"Lazy" August Days

For three years now in August we have gone out to Cary for a craft show/street festival called Lazy Days (we barely took a single picture that first year, except for this one I posted on my craft blog!). It has become a fun family tradition now because the highlight of the afternoon is getting lunch and a cupcake at the deli/bakery that made our wedding cake almost 6 years ago (wowza! 6 years?) called Blue Moon Bakery. I will always remember sitting in their cafe area with Mom tasting about 20 different cake/icing/ganache filling combinations, and then settling on plain old vanilla cake with vanilla icing because it was just so good. It is especially fun to have taken Kenna with us for her second year in a row. We even got to say hello to the owner and tell her that we got our wedding cake from them and are now bringing our almost-two-year old daughter to get cupcakes... and she remembered delivering our cake to us! (I guess our odd last name is fairly memorable).

Even though it is always incredibly hot in August, it was not too bad this year. There are several different places where there are "misting tents" set up to cool things off, which Kenna LOVED. She is a pretty big fan of anything involving water or water being sprayed at her. I had thought that she would enjoy the festival part of it a little more this year since she was old enough to enjoy all the little kid freebies and such... which she did, but the combination of hitting it right at nap time, the heat, and not being able to get out and walk very well was not a winner with Kenna.

She did however, enjoy spinning the wheel at the Chick Fil A booth and winning a cow pez candy dispenser which she adorably kept calling "moo" and also got a hat!
Last August our sweet little cupcake eater was a wee little 9 month old:
And this year she is a big 21 month old! (And ate the whole cupcake by herself):
Barely a crumb left:
Between the heat and all the fun things to look at, our little one conked out hard in the car on the way home. We thought she was so sweet, still clutching her juice and her two balloons:
It was hard to show self-restraint amongst all the lovely and interesting handmade things! The one thing we got was this adorable little apple dress for Kenna. It caught my eye and Matt agreed that it would be perfect for her. Since Nana can't be here anymore to make the beautiful handmade dresses she made for me when I was little, we thought this would be the next best thing. She wore it to church the next day, and we got a few pictures of her in it:
The back is my favorite! I love a little girl in a sundress- she just looks so breezy and comfortable and little-girly!
And since we didn't get a single one of all three of us at Lazy Days (which I really wish we had now that it has become a tradition!) here is one of Kenna and Daddy at church:

Fearfully and Wonderfully!

Last week we had a 12 week appointment where we unexpectedly got another glimpse of our little one through ultrasound. What an awesome thing for God to give man the ability to develop such a technology. As amazing as hearing that little heartbeat on the doppler is, nothing beats seeing your little one move around in "real time" and know that they are healthy, happy, and safe in his/her little bubble. What a blessing that I by no means take for granted.

The pictures were a little fuzzy since Baby is just now big enough to start showing up on a belly ultrasound versus an internal one. However, we did get to see little one wave at us very clearly! How incredibly amazing to see an 11 week old baby, still developing inside the womb and barely the size of a fig, wave so clearly. To make the same kind of motions that our almost-two-year old does... when I stop to think about the incredibleness of that, I just have to praise our amazing Creator. I mean, a fig is tiny little fruit.

It brings so much meaning to some very familiar verses, Psalm 139:13-16:

"For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book before one came to be."

How unbelievable to know that the God of the universe, that created all the mysteries of how we work and who is the only one that can breathe life into us would care to know us at all. As much as I love Kenna and this second baby, both of whom are part of me and have lived inside of my body, knowing that my heavenly Father loves me infinitely more, and is in fact the very definition of perfect love, is pretty intensely incredible. And to know that he desires to know and be known by each one of his creation, as flawed and crazy as we are in our sin, makes that love that much more awesome.

Seeing such liveliness so early on the ultrasound, such a strong little heartbeat, makes me wonder how anyone can doubt that life begins at conception. I remember hearing an interview on the radio with a planned parenthood director who had left her job after watching abortion on an ultrasound. She had always been told that the fetus was not a life, couldn't feel anything, and that it didn't hurt them. She watched as the tiny person reacted in obvious pain to the procedure and she had a "change of heart." I read since then that she was one of 8 abortion industry workers that left their jobs around the same time period, and that one clinic in Montana closed due to "decline in business."

We are coming up on 13 weeks this Friday and headed out of the 1st trimester. Praise the Lord for a healthy baby!

