Little Bit Kisses

It's my favorite when my babies all learn how to kiss. A big, wet open-mouth kiss from a baby is AWESOME! Am I right? Mabry has recently starting giving me kisses when I ask her.

The best time to ask her for kisses is right after she wakes up from a nap. She wakes up and wraps her little arms around my neck and pats my back. When she lifts her head from my shoulder she leans in for the kiss. There just isn't anything sweeter!



These are the days I never want to forget!

Eleven Months.

Our Mabry Mae Hutchins is eleven months old. There's a sting in my heart to know that she's growing up and becoming less of a baby, my last baby, everyday. Yet, I love to watch her grow and learn and become a little person.

Mabry has such a bright personality and she's sweet, yet fierce. When one of her siblings takes her toy from her hands she screams out at them. Since she isn't talking yet this is her way of saying, "give that back to me NOW!" When she's sleepy she will lay her head on your shoulder. She's a lover.

She's walking now. There's no holding her back. She sees where she wants to go and her little legs take her. My favorite is when she grips the carpet with her tiny toes. I pray I never forget these details.

At eleven months old, she already has 6 teeth. I don't remember my other kids having so many teeth at this age. Maybe they did? Having Mabry nearly 5 years after McKinley is like being a first-time parent all over again. I'm having to re-learn all of the things that babies do. Like, teething. Oh, the drool. And the endless crying because it hurts her so badly. And the fevers and late nights. Teething is for the birds!

We don't watch much TV in our house. We haven't had cable in 3 or 4 years. I thought, at first, that I'd miss it. I don't. We do have Netflix. But, even with that the TV doesn't get turned on too often. Here's why I'm even telling you this...I've noticed when we do turn the TV on and it's an animated show, Mabry LOVES it! She gets really excited and dances with the songs. She "talks" to whichever character is on at the moment. It's so fun to watch her!

Mabry Mae Hutchins, you are so much fun! I love being your mommy. I'm excited to watch you grow and see who you will become. What will you accomplish? Who do you want to be? Will your sister be your best friend? I pray I see all of these questions answered. I love you.

Happy Baby Wrap {a product review}

If you ask me what my most favorite piece {or pieces} of baby gear that I own is I would say my baby wrap {and baby carriers}! If you're looking for a gift for a mommy-to-be, I would highly suggest a wrap or carrier. Hands down. No questions asked. Every mom needs one {or two}.

It seems to me that as soon as you get elbow deep into a project or the dishes or laundry or any other daily task that must get done the baby starts crying. Or she just wants to be held. Or she's sick and needs extra snuggles. There comes a time, on an almost daily basis, that Baby needs you and you wish you had an extra set of hands to hold her.




This is why a wrap is so amazing! I can pop Mabry in and she's held, like she wants to be, and I can go on about my daily chores.

This is a Happy Baby Wrap. That's a pretty accurate name for a baby wrap, if you ask me! I put Mabry in and within five minutes she's out like a light. She loves it.



{Mabry is 2 1/2 months in the above two pictures}

The Happy Baby Wrap isn't just for newborn babies. You and Baby can enjoy the special bond that comes with baby wearing in a Happy Baby Wrap until she weighs 30 lbs.


{Mabry is 5 months old in this picture}

I take my wrap with me to church, to the grocery store {I just don't like to plop the car seat carrier into the buggy...and what's more, I need all the space in my cart for groceries for my family of seven!}, to the park, around the house so I can vaccuum...I wear Mabry a LOT!

Did I mention that it's EASIER to wear your baby? SO much easier to wear a baby than it is to hold her on your hip or chase after her once she starts walking. A Happy Baby Wrap is going to be your best friend. I just know it.

Do you wear your babies? Where's the BEST place you've ever worn your baby? A cool adventure? An amazing theme park? Tell us about it in the comments!




Disclosure: I received this wrap from Happy Baby in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

29 Weeks, 2 Days. {a pregnancy post}

As I type this I'm actually 30 weeks, exactly.  But, the way things are going these days if I don't post this now it may never get posted.  School's out and life is busy.  Who am I kidding?  Life is busy when school is in session.

In this 29th week of pregnancy I was tired and maybe a little emotional.  I could cry at the drop of a hat.  Darned pregnancy hormones.  Hubs would tell you I'm always emotional.  I disagree.  A little.  :o)

I also have killer indigestion.  Do you know of any foods or drinks that will help remedy that?  Tums don't seem to do the trick...no matter how many I chomp.

The baby is super active.  He {or she} likes the right side...of my rib cage.  I love feeling the little leg or arm or whatever piece of him {or her} that is so prominent on that side, just under my ribs.  I can gently press it out of the area and within seconds he's {or she's} right back where I moved him {or her} from.  I only remember this happening when I was pregnant with Jonah.  And he came out a nine pound baby!  Maybe this baby will be another big one.

Only eleven more weeks to be thinking of and working towards getting this baby all of the gear he {or she} needs.  A crib.  A car seat.  A stroller.  A wrap for me to carry him {or her} in.  It's been less than five years since McKinley was born and I've already forgotten all of what a baby needs.  Am I missing any necessities??

