Just a little prayer

Today I put my faith in God to carry me through adversity, grant me patience, and open my eyes to the blessings in my life.

I pray to not take myself or my responsibilities too seriously, but to make my role as Wife and Mother of paramount importance.

I pray to learn from my mistakes and have the discipline and courage to stand by my convictions.

I pray to appreciate the home, the life, the job, and the family I have been blessed with.

I pray to cherish and treasure every single moment of Frank's and Liliana's childhood.

I pray to find healthy ways to alleviate stress, and to eliminate all unnecessary stress from my life.

Dear Lily,

Liliana Mae, my sweet baby girl, you are one year old today!  That means you are no longer a baby (but you will always be MY baby!).  You are getting so big, and yet in so many ways you are still so small and dainty.  You are an absolute joy most of the time.  You are easygoing, happy, and sweet.  But when you are not happy, you let everyone know it!  This is usually when you are tired or hungry, or when your brother keeps bothering you.  I always wanted a baby girl, and God truly blessed our family when he chose us for you.  I am so excited for the years to come, and the adventures we will share.  I have decorated your nursery with images of Paris, and I cannot wait to take you there.  I can't wait to show you the world and teach you that you can be anything you want to be.

You are not in a rush to get big and grow up like your big brother was.  You are taking your sweet time to learn new things.  Your new skill is pointing, and you point to things that you want.  You are mobile, and you do a hybrid scoot/crawl maneuver to get where you want to go.  You have absolutely no interest in standing or walking yet.  You are perfectly happy sitting, rolling, and scooting around.  You do things on your own time, and you find pleasure in the simple joys in life.  I believe you are going to be our free spirit, our dreamer, and I love that about you.  I cannot wait to see what you become when you grow up.

You are the perfect piece to our family puzzle, a true beauty, and a sweet soul.  I am so blessed to be your mom, and I love you all the way to the moon and back.  Happy first birthday baby girl!  Love, Mommy

Princess Liliana's 1st Birthday Party!

Tomorrow, my baby girl turns 1!!! I cannot believe it.  She still seems like such a tiny baby to me, which makes it even harder to believe.  We celebrated Lily's birthday on June 1 with a small brunch party at our house. I think her favorite part was the balloons and wrapping paper!  Kiersten made a bunch of her beautiful party decorations, which I really appreciated.  She wasn't too sure about the cake, but she did eat a few handfuls of icing.  We had a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends, and Lily got a lot of fun new toys and beautiful clothes.

Here are some pictures from Lily's BIG first birthday party!

Showering Baby Rylie

Two weekends ago, Ashlee, Kristin, Gina, and I hosted a shower for my sister and baby Rylie!  We decided to do Allison's baby shower and Liliana's birthday party the same weekend to make it easy on our families, only having to come to Dallas for one weekend.  The morning of the shower was super hectic trying to get everything ready and also get the house in order for showings.  I decided to take Lily to the shower with me, and it was a horrible plan.  She did not nap in the car on the way, so she was exhausted and miserable the entire shower, and she wouldn't let anyone hold her except for me.  It sucked because I felt like I missed a lot of the shower, but Allison had a great time and it was really nice to see all her friends and celebrate baby Rylie! She got a ton of cute stuff!  Our aunt Barbara and cousin Kim flew to Dallas for the shower, which was super nice.  Kim had never been to Dallas or even met my kids before, so it was so great for her to come out.

I am so, so, so excited for my sister to have a baby and to become an aunt!  Only 9 more weeks!

Here are some pictures from the shower: