Baby Girl's Baby Shower

I seriously have the BEST friends a girl could ask for!!! These 4 ladies went above and beyond to make me feel so special and to give this sweet baby girl a BEAUTIFUL shower!!! 

Thank you all SO MUCH for everything you did to make this so perfect! 

Along with having the sweetest friends EVER, I have the most talented friends as well! Check out this BEAUTIFUL painting my friend did! This amazing sign will be hung above Holland's crib! I can't wait to get it all put together! 

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They seriously went above and beyond and thought of everything!! They even got my favorite cereal!! <3 <3 <3 

The cutest bow making station!! We seriously have a bow or two to go with every outfit now!! Haha!

I still can't believe we are having a little girl!!! I told me mom MANY years ago that I thought I would have all boys, so this was a sweet surprise!

I am just so thankful for each and every person who took the time to come! You all mean SO MUCH to me!!!

What a fun day February 8th was!! Miss Holland, we are ready for you! Your room is slowly but surely coming together, but more importantly, our hearts are so excited to meet you! You have been prayed for for some time now! <3 

My Favorite Instant Pot Recipes So Far....

Oh my goodness, I am LOVING my Instant Pot! Like, why did I not get one of these sooner! Haha!

I probably did 10 different dishes in there in January, and February is looking the same! It is SO EASY and right now with the boys, it usually works out to be perfect timing on when I start prepping and when I know they can help or be busy doing something specific so I can get it going and have it done around the time Trevor gets home.

I thought I'd share my top few favorites from the month. If you know me, part of the reason I like them is because they are SO SIMPLE, all in one pot type things and simple ingredients! You know I'm not running all over town to get crazy ingredients! Haha!


Instant Pot Shredded Chicken Burrito Bowls!
https://www.recipessimple.com/instant-pot-shredded-chicken-burrito-bowls/

What I loved about it....you dump it all in one pot! And simple ingredients! I'm not a big rice person, but oh my goodness, the Instant Pot has changed my opinion on rice! It is SO GOOD!! And it was especially good in this dish! 

Easy Instant Pot Stroganoff
https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/instant-pot-stroganoff/

I'm sure you're going to notice a pattern here with what I love about it....one pot, everything goes in and you don't have to do much, simple ingredients and so yummy! I wouldn't necessarily call this one healthy, but it was something I was craving from pregnancy and it did not disappoint. We also had lots of leftover and it was delicious even the next day!




Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
https://confessionsofafitfoodie.com/instant-pot-chicken-tortilla-soup-21-day-fix/

I'm a little picky when it comes to Chicken Tortilla Soup and this is about the first one I have LOVED that I've made at home. I love Chuy's Chicken Tortilla Soup. It's always what I get there and I crave it! lol! This was VERY similar, so it hit the spot! Again, SUPER EASY! One pot, simple ingredients and healthy!


Instant Pot Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo
https://nailsmag.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-best-instant-pot-chicken-fettuccine.html

This one was a hit, especially with the boys! Again, not exactly healthy, lol! But EASY and DELICIOUS! It honestly reminded me of Olive Garden's Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, but less "greasy." The only thing that seemed to be the issue here is, both times I made it a BURN alert came up on my Instant Pot, so I had to stop it, move things around a little and start over. I was a little nervous the first time this happened because we were having a bunch of people over and now everything was running a little late. But, everything turned out fine and delicious! So, I would recommend not smashing things down like it recommends in the recipe!


I hope all of my fellow Instant Pot people find this helpful! I have several recipes pinned on Pinterest, but always love personal recommendations on these things that are tried and true (I know you can't trust everything on pinterest! HAHA!)

Happy Cooking!

Second Trimester - Baby #3

Second Trimester- Baby #3!!!

Here is a fun filled overview of second trimester with our sweet baby girl! I love getting to read these and compare all the similarities and differences with all my pregnancies!

You can read all about the First Trimester Here!

Baby Size: We have gone from the size of a lemon to an eggplant!! Lots of growing happening for sure! I can feel it and you can definitely see it!! HAHA!

My Symptoms: Thankfully my energy returned at the beginning of the second trimester and my sickness pretty much subsided. By the end of the 2nd trimester, I was definitely feeling a little more tired and wanting to go to bed earlier and earlier. The worst part right now is my pelvic bone. I had this same problem with Rhett. If I stand for too long, don't wear really supportive shoes, or even sit for any number of minutes and then stand up, my pelvic bone basically feels like it is breaking. Not exactly sure what that would actually feel like, but I can imagine based on how excruciating this can feel! My other annoying symptom that has been around since the beginning is feeling out of breathe. It's hard to sing because I can't get enough air. It has nothing to do with being out of shape because I have worked out consistency during this pregnancy and was probably in the best shape of my life before I got pregnant. It's just crazy how exhausted I can feel and how out of breathe I am after one song.

Weight: I think I am up about 20 lbs from pre-pregnancy. I try not to weigh myself too often, but I'm always a little curious!

Gender: GIRL!!! Holland Rose Morris! I can't wait to meet this sweet thing and I sure hope she likes PINK!

Maternity Clothes: Around Week 27 I think I jumped in and started wearing maternity pants. My other ones, even doing the hair tie trick, were getting uncomfortable and I decided it was time! Haha! As far as shirts and dresses, I mainly wear my normal clothes. I have to wear an undershirt since some of my shirts are a little short to wear with maternity pants.

