Jacob's baby shower

My friend, Jayme, threw an absolutely amazing shower for Jacob! I confided in her early on that I felt a lot of guilt as a mother because Jacob didn't seem as "big of a deal" as Ryan was. I suppose all second kids are that way...but I'm a second kid and I never knew the difference.  

Well, she said that she wanted to put together a luncheon for us, just a small get together with a few of my close friends for a special day just for Jacob. She told me repeatedly that it was going to be a small thing, and to not expect much. She wasn't going to decorate or anything, just lunch at some restaurant. LIAR!!!!! This girl managed to keep everything a total surprise from me.

I started the day off a little upset, honestly. I am not big on surprises...I actually hate them, in fact. I don't even like not knowing what my Christmas presents are! I was kept completely in the dark about everything up to that point, and Dave told me that morning that I could not wear a dress. In my emotionally pregnant state, I was devastated! I had planned on wearing a dress...that is what you wear to baby showers!! Not to mention I don't have many things that FIT anymore other than dresses! Pretty much all of my maternity clothes are plain t-shirt like tops, and I have NO pants other than jeans that fit...I was supposed to wear a t-shirt and jeans to my baby's shower?? Then he told me that I couldn't wear open toed shoes. This is where I really started to lose it! It was like 90 degrees outside, and now I have to wear sneakers?? This may all sound totally stupid, but I am very particular about certain etiquette, and I just didn't want to show up to his special day looking like a tomboy when everyone else was looking all cute! Plus I was hormonally emotional that morning anyhow.

I could not fathom a shower scenario where an 8 month pregnant girl would need anything more than a dress and some flip flops! He made it sound like I was going to be be doing a mud-run or something!  So, figuring that Dave didn't know what he was taking about, I started texting my friends to ask what to wear!! I ended up in jeans and flops with a semi-nice maternity top that I forgot I had, and I curled my hair to make be feel more gussied up.

After i finally got myself together, Dave and Ryan drove me out to this gorgeous house with a big pond out front. Dave told me that my day would start with a golf cart ride...how fun is that?! So I had no idea whose house we are at, and they put me in a golf cart and drove me through a pasture and out to a sweet little barn where Jayme and a few of my friends were sitting on pillow-covered hay bales. I was so confused at first! There was all of this yummy looking food sitting on top of a big cage that had REAL roosters inside! And they were talking a LOT! 

our rooster friends :)

There were donkeys right on the other side of the barn hee-hawing and cows coming up to see what was going on. There was a rocking chair in the middle of all of the hay bales that was draped with the (way overpriced) baby blankie that I told Dave I wanted so terribly bad for Jacob. The more I looked around, somehow, the more confused I became. I mean, I understood that this was Jacob's shower, but...

1-where WERE we??
2-did Jayme do ALL of this all by herself just for us??
3-and how did she manage to so perfectly fabricate this exact perfect scenario for me, without me saying a word to suggest any of this??
4-I thought we were going out to eat?? I thought she wasn't decorating??

Well, she got me. It was beautiful. It was  more of a "sprinkle" than a shower, since we already had a couple of big showers with our first baby and did not need a lot of stuff this time around. It was so understated, but so thoroughly detailed. There were no tacky shower games that we've all played a hundred times. Just awesome food, tons of character, beautiful scenery, a few gifts, and my good friends just hanging out in a barn. :) 

the barn!

the beautiful hostess!!

utensils and napkins stuffed into mason jars, which were our drinking glasses!

 strawberries and shortcake favors, Jacob's special baby book to sign

 Ice cream in jars

a few of Jake's gifts

 Ryan stayed long enough to nab several strawberries

Jordie and Kenzie

lovely Katie

giving Jacob a hand opening his gifts

Oh, and the owners of the place, Jayme didn't even know them! She said she just drove around one day looking for a nice barn to have the shower in, and after a dozen rejections, this man just said "well, my tractor is in that barn...but I guess I could move it! Sure, why not?"  hahaha!! She is much more outgoing than I am, CLEARLY!!

We had sweet tea, lemonade, and water to drink out of mason jars. The food was laid out in cast iron skillets and woven baskets lined with pretty plaid fabric. Jayme is a really good cook, so all of the food was amazing! The favors were sweet little baskets full of fresh strawberries and homemade shortcakes. Jayme sewed pillows to sit on on top of the hay bales that Dave "rented" from Ace Hardware (he went and bought all this hay, then returned it right after the party!)

