baby shower and update...

thank you everyone for a great day! i'm continuously amazed at people's generosity and am truly grateful for our friends.
*doctor update- dialated 1cm. baby head down. have had a few light contractions and feel baby very low. because brax's cord was tight around his neck during delivery, it's been a worry in the back of my mind with this one..sure enough, the ultrasound yesterday showed the cord floating around his neck. doc didn't seem too concerned but, of course, i'm a bit bothered by it. doc thinks baby will come no later than next week....i'm not sure i'm convinced..i still think another 2 weeks are ahead of us...we'll see..
excited and apprehensive..people ask if i'm ready & when i think about actually holding him, my heart literally aches for him to be here, but when i just think about the pregnancy coming to an end...i'm not sure i'm ready for that...i'm not uncomfortable..and i truly enjoy the anticipation and uncertainty of what is ahead...i'll try to post our preg. pix tomorrow...

mia practicing without training wheels...her & aunt cristin

mia hits the big 4!!

yay! happy birthday mia! here's a look back....

1 day........................1 year.....................

2 years......................3 years....................

4 years!!................

we took her for a birthday breakfast at cracker barrel (..or 'jingle bell' as braxton calls it). i can't believe just 4 years ago i was clueless at how much i could love a little girl. she's thoughtful, inquisitive, attentive, vivacious, and quite loving. i am truly grateful for such a beautiful daughter & look forward to being a part of the rest of her life.

here she is with her much loved taylor swift cd, which got it's share of play time in the kareoke machine at the party! audry, ellie, abbie, & reagan came over for the slumber party and they were an absolute treat! playing dress up, decorating cupcakes, being 'mommies', and watching movies...they didn't even seem to mind braxton hanging around...which he eventually migrated downstairs with us (where it was MUCH quieter!) about 10pm brock said the neighborhood was echoing...it's been a while since i've heard so many high pitches hit at the same time! by midnite, they were pretty much gone, but at 6:30 am they were up and at em! great memories!

little friends, big friends...

what a great day...we started the day with breakfast w/ lauren- a childhood of friend mine who is slaving away at law school in texas..she flew in for the week so we took advantage of seeing her...then we drove over and hung out with melissa & heather and all our little ones. even though each has added a baby lately, they created this awesome lunch followed with cupcakes for brax & mia's bday. we spent the day outside watching the kids play and catching up... as you can see from the pix, our children truly enjoy eachother. what a treat to have such great friends...

not quite as good as a mom as i thought i was......

so here's some from our knoxville getaway...since the wedding was saturday, we went up wed and stayed w friends...made a trip to dollywood's splash country. my camera batteries died right as we got into the park (tragic, right?) but what a great time. unfortunatly, because of my condition (baby on board) the only slide i rode was a kiddie one with brax...and i must say my heart started racing as we waited in line! we enjoyed enough of the park before a huge storm kicked us out around 4. we stopped by to see our friends ben & jerry before cozying up in the cabin.

a pizza place that made the kids animals out of dough....

rehearsal dinner BBQ

a proud moment when the gown zipped!...both of ours!

the wedding was beautiful. sarah and i became friends late in high school and i became part of her family when i lived with them for 4 months before my own wedding. they embraced me and treated me like their 2nd daughter. so all day saturday i was problem solving in my head what we were going to do with brax during the wedding...(generally no biggie, brock would sit with both of the kids while i was up front...but the nite before at the rehearsal we learned brock had a part to play in the wedding...) mia, i figured would be fine sitting alone, but brax, being a 2 yr. old little boy, worried my mind...fortunatly they ended up having childcare where brax stayed but mia wanted to watch wedding...perfect!..NOT! JUST as the wedding was beginning, i hear her screaming INSIDE THE SANCTUARY!...i rushed her to the back to figure what the deal was.... long story short, brock tried to sort it out while i walked down the isle and COULD HEAR her still screaming...ugh...i was humiliated and felt helpless as i stood listening to the vows and my screaming child.... all this time i had been on the offense to keep brax pleasant when mia throws me for a loop....

as i near the end of my pregnancy, i find myself feeling less and less prepared for the new baby and ALL the responsiblities that 3 will hold.... there are days like yesterday when i run errands with the kids and it's a great joy to involve them in daily activities....for them and me...then there are moments like the wedding, when i feel like a total failure and like i'm in well over my head... as i stood on the stage, i counted all the different ways i was going to punish her for embarassing me and ruining the wedding...but somehow when i saw her, all i felt was compassion for her... she was truly upset about something and understood the magnitude of her behavior. i could've held it over her head and made the reception miserable for her (and prob. me) but instead explained where it all went wrong and how her reaction could've been different next time... so in all of this, i am once again humbled by my children, realizing that i'm not as good as a mom as i thought i was. LOVE JOY PEACE PATIENCE KINDNESS GENTLENESS MEAKNESS FAITFULNESS... THESE are the qualities that i hope to model to my children, but DAILY fall flat on my face. what a challenge and joy as i figure it all out....

hanging out in hotel...

WE'RE BACK!!...

ok....WE'RE BACK!! but just for today! we'll pull out in the AM for knoxville for the week...here's a glance at our month in MS....so many stories but i'll just let the pix speak for themselves!

stopped @ MS STATE on the way... gotta love their coppertone booties!

picking blueberries w/mamoo.......father's day

horse riding w/ "grunt-dee"

no fear on the diving board.....potty training-hey, it is called the throne..

cuddled up w/papoo

getting creative w/amusement

birthday party w/MS crew...

july 4th...we considered it a success bc we got our kids to play w/fire :)

...& just for fun...here we are with about 5 weeks to go!!