Ambush Baby Shower

We went on a destination trip to Pensacola, Florida for my sister Courtney's 30th birthday and while we were there I was ambushed with a baby shower! I had to work one morning and while I was working they set up gifts and decorations and when I walked out of my bedroom I was so surprised. So surprised that I didn't have on any makeup or even my hair brushed. It was so sweet and thoughtful!

Since we aren't finding out the gender, I got some neutral gifts but also some for a boy and some for a girl. I wonder which ones I will be using! We chatted about potential names during the weekend and here were the top names per gender:
- Boy: Dean Foster Walsh (aka baby DFW)
- Girl: Claire Dawna Walsh

It was definitely the best shower view ever from the 20th floor of our condo out onto the beach! Thank you Mom, Courtney, Bethany, Anna, Shanna and Aunt Kathy! I love you ladies so much and it was wonderful to celebrate the new life joining our family.

20 weeks - WHAT?!

I realized last week that I am halfway done with this pregnancy! The two little ones on the outside take much more of my attention than the littlest one on the inside and the distractions have made the time fly. August feels around the corner and I am going to try to take moments to savor this experience and anticipate our newest family member.

This has been my most difficult pregnancy, not because of the pregnancy itself, but because of life. With Cadence I had no other little ones at home so while I was working long hours and traveling, I could still plant myself on the couch when I got home - that is not an option anymore. With Jack Ranger, I had a less rigorous work schedule, was working from home and Cadence was at Mimi's house during the day which was about 2 minutes drive. This meant I could take breaks during the day to rest and didn't have to commute or even spend much time in the car at all. With this pregnancy, I am a bit older, have a long work commute, have been traveling domestically and internationally and I have two little ones at home that need and deserve my attention when I get home from work. The combination has made for a tired mama.

Last night I was putting the kids to bed and they were whiny, I was tired and I finally got everyone in their jammies and their teeth brushed and when I put JR in his bed he said, "Mom! My bed is sandy!" He was right, he must have had pockets full of sand the last time he was in his bed so I started stripping off the sheets and as I tried to put the fresh sheet on, it wasn't cooperating and I just sat down beside the bed and started crying. Cadence and Ranger were both trying to comfort me and eventually they went on got cat masks and put on a little kitty cat show that did make me smile. I told them I was tired and the sheet was frustrating me and sometimes it is ok to cry and then you have to pray, take some deep breaths, think about things you are thankful for and get back up and move on. During prayers later that evening Cadie prayed, "God, please help mom to get rest and feel better and please help peanut to grow big and strong." They both have sweet hearts and I do have so much to be thankful for.

Pregnancy is miraculous and emotional. It is amazing to feel that little sweet new life kicking in my stomach. At the same time, it makes me want to crawl in my bed and stay there. My God is great, I have so much help and support, I have a husband who loves me and is willing to help with the daily tasks and while part of me knows I need to relish this time, the other part of me hopes the second half goes as quickly and the first.

Scarborough Fair - Annual Trip

Today we went on our annual outing to Scarborough Fair with DD and Big John. The weather was amazing and it felt awesome to soak up the sun. We got off to a slow start because we thought we could fit everything in the Priuse, but turns out we were wrong and so we had to transfer to the Tahoe before hitting the road. Taking less stuff or a smaller stroller wasn't an option :)

Cadie gets her face painted every year at the fair! This year she picked a purple horse. We tried to get JR to get his face painted but he was more interested in poking around in a nearby ditch.

It is so sad to have a big sister and have to wear her hand-me-downs. Luckily he rocks the flowers.

The important thing in this picture is the dunking booth in the back. Both kids LOVED the dunking booth and the kind operaters let them throw the balls at the target and when they failed to hit the target (of course), they let the kids just walk up and hit it to make the lady fall in the water. They thought it was the best.

We got home at about 4:30 and both kids were exhausted and went to bed. It is now just after 8pm and I am debating whether to wake them up for a few hours or let them keep sleep. I am leaning towards letting them sleep, but it could be an early and hungry morning since they have gone to bed with no dinner.

Beautiful Easter

I LOVE Easter, but this year was especially amazing. Why?

- Jesus' sacrifice: I am doing something  I have never done before - reading through the Bible in 2013. I am on the journey with 3 other wonderful women from my church and I have felt more enriched through His word than I ever expected. Being in His word daily made me feel even more thankful this year for the my Saviors death and resurrection. I had tears coming down my face through most of our church service this morning as my heart was full of His love and awe that He was willing to die for me.

- Health: It is amazing to feel amazing and to also have a little life growing inside me.
- Family: A dream come true! My sister and her husband living in Dallas, joining us for church, and then a laughter-filled brunch at our home after church. There is nothing in the world like family.

Special note from the Easter Bunny.

It was raining outside so the Easter bunny put the eggs in the house. It meant eggs and chocolate everywhere Sunday morning! 

