Louisiana Trip and Laylas 2nd Birthday!

I dont even know where to begin with this post! :) It has been awhile since I have been on here and you dont really realize how fast time goes by....I have so much to update you guys on so if your going to read this one you might want to get comfy where your sitting!

The last time I update you guys we had just found out that we were having boys! Since then we have taken a vacation to Louisiana to visit my family which was Laylas first vacation, we have celebrated Laylas 2nd Birthday, and almost completed this pregnancy! So here we go.....

At the end of March we decided that since my family in Louisiana had not met Layla yet that we were going to load up before we got to far along with the pregnancy and take a trip to visit. We had the time of our life! Of course thats home for me so I was in heaven. Ryan has come to love it as well except for the hunting aspect of it all, and well Layla was just happy to play outside before May :) The food down there holds a very special place in Ryan and I's hearts and I was hoping that Layla would pick up on that also but I will keep hoping because she didnt quite take to it this time! If you have ever been to the south you know about crawfish boils....all I can say is yummmmmmm!

They start out by getting cleaned and all the kids playing with them!

 And then they get dropped into this huge pan and get boiled!

 And then everyone just dives in!

This is what Layla thought of it....

 Its a whole different type of living down there....its just a slower type of living, not a care in the world! We took one day away from the family and decided to take a trip to New Orleans to take Layla to the zoo! She had an absolute blast!

 

All in all it was a great trip and we had an amazing time! We cant wait to do it again and be able to take our little boys with us!

At the end of May we celebrated Laylas 2nd Birthday! When it comes to throwing her parties I tend to go a little over the top so choosing her themes are super important :) This year I decided to go with a Sweet Shoppe theme! Of course we had to start with her 2 year pictures for her invitations!

 

I dont know why I seem to stress out so much when it comes to her parties but Im sure this isnt the last year that it will happen.

If you know me at all you know the kitchen is NOT the place for me, whether it comes to making dinner or baking. When I decided to do all of the baking for her party I must have been feeling like super woman because I should have known better. The night before her party Layla went to stay with Grandma so that Daddy and I could get everything made, little did we know that we would be up until 4 in the morning baking away! Some things turned out great (like the cake that Daddy made for her), some things we only had half of by the time we ruined the other half (the cake pops) , and well some things didnt turn out at all :) BUT in the end we got what we needed to done and it was quite the night at the Reed household but its memories we wont forget....and thats whats important!

Here are some pictures from her party!

 

 

I think Im going to call it a night for this post! At least Ive gotten some what caught up but I dont want to bore you.....soooo check back tomorrow for an update on the pregnancy and I will share my maternity pictures with you also.

Boy oh BOYS!!!

Yesterday morning I woke up with a knot in my tummy.....It was the day of our ultrasound and I was so afraid that we were going to get to the appointment and the ultrasound tech was going to inform us that we were having two little girls....I know it sounds weird to say that I was afraid, but I wanted nothing more then to hear "They are boys FOR SURE"....not for me but for Ryan. I know he would have been okay with whatever we were having and he has reassured me of that MANY times but deep down what guy doesnt want a little boy!

We had a really great ultrasound tech at our first ultrasound at our new doctors office and she is the one who told us that she thought that we were having two boys at our 13 week ultrasound, Ryan and I were hoping that we would get her again but when our appointment got switched to the other location of our doctors office neither one of us thought that she would be the tech to come out to call us for our appointment....BUT.....as soon as we both seen her we looked at each other and smiled.

As soon as we entered the room and she closed the door she knew exactly who we were and said "I told you I thought they were both boys right?" I just smiled and said "Yep and I hope you were right!!!" So as I laid there on that table and she put the warm goo on my belly I crossed my fingers under my leg and hoped and prayed that we would see those little boy parts.......as soon as she touched my belly with the little scanner, there it was PLAIN AS DAY! She just looked over and said "I was right!!!" I knew at that moment I could relax and just enjoy the rest of my ultrasound just watching our little ones move around in there.

I knew that I didnt want anymore kids after this pregnancy just because the first trimester has never proved to be nice to me and I just dont know if I have the energy for any more little ones, but when I sat back and thought about it, I kept thinking to myself....if these are girls I think I want to try once more for Ryans sake! I have my little princess and I wanted him to have that same feeling with a little boy.... :) but I am truly at peace now. I know that he will have his boys to take hunting, work on cars, train for sports, and take shopping with him at Bass Pro and places like that (Thank God Mommy wont have to go!) and I have my little princess to lay out with, shop for clothes, do all the prom and wedding stuff with, and just to be girls with :) I can honestly say I have the perfect little family and I wouldnt want it any other way! God has truly blessed us!

Here are a few pictures of our little show offs.........

