It's A ............ :) :) :) :)

I can't believe the last time your dad and I caught a glimpse of your tiny little growing body, it was over SIX WEEKS ago.  Such a short litte snippet of time, in the grand scheme of this pregnancy...but at the time, it felt like an ETERNITY.  Especially since we knew this particular sonogram would reveal if we'd be having a sweet little GIRL or if you'd be a bouncing baby BOY?!?!? 

I have to say, I don't know how people go a whole nine months without knowing the sex of their babies.  Your dad and I are such planners.  I NEEDED focus.  I needed direction.  Going into Babies R Us has been so overwhelming... that on more than one occassion I have left feeling more confused than when we went in.  I knew that finding out your sex would bring that clarity that I needed to really start focusing on YOU.  YOU were going to be more REAL to us than just being a growing little body in my belly. You were finally going to have a NAME.  An identity.  Visions in my head would finally be more clear.  Or at least, the IDEA of you would finally be more clear.. and that's all I really needed to start planning for your arrival.  :) 

When the day finally came and the nerves had reached their peak, just when I was convinced.. and don't hate me for this later... that you were MOST certainly a BOY...  (I'd had THREE dreams of seeing a little baby boy by this point.. so I had begun to call you "he") .. we finally got to walk into that sonogram room to find out for sure.  

Right away the sonographer asked if we wanted to know your gender.  We OVER-enthusiastically said YES and she began her tour of your little belly apartment.  :)  Heart beat strong and clear, the sonographer made her way around taking measurements of your little baby parts until she stopped abruptly and said... 

It's a GIRL!!!!! 

Just like the first day we heard your little heartbeat, my heart took a flying LEAP straight up to my throat!! We were THRILLED!  Stunned to say the least...but OVERJOYED.  I knew, in that one instance, your dad was done for.  He was MORE than beaming sitting there beside me in that room.  You could light up a thousand city blocks with the light that was pouring out of his eyes.  I fell in love with him a little more that day.  All because of you.  :)  I can't wait to hold you in my arms... October can't get here fast enough...

Two SECONDS after leaving the doctors office, we immediately got to work planning our little "gender reveal" get together for that evening.  True to form, and VERY LIKE us Kelley's for planning things so late... your dad hit the ground running planning the menu and shopping for last minute neccessities while I tried my best to NOT scream it from the rooftops to EVERYBODY that we FINALLY knew you were a GIRL!!

Gender Reveal Cupcakes!! Pink Frosting in the middle, Yellow on top! 

Hard at work...

YUMMY Chef Chad Kelley spread..

Mmmmmmm... Soooooooooooo incredibly good Tri-tip.  Perfection. 

Homemade Cheese sticks, and cheese crackers.  Made by your dad of course.  :)

The kiddies.. enjoying the festivities. 

Everybody excited and anxious to hear!!

We even played the DVD of you moving around in my belly. 

We thought someone might be able to tell from the video but..

NO LUCK!!  You were STILL a mystery by this point.  :) 

So... we took a VOTE!! 

After some people took their first bite... they found... 

PINK frosting!! 

I was too busy actually watching people's reactions to get more pictures of their faces.. lol..

Your Dallas Grandma, Miss Lisa, spreading the good cheer!! 

Weekend Getaway - Addie's 4th Birthday Party

I seriously can't believe this little one is already FOUR years old!  I'm amazed at how FAST time flies.  It LITERALLY seems like yesterday that we were all waiting patiently in that hospital room with Christi (very appropriately watching Father of The Bride 2 by the way :) waiting for this little...well scratch that.. this BIG girl.. to finally make her appearance.  Crazy to think that you can blink just ONCE and so much time has gone by..

I love this girl.  Such spunk.  Such personality.  Four going on TWENTY FOUR it seems.. so mature and so dang smart for her age.  A girly girl through and through, she was the belle of the ball at her Rapunzel birthday party this past Saturday.. playing hostess to every single guest that came in the door and rockin' that little dress like no one else could. 

