Showered

Baby Boy Walker was showered last night, and I must say it was quite the wake-up call. As I opened the first gift, I looked down and saw a navy polo style outfit, and I thought it didn't look very girly for Reese. And then I remembered I'm having a baby. A baby boy. For real. A month from yesterday is my due date, and there will be two kids in this house. I got home, ate another cake ball (thanks, JB!), and then proceeded to sort the gifts because I realize I need to process this whole 2nd child thing a bit more. Wes and I pray for his heart, his health, his character, and for him to never know a day apart from Jesus. We talk about him all of the time, but it just hasn't sunk in that I'm about get to experience baby again. What an enormous blessing! 

My mom and mother-in-law drove up together yesterday morning, spent the day hanging around our house, showered us with gifts and then drove back home late last night. Oh yeah, and my mom brought a fantastic home-cooked meal of grilled salmon, cheese grits, my favorite roasted vegetables, rolls, and a hot fudge pie. Needless to say, our refrigerator is full of leftovers, and we are good to go for this weekend while we try to accomplish several things on our to-do list. I think we will take a swim break a few times, too! 

Thank you to everyone who has made this momma feel so loved and supported. We had another doctor's appointment this morning, and we are now waiting on the results of the GBS test. I'll be getting the antibiotics during labor regardless of the outcome due to Reese's infection when she was born, but today just took me back to her birth and first two weeks. And when Wes, Reese, and I strolled out to our cars from the hospital today, the breeze in the air felt EXACTLY like the weather during Reese's first two weeks of life--not to mention we were walking the same hospital grounds. It was crazy, and instead of being scary or nerve-wracking, it was peaceful. God was with us then, He has been with us always, and He will be with us on the day this little guy arrives. Now we just pray for a smooth, healthy, happy labor, delivery, and baby. Oh yeah, and progression on his arrival has begun. VERY slight I might add, but when I was checked today, I was at a .5 on a scale of 0-10. That's all I'll say because I just can't do details on the blog. But everything else indicated no signs of labor. I was totally fine with that news. I'm shooting for September 8th. 

Entryway into the party

Food table.

Other end.

Cute little invitation there in the middle. LOVED the decor and invitation!

Momma and her food.

Morgan. Could she get any cuter?!

Just chatting and eating with some of my favorite people. 

This was that outfit I mentioned. What?! That won't work for Reese. Oh yeah, I'm having a BABY BOY.

Mopsy with Morgan and Charlie.

Gran and her older girls. Reese and little guy have a pretty fun family.

For real, mom? When did you find time to make this adorable onesie?!

My little helpers.

FABULOUS friends and hostesses.

Hands down best sisters-in-law in the world.

Can't beat these friends. Seriously.

We go WAY back. And this girl is way special to me.

There aren't words to describe the character of my mom. Let's just say this was her third trip up here for ME in three weeks. 

An absolutely incredible friend. Loyal as all get out, constant, faithful, and unbelievably helpful and gracious. 

Four babies right here. Rooney, Charlie, and babies Martin and Walker. Doing life and motherhood alongside this friend is one of the greatest blessings. 

A Beautiful Madness

It's been a week of purchases, unpacking, to-do list creations, and more, but what I think I'll remember are the visits from friends and family and the initiation of the house into what I want it to be--a place where people feel welcomed, warm, comfortable, and joyful. Where people feel the presence, grace, and love of God and can genuinely fellowship with others. Where God is glorified above all. Where the body of Christ can be experienced and where He is worshipped as our Saviour.

Last night, Reese woke up around 10, and I could tell she wasn't feeling too well. Those silly teeth again! Anyways, instead of just giving her a little medicine and rocking her for a bit, we brought her out to watch the Olympics on our new TV, and she plopped on both of us like this for a good while. I think she enjoyed the men's pommel horse finals and a few good track races. She went to bed a little after 11 without a single tear shed. 

This morning, a beautiful madness entered my home. Beautiful because it was my besties from college and our kiddos. Madness because that includes four toddlers around the age of 2 and two sweet little infants. Oh, and we were all in our completely unfinished house as you can see from these pictures. Okay, but back to the beauty. It's crazy to think about where our friendships started and what our lives look like today. Three of us live here, but the other six live across the south. Whenever one comes into town, we try to get together even if it's crazy and conversations last about 5 seconds. Here is a peek into our beautiful madness that was this morning...

Some of Reese's super awesome cousins came over at the end of the party for lunch, and you can always see the love she has for Molly, Morgan, and Ty. It's pretty sweet. They love her, too.

Alrighty, I'm going to help Reese with an alphabet puzzle and then fix dinner. 

I promise house pictures soon. Well, maybe I shouldn't promise. It's going to be a WHILE before everything is done, so I may do a before post and then an after for each room as it is finished. We shall see, but I will make an effort to get some pictures posted soon.

Bless This Home

(Walking out of the old house for the last time.)

