Spring Break Fun

I had a wonderful Spring Break with Allie. Weird that it will be the last one just the two of us. Next year, Jack will be a part of our week of fun. We stayed pretty busy and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather. We had a play date with a group of mom's and their kiddoes. 3 of our kids are all within a month to 6 weeks of each other. We always have a great time when we get together. The kids had a wonderful time playing Super Heroes! Check out my Super Girl

Then, our crazy Texas weather took an ugly turn...SNOW on the first day of Spring. We were very sad that we could not play outside anymore. Allie liked seeing the snow, but she was really happy when it melted. Our pretty spring weather returned to us on Monday.

*For those of you who do not know, Jack will be here sometime tomorrow! We are so excited and anxious. Please pray that we have a safe and healthy delivery!

Work Showers

Jarod and I were both lucky to have a shower for Jack from our work places. Both had yummy cake, great people and cute gifts for Jack. We are so blessed to work with so many wonderful, caring and thoughtful people.

I think I'm 35 weeks here.

Cake at Jarod's work shower... Adorable!

Allie got to be a part of the shower at Jarod's work. She loved the cake but loved opening all of the presents for her baby brother the best!

My Bags Are Packed...

Well, my bags are almost packed and I am ready to go! It's hard to believe I'm only 2 weeks away from my due date. Where has the time gone? I feel like parts of this pregnancy have gone by slowly and other parts have just flown by. This pregnancy has been harder than mine with Allie. I think what has made it harder is that Jack is sitting on my sciatic nerve. That makes night time very hard at my house. I feel terrible when I wake Jarod up. The last couple of nights have been pretty bad and this morning I could barely walk around the house. Thank goodness for Spring Break and a sweet, caring little girl.

I'm feeling a lot of different emotions these days. Crazy hormones! I'm not worried so much about delivery and bringing home a newborn, I am more worried and concerned about Allie. Some of you who have two children or more, may understand how I am feeling. I just don't want her to feel left out or forgotten. I want her to be a big part of all of this and I don't want her to feel like I've abandoned her. We have talked to her a lot about it and I think it helps that she is almost 4 b/c she seems to understand a lot of what we are saying. But, I know that this will still be hard for her. This will all be an adjustment for all of us and that is what has me the most worried. I just want to make sure I make the right decisions for her.

Allie is so excited that Jack will be here very soon. She talks to him and about him all of the time. She is absolutely and completely in love with him already. She can't wait to help, sing and teach him things. She loved looking at sleepers, onesies and gowns today. She always wants to get him something every time we go to the store. We did let her pick out a gift to give him when he gets here and I also got a gift "from" Jack to give to her at the hospital. A lot of people had suggested that we do that and I think she will love getting a gift from her brother.

Even though I am very uncomfortable and ready for Jack to be here, I am sad that our days of a family of 3 are coming to an end. It has been 3 for almost 4 years and it's hard to imagine it any other way, but I am looking forward to the new adventures of a family of four and the love and joy that Jack will bring to our lives.

If any of you have any words of wisdom or advice during this time of transition, I am all ears!

Girls Weekend

About a month ago, (I know I'm behind again) a group of us girls went to Hot Springs, Arkansas for a relaxing and pampering weekend. We are all friends from college and have stayed close. I miss these girls all so much. I'm so glad we were able to find a weekend for us all to be together. I wish we could of had one more day together. We had lots of yummy food, massages, mani/pedi, watched a chick flick and had tons of laughter. Being together brought back lots of great memories. Thanks girls for helping make this happen. I hope we can do it again soon!

Our first night at dinner: Courtney Phillips Smith, Stacey Black Stewart (18 weeks preg), Courtney Craddock Reasons, Becky Madewell Beasley and Me

My sweet friends in downtown Hot Springs

This was at dinner on Saturday night. I think we laughed the most this night.

The three of us were roomies in college.

These two girls have been friends since they were kids.

