Beach Day

Last weekend, our church was putting on a beach day in Pacific City so our little family decided it'd be fun to go. It was on Saturday and it was beautiful weather! It was definitely windy, but clear, blue skies. Lily had a blast! The "beach day" didn't start until 12 so I was a bit worried about Lily knowing she'd be missing a nap completely. But she played hard and had fun. She loved playing in the sand and really wanted to play in the ocean the entire time! That water was sooo cold though! As I was coming out to her and AJ to take some pictures, she was running to me and tripped and face planted in the sand/water. It freaked her out for a second and luckily AJ was right behind her to pick her up! After that we said she needed to take a break and play in the sand only since her skin was turning purple from being so cold! She was cold for a while and just wanted to sit in my lap. Luckily, after about 30 minutes she was ready to dig in the sand and play with the other kids. Of course she went in the ocean again with AJ, but they stayed in the more shallow part this time!The beautiful Oregon coast!As soon as we got there, she headed for a spot on the sand and started playing.This was right after she face planted. Notice her face isn't the happiest-poor girl!Trying to warm her up after her fall!AJ getting ready to serve-he's in the upper left hand corner. People wanted him on their team cause he's tall! : )She finally warmed up and was wanting to dig a hole....So she could sit in it!Lily playing with the boys-already!!AJ being the best daddy and playing with her...I just wanted to sit in a chair and relax!Then a crazy group of kids and a 2 adults decided to boogie board. They were crazy but they had a lot of fun!My great friend Anna and I hanging out!

Not the best picture of us, but you get the idea :)

Our "water Lily"!

We had a great time even if it was only for an afternoon. Lily did crash on the way home-but only for 30 minutes! Once we got home and took her out of her car seat, we realized she went pee in her pants! She must've done this while sleeping which is why she woke up after only a half hour. Other than that one accident she's been doing great with potty training!

Family

First off, I know I'm a lazy blogger! Haven't found the time to do this in a while :) But, here we go! A few weeks ago, AJ's brother, his wife, and their little girl came to town for a week from Texas! Their little girl, Kate, turns 1 this next week and this was the first time AJ and I had seen her! She was so fun to be around and see her little personality! Lily did very well with her which amazed me. I was so worried since Lily's been in this awesome stage of hitting kids (really, it's not awesome.) But, she did well. There were a few times she took toys from Kate, but once she was told to share she did pretty good! We had a great time with Aaron and Kara and loved having them here to visit and just hang out with. Auntie Kara and Uncle Aaron with Lily-Lily really took to them, especially Kara and always wanted Kara to hold her! It was pretty cute!AJ and his brother with Kate.The cousins! Not the greatest picture of Lily, but you get the idea!

Kara, Aaron and Kate-what a great family picture of them!

Lily kissing on Kate-she loved giving Kate kisses and hugs!

I love this picture-except for Lily's cheesy smile. But I still love it!

Sweet Kate-or baby Kate as Lily would call her. She isn't quite walking on her own but is great cruising around furniture.

Me and Kate...she's not too sure about me :)
We had sooo much fun with them here and I wish we lived closer to them!

My Belly is Growing!

Well, I'm officially at the point in my pregnancy when people start to question my due date. They'll ask when I'm due, I say November, they say "really? It's not sooner because you are so big!" Seriously people. That is not something you say to a pregnant woman!! But, I just gotta roll with it right? It happened when I was pregnant with Lily too. I just get big and I think I make big babies. Even though Lily was 3 1/2 weeks early, she still weighed 7 lbs! Just think what she would've been had I gone to term with her! I'm also at the point where it hurts to bend over to do anything-whether it's putting on my shoes, putting on Lily's shoes, picking up toys, etc. And I can't see my feet when I stand up straight and look down. I've been having braxton-hicks contractions like crazy. I was freaked out at first, but my doctor said it's completely normal to be feeling them this early, especially since it's my second pregnancy. And sleeping is hard already! It's too soon for this! I toss and turn all night and by morning my back is killing me. But, the best part about being pregnant is feeling this boy move! I'm not sure if it's just him or if all boys are like this, but he is so active. Way more active than Lily was. It's non-stop movement from him. Whether I'm just sitting around, or eating, driving in my car, and even sleeping, he is moving! I do love it! And with all of these things I'm still SO THANKFUL to be pregnant and I can't wait to meet our son!