I just officially cancelled our listing on ForSaleByOwner.com. That's a good feeling. We closed today on the old house, but we have been in our new house since last Friday. The move went exceptionally smooth, and the unpacking has been pleasant. I've definitely gotten my 34 week pregnancy workout each day without making it to the gym. (I'm planning on hitting Zumba tomorrow morning, and I can't wait!) We absolutely love our new home, and it's definitely that. A home. It fits us perfectly, and I love the layout and features more than I had imagined. 

The unpacking and settling is quite the process being a month away from having baby #2 and having an almost 2 year old running around, but we have had some major help from family and friends. From letting us crash last Friday night at Bret and Jayme's, Jayme watching Reese multiple times, Jenny Beth and Benton bringing a fabulous meal for the guys on Saturday (and offering to do more...we just haven't assigned them another job yet!), A whole slew of guys (Bret, Riley, and 2 of my incredible high school boys) doing the big U-Haul trips, Leah helping unpack the pantry, O'Pa laying the flooring in the attic, and Mopsy coming for 2 nights to help keep me from working too much and getting through all of the random stuff that was totally overwhelming me...we are blessed. I'm sure I'm leaving out others who have helped, and I apologize. Lots of visitors have come by to say hi and offer to help, and we are so thankful. 

It's going to be a longer process than usual because I'm quite slow these days, and I'm becoming more and more picky on decor and the way things are set up, but I'm fine with that. The house is totally livable, and there are minimal boxes in the house. I'll post pictures soon, but here is a sneak peek of where we went after walking out of our old house...

 Wes and I are so thankful for answered prayers in having our house sold in the month of June and moving to a new house before the baby arrives. Now that Baby Boy has a room of his own, it's really hitting me that he is coming. And he's coming soon. Physically, we are getting prepared. Mentally, I have a ways to go, but part of me thinks there's not much to do in order to prepare. I could worry about how we will live our days with a toddler and an infant, I could try to plan how I will conquer the days and breastfeeding and keeping Reese entertained and growing, I could stress for lots of reasons...but God is keeping me grounded in Him, and I'm just resting. Mentally and physically. He will direct our days, and He is the one who will conquer them. He's already helping by helping me focus on the excitement of the upcoming season...baby boy, 2 year old daughter, football season, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. He is good, and I pray for His continual guidance in every detail of our every day.

Here Goes Nothing...

It's been a week, and we now have a plan. We bought a house. We are moving a week from today. WHAT?!?! Let me first say that God is good, and His plan is always best. 

Wes and I looked at each other last weekend when we realized that building would not be our best option and both sighed in relief. Neither one of us had felt too good about tweaking our house floor plan so much and must not have had great peace about building in general because we both felt lighter after realizing we would buy instead. So the search began, and we put Reese into the car with her movie in front of her and went house hunting. She was a rock star even battling a virus or teeth or something, but a house we had looked at a couple of times and had discussed several times seemed to speak to us. We have had concerns about it, and they really have only had to do with quirky things about the house that we love...we were just afraid potential buyers a few years down the road when we would need to sell would see them as too quirky. 

The house seems to fit us so well, and it's just what we need. So, after working out details on our current home, we put in an offer on the new one, and I got an email from Wes saying "We just bought a house." We KNOW that God will take care of us if and when we need to sell a few years from now, and in the meantime, we trust and pray that He is glorified in our lovely new home. We can't wait to be settled there, but settled is a word that's so relative to me right now. The house may not look the way I want it to for a good while, but as long as my family is in it and the necessities are there, we are good. Nursery, decorating, tackling our list of to-buys or to-dos, etc. may just take about a year or more to complete. Praying that my attitude stays the same as it is now.

We have lived in our current home for exactly 5 years today. We have LOVED living so close to downtown Bentonville especially in the past 2 years as this little area has just boomed. That's what we will miss the most. However, friends who live a few minutes farther away remind me all the time that we will still eat, play, shop, etc. just as much. They go all the time, and so will we. I'll just miss the 3 minute drive home after a long splash park date or after a quick dinner pick-up. 

After we had locked down our new home, my mom left her long house packing to-do list, hit the road, and stayed 3 nights completely packing our kitchen, a few other areas, cleaning out my car, the high chair (my worst nightmare), and playing hours with her granddaughter. We had takeout every night...Mellow Mushroom, Table Mesa, and Flying Fish. I sat on the couch most of the time and was completely spoiled. We love Mopsy and are so thankful for her more than words can describe. 

So these next 7 days will be filled with packing, planning, and moving. If you have any muscles and are around next Saturday, we would gladly use your help. We hired furniture movers, but we are doing the boxes ourselves. I shouldn't really include myself in the picture though. I'll just be pointing and supervising. 

We did take a short break and met lots of sweet friends from Fayetteville on up to Bentonville for a play date at our splash park this morning. I so wish we could have gotten a picture of the entire crew, but Brooke snapped this picture, and that's all I got. Reese played in the water, and I ate a crepe. It was fabulous. I got to catch up as much as you can with toddlers running around you with some friends I don't get to see nearly as often as I would like, so I went home refreshed. It was 102 degrees, and I'm 33 weeks pregnant. I'm so thankful for that bottle of water that Leah bought to go along with my crepe. (BTW, Leah, I owe you cash for lunch.)