Happy 4th Birthday Addison Grace!!

Your Aunt Yvette and Uncle Chad LOVE YOU <3

Sweet Landrah enjoying the festivities..

With her sweet cousin Maya!  :)

LOVE THESE GUYS!!

The hubs, our sweet little nephew Andrew and my Pops <3 

Hahaha.. love the faces on these two.  :)

Party People

Me and my Dad with the Birthday Girl.. before her wardrobe change.  :)

That's one hungry dude!  :) 

Andrew, trying to figure out what the heck is on his sisters HEAD!!  :)

This cake was kinda, sorta ridiculously HUGE for a 4th birthday..

SOOOOOOO YUMMY!!

Proud parents :)

Weekend Getaway - Day 1

I love reasons to get away.  If only for a few days, I love the preparations, the mental distractions of planning and the chance to see good friends again.  This time, our 9 hour drive to the valley would take us to Little Miss Addison's 4th birthday party.  BUT first, a wonderful opportunity to cut the trip in half as we headed to Boerne, Texas last Thursday to visit one of my best friends Justin, his wife Jenna and their ADORABLE new baby Reed.  :) 

Before any road trip, Chad and I will always do a little research to see where we absolutely MUST STOP to eat.  This time, we'd gotten a tip from my co-worker Suzanne about an AMAZING little bakery in West, Texas.  As in the actual CITY of West, Texas.  :)  We still can't believe we'd never noticed this little place before.  Right off 35, right before hitting Waco... this little haven of goodness was just what we needed for a little afternoon pick-me-up. 

What they called Kolache's actually looked a lot like Danishes...

Not too sweet though but OOOOOOOOOOO Sooooooo yummy!! 

Czech Stop Bakery

heheheheehehe... Hot Chubbies... hehehehehe...

The immature kids in us got quite the giggle as we tried to figure out what these little guys actually were before we got there.. Their website had no description and lets just say that googling "Hot Chubbies" is NOT recommended.  hahahahaha... 

After about a five hour drive.. getting stuck in Austin traffic, we finally made it to the Hawkins house. 

Justin and Bo lounging around. :)

A little Father-Son bonding.. :)

Sweet, sweet little man.  So glad we could finally get a chance to meet this little guy. 

Thanks Justin and Jenna for giving us the chance to hang out.  It's been too long!!

Here, There and Everywhere...

So in between gestating and general over all Prego tiredness, I've managed to completely (well maybe not so "completely") but almost entirely abandon this blog.  :(  I have to say though, (in my own defense), that other than GROWING A TINY little HUMAN in my belly... I haven't been doing much at all, except trying to sit back and RELAX!  So far so good, I think... ;) 

So far, there's been...

Gorgeous sunsets while walking Macie on these gorgeous Spring afternoons...

When I'm not napping after work that is.. This baby making situation is EXHAUSTING!!  ;) 

Receiving SUPER cute pictures of my nephew Andrew... who's not so little anymore.. and has the most SQUEEZEABLE cheeks EVER!! :)  LOVE HIM!! 

There's been..EATING.. A. LOT. of eating.. ;)  Thanks LOVE for this wonderful Stuffed Pepper dinner...

My diet would be bland and boring without you...  

We've also been enjoying the Spring blooms around our house and neighborhood..

Love that our little entry gate blooms so brightly, but hate that it literally only lasts for about a week

I'm also kind of obsessed with these rose bushes I've seen everywhere. 

They are so bright and beautiful!! Anyone know what they're really called?  Home Depot had similar ones called Knock Out Roses???  Is that right?? 

And I've also taken this little cutie pie..

To see these little cutie pies.. lol..

And yes they really were hanging out in a large tub filled with water..

(They've since upgraded to a blow up pool... lol) 

Mmm... did I mention EATING???  ;)  ;) 

So, the only truly WEIRDO pregnancy craving I've had (so far) has been pickles. 

Oh but not just any kind of pickle, prepared any old way... Oh no...