"I Love You"

When I was growing up, being told "I Love You" was not something that was missed around our house. We said it several times through out the day, EVERYDAY. I didnt know any other way, I thought that thats how it was supposed to be when you loved someone. I have carried this with me through my entire life. Telling my mom and dad, brothers, aunts, uncles, and anyone else that means the world to me still to this day everytime I talk to them, whether its in person or on the phone. I always say "you never know what will happen between this time and the next time that I talk to them and I want to make sure that they know I love them, and that there is never nor was ever a question that they knew it."

Ryan and I are the same way, we say we love each other an uncountable amount of times a day and yet I still feel like its never enough. The same with Layla....I know that she doesnt really understand what it means yet and she looks at me the same way everytime I tell her but I know that one day she will get it and until then I will just keep saying it hoping she understands. :) I never want her to forget how much we love her and I hope that this is something that she carries with her as she grows and starts to really understand what love is!

I feel like there are so many things that a person questions in their life and I just feel like love is not something that anyone should ever have to question. I dont want my children growing up and saying that they never heard their parents say that they loved each other or that they loved them because whether its just three little words or not, I think that they make a huge impact on a person and who they become. 

I had a hard time trying to decide what to write about today but this topic really hits home today because on this day last year, one of my very best friends died after giving birth to her little girl just 10 days before. I simply can NOT imagine not being able to tell my little girl that I love her everyday or being able to kiss her sweet little cheeks everyday. As I sit here typing this blog with Layla stretched out over my lap, or whats left of it that my big ol' pregnant belly isnt covering, slowly going down for her nap, I whisper "I love you" in her ear...JUST IN CASE.....and I know that Holly is up in heaven watching every step that Khylee takes and taking every chance she gets to whisper "I love you" in her ear, BUT it simply breaks my heart that she isnt here with us today to snuggle that beautiful little girl to sleep.

R.I.P Holly Renee Caudle, you are forever in MY heart!!!

Potty Training

Where do I even start? I didnt really know when a good time to start potty training was and I was just hoping that Layla would just decide one day that she was a big girl and didnt want to wear a diaper anymore....as most moms probably do! That time really hasnt hit her yet and Im not sure that having 3 children in diapers is something that I want to be a part of or that my husband would enjoy financially supporting either! Especially since she will be over 2 by the time the twins get here....sooooo needless to say, we have started potty training!

When we decided to start this whole thing I decided that I wasnt going to spend the money on pull-ups. It was going to be either diapers or panties, I dont regret that decision although I think it would have been a little easier on me. She does really well with telling us when she has to go MOST of the time but when she doesnt am I supposed to punish her or what? I cant bring myself to put her in time out when she is trying so hard but at the same time I dont know if thats making it harder for her to understand or not!

So my mom came to visit the on Monday and brought Layla her very own little girl pantie collection. Layla is totally in awe with these and thinks that they are pretty cool :) The very first day she wore a pair for 4 1/2 hours without having an oopsie! So right now we are only wearing diapers when we go bye bye or nap/night time and I am loving it! I just hope that we can get through the rest of this pretty quick and be completely out of them. Besides her pants look so much cuter without a diaper underneath them :) 

Our little family is turning into a NOT SO LITTLE family!

As most of you know Ryan and I have always wanted a little ones and couldnt have been more excited when we were finally married about starting our little family. Of course after being together for so long people would always ask "When are you gonna have babies?" Ryan would always chuckle and reply "9 months after we get married". Little did we know that he would be pretty darn close to being right on. Almost a month and a half after we got married we found out that we were expecting. Both of us were on cloud nine and life couldnt have been any better. And 10 short months after we were married Layla came into this world.

I always said that I wanted my kids close together so that their wasnt a huge age gap.....that was until I had kids! I absolutely love being a momma but I couldnt imagine chasing another one around and trying to keep up with 2.

At the beginning of this year I started feeling not so good....I didnt know what was wrong and just kept going and didnt really say anything to Ryan. A couple weeks went by and I finally text him and said I think we need to go get a pregnancy test, I was a little hesitant about the whole situation but he on the other hand was estatic. So as soon as we got home we ran to the store and came right back home to take it. SECONDS after taking that test it showed positive! I just looked at it in amazement......I questioned myself....Am I ready for this? Are WE ready for this?..... but Ryan on the other hand picked up the phone and started sharing his excitement!

We werent in any hurry to find out how far along we were because we found out so early with Layla and it made my pregnancy feel like it took forever, so we decided to just wait a little bit to go to the doctor. On February 7th we went in for our ultrasound to find out how far along we were and our due date. Ryan was filling out my paperwork and not really paying attention to screen yet when the lady put the little scanner on my belly......suddenly my heart dropped.....I seen two babies! YES, TWO BABIES! I thought maybe the machine was just trying to "focus" and then the lady said "Okay, here is baby 1 and here is baby 2". As I looked at her in total shock, she says " oh you didnt know you were having twins" I just said "UH, NO!" I looked over at Ryan and with the biggest smile on his face EVER he said "Are you okay babe" and just giggled...he was so excited!

So am I ready for this journey....I dont really know....the only thing I can say is HERE WE GO, ITS US PLUS 3!