Sunday, October 31, 2010

Just Us!

We have been super busy these days. We moved to a different city, and are loving it here! We definitely like living in a bigger city rather than the small town life! We NEED things to do...and we are loving all the options we have here!!!
Blogging has NOT been at the top of my to-do list lately....but here is a photo of me and my honey! We were on our way to the zoo with the girls!

I have lots of things I want to blog about, so maybe I'll blog again soon....maybe......

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Aniya's birth announcement

The name Aniya is of Hebrew origin and means God Answered. We are so very thankful that God Answered our prayers, and the prayers of our friends and family...



Our precious baby girl is getting big! We are so glad she is here with us, Safe and Sound!!!!!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Preschool

Abby had her 1st day of preschool this week. I can't believe our little girl is already going to school! Time flies SO fast once you have kids... our oldest is 3 and our youngest is almost 7 weeks, unbelievable!
Abby had so many things to talk about after her 1st day at preschool...singing, reading, playing on the "ship", and making balloons with stickers on them.

Here she is before going inside.

Sissy wanted to take a picture with Abby.


When we got to her classroom, we gave her a kiss and told her bye. I don't even think she noticed us leaving, she was to busy playing until the rest of the kids arrived.

She was so proud on the car ride home, she couldn't wait to go back!

She has preschool on Wednesdays and Fridays. When I picked her up from preschool on Friday, I asked her "Abby, what did you do at school today?" She said, "Hmmmm............We took drinks of water, not juice-water..........." Too funny!!!! Out of everything they did, the highlight of the morning was drinking water!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Introducing....Aniya Rose Wallace!

Aniya Rose Wallace was born Aug. 4, 2010 at 7:35 a.m.


Here are the VERY proud big sisters meeting her for the 1st time!!!!!!!!



Neither one of them knew what to think the 1st time they heard her cry.


On our way home...she decided she was hungry!



3 weeks. old.

We are so thankful that she is finally here. There were LOTS of people praying for her safe arrival, and prayers were answered!

We had lots of complications throughout most of her pregnancy. When I went in for my 32 week appointment with the specialist, we got AMAZING news!!!! The doctor told us after our sonogram- that our baby was healthy, I was healthy and the previous complications had fully resolved! Richard and I decided that she {our baby} needed an EXTRA special name because she was such a blessing and we were so thankful that God healed us! We searched and searched for a fitting name, and came upon the name Aniya... Aniya means "God answered." We found this name to be perfect because so many people had been praying for us for months, and God answered everyone's prayers!

Our family is finally complete! 3 little girls occupy our house, and it is going to be lots of fun over the next MANY years!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Abby turns 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe our little girl is 3 today! It has gone by so fast!!! We didn't have her a big party this year...we have so many things going on in preparing for the baby to arrive in a little over a week. We had a good day though, LOOK! She got a big girl bike!!!





I made Meg's 6 layer rainbow cake (with homemade frosting)! I am not a creative person...I'm not even sure I enjoy trying to be creative and I am NO Betty Crocker, so I was kinda nervous about making it...but it turned out great!!!!!!!!!!!! So...if you are wanting to make this cake, GO FOR IT!!! If I can make it...so can you!


Here is a piece of the cake...isn't it lovely? When I cut it and gave Abby the first piece, she said..."Oh My Goodness, see the cake!!!!" She loved all the colors!




Our other little girl, waiting patiently for her piece of cake.



I think this has become our new "favorite" cake...it is just SOOOO fun. When you cut into it, it is such a surprise to find all the colors!

Abby acts like such a big girl...most of the time. She has such a kind heart and loves her little sister SO much! They are perfect sisters, and don't usually fight. They share, play together, and give each other lots of hugs and kisses! I love seeing them play together, and I love hearing Abby say "Sissy, you wanna watch a movie?" or "Sissy, you want some juice?" They always look out for each other, and that is an amazing thing to see.
Abby, you are our Sunshine and we Love you with all our heart! We are so blessed to have you in our lives!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Baby Aniya's room

We finished the baby's room last week, and I think it's pretty darn cute! It is still pretty empty in there, though...we still need to get her a dresser, but I like her room A LOT!!!!!