These pictures do NO justice to what my mom conquered this week. These cabinets are about 10% of the work mom did. 

And these boxes are only some of the boxes packed by this lady. 

So, here goes nothing. I will be sure to document the move. It will be tough to say goodbye to the house we have called home for five years. We have absolutely loved it, and we have been so blessed in it. We trust and look forward to the joy and blessings we will experience in our new home. Have a happy weekend! If you need us, we will be packing.

Thoughts

*I'm 32 weeks pregnant. I have completely failed at taking weekly pictures, but I just got up and took a picture of 32 weeks and 1 day for you.

Ta-Da! This is post-gym and pre-shower, but it's what I've got. I don't know why I've been so terrible at taking pictures this time, but I honestly don't think about it every Sunday as I get my weekly update. I read how big B-Dub is, what he's doing, and go on with my Sunday morning getting ready for church and playing with Reese. I am gaining the same amount of weight, but I do think it's more in the belly than with Reese. I had started to swell a bit by this point with her, but it hasn't happened yet this round. 

*Speaking of B-Dub, we had quite a scare last week when at my appointment, the doctor noticed I was all of a sudden measuring 2 weeks small. She sent me to schedule an ultrasound, and I went Friday afternoon to see that B-Dub is actually almost a week ahead of my due date. No concerns with amniotic fluid, placenta, or other issues they had possibly been worried about, and now I just better get ready for baby. Praise the Lord for a good-looking baby!

*About an hour after getting home from the ultrasound, we received word that we had a major hiccup in our house sale. This news may have been taken a bit worse in other circumstances, but after seeing a big, growing baby on the screen, we had perspective on silly house stuff. We spent the weekend and are still working today on settling the issues; we hope to work it all out soon. 

*Oh yeah, it looks like we are moving, but we don't know where. We had decided to build a new home, but after our hiccup, we think it's best to buy instead. Now we must figure out where to go, how to fit the move in according to the closing date on our current home, and hope and pray that B-Dub doesn't grow TOO much and feel it necessary to come early. 

*NOTHING is done for his nursery or really anything having to do with preparing for baby. I have bedding in mind, some decor in mind, and a crib ready to be borrowed for a few months, but that's it. And somehow I'm not losing my mind. God is good. I also have what I know will be needed the first few weeks of life...gowns, my upper body, and a car seat. That should be enough, right?!

*Reese is talking up a storm, and the way she talks is just about the cutest thing in the world. Her favorite words these days? Pretty. Oh wow. Play-doh. Snack. Apple Juice.

*I could go on and on about Reese these days because she really is so fun and funny right now. Dancing all the time, laughing to make others laugh or at herself, playing with and loving on baby dolls, and the list could continue for at least a mile. I LOVE HER SO MUCH.

That's all for today. I'm going to get in the shower and then figure out a house packing strategy.

Our 4th

Celebrations.

My family and friends sure know how to celebrate a birthday. And guess what?! I still have a GNO (Girls Night Out) in my honor on Thursday night with my fabulous friends from church! Last Wednesday, Wes' Brothers and their wives hosted a little dinner party complete with delicious guacamole, barbecue, salad, and a Cold Stone cake (thanks, wes, for sacrificing your desires and getting a cookie dough one!). Reese spent most of the evening jumping on the trampoline with her big cousins; it was the perfect birthday night. 

Wes got off a bit early on Friday, and we got to Conway in time for Friday Night Pizza at ZaZa's. My brother is in town for a while this summer teaching at Arkansas Governors School, so we enjoyed lots of time with him throughout the weekend. Saturday lunch time was a huge birthday celebration for five in my family. Uncle Buzz, Aunt Cathie, Allen, my mom, and I all have birthdays somewhat around each other, and it was quite the birthday meal and party for us. 

Oh, and that's not all. We got back home Sunday afternoon, and Wes and I left Reese with a sitter while we met some friends at Ruth's Chris for a fabulous birthday dinner. Becca, Daniel, and I all have birthdays within a week, so that's definitely a reason to have a fancy dinner date. 

Besides the celebrating, we have endured one weird night of very limited sleep for Reese while in Conway, gone swimming a few times, and talked about house options and baby names for hours and hours. We pray decisions are made SOON. The house thing must be decided soon, and the name must be determined in about 2 months. CRAZY! Enjoy our week in pictures.

Birthday night with my girl.

I'm so in love with her, and I feel so blessed to get to call her daughter.

Ice Cream Cake!

The honorees at our Saturday lunch.

Blowing out some candles.

Loving our time in what could be the last visit to 6 Meadowbrook Drive. Don't let me get emotional.

Frost family pic.

Enjoying looking through a scrapbook of a trip to Hoxie for a week with Papa and Granny back in the day. 

Piano with Uncle Allen.

Ruth's Chris with my handsome hubby.

3rd of July post toddler time at the library. 

Pool time tonight.

She LOVES the independence she has in the puddle jumper. Should have tried it earlier, but I'm so glad we had it in our stash. She still wants Momma to "hold please" which I don't mind, but her smile when she forgets I'm not holding her and she finds herself floating and kicking is priceless.