Me and baby boy at 20 weeks-actually, I think this was taken at 21 weeks because we forgot to take a picture the week before!

And at 24 weeks-this was taken last week! Ok, do you see how HUGE I am in just 3 weeks time?!! Crazy. This is gonna be a big boy.....and that makes me kinda scared! But God's in control! :)

Growing Up

My baby girl is growing up so fast! She looks and acts so old right now, and I know as soon as this little boy enters our lives, she'll look even bigger to me! She has officially been in her big girl bed for about 2 months now. She's doing so well and we've had no problems-yet! She waits for us to get her out of bed in the mornings and if she is crying at night for some reason, she doesn't get out of bed-she just calls for us! I'm SO thankful that this adjustment went so well! We recently moved her over into her new room (which means her old room will be for the baby) and painted and decorated. It's such a little girl's room! I love it, but it kinda makes me sad because she's growing up! Here's some pictures of her new room:The view from outside the door-I love how pink and girly it is!My $20 craigslist dresser! I love how it turned out! Unfortunately, I bought it from a smoker not even realizing how that makes the wood smell! We tried all sorts of things and it isn't that bad now thankfully. But I'm looking into getting either scented liners for the drawers or potpourri bags because I can still smell it on her clothes. AJ says he can't, and maybe I only can because of my heightened sense of smell! But I gotta fix it!

The other way in which Lily is growing up is she's POTTY TRAINED!!! Well mostly. I was going to post a picture of her in her cute panties, but I decided not to considering I don't know what kind of people out there could come across my blog! But it was cute-take my word for it :) She's been doing so awesome at going on the potty. It's been going for almost 2 weeks now. My mother-in-law had given me some panties she bought for Lily and one day I decided to just put them on her. We were home and not going anywhere, so why not try! That day she had 3 accidents-2 pee and 1 poo. Gross. But, she was successful on the potty. We give her a "pee-pee bean" when she goes (it's either 2 M&Ms or 1 Junior Mint, depending on what I have on hand!) and praise her a ton! We started on a Thursday and the very next day we went to the mall to get our pictures done (the one from the previous post) and I had put her in a diaper. As we're waiting for our pictures to be printed she tells me that she has to go potty. I think "yah, right." But off we go to the public bathroom to try. Well, I set her on the toilet and she totally went!! I was amazed! Of course I hadn't brought any pee-pee beans not even thinking she'd go in public-and on the 2nd day too! Luckily, there was a vending machine right outside the bathrooms. So after paying $1 for some M&Ms, we had our traveling pee-pee beans on hand! And it's been great since. We put her in diapers at nap time and bed time, but I'm noticing that she's staying dry during those times! I'm still a bit leery of putting her in panties overnight, but I know we'll get there. The only problem with potty training is the dreaded #2. She's gone two times on the potty, but that's it. All the other times she's timed it just right in her diaper! But that's better than having a mess in her panties. She just gets scared and I have no idea why. I've tried bribing her with treats and everything. The other night she went because I said she could have ice cream and we took books in there. It actually worked. Tonight she kept saying she had to go but would only sit on the potty for a second. She didn't want to read books or anything. I finally just put her to bed (because it was time anyway!) and I know she'll probably go in her diaper. Hopefully she'll get over her fear though! I am so proud of how quickly she trained and she's proving to be such a big girl! Sorry for so much talk about the potty-it's just very exciting for AJ and me! It's funny what excites us as parents!

Lily and Me

I had a great coupon for some free pictures at Picture People, so I thought I'd take advantage and get a picture with me and Lily! There were lots of poses to choose from, but I only got to choose one! I'm very happy with how it turned out too!

I love how her hand is on my belly!! Of course, that wasn't her idea, but she was OK with putting it there! And our fun Hawaiian dresses are from my sister and sister-in-law (they recently went there). Lily did so good in the pictures and I can't wait until there are pictures with her and her baby brother!!

