Eli and JoAnn's Wedding

This weekend we drove across the state to attend friends Eli and JoAnn's wedding. The church was amazingly beautiful (sadly, I didn't get a picture of it ... not that it would have done it justice) and the ceremony was sweet.

The reception was full of personal touches and featured stunning reds and creams. Exhibit A: the cake. It was gorgeous! And, I later found out, it was RED VELVET CAKE! Major style points for carrying the red/cream theme throughout. As a bonus, it was totally delicious!

We three got all dolled up for the occasion ... my hair hadn't looked that good in months! Thanks goes out to my sister for the use of her adorable shirt! It was perfect!

Little B was a champ at the wedding, happy just to have a high chair and some good books.

Of course, luck being what it is, Bubba pooped right before the first dance started so I missed it. But my husband, being smart and thoughtful, took some pictures of it! Yay, Bryson!

What a cute couple!

They were so sweet together.

Once we got back, Little B and Big B were reunited, and I think I noticed my husband getting a little choked up during the father-daughter dance as he held our son. Mariah Carrey's "Hero" was playing. Ah, the perfect storm of emotion!

In about the middle of the mother-son dance, my son laid his head on my husband's chest and just sat still. So cute!

Sadly, right after the picture above was taken, my beautiful boy burst into tears and we carried him out into the lobby area. The music was just too loud for him, so he and I went back to the hotel for some pre-bedtime fun while my husband stayed behind to spend some time with his friends.

But don't you worry, Baylor and I had fun, too! We explored the hotel room, opened all the drawers, went to the front desk for toothpaste, and then read a ton of books! And yes, the little man is almost tall enough to open the doors in hotels, apparently.

The next morning we got to snuggle in the giant bed for a while and relax for a bit. Then the explorations began, resulting in the phone needing to be disconnected. Ah, such a wild child!

We had a lovely time, and it was so good to see everyone and finally catch up. Congrats to Eli and JoAnn, and thanks for having us! Congrats to Matt and Emily on their exciting news! And a belated congrats to Phil and Alexis on their happy marriage! We're so glad we got to hang out with the Lyman Briggs crew, even if for a short while! Hope to see you all again soon!

Happy Anniversary to Us

Today is our fourth wedding anniversary, and looking back I cannot think of a more lovely day. I spent lots of time planning it so that the day of would be as relaxed as possible. Our garden-themed wedding ended up being exactly what I wanted (minus a little pre-wedding panic attack by yours truly - I was terrified of speaking in front of so many people - luckily my awesome sister helped me calm down).

Anyhow, I digress.

We got married at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park at 6:00 p.m., inside, under this sculpture. We were literally surrounded by all our family and friends, and it was a wonderfully intimate gathering.



My flowers looked like this ...


We read vows we had written ourselves. My husband got choked up, and I just beamed.


And afterwards we were "us".

The groom's cake was bitchin'! Go green!

Our cake was beautiful, covered in gum paste roses.

I warned him not to smush it in my face. I warned him. I didn't want wedding cake on my dress for the rest of the reception, and I thought it would be nice if he just fed it to me like he was supposed to. He decided to go a different route. So sad that the only bite of wedding cake I actually got was shoved into my face by my new husband.

Now honey, I know you think this next picture is my favorite of the whole wedding but it is not. No bride should have to look this angry on her wedding day. And yes, you deserved to have cake up your nose. I love you!

The rest of the evening went by quite wonderfully, and we eventually got to the weird part. My husband's family has this bizarre little tradition at weddings where the last couple to get married buys the newly married couple a chamber pot (once used for going to the bathroom indoors in olden times) and fills it with cider and broken chunks of donuts (or donut holes). Yes, it is supposed to look like poop. Then the newly married couple has to eat and drink the concoction. It tasted surprisingly good, and we luckily had Bryson's cousin Patrick and his wife Cynthia as our chamber pot purchasers and they only included cider and donuts (Bryson's brother put corn and honey in Pat and Cynthia's to make it look more "realistic" - yuck!).

We did the typical dances. Our first dance was to Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole's duet, "Unforgettable." It was magical. (Oh, and ironically enough, I heard it playing in the grocery store today! How weird is that? I didn't even know they played music at the grocery store.)

Then we combined the father-daughter, mother-son dances, and we all four danced to "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?" by Rod Stewart.

All in all, it was a wonderful evening. We had a great time, and most everything went off without a hitch. I think our only snafu came after the wedding when our photographer went bankrupt and fell out of contact with us before we got our wedding photo album. Total bummer, but at least we had the CDs with all our pictures on them!

None of this would have been possible without our loving families. Not the wedding, not the relationship (if we hadn't been born and all), and not the happiness afterwards. So thanks to ...

The Maxeys


And the Jacqueses.

And thanks to you, honey, for four marvelous, eventful years! I love you! Happy anniversary!

Birthday Fun with the Family

Yesterday was my niece Lucia's third birthday, and we all got together this past Sunday to celebrate! My brother-in-law cooked out for all of us, and we had a wonderful time eating (though the nausea was still present - bummer) and catching up with everyone.

After dinner, we had cupcakes (cherry cake with purple frosting) and a delicious applesauce zucchini bunt cake. Great-Grandma Jeannine showed us her cupcake trick ... ripping the bottom off and creating a frosting sandwich so you have frosting in every bite! Genius!


Little B was enthralled with their dog, Bos, and could not stop watching his antics!

And he loved it when Bos came over to give him some doggy kisses!

Then it was time for presents! My in-laws gave Lucia the book My Granny's Purse, which included these awesome glasses!

