Wow! I realized I've been doing these seasonal recaps on my blog for a year now. Check out what we were up to last
Spring! Looking through the pictures of that post really reveals to me how much Atlas and Jane have grown up in a year. The phrase, "the days are long, but the years are short" feels so very true lately. Actually the days have been feeling short too! I'm having trouble figuring out how fit everything in nowadays. We had a busy Spring last year! This year we had to slow down on the activities a little since I was super pregnant and then of course a little newborn entered the family. But we still had a lot of fun times and we have enjoyed getting to know Alexandria this Spring.
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| Trying a sample of the new dessert, frosted sunrise. |
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| It isn't a trip to chick-fil-a without playing in the play place. |
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| They loved meeting the cow! :D |
I feel like I spent the whole month of March trying to fit in as much fun as I could with my two kiddos before we added a newborn. Every Wednesday in March the Chick-Fil-A near us offered free breakfast! A free chicken biscuit per person was pretty great! So we made sure to make it there each week while the offer was available! It actually worked out perfectly because it was the same day as gymnastics. So we just headed out an hour early, had breakfast and played awhile and left for gymnastics straight from there. We got to meet up with a few friends a couple of times too. We loved it. I hope they bring it back again. :D
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| Definitely not how I planned to spend 37th week of pregnancy. |
Our Spring time adventures were interrupted for a week in March because I twisted my ankle at 37 weeks pregnant. :( I found a uneven spot between the porch and grass in my backyard. I've always had a tendency to twist my ankles. When I was younger and played more sports, I seemed to twist my ankle almost every year. I some how seemed to create an elasticity in my ankles because by the time I was about 17 I could recover from a twisted ankle pretty quickly! This time it had been years since I had twisted my ankle that badly. It took a few days before I could walk without crutches and a week or so before I could walk normally again and two weeks before the pain was mostly gone. Being super pregnant with a bum ankle was pretty challenging, but we got through it! It was kind of good timing because most of our activities were on Spring Break. Also it helped me have some extra patience waiting for Xan. I wanted to have enough time for my ankle to heal and have some fun with Atlas and Jane before we added a newborn to the mix.
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| Preschool time! |
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| We really enjoyed our new to us playset this Spring! |
We did our best to stay busy while we waited for Alexandria to arrive even when we stayed home for the day. We did preschool almost everyday with a fun ABC animal craft. We went for walks together and Jane enjoyed riding her bike next to the stroller. We made the most of our backyard with our fun new to us playset and had a few picnics in the beautiful spring weather. With no more naps I instituted movie time in the afternoons so I could get an hour or two of rest. They still ended up piled on top of me and Xan most days. :D
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| Our dear friends the McNairs! |
I scheduled as many play dates with friends as I could before I had a newborn to fit into the equation too. We got to see our good friends the McNairs for the first time in a while since they had recently moved from being 5 minutes from us to 50 minutes. We were so sad to lose our local buddies, but glad to know we can still make play dates work with the distance between us! We also fit in a play date with my friend all the way back from middle school, Mindy and her son. We are excited to meet their new baby boy due a month from now!
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| Soaking up these sweet years. |
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| I feel like this is one of those pictures to recreate when they're older. |
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| Free Chick-fil-a lunch. Day before my due date! |
When Easter rolled around I wasn't expecting to still be pregnant. I figured I would either just have given birth or still have a pretty fresh newborn since Jane was on time and Atlas was early. So I hadn't made any plans. Easter (April 1st) was my due date after all! Well, right before Easter weekend I figured I might as well make plans to have some Easter fun with the kids. Having a baby is a pretty good excuse to bail out on plans anyway. ;) I heard of an Easter Egg Scramble a local church was holding the day before Easter and thought it could be fun for the kiddos. It was a lovely event! The weather was beautiful and it was very well organized. There were separate egg scramble sections for different age groups and they even provided a free chickfila lunch! They had face painting and balloon animals too, but the lines were too long for us. Atlas and Jane really enjoyed running to pick up the eggs and were kind to the other kids which made me proud. Atlas ended up with a pine cone in his basket. Funny boy! A couple of people asked me when I was due and were pretty surprised when I answered "Tomorrow!" They also commented that I must be burning up in the heat... I said, "Well, not really! I'm ok!" I thought to myself,"Y'all must not really be from these parts because this is not "heat" in Texas." Haha!! Afterwards I hurried home for an appointment and massage from my midwife while my mom took the kids to my Grandpa's house for a visit.
