Announcing- Lily Kathryn Butler

So, here's the story. It was July 18th and I was thinking I still had AT LEAST two if not three weeks until our new addition joined us. I had been doing things like setting up her room, making about a billion freezer meals, going through Brea's old baby clothes... etc. I was totally waiting until the last minute on things because I was prepared for Brea like a month or two in advance and it drove me crazy so I was like I am going to only deep clean the house ONCE not 4 times like I did with Brea just to give me something to do and I didn't want to have to get up every morning and stare at that dang packed and ready hospital bag. Well, BIG SUPRISE... baby girl Butler #2 did not follow after her sister who was a week late... she came 2 weeks early. My bag was not packed, our SD cards on our camera's were totallly full, my house was a DISASTER, and we had yet to decide on a name for this little one. (WARNING: the following play-by-play may contain a little too much information, if you're worried just scroll down to the cute pics of Lily K.)A few weeks prior I had bought tickets to Harry Potter and planned for Brea to sleep out at my parents house so Andrew and I could have a hot date night (HELLO, Harry Potter- what's not hot about that date night?!) So, we went to the movie and ran to Wal-Mart afterwards to pick stuff up I needed for dinner the next day. We are standing in the check-out line and -SUPER FUN- I am TOTALLY confused... Did I just pee my pants??? I know pregnancy is tough on your bladder but this was not the normal "ooops" you may experience when you've held it too long. We start walking out and I ask Andrew if he can see anything and he's like "No... (pause) OH- yeah..." Luckily it was 11:30 at night, the darkness was on my side. So I hop in the truck still a little confused as to what just happened and then my "Maybe" turned into a definitely and I am assuming the most awkward position so as to avoid getting what has just been confirmed from the 2nd "wave" as amniotic fluid all over the car. We get home and I am in COMPLETE denial... I just kept telling Andrew this wasn't happening. I was seriously considering getting my jammies on and crawling into bed. I just kept yelling "I'M NOT READY!!!" Andrew forces me back into the truck and I keep telling myself that this is a nightmare and I am going to wake up in a few minutes... Nope. It didn't work. Lily Kathryn Butler was born the next day: 6 pounds 6 ounces, 19.5 inches long at 12:06 p.m. YEP, this little one took her time and decided not to show up until 12 and a half hours later. But once I got over the denial, we were really happy to have her with us healthy and happy. Here are the pictures Ashleigh took when Lily was four days old.

Not a baby anymore...

I wanted to get Brea's pictures taken before the baby arrived. Ashleigh did an amazing job. You can check out her photography blog: http://www.ashleighsbutler.blogspot.com/

Little did I know that Lily would be joining us only 9 days later!!!

Hoppy Hoppy Easter!

This Easter was really fun because Brea was starting to understand the concept of the Easter bunny coming to visit. We kept letting her know that he would bring her something special and I loved seeing her face when she walked into the family room that morning! She was so excited & I was glad that Andrew wasn't bummed that his basket was half the size of Brea's! P.S. I've discovered that the cellophane wrap is just a total pain in the butt! 1 a.m. Sunday I'm trying to get everything finished up for my parents coming the next morning and I'm wrapping these baskets in the dang stuff thinking "WHY did I think this was a good idea?" It made it look so weird... I was like "WHY am I trying to make this homemade basket look like the pre-made baskets at Wal-Mart? If that's what I wanted it to end up looking that way I just should have bought one!" And the next morning my thoughts were confirmed when Brea was just trying to get past all of it to the good stuff! By the way... the good stuff was not the book about what Easter is really about, the fun egg shaped sidewalk chalk, or even the Pinocchio movie.... it was the dang treats! She was literally hyperventilating and when asked what she got for Easter she'd scream at the top of her lungs "TREATS!!!"

Those treats were all Brea could think about all day, and the next day, and the next... until she woke up one morning and those treats had magically disappeared. She apparently has no middle ground when it comes to treats. It's 40 a day (which resulted in 40 tantrums in the same day) or none. I have to be super sneaky now and just pull one out of no where and then they have to be "all gone" because if she knows there are still some SOMEWHERE she'll act as though it is literally the end of the world. Love our little drama girl.

After the having a great morning with my family- making breakfast (which I felt horrible about when the cute little fast-offering collecting Deacon stopped by our house- I swear I had totally forgotten it was fast Sunday!) and an Easter egg hunt that took a while since after each egg was collected we had to explain that the treat inside was for later. We headed off to church, treats in hand. After church and a nice nap for Brea we headed to the Butler's for dinner.Brea loves her Grandpa Butler!

Another thing Brea couldn't get enough of was Grandma & Grandpa Cummings trampoline. Sweet Ashleigh helped Brea out on the tramp since Brea kept begging me and I really did try it out but I quickly hopped off when I felt as though I was about to bring my August baby into the world in April.

I love getting together with all our family like this. Brea's older cousins, Ian and Mason, are SO cute with her. I love watching them interact. A day full of seeing family is definitely my favorite part of any holiday.