quiet days

we've had some real quiet days around here since everyone left.  it's sad!  but, one thing that is nice is to have mae back on her normal schedule.  she's a much happier child when she is.  which makes for a much happier mama.

cody and i are pretty lucky to have such a great kid.  she's great about running errands with me.  last week she did so good, we made a much needed pit stop at 7-11 for some big gulps.  the 7-11 near us has gatorade in the fountain drinks, so i don't feel so bad letting her have one.  (but that drink is mostly ice lol)

i was worried about getting mae play-doh for christmas, but i am so glad that i did.  it has filled up some cold, rainy afternoons!  she has sat and played for over an hour...that in my house, would be described as a miracle.

we've started getting everything ready for baby girl.  i got the infant car seat out to clean, and mae has been practicing putting her stuffed animals in there.  right now her baby doll is in there, and she won't let me take it out...we'll see what happens when the baby gets here.
 

 i am beyond ready for this little girl to get here.  this week at my appointment during my ultrasound, i passed out and threw up because the baby was squishing my vein that brings blood to my head...lovely.  as if i wasn't ready before that, i definitely am now.  i'm 36 and a half weeks.  let's hope this little one comes early like mae did!  i have started walking like crazy in an effort to get her here sooner.

but, anyways.  this week we were able to enjoy some amazing weather!  i miss virginia, and even a little bit of snow, but i have to say, winter in texas is shaping up to be rather awesome. (although, as i write this it's pouring outside, and has been rainy for two days, but i'll take it for a few 70 degree weather days.)
we spent a lot of time outside those days.  luckily mae didn't run straight to the water when we went to the lake.  this time she actually asked if we could swim, um, no little girl, we cannot.

my good friend sent us a belated christmas package, and it made mae's week!  she has been wanting a tea set, and when she opened the box and found one she said "oh, boy a tea set!"  many a tea party have been had the last week.  mae was even lucky enough to have daddy to one of her tea parties.

 as if i haven't said it enough, cody is an amazing dad.  he is especially wonderful with little girls.  i finally realized that we have been blessed to have girls, because cody is so sweet, compassionate and caring.  (lucky for me, i still have a hard time with girls!)  i'm a lucky lady to have him!

one last picture from the park this week.  when we first got there, a little boy was running around with a spiderman mask on.  mae was seriously terrified.  she would not climb on any part of the playground.  i kept telling her it was like a silly hat, but she didn't get it.  finally i got her to start climbing and the little boy ran over and scared her, on purpose.  he figured out that mae was scared of his mask.  haha.  he left after that, and i was finally able to coax her back on.  what a scaredy cat...i love her though.

i'm a little sad that it will no longer be just mae and i.  and also, a little worried i won't be able to love her as much or giver her enough attention when the baby comes.  but, i keep thinking of the grinch and how his heart grew.  i'm pretty sure that's what happens when you have more kids.  your heart just makes room to love them all.

Our Fun Visitors

my parents, reid and coleman all came to stay with us for a week after christmas.  after our quiet little christmas, it was so much fun to have a house full of people.  i miss that!  mae had a blast.  and got even more presents from my parents.  one of which is this super cute sleeping bag!  it's so comfy...uncle reid actually used it a few nights!

 

one of mae's favorite things to do with gramps is build towers.  and a lot of towers were built while he was here!

 and a lot of towers were knocked over as well.  i think that is what mae likes to do the best.

 we did lots of fun stuff while everyone was here, i didn't do the best job of taking pictures and documenting everything!  some of our favorites were gourdoughs (the most delicious "donuts" ever!), buc-ees and the outlets in san marcos, the capital, and of course tons of football.  i'm pretty sure that while all the bowl games were on, that was the most our tv has ever been on since we've owned it!

 

mae had so much fun with everyone, and loved to know where everyone was, and what they were doing at all times.  especially her gram and gramps.  i love how much she loves being with them!  it is always fun to watch my brothers be uncles, they are so good to her.  she was seriously spoiled with attention while everyone was here.

 

lucky for us, uncle reid got to stay an extra week!  he leaves for his mission at the end of the month, and i am so glad that we were able to have this time with him.  what a fun guy he is.  

we had one or two days of some nice weather while he was here, so we spent them outside!  i'm not sure who had more fun at the park, reid or mae.

 we ate lots of delicious things.  reid is a good cook, it was nice to have him help me.  as you can see, we made a sonic drink stop.  reid is a soda guy.  i like a soda on the weekends, but he got me into a bad habit!  by the end of the week, when we went to a drive through even mae was saying "diet coke mama?"  wow, bad parenting moment. (don't worry i only got her cups of water, she's catching on though)

 we braved the cold and made a trip to south congress.  reid is a great shopper, so i was able to go into some stores that i hadn't gone into before.  seriously, the past few days have been the coldest since we've been in austin. 

 and of course we had to make one more stop at buc-ees.  oh buc-ees.  i love this place.  as you can see, i have my refillable cup.  reid's only complaint was that the biggest size soda they have was only a 44oz....

 kind of a silly trip to go to bastrop just for buc-ees.  but, when you have visitors with you, you do fun things like that!

buc-ees is one of mae's favorite places.  if it was closer i'm sure we would make more frequent trips.  she loves it.  and while gram and gramps were here, they got mae her first buc-ees shirt.

 i had to zoom in on mae's face in selfie attempt number one, too hilarious.

i'm going to miss this kid.  still hard to believe that my baby brother is almost 20!  i remember changing his diapers.  he will be an amazing missionary, and a huge asset to the phoenix mission.  we love you reid!

2014 Wrap Up

2014 was a pretty life changing year for our little family.  cody got a new job, we moved in with my parents, sold our house, lived apart for 6 weeks, moved across the country, bought a new house, got pregnant.  looking back over my life, i think it's safe for me to say these past 12 months have probably been the hardest i've ever experienced.  but, when i see how much stronger my marriage is, how much closer we are as a little family, and also how much i cherish the time i do get to spend with my extended family, i realize what a blessing it has been for us. 

i looked back on the goals i set for myself at the beginning of the year, and i think i made a solid effort!  i finished the whole bible...i didn't think i was going to make it there for a while, but i did it!  i've made pflugerville my home.  i love it here.  there are things i miss about virginia.  but, right now, this is where we're supposed to be, and i really do feel like this is home.  i set the goal of running/ walking/ ellipticaling/ biking 1000 miles this year.  before i got pregnant and ridiculously sick in june, i was well over half way there.  since then, i still have walked and biked, but i haven't kept track as religiously as i did in the beginning.  so, i'm not sure if i made it.  but, there's always this year right?

what fun is a post without pictures?  here are a few of my favorites from 2014

we're excited for this baby little girl to get here (hopefully sooner rather than later) and can't wait to see what awesome adventures 2015 will bring us!