Breast Cancer 3 day

So one of my best friends, Margaret, is going to Washington D.C. in October to walk in the breast cancer 3 day event.  She will walk 60 miles in 3 days with thousands of other people in an effort to raise money for the fight against breast cancer.  This subject is personally close to my heart as my mother had breast cancer, and I am so thankful to say, is a survivor and past her 10 year mark a couple of years ago.  I wish I could do this walk, but I can tell as many people about Margaret and her walk as possible.  She has to raise $2300 by the time of the race.  HERE is the link to where you can donate.  Margaret walks in honor of her mother who did not win her fight against a rare cancer.  She will carry in her heart her mother, and all the other people who have been impacted by cancer.

Any amount helps and is greatly appreciated!  Please let me know if you have any questions.

this is the bed

This is the bed that I want Worth to build BellaRose.  Awesome right!?  With the bedding from the last post on the RIGHT!  I know we have time until the new baby comes but this takes loads of planning for this to come to fruition.  

Big Girl Bed?

I have some bad news to tell you.  Well I guess I should not start that way.  We are all fine, but the bed we were all dreaming of BellaRose, the rod iron one, is no more!  I know you all were SO excited about it, but it just did not work out.  Too much effort, too much time, too much money, wrong bed rails, crooked frame, etc.  It really would have been awesome, but I am heading in a new direction, one where I am begging my husband to build her bed.  I mean come on, this was his major in college!  He can do this, I know it!  As you know we are expecting again in February and will need BellaRose's crib by then.  BellaRose was sleeping in her crib the 2nd night we were home, not sure what the plan with #2 will be, but I am thinking along the same lines.  BR does so well in her crib and never tries to climb out.  My sister, Angela, always tells me "Don't fix what isn't broken", but now that her crib will be needed I guess it might be time to start thinking about Big Girl Beds!  I am excited to decorate a new room!  I would love for Worth to build her a bed similar to the one on the left but with a higher middle and a little more whimsical looking and I am pretty sure we will ditch the bally things on the ends.  The bedding on the RIGHT is pretty much what I have decided on.  It is gorgeous!  I am real into white right now too so probably warm white walls with all the color coming from the bedding.  So cute, right?!

Nothing to report on #2 right now.  I will be 9 weeks on Friday and as you know things are pretty uneventful in the beginning.  Just the normal things of being pregnant.  Thank you all for your excitement from last post.  It sure does mean a lot to me!  You guys are the best!  

Pretty soon we will be celebrating a certain Grandma's 95th birthday!  Can you believe that!  So excited to see that woman!

The big reveal

Well I have been silent long enough my friends.  Today I reveal to you that I am pregnant and 8 weeks along at that.  We went to the doctor today finally!  It is always such a long wait, waiting for the 1st appt.  My due date is Feb. 25th.  Close to my mom's birthday the 18th and the day before our nephew's birthday on the 26th.  I have never been a big fan of February so hopefully this will change my mind.  I am going to try my hardest to give this baby as much lip service as I gave my pregnancy with BellaRose.  I know that this will be hard b/c BR is the center of our universe, but I will try.  I will try to post belly pictures, and give you updates as much as possible.  I know you guys are excited and finally Jessica's mom can stop hinting for me to have another one :).

As always your prayers are much appreciated for this precious little one!

Laundry

We finally got a laundry line!  I have been wanting one and we were at Home Depot the other day and my dreams were fulfilled.  I don't care so much about hanging my underwear or pants out to dry on the line for the whole world to see what size I wear, but I do want to hang my sheets.  I have such fond memories of my mom hanging our sheets on the line to dry and the smell of them as you crawl into bed was just bliss.  Little B-Rose helped me today.  She handed me the clothespins and we worked on her math skills.  I would tell her I need 2 and her little mind would start racing and by golly she would give me 2.  Have I told you just how smart she is lately and how sweet this little girl is?  She speaks so well.  We can almost have conversations now.  Her new favorite thing is telling me when something is funny.  She says "Momma, thats funny".  I wish I had any savvy at a video camera because you need to hear her.  Such a sweetie!

What little kid doesn't love running through sheets on a laundry line?

Speaking of laundry you need to check out the new Avett Brother's song "Laundry Room".  It is  a new favorite for me.  It will be on their new album in September but they are starting to release some songs now.  You won't be disappointed.

Curls

These curls are just so sweet and the very reason why I have not and will not cut BellaRose's hair.  The beach air helped to form these, but to see her run and watch them bounce you might die.  

What a sweetie!

More pictures from the trip at my photo blog.

