Laurie's Life

I found Sarah Kate cheering for the Razorbacks the other day!

We are so blessed to have a wonderful church nursery. Emily has had a favorite nursery worker since she was 3 or 4 months old. Her name is Sammy. She is the only one who has been able to calm Emily when she cries. Sammy spoils Emily and has always called her "my girl." She gave Emily and SK these outfits recently. I have waited for the day they could wear them. Just had to share this picture!

I love this little dress that Sarah Kate is wearing today. One of my best friends, Beth, sent this to me many months ago after we found out we were having a girl. Beth is always so sweet to send me little gifts. Beth is a great friend and prayer warrior. Steve even commented how cute this dress was-I think he was just glad to see some blue! Emily is so in love with her baby sister! She tells everyone that she has a baby sister. Emily just beams when she is around her. Sarah Kate likes her too. She started smiling last week and she loves to smile at Emily. Friends from church gave us this WONDERFUL book case. Emily's Pop hung it up for her. When Emily saw it she said, OH NO, MY BOOKS!" I think she thought her books had been pinned to the wall. Sarah Kate at 5 weeks.

Our church and neighborhood have been so good to us! Steve's parents left on Thursday morning after helping me out for about a week. I was so thankful to have them here. I knew I could make it with two babies, but God has not made the load too heavy. Thursday afternoon my precious friend, June, called and wanted to know if Emily would like to come play with her little girl. This was a blessing because I needed to write some thank you notes. Then on Friday afternoon another friend invited Emily over to swim and play. Again, I was able to get some much needed things done. I have another friend who is taking Emily to VBS with her and her son. See what I mean? God sends people to help us out! I love this dress that I got at a shower. But, IT IS SO TIGHT ON HER! Bless her heart! Sometimes looking good can be very uncomfortable. Here is a must have for a newborn- "Swaddle Me" blanket. A neighbor gave me this one last week to borrow. I LOVE it! Steve calls it ...

One of my best and lifelong friends, Kelly, came to see me this week. We had a great visit and I loved introducing Sarah Kate to her. Kelly is so good with babies. Here is Emily doing her ballet. She loves to sing and dance. Today Sarah Kate got dressed up for a little outing to a friends house. I love her tiny shoes. I have a picture very similar to this one that was made when Emily was the same age. Emily was skinny, Sarah Kate is a "filled out" baby. We have been so blessed to have our Sunday School and our neighborhood do meals for us. They have been soooooooooooooo good! Steve and I are going to have another baby just so we can get the nice meals. It has been so nice not to have to worry about cooking.

Emily was two and a half last week . This picture shows her artistic skill of a girl with a bow. I am pretty impressed! I taught elementary art for twelve years before staying at home with Emily. I started loving art when I was about three. I loved to draw the characters on Sesame Street. Happy 4th of July! Sarah Kate is wearing her new red, white and blue sleeper. Steve's brother and his wife are here this weekend visiting us. We have had a good time. Emily is getting very spoiled by Uncle Justin and Aunt Cissy! Last night Sarah Kate had her first official outing. We ate at Chili's and she did good until my last bite and she woke up screaming. The Lord has answered our prayers. My best friend, Kelly, is having a BABY! We have prayed for them for many months. When I was pregnant, I would usually wake up around 2:00 a.m. and stay awake till 5:oo am. I would always use some of that time to pray that Kelly would get pregnant. This is such a blessing. Kelly and Scot...

Sunday afternoon one of my best friends, Hillary came over. Hillary has a little flower tattoo on her toe. Emily was really interested in the tattoo. After Hillary had been gone several hours, Emily began talking about the flower tattoo and that she wanted one. I told E that maybe we could find her a tattoo sometime and that seemed to satisfy her. A few minutes later Emily did her little "I be right back." She came back a few minutes later proudly wearing her own flower tattoo on her toe. She was so proud and insisted that I get one too. I think she did pretty good, notice the stem. Sarah Kate is doing good. She is hungry ALL the time. She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz, so she is a big girl. We are sure enjoying her. Emily is crazy about her. She is a wonderful big sister.

While making the Sarah Kate birth slide show, we reviewed all of our pictures taken this year. We realized very quickly how thankful we are that Jesus has allowed us to enjoy so many blessings in such a short time.

Sarah Kate Slide Show

I am going to let Steve post some pictures and write some things. We just got home from the hospital and I AM SO tired! Emily is a proud big sister. She is loving being helpful. I am off to take a little snooze.................

I went to the Dr yesterday. My body is ready! The baby just does not want to come. We are all soooooooooooo anxious to meet her. I keep thinking, "this is the day!', but go to bed disappointed. Yesterday I went to a baby store and saw a shirt that said, "OH LORD, PLEASE DELIVER ME!" I wanted to buy it, but I figured it would be a waste of money at this point. I will be induced Monday morning at 6:00 if she does not come by then. Blog friends- please pray that Sarah Kate will come SOON and all will go well with her birth and health. Thanks!

All the parents are here and we are just waiting for the first labor pain. I feel fine. Earlier in the week I was having really intense Braxton Hicks but now, not a thing seems to be happening. I worked in the nursery at church this morning and NO baby was happy with me. I know it was not comfortable to rest upon a basketball that kicked. Poor children! Well..... just wanted to give the latest.