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| Ready to hunt! |
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| Jane adores Easter egg hunts!! |
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| Atlas surprised me with how well he did! |
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| Keeping up our Cici Easter meal tradition. ;) |
I woke up on April 1st a little disappointed that I wasn't in labor yet. But when the day was all over I was glad that Alexandria decided to wait so we could have a really fun Easter with Atlas and Jane. This was the first year we had two active egg hunters! I told Jane that I had scattered a few eggs in the yard for Atlas to pick up and she needed to leave them for him and she needed to go find the hidden eggs for her. She did great with my instructions and Atlas did better than I expected! He found more of the hidden ones without help than I thought he would. We might have a competitive egg hunt on our hands next year! We went to Cici's for lunch after we finished opening all their eggs. This was the 4th year in a row we've been to Cici's on Easter. I guess it's tradition now! :D I went to the grocery store on Easter morning and while I was there one of the employees asked me if I was having twins. I responded, "No, but today is my due date!" I thought, "Man, I must really look huge today." Make sure you never ask a lady if she's having twins. Just let her tell you if that is indeed the case. Easier for everybody. ;)
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| Pappaw helping retrieve an egg |
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| Atlas was snacking as he went. |
We headed to Marmee and Pappaw's that evening. I asked my dad to hide a few eggs for a second egg hunt for Jane and Atlas. My dad always has the best hiding spots. I gave them the eggs to hide as a back up so Atlas and Jane could have an egg hunt on Easter just in case baby sister decided to come that day. When she didn't come that day I thought, "Easter is only once a year, why not have two egg hunts?" They really enjoyed themselves. Atlas had figured out that there was candy in the eggs so he slowed down to eat while he hunted the second time. Haha! It really was the perfect Easter day. Thanks for making us wait Alexandria!
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| HEART Easter story time |
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| He's a pro now. ;) |
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| My Easter cuties! |
On Monday I was still pregnant, so we attended the Little HEARTs Home School Easter egg hunt! If you've been counting this is hunt #4! :D Each family brought a dozen eggs to put in the hunt. The kids played together while I met some new home school moms. Then we sat down for a short Easter story time and the mom's hid the eggs up on a hill. It was a quick hunt, but they still had fun and enjoyed their candy and prizes! It was held at a local park we hadn't been to before. We love exploring new parks. Atlas and Jane really enjoyed the play structures there. I've wanted to go back, but we didn't make it before the summer heat kicked in. I hope go again in the fall!
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| The last few days with just two kiddos! |
Tuesday came and went and so did Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. Almost everyday I woke up feeling disappointed that I wasn't in labor yet, but I wouldn't let myself stay disappointed. Instead I started looking forward to what God would teach me that day or show me what was special about the day because I didn't have a newborn yet. I had to find something special about everyday Xan was late to keep my positivity and stay patient. I even kept a note on my iPod of what I was thankful for each day I was still pregnant. A couple of highlights were Easter, a fun last park day with encouraging mom's, a good giggle with each of the kids, family grill night, God teaching me to let go of more of my selfishness, getting the house clean and great dance time with Jane and Atlas.
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| silly selfie! |
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| Tired big sister |
When I got to Saturday I had been having contractions for around two weeks, some even consistent and strong. Up until Friday I hadn't done too much other than massages from Sallie to try to induce labor because I felt if she wasn't ready to come then I should just be patient. On Friday I tried to be more active to make the contractions stronger and closer together, but with no success. When Saturday rolled around I was determined to get this baby out! So I had a dance party with the kids, took a long walk with just Cambria and bounced on my birth ball some. The reason I have so many selfies of that Saturday was because one of my Facebook groups was having a selfie contest for a giveaway so I have a bunch of pictures throughout the day which is really fun! (I won the giveaway! haha!) I did make the contractions stronger and I even texted Sallie to stop by and check me. I was 5 cm dilated already, but not in active labor. I could still carry on with normal life. So I went to bed that night thinking, "I guess there's nothing more I can do. She's just going to come when she's ready!"
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| Walking the baby out! |
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| Cambria was very interested in Jane's blue tongue. ;) |
Apparently my efforts were not in vain because look what happened next!!
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| So very blessed!! |
She's here!!! On Sunday morning I woke up to super strong contractions at 4am and just 2 1/2 hours later Alexandria Ridley Daniels was born on April 8th at 6:28am. She was determined to share a birthday with her cousin Ellis! They had the same due date (April 1st) and now they have the same birthday just one year apart. :D So crazy! One of the reasons I tried so hard to get her to come Saturday (other than starting to be a little worried she was going on a week overdue) was so she would have a birthday of her own. But now I think it's super fun for them to share a birthday. <3
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One of her many April Birthday buddies.
Xan was born just 2 days after Pappaw's Birthday. |
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| Cambria's birthday is just two weeks before Xan. |
There are soooo many birthdays in early April within our group of family and friends! I feel like we missed at least 5 parties we were invited to because she was due at the beginning of April. We were even planning to go to a birthday party the Sunday she was born. I had to text our friends and tell them we couldn't come because I had a baby that morning. ;) She made the grandparents and great grandparents miss Ellis's party because she was born on the day of her party as well. Sorry Ellis!! Being a week late I was just so elated that she was here and healthy.
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| So so glad she's here! |
It's pretty easy to break up the Spring into two parts this year. Spring BX and AX. ;) Meaning Before Xan and After Xan. So I'll stop here and pick up later.
Here's what you can expect in Spring AX
-Our first three weeks after baby
-Visit from Kokoo, Akuya and Uncle Joesph
-Sprinkler fun!
-Stomach virus blues :(
-Finding our new routine
-Family Crawfish Boil
-Jane's 4th Birthday
-Annual Blueberry picking trip
-Kingwood Library Reopening
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| Such a precious Spring gift! |
Psalm 1:1-3
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
Hosea 6:3
Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
like the spring rains that water the earth.
