Showering Rooney

Rooney's mom and I met in high school even though she lived an hour away from my hometown. She went to prom with one of my guy friends our senior year, and I invited her to spend the night so that she wouldn't have to drive all the way home that night. We stayed up talking about college, found out we knew some of the same people in our small towns, and then we reconnected at Greek Weekend that spring. During Rush 2002, we talked a lot about what we wanted out of sorority life, and right before Pref Night, we came up with a hand signal to give to one another if we were going to "pref" Kappa. This is so illegal. She went to the Chi-O house while I went to the Pi Phi house, and then we both went to the Kappa house. The hand signal was made by both of us, and we found ourselves on the Kappa House lawn the next day sweating and taking lots of pictures in our extra-large Sweet Home Kappa Gamma T-shirts together. We roomed together as soon as we got in the house, and we are now celebrating our 10th year of friendship. She was in my wedding, and then 4 months later, I was in her wedding. She and her hubby moved away, and now they are back home only 15 minutes from my house. Rooney has a fantastic mother, and I just can't describe how blessed this little girl already is. Lauren is just about the most incredibly nurturing person, and her natural ability with babies and children is crazy. Case in point: She was the first person other than my mom who I left Reese with...I had a dentist appointment, and Auntie Lauren begged to keep her (I was thrilled that I didn't have to beg her because I totally would have). 

All this to say, I was honored to get to help celebrate the upcoming arrival of Miss Rooney Bell last night at a beautiful and sweet shower. I had no idea how a Monday night shower would go, but it was awesome. A HUGE turnout...well, I'm sure that really is thanks to Lauren and not the night of the week. Because I recorded gifts, I didn't get ANY pictures of guests or gifts, but you can get the big picture of the shower in what I did capture on camera...

The food table filled with individual servings of appetizers. Spinach Dip Bread Bowls, Crudite with Ranch, Fruit Kabobs, Petit Fours, Bruschetta, and Cake Pops.

Cute little Cake Pops.

Entry table where guests addressed an envelope to help a new momma out.

Cute little veggies and ranch.

Sweet and Simple.

Drink table. Coke bottles with stripy straws, Lemon-Lime water, and coffee.

The Mommy-to-Be and her hostesses. Stefanie, Brooke, Me, Mommy Lauren, Emily, Caroline, Jessica, and Sandie.

Lauren with her Mom, Sister-in-Law, and Mother-in-Law.

Pretty women.

Rooney isn't the only baby on the way. Cora, Charlie, and "Yeah, my parents still haven't named me Walker".

MOST of the gifts.

Oh, sweet pink gifts. I loved it all.

Best Mother's Day Gift

I left my hubby and girl for about 26 hours on Friday and Saturday to attend Liz's University of Oklahoma Law School Graduation. It was a very quick trip, and my body was definitely glad to be out of the car when I pulled in last night. Michelle and I enjoyed our road trip conversations, and we loved getting to celebrate this major accomplishment with Lizzy Boo. Pictures are at the end of this post. 

The best Mother's Day gift came throughout the day yesterday as I got text messages from Wes telling me what they were up to at home. Coffee at Pressroom. Farmer's Market TWICE complete with dancing and listening to a folk band. play time at the park. Flying Fish for lunch. Oh, and then he took her to Crystal Bridges after her nap to check out some art and the kids area. What a day, and what a dad. After we got her to sleep last night, he showed me pictures he had taken of our sweet girl all day (his camera phone won't share pictures, so you will just have to imagine, and he dressed her so cute, too). Swinging and smiling, listening to the music on the square, etc. I was reminded how fulfilling and satisfying my family is to me. God is so good to us. Oh, and then this morning I got to open this gift. Notice the hand prints and sweet writings on the wrapping. LOVE it. What was inside, you ask?! Pure perfection for a pregnant momma. A new body pillow. Ahhh. 

I was telling Wes on our way home from church that I wanted to take some pictures outside, so he went in to get the camera, and this is what he found when he came back out...

Little Girl was so tired from her full day with Daddy, a shortened night's sleep (I got in a bit later than bedtime last night, and we played for longer than usual), and a busy morning in church nursery. This staying asleep in my arms thing does not happen ever. Another fabulous Mother's Day gift.

However, she immediately woke up about two minutes later and started talking. Here is our mini Mother's Day shoot.

