Carter Sullivan is here

I'm so excited, I can barely stand it! I just can't wait to get up to OK!

Carter Sullivan was born on May 4 at 8:40pm. He's got a gorgeous head of black hair (just like his cousin Big Sis did, believe it or not - it's from our mom's side of the family!) He weighed 8 1/2 lbs and was 20 1/2 inches.

Big Sis Ainsely met him this morning, but she was more interested in her grapes than her baby brother. She's 20 months old and has no idea how her world has changed!

Pics to come - the above pic of my sis's sweet baby belly is the ONLY one I have. I'm begging anyone who will listen to send squishy newborn baby pictures! Stay tuned!

A Semi-Homemade Baby Shower

A new little cowboy is on the way!
And boy, did we have fun celebrating his upcoming arrival. From bandanas to boots and from George to German chocolate -- we had country covered. My sister Ellen lives in Cowboy Country - home of the OSU cowboys, some 'real' cowboys, and all things orange. So, it was only fitting to throw her a shower fit for western royalty.

I literally, got to the shower 20 minutes before it started, but my sis's best girl friends had carried out our visions for the shower and it was perfect! The menu (because honestly, when you're pregnant, isn't it all about the food? Some of my sis's favs):

7-layer dip with chips served out of a cowboy hat, covered in orange bandana. Fruit & dip are hiding to the right in the pic.



BBQ Sliders - we love tiny sandwiches!


A blurry, yummy picture of the gigantic German chocolate cupcakes - a specialty of my sis's best friend, Jenny!

My sis, the mom-to-be is on the right in this pic. That's me on the left (thank goodness I changed out of my sweats at Jenny's house and back into them before I left! Those bare legs never saw that nasty snowy weather!) Kristin and Jenny (in the middle) made this shower happen!

Drink station! We used galvanized pails anywhere we could - especially for flower arrangements (I don't think I got any good pics of that!) Here we used them for bottled water. And lemonade was at the mom-to-be's request!

Cookie favors in the shape of cowboy boots and hats - yee haw! (Isn't her bump the cutest?)

Big Sister Ainsley and my sister's husband dropped by to help drag away all the loot. I caught them dancin' to the country music we had playing!

It was such a special day for my sis to spend with her closest friends and family. Ellen, hope you enjoy these pics! I was hoping to edit them, but.... you know how crazy it is. I figured I better do this now before it gets buried on my to do list!

Nothing - seriously, nothing - could get me out of the funk I was in Friday evening over not going to OK for my sis's shower. Even though Mr. Fix-It really did pull out all the stops... he brought home stuff so we could make chili (my absolute fav!) and he brought home ICE CREAM.... which I haven't had since Sept, when I had to quit eating dairy for my sweet g-man. (Quick update... I've been weaning and we've gotten him to tolerate regular - i.e., NOT the stuff that costs an arm and a leg - so we're working towards 100% weaned. That makes me both happy and incredibly sad. But that's a whole other story...)

So you can imagine how insanely mad I was when I called my mom Sat and she was looking at conditions pretty much like this:

Seriously?! Apparently, this massive storm had missed.... So, I spent the next 30 min calling everyone I know in OK and looking at every weather radar.... And that's when we did something I still can't believe we were able to do! We dressed both kiddos and ourselves and packed clothes, bottles, gifts and shower food in right at 30 minutes. WOW! We had nothing packed - I have no idea how we did it that fast.

Now, fast forward to a few hrs down the road.... and we run into this south of OKC:

Um, WTH? The radar had showed we might encounter some rain. Not blinding wind, whipping snow around and giving us about 1/4 mile visibility. Crap. Seems we can't win for losing. Mr. Fix-It was SUCH a trooper in getting us there. And we arrived at the location, exactly 20 min before the shower started!

Y'all, what a whirlwind.... we weren't in OK for even 24 hrs.... we got back to a house that looked like a tornado had been through it, as we were literally throwing things around to get out of the house. But, my sister was so excited.... it was all worth it.

I'll download pics and will soon share with you: A Semi-Homemade Baby Shower (a snowy edition)

Just a few requests...

I haven't ever really posted anything like this, but here are a few things I'm praying for right now.... and would love if you could add to your prayer list, or think positive thoughts or wish well or whatever it is that YOU do!

Baby Stellan - I have his button at the top of my blog and I just can't get him or his momma out of my mind this wk. I don't know why I feel so connected to them - probably because her posts are amazing.

***The rest of this list will seem totally insignificant in comparison, but a few much smaller things...

The Semi-Homemade Family. After being fairly certain that Mr. Fix-It's job would be safe (due to the fact that he totally rocks at his job and is currently #3 in the whole DFW!!), we're no longer certain. At all. Rumors are freakin' rampant, with the current one being that they will go down to 3 builders. Strictly by the numbers, that would be Mr. Fix-It and 2 others. But we all know that politics and whatever else can come into play, making Mr. Fix-It the first to fall to the chopping block if someone below him is being protected. We just hope to know by tomorrow, honestly... We've been preparing for this since Oct - and with much intensity for the last 3 months... There will be so many bridges to cross, and we can do it. But it won't be easy. I am definitely inspired by so many other people I know (IRL and blog-land and other places) that are going through the same thing.

Lastly, the weather. Sat is my sister's Semi-homemade Baby Shower in Oklahoma and now it's supposed to SNOW tomorrow!! We've had not-so-great recent luck in driving in bad weather, so we're obviously concerned. Esp since we're toting both the kiddos with us. As hostess and sister of the mom-to-be, I simply must be there. And I will be. Do you hear me, weather?!

Weekend Family Fun

Doesn't this just say SPRING to you? Ahhhh, it was so nice in TX this weekend. Here's Big Sister chasing bubbles. My mom and sister were here for some shopping for my sister's upcoming new arrival! Here's Big Sister with that baby belly:

Here's a rare sighting of baby g sans helmet! Don't they look like an old couple, sitting on the porch, just chatting as the world passes them by?

A super, super rare picture of ME!! It's kinda dark.... but truth be told, that's probably a good thing! ;)

Oh, what a weekend! I did some Easter shopping, too.... time to start thinking of semi-homemade Easter ideas!

"Sis" and "ter"

LOL! That's how Big Sister learned to say "sister" instead of "sTister!"

My sister totally made my day (week?!) last week. She sent me one of those cute square hallmark cards.... it has kids with raincoats on, holding hands and carrying lunch boxes. I tried to find it, but this pic gives you the gist....

Anyway, on the inside, it says something super appropriate to the humor my sis and I have:

We'll be fine as long as we've got each other --

and plenty of snacks!

And in it, she said some sweet, encouraging things and included a giftcard to Sonic (man, I have an addiction to vanilla diet cokes during happy hour! It's a serious problem... Hi, I'm Elaine and I love sonic.)

Isn't that the best? Funny thing is.... my shit hit the fan on Sunday, so she sent that on Monday.... and hers hit the fan on Tuesday and I emailed her, telling her I wanted to help and what could I do? Send a sonic gift card? And funny, one was on the way to me.

And that's why I hope Big Sister gets a little sister someday... (oh, and I ended up sending her a piece of cheesecake from The Factory!!)