2017 Christmas Card (and Past Years)

I'm a day (or three) late and a dollar short (what's new these days?), but I couldn't resist sharing our 2017 Christmas card... and while I was uploading it, I thought it would be fun to reminisce about the past few years, and I was right! I love putting together our card each year and sending them out to our family and friends! 

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate!) Happy New Year! 2018 is just around the corner! 

Introducing... Baby Cookie #2!

Well, I'm only a whole MONTH late making this announcement... but our beautiful second daughter made her appearance on November 21st! We've been a little (ha!) busy since then moving across the country (more on that later), so I'll just leave you with this for now!

Welcome to the world, Josephine Jayne! We are so glad we get to be your parents and that we got an extra 20 days with you... if pre-eclampsia is good for anything, it's extra snuggles! :)

Catching WAY Up

Where does time go? It seems elusive these days... or at least free time for blogging. I do miss writing. A lot. And I miss all the connections with blog friends, especially all you milso blog friends! 

But my life has been crazy, hectic, and chaotic lately... if we're friends on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, you likely already knew that. 

The last time I posted was in July... nearly four months ago. Oops. I'm not kidding when I say life has been crazy... but so many things have happened since I last posted! 

• I turned 30 and visited KCMO to celebrate.
  
• Dan started (and finished) IFF (Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals).
  
• Annabelle turned TWO, and we threw her a party.
  
• I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and put on "chill out rest".
  
• Family has visited... twice.
  
• We went to the pumpkin patch.
  
• We celebrated Halloween.

... and so much more! I am going to try to write out a few posts right now and get them scheduled to post soon while I have a bit of time since Annabelle is at the CDC for daycare most of this week!

It's been rough trying to stay inactive and calm in order to keep my blood pressure down... but I'll talk more about that in a post coming soon! 

And because every blog post needs a picture... here are Gilligan and Stormy lounging on Annabelle's bed! 

Mother's Day Gifts for the Grandmas

Yes, I know I'm basically two entire months behind, but I am playing some SERIOUS catch-up. It seems like I go through spurts with this little blog of mine... I either take a few weeks off completely or post a ton of posts all at once. I'm trying to be more consistent, as usual, but life happens.

We actually told my family about Baby Cookie 2.0 on Easter! We had Annabelle wear a BIG SIS shirt that we made for her (and I somehow have exactly ZERO pictures of her wearing it that day because we told them, ate Easter dinner, and then quickly changed to head out to the Royals game... oops!), so I decided to make them a little something special and ship it to them for Mother's Day.

I found this idea on Etsy, but it was from a seller in another country, so the shipping was really expensive. I decided to try to make my own, and I'm really pleased with how they turned out. I knew I wouldn't be able to top last year's mason jar photo frames, but those were FAR more work intensive... I love mine, but I can't say I'll ever make another.

Do you make DIY gifts for Mother's Day, or are you more of a traditional gift buyer / giver?

How I Told Dan About Baby Cookie 2.0

Remember, this second baby girl has been a HUGE surprise to us! She is very wanted and very loved... but... we were taken aback when we first found out about her! We thought Annabelle would be an only child. Instead, she gets to be a big sister!

I actually found out on a Thursday morning (right after a wine night with the girls... oops!) but had to keep it to myself until Friday evening since Dan had a big check ride on Friday during the day. I didn't want to distract him (because I knew it was going to be a huge bomb dropped!) so he could focus on passing that flying evaluation... so I told my best friend Michelle, and she helped me figure out what to do.

Since it's Baby COOKIE 2.0... we decided writing on one of those giant Walmart cookies was the way to go. In hindsight, I definitely should have had the bakery write this out for me... I was SO NERVOUS that my hand was shaking uncontrollably, hence the terrible handwriting. I actually have great penmanship, and I'm not new to using frosting. This just shows how anxious I was about telling Dan!

Luckily, he took the news in stride, AND we had a big chocolate chip cookie to devour while we talked it all out.

Looking back, I feel kind of silly about being so nervous to tell Dan... but like I said, we were both in a state of shock for those first few weeks!

And honestly... what kind of situation does a giant chocolate chip cookie NOT help with?!