We ate and hung out, talked and laughed. Everyone signed Jake's special baby journal and I opened everyone's sweet gifts. My friend Molly, who has 2 boys and is done having kids, gave us an entire wardrobe of awesome hand-me-downs...she gives THE BEST hand-me-downs!! A few people had to leave a little early, but then the rest of us stayed and just chatted for over an hour until Dave and Ryan came back to pick us up. I had SO much fun. I don't ever want to forget ANY of it!!


~rs

Maternity photos and nesting!!!!!

We had belly pictures for Jacob done last month. A photographer friend of mine (who was all booked up) recommended someone to me and we were beyond pleased with the results. The wind was blowing like CRAZY and Ryan was not having a great day. She didn't get a nap, except for maybe 30 minutes in the car on the way to our shoot. We had to wake her up when we got there and she definitely was not happy about it. She clung to Dave and would not let go or raise her head from where she had buried it in his chest. So we started out getting some belly pictures of Jacob and I. We were able to get a couple of good family shots by distracting Ryan by showing her a creek. Once she was starting to really open up and be in a happy mood, she was playing with daddy near a handrail and she fell forward and busted her lip open! It was heartbreaking. She was really really hurt and could not stop crying. Blood had splattered all over everything. I hate those moments...Dave and I feel so helpless as parents.

The rail Ryan would soon bust her lip open on...

Well, she finally came around and the pictures ended up great. I really liked the photographer and totally plan on using her again for family photos. 

My friend Makenzie is a kindergarten teacher, and her sister, Jordan, and I went to visit her at school one day with Ryan. Ryan didn't quite know what to think with all of the "big kids" around. She was very excited, but also a little shy. The kids thought that Ryan was just the greatest thing in the world. They could not stop staring at her! They circled around her like wolves and wanted to play with her and read to her. Ryan absolutely adores Makenzie and Jordan both, and she felt so special getting to visit her at work. 

I have been stocking the freezer with meals...for after Jacob's arrival or maybe to save for after Dave has to go back to work when a free hour for cooking might be hard to find, or perhaps even for the last week or two of this pregnancy if I just don't feel up to cooking. 

We went to buy all of the items on our registry that were left. We did not register for much, so we didn't get a lot, but the $$ sure adds up fast! (we did save a boat load of money with coupons, though!) The only things we lack are a few bigger items that we won't need for a while anyhow, so we can get them later if we need to. We bought a double stroller....I am unsure about it, but I feel like if we DIDN'T get one, I would feel like we always needed one. I just hope we get our money's worth out of it. I definitely still want to get a double jogging stroller so we can take them to the park for walks. 

I have been sewing a few special things for Jake. I made him a onesie with a bow tie and little suspenders, a crib quilt, and I am working on a blankie for him. I also want to throw together a few changing pads for him. Making things for him helps me visualize the reality of his upcoming arrival. I was talking to Dave the other night about how I just never really "see" him, or picture him. I just feel so preoccupied all of the time with Ryan, chores, errands and with drowning in the self-pity of  my seemingly never ending pregnancy, that dreaming about our future together doesn't come easily to me. With Ryan, it was much easier. My entire pregnancy was filled with making things for her, getting ready for her, reading all of the baby books, stocking a nursery for her....with Jacob, we have pretty much everything we need. The kids will be sharing Ryan's room - which is totally neutral - so there is no nursery to decorate just for him.  But I finally got around to nesting for him...I washed and put away all of his clothes in the nursery. Dave put together the cradle (with Ryan's help) and I set it up with his sheets, blankets, and noise machine. I pulled out the newborn bottles, washed them, and cleared out a space to put them in the cupboard. I've got his bath tote bag packed (we give baby baths at the kitchen sink, so we have a bag that goes back and forth from the counter to the changing table). Hospital bags are almost all packed. Mirrors are installed in the car, along with his car seat. 

bow tie and suspenders onesie that I made

 Jake's coming home outfit!

I was lazy and ordered it off of the internet, but I DID make him some pants to match!

