the essence

I didn't intentionally go two days without posting, we've just been keeping busy around here. I can't believe Christmas is already in less than a week! I'm very excited because my family is coming to us this year: my parents & Matthew & Megan. I'd love to have an open house type of deal on Christmas Eve but I think most everybody I know already has plans.

My parents were over in this area for a dentist appointment & audition on Wednesday so they made sure to stop by for about three hours. Addison was in heaven when they arrived - her demeanor changed so much as soon as they got here! We made our Target/Starbucks visit & she had so much fun running around the store. I love looking at the pretty Christmas decorations.

Kate has been such a joy to have around. Actually, I'm just so enjoying having another child. I especially love that I have girls. I love saying it, too!



She gives us a pretty good initial stretch of sleep at night & then is up every couple of hours. It's not wearing me out like it did with Addison though, for which I'm very thankful! Is it just because I've done it once before so it's not as intimidating or tiring to deal with? I don't know, but things seem much easier this time around. I think the short labor got us off to a good start.

One of my favorite pictures of Ray with Kate



I'm getting back in the normal swing of things, too. I finally got my house fairly clean this week. There is a LOT more laundry to do now (which is my least favorite chore!). But, a HUGE blessing, is that in the two weeks since Kate was born, I haven't had to cook once!!! People have been so generous bringing us meals & it's been so incredibly helpful. I'm so appreciative, I don't know what I would've done if I'd had to deal with cooking & the dishes that go with it right now.

Kate, after her first bath



Well, we've had a big day, which I'll have to blog about later - we took the girls to the zoo!!! And, tomorrow, we have two weddings to attend. I believe one starts at 12:20 & the other starts at 2:00. Thankfully, they're located close to each other but I'm still not positive how we're going to go about attending both. I also am at a loss as to what to wear. I appreciate the comments from everybody about it not looking like I just had a baby, but believe me, there is still 20 extra pounds hanging around & a good portion of my clothes just don't quite fit yet. I also tore a nail horribly today, which is such a bummer because they were looking quite nice & I was going to do them for the weddings. I was going to try to repair it to last another day or so but I think I'm beyond that point.

So, what a rambling blog post for today. More pictures (& a more focused post!) later.