Baby #2

Well I realize I have completely neglected to update much on little boy Sanders. Its amazing to me how fast this pregnancy is going. I remember with Gracyn each week took forever, but here I am at 28 weeks and cant help but wonder where the time went! I have 12 weeks left to go and so much still to do! Tomorrow I go to the doctor for my glucose testing (praying I pass this time so I dont have to do the 3 hour test like I did with G). I also have to get a shot because Greg and I have incompatible blood types, and have my thyroid tested. We are keeping a close watch on it this pregnancy because of issues after Gracyn and hoping that if we control it I will be able to breastfeed, which I wasnt able to do with her. I have bought the babies new bedding and decided I want to use a puppy theme in the room but thats about as far as I have gotten. I am hoping to commission the artist who did Gracyn's paintings to do something custom for him, but it will depend on how finances are after the holidays. Otherwise, I think I will use a lot of my black and white images of Marley. There is a photographer I love, Erin Vey, who specializes in dog portraits, maybe I could look into some of her work as well. We plan to paint the room in January and start attempting to transition Gracyn to a twin mattress on the floor so that we dont have to buy another crib. I know thats a pretty bold move since she will only be 14months, but we are hoping we can make it work.

We still dont have a name for this little guy, but we have it narrowed down pretty well. I think I have my heart set on one and Greg has his set on another, so we will see how the compromise works out. You can vote here...



Anyway that is a quick update, I cant wait to meet this little man and snuggle with him, but its going to be a lot of change for Gracyn so for right now I am enjoying every minute alone I have with her. So far he is so much more mellow than she was inside, so I have a feeling he is going to have his daddy's laid back personality. I pray he gets his smarts, looks and athleticism too!

Birthday Photos

Here are a few photos my sister and dad took from Gracyn's birthday party.

favors are chocolate flowers on a pretzel rod and chocolate covered oreos


greg's yummy strawberry cupcakes with white and pink chocolate shavings


giant cupcake cake that greg's mom made


gracyn's favorite friend, Brittnee, her nanny


loving her new wagon that Uncle Ryan put together for her






her party hat


took her a while to warm up to the cupcake, she just didnt feel well


playing with her new dolly

In the meantime....

Some holiday cheer for you since I havent gotten a chance to post birthday pictures yet, Im going to post a quick fun video from Gracyn's favorite singer. She listens to his CDs at bedtime. I'll try to post birthday party pictures tonight.

Weekend Festivities...

BEWARE, this is a long post!

Wow what a long and exhausting weekend! It was wonderful to spend so much time with our families this weekend but we definitely had our ups and downs.

Wednesday, Gracyn and I had a special lunch with Aunt Kate at the Rainforest Cafe. We spent almost 2 hours there and by the time the food arrived Gracyn passed out. It was amazing she could sleep through all the noise there!

Thursday started off great, we had a lazy morning then got dressed to head over to Greg's parents house. We had a delicious meal with all the family there, including both Great Grandma's which was a special treat since they have both been ill. I love that Gracyn gets to know and spend time with them! Gracyn refused to eat and throughout the meal got more and more fussy. By the end of the meal she was starting to feel warm. When we got her home, her temperature was 104.3! We gave her some tylenol and fluids and put her to bed. My family arrived a few hours later to stay with us for the weekend and celebrate Gracyn's birthday with us. That night Greg and I made Gracyn's favors for her party. We made chocolate covered oreos and pretzels with chocolate molded in rows of flowers. It was a fun and easy project for us to do together for our little girl's big day.

Friday, Greg and I went grocery shopping while Gracyn spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa. Her fever was down by the morning and kinda fluctuated most of the day from 101-102ish. By the evening she developed a rash over her back and stomach and was still refusing to eat most foods, but would still drink and eat cold things. Friday night we got everything ready for the party, I made a lot of food and Greg made Gracyn the cutest strawberry cupcakes.

Saturday came and Gracyn woke up with 102.3 fever and a rash over her whole body. So now I was really worried about needing to cancel the party. I got her in to see the pediatrician, hoping all of this was just a reaction to her one year shots she got the week before. He took one look at her and said it was a typical viral rash and that she had some patches on her throat which explained the not wanting to eat. He said she was probably still contagious, so we had to call all our friends that were coming with kids and tell them not to come. I was so disappointed to not have any of Gracyn's little friends at the party! We still had a good time celebrating with our family and a few of our friends that could still come. Gracyn was really clingy and wouldn't let me put her down most of the party, but she warmed up when it was time to open presents and she saw all her new toys! We really are blessed to have so many wonderful family and friends to love her and spoil her!

Here are a few pictures that I have loaded so far... I'll probably put her birthday ones in a post on their own since this one is so long! Thanks for reading all of it if you did!

Some of these are poor snapshots, we need a new small point and shoot camera (hint hint Greg)

all dressed up and ready to go!




a rare photo of the 3 of us...


grandma sanders and her 2 crazy brothers...


gracyn's great-grandmas


eyes are starting to look sick here...


lazy mornings...