Just a Man and His Thoughts....

My parents are the absolute best. It's nothing new, it's no surprise, but sometimes they still shock me with their level of care, level of effort, generosity, and just kindness. 

I am overwhelmed right now with work. This is the busiest time of the year for me. I am a meeting/conference/event planner by day and our annual conference (with a week of events, speakers, vendors, etc) is coming up in less than 3 weeks. Oh, and by the way...my doctor keeps "gently reminding me" that these babies will be here within the next 9-11 weeks. Holy moly! We're having babies!!

That being said, I need to get a move on it. The nursery is not even close to done. As of last weekend I had cribs and a glider ordered. no bedding, no paint, no wall decor, no baby books, no pediatrician, no rugs, no lamps...I need to stop because my head is starting to hurt. 

Insert Zsa Zsa and Big Daddy. My dad called me last Tuesday and said, "Go pick out your paint and I'll paint tomorrow." What?? How in the world am I going to pick out paint in 1 night? Have you MET me? So I went and bought TEN (maybe 11) samples and painted up an entire wall. The next morning I still couldn't decide so I "eenie-meenie-miney-moe'd" it and texted him the color. He went to Home Depot, bought the paint, bought the supplies, and I came home to a hard working Big Daddy simply the trim away from a painted nursery!

It was such a weight to have that room painted so that everything else can begin. Meanwhile, my cribs had come in and were waiting on the painted room so we could put them together. Did I mention Dave is currently studying for his final round of the CPA exam? So he is a bit tied up as well. We thought we would get the cribs put together this weekend. But instead....the very next day...I came home at 8:30 pm...exhausted, feet swollen, almost in tears it had been such a long day, to find this...

Our cribs, put together by loving hands, with precious notes of love. It may sound cheesy, but y'all, I just sat down in the floor and cried. I know it was a combination of exhaustion, gratitude, and being completely overwhelmed by their love for us and these babies. We wouldn't have gotten around to painting and getting these beds together for at least another 2 weeks. And now, it's done! I can move on to ordering, planning, decorating everything else. I am so thankful. 

AND, if that weren't enough...mom sent me this little treasure she captured and I laughed for 15 minutes and watched it at least 5 times. It makes me smile to think that he would spend 2 days doing our hard work and still be making jokes! HYSTERICAL! 

Mom and dad, you are the very best. I couldn't have asked for more loving parents and I am so grateful. So, so grateful. 

My cup runneth over! 

We Can be Friends in Real Life!

Calling all Austin bloggers! Let's be friends in real life! Jenn, who blogs over at Perfectly Imperfect, has set up a blogger meet-up this Saturday. If you're interested leave a comment and let me know. I'll send you the details!

If you want to see the fun ladies that will be attending just head over to Jenn's blog and you can click through the blogs who have linked up. If you just so happen to be passing through Austin this weekend feel free to join us. We'd love to meet you and show you our fabulous city. 

Hope to see you Saturday!

The Daily...

Is it just me or is this weather and current TV lineup not perfect for curling up on the couch with hot chocolate and your favorite love bug? 

I told myself I was NOT going to watch the Bachelor. After 146 seasons I thought it was time to draw the line. I skipped last week and was all, "Yeah, I'm just beyond all of the drama" and then last night happened. I was making dinner, ABC was on and I didn't change it. Next thing you know you're two hours, 3 dates, 1 set of tears, a cat fight and a rose ceremony in. Addiction is a dangerous game. 

Dave and I also watch Castle on Monday nights. I'm not sure when we got hooked but Castle, Revenge, and Duck Dynasty are "our shows." We always watch them together. It's basically comfy-redneck date night. 

In non-TV news...I bought Miss Priss a couple of tiny treats. Janie and Jack was having a huge sale and they were basically giving away their summer items. I figured a 3 month old absolutely needed espadrilles and this darling dress, no? 

The poodle was a "gift with purchase". :) (kidding!)

And finally...here's the money shot. This is the 22.5 week baby (ies) bump. I'm almost 24 weeks now but this is the last one I've taken. These little lovies are growing!

Happy Tuesday, friends! Stay warm!

"Yooooou Get Outta Here!!"

An absolute highlight.

I Still Do.

Yesterday was our 6th wedding anniversary. I won't pretend like this is "forever" as only a few (13) days earlier would have been my Nana and Papa's 60th wedding anniversary! However, I do appreciate the beauty of our 6 years, and I am so thankful that on that overcast Saturday 6 years ago I said "I do" to this wonderful man. 

He way leave his "pocket vomit" on the counter every.single.day., and he may put his cold feet on me when I'm warm in the bed (that's only allowed when I do it!!!), and he may leave his peanut butter knife in a cup of water in the sink (sick, sick, sick!!)... 

But he also fills my car up with gas every Sunday before I start the week, helps me with the dishes every night, bathes Rookie because he knows I hate to do it, and he always leaves a light on on my side of the bed if I come to bed after him for any reason. 

Year number 6 was a tough one for us. We had some emotional lows and I am just so thankful that God gave me him as my "help mate". His strength and constant level-headed-ness (It's my blog post, just go with it) is what provided much comfort for me during some trying times. We prayed that God would reveal Himself to us, provide the comfort and peace we needed, and ultimately, reveal His plan for our future and our family. 

After years of questions we received the most amazing answer. I am so thankful, so blessed, and so honored that this man is going to be my baby daddy :) Here's to everything year #7 has in store!

I love you to the moon and back! 

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

 ~ Proverbs 27:17

What's in a Name...

 For weeks we have thrown around names. I have imagined myself shouting his name at his baseball games, I've imagined writing her name at the top of a letter telling her how proud I am of her, I've imagined teenage girls calling my house saying, "Hi Mrs. Mendenhall! Is X there?"

By the way, those teenage girls are calling for her, not him! They will never date. :)

We had a head start on her name. I've loved it for years and it has a special place in our hearts but still, when it came down to pulling the trigger we threw out a few more just to make sure we were picking the perfect name for her. For him, we had a middle name but not a first name. We threw out a million. Some I didn't like, most he didn't like. Our family weighed in....that's when things get crazy! 10 opinions over Thanksgiving is a lot of opinions! We went back to the 2 man drawing board. And over Christmas we made a final decision and shared it with our family.

Without further ado...

Miss Caroline Sue Mendenhall

 Mr. Parker Edward Mendenhall

Little Miss is named after David's maternal grandmother, Caroline and my maternal grandmother, Sue. I have always loved the name Caroline and unfortunately, I never had the honor of knowing David's grandmother. We love that she will bear such a beautiful name. Sue is near and dear to my heart as that is my Nana's name and my mom's middle name. I don't know 2 more amazing women so who better to share that name than our little girl. 

Little Mister had his middle name from the get-go. Dave's middle name is Edward and so is his dad's. We knew we wanted to use that so the first name was the big question. Ultimately, Dave came home from work one day and said, "How about Parker?" It was the one name he had seriously thrown out and really liked. I really liked it, and loved that it was something David came up with and not just a name he was agreeing with. That made it all the more special and thus, Parker he would be!

We love these babies to pieces and we are so glad to be able to pray for them by name now. Cribs, a glider, names...things are getting real! :)

Merry, Merry, Happy, Happy!

 Happy New Year, friends! I trust you're all off to a wonderful 2013 and have stuck with your resolutions. It's been about 33 hours so if not, you might want to rethink things. I kid. But clearly my resolve to not buy another 1/2 gallon of Peppermint Blue Bell ice cream was nothing more than a stab at tradition.

We had a wonderful, very merry Christmas around here followed by an incredibly uneventful NYE in which we were asleep by 11:15 and awoken by midnight texts from my NANA who is a bigger baller than we are. Nothing like feeling pathetic and geriatric to kick off the new year. Maybe we'll get a life in 2013. Or maybe we'll have twins...and beg to be asleep by 11:15 to kick off 2014!

Back to Christmas...on Christmas Eve-eve nothing says "family" like a group of competitive people hitting the bowling alley. We split up into teams of 5 and amazingly enough, each team won 1 round. The urge to win got us talking about a 3rd game but the urge to eat won out so we ended things amicably. Plus, Nana bowled a 130 the second game so how can you compete with that? We ended on that booty kicking.

Mom and Nana- don't let the sweet faces fool you. They will tear you up on the lanes.

 Teeny, taking her bow! Haha.

 Team Mendenhall

Nothing says Merry quite like this!

And in the spirit of keeping it real...this is what I got while setting the timer on the camera. The "in between" shots are always my favorite :) 

I watched Love Actually, The Holiday, and half of ELF while wrapping my gifts...

 And had a little help from Santa!

 We celebrated Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve. Our tradition consists of our Christmas Eve service at church followed by dinner at home, a few games, and opening gifts. 

 "kid picture"

Merry Christmas from the Mendenhalls!

 We had a visit from Santa and his reindeer! We caught them red pawed. LOVE.

On Christmas day we headed an hour south and had a wonderful couple of days with David's family! Sadly, I took my camera and my tripod and we never took pictures! These are the only ones I have taken with phones. Above: David, me and my sister-in-law, Kate in our annual "stocking photo". :)

The special surprise were these precious, priceless stockings my mother in law made for the babies!! They are DARLING and all of the buttons belonged to David's grandmother. Hers has a tiny pink button on the bottom and the heart in the middle. His has a tiny blue button and the star in the middle Both have a button in the middle that Dave's grandmother hand crocheted. I absolutely adore them!

In all, we had a wonderful, relaxing, Christ centered, fun, family Christmas and we are so thankful for the blessings this Christmas brought.

Now we're so excited for what 2013 has to offer! Most notably...the arrival of 2 new Mendenhalls!

On that note...we have NAMES! We've ordered cribs, ordered the glider, registered, and on that note... my house looks like a bomb went off because I'm cleaning every closet, every drawer, every everything to get all of the "stuff" out of our house so we have a place for all of the babies new "stuff". How can a human so tiny require so much STUFF!!

Dear 2013, let's do this!