitchen
... take Emma to toddler time at the trampoline park
... enjoy the extra time that I get with my husband and my two babies :)

Monday, August 19, 2013

Everly Grace: 3 Weeks


Likes: 1st visit to the zoo, 2nd visit to hatch festival, taking first bottle, snuggling Kelli on Sunday afternoon, taking baths with Emma, 1st non-sleepy smile as a reaction to my cooing, passing hearing test

Dislikes: being hungry, taking a pacifier, the 7pm to 9pm timeframe


Sunday, August 18, 2013

Everly's Tree

As you might remember, I blogged about the tree my dad bought Everly before she was born- a Bloodgood Japanese Maple.  Before Everly got to be too old, I wanted to get some pictures of my dad and Everly next to her tree.  Right now, the tree is much bigger than Everly- although you have to look close fro the tree in these pictures since it is not very leafy right now.


Love seeing these two together!


But, just like Emma's tree- she will be standing next to it before we know it :(.


Emma halfway wanted to get in on the action- but in true toddler fashion, she didn't want to smile for the camera and this was the best we could manager of the tree of them.


Thanks for the tree Grandpa George- Everly loves it :).

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Evolution of a Smile

I had just finished nursing Everly and laid her on her lap since she was unusually alert right after a nursing session.  She was deep in thought at first.  I was deep in thought trying to determine what her eye color will be :).  Here they actually look a little blue to me, but for the most part they are a steel grey.


Then, she started drifting off to sleep and I was so happy I had my phone nearby to capture these different stages of her smile.


Is there anything better than seeing your daughter smile?!?! I don't think so :).  She finished up her smiling session by sticking her tongue out at me!


Love you baby girl!

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Everly with Family Favorites

I am still working on sorting through all of the hundreds of birth photos in order to write Everly's birth story, but in the meantime here are some pictures of Everly meeting different family members in the first few days of her life.

I was the first one that got to hold Everly!  This was the part that was infinitely better than my last birth- they placed her on me as soon as she was born!


The first time that daddy got to hold his brunette baby :).


Daddy and Everly :)- melts my heart!


And just because I can't get enough of these two!


Other than Wes and I, Emma was the first one to meet Everly.  Wes brought her into the hospital room first (and by herself).  She was a little timid and shy at first, but has really warmed up to her sister :).



Nonni and Everly.


Grandpa George and Everly- love my dad's facial expression here.


Ally and Everly- moments after we asked Ally to be Everly's Godparent.


Nonni, Grandpa George and Emma came to visit us at the hospital on the second day too- love this picture of me and my girls (as a side note- can't believe I can say girls now!!).


Austin, Craig and Everly :).


Bobbob and Everly.


Bobbob with both of his great-granddaughters- also melts my heart!


Celeste, Shelley, Abigail, Emma and Everly :).


Looking through all of these pictures just reminds me how blessed we are to have a family that loves Everly (and Emma) so much.  Lots more pictures of Everly with family and friends to come!