The Silver Lining

Chase, the girls, and I just got home from spending almost 2 weeks with his parents in Madison.  We had planned on staying only a week but the transmission went out in the minivan and we ended up overstaying our welcome staying longer than planned.  

While shelling out $1800 for our car to be fixed really sucked, the rest of the trip was great.  Visiting Chase's family is always a good time.  It was SO NICE having extra help with the girls.  Chase and I got to go on a date.  We had no idea what to do with ourselves... every time I got out of the car I looked in the back to make sure I wasn't leaving any kids in the backseat.  

We even took a day to do some sight-seeing.  Chase, Elizabeth, and I went to Helen, GA to go hiking while May-May spent the day with Alice.

 

Anna Ruby Falls

 

Daddy actually got Elizabeth to smile... isn't she sweet?

I love this picture.  Chase finds ways to teach Elizabeth in everything they do.

My sexy Honey and our goober daughter :)

 
Hopefully May-May and Sampa will be able to recover in time for us to come back for Christmas :)

My first attempt at Shabby-Chic-ifying

I LOVE all things "Shabby Chic".  I have been want to paint some furniture that the Mr. and I have had for quite some time now but I haven't had the guts.  When I think of spray paint, I think of graffiti on the side of old buildings... not gorgeous DIY furniture.  But after doing a little bit of research (okay... A LOT of research) I decided it was the best way to go and I should give it a try.  But being the weeny I am, I decided to start small.

I found this cute picture from at Target on clearance for $3.  It was cute as is, but I loved all the little nooks and crannies and thought it would be perfect to try out some glazing.

And here is the after (please pardon the terrible picture... it was 3am... not the best lighting)

Details

The brown glaze got into all of those little wood grain crannies... I LOVE IT!

Over all, I think it turned out pretty good.  I think next time I might go a little heavier on the glaze and scuff up whatever I am working on a little more.  It was so easy and so much fun!  I have been looking around my house for more things to spray paint... stay tuned for more!

Thankful

Today has been a rough one.  Miss A has been crying most of the day.  It seems then only time she is happy is when she is nursing or sleeping (she doesn't do much sleeping).  Our van probably needs a new transmission.  The mailman keeps bringing me hospital bills... even with having insurance... having a baby is expensive!  And our house is a mess!  We just moved in about a month ago and have been trying to get everything in it's place.  Everywhere I look I see something that needs to be done.... but when I start to do it... Alice starts to cry.

So, for a minute, while Chase has Alice, I am going to count a few of my blessings.

My Goofy Husband: He seems to always know when I am about at my wits end and he swoops in with the right thing to say (and sometimes chocolate)

My beautiful family.  I am blessed to have a loving husband and two adorable and healthy daughters.

Alice is calling... to be continued :)

Preview of Elizabeth's room

I am now going on hour 4 of trying to get Alice to go to bed.  I thought we finally had it about an hour ago... she was almost out...I gave her to daddy to rock while I took a bath, but when I came back this is what I saw:

I'm pretty sure he made her a latte while I was in the tub

So that's my excuse for not having more of Elizabeth's room done.  We are hoping to get it done before we go get her (she has been staying in Greenville with Nanna and Poppi) but I don't know if that is going to happen.  When we do get it done (hopefully before she moves out) I will post a ton of pictures.  In the mean time here is a sneak peak...

She's here!!

Well... she's actually been here for a little while... I am just terrible about blogging. But at least this time I have a reason... it's kind of hard to get time to blog when you have a newborn :)

She was born May 5th at 9:01pm and weighed 8lbs 5oz and was 20in long.

I actually started having contractions a few days before... but they never would come at regular intervals.  On the morning of the 5th they still weren't regular but they were hurting A LOT so I finally gave in and went to the doctor.  I was only dilated 2cm but they said I was in labor.  They let me stay because I live an hour away from the hospital.  Everything went so well.  They were ready to do the c-section right then but we asked them if they could wait until Chase's parents arrived so they could watch Elizabeth so he could be with me.  While we were waiting another lady in labor needed an emergency c-section so it ended up taking long enough that my parents were able to make it to the hospital (from greenville, sc) right as they were doing the c-section.  I didn't get to see them before hand but they got to see Alice when Chase brought her out. 

Compared to the hell I went though with Elizabeth's birth this was a breeze!  I just kept waiting for something to go wrong but it was wonderful!

And here she is..... Miss Alice Belle (5 days) !

Isn't it amazing what a good bath will do?!