joy...pure joy

I know I have been remiss in posting pictures of our sweet sweet Livi, and I apologize. I have several to post...but truth be told when I have a free moment these days: I choose rest :)

Liv has brought so much joy to our lives (as has her sister). Andrew and I feel so overwhelming blessed to have two precious little girls.

These are a couple pictures from Olivia's one week photo shoot...we had the same photographer take Sophia's and we love her and her work! I know we will cherish these pictures and memories for ever.

I promise to post more soon...love and kisses :)

Wild Nights (and wild hair)

A couple nights ago I put my sweet Sophia to bed, and was going about my "try to tidy up the house" routine when I heard some crying/whining/fussing coming from Sophia's room. So I marched up the stairs, ready to be stern and instruct her that she needed to be quiet and go to sleep. When I opened the door I saw her adorable little face this wild and crazy hair and sweet little animal pajamas and I was sucked in.

I had one of those "Mommy moments" where all I could think about was how fast she was growing up and how I need to chill out and enjoy as much of her as I can. So instead of giving her a "stern talking too" I went and got some munchies and my camera and we had a late night photo shoot/ snack break, just the two of us :)

Here are some of our funny shots ( I know they are blurry...but you get the idea)

"look Momma a snack"

Doing the Itsy Bitsy Spider

wild hair

just being silly

tired Mommy

time for sleep

night night and sweet dreams....love and kisses :)

Happy Birthday Sweet Little Sophia!!!

Our little Soph is two years old today!!! I can not even believe it...two years since she arrived and changed our lives (for the better) forever.

Today she is a sweet, inquisitive, adorable (we think so) little girl.

Sophia's favorite things are Sesame Street, Dora, learning her number, letters, colors, reading books and her little sister. She loves Olivia (Levi...as she calls her) and always wants to know where she is and what she is doing. She loves to hug and kiss her and is very concerned when she cries or needs a diaper changed.

We are so thankful for Sophia and the blessing she is to this family :)

Happy Birthday Sophie Lou!!

P.S. as I am writing this Sophia is in bed with 102.5 fever...could you please lift up a prayer for our little girl...and for the baby.

Love and kisses!

Olivia Sue

“For you formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the womb, your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.”

Our precious little girl arrived Tuesday at 4:58 p.m. She weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 20 inches long. I can not believe that we are now a family of 4!!!! The blessings continue to overflow in the Bains household. I promise that I will post more pictures soon...we are still in the hospital and things are a tad hectic!

Thank you all for your continued love, prayers and support. We have been overwhelmed by the calls, emails, and love that has been lavished on us!!

Be back soon....Love and kisses!

p.s. Sophia is doing AMAZING...she is in love with her little sister, and it is the sweetest thing I have ever seen...we are so thankful for our sweet little girls!!

Baby Update

So...Livi is due tomorrow. I had a doctors appointment this morning and I am still at a one (which is exactly where I was a week ago). Again, that doesn't really mean anything to us, since my water broke with Sophia 10 days past her due date and I was at a zero! So we are thankful that I am at least the tiniest bit ahead of last time...maybe this labor will only be 21 hours instead of 22 :)

I am scheduled to be induced on September 8th if she still has not arrived by then. The 7th is Labor Day, but they said they don't schedule inducements on Labor Day. Apparently only "natural" labor is OK. That kinda made me chuckle.

Anyway we really appreciate the emails, texts and calls. I promise that we will let you know as soon as she arrives. Please continue to pray for us as we try to be patient and continue to pray that the labor and birth will bring us a healthy little girl :)

Thank you!!

Love and kisses!!

The Nursery

I know I said I would post pictures of the nursery awhile ago...please excuse the delay. Without further ado, I present Olivia's bedroom!

Here is her changing table and the wall art I made for her.

Book shelf and goodies :)

Her crib & bedding.

And the tree her Daddy lovingly painted for her.

Bedding close up.

Wall art close ups.

Snazzy Dresser

Just a funny little picture of an outfit Sophia grabbed out of my closet yesterday....my Kermit the frog slippers (my 1st Christmas gift from Andrew, when dating) and my snow hat.

too cute :)

love and kisses....

p.s. nursery pictures to come.

And her name will be.....

Hello friends and family!! So here is the big reveal...our next baby girl will be named Olivia.

This was not a big secret, or a big debate in our family...we have been calling her Olivia/Livi/Liv since we found that we were having a girl. We just didn't announce it in case we might have changed our minds. But this past weekend I made the name sign for her wall...so now it is set in stone (paper and glue).

Also we have started using her name more regularly so that Sophia can hear it and get used to it, hopefully. She "knows" there is a baby in Mommy's tummy...but she also thinks there is one in hers. So I guess we shall see how this goes :)

We have not decided on a middle name yet...and just like Sophia, we probably will not know until we are in the midst of labor, or we meet her :)

I will post pictures of the nursery (YEAH!!! It's all done) soon!

Love and kisses

The N.C. Zoo

Sunday morning we were up and getting ready to head out to church. I checked the weather to see what it was suppose to be, and it said high 80's to low 90's...cloudy and low-humidity. Well, you can't really ask for better weather that that around here right now. So we decided to do a make up Zoo trip. We had originally planned to go last weekend since we could not go home for the 4th. But Sophia was so so so so sick...that we spent the entire 4 day weekend and a couple more days stuck inside. Anyway the zoo was so much fun!! Sophia LOVED all the animals and would wave hello and blow them kisses as she said goodbye to them. I was still a tad warm and quite swollen by the time all was said and done. I did get quite a few sympathy glances and some comments about how miserable I must be, or how sorry people felt for me. I guess I look like I am about to pop! I had a great time and I am glad we got to do this with Sophia before her little sister arrives!! Only 6 or 7 weeks left!!

Sophia hanging over the rail...wanting to hug the alligator...can you see it's head sticking out of the water?

We are not sure what she was doing here...she kept looking down and smiling and singing to herself.

Sophia with Andrew and the elephant sculpture.

Sophia and the two elephants.

love and kisses.

Sophia's Big Girl Room

Since we are getting the nursery together for our youngest daughter....we needed to get Soph's room all ready for her! Sophia has been out of her crib for a couple months, and doing an amazing job in her big girl bed!! She had no problems with the adjustment, I think it is due to the fact that her big girl bed is ADORABLE (pink leather!).

Anyway, we have been working hard to get her room all set up...so I thought I would share the finished product! enjoy!

I will try and get pictures of the nursery up soon...it's almost done!!

kisses and love!