The Bump

I was so excited when I saw the email from Erin Alies Photography in my inbox this morning!  She'd left me with a couple of teasers on Facebook and I was starting to get impatient...I mean it'd been a week already...geez.

I wanted some updated photos of Lily for her fifth birthday and asked Erin to combine it as a maternity mini session.  Oddly enough, it was the same weekend we'd scheduled maternity photos five years ago...and I'm thankful a baby didn't arrive a week later...  

2012

The sun may have been shining this day but the wind was whipping and it was barely 32 degrees.  I had to beg Mike and Lily to go outside with me.

Lily turns FIVE!

I had a hard time with this birthday.  I'm not an overly emotional person but when I'm pregnant the waterworks just come all the time.  I think I cried at least 5 times the week leading up to Lily's birthday.  Sometimes for a good reason but mostly just because.  And I reminded Mike that I'm pregnant so I can just cry whenever I wanted to.  

While Lily wanted to invite her entire class to her fabulous fifth birthday, I was weary of whether I would have a newborn, be in labor, etc. etc.  So we opted for letting her pick two friends and inviting her cousins for a bowl-a-thon.  

Baby's Nursery

I'm not really sure why I thought it would be a good idea to outfit the baby's nursery in DIY goodies.  I mean now that it's finished it does look amazing but at seven months pregnant - cutting, pressing, and ruffling fabric was last on my list.

Mike and I looked forever for a set of curtains that we both liked.  They couldn't be too babyish, too pink, or too frilly.  They had to have blackout backing and thermal would be a plus.  They had to last more than just the first year.  Yeah.  Exactly.  That's why I thought it would be a good idea to just make them.  And I couldn't stop there.  I had to make a matching quilt and crib skirt and pillow for the rocker.  All because I couldn't find any fabric for the curtains to match the beautiful crib bedding my mother made Lily.  It was just going to be easier to make it all over again.

Oh - and why did we get rid of that crib?  Mike asked me as we - all four of us - crammed into the itty bitty nursery and endlessly twisted screws and jammed wooden pegs into IKEA furniture.  I think it's mostly because we said we'd never have another baby...and then we got caught in a moment of weakness.

I'm not ready for you March

Why won't Mother Nature decide what to do with her life already?  I mean - I love the 70 degree days in February but I don't love the sudden freeze attacks followed again by a nice tease of warmth.  It's like ripping off a band aid over and over and over and over.  And I'm sick of packing three different coats for any and all possible season that it may be in one day!  The other day I literally dressed Lily in her winter coat, hat, mittens and boots to have her come home in a t-shirt and her pants rolled up past her knees with her begging to put on shorts.  We just can't win!

And where on earth did February go?  I know it's the shortest month of the year but it went by incredibly quickly for us.

I crossed the 30 week mark and can't help but count down the days now.

Valentine's came and went as it does every year.  Mike gritted his teeth and took Lily to her first daddy-daughter dance.  Lots of girls running around screaming and not much dancing - pretty much how my dad described it when I was little.

Following that came Lily's Valentine's party - one of the first party's I've gotten to go to this school year thanks to my new role back at BDO.  It was incredibly fun to see how much all of the kids have grown up, and especially fun to see the different interactions between 4-5 year old boys and girls.

Then it hit 60 degrees and we got the boat out.  Because why wouldn't you if it got that warm in Michigan in February???

Lily's bestie turned five and we had a fabulous time celebrating at Chuck E Cheese - a place I had not been since I was a kid.  A place that welcomed us with vomit on the floor we walked in the employees scrambling to get it cleaned up.  And I was that crazy mom running around after the girls squirting them down with hand sanitizer before pizza and birthday treats.  I would drink that stuff right now if I could!

And we ended February by starting Dr. Seuss week at preschool for March as reading month.  Lily's been participating in most of the daily themes but we really knocked crazy hair day out of the park.  Thank you Pinterest for saving me on this one.