Snow Day Pictures (Better Late Than Never)

Allie loved playing in the snow a couple of weeks ago. It was great snow for making a snowman and for sledding. Thanks to our neighbor, Allie got to sled for the first time. She loved it! I was in charge of making the snowman. It has been years since I've made one. It is not my best, but she loved it and was sad when he melted. I still can't believe how much snow we got in Texas!

In Honor of the Winter Olympics

I am not a huge fan of the Winter Olympics, but I am a little more interested in them this time because we have actually been to where they are being held. This summer, Jarod went to Vancouver for work and I was able to join him for about 5 days. For some reason, I failed to ever put pictures of trip on here so I thought I would share a few now. I fell in love with Vancouver. It is a beautiful city and there was so much to do. I don't feel like I did a great job of choosing pictures to share but it really is gorgeous. We ate a lot of yummy food, drank great coffee, enjoyed tourist attractions, kayaked and on our last day we rented a car and drove up to Whistler. The drive was breathtaking and Whistler is gorgeous. It was actually pretty hot that day and the pictures do not do it justice. We were able to go to the top of two of the mountains there. It was amazing being surrounded by God's creation.
As we have watched the Olympics, we have seen a lot of places that we have been too. It is hard to tell where everything is in Whistler because they have added so many things (besides tons of snow!) since we were there in July.

This is us on top of one of the mountains. I have no idea which one!

View from the chair lift up to the mountain (we saw black bears while we were going up).

Another mountaintop picture

In the Gondola on our way to the 2nd mountain. A family of 4 was with us and we got stuck mid air for 5 min. It was a little scary when we were swaying in the wind!

This picture was actually taken on the drive to Whistler.

Vancouver

Downtown Vancouver is behind us

*On a side note, it is really weird for me to see pictures of myself and I don't have a huge belly out in front of me (Will I ever look like this again? Hard to imagine). I also realized that I was pregnant when we were on this trip. Got home and took a test two days later! It was a very happy ending to a very fun trip.

Shower for Baby Jack

This post is well overdue!!! We misplaced our cord to our camera and just now found it.

A few weeks ago some of my sweet friends gave Baby Jack and I a beautiful shower. There were lots of yummy treats (my friend Jenn made awesome cookies) and lot of friends and family to talk with. Baby Jack got a lot of much needed items. It was a little weird seeing blues, browns and greens because I have been seeing pinks and purples for four years. He got some adorable outfits, blankets, towels and much needed diapers! I had a wonderful time being with friends and family. We are so blessed to have friends and family that love us. I really didn't get a lot of pictures. I was so busy talking that I didn't even get a picture with my mom, aunt or sister in laws. Oh well! Thanks to my wonderful friend Courtney, I do have a few photos to share.

My sweet friends: Courtney, Emily, me, Amy, Miranda and Jenn

My good friend Jenn (who is extremely talented and needs to start her own business) made this for Jack's room. Isn't it beautiful? Thanks Jenn!

Jenn, Miranda and Amy

Hattie (she is due 9 days, I think, after me and having a girl), Emily, Abbie and Mica.

Abbie, Me and Mica

I am now 33 weeks; only 7 more weeks to go and yes I am counting them down! Everything is still going really well. The "nesting" phase is here and by the time I get home I am whipped. I'm trying to get all of my ducks in a row before I leave work. We are slowly but surely starting to work on Jack's room. We have a ways to go but I know it will get finished (thank you Jarod). A few weeks ago I started having braxton hicks contractions. I never had those with Allie so they came as quite the surprise. They happen mostly at night before bedtime and they really do take my breath away at times. At my appt. two weeks ago my doctor said that he is head down (has been for a while) and thinks he weighed close to 4lbs! I think Jack will be a lot bigger than Allie.

Allie is ready to be a BIG SISTER! She told me this week that she is tired of waiting for Jack to get here. I'm getting to that point too. She is going to be a wonderful big sister. She already loves him so much and she hasn't even met him yet.