To my first-born

Kaley girl,

As we get closer and closer to the arrival of your baby sister I wanted to take some time away from the craziness that is life to let you know how much I love you and how much I truly enjoy being your mother.  

Life as you know it is about to change in so many ways.  I am sure that as time passes you will love your new life and family with your new baby sister as part of it but I am also sure that there will be some difficult times as well.  All I can do is pray that God gives me the wisdom I need to help you through this transition and that He embraces you in His arms and assures you of not only His love but also the love your daddy and I have for you.

Since the day I found out that I was pregnant with your sister I have worried about you and how you would perceive things once your world is turned upside down by the arrival of this new baby girl.  I know how much your father and I love you but will you know and understand that love when not 100% of our attention is on you?  Will you know how much we have truly treasured these first (almost) 2 years of your life with just the three of us (oh yeah, and Bayla)?  Will you know how much you have taught us about life and love in this short time?  Will you know that your presence in our life has brought us more joy than anything in this world thus far?  Will you sense my insecurities about being the mother of two?  Will you embrace and love your new role of Big Sister the way I pray you do?  I have so many other questions and so many worries; yet the only thing I can do is STOP.  Stop speculating and worrying and put it all in God's hands.   

You have been and will continue to be such a blessing to your daddy and me.  With your arrival we turned from a married couple into a family and soon we will welcome your sister into that family.  You will forever be my first-born, the one who gifted me with the role of mother and for that I am forever grateful.  I love you more than I can ever come close to expressing in words.  I hope and pray that you continue to blossom into the amazing and loving little girl you have already started to become.  I am so proud of that little girl; just don’t grow up too fast on me!  Thank you for being you!

I love you from the bottom of my heart and the deepest depths of my soul,

Mommy

36 weeks

I would love to start out by saying, "I can't believe I am already 36 weeks pregnant!" But I CAN believe it because these last couple of weeks have just seemed to drag on and on!  The end is so close and yet still so very far away!  Don't get me wrong I really do love being pregnant but these last two weeks have been pretty tough.  John has been out of town so I have been in my "single" mom life for the past 2 weeks.  Praise God it was only two weeks!  He is now home until after sometime after Jaelynn is born.  I am so blessed to have such a loving husband who takes such good care of Kaley and me.  

I am now going to the doctor every week starting this past Friday.  Jaelynn is still head down which she has been for a while (just like her big sis) and everything looks good.  My blood pressure was good and this is the point with Kaley that it started to go up so I am thankful for that!  Now it is pretty much just a waiting game to see when she will make her debut!  Mommy is not so secretly hoping for any time shortly after the 37 week mark; but I know that she will come when she is ready (I just hope she is ready a little earlier than 40 weeks)! 

Last week for the first time Kaley asked for baby sissy to "come out"!  I sure hope that is a good sign that she is ready to be a big sister.  That is all for now in terms of baby Jaelynn.  I will post more about how other things are going later!

Lazy Days

We had a VERY needed lazy weekend.  Kaley and mommy were not feeling well on Friday so we stayed in our pajamas pretty much all day and just hung around the house.  Kaley wound up having a 102 fever; but luckily it didn't last long.  On Saturday morning she woke up fever free (after having woken up once that night with her fever still over 101) and has been fine ever since.  I am so glad that it didn't last long!  I hate seeing my sweet girl sick...but I loved all the special mommy/Kaley time we got and how much she let me hold her without having to "do" anything.  

My sick baby!

Kaley "helping" daddy with the laundry!

Check out that hair!

She was feeling fine today when I took this I just 

happened to catch her with a bad look on her face.

Kaley girl in her new tutu mommy made!

35 week comparison

So here are some pictures to compare from both pregnancies.  I tried to recreate the "exact pose" as much as possible...You know no make-up, hair thrown up...I even went in and changed shirts so I would be wearing the same shirt.  The two photos on the left are both from 35 weeks with Kaley.  The two photos on the right are both from today (35 weeks) with Jaelynn.  I didn't want to take the time to figure out how to make them exactly side by side so they are a little staggered.  

Don't Get Too Cozy...

So I am trying to decide what I want to do with the blog once Jaelynn gets here so don't get too used to this design because the odds are pretty high that it will change. I know that the header will change but not sure about everything else. This header was just a quick one to have up at least until Jaelynn arrives! But hey for those of you that wanted a belly picture there you go!!


PS~My blog list got deleted somehow so if I left your blog off my list let me know! I definitely didn't mean to! I will just blame it on my pregnancy brain!

So Close...

We are so close to being finished with the girl's rooms so I just thought I would share the most recent photos with you all.  The pics from Jaelynn's room are from a while ago and they have been up on my Facebook for a while but I realized I hadn't posted them on my blog yet.  A friend of mine from work who is absolutely amazing made Kaley's comforter and I am so pleased with how it turned out!  I was a little worried, not because of who was making it but because I designed it and wasn't sure it would wind up looking like what I had pictured.  However when I got it I was thrilled with how it turned out!!!!  I cannot thank Jodi enough for all her hard work!!!  So here you go...(The quality of the pics isn't the greatest but you will get the idea.)

This is in Jaelynn's room.  It says:

"Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of.  

You know whatever you do, they'll still be there."

MDO

Here are some pictures from this morning getting ready and going to Mother's Day Out!

Playing in the backyard before leaving...

Mommy, stop taking pictures!!!

Kaley holding her nap mat.

Backpack on and ready to go!

Kaley with all her stuff!

Hamming it up for the camera before we leave!