 A matching dress for big sister!!

testing out the car seat on a "newborn"

Ryan and Daddy putting the cradle together

Berry picking

I took Ryan berry picking after Memorial Day weekend. The patch had been closed for a few days for the holiday, so I figured it would be good picking. It probably was not the smartest idea for a 9 month pregnant gal to drive 45 minutes away to do such a strenuous and labor intensive activity in the 90 degree heat with a toddler who may or may not cooperate, but nevertheless...we went. The farm had strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. We started with strawberries. Ryan has been to pick strawberries before, so she knows the rules - only pick the red ones, and we put them in the bucket - we DO NOT eat them! If you ask her when we eat them she will reply "at home! Wash em!" meaning that I have drilled it in her head that we wait until until we get home to eat them because we have to wash them first. She was not really interested in picking the strawberries. She nabbed a few here and there, but for the most part she just followed me up and down the aisle looking around at everything. Strawberry picking is hard work when you are pregnant. They are basically on the ground, and there is constant bending over, standing up, scooting down 2 feet, and bending over again. We finally filled our bucket and moved on to blueberries. Ryan was an absolute PRO at picking the blueberries! Blueberries are more of a bush, and everyone just picks at eye level, so the best ones were actually down low on her level. I told her ONE time to pick the blue ones and leave the green ones and pink ones. She walked up to me 10 minutes later with a little basket half full of perfectly ripe blueberries. She LOVED it, and it just melted my heart. The blackberries were at the completely opposite end of the farm, so we had to walk maybe a quarter mile down to them. We were getting SO hot and so tired that we had to stop by the car to get some water and have a diaper change. The blackberries were NO FUN to pick. They didn't have many rows of them, and what they did have was completely picked over. We quickly figured out that people tend to go for the middle of the middle aisles...something in our brains just tells us that the outside will be where everyone goes first so we think that a random spot out in the middle is the best place....it is NOT. We started on a more central aisle and got almost nothing. I was starting to think we would never fill our bucket. But then we went to the very edge of the patch, and again, down low on Ryan's level there were the biggest and best blackberries I have ever seen. I'm talking fully ripe, 2 inch long berries, in clusters of 4 and 5! It was really hard work...there was another little girl in our aisle and Ryan just kind of stood back watching her as I labored away. I was basically crawling on the ground lifting up the vines to find the berries underneath. 

she is not eating them, she is licking a smooshed one off of her hand

picking strawberries

getting in the blackberries

Finally, after 2 hours, we had filled our buckets. Luckily our car was right next to the blackberry bushes, so we just hopped in and drove down to the little shack where you pay...I did not have any more walking left in me! I was absolutely dripping with sweat!

Well, needless to say I had more berries than I knew what to do with. I knew I wanted to make some strawberry basil jam, and I got 3 jars out of half of my strawberries. I saved the really good looking strawberries or Ryan to eat, and turned the mushier looking ones into fruit leather - which TOTALLY failed. I was SO mad! I found a recipe online, followed it to the tee, and my fruit roll ups came out stuck to the wax paper which was stuck to the pan.  NO hope of salvaging ANY of it. $5 and lots of good berries down the drain. I had never made a blueberry pie before and wanted to try it, but I just wanted a small one and didn't have a small pan, so I made a flat blueberry pie. You basically just roll out some crust, put your filling right in the middle, then fold the crust edges up around it. Voila! A tiny little pie! We saved the rest of the blueberries to eat plain because they were phenomenal on their own. Then I made a blackberry cobbler to freeze and a small one to eat one night. We all had blue teeth! 

the fruits of our labor!!

strawberry basil jam

flat pie with blueberries and blackberries

I would not do that again being this pregnant. It was WAY too hot and if Ryan had decided to be fussy that day,  I can't even imagine how awful it would have been. But she was perfect, and a ton of fun to watch and hang out with. We survived. So it was a good day. I really can not tell you how much I cherish that memory of her in the blueberries. I will never forget how great she was at it, and her repeating "pick blue ones, leave pink ones! No green ones! Eat at home!" Plus, she looked like a little farmer in her super cute overalls :)

Memorial Day weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend.  Dave had off Monday and Tuesday, so we had a long 4 day weekend to hang out together.