HUGE movie style pickles sprinkled with..wait for it... wait for it..Lemon, Berry Crystal Light powder!!  :) :) 

Sound weird??  Yes, I'm sure.. Tasty?!?  YOU BETCHA!! Sweet and Sour-y goodness... Mmmm..

There's also been healthy eating too by the way..

Halibut with Kale and Sausage prepared once again by my own personal Chef.  ;) 

Although, my hunger has been absolutely NON stop lately.. (for the last two weeks it seems to be on overdrive).. I STILL (unfortunately) have to watch what I eat...

Diabetes and Pregnancy equals NO FUN, AT. ALL!!

Well there you have it!! The last two weeks.. in a nut shell :)  Hope your Spring has been as blissfully relaxing as mine has been!!  :)   

Baby Bear Kelley - 8 & 12 Week Sonogram :)

I have to say....

The first time that I heard your little heartbeat… going what seemed like a million miles a minute, my heart stopped. Well it actually didn’t stop….it took a flying LEAP straight up to my throat. My eyes INSTANTLY welled up with tears and I was, probably for the first time in a long time, at a loss for words. I felt Chads hand, as he sat there by my side in that dark room, squeeze mine, just a little bit tighter as we both just sat there and stared at that monitor above our heads. There you were.  Apparently we didn't even make a peep as the sonographer asked if we were excited.  Lol... Excited??!?!?! More like STUNNED and overwhelmed and overcome with emotion.  It all felt a little bit more real right in that one single moment.  :) We weren't just relying on our "magic stick" to know you were there.. we could actually SEE YOU!!   

Honestly, you didn’t look like a whole lot right then… A sweet little butter bean at most. Hard at work for the last 8 weeks though....you’d already developed from just a mass of cells into a tiny little being with webbed fingers and toes and only just a little semblance of that tadpole-like tail you started out with.  About half an inch long, you had gone from blueberry sized to the size of a raspberry AND growing... at about one millimeter each day.  ;) 

February 27, 2012

Already, you’ve been so good to your mama. No morning sickness… no REAL fatigue. No crazy hormone or mood shifts to scare your dad away ;)  I HAVE been taking a lot more naps though.. (thank you for that.. I really do enjoy those ;) and I’ve been sleeping like a log two seconds after my head hits the pillow. But other than that.. I’ve felt great.. I just hope it STAYS that way for the next 7 months ;) 

A few short weeks later.. we had our 12 week sonogram. I was so excited and a bit nervous to see you again. I’d heard so many horrible stories about miscarriages before this time… it definitely had me on edge. Since our last visit, I'd seen a nutritionist and had been put on Insulin to control my sugar levels that were still in the "normal range" for this diabetic...but on the higher end of normal for my pregnancy.  Wasn't as bad as I originally thought though.. the nutritionist actually made me give myself a REAL "practice" shot in her office.. just to be sure I'd be able to do it at home later.  Yikes!! Palms sweating.. and near panic (your dad covering his face and nearly passed out himself.. lol..) I thought of you and went for it.  Luckily, I. felt. NOTHING!!  It was amazing and relieving all at the same time.  :)  Whew!!! 

This time, when we saw you again, so much had changed!! You actually looked HUMAN!! We could see your little hands and legs... and when the sonographer zoomed in on your sweet little bear head, you looked like a REAL, HONEST TO GOODNESS BABY!!  :) 

March 26, 2012

Now the size of a PEACH (Insane!!) at about THREE inches long.. well 5.8cm she said.. you're developing your vocal cords this week and have already developed all of your new bodily stuctures as most of your systems are fully formed.  Your digestive system is starting to flex its muscle as it starts practicing contraction movements and the pituitary gland has started producing hormones and the bone marrow is making white blood cells. 

And because your dad was so great for remembering, we actually caught part of our visit on his Iphone (from a distance unfortunately).. the screen was high above our heads and he didn't want to waste any time trying to figure out how to "zoom in" at the last minute.  Oh...and if you turn up the volume real high at the very beginning, you can actually hear your little heartbeat!!! It comes out again at the end too by the way.. I asked the sonographer to play it again before she shut down.  :)  :) 

You totally made our day...  Can't wait to meet you!! 