Here is another project I just finished for the girls' room. Their room is pink and brown...1 brown wall and 3 pink walls. I got a large canvas and painted it the same pink as the other 3 walls, then I had ordered their names with the princess wand from Simply Said (vinyl lettering). I think it turned out very nice...I also LOVE the girl's room! Everything in their is pink and brown...even their toy box's are pink!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Father's day


I know I'm really late...but here was the girls' Father's day gift to Richard. I seen the idea on Jill's blog and LOVED it!!!!! Thanks Jill for the great idea! The hard part was getting our dramatic 1 year old to cooperate for the pictures! She always wants to do what SHE wants, when SHE wants to do it...and on this day, she did NOT want to take pictures! You can see in the middle picture, Abby was pretty much holding her hostage for me!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Mmmm....

Aren't these 2 of the cutest girls you've ever seen?!?!

Typical evening at the Wallace's...watching a girly movie like; Princess & the Frog or Thumbelina, and drinking a slushy (from happy hour, of course)!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Lunch Date and a Flashback

It was pouring rain today, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE rainy days. Richard and I had a lunch date at home. A $5 pepperoni pizza from Little Caesar's, Red Cream Soda, chocolate candy bars, and a FREE Redbox movie! Doesn't get much better... oh ya, AND we had 2 sleeping girls...

1/2 way through lunch, I told Richard this was a good afternoon date. His response: "Oh, this was supposed to be a date? Why didn't you tell me, I didn't know?!?!?" ...Men.







And just because I LOVE this picture, here is a flashback photo of us a little over 7 years ago. It was my 1st trip to Memphis to meet Richard's family. We went to Graceland while there, and had a great trip! We look so young here (well, I guess we were young)!!!




Friday, June 4, 2010

Swimsuits and Sprinklers

Swimsuits and sprinklers is a fun and cheap way to have fun on hot days. We have spent LOTS of days playing in the sprinkler over the last week. Here are the girls in their brand new swimsuits from Nana & Papa! They look so stinkin cute!!!!!

We bought a couple really cool sprinklers at the end of summer last year on clearance. This one is not quite as fun as the other "crazy daisy" sprinkler. But, it gets the job done!

We have an amazing backyard. We have worked so hard on it over the last 4 years, and our hard work is definitely showing this summer! I have pictures of our backyard when we bought our house 4 years ago, it was disaster (no kidding!) But, I have plans to blog more about that topic later.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Such a Girl!

There is NO denying that Abby is ALL GIRL! We have 2 very girly girls, and Abby loves to talk on the phone! Here she is talking to her nana on the phone one evening. When I look at this picture, I can already see what is to come once she's a teenager!


Sunday, April 25, 2010

Update!

We are doing good...We had another appointment with the specialist about 1 1/2 weeks ago, and it was great! Everything has put itself into the proper places. The placenta has moved out of the way and the baby is doing great! I also got released to go back to work, which is kind of bittersweet. I DO NOT at all want to go back to work, I LOVE being home with the girls everyday...but I know that I NEED to go back to work until the baby arrives to help my family financially. I went in Thursday and talked to the people at work about me coming back. They are very hesitant, and didn't seem very excited at the thought. They told me they would only want me to work 2 days/week and just see how that went...Then they told me they needed to have a "meeting" about it! So, I go back in the morning to see what they decided about me in their "meeting." At least we still have Premier, that is one thing that we are so thankful to have in our life. It has been such a blessing to us over the last 2 years!

I will try to take a new "belly picture" this week. I am now 25 weeks, and growing like crazy! Only 15ish weeks left till we get to meet our new baby girl! Then, chaos will take on a whole new meaning with 3 girls under 3!!!! Oh my, pray for our sanity over the next couple years (just kidding, ........ok, maybe I'm not!)
Here are our beautiful little girls, we went and had their pictures taken a couple weeks ago.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Easter

There are very few occasions where we allow candy for breakfast, Easter is one of those occasions! Don't they look stylish in their glasses? Abby always insists on wearing her glasses/sunglasses upside down...silly girl!



Her hair is so wild in the mornings...


Hunting Easter eggs after the church service.


Me and my handsome hubby after church.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Oh happy Spring!