She had tons of gifts to open, but there were lots of cards, too!

My son, on the other hand, was enjoying his Great-Aunt Ellene's company. First, he showed her how big he was ...

Then he used her for a routine stretching exercise ...

They played with his cell phone for a little while.

And then she got him to giggle with an upside down move!

Then he became fascinated with his stroller.

His love for his stroller straps could span any distance!

Checking out the action ...

And then a thorough inspection of the tray and cup holder.

As the night wore on, it became cooler, so Little B was forced to wear socks. He eventually grew tired of them, though, and handed them to Great-Grandpa Allan for safe keeping.

As we were leaving, my little man snuck in some lovin' with Great-Aunt Sharon.

We had a great time, and it was so good to see everyone! Luckily, it won't be too long before we see them again ... we'll be over to the cabin for Labor Day weekend! Yay! See y'all then!

Cute Pictures and Huh?

We'll talk about the "Huh?" first. All of a sudden, my beautiful boy isn't sleeping well. His naps have gotten shorter and shorter throughout the week (yesterday his second nap consisted of playing and talking in his crib for 45 minutes) and then the last couple nights he needed to be calmed down after having been asleep for a while (and last night he woke up in the middle of the night with the saddest sounding cry).

My only guess as to what is going on is that, particularly yesterday, he was so tired that he was actually overtired and was having trouble sleeping. Either way, it is frustrating and sad to hear him so upset, and it makes me wonder what the heck happened. (Oh, and in case you're wondering, Unisom helps you get to sleep once ... that's it. Anytime you wake up again, it's on you. Stupid Unisom.)

Alright, enough with the sad stuff. On to the cute pictures!

I won this pink Valentine's Day dragon when I worked at Hallmark, and every child that has met it has hated it, including Little B when he was even littler. But, recently, he has fallen in love with it and has figured out how to turn it on himself, much to his delight. The other day he really got the hang of it and it would startle him every time he turned it on, but his face would break out into this huge grin when she started singing and flapping her wings ("La, la, la, la, la ... hug! Hug! Kiss! Kiss!")

Little B also has been enjoying decapitating his snail. His Gigi got him this adorable snail at a garage sale, and needless to say it has been a huge hit. He loves putting all the colorful shapes into the shell area and has learned what the word "in" means from this awesomely simple, yet wonderful toy. Much to his mother's chagrin, though, he has recently enjoyed pulling the head off the snail before he gets to work playing. He'll rip it off the base, and then hold it up in the air like a trophy of war or something. Like this ...

It is disturbing, to say the least. Anyhow, his other new favorite thing to do with his snail is stick his hands in the shell while all of the shapes are still in it and wiggle his hands around. He has always liked doing this in his dinosaur ball pit, but for some reason he wants to do it in his snail now, too. I think he likes hearing the sound the shapes make as he rattles them around and feeling them skim across his little hands. This activity is much cuter and less disturbing than the snail decapitation.

He has been standing up so much lately and seems to be getting ready to walk. I just thought the next picture was cute, though. So enjoy!

Have a wonderful Sunday! And congrats to my friend Kristin over at The Ginsberg Clan ... she had her beautiful son, Liam, yesterday at 11:22 a.m. California time, weighing in at 10 lbs. and measuring 22 1/2 inches long! What a beautiful big boy!

8 Weeks with a Kidney Bean

Today marks the first day of the eighth week of my pregnancy and the pictures have begun! I did month pictures when I was pregnant with Little B, but I was inspired by another blog I read and decided to follow suit.

My left side ...

From the front (not much change there yet) ...

My right side ...

Bubba thinks I'm getting "so big"! Oh wait, he thinks HE'S so big.

I'll try my best to keep things updated as we progress through this pregnancy!

Oh, and I am now signed up to get the babycenter.com weekly e-mails that tell me how big the baby is in terms of fruits, vegetables, and (apparently) legumes. Today's e-mail told me that the baby is the size of a kidney bean (about 5/8" long).

Trying Something New ...

The nausea (yup, talking about it again) had been getting progressively worse over the last few days, so I decided to take a little more action. My eating had gotten sporadic in spite of my efforts, and my diet was becoming filled with sugary foods holding no nutritional value. One of my close friends (Hi, Janice!) was recently pregnant and suffered through a nasty bout of "morning" sickness. Her doctor told her to take 25 mg of vitamin B6 twice a day, and take a half a Unisom with the 25 mg she took right before bed. And it seemed to work for her; it curbed her nausea and helped her function better.

I called my doctor and they suggested the same thing, so I decided to give it a try. And let me tell you, I LOVE UNISOM! I know they say it is non-habit-forming, but I am not quite sure how that is possible; I would love to have the habit of falling asleep peacefully and quickly every night. Holy crap! As an added bonus, it got me to sleep in spite of some raging nausea I had as I was laying my head down for bed.

I woke up this morning feeling a little groggy, like I could sleep another few hours, but in truth I feel like that all the time. My stomach was feeling a little better, but I'm not ready to call this problem "fixed" just yet. And I can't say I'm thrilled about having to take more pills, but if they help me function better and feed this new baby better then I guess it's what I have to do.

I'll keep you posted (as I'm sure you're waiting with bated breath).

Hard to Believe ...

It's hard to believe Little B was ever so little that he could fit in my belly. (Yes, I realize I was huge, but still ...)

It's hard to believe he was ever this small, just barely able to hold up his own head.

And it's even harder to believe that this little boy will be a YEAR OLD in a couple weeks! My, how the time does fly.