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family

Blog, Family, pregnancy

carnival gender reveal


Did you hear? Last week when we went in for the anatomy ultrasound, we heard three glorious words–“It’s a girl!!” I had been hoping and dreaming of a baby sister for Evangeline. And though I absolutely love my boys and would have been happy and content with another boy, I’m so thrilled to be adding another girl to our family. 
 
I did warn the ultrasound tech before she started that I would have a big reaction if it was a girl. However, even I did not expect the high volume of the scream that I let out when we found out. (Don told me that everyone in the room jumped and the tech almost dropped the wand–oops!) Then the happiest of happy cries just poured out of me. I feel so blessed and so undeserving.

 

girl maternity shot with pink cotton candy
girl maternity shot with pink cotton candy

Moving on to the gender reveal. When I was pregnant with Desmond last year, I had the idea of a cotton candy reveal–but that was in February when no carnivals are in sight, for obvious reasons. When I saw that the carnival was coming to town just 4 days after our ultrasound, I knew this was my chance! I was dying over the wait but I think it was worth it! The only thing that bummed me out was that they didn’t put the cotton candy on a stick–which would have made it look a lot better. But I still love the way the pictures turned out.

carousel
carousel
The pictures turned out exactly how I wanted them to thanks to Rachel Gunby of Apricot Studio. I told her my vision and she captured it perfectly. If you are in the St. Louis area and are looking for any kind of portrait session, check out her website or instagram and contact her! 
carousel in background
pink cotton candy
pink cotton candy maternity
 I had to get a few mother/daughter pictures while we were there to celebrate adding another member to the “girl team.” And once again, I’m in love with these pictures! (And I didn’t even add all the ones I love–just too many good ones!)mommy and daughter at carnival

 

mother and daughter at carnival
carousel fun with family

Cotton candy is the perfect bribery tool but we still managed to never smile all at the same time. Haha–so is the life with 7 people (including 5 young children) in a photo together.

carousel fun

 

My boys were all “guessing it’s a boy, but hoping it’s a sister.” So the whole family is pretty excited!
liam and kai
And in that picture on the right with me is my sweet, lovely friend, Rachel, who took all these pictures for me! Thanks again, Rachel!
carnival fun
Thank you all for your sweet words and excitement for us. We’re looking forward to meeting this baby girl in October. And in case anyone is wondering, we do have a couple names in mind that we are discussing as a family, but I won’t be saying them for now!
Blog, Family, Kids Say

March iPhone photos and Kids Say


March was a pretty crazy month! I just realized that I never did report back to the blog about the results from my MRI. I’m so happy to be able to tell you that it came back clean! No mass found in my arm, nothing to worry about! I will keep an eye on it to watch for changes. But as long as it stays the same, there shouldn’t be any concerns. It is my dominate arm. So maybe it’s all the baby carrying and carseat holding that is bulking up my forearm. We may never know! 

Now for a little recap of March.. (in no particular order)


perhaps one of the best parts about March was welcoming spring!
spring and ice cream
march iphone pictures 2
we love tubby todd, and that amazing sunset has me looking forward to the many more we’ll see this year from our windows
tubby todd review

 

You know I would never miss the opportunity for free ice cream cones! 
And imagine my surprise as I was getting dressed (at only 11 weeks pregnant) when I noticed a belly already popping out! Totally makes me terrified of how huge I’m going to get.
ice cream and pregnancy

 

Something I’m working on is being in more pictures with my kids. Any pictures with me usually end up deleted or buried on a hard drive. But with what we faced this past month, I just want to be in a few more pictures with them.
Also, we visited a racquet ball court a couple of weeks ago. We didn’t play, just showed up to take pictures. But I love the buildings!
march iphone pictures 5

 

a few pictures with the family/kids. And most likely the last snap of me and my 2 BFFs before Stef has her baby. It has been so much fun being pregnant with them! (that was last Sunday at 12, 37, and 22 weeks–I think!)
big family and friends

 

they are a wild bunch, but those faces are the sweetest!
kids eating ice cream
This past week we went to a Chick Fil A opening! It had been over two years since the last one so I was really looking forward to taking the two oldest and camping out with all our friends. Unfortunately, it stormed off and on for most of the 24 hours we were there. Our tent was soaked and all our stuff got wet. Let’s just say that I kind of wanted to cry in my tent half the time. But we survived! And we did manage to have some fun. It was nice to have the day “off” from taking care of the little ones. But I have to say, even though it’s hard and exhausting work to take care of 5 little ones during pregnancy, it’s a whole lot easier than camping out in a wet tent. I’m thankful for those 52 free meals though…and of course I would do it again. 
chickfila grand opening
And now for the wimpy Kids Say post–(I’m telling you, March was crazy! I was pretty horrible at documenting…but here are a few!)
 Kai–“Mommy, your hair looks like Chewbacca’s fur.”


Me–“Night night. I love you, pretty princess!”
Evangeline–“No! I’m a queen!”
(because she wears her Elsa dress pretty much 24/7)

Liam–“Is a platypus a real animal?”
Me–“Yeah, they’re real.”
Liam–“Really? I thought they were just a legend.”

Me–“You know what’s funny? It’s snowing and today is the first day of spring.”
Kai–(cracks up) “That’s really funny. It’s like God is playing a joke on us.”

 
When Kai saw a spider on the ceiling..
Kai–“I wish I had a real gun. Then I would just shoot it.”