My due date is June 10th and that is just around the corner. Let me just say that I am puffed! I took off my wedding ring yesterday because I thought I may lose circulation in my finger. My feet look awful! I have two pairs of shoes I can wear. I am having lots of Braxton Hicks and they serve as a reminder of the pain I am going to have any day now. A couple of weeks ago I saw a Braums commercial for their Brownie Fudge Sundae. The commercial got me! I had Steve take me to Braums the next day. It is SOOOOO very very good. You must go and partake of this wonderful treat! When you see me or my picture you may question whether I have water weight or just too much Braums. I think it is both. But, the ice cream is good for my heart burn. (I like to tell myself that).

Last Sunday, after church ,we went out to eat and I spotted a poster and some "free" tickets for a circus this weekend. We talked the circus up to Emily all week. But, I think I was more excited about it than she was. We invited some friends to go with us and we were all happy to be taking our children to their first circus. We when got to the circus grounds, we counted 5 cars on the parking lot , that should have been our first clue. We saw no big top tent , only 4 or 5 trailers and a bus that said circus. As we walked to the little arena, we all spotted the sign at the same time: $15 per adult. We looked at each other and said,"You have got to be kidding!" We did see some pony rides going on with the 3 children who were there . Steve asked a man if we could just pay for a pony ride and leave. We felt really sorry for the circus people, but we were NOT going to pay $ 30 for a little "circus" that could have been set up in our liv...

I have a best friend during pregnancy and it is a little chalky disc called a TUMS! I SUFFER from heartburn during pregnancy and it is just miserable. I don't like the name heartburn because I would describe it more as "throatburn." I have two sensations in my throat at all times: 1. The first is a feeling of acid bubbling in my esophagus. I tell Steve all the time that if I pass in the night it is because my esophagus just melted from the acid. We can hear the acid popping in my throat. 2. After I take a Tums or Pepcid or drink a little milk, I feel as if I have a huge lump of biscuit dough stuck in my throat. I keep Tums by my bed at night and usually take about 6 through the night. Yesterday when Emily came in at 6:00 and stood about 2 inches from my face as I kept my eyes closed, she said, "Mama take you medicine." I opened my eyes and saw she was holding the last Tums I had left on the bedside table. I really didn't feel the need to take the T...

I am very thankful that my parents have been here for almost a week. They left this morning. I enjoyed them being here and they were so helpful with Emily. She is a handful! I loved having my mother here for Mother's Day. It has been nice to get ready in the morning and have people here to watch Emily. I usually just rush and pray she does not burn the house down or something worse. My mother helped with laundry and did many other things to help. I am grateful!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here is Emily giving Kristen the cat some treats. Emily would feed her the whole bag if I let her. Emily loves Sisten, as she calls her, but Kristen DOES NOT like her. Actually, Kristen does not like anyone but me. Emily on Mother's Day.

The nursery is ready and so am I........ I have another cold! This makes the 8th one, I believe. My immune system is just shot. I hate to take another antibiotic. Have any of you had multiple colds in pregnancy? All Sarah Kate has known in the womb is my coughing. Bless her heart. Emily loves to get in her old bouncy seat. I found her in it at 3:00 a.m. Sunday night. She is still not sleeping through the night, but we have had some good nights. She is waking up at 6:00 a.m. EVERY morning. This is the girl who used to sleep till 8:30 or 9:00. Speaking of sleep, I need to go get some!

Last Thursday night my Sunday School class gave me a shower. WOW! I got so many nice things. Sarah Kate is set on clothes for a while now. I was overwhelmed by everyone's generosity. Steve and I are so blessed to be a part of the church that we are. The picture of me was taken right before I left for the shower. I was 33 weeks pregnant. I went to the Dr. today. I got a good report. Everything seems to be right on track. BUT.......my feet and ankles are SOOOOOOOO swollen. The are so tight at night that I think they could pop! I took good notes at the Dr today. Sometimes I leave not knowing too much of what is going on. Today I left knowing my measurements, blood pressure, Sarah Kate's heart rate and all that kind of stuff. Sometimes you just have to ask. The Dr thinks she is going to be a little bigger than Emily was. Emily weighed 6lbs 6 oz. He is thinking Sarah Kate will be 7 something. But, it all depends on when she decides to arrive.

Emily had her Kay-K and Pop come visit from MS this weekend. We all had a wonderful time and Emily was spoiled with princess attire! She loves getting into my jewelry and shoes, so I hope this will hinder that a little. She now has her own stuff. And she is so proud. She was thinking she looked good and I might add, she did. Everyday I think I am going to get to report that Emily stayed in her big girl bed all night, but it just has not happened. She has had some good nights, but she still gets up several time while Steve and I are still up. And the sad news for me: She is getting up around 6:00 or 6:30 every morning. She just comes and stands by my bed. We bought her some princess sheets this weekend hoping it would keep her in the bed, but nope. This morning Emily and I played outside . She loves playing with bubbles. We came in for lunch and Emily insisted that I go outside and she stay in. She pulled me out and said, "I be right back Mama." I sat out...

One of my very best and lifelong friends, Kelly, sent me a belated Birthday gift today. She gave me the first one a couple of years ago and I have loved it so much. It is cute and easy to find in my purse. But, I had worn it out! It looked AEWFUL!!!!!!!!! Today I checked the mail and got this beautiful, fresh keycahin. I am so proud. Thank you Kelly! I LOVE it! Let me clarify: I have two Kellys. The one who sent me this lives in Little Rock and we have been friends since we were two. My other Kelly I met at Ouachita Baptist University.