Baby Update!

I just got back from my 37 week OB appointment, and we have a scheduled induction date!  Unless she decides to make an earlier appearance, Ashlin Jane should be born sometime on May 5!  Also known as Cinco de Mayo, or as Kevin informed me, the anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands, an Irish hunger striker (not quite as happy an occasion, but apparently a well known anniversary in Ireland)! 
We are hoping that Ashlin will at least make it through this weekend and my grandmother's 80th birthday party!  According to the dr. it doesn't look like she will be making an appearance that soon!

Easter at T-Square

We decided at the last minute to go to my Aunt Shirley and Uncle Richard's ranch, T-Square, for the Easter weekend.  We haven't been there with Mary since she was walking, and we knew she would love the outdoors! We were right, she kept saying "outside! outside!" and had a blast running all over the wrap around porch.  The bluebonnets in front of the house were beautiful and made for some great pictures!  Mary also got her first tricycle while we were there and had fun being pushed all around (her feet lack an inch reaching the pedals)!  Here are a few pics from the weekend.

In front of the tank where Daddy caught a great big fish!

Bluebonnets in front of the house

On her tricycle

Looking for Easter eggs

Mary in the bluebonnets

The whole family (Ashlin is hiding in my belly)

Breakfast with the Easter Bunny and Fancy Nancy Birthday Party

We had a super busy day on Saturday! The Lion's Club (Kevin is a member) hosted Breakfast with the Easter Bunny at the mall Saturday morning.  So at 7:15 am we were at the mall eating breakfast and waiting for the big bunny to arrive!  When Mary saw him, her mouth opened really wide and she said, "ooohhhhh!!!!"  She was very fascinated with him, but wasn't too sure about how close she should get.  She waved at him several times, but would shy away if he came too close!  This is as close as she would go! 

They also had a balloon man and a face painter.  We decided not to get our face painted, because we had a birthday party later that day, but we did wait in line for the balloon man.  Here is a picture of Mary with her butterfly!

 

After our breakfast, we went to visit Babo and Nanie (Bo and Janie).  Then we went by my grandparents, Mema and Pepa.  Mary was already exhausted and fell asleep in the car on the way home. Slept through me getting her out of the car, laying her on the couch, giving her a breathing treatment, and moving her to her bedroom!  It was probably a good thing, because she still had a birthday party to go to!

After her nap and lunch, we got ready for our first Fancy Nancy Birthday party!  One of my longest and dearest friends, Christi, has two daughters that have birthdays in April.  Her mother in law is a gourmet cook, and they came up with the most darling party!  They had makeup and fingernail painting for the older girls and a whole tea party set up in the dining room.  Hayley, the oldest, is stunningly beautiful and was dressed to the nines!  Reagan, the younger daughter, is about 6 months older than Mary.  It was so fun to get to see them play together!  For food, they served giant pink marshmallows, fruit, heart shaped sandwiches, mini cupcakes with pink sparkly icing, and of course parfaits (the fancy nancy way of ordering ice cream)! Here are some pics from the party!

Getting ready for the style show!

Dancing

The "big" girls tea party!

The "little" girls tea party!

Yes Mary, there is a little bit of icing on your nose!

This was not one of the mini-cupcakes!  Isn't Hayley gorgeous!!!

It looks like we are praying, but I believe she was dancing! 

Two Cribs!

I started getting that nesting feeling a couple weeks ago, and made it my goal to get Ashlin's room ready over spring break.  Because Mary is still in her crib, we had to find another for Ashlin.  Thankfully a good and generous friend gave us a beautiful crib and rocking chair, that are in perfect condition.  I decided to go with the colors black, white, and pink in Ashlin's room.  I am still adding to the decor, but the main parts are finished!  I also took a beautiful dresser and night stand that were in desperate need of a new coat of paint, and painted them black.  They turned out much better than I expected!  We are going to use the dresser as our changing table as well!  Below is a picture of the room so far and the dresser and nightstand. 

Back to the Real World!

We had so much fun being out of school last week, and it has been hard getting back into the swing of things this week!  I am now 33 weeks preggo and am starting to feel tired and extremely large!  I am missing the naps I took with Mary last week, and am wondering how I am going to keep up with her while having a newborn?  She is also starting to get what my parents call the "me-do-its"!  Apparently this is all payback because I had them terribly when I was two.  This morning Mary threw a fit because she didn't want Mommy or Daddy to help her put on her shoes, she wanted to do it herself.  Of course, she isn't that coordinated yet, and by the time she and her daddy left for daycare, she was a mess from her fit!  This evening we were playing in her room and she spent at least 20 minutes trying to put on those shoes and a pair of socks.  I have to giver her credit for persistence! 

Over spring break my cousin, Leanne, came to visit with her son ,Drew.  While they were here we celebrated Drew's 3rd birthday at Chucky Cheese.  Mary had never been there before and had a great time looking at all the games and riding in the cars and carousel! We enjoyed getting to watch the kids play together. 

Mary and Drew with their Great Grandfather! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Last week we received a package in the mail from Ireland!  It contained a St. Paddy's day card, a green ribbon to wear on your shirt, a package of wild Irish flower seeds, a package of Irish clover seeds, an ornament painted by Mamo (my mother-in-law) and an Irish hat for Mary!  I can't wait to plant the seeds and see if we can get the beautiful Irish flowers to grow in West Texas (there might be a bit of a climate difference)! Here is a picture of Mary Emma with her daddy this morning wearing her Irish hat!  Daddy is also wearing his Irish top hat!

And here is Mary in her green and white St. Paddy's day get-up! 

I have sent Mary to daycare the last two days, even though I am on Spring Break, because I am trying to get a few things ready before Ashlin arrives in the next 6 - 8 weeks!  I have been working on her nursery (I will post pics when completed) and trying to finish a course for my principal's certification.  Yesterday I picked her up early so she could see Nanie and baBO (Janie and Bo, my parents).  When Kevin arrived home for work, we were in the kitchen talking and Mary was playing in her room, or so we thought!  All of a sudden we heard an "uhhh, uhhh, aaaaahhh".  Somehow she had crawled up on the baby bouncer play center thingy that was in Ashlin's room (that she hasn't played in for at least 4 months) and gotten stuck!  Kevin and I died laughing at her hanging with one leg straight up in the air and the other dangling below!  When we started laughing so did she!  Obviously, she wasn't in any pain!  Fortunately she was stuck enough, I had time to grab the camera.  Here is my little monkey, I think we are a bit too big for the bouncer!

Help me I'm stuck!!! 

MOOO!!!!!

Mary in her Mooo dress that Janie bought her!

Mary is growing up so fast! It seems everyday she is saying something new! Yesterday we were reading her favorite book on colors, and on the "tan" page she pointed to one picture and said "camel"! She can make the sounds for a cat, dog, horse, cow, sheep, lion, and my personal favorite, monkey! She has also learned some of her colors, especially pink and blue! She loves to read! In fact, some mornings when we go in to wake her up, she says "mommy or daddy" really sweetly, and then shouts "Book!" We have now been 7 nights without a passy, or "appy" as Mary calls it. Saturday night was our only night of trouble. She was over tired from her exciting day and went through two hours of crying, exhausted, but not wanting to go to sleep. We were tempted to give in and give her a passy, but we stood firm and eventually she went to sleep!  She has slept great every night since with no fussing at bed time!!! I figured it would be easier to get rid of the passy now before the new baby comes and they are all over the house!