Happy 3rd Birthday Payten!

Happy Birthday to my sweet, precious Payten Mackenzie. I can't believe three years has gone by. I was sooo happy on her birthday and yet kinda sad that she is growing up faster than I want her too. I am excited that she is growing up into a beautiful little girl......but miss the days that she was a tiny little baby. I will cherish everyday and I am so blessed to have her in my life. I couldn't imagine life without her and I love her more and more everyday. She is my little buddy and brings so much joy to my heart. The bible verse, "Children are a blessing from the Lord" is so true. Everytime I think of that verse I thank God that he blessed me with a precious daughter who is healthy, happy, joyful, and full of life. Payten is a spunky little girl that keeps Matt and I on our t0es....she will always be my "baby angel". (I have always called her this since we brought her home from the hospital.) On her birthday we celebrated by having her a family birthday party. She is having her birthday party with her friends next Saturday. We got up the morning of her birthday and played around the house. For lunch we went to Los Cucos and ate Mexican food. She loves their chips and green dip from there. After we ate our waiter and a few more workers came over and sang Happy Birthday and I think embarrassed her a little bit. She didn't know what to think when a huge crowd walked up and put this gigantic hat on her head and started singing to her. She warmed up real quick to the attention!!! After lunch we went home and sang Happy Birthday, blew out her candles, ate birthday cake that mom and I made her...Payten helped :) and then opened presents. She had so much fun on her birthday! The rest of the day Papa and Daddy taught her how to swing a bat and play t-ball. She did really well and we think she is a natural athlete! :) Just like her Mommy and Daddy! haha After it cooled off we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood and let Payten ride her jeep. Her friend Zenden rode with her and we ended up walking for around 45 mintues. She was having way to much fun with Papa chasing her the entire time and he kept acting like Payten was running over his toes with the jeep and for some reason her and Zended thought it was hilarous. Little kids have such a sense of humor! Mom and I worked so hard on this cake. You can definitely tell it is home made....but Payten loved it! And that's what matters. :) She didn't care that the cake was a little crooked and the writing was a little messed up in some places. (By the way, mom the writing was pretty good....a lot better than what I could have done!) haha

I love you Miss Payten! Beyond words! I think it is so cute how you always tell me that you look just like me. You say, "Mommy, we have the same eyes and the same hair." You look up at me with your big brown eyes and smile and it makes my heart melt!!!

Baby Bedding for our Little Boy

Here is a picture of the bedding we picked out for our little boys room. I LOVE IT!!! It is sooo pretty. We shopped around Houston for a day and didn't find anything. Today we went and tried one more store and the first thing we saw when we went into the store was this.....it is shades of blue, cream and gold. Now I have to wait 4-6 weeks for it to come in....I can't wait to get the room ready and for him to be here! I thought I would share a pic. Happy 4th of July. Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday! :)

Payten's "Big Girl Room"

Here are a couple pictures of Payten's new room. We are still in the process of getting things on the walls, but most everything is done for now. She loves her room and really likes her birthday present from Mommy and Daddy. Actually she could probably care less.....all she cares about these days are playing "Mommy" to her babies, watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, playing outside, and can't forget she LOVES to play dress up!!!!! Here is a belly shot from this morning.... Yes, it is getting bigger every week!!! :) I just pray that I can keep my weight down and only gain in my belly. I guess we'll see in a couple months!! I love being pregnant. It is so much fun! I love the feeling and I have great pregnancies. I have felt him moving a couple times. Not a whole lot of movement yet but it was great to feel a couple flutters and the other day he was kicking me pretty good in the lower abdomen. I can't wait to meet the little guy! And little Payten playing as usual... she loves to play chase around the house. She runs to the couch and buries her head thinking she is hidden from us. :)

Payten and Kitty Girl Fighting :)

At the very end of this video Payten and Nala are fighting. It is pretty funny, although Nala doesn't think so. This video is kinda long so if you want you can fast forward to the end. The beginning is Payten making a huge mess!!!!! She loves making messes and it took me all night long to clean it up.

Good Morning

We just got back from the Astros game. We had so much fun and Payten did really well. I think she really enjoyed the game. As we were leaving she said she wanted to watch the game again. We went with our friends Graig and Leah. As we were driving home we were all talking and all of a sudden Payten told us to "Shhhh... be quiet"......then she told us she was trying to talk on the phone. We look over and she has my old cellphone to her ear. Matt nicely explained to her that you don't tell grown ups to shush! We all thought it was pretty funny. We have been really busy lately.....Trying to figure out a name for our little guy takes up a lot of my free time. We have no clue on names but we have 5 1/2 months to figure it out. I have also been planning Payten's third birthday. We are going to have her a pool party. She is pretty excited about it. It is so fun because she really understands birthdays now and knows what is going on. She tells me all the time, "Mom, I want this for my birthday".....I remind her that we don't get everything we want! Even on our birthdays! Kids these days just think things are free??? I don't quite understand that. On another note, my belly is getting bigger and bigger. I am in the second trimester now and I feel great! Most of the time. I am still pretty tired at night, but other than that things are good. I had my checkup the other day and I had gained 2 pounds....but it seems the last couple days my belly has popped. It is hard as a rock. I wish my belly could be this hard when I am not pregnant! :) Payten is very excited to have a brother. She will pull my shirt up and put her eye to my belly button and very quitely will say, "I can't see him?" She seems confused becuase for some reason she thinks she can see him through my belly button. I just laugh at her and explain that you will get to meet him in a few months. She loves to talk to him and always is touching my belly. Well, I am going to go for now...Payten is having a hard time falling asleep. I guess the Cherry Icee at the game is still running through her blood stream! :) Good night.