For Cadie, the Easter bunny brought a sticker doll book, new story CDs and an owl sticker mural for her bedroom wall. For Jack Ranger, the Easter bunny brough a monster bus, dinosaur puzzle and Cars swim trunks.

We love having the Gallet's in Dallas!

A fun lunch with live, magical entertainment by the Great Grantini.

On Saturday the kids and I went to Prather Park for an Easter photo shoot. I had won a photo session in a silent auction fundraiser at Cadie's school. Our kids are VERY challenging to photograph, but the photographer worked really hard and I hope he captured a few good shots. Here are some of my candids just playing around after we were done. They loved these little sprits at the park. Their Aunt Whitney loves them too. (We miss you Aunt Winky!)

Pi Phi Easter Egg Hunt

It is kinda funny because I am a tri-delt, but Dawna is a Pi Phi so every year we have fun at the Pi Phi Easter Egg hunt. They had a little petting zoo, train rides, balloon artists and, of course, an egg hunt. This was the first year that Cadie really knew what to do and she collected a lot of eggs. Ranger was still interested in each egg, opening it, browsing through the eggs, etc. It isn't yet about quantity for him. Since Cadie collected so many I was happy that the eggs mostly contained stickers, stamps, crayons and little toys versus just candy.

Cadie and Dad had a date that afternoon to Mary Poppins at Fair Park Music Hall so Jack Ranger and I arrived early and enjoyed the petting zoo until Cadie and Dad arrived.

Cadie only made it through intermission at Mary Poppins, but sounds like they still had a good time.

JR loves the little animals. 

Getting ready for the hunt! Not sure it is really all that much of a hunt though since the ground is filled with eggs every which way you look.

One last train ride. The kids were tired and not all that smiley.

Homebodies

My kids love to play at home. Recently I said, "Let's go to Half Price Books and we can read some books and each of you can pick out a new book!" Cadie responded with, "Or, we could stay home and play!" On Sunday, we were on the way to church and Cadie said, "Can we go back home?" They just like to hang out at our house, and frankly, so do I. We find it VERY easy to kill time outside both in the backyard and the front, playing the playroom, working on projects, making forts, dressing up, crashing cars, etc.

Lovey Dog - check
Little Car in hand - check
Cadie dressed up for no particular reason - check
No shoes - check
BFFs one min. and fussing at each other the next - check

Jack Ranger was very proud of his block/car choo choo train.

Ready to dive down the slide in the backyard!

Ranger moved to a toddler bed on Feb. 20th. He still gets out of bed too much, but he is getting much better. It was so funny because they day before he climbed into his bed, got lovey dog and climbed back out like he had been doing it forever! maybe he had been... We decided it was time to say goodbye to the crib.

Oh yes, and I went to Sao Paulo Brazil Feb. 23-March 2. It was a good trip professionally and meetings went well, but it was tiring personally because I had a cold and was feeling worn out.

Baby Walsh #3

Amazing! It feels surreal that in August we will be a family of 5. I am about 16 weeks along and while life is busy and I am tired, I feel good in terms of the pregnancy. I think Miss Cadie Walsh is the most excited person in the whole whole about the baby. She asks me about "peanut" all the time and wants to know how big the baby is, when will the baby be here, can the baby stay in her room, talks to the baby in my stomach, etc. The other day she said, "Mom, I really really want a baby sister, but if it is a boy I guess that will be ok because at least I have experience with baby brothers."

I have been meaning to blog about the baby for quite a while and finally yesterday got a nudge from Grant to do a baby update because he posted the news on facebook. Once it is on facebook it is official. I only started telling folks at work last week and still need to tell a few of my clients. We told our families over the Christmas holidays because even though I wasn't far along it was so fun to announce it on Christmas day and while we were all together.

The first trimester was pretty normal with some nausea, but the biggest issue during the first trimester was exhaustion. Honestly, that is still my main issue. I lay with Cadie at night and EVERY night I fall asleep with her and have to stumble to my bed at some point in the night. It hasn't helped that I have had two international business trips recently (Spain and Brazil) and I just can't seem to get caught up on sleep or on life in general. I have been fighting a cold for the last three weeks and am planning to just rest this weekend.

Grant is busy with a construction project to turn our back storage area in our offices so that the bedroom that we now use as an office can be a kids room. I am so excited about having a nice home office and it will enable me to work at home more often towards the end of my pregnancy and with an infant. I often find my mind drifting to nurseries, babies and all the preparations for the house and with our family for a new little person to join us.

Each baby is a miracle, but I feel especially thankful for this little person because after all my illness this past summer my doctor told me it may not be safe for me to have another baby. I had an MRI in October and was thrilled when the doctor told me everything was healed and he had no concerns with me and a pregnancy. I think I was pregnant about 2 weeks later - it doesn't take Grant and I long :) God is so good.

The kids call the baby "peanut" because when we showed them this first sonogram picture they thought it looked like a peanut, not a baby.

Peanut, we all love you already and can't wait to meet you in August!