Train potty

happy Good Friday!  I love Easter weekend.  after Christmas it is my most favorite holiday.. the meaning and emotion behind the recognition of Christ's death on the cross for our sins is very powerful for me. 

it was three years ago on Easter Sunday that we lost our first baby in miscarriage.  the twins were about 15 months old at the time and I prayed and prayed for our sweet baby after watching it decline over the previous weeks. emotions flooded my brain with wishes and hopes that all would turn out just fine, but I knew in my heart that there wasn't much hope.  Easter morning we got up and ready for church and I felt a wave of relief + calm in my heart.. the first tearless morning I had had since finding out we would probably lose our little one around 7 weeks along. I knew my prayers were being heard but I also knew that the Lord was breathing redemption into a story that he had already engraved in my life ahead and I just didnt know it yet..

we lost our baby that afternoon at 10 weeks.

as I look back at that confusing and really angry time in my life I couldn't understand why this was happening TO ME.  but now, as I type with a sleeping baby on my chest and listening to sweet girl babbling on the monitor from her crib, I recognize that I am richly blessed. I have those experiences to be able to share and offer hope to others.. and Easter is so much about hope.

HOPE in forgiveness + new life.

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we have such a busy weekend ahead!  the weather has been so beautiful the last couple weeks and will carry through this weekend, too! we have Easter brunch and an egg hunt with our Supper Club besties and then heading over to spend the afternoon and eat Easter dinner with the cousins + grandparents.. and more egg hunting!  Sunday it will be just the six of us for church, brunch and then Easter baskets.

ya'll! I had so much fun building an Easter basket for a baby BOY this year!!

holidays with kids are WAY fun!

one. building the baskets

handmade paci clips + bonnet c/o pine and poppy shop

teething ring + bandies c/o grey + gingham

just a few things I've collected for Brady's Easter basket!  last year I went with wire baskets for the girls (similar HERE) and ended up using them in Baker's closet for storage (shoes/bathing suits/diapers).. so I had to find something different this year.  Jordan made me promise that whatever I got would be used for their baskets for more than one year, at least.  I came across these darling buckets from petit pehr a couple weeks back while nursing at 2am..  I got the blush pom pom pints for the three girls and this really cute striped blue one (on sale!) for Brady.  I cant wait to share how I build their bins.. which probably wont even happen until Saturday night:)

two. owlet monitor

we've been using the owlet smart sock monitor and really love it!  Brady has a touch of reflux that really can keep him up at night and after the breathing scare in the hospital due to him having an episode of reflux into his nose the monitor gives both Jordan and I the best peace of mind. I plan to give a full review soon, so stay tuned! 

three.  SO many baby snuggles!

miss Baker had a busy week of follow up appointments.  we went to the pediatric ophthalmologist to check the progress with her eyes and to see how much longer we need to patch.  great news is that we are going to start to wean her and start patching every other day!  and then progressively to once/week.  we also went to her follow up appointment with the ENT after getting tubes last month.  her hearing is awesome and much improved!  I could tell immediately that her hearing had changed and her vocabulary has been boosted with new words everyday, but seeing the test results on the computer screen solidified it for me.

while the big girls are in preschool twice a week Baker gets her one on one time with little Brady and its just the sweetest thing I have ever seen!  

 literally more than my heart could ever imagine.  now.. if we could get some of these random kicking and screaming (terrible twos?) tantrums under control we would be golden!

 the weather has been amazing!  I'm so so so ready for summer, but not totally ready for the 100+ degree temps.

no one could possibly be ready for that! we tried an online meal delivery service this last week and I cant wait to share how we loved it!  that burger was WAY easy and looks WAY more gourmet than I could take the time to whip out of my kitchen these days. 

I've been throwing lunchables and fruit snacks at my kids since Brady was born, so it was actually really fun + refreshing to get in the kitchen and dust off my rusty cooking skills.  cooking totally suffers while I'm pregnant + postpartum so I needed the motivation!

britt brought me my first alcoholic bevy in like a YEAR .. salted rim and all.

made my burger taste even more delicious:)

side note: would any one believe that I took these photos with my iPhone (7)?! I've been playing around with the portrait setting on my camera phone and it it producing some pretty amazing photos!