Paytie swimming at the Y

Here is a video of Payten swimming at the Y pool with her friends. I got a new camera phone so I have lots of videos to put on here......I will post more later....we are on our way to an Astros baseball game!

IT'S A BOY!

Yes, it's a boy! I can't believe we are actually going to have a son.... hopefully he will look just like his Daddy. Today we went in for an ultra sound to see if they could tell what he/she was. At first the ultra sound tech said it is very likely that we will not be able to tell today but she sure changed her mind within a few minutes. She said well guys there is no denying this is 100% BOY! We were sooo happy to hear the good news. I would have been happy either way but it will be nice to have one of each. This picture is just a pic from my camera that my mom took. I have ultra sound pictures as well...will post those later. I am too tired to scan them into my computer. Anway, just sharing the good news with everyone. We are soooo excited and looking forward to meeting the little fellow. :) Here is a picture of my belly these days. I have gained a few pounds and you can definitely tell that my stomach is no longer flat. Not that it was that flat to begin with, but definitely flatter than it is now. :) We are all so happy to have a little baby boy added to our family. Payten is really happy to have a baby brother! She is going to make a wonderful big sister and I know she is going to be a big help. Mom came down this week and hung out with Payten and me. We had so much fun together although Payten hasn't been feeling well. We of course went to Macy's and I got some really cute clothes that will hopefully fit me for a while. They aren't maternity but seem to stretch and flow out really well. Today after the news we decided to go to Babies R Us and look at some cute boy things and while I was there I decided to register for some boy stuff. I had so much fun looking at all the cute blue things.....and of course Meme couldn't resist getting our little precious boy some stuff. She got 2 really pretty blankets and 3 Baby Einstein books that light up and sing. Thanks Meme for coming down and spending time with us. See you in a couple weeks to celebrate Payten's 3rd birthday!!!

Disney World (part 2)

Here is Disney World (part 2). I know it has taken me forever to post more pictures but I do have a pretty good excuse! :) This baby is taking every bit of energy I have and what he/she doesn't take the little woman takes. :) There will be a part 3 from the ocean and hopefully I will get to it soon. Tomorrow we go to the doctor so I hope to post a belly picture and an update on the baby. Payten LOVED meeting Mickey and Minnie. We had to stand in a long line just to hang out with them for a few minutes. They were really nice to her and she was so fascinated with them. I don't think she quite believed they were real. She watched the Mickey Mouse Club House all the time..... so this was a real treat for her. Since going to Disney World she has three Minnies. We got her one really cute on from Disney World and my mom came up a couple days ago and brought her a couple more. They are so cute. One talks when you push her nose, ear, shoe and hand. Payten now sleeps with her "bear blanket" and three Minnies. Too Cute!

Daddy and Payten watching the Parade of Lights. It was sooooo awesome!!!!! They had so many lights on all the floats and all the characters were there. She was amazed entire parade. After the parade there was a huge firework show. I decided to quit taking pictures and just enjoy the moment, but the fireworks were absolutely amazing. They went on forever. We kept thinking the show was over, but then they would start another song and more fireworks. Payten loves fireworks. She knows her birthday is coming up real soon and she also knows that there will be fireworks on her birthday. She is so excited to see fireworks again! She talks about them all the time.

Daddy and Payten got to ride the cars together. Payten thought she was soooo big because she got to drive the huge car "all by herself". She was all smiles the whole time. I was behind them with Papa. It was pretty cute to see their car going all over the place. She did pretty good for a two year old....I have to admit. :) Walking away from meeting Mickey and Minnie. After this we were on our way to ride the train that went all around Disney. It was a great train ride with lots of beautiful scenery and good views of the park. It was nice to sit down for a while and cool off from the breeze. Happy girl. She had just got done meeting Mickey and Minnie in person!!!!!! She was sooooo thrilled to meet them, hug them, and talk to them. It was by far the highlight of her trip.

Payten sitting on a trash can getting ready for the afternoon parade to start. She was so excited to watch the parade and it ended up being very small and there were no characters!! Oh well, she got over it pretty quick. She was soooo tired.... her tongue was sticking out!!!! She crashed in her stroller for 2 hours and didn't move the entire time. Meme took her to this beautiful rest area that was shaded and there was a little pond with a water fall. It was really peaceful and Payten woke up in a much better mood. :) Little girls just get cranky when they are extremely tired and worn out. Silly Face!