Blurry Moments. Full of Life.

This picture is perfect for me for a few reasons: this boy is at an age where about 90% of pictures are blurry from constant movement (all.the.time.on.the.go.) but the laughs... so many laughs with this kid every single day. Thank you, God, for letting me be this sweet boy's mom!

IT'S A ....

BOY!!!

Elliott is going to have a little brother!! A playmate, a buddy, a sidekick, and a partner for all the orneriness! We are SOOOO excited!! 

Little Baby Boy,

We are so excited to meet you! You are loved more than you'll ever know.

You will be such a perfect addition to our family; you are fearfully & wonderfully made. 

Boy or Girl?

Boy or Girl, What Will It Be???

We've decided to find out if it's a boy or girl and we're really excited. I went back and forth but decided I want to know. I'm honestly going to be so happy with either. (And something in me really doubts this will be our last baby.) I think each will have such great benefits to our family and I KNOW that whatever it will be, is exactly what is meant for our family as the second child.

Even though this pregnancy has been so different from my pregnancy with Elliott, I still have a little bit of a feeling that it's a boy. It's weird, I guess I just see myself as a "boy mom". I already have a boy so I have the experience, I have all the stuff, I guess it'd just be a little bit less intimidating than having a girl right now.

But a girl would be perfect, too. I do want a little girl. I want to have a daughter that grows into my friend. I love my relationship with my mom and want that someday. I also really want Tony to be able to have a Daddy's little girl. I know he wants that too. I'm just not too sure right now is the time we will be having our girl.

Tomorrow we will know!

Little Heartbeat

A tiny heart beating. It is truly such a miracle. I've been reminded so often lately, not only how quickly time flies, but what a precious gift life is for each of us every single day. We are already so excited to meet this perfect little addition to our family!

Hey Little Dude,
I really love listening to your heartbeat. Can't wait to meet you.
xoxo 

A Kitchen Makeover!

We have redone so much of this house (literally, pretty much every square inch of it!) and we are finally tackling one of the biggest projects/transformations:

THE KITCHEN.... and I'm soooo excited!

*I say "we" but I mainly mean Tony. Haha! We have now replaced all the appliances since living here, and when it's all said and done, we will have added new sink, new faucet, new counters, new backsplash, and painted the cabinets! I can't wait to see it all finished!

In the laundry room we are painting and adding a shelf, which will be so convenient/functional.

   

Every Day Moments

All the little moments....

The challenging ones.

The ordinary ones.

The silly ones.

The happy ones.

They all go by way too fast. 

Video 1: The Great Crib Escape. A milestone to give momma a big ole headache! I guess we'll be moving into a big boy bed before Mommy and Daddy are ready! Waahhh! 

Video 2: 1,000 Questions. When you're finished with lunch, need a nap, but mom has a billion questions to ask you first... like where all your body parts are, how different emotional expressions  look, what animals say, and more! 

Video 3: 1, 2, 3's. Big personality shines through. He actually knows almost all his numbers 0-9 but likes randomly choosing a number and saying that number for whatever other number we ask about... gets mad that 6 and 9 are the same just flipped, doesn't understand why 8 can't fit either way, and can recognize "Mickey" anywhere and everywhere!   

(videos on youtube)

Sometimes Elliott outgrows clothes and I can throw it in the Goodwill box or pack it away without any thought. Then, sometimes, it's a lot harder. I held these little shoes in my hand and got a little bit of a lump in my throat. These were my favorite shoes on him. They were there for so many adventures while he ran hard and played hard. He's growing so fast. It's so bittersweet. I'm happy to watch him grow, but sometimes, little moments like this remind me that time goes by as quickly as a blink.

"Our Highland Hills Norman House"

For years this house has been our "Abandoned Highland Hills House".

Tony and I have always loved going for drives. We get to talk, see new things being built, see weird people out in town, explore neighborhoods, and look at houses while dreaming of our "someday" future. ....And lately I drive because, sometimes, it's just a whole lot easier to put a toddler down for a nap like that.

One day we came upon the most awesome neighborhood and found this empty house.
If we could afford it, we'd buy it in an instant!
For years we've often driven by it to see if anything has ever been done to it.
It's a foreclosure that's just been sitting empty and has had a fair amount of vandalism done to it.
It's been so fun to dream of all the ways we'd fix it up.

It has a really really long driveway that circles in the front with the garage off to the side. I can envision tire swings in the front yard with kids playing, a pretty garden and a fountain in the middle area of the drive, a swing set out back, with nice patio furniture, a pool off to the side (gated off, of course), and inside.... a million possibilities with that open concept, big windows, great light, and sooo much space making up almost 5,000 square feet! We've only peeked in some windows so we're actually kind of clueless of the exact layout inside, but I'm sure we could make it work! Haha!

Edited to add:::

The house finally went to auction, was sold for such a low price.
Flipped and SOLD... for not such a low price.
Sigh. I'd love to flip houses... or just find a big beautiful one like this to fix up and live in!

Here are some pictures from the listing!!