On This Day....

6 years ago today...

I married this stud

We have lots of fun together...

And I couldn't imagine life without him!!!

Happy 6 year Anniversary AJ! I love you so much and am so thankful God brought us together! And in His sovereign plan gave us Lily Mae and in a few short months we'll have a sweet baby boy! God is soo good!

Eagle Crest

A few weeks ago we headed on over to Eagle Crest Resort to stay with the Acker's for our annual summer vacation! It's a week of fun where I don't have to cook, clean, and there are millions of babysitters for Lily! The boys played golf 3 different days while Andrea and I layed by the pool-not as often as we'd used to though! It's hard laying out when you're pregnant and it's hot outside! Here are some fun pictures of our week there:My stylish little girl!
The first night there we took a family bike ride. I was extremely nervous to ride one because a)I'm pregnant and b)I hadn't been on a bike in years! But I'm happy to say all went well and I had a ton of fun! We actually did bike rides a lot while we were there. We've been on 1 since we've been home. It's just not the same riding bikes on busy streets in Salem compared to the beautiful grounds at Eagle Crest! Oh well!
Barb bought this awesome scooter for Lily to have while we were there. Unfortunately, she didn't use it much. I think she was just a bit afraid of falling. But she's been riding it ever since we got home so it is getting some use out of it!
There are probably 4 pools (I think) here and they have this awesome kiddie pool area at one of the pools. Lily LOVED it! She was such a water baby and could stay in there all day if we let her. This pool was nice because it was big enough for her to walk around in and even float around on her tummy. She loves the water!
This face isn't the best, but she really is having fun!
My hot husband :) I loved how he would just get in and play with her so I could sit in the shade!
I love the look on their faces-especially Lily! She didn't love this water feature, but I don't blame her. The water was cold and powerful!
In mid-jump! This girl has no fear. She would just keep jumping over and over into the water. AJ caught her most of the time, but would let her go under for a second so she could practice putting her head under. He would tell her before he did this so she knew it was coming. And she would keep saying "more!"
One night AJ, me, and Andrea went for a bike ride. It was nice for AJ to pedal around without Lily sitting in a bike seat behind him! And yes, I know my belly is huge. But in my defense the shirt I'm wearing isn't maternity! :)
One day Andrea and I went along with the boys to golf while Barb so lovingly stayed behind with Lily (thank you!!). We stayed with them through hole 12. It was so much fun because I got to drive the golf cart-my first time ever! It did get hot, but thankfully there was enough shade for us.
Andrea and I
AJ practicing his putting skills.
And Jeff....
And Dan
AJ taking a swing at one of the holes
Andrea said she had to take my picture! I was taking AJ's picture and instead of trying to hold the club and my camera at the same time, I just rested the club on my stomach! Worked for me! :)
Andrea and I got to swing at one of the holes just for fun. Andrea is really good, when I on the other hand, pretty much stink!
I think this was my second attempt at trying to hit the ball. I completely missed the first time! And in my defense again, I'm left handed but had to hit right handed. (I'm pretty sure I would have missed either way!) After golfing we came back and took Lily down to the river to cool off-well, mainly the boys cooled off while Lily played a bit. It was very refreshing and just a short walk from where we were staying.
Daddy and his little girl
It was so beautiful out there!
The boys swimming around
Lily found some nice dirty, slimy water to play in. But she was happy!
Then she wanted me to hold her-I love this girl!
Then she wanted to swim with daddy! Again, this girl is fearless because that water was cold!
There was this giant rock sitting out of the water a bit, so AJ plopped Lily right on top of it-she loved it!
Enjoying some cereal before bed-and using my tummy as a shelf! I love it!

Andrea and Jeff at dinner. One night we all headed out to eat at Tumalo Feed ( I think that's what it's called!) It's this fun restaurant where you get tons of food and the atmosphere is cool too!
Dan and BarbI'm pretty sure this is the best picture I have of Lily-it's a true smile! You can tell that she's definitely a daddy's girl!And our happy family!

We had such a great time and were spoiled rotten! Thanks to the Acker's for everything!