I still get asked, "do you know what you're having yet?"  We don't know.  We aren't finding out...until the big day!  We found out with all of the others.  We have boys and a girl.  It doesn't matter to us if this baby is a boy or a girl.  We just want a healthy baby!  And can you imagine what an amazing surprise it will be?!?!?

Yes, we already have names picked out.  We've shared with friends and family.  I'm going to wait to share on the blog because I want to be able to fully share with you the meaning behind his {or her} name.  It's so very special and totally deserves it's own post.

If I get all fancied up this week to take a 30 week pregnancy picture I'll be back to tell you more of how amazing it is to be carrying one if His creations!

Just for fun, how about a comparison photo??  I think it's kinda a hoot I'm wearing the same outfit!

Paper Culture {a review}

A few weeks ago I was asked to give Paper Culture a try.  Until then I had never heard of them.  I'm guessing you may not have heard of them either.

Well, today's your lucky day.  I'm gonna tell you all about them and how fabulous they are!

When I was asked to try their products I was super excited because I was specifically asked to give the baby shower invites a try.  Um, DUH!  Of course, I will absolutely, positively check that out!  I am pregnant, after all.

There was one drawback for me...we decided to not find out the gender of this baby. How in the world am I going to pick out a baby shower invite if I don't know if I'm having a boy or a girl. Paper Culture made it easy, believe it or not. I found a super cute gender-neutral invitation that I immediately fell in love with!



This baby is due at the end of summer. What better color scheme than red, white and blue? And whales? I love whales! This invitation was made for me!

I promptly ordered what I needed in the whale design and waited for my order to arrive on my doorstep. I was so very impressed with their shipping time. I received my order in less than seven days. That was from hitting 'submit' to pulling them from my mailbox. SUPER QUICK!

My invitations are perfect! The color is bright. The cardstock is 130lb, 17 pt. That's a considerably heavier weight paper than other printing companies. The corners of the invitations are rounded. For me, that's a special touch. It makes the invitations look so much more professional.

If I knew all of the names and addresses of the gals I wanted to invite at the time of ordering I could have had Paper Culture address, stamp and ship them all for me. For no extra cost. {other than the actual cost of the stamp}

Overall, I am highly pleased with my order...if you haven't already picked up on that. :o)

*****

What if I was having a girl?? I would choose these uber cute Babushka nesting dolls.


And if I knew I was having a boy? These little foxes would be my number one choice.


Wanna know some other fun facts that make Paper Culture stand out from the other printing companies?

*Paper Culture plants a tree with EVERY order (planted over 300,000 trees to date)

*Cards and envelopes are made from 100% post consumer recycled paper (so no new trees are cut down to produce your cards or envelopes)

*Paper Culture offsets it's entire carbon footprint

Fun, right?!

Who else is talking about Paper Culture??

*Paper Culture has been featured in publications like Real Simple, People, Martha Stewart, the Wall Street Journal, Parenting and dozens of others.

*Paper Culture has been used by celebrities such as Jewel, Toby Maguire, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Kerri Walsh and more.

Paper Culture specializes in so much more than baby shower invitations.  You can find stationary, labels, wall art, holiday cards, birthday invitations, baby announcements and much more!

You can find Paper Culture on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or on their blog.



I was given a credit to Paper Culture on behalf of Global Influence to review their product.  All opinions are my own.

baby names

{this photo has absolutely nothing to do with this post....just needed a pic.}

ha.
you like that title don't you???
it was late the other night and i sat at my computer and doodled baby names on a piece of paper.
why?
cause we're going to have another baby....
one day.
in the future.
not now...
chill out!

wanna know what the names are??

going back to jennalee rose.
this is what we were going to name mckinley.
then we decided we have enough j names.
i am also loving molly marie

boys?
javen (hubs suggested this name. i kinda like it.) medrick (after my grandpa)
jasper owen (jake says we shouldn't use owen again...that's jonah's middle name.)

what got me thinking of baby names when i'm not even pregnant???
i ran into this sweet lady at target the other day.
she worked there and asked if she could help me find anything.
i told her i was just looking for something new for my boys....cause they really need something new.
not.
she said she understood cause she has five children of her own.
we started chatting and she said that she would really love to have another baby.
me too!
she already knows that her next baby will be a boy and his name will be timothy emmanuel.
well, i have no idea what my next baby's name will be or if it'll be a boy or a girl.
so, that night i thought of names.
i could at least be a little prepared.

she was such a sweet lady.
la tasha was her name.
i'll be praying for her and little timothy emmanuel.
that's her future baby's name.
and for my little javen, jennalee, molly, or jasper.
desicions, desicions....

She climbed a mountain...

I got an email from my sister-in-law the other day...
She went and cut down her own Christmas tree.
How cool is that?
She climbed the mountain,
her, her Hubs and their dog,
and they found the PERFECT tree and
Cut. It. Down.
Stinkin' neat!
Did I mention she's NINE months pregnant?
She climbed a mountain.
Really?
Brave girl!


Now, as you can see in this picture, she does NOT appear to be nine months preggo.
Maybe that's how she climbed a mountain.

If I looked this good at nine months preggo, I might have kids ALL THE TIME!


