8 weeks and counting

Well we survived another busy month, one more busy month to go before we hit May and life slows down a little (just in time for our new arrival). Everything is going well around here for the most part. This past weekend was my baby shower which was alot of fun - my mom and sister did such a great job as always and the party was a success. I hope to have pictures to share soon. Now I think I'm finally motivated to get all my baby to-do's taken care of so that I'm actually ready when our little one makes her arrival. Even though I didn't need alot of stuff, there are always new products and things that get worn out and need replaced so I was very grateful to have another shower. And darn that cake sure was yummy!

Things with work are keeping us both busy, Chris' job is crazy busy right now and there are many weeks that seem to fly by in a daze. My job is picking up a little bit for 2nd quarter and I'm also starting to prep for my maternity leave. Maya is so grown up, she had some friends come to the baby shower yesterday and they all dressed up like princesses and played in her room upstairs. It's so great that they are old enough to play by themselves! She has started to play with the little girls accross the street alot too. And she got a new bike with training wheels as an early Easter present. So grown up I tell you! Here is some bike action -

We have a busy April coming up with Easter, my brother visiting, our anniversary, baby class...and the list goes on. I don't have an updated belly picture to post but you can trust that it's plenty big :-)

February pictures :-)

Not much new going on around our house in the last month. We have been busy with projects and things to do every weekend. I'm marking lots of stuff off our pre-baby list which is a good feeling. I am officially starting my 3rd trimester so have 12 weeks to go. Woo hoo!

This was today, almost 28 weeks.This was at 24 weeks, Maya already loving her baby sister.

Here are some pictures of Maya's new room (along with a video of her jumping on the bed within minutes of getting the furniture). She has slept in there without any issues since the first day. She is just so excited about her purple room!

And of course our own Texas snow picture, Maya definitely thought the snow was pretty cool and she loved playing in it (although daddy liked playing just about as much as she did I think).

That's all until next month! I'm hoping for warm weather to make an appearance in March. We are having our first ever garage sale and my baby shower is at the end of the month. There just isn't must resting these days :-)

Yes, the nesting has begun

Is there really only a week left in January? Wow I guess it wasn't as hard to get back into our normal routine after the holidays as I thought since these 3 weeks have flown by. We have both been keeping busy with work and stuff at home, and Maya is doing fine as well. Our weekends have been full of football watching (poor Cowboys!) and working on projects around the house.

I have already sorted and organized all of Maya's baby stuff, realizing that I truely don't need much of anything for baby girl #2 which is actually a really nice feeling. It was fun going through all the stuff, hard to believe it's been 3 years since some of this stuff was used. The pregnancy is going really well these days, I'm feeling good and baby is moving around alot which is fun and I'm getting to know her personality already. She moves a ton during the day when I'm at work and when I go home she sleeps the whole time, it's kind of funny. I told Chris maybe he'll get to see/feel her move over the weekend. Only 4 months left :-)

Our current project is moving our office/game room into our guest room so that Maya can move into her new big girl room - she wants a purple room and a big girl bed and she told me this week that she wants daddy's stuff out of her new room so I guess we better get moving! LOL. We've just started but I really do enjoy this kind of stuff and what better time to do it than when you are nesting. I should take before/after pictures of the rooms...kind of like I said I was going to take more pictures of this pregnancy - which I definitely have NOT done!

That's about it from Hurst these days...the weather this week was beautiful here so I feel sorry for those of you stuck in the Iowa and New York winter! Stay warm!

Christmas 2009

Well Christmas has come and gone and with it plenty of exciting things have been keeping us busy. We found out that we're having another baby girl just before Christmas!! Many may know that I really thought it was going to be a boy this time around and I'm still adjusting to the idea. I am very excited that Maya is going to have a sister to be her companion throughout her life but at the same time I really just thought this was going to be a boy :-) The standard response from most people has been, "Well you can always try again". And now we feel the dilemma of every person that has two (or more) kids of the same sex. Luckily for us that decision is a couple years down the road! We actually have quite a bit of work to do at the house shuffling rooms around and buying furniture so I think it'll be a busy spring and May will be here before I'm ready for it. I'm just about halfway through this pregnancy and the time has gone by pretty quickly I suppose, it helps that I'm feeling better these days.