I think Spring is FINALLY here to stay!!!! We have been spending almost everyday outside. Almost ALL day, everyday...which means housework is being terribly neglected...Oh Well :) I am lovin getting to spend so much time with the girls. Richard is working evenings, so he spends all morning outside too. Although, he is outside doing spring cleaning. We were so, so, so, busy and overwhelmed last year that we slacked off on outdoor cleaning and yard work. So he is trying to get us caught up this spring!


Look at my "baby"... how is it that kids always want to go the wrong way on slides?


Our fearless protector...Manny...

Friday, April 2, 2010

Going to the Zoo

We went to the zoo this week. It was an amazing day, a lot windy, but it felt great! This is only the 2nd time Abby has been to the zoo, and the 1st time for Alivia. To say that Abby was excited, would be an understatement! She loved everything about the zoo, especially the elephants and snakes! When going through the reptile and amphibian building, she kept saying, "Oh my goodness, a snake. Oh my goodness, another snake. Oh my goodness, see the frogs!!!" She uses the phrase "oh my goodness" quite often...it is so funny to hear a 2 year-old say that. We went on a Thursday hoping it wouldn't be to busy. We were happy to see that there was hardly anyone there. Yay for everyone being in school and at work :)

We tried several times to get Alivia to get out of the stroller and look at things, but she wanted NO parts of it!!! She was perfectly happy sitting in her seat looking at the animals. Actually, when we tried to get her out and hold her, she started crying and reaching for the stroller again. Whatever...
We have a great double stroller and Abby rode alot too. But when she didn't want to ride, and was tired from walking, this is where she ended up...
The tiger just laid there and stared at her like she was funny looking or something! Well, I guess to him, she probably is funny looking... :)

We had a great day!!! And when we got home, the girls took a 4 hour nap!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Our Day...

We started out our day with appt. with our OB doctor. Just our regular check-up. I am going to him every 2 weeks so he can keep up on our progress in this pregnancy. We heard the heartbeat going strong at 150! We are nervously awaiting our appt. with the specialist on Friday morning.

Here is ME at 19 weeks, man my belly is big!

Here is Abby helping her daddy fix the porch today...she is getting to be such a big helper!


Alivia started out happily watching them from the front door...


...then her happiness turned into THIS!!!! She was getting tired of not being able to help! It's tough to be so little!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Our little girl is walking!!!

Alivia started walking on Friday, she looks so stinkin cute toddling around the house!!!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

10 Things I LOVE!!!

The warm weather is making me HAPPY! I don't even care if it's gloomy outside, as long as it's warm! I LOVE springtime, it's my favorite season! I thought I would make a list of some of the things I LOVE!


1.) First of all, I LOVE these 2 little girls! They are so sweet and they are growing up so fast. This picture was before church this morning, we were getting ready to leave and Abby said "Mommy, take a picture, take a picture!" (I think she gets that from my mom, my mom is addicted to taking pictures. And Abby LOVES to have her picture taken :)


Aren't they beautiful!!!!!


2.) I LOVE my hard working husband! He works so hard for us, and we all appreciate him SO much!

3.) I LOVE going to church and feeling like the sermon is speaking to me! I often leave church feeling like the pastor was addressing whatever has been troubling me.
4.) I LOVE hearing the birds outside. I have the back window open right now and can hear the birds singing.

5.) I LOVE coffee....Lots of creamer, 2 sugars... Enough said...

6.) I LOVE the way a clean house smells! Nothing is better than being in a clean house.

7.) I LOVE thunderstorms! We are supposed to be getting some in the next day or two, and I can't wait!

8.) I LOVE happy hour at Sonic! A LARGE Vanilla Dr. Pepper for $.90, it doesn't get better than that!

9.) I LOVE summertime hot dogs! Ya know, cooked on the grill...kinda crispy black on the outside...MMMmmmm....No kidding, I could eat like 6 at a time!!! The absolute BEST summer food EVER!!!!!!

10.) I LOVE my kids, but also LOVE the peace and quiet of night-time. When the girls have gone to bed and there are no noise-making toys in the background, no one yelling "Mommy" for the 1,354,869,209,832 time that day, and there is nothing to do but relax...awww...peace and quiet!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Update on our life...