Wordless Wednesday: Bejeweled

11 weeks

Today I'm exactly 11 weeks pregnant. I've seen these little surveys on several people's blog, and I thought it would a good way to remember all the little fun details as we go. Being a second child myself, one of my big priorities for this pregnancy is to relish in an record as many little details as possible... not letting everything slip right by because I'm so busy and tired with a very active toddler. Matt surprised me with a second copy of the same little "belly book" I used with Kenna, which I loved for how fun & detailed it is. I really like the symmetry of having the same book for both pregnancies- I love looking back and comparing and seeing how many things there are that you notice right away with the second since you have a little better idea what to expect after having the first (ie: knowing what you're feeling when the baby first starts to move). Hopefully you're like me and like to hear the nitty gritty of other people's pregnancies... if not, we'll try not to get too baby-centric around here!

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 11 weeks

Size of baby: the size of a fig- last week we called he/she "Baby Kumquat" and this week we've graduated to "Baby Fig!"
Total Weight Gain/Loss: no weight gain yet
Maternity Clothes: regular clothes, but going for my more flowy shirts
Gender: can't wait to find out!
Movement: none so far
What I miss: feta cheese
Sleep: lots of crazy dreams (I told Matt I should write them down & sell them as movie plots! They are that weird & crazy) & lots of getting up to pee already

Symptoms: tiredness is starting to wear off just a little!
Cravings: just hungry all the time

Best Moment this week: starting to move Kenna's stuff around to her big girl room- her room will stay the "nursery" for #2

What I am looking forward to: knowing boy/girl so we can start planning!

So Excited!

Our family is super happy to say that we are expecting our second baby! It feels crazy to even write that... I can't believe Kenna is already big enough to be becoming a big sister and we're about to do the newborn thing all over again!
We went to the OB last week, and everything is looking great! Our official due date is March 4th and we're looking forward to finding out the gender as soon as possible! We got to see our little squirt on ultrasound and hear it's precious little heartbeat. I've got to say that is one sound that never gets any less amazing!

My first trimester symptoms have been:

-a generally nauseous feeling most of the day, especially if I get too hungry or too full (wondering if this means it's a boy, because I was never sick with Kenna!)

-very emotional mood swings... tearing up over silly little things like radio commercials, and silly little things setting off my temper!

-super hungry with lots of cravings! Perfect example- a few weeks ago we got Chinese food and the only thing that sounded good was crab rangoon, and it was the best crab rangoon EVER. Also craving pasta and potatoes like I did with Kenna- any comfort food to calm the queasies.

-I've been uncharacteristically sleepy. Not just tired, but can't keep your eyes open sleepy! Pretty much anytime Kenna takes a nap, I lay down for a few minutes too. Matt has been super helpful in this area- putting dinner on the grill while I sleep for a little bit and things like that.

Basically, my pregnancy symptoms resemble the 7 Dwarfs... Hungry, Queasy, Cranky, Clumsy, Crampy, and Sleepy... that's 6... and Weepy.

But so far, we are all healthy and happy and thankful for this immense blessing from the Lord... all 4 of us!

Family Wedding!

The last weekend in June, Kenna and I got the chance to go to my cousin's wedding in South Carolina! Unfortunately, Matt had to stay home and work, but that meant we got to take a little road trip with my brother, sister-in-law, and their kids! I didn't get very many good pictures, but here are a few to remember the weekend by. It was a beautiful wedding, and a great chance to see long-distance relatives who we don't get to see often and most of whom had never met Kenna and the little cousins.

We arrived just in time for the rehearsal dinner, where the kids got busy playing in the mud and throwing rocks into the creek... how is it kids always know where to find mud? Luckily, there were lots of extra adults eager to supervise!
The wedding was in a beautiful chapel on Furman University's campus in SC.
I almost deleted this picture of Jordan coming down the aisle, but then thought... looking back... that's how a wedding feels. A day you plan for and wait for for so long, and then it's gone in a blur!
The happy couple's first dance... congratulations Nathan and Jordan!
Our fellow road-trippers who were gracious enough to make room for us in their van... Uncle Jason, Aunt Alisa, Evan and Emerson!
Kenna chowing down on the delicious reception food- she had just eaten a strawberry down to the stem!
My mom's cousin Paul got this great picture of Grannie and I watching the little ones dance at the reception... I hope someone got a picture of them because it was completely adorable. It was SO good to see Grannie and get to spend some time together! We all ate breakfast together both days, and it was such a treat. Kenna and I also stayed in the same hotel room with her and after Kenna decided to stay up all night after not napping all day (!!!) she was wonderful to sit and rock with her some in the early morning hours so that I could get an hour or two of sleep. We love our Grannie!
Overall, the kids did really well in the car, but I won't say we weren't super happy when they all conked out on the way home:
The night before we left, we had a big family dinner at Cracker Barrel (per family tradition!) Jason, Alisa & I sat with our extended cousins that we rarely get to see. It's so funny now that at the "kids' table" we are all married and there are 3 kids in the next generation! We took a big group picture outside the restaurant:
What a fun time with a growing family!