We can't wait to meet her new baby boy!!!
And she can't either.
Come out into the world, Baby!
We're waitin' for ya!

Love ya Kris!

Sweet McKinley is home!!!

We brought our precious baby home on Sunday. Jake and I have been on a crazy roller coaster of emotions over the past week.

Here's a small glimpse of the first few days of her life....

December 9th- McKinley Rose was born.

December 10th- She is doing great!!

December 11th (wee hours of the morn)- McKinley is taken to NICU because she spit up bile.

December 11th (around 6:00am)- we go see our little girl in the NICU. I can't describe the emotion one feels to see something so precious hooked up to so many wires and tubes. We're told she'll be there for at least 48 hours to run tests and to do an upper GI to look for a possible blockage in her intestine. I talk my doctor into giving me one more day in the hospital. (I couldn't bear leaving her there....me going home without her.)

December 12th- I head downstairs to the NICU for the GI results and the doctors tell me there is "no medical explanation" as to why our daughter was sick. She continues with "she is clinically HEALTHY"!!!! Now, you tell me prayer doesn't work! There were folks all over the country praying for McKinley! The power of prayer will never cease to amaze us!!!! Our daughter is HEALTHY! I'm able to push my discharge time back as late as I could....I go home at 9:30pm....without McKinley. (they wanted to continue observation on her)

December 13th- I get up, leave Daddy and Big Brothers at home so I could go to the NICU to spend the day with her. She's such a sweet, sweet girl!! Daddy went to see her right after I got home. He was there until late that night. (Jake cannot deny the softy he's become for his little princess!!! He would have been by her side 24/7 if he were able!) We are told she can go home tomorrow!!!!!!!

December 14th- We all get up and get ready to go get Baby Sister!!! We drop the boys off at Ganny and Poppy's and head straight to the NICU!! Our little girl is waiting!!! She's got her IV out...YAY!! Her heart monitor was still attached but that's ok....it was nice to not see the other stuff we knew was uncomfortable for her. We get her dressed, get the run-down on how to be parents (DUH!) and we are off!! McKinley Rose is in the truck with us and we are taking her HOME! We make a pit-stop at Great Grandaddy and Great Granny's house and then picked up the Brothers....and then she was home!!!

December 15th- We are still in awe of how GREAT God is! We have such a precious little girl!!

December 16th- I'm at home with 4 kiddos...Daddy's at work...tell me this gets easier!!! :o)

So, without further ado...here is our Princess!!!!


I love this little hat the hospital nursery gave her. These are all made by elderly ladies in nursing homes. They then take "field trips" to the hospital to deliver them....how stinkin' sweet is that??!!??


McKinley Rose and Great Grandpa


in the NICU...she was so rested and peaceful! This was a huge improvement from a few hours prior. She was obviously uncomfy before she went to the NICU.




after the tube was removed...YAY!!!


Daddy's Girl! (and that's my handsome hubby!!!!!)


It's time to go home!


McKinley and Great Granny


One proud Big Brother!


Another proud Big Brother! (Please excuse his eyes...this child has the hardest time with the flash! LOL)


Who does she look like??? She is a spittin' image of her Daddy!


This next pic is completely off topic but I had to share! This is our Santa pic. We drove all the way across town for the two youngest boys to be near terrified...and for them to tell us that we only get two shots with our camera and we could buy the one they take. HA! I refuse to pay $20 for ONE 5x7...not happenin'!!!! And well, I think I captured a pretty good shot of all of my boys! (even if it is a teensy bit blurry and Jake's eyes are closed...look at sweet Jonah peeking around Daddy!)

I'm a crafty gal!

I saw this logo and literally laughed out loud! I've always thought of myself as crafty....but, this is just hilarious!!!!

I don't think I've even really blogged about being pregnant. Or, I have but I haven't said a whole lot about it. I figured everyone knows so why go on and on...right?

Well, I'll tell you a bit. We are expecting baby #4!! Four babies...holy moly!!! And may I add that that is 4 kiddos UNDER the age of 7...WHOA! Two of which will still be in diapers...OUCH! And we only have one crib...how is a momma suppost to just kick her 'right now' baby out of the crib to make room for 'new baby'??? Can you tell this pregnancy was a big fat SURPRISE!!!!!!!!

What's pretty funny too (to me) is that my cousin and sister are pregnant too. One due in October, one due in November and then me in December. We were all pregant together before too (with Jonah, Nolan and Easton)! Well, when they told me they were pregnant this time I told hubby that we should have another so we could all be pregnant together AGAIN...half joking!! (he saw no humor in it!)...a couple of weeks later, to our SURPRISE, I really was pregnant!!!! :o)

God listened to me! :o)

McKinley Rose will be here sometime in December...I never wanted a Christmas baby....seems so unfair at birthday and Christmas time (for the child...it may work out great for me!)

So, this gives my Dad and step mom SEVEN grandkids (soon to be EIGHT when my brother's wife has their little girl) and my mom will have (just) my FOUR! The in-laws only have (only) our FOUR too. My sister in law needs to get on the ball!! She's got a lot of catching up to do! :o)