It has taken me a long time to get the courage to write this on our blog. We are not very open about our life. I mean, we have nothing to hide, but it's just not our style to broadcast our business for the world to hear, not to mention 'read' about on a blog. But, here it goes...we have decided to put updates about our life and this pregnancy on our blog so that our friends don't have to "wonder" how we are doing.

This is LONG! It is about the past 6 weeks of this pregnancy. I have to also put it out there, that we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, our OB doctor! Personally, I think he is the absolute best there is!

Ok, here it goes...
I am now 17 weeks pregnant, it has been a LONG 17 weeks and we know it will not start to move faster anytime soon. I think we are OK with the waiting for this pregnancy to be over, though. It has been a really bumpy road so far and it's not going to get any easier. This pregnancy was a big surprise to us, not a surprise to God, but a surprise to us. We were nervous about having 3 children under 3, and still are nervous about this. I guess God knows what he's doing though.

Things started out normal with tiredness, nausea, and 4 positive pregnancy tests! I started having some spotting at about 11 weeks, which made us nervous. I called the doctor and they said that it could be perfectly normal, just let them know if it got worse. Over the next couple weeks, the spotting just kept happening. I went in for an appt. and they checked the baby's heartbeat and everything was ok. They set me up for a sonogram at the hospital just to make sure nothing else was wrong. At the sonogram, they concluded that I have total placenta previa. My placenta, which is supposed to be attached to the top your uterus, is sitting completely on top of my cervix and it's putting some pressure on the cervix (not good). Doctor gave me restrictions for work and told me as long as I was careful, everything should be fine. They made sure to tell me to carefully follow my restrictions because if I didn't, and something happened, I could bleed to death before I got help. That REALLY freaked me out!!! I went to work the next day, followed my restrictions, and was very careful to not do anything I shouldn't. It was right before lunch, I stood up from a chair, and my pants were immediately soaked with blood down past my knees. We called the doctor and he was waiting at the maternal/child unit for us. I ended up being in the hospital for 4 days, not fun at all! He took me off work for the remainder of the pregnancy and told me to take it easy at home (not an easy thing to do with a 1 year old and a 2 year old). I am following orders best I can, though.

It is hard for my mind to process the fact that I need to be on restrictions, I don't feel sick and I don't feel like anything is wrong with me. Well, I went to the doctor yesterday and kind of got "slapped" back to reality! He didn't tell me anything new, but just reaffirmed that I'm not "ok". I took my printed calendar with me to show him the days in February that I had spotting or bleeding. There were 11 days, 11 out of 28 days! That is alot, and it didn't make him happy, he is very concerned for us. So, he put things into perspective for us (or more for me!) Our doctor is SO good about putting things into perspective and being extremely blunt and he's really good at bursting bubbles! But, that's why we like him so much, he doesn't sugar coat anything. He tells you the ugly truth, no matter how bad you don't want to hear it.

Here is what we were told yesterday:

  • We are officially a "high risk pregnancy." I should have known this was coming, but hearing him say it made it more real.
  • We have an appt. on March 19th with the high risk pregnancy specialist in Wichita. Our doc said he wants us to become comfortable with her and he wants her to become familiar with us. She is going to do an extensive sonogram to check for other problems.
  • We have small goals set with the doc in this pregnancy. The final goal is for me to reach 34 weeks. If I reach 34 weeks, they will take the baby by c-section at that time.
  • The doc also said the reason he wants us to become comfortable with the specialist is because he doesn't think I will reach 34 weeks, therefore the specialist would be the one there for the deliverly.
  • He also said that if I keep spotting or bleeding, no matter how minimal, by the time I'm into the later 20's weeks, I WILL be in Wichita in the hospital until they take the baby :(
  • And, I need to continue to be extra careful while at home.

So, the appt. yesterday went well. Nothing new thrown at us, just kinda brought me back to reality. We have had several people bringing us meals and helping out with other tasks that we may need, and we appreciate this SOOO much!!!! This whole situation is very stressful to our life in more ways than one. The whole pregnancy situation is stressful in itself, but then we have the stress of being forced to have only 1 income which was definately not in our plans anytime soon.

Pray for our family, this little "baby bean", and our finances in the coming months. I will make regular updates from here on, and I'm sure none of them will be even close to being THIS long!!!

