it's hard to believe that it was 1 year ago today when we got to see our little peanut's heartbeat for the first time.


our peanut sure has grown a lot since that day!


i've been terrible about keeping up with the blog, but i haven't given up!  so here goes, the past 4 1/2 months in a nutshell:

february 26, 2012: we had a going away party for our sweet friend adam who was heading off to north africa on the 29th for 18 months.  he kept telling me to have the baby before he left, but my due date wasn't until the 5th and i wasn't showing any signs that she {or he} would be coming early.  the theme for the party was "bacon" since adam wouldn't be eating any bacon for the 18 months he'd be gone.  needless to say, our house smelled awful!  we had about 50 or so people here throughout the night and finally got in bed around 11:00pm.  well, around 1:00am our little peanut decided she {or he} was ready to come meet us!  after the initial shock of "this is really happening" wore off we both took showers, loaded the suitcase in the car, hopped in, said a prayer and headed for the hospital.

february 27, 2012: probably one of the longest days of our lives!  we were so ready to meet our peanut and she {or he} just wasn't in a hurry to meet us!  around 9:00pm the doctor decided it was time for us to have a baby!  at 9:34pm reed finally got to announce that our sweet little peanut was a girl!

our time in the hospital was great, but after 3 days we were extremely ready to get home!

remember the bacon party?  well, our sweet parents had cleaned {and aired out} the house while we were in the hospital!  we came home to a clean kitchen & clean sheets on the bed.  and of course molly was very happy we were home, but not too sure about what we were bringing home with us!

the first few weeks are somewhat of a blur, but i do know that our families & friends were incredible!  we had lots of visitors, lots of dinners, & lots of hands to love on our sweet little girl.  a few of my students even stopped by to check on us!  we are so thankful for everything that y'all did to help us get settled at home.  we love you all and feel incredibly blessed by each of you.  reed and i are constantly amazed at our Creator.  He in His complete sovereignty has chosen us to be parents to this sweet baby girl.

1 month old:
2 months old:

3 months old:

4 months old:


i can't believe our little girl is already 4 months old!  she is an extremely sweet baby and is definitely starting to develop a little personality.  we are so in love with our little audrey and love every minute of being her parents!  there's a lot more to update on, but this mama is tired!  i'll be back soon with more updates!

ps: i told you i hadn't given up, dad!

my sweet husband sent me this video and i couldn't resist sharing! 

molly got herself into a little trouble saturday night.  so bad that even the cops came!

reed and i had a wedding to go to and were running late {as usual} as we rushed out the door.  we set the alarm and headed out for the wedding.  we got about 15 minutes down the road and i got a call on my cell phone from a number i didn't recognize so i let it go to voicemail.  i listened to the voicemail and realized it was the alarm company saying the alarm had gone off.  then about a minute or two later reed got a call on his cell phone from the police!  they said the alarm had gone off and there was an officer at our house!

the officer couldn't find anything at first and then noticed the back door was open.  they quickly figured out the culprit.  our 4-legged friend had pushed the door open with her nose and let herself in setting off the motion detector.  molly isn't very nice to strangers these days and the police officer was no exception!

we are so thankful the police came because there is no telling what kind of damage she could have gotten into on her own!  she doesn't have a very good track record being indoors alone.  remember this incident?

thankfully, everything ended well and the police officer closed the door and left molly outside where she belongs.

we've had a secret visitor stopping by our house every night for the past few days.  last tuesday night there was a note on our front porch that said,


every night since we've gotten some kind of goodie that relates to the song.  last night was probably our favorite.

i went to the doctor last week for my 24 week appointment.  24 weeks?!?!  i had to stop and think about that when i typed it because it seemed way too far along!  i still feel great, but can definitely tell baby king is growing and growing rapidly!  i am so thankful for another great appointment and a healthy check-up for me and the baby.

baby king is definitely not much of a sleeper!  the baby squirms and kicks quite a bit which is a very comforting feeling.  i keep wondering what he/she is thinking in there!  baby's favorite times to "play" are around 4-5 am and then around 5-6 pm.  there's usually a mid-morning play as well around 9ish.

still no weird food cravings.  i ate a lot of peaches around weeks 8-10, but ever since there hasn't been one thing in particular.  i do eat A LOT of fruit though!  somedays fruit is the ONLY thing that sounds good!  i eat at least 2 apples a day and sometimes more.  i guess there are worse things i could be craving!

despite many people's frustration, we still aren't finding out what baby king is going to be until delivery.  it's amazing the number of people that aren't afraid to tell us their "true feelings" about us waiting to find out!!

i know i haven't mentioned her much, but molly is still doing well.  she's EXTREMELY protective of me and if someone comes around she doesn't know she won't let them near me.  her newest thing is to come and rest her nose right next to my belly when i'm laying on the couch.  she's in for a rude awakening when the baby gets here, but we're hoping she's going to be protective of the baby like she is with me.

today was my last day of school until next monday and i am so looking forward to the rest!  i'm excited about all the time we'll be spending with friends & family over the next few days.  thanksgiving meal isn't my favorite meal {it's actually one of my least favorites!} but i love that everyone is together!  my favorite part about thanksgiving is the parade -- one of our youth kids is dancing in the macy's parade this year so hopefully i can even get reed to watch it.  he doesn't quite love parades like i do!

i'm off to be lazy the rest of the night and catch up on parenthood!