Saturday in the Park

Who is singing that song now? 

I am. 

In fact, I just pulled it up on youtube to listen to while I type this...Chicago had some rad hair and beards. 

We had a nice (& hot) Saturday in the park that is close to our house on Saturday. We went with the intention of feeding the ducks. Unfortunately, I don't think we were the first ones with that idea so the ducks already had full bellies and were not interested in our bread.

We still had fun though! We let Banjo run around the dog park and meet some new friends, walked around and looked at the water and sleeping ducks, and then ended the trip with our first snow-ball of the summer. We let Ruby have a taste and she LOVED it. She was bouncing up and down grunting for more. 

We love weekends! 

"Hi Dada!"

More interested in eating the bread than feeding it to the ducks 

Hot dog! 

Sweet, happy girl

The boys

YUM!

2012 in Pictures

It's become a tradition around these parts to do a recap of our year in pictures. It's fun for me to look back on all the years I've been doing this, and I'm glad to continue the tradition this year.
What a year it has been! I can say with 100% certainty that this has been the best year Andrew and I have ever had. We grew so much together, and then grew our family by 1 (2 if you count Banjo, which we totally do).
Without further adieu, 2012 in pictures:
(see 2009 here, 2010 here, and 2011 here)

January:
Juju visited and I thought that I was "showing". If only I would have known that my belly still wouldn't look that good 4 months postpartum...

February:

Our (wonderfully) weird friends dressed up and went to see Star Wars. We gladly babysat Nolan while they went. He's so little in these pictures! Sigh, they grow up so fast. 

Taylor's face looks so strange through that mask...

March:
Andrew got to pray at the Hornets game. They happened to be playing the Mavs that night which meant I got to watch Dirk warm up from the side of the court, oh and Jason Terry smiled and waved back at me when I said hi to him. This was also Nolan's first NBA game. What a night!

April:

Easter with our crew and Ruby's first concert (in-utero) at Jazz Fest. 

May:

We met this three crazy pups and chose our boy. 

June:
Celebrated one year of marriage with a baby in my belly, a pup on my hip, and my love by my side.

July:

The boys ended their most successful baseball season to date. We are so proud of the progress (not only in sports) that they have made this year. 

August:

Nothing important happened this month.

JK. We had a baby. Our beautiful, wonderful, sweet, precious, darling girl! 

September:
We spent a lot of time staring at Ruby in awe. Ruby mastered her famous "oh face".

October:

The only pictures I have from this month are random ones of Ruby and Halloween. Halloween was really fun.

November:

Ruby's (and Banjo's) first Thanksgiving and LOTS of sweet smiles. Mama also had her first day back at work and Ruby had her first day of school (saddest day EVER, for me at least). 

December:

Sweetest, most special Christmas ever. 

2012 was a year full of new adventures for us. We feel so very blessed and have full hearts reflecting back on such a special year for our family. We thank God for his faithfulness, provisions and unending love and are looking forward to what 2013 has in store for us. 

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord if my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.' The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him." -Lamentations 3:22-26

Our first "baby"

Banjo has been great with Ruby. With some correction to "be gentle" he has learned that she's fragile and he can't nibble her hands or jump on her. He loves to give her kisses and he's been super cuddly with us while I nurse her. He's been my little shadow during the day. If I go back to Ruby's room to change her diaper he'll follow me in there and then lay under her crib and rest until I'm done, and then follow me wherever we're going next.
I think he has been a little jealous, though. When one of our friends is over and holding Ruby, he is quickly in my lap asking for attention. He doesn't like to be outside by himself anymore, and has started digging holes in our backyard. He has also started barking a lot (he used to NEVER bark, except for when we tormented him for fun), I'm not sure if he's feeling a new sense of needing to protect us, but he barks at every little noise outside...strange.

His latest attention seeking antic was by far the best and most hilarious:

We were sitting in the living room watching some tv sometime last week and he walked in, sat down, and just stared at us with the binky in his mouth just as it should go. He wasn't chewing on it at all, just holding it there. Andrew and I LOST IT. I'm pretty sure he was thinking "this is NOT the reaction I was hoping for..." It was SO funny. 

I love watching how even a dog can sense such a big life change, and watching how if affects him is so interesting. I'm glad he's such a sweet pup, and I know him and Ruby will be best friends before we know it. I can just see he a few months down the road throwing him food from her highchair. We have lots of fun times ahead of us. 

Now I've got to go feed Banjo a bottle and swaddle him for his nap...

KIDDING. 

Insta-Friday

Helllooo from the land of I'm Still Pregnant!

Here's a few instagram pictures of Banjo, because let's be honest, until I have this kid I'm just going to keep taking cute pictures of my dog. It's therapy.

His "I'm too tired to lift my head and look at you" look.  

Waiting for Andrew to get back home. Pathetic. 

Such a helpful little guy. If only he could actually clean with it. 

Cutest little sweater at old navy. I told Ruby she could have it if she's born...seems fair to me.

While explaining my story for the thousandth time at work yesterday, a home health nurse said "well, maybe you'll have her on labor day...wouldn't that be cool? To be in LABOR on LABOR day?! hahahahahaha!" I was not amused. The thought literally makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry.

We shall see!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! 

Sometimes...

Sometimes when you're organizing your baby's clothes in her new dresser you get the idea to dress your puppy in a pair of her footed pajamas.
You might try and talk yourself out of it, because it sounds a little ridiculous.
But then you can't talk yourself out of it, because it also sounds way too cute.
So, you give into the idea, and dress your puppy in pink 0-3 month footed pajamas.

And it ends up being the best idea you've had in a long, long time.

Sometimes you've got to listen to those crazy ideas.

Insta-Friday

After not being able to use my computer for a little over a week because a sweet little mischievous puppy named Banjo decided to chew my computer charger in half, I'm baaaaack! 

Time is flying by! We're down to 5 weeks til Ruby, and every day I am growing more and more ready to have her in my arms. We have our shower here next weekend, and I plan on going into full blown nesting mode afterwards to get ready for her. I cannot wait. I'm feeling really big, a little bit like my belly is stretched to capacity (I realize it's not). Getting up and down isn't as easy anymore, and I'm getting tired quickly during the day at work. Ruby is active as ever, rolling, turning, and kicking when she can find the space. My doc says she's still on the small side of normal. I would be completely content if she decides to remain that way considering she has to come out of me one way or another. I know of 2 people who were due around the same time as me that have had their babies this week. It has made it so real for me that she'll be here soon. I can't wait to see my sweet girl. 

Here's my contribution to insta-friday (saturday edition). Basically a bunch of pictures of Banjo being lazy and adorable. Enjoy. 

34 weeks. Banjo continues to be bored with taking pictures with me. His face cracks me up.  Can you believe how much he has grown in a month?? 

Sweet Banjo cuddles 

Mid-morning snack at work. I pretty much eat all day long these days. 

He's so cute. Seriously can't get enough of that face.  

My doctor's office. Lots and lots of babies. 

Out cold.

Out cold x2. At Andrew's softball game. 

Garage sale finds for Ruby girl. 

Some adorable decorations we made for Ruby's room.  

"Hey girl...can I get yo numba?"

This next week should be fun! Andrew's mom and aunt are coming in town for our shower on Thursday. We're excited to have them in town! Hope y'all have a wonderful week!