And now on to Christmas and such. Here we are making our gingerbread house and a little video of Maya helping make some Christmas cookies.

We had a really nice Christmas (especially Maya) and we actually got a few inches of snow on Christmas Eve! It was a real treat especially because it melted the next day...lol. Maya was definitely into Santa Claus this year which made it pretty cool that she finally understands how the whole thing works. Here are some pictures and also a link to a video on photobucket for those who want to see Maya opening presents.

Playing in the snow on Christmas Eve...

Maya and her Barbie car from Santa...

Maya and Michael on Christmas...

There is no doubt that our daughter is 100% all girl!

And lastly here is a link to a video of Maya opening and playing with some of her presents. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

The holidays are upon us

This time of year is definitely my favorite, I love all the decorations and parties and shopping and food and music and... ok so I love it all, I did say it was my favorite :-) I am so thankful this year for so many things. There are always things in life that we tend to focus on and complain about but when I look at the grand scheme of things I am so grateful and happy to have this life. We may not always like our jobs and we may not always feel like we have enough money or things but I also know that we are very lucky to have jobs, a home, our health and a loving family and we should not take these things for granted. We are anxiously looking ahead to our new addition next year but I am also trying to savor this time with just the 3 of us. Here's the first good picture of our newest addition - we will find out what we are having in 2 weeks so stay tuned! I'm sure I'll be in full baby mode after the new year...



We are getting into full swing for Christmas around the house. We bought new outdoor Christmas lights this year and had a bit of a 'Griswold' moment but they are now up and running after much perseverance. We already have Christmas parties starting this coming weekend and the weekends are all looking pretty full through New Years. We will have to squeeze in some time for cookie baking, shopping and napping on those weekends!


And lastly, we have princess and ballerina activities going on at our house on a daily basis. Here is a lovely picture of Maya and daddy dressed as princesses, and a super cute video of her dancing. Enjoy!

And so October comes to an end...

My gosh where has the year gone, is it really November? Are people really already asking for Christmas ideas!? It seems that the year has gone so quickly but at the same time so many amazing things have happened this year. We were in Napa Valley 6 months ago, we had a very full summer and fall with visitors and activities and we have a crazy 3 year old running around and now here we are in November and we are expecting another baby!! Surprise! :-) I am due on May 24th and we are very excited! I'm very glad the 1st trimester is just about done, only a few days left and I'm starting to get some energy back and start to feel normal again. We will be finding out what we are having in mid-December so I can start to plan and decorate and clean out rooms and closets. Good news is I have literally saved every single baby item that we bought for Maya. Bad news is I now have to sort through them all instead of being able to go buy new things. LOL. Maya is in the stage right now where she LOVES babies so I just know she is going to be the best big sister ever! Here's one of my first baby bump pictures, I didn't take many pictures last time so I'm trying to do better this time around. This was taken today, I've had to tell my co-workers the news already as you can see I can't hide it anymore!

Maya was a butterfly (Barbie Mariposa to be specific) for Halloween. Here are some adorable pictures of her. We had alot of fun this year carving the pumpkin (well dad carved the pumpkin while Maya helped me make pumpkin cookies which she wouldn't even eat) and of course she loved trick or treating. I can't wait for the holidays this year, it's going to be alot of fun :-)

Off to the Pumpkin Patch we go!!

Grandpa Bennett is in town and we are having so much fun! Yesterday we went to a pumpkin patch and got nice and muddy - Maya had a pony ride, picked out a pumpkin and we went on a hayride. And to top off the day the Cowboys somehow miraculously won! Here are some pictures and video of our fun day!

http://s205.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/kbennett79/?action=view&current=PumpkinPatch101109.flv

And here's just a little around the house fun - we let Maya try on her Halloween costume one time and it's been hidden ever since :-) We can't wait for Halloween!