Just a Tiny Speck of Life...

February 5, 2012 :) :) :) :)

It’s funny how much emotion can be conjured up from one little blue line on a stick.  It’s quite the “magic stick” though.. for in this "stick" lies our future.  A little window into what's going on inside my body at that very moment.  In less than one, single, solitary minute, our lives would change forever and our thoughts would instantly switch to you.  A speck.  Cells merging, converging.. creating life.  It’s hard to even begin to understand this miracle.  But in one instance… we knew you were there.  And in one instance, I knew you were meant to be mine.  I knew you were meant to be OURS.  

For the longest time I feared that I would never be able to have you.  Would my body cooperate?  Would we spend months trying?  Would you be ready for me, when I was ready for you?  So much time spent planning.. waiting for the right moment to bring you into this world.. Would God deem me worthy to even have you?? 

Your dad and I have loved you since before you were even created.  We've talked about you… thought about what you might become and even had a name picked out for you long before you were even a "speck" in my belly.  We can’t wait to hold you.  I have to admit though that even though I'm sooooooo incredibly excited to meet you... I’m nervous.  Will I be a good parent?  Will you come with a manual?!? ;)  I know there will be a lot of times where I'll second guess what I'm doing.. how I'm doing it and what I should do next.  But one thing will always be true.  I will love you all the days of my life.  WE will always love you.. Much more than I could ever begin to explain.  You were MEANT for us.  And we were meant for you. 

I can't wait to show you all the amazing things in this world.. All the beautiful places we will take you and all the adventures we will go on as one happy family.  BUT for now.. You and I have A LOT of work to do.  We BOTH have VERY important jobs to take care of..You keep growing, I'll keep protecting you in my growing belly and we'll see you in a few months!  :) 

Love,
Your Mom and Dad

And just to be sure you were REALLY, REALLY there.. we tested again, a week later.  ;) 

Oh and we also checked the EPT website OVER and OVER AND OVER again.. JUST to be SURE we were reading the stick right.. ;) 

Spring has SPRUNG :)

Spring has SPRUNG here in Dallas, Texas and I absolutely LOVE. IT.  Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming everywhere and once barren trees are starting to bud with gorgeousness.  After a VERY unusually mild winter (no complaints here by the way.. I HATE being cold..or HOT for that matter ;)  we are welcoming spring with WIDE open arms.  My fear is that this mild winter will only lead us into another blisteringly HOT summer.. YUCK!  Fingers crossed that this Spring lasts a LOOOOONGGGG time.  ;) 

Not sure what this tree is outside our window but it's GLORIOUS!!  :) 

The new, very eco-friendly water tower up in Addison.  :)

Sunset from our back patio.. :) 

Santiago Calatrava's Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge - Grand Opening Festivities

On a BEAUTIFUL Saturday morning a few weeks ago.. (I know, BAD, BAD BLOGGER for waiting so long to post!!) Chad and I took advantage of the gorgeous, over-cast but still glorious day to celebrate the grand opening of the new Calatrava Bridge near downtown Dallas.  Among hundreds.. dare I say... THOUSANDS??... of Dallas locals, we trekked our way over the bridge (which was lined with carnival type attractions, foodie trucks selling their goods and a band set up to entertain the crowd).  It was more than a bit chaotic at times.. when the hoards of people trying to pass through a two lane sized street decided to just STOP to hear the band.  Claustrophobia nearly setting in, we finally made it through unscathed. Whew!! (I was literally TWO SECONDS away from throwing some elbows just to get through..!!)   :) 

It was a great day none-the-less and we couldn't be more proud to have our very own Calatrava bridge gracing our city's skyline.  :) 

Part of the festivities included a "Parade of Giants".. honoring local Dallas legends.. :)

Bonnie Parker

(Bonnie of "Bonnie and Clyde")