Wordless Wednesday: Little Swimmer

New Words... exciting stage!

Kenna has come into some new words these past few weeks, and my memory being what it is, I wanted to record them here before I forget what they are. It is still surprising and hilarious anytime she imitates what we say and it is actually recognizable!

Her new words are:

-Bible

which she only says when she is holding some sort of bible! Amazing to us because we have no idea how she knows the difference between a Bible and any other book yet.

-All gone

said with her arms out wide the same way we do.

-clean up

which sounds more like bleen lup and is adorable.

-hot

usually said when we put her in the car seat.

-shoes!!!

always said in exclamation

-okay

said in the classic little rascals otay, and surely the result of me responding to her constant oh nos with it's ok!

-no no

which really is new, and said very emphatically!

-off

which sounds like opfh and is used interchangably for 'off' and 'on' which is confusing sometimes.

And she is starting to understand the power of sentences, which is lots of fun... especially "I poop." Typically from her crib we hear:

"maMA! maMA! uh oh. uh oh"

"what's uh oh Kenna?"

"I poop."

"did you poop? or pee pee?"

"Yep. I poop."

and upon inspection, we find her holding out a poopy little finger, which she has stuck inside her diaper to determine that it is, in fact, poop. Thank you, Kenna. Needless to say, we come running to find out what "uh oh" is.

I guess it is truly time to start potty training! All tips, suggestions, and success stories are welcome here!
(Obviously we will start by opening the lid- hah! And she climbs up like this all by herself!)

Bathing Beauty

We've been at the pool quite a bit during these past 2 weeks or so of 100ish degree weather. I can't get enough of my big girl in her swim suits. She's had a blast splashing in anything she can find (including our neighbor's flower-watering water) and likes to help me water our plants on the porch. Some days I just give her her own little bucket of water on the porch to play in.

She looks so big to me these days, especially walking around in her little swim suits.

classic Kenna face.

She loves walking up to the pool in her little crocs. She thinks she is so big, and is starting to look the part. She's gotten so tall that even 2T and 3T bathing suits are just barely long enough (unfortunately, soon she'll have to look for long torso bathing suits like her momma!).

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great, full 4th of July weekend this year. It was the first year that Kenna could really interact and know what was going on with the fireworks especially. We stayed in town and had a really great laid back couple of days at home.

On Saturday, we had ate barbecue on our back porch and then headed out to see the fireworks!

Star spangled underpants!

More barbecue please!

It's always a long, slow wait in the summer for it to get dark enough for the fireworks. We sat on a hill with lots of other families with very antsy kids, and waited and waited and waited.

We called Granddaddy and Nana B. to tell them we were excited!

We even tried to take a family picture... this is what happened when we told Kenna to look at the camera.

Just when we were ready to pack up our really tired wee one and take her home, the fireworks started! Kenna was completely amazed!

Check out that excited face!

I love this picture of Matt and Kenna- we lived near D.C. when I was little, and my family would go see the fireworks on the lawn of the Capitol. We have lots of pictures of me sitting on my Daddy's shoulders like this. Love it that we have one of our baby now, and are starting new traditions!

On Sunday, after Matt taught Sunday school, we went to his parents' house for a delicious lunch of homemade ribs and veggies fresh from Granddaddy's garden... squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, and green peppers!
We made one more attempt at the family picture, but it's so hard with a squirmy toddler!

Today it was so hot that we took our popsicles straight to the pool and hung out there most of the day. Ironically, they must have added water to the pool because the water was freezing cold! I thought Kenna's little swimsuit was just perfect for the 4th of July... rumor has it that it was mine when I was little.

What a great weekend... happy 4th of July!