Monday, March 1, 2010

cranky mama

*(Wow, this post turned out way longer than planned, oh well...)*

The purpose of this post is not to call together a pity party for me, or make you feel sorry for me. It is just simply to vent some frustration and hopefully make me less cranky after putting my feelings into words...Here is our day so far...

slept in till 7:15...YEAH!!! (that's a big deal in this house).
happy children. they played alot early this morning.
cinnamon rolls for breakfast, YUM...
coffee...one of the best drinks ever...
get everyone ready for an outing to pay a couple bills.
STILL, happy children.
run errand to pay a bill.
alivia gets tired while in the car.
no more happy children, alivia starts yelling and crying.
more crying.
more crying.
alivia falls asleep, BAD NEWS!
richard carries her in the house insisting she will stay asleep.
she stays asleep. awww...thank you, Lord!
take abby potty, lay her down for nap.
get lunch started for a visitor from my hometown church.
abby gets up claiming she has to potty again.
abby eats a bite of chicken nugget, goes back to bed.
abby spits out chewed up chicken nugget on her bed.
mommy tells her that's gross, and tells her to go to sleep.
alivia starts crying in her room, 30 minutes after laying down :(
alivia crys some more.
i go get her, and she screams even more!
she keeps screaming.
i lay her back down.
she cries some more.
abby gets up to go potty AGAIN!!!
abby goes back to bed.
richard gets alivia up, she is extremely cranky. this makes mommy cranky.
our lunch guest arrives.
abby gets back up and says, "abby's awake!"
we have lunch.
richard leaves for work.
our lunch guest leaves.
abby is bossy, and is deliberately disobeying.
alivia is still cranky.
i lay alivia down again, thinking maybe she will take a nap.
she lays in her room for an hour, whining and talking and whining some more.
every time i tell abby to do something, she firmly tells me "NO." (when did this happen, i mean, when did it happen that i get tired of arguing with my 2 year old child. i'm the parent, right? richard is good at making her listen, and most of the time she obeys me without alot of trouble. today is different though. usually she obeys in fear of going to time-out, but today she doesn't even care about time-out. at the moment i have no insight into the mind of 2 year olds, other than they want to do WHAT they want, WHEN they want to do it!)

I am so thankful days like these don't happen often. I don't know if my brain could handle it, I don't like being cranky. I'm sure these darn pregnancy hormones have something to do with my mood too. Oh well, back to reality...
P.S.-since finishing this post, alivia has gotten quiet...maybe, just maybe, she has gone to sleep for awhile. When she wakes up, maybe she will be a happy 1 year old!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Makes me smile...

No matter how many times I watch this video, it always makes me smile. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Assurance

Never look ahead to the changes and challenges of this life in fear. Instead, when they arise look at them with full assurance that God, whose you are, will deliver you out of them. Hasn't He kept you safe up to now? So hold His loving hand tightly and He will lead you safely through all things. And when you cannot stand, He will carry you in His arms.
Do not look ahead to what may happen tomorrow. The same everlasting Father who cares for you today, will take care of you tomorrow and everyday. Either He will shield you from suffering or He will give you His unwavering strength that you may bear it. Be at peace, then, set aside all anxious thoughts and worries.
~Francis de Sales
This passage came from a very special blog. Joel and Jess are such AMAZING people who have endured so much over the last year. If you have a chance, you should visit their blog here.
This passage has such great meaning. I think sometimes I forget that I can't control everything that happens in my life. And sometimes we go through tough situations so that we can grow into a stronger and better person. At the time, we may not realize Gods ultimate plan, but we need to be assured that He knows HIS plan.
In his heart, a man may plan his course, but the LORD will determine his steps.
~Proverbs 16:9
We have had a bumpy road the last couple weeks with our pregnancy. We go to the hospital tomorrow morning for a sonogram to check and make sure everything is alright. Please keep us and "baby bean" in your prayers. We are trying to remember that God is in control and He already knows our future.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Little friends

This is Abby's friend Brooke. They are such good little freinds. It is actually kinda weird how much they act alike. When they are together, they are like 2 peas in a pod. Brooke came over a couple weeks ago to play for a little while. They had a blast playing with Manny on the bed. And he was LOVING the attention!

I hope these 2 can remain friends for a long time. They are so cute together!