Can you tell she's still waking up?!

23 weeks.

Liz's Big Day. 

Her momma and hubby hosted a fabulous lunch after graduation at the OKC MOA Museum Cafe. GOOD food and GREAT company.

These two are some pretty special friends.

Yay for Elizabeth F. Cooper, J.D.! I won't embarrass her, but let's just say she finished pretty dad-gum close to the top of her class. Like I can show you by only holding up less than one hand full of fingers. She's smart, and she's my friend. 

22 Weeks (and a wedding)

Like I said, our speed of life stayed pretty high the rest of the weekend. After resting for a couple of hours during Reese's saturday afternoon nap, Maris came to play with Reese while Wes and I went to a friend's beautiful wedding. 

You can see here that Reese found some jewelry I was trying on and saw it fit to wear it all herself.

While Maris and Reese had some major fun together, I got to see my own Maid of Honor at the wedding. Of course I didn't even get a picture of the beautiful bride, but beautiful she was. Rachael makes a stunning bride. And Liz makes a gorgeous bridesmaid.

This isn't the first picture of these two. Wes was pretty excited to see Liz, too. We all go WAY back.

Oh, Carrie. Beach trip '13 is in the beginning of the planning stage, but it should be pretty fun with Walker, Reese, and B-Dub2 and Baby Gaines #2!

Aren't we cute. 22 weeks and 19 weeks. Pregnant girls in their maxi dresses. Comfort counts.

Reese's bestie Campbell was there, too! Reese was pretty sad she missed her once I told her who all was at the party. Anyways, I love these two a lot.

Oh, and this one's for fun. Wes likes to take Reese to water the plants, and I like to watch from the big windows.

We also got to celebrate AG's birthday again last night with the pancake dinner at her house. Fun times.

Okay, here I am at 22 weeks. 

And here I am at 22 weeks with Reese. A different picture from this same day shows a rather smaller belly than the one I see today, almost exactly 2 years later.

Busy Fun

It's been a busy past week, and it's only going to get busier. I was just telling some of my besties last night about how I can sometimes thrive on "busyness," and I do love everything that is making me busy these days. However, I'm sure looking forward to a week at the beach in 21 days with the whole Walker crew. That will be busy, but it will be a relaxed busy if there is such a thing.

Here's a look into what's been going on around here...

Last Saturday was Daddy-Daughter day, and I made sure to get some pictures of my two favorite people.

MELT. MY. HEART.

Be still my heart. I am so thankful that Reese's standard of what a man should be is this guy. Thank you, Lord.

Play time with Campbell.

Oh, just flipping through the J.Crew catalog to find our friend Joseph Altuzarra's collection featured. (He's a good college friend of my brother's, they were in the same acapella group, and we met a few times...now he's an up and coming famous clothing designer.)

PIGTAILS!!!

Annie Grace's 4th Birthday Party at the Fayetteville Boys and Girls Club pool after showing the house a couple of times yesterday morning. Reese LOVED the water. That's a whole story to itself, but let's just say we didn't dress the part, but she could have cared less. Splashing in a diaper? No biggie.

Beth is in town, so we had a mini-reunion last night, and it was WONDERFUL and just what my heart needed. Table Mesa of course.

The reunion continued this morning while Stella and Reese jumped on the trampoline. Reese is still a bit unsure, but the smiles you get from her when she forgets that it's kind of scary are pretty priceless.

KKG Groundbreaking Ceremony. My dear ol' Kappa house is about to go through a MAJOR renovation and addition, and we celebrated with HUNDREDS of actives, alums, families, etc. today at the groundbreaking. Last time to sit and walk through the Kappa house as it was when I lived there for 2 1/2 years!

Annie Grace and Reese eating a snack...last meal in the old dining room.

Reese and AG climbing the Senior Stairs. So sad I didn't get pictures of all of the friends I ran into or a picture of Jenny Beth, Amber, and me...what do you know, kids took over the pictures again.

She wasn't picking her nose. Just eating a cracker or something. 

The Kappa choir...beautiful.

AG loves her cousin Reese.

May be a new favorite. 

Sitting and acting so well through the ceremony with cousin Marion. However, it was HOT, Reese was so tired that she was delirious, and she started hamming it up in front of everyone...I did not get a picture of that.

Good bye, Kappa house. We will see you much bigger and better in 15 months!