Worth grows a garden

So Worth's garden needs a little face time on the ole blog.  He has been working so hard out there.  Going out every night to talk to his beloved plants, and make sure there are no weeds growing up the spindly stalks and vines.  He has 24 tomato plants.  He promises canning is in his future although we don't have a canner and I am not sure he knows how to do it, but you can't really every doubt the boy.  Every time he sets his mind to something he generally always accomplishes the goal.  I am pretty sure I will have beautiful mason jar pictures filled with tomatoes soon!  BellaRose just adores going out to help Worth in his garden.  She is such a helper and you should hear how she says "squash", it really would melt your heart.  She does a good job helping but has not quite figured out when the vegetables are ready to be pulled off the vine.  She sometimes pulls prematurely but I am pretty sure we will have enough to spare.  We also have loads and loads of peppers and basil.  Which make the best Chicken Holy Basil EVER! I know that the bottom left picture of BellaRose is not really in focus, but I love her focus so much I just had to share with you!  Please enjoy our garden and if you around please come on over and get some fresh produce!

Flower Shop

Thank you all for your e-mails and support from the last post.  It was a bit of a tough week and mainly for my friends.  My heart just broke for them.  Thank you for your prayers they will be needed in the days and months to come!

These are old pictures that I have been wanting to show you for some time.  This is BellaRose's original birthday present.  It was a flower shop and so cute but SO cheaply made we took it back.  We let her play in it first for a little bit though.  She loved it with the windows and doors!  I love the picture of her holding her hand up.  She might be over having a camera in her face 24-7.  Oh well that is never going to change!  

Isle of palms

It has been awhile since I have posted.  We spent a glorious week at the Isle of Palms with Worth's family.  Here is the set-up to the right with our house directly behind, pretty nice, huh!  

Sadly since we have been home some very sad events have occurred and I am  very heavy hearted for my friends.  Just keep this little community in your prayers.  I probably will not be posting again until next week at some time.  Thank you for loving us so good as you always do!

I will leave you with scenes from the beach.  BellaRose had an absolute blast and adores the water.  That is pretty much what she talked about all the time, wawa!

to know her...

.....is to love her!

I know I said that last week but it really is true.  This child is precious.  She has such a gentle spirit about her that I can rarely express in words.  

My sweet BellaRose has turned 2.  I can now just say I have a 2 year old and I no longer have to figure out her age in months.  These past 2 years have been no easy journey, but a journey well worth taking.  I would do it a million times over to have this child.  I know I could be jinxing myself when I say this, but I really feel as if we have turned a corner with her.  She seems more content.  I do believe that teeth have a lot to do this.  I am pretty sure all her teeth are in and she is no longer in pain.  That is just my theory but to me it makes sense.  Sure she still has her moments, but she is so polite, saying her "please" and "thank yous" often.  She is so loving and so caring.  She ADORES babies.  She always wants to make sure that they are okay and that their mouth is wiped.  I am not sure why that concerns her so much but she likes cleanliness.

She loves animals and especially horses.  I may have had something to do with that but I am pretty sure her love for them came all on her own.  She LOVES her cousins, all 7 of them, what is even more special is that they ALL love her too.  

She talks about her friends often as well.  She always wants to go "this way" when we pull out of our neighborhood so she can go see Will.  We can't pass Ellen's house now without BellaRose saying she wants to see Ellen.  She adores baby Beckett.

She says her prayers at night and before meals.

This child is my heart!

Banner by Katie

Dress by JTP

Courtney's game

So games are fun right?  People generally like to

 play and especially with these blog games people like to learn new things about you.  I could consider this one of my top 5 favorite new things but I won't.  Courtney started this blog game where I have to tell you with a picture (if possible) my 5 new favorite things that I am into right now.  

So here goes.......

1.  So this is old and some of you know and some of you don't, but my panini maker is the best thing EVER!  I swear by it.  Every sandwich is better when it is hot and grilled.  I just ate my ham and cheese sandwich right off of the "grill" and it was amazing!

2.  My new 85 mm f 1.2 lens.  You know how you all love the pictures where the back ground is all blurry and the people just pop off of the page, this is why, and of course my amazing ability as a photographer.....just kidding!

3.  Well I need a camera to go with my amazing lens, and this is it.  A canon 5D.  I love this camera.  It is such a joy to take pictures with this beast!  I might surgically attach it to my hand soon.  I tell you my arms are going to be ripped after taking pictures with this camera and lens.

4.  My new LA Made racer back tank top.  I am wearing this shirt as we speak while sitting outside typing this post.  I see my reflection in the monitor and I just adore the top.  It is white and I love

 white clothes.  It is racer back my new favorite style of shirt (so lets count that as #5).  It has ruffle so it makes a simple shirt seem so much more elegant and fun.  I wish my wedding dress looked like this!  The even better part is that I got it 15% off.  You know you can almost always find a promotion code online for any clothing you want to buy, or any product for that matter.  Just google "promotion code" for whatever store you are shopping, and all sorts of goodness will come from it.  There are so many sales and bargains happening now that it is almost ridiculous to buy full price these days.  That was some free advice for you, no promotion code needed!

Thanks Courtney for the fun game!  

I would also love to remind people to go to my photo blog HERE and see pictures of Nick and Niki's sweet baby, Julia.