Jenna's Baby Shower

Jenna's baby shower was supposed to be at my house and I couldn't have been more excited to host and decorate for it, with the help of my best friend, of course. Nicole came into town Thursday, and the second I got off work, picked up AB I hauled it over to her mom's to get started on shower preperations. Jenna's nursery theme is "rustic cowboy" (which suits her and her hubby so well, if you only knew them!) so Nicole and I were dead set on finding decor to suit her theme. Instead of your traditional tablecloth, we went with burlap and bandanas, and at Michael's we found a mini bale of hay to make the centerpiece. My mom came across some boy cowboy boots at a Thrift store, so that is what topped the bale of hay. Nicole and I decided to go in on Jenna's gift together by putting a crate (notice how we incorporated the western into the gift :0) ) of our favorite "must-have" baby things. All the way from MAM pacifiers, to wipe-off bibs, to personalized burp cloths, it was so much fun to put together our favorite things to give to our sweet friend. I was so excited until...it hit me. About Friday evening around four 'o' clock I started feeling a little "yucky". I wrote it off as the Taco Bueno I had earlier. After Nicole and I left Babies 'R' Us, we were going to finish off our shopping at Target. I told Nicole I really needed to go home and take a nap and sleep off this yuckiness and I would pick her up later after the girls went to bed and then we'd go to Target. I got home, took a short nap, but knew I still needed to clean so didn't want to sleep too long. The yuckiness only got worse. At around 6:00 pm that night, I was in bed and barely moving for the fear I would be sick! Nicole had to make an executive decision for me and decided to move the shower to her mom's house. I was heart-broken; but what could I do? Sure enough, around 7:00 it hit...the stomach bug was in full force in the Aldrich house. It was miserable. I was up every hour from 7:00 pm to 4 am with it. I knew that not only could the shower not be at my house, but I wouldn't even be able to go. Sadness all around. However, when you are struck with such a miserable sickness, all you care about is feeling better. Jenna's shower was a hit and my mom came to get AB to be there in my honor. I had bought her a dress off Etsy especially for the occassion, so I was sad to not get to enjoy her in it, but I'm glad she was able to go. Austin was so awesome. He barely got any sleep himself, and still got up with AB in the morning and did his Daddy duties, well. Here are the pics from the shower I missed. Thank you, Nicole for doing this all for me and for taking the pictures! Our girls looked like they had fun. Wish I could've been there!

LOVE

Never has this word meant so much to me or have I really and truly seen the true meaning of it. I don't believe there could ever be a greater love, than that a parent has for their child. As we celebrated the one day of the year dedicated to love, I just couldn't help but think about what it means to me now. Today, the word was everywhere! Why shouldn't it be? It's Valentine's Day...

It was this day, ten years ago that Austin told me he loved me for the first time. It was a very sweet and unexpected little gesture. He took me to White Rock Lake and found a sweet little spot right by the water. He held my hand and told me he loved me...and let me tell you, I was in LOVE! I still am, with that wonderful guy! That is also a love that I can't describe, but it is also a much different love than I have for AB. Although, every time I stare into AB's big, dark eyes, I am reminded of how much I LOVE her Daddy.

It wasn't really until this Valentine's Day, after church that I think I truly understood the Love that God has for me. The fact that he could send his one and only Son to die for me. Could I do the same thing? Could I sacrifce my child for the sake of others? What a wonderful God we serve that He could love me so much to do such a thing. It is because of Him that I can stare into the eyes of my own child and feel that love that I feel for no other.

What a fun first Valentine's we had with Annabelle. She brings so much joy and love to everyone and Austin and I have never been happier. I think having her, also shows us just how much love we have for eachother. What an amazing Daddy Austin is and he is always so loving to us both. We are lucky to have him. Yes, there is a whole lot of love going on today and I feel that I could just burst and spread it all around! Yes, love is many things and being with AB shows me just how true love really is, but I think it's put best in 1 Corinthians 13:1-8:

Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered...

...it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails...

Happy First Valentine's AB! You will never know the LOVE that your Daddy and I have for you!

Snowy Day - Part II

After making us wait for hours, literally, our district decided to cancel school. As they should have because Dallas had a record breaking snowfall of 12.5 inches! Isn't that crazy? It snowed for almost 24 hours, and was one of the prettiest snowfalls I've ever seen! Austin stayed home with us today, too, and you know what that meant? More pictures in the snow!! Today I really wanted to get AB in the snow, without completely freezing her to death, of course. The snow was so deep, that we put a towel on the ground and we were able to make a little nook for her to sit in. I was so impressed with her, because instead of crying she gave lots of big smiles and wrinkled that little nose of hers in excitement. She didn't know what she was sitting in, but she knew that it was something different and I think she liked it! Oh, what fun we had taking pictures of her today!

I love this! She was tired of sitting up, so she just decided to lay down (no worries, there's a towel under her). She just laid there smiling at us.

After we got some good pictures, Austin and I wanted to build a snowman. So we put AB in her carrier and covered her all up and went to work!

This was our view from making our snowman! Look at her little feet sticking out!

And this was a little peak inside. She was wiped out!

Tah-dah!! Meet Kimberly! Our Snowwoman!