Saturday afternoon, we went to our friends' Greg and Valerie's pool and just hung out.  We packed a lunch and made a day of it.  There were several other couples there with kids, all a little younger than Ryan.  Ryan was so excited to see all of her friends!  We all sat in the kiddy pool most of the day and just let the kids splash and play.  It is so funny how much life has changed in the past few years!  We had planned on leaving around nap time (2:30 or so), but Ryan never even hinted at being sleepy...she just kept going and going and going.  It finally got to be around dinner time and we decided that we had better hit the road...Ryan passed out in the car before we even got down the street!

Jacob and I on our way to the pool

Ryan cruising on her friend Andie's 4-wheeler

Daddy and Ryan swimming

mmm! Melon!

Sunday morning we had made plans to take Ryan on a special family trip to the Game Ranch, but I woke up with severe pain when I tried to walk or move, so we skipped the trip, skipped church, and just took it easy.  My friend, Makenzie, invited us over for dinner so that I would not have to cook.  Ryan LOVES going to Kenzie's house.  Their dog, Lawrence, plays with her and is very active and loving with her.  She had a ball.

Monday, Dave needed a "daddy work day" to get some big chores done around the house, so Ryan and I played and tried to stay out of his way.  He pressure washed the house, worked in his garden, and put up fencing to keep all of the critters from eating our vegetables!

I had been looking on Craigslist for a full size swing, and found one for sale just down the street from us, so later that morning we set out to go check it out.  With Ryan, we only got a travel swing because we didn't want the big and bulky full swing...she rarely sat in it, and never for longer than a few minutes if she did. So I thought a full swing would be helpful with the second baby, because he will need to be in it more often...I am not going to be able to hold him constantly like I did with Ryan.  The swing turned out to be the one that matches the travel swing and bouncer that we already have! It was literally just out of the box, and they were selling it at half price because their baby just didn't like to swing! Jackpot! We went ahead and got it, and it is right here in the living room just waiting for Jacob!

That afternoon we had a baby pool day in the yard.  Daddy finished up his gardening while Ryan played in her pool and I took pictures of her.

Tuesday morning at breakfast, I asked Ryan what she wanted to do today, and she said "play with Maci!"  So we called her friend Maci to ask if she would like to go to the Game Ranch with us.  Maci is a bit older than Ryan...she is 7, but Ryan loves her to death, and Maci loves Ryan right back.  Maci goes to church with us, and is SO sweet to Ryan and is always holding her hand and playing with her.  The girls had a great time together at the Game Ranch.  We bought some food for them to hand out to the animals, and it was precious to see the deer and other wildlife take it right out of their hands.  It rained on us fairly hard for a bit, but we found shelter in a barn with the donkeys, goats, and sheep.  After we left the Game Ranch, we took them to Chick-fil-a for lunch.  Chick-fil-a is a special treat for Ryan and she just loves going there.  After the girls had there lunch together, we dropped Maci off at her house and Ryan was snoozing in no time. 

Daddy showing Ryan how to feed the deer

 Maci hamming it up for the camera!

Love these two sweet friends!!

 These sheep let us hang out in their barn while it rained!

I had a baby check up later that day.  Everything was fine with the baby.  I had to sign a lot of consent forms to get ready for delivery, had a few tests run, and then had to get blood drawn.  


So that was our busy busy Memorial Day weekend, our last with Ryan as an only child.


~rs

a little recap!

I get so behind on blogging, that sometimes I forget what happened when!  So, here is a photo recap of the last few months in photos!!!

Ryan opening some of her Easter eggs!

Easter basket!!

 Tonka getting a sip from Ryan's water table

Grimm is as handsome as ever!

Eater egg hunt!

Ryan was awesome at finding the eggs and putting them in her basket!

Easter fun!

someone left coins in all of her eggs!

Daddy helping open some eggs

She LOVES putting coins in her piggy bank

A day at the park with Mommy

hayride at the Strawberry Festival

Stacey and Adam's wedding

licking the spoon

eating corn on the cob is adorable

loving on a rescued greyhound at the Snellville Days Festival

playing with Wesley at his birthday party

ice cream date with Wesley

young love ;)

hugs from Wesley

precious kiddos!

Mommy has blue piggies to welcome baby Jacob!

Ryan learned "trust God!" at VBS and she says it constantly.

Gramps Moe put her name on the sign outside!