Movement: She is ACTIVE! I love getting to feel her move around! Trevor has felt her several times, but I swear every time I tell him "she's being so active" and Trevor tries to feel, she stops! Haha!

Sleep: I'm a great sleeper! Haha! I've had a couple restless nights or nights where I really struggled with heartburn, but most of the time sleep is great!

Cravings: Ice Cream and ICE! I want to crunch ice ALL.DAY.LONG!

Workouts: The first trimester was definitely non-existent! However, second trimester has been GREAT! I completed 68 workouts during my 2nd trimester and I'm pretty darn proud of that!

Best Pregnancy Moment: I have had lots of wonderful pregnancy moments. I'm honestly just really excited and filled with joy (no, I'm not in the best mood all the time and I feel like I am more irritable with the boys sometimes) but overall, I have an amazing sense of joy! I think the neatest thing during this whole pregnancy is seeing how excited Brooks is to have a sister! It melts me every time he talks about her!!

Goals for Next Trimester: Enjoy the last few weeks! I know this is going to be the last time I'm pregnant (I know, I know...I said that last time! HA!) But, I think I mean it this time. I want to soak up as much time with the boys as I'm sure our lives will definitely change once she arrives. I'm going to enjoy my ice cream that I want every.single.night (HA!) and I'm going to finish this little girls room!

Thoughts: I.CAN'T.WAIT for her to arrive! It's definitely a different feeling going from 1 to 2 and now 2 to 3. Going from 1 to 2, I felt like a chapter was closing, I felt a little guilty about my one-on-one time with Brooks ending. I don't really have any of those thoughts this time around. I know how to create one on one time with each kiddo and I know how special it is to have a sibling, so I'm really just excited for her to be here and continue doing what we're doing.


Here are a few pictures from 2nd trimester...

14 Weeks

14 Weeks

Finding out it's a GIRL!!!

16 Weeks!

17.5 Weeks

Girls got muscles already!! HAHA! 

20 Weeks! 

20 Weeks with all 3! Brooks, Rhett and Holland!

I made working out a big priority through the 2nd trimester, so I had to include this one! I love Brooks' encouragement! 

23 Weeks!

27 Weeks

Date Nights are back!!!

Last year was not the best year for us with our “date night” life and we both felt it! I’m not exactly sure why except, my work got much busier and the night we usually had scheduled for date night I would end up swamped and need to get a million things done. I’m not sure why we didn’t recognize this earlier but we decided to change some things up so we could make this a priority again this year. 

My sweet husband knows that my love language is going out to eat (you think I’m joking...I’m not)! In preparation for the new year, one of our date nights in December was the go through and choose 12 new restaurants that we want to try, one per month. So we automatically have this one date night built in to our month!! Our January restaurant was Bohemian Woodfire Pizza! It was delicious and it was a really nice one-on-one time with my best friend! 

The second thing my sweet husband did was sign up for a date night subscription. We’ve done Date Box before and had some really fun ones and ones that we didn’t think the money was worth it. So, Trevor did some research and found a new one called Crated with Love. The thing I love about it is it’s all centered on a theme. The first one we got was all about communication. So the 4 different activities in the box were all centered on us communicating well. The one we did this month was all about treasuring your spouse! Hence the PIRATE theme! 

I didn’t win much so I was stuck wearing the patch! Ha! 

My favorite part was the last challenge. They gave us this cute little treasure box...

And the challenge was to write something you treasure about your spouse, stick it in the little treasure chest and hide it somewhere your spouse would see it that day. And then that person would do the same and it keeps going back and forth for the week. It was really sweet to wake up to every morning! 

We actually got a couple bonuses in January! First up, Neighborhood Jam! This was on our list as a restaurant to try this year but the opportunity presented itself early so we took advantage since they are almost always packed! This was a fun one with the boys too! 

And we are currently headed out of town for a weekend getaway just the two of us! Call it a baby moon, call it a getaway, whatever it is, I’m super excited for an uninterrupted weekend with my best friend!! 

If you aren’t currently dating your spouse, START!!! It’s seriously a game changer!!! 

Apologies at Our House

With two toddlers at home all day every day, we are provided with LOTS of opportunities to apologize to each other. I'm sure siblings have had their tiffs since the beginning of time, I know my brother and I had our moments, but I pray every day for my boys to have a great relationship. I want them to be more than brothers but true friends! Best friends. I read this thought about treating our siblings like we would treat our best friends somewhere in a devotional awhile back and it really stuck with me. 

Daily we talking about sharing, not taking toys from each other, why it's not nice to hit our brother or chase him around the house just to get a reaction. It can be draining some days...can anyone relate?

I have implemented a new line in our apology lately and I'm starting to see the fruits of it, so I wanted to share. 

Brother, I'm sorry I <insert offense>. You are my best friend and I'm sorry I treated you that way. Will you forgive me?

Trevor and I would always make them apologize and ask for forgiveness, but I made them add in the best friend part. I want them to speak it and know it! The cool thing is, Brooks now tells me that bubby (Rhett) is his best friend! It was the sweetest thing ever when I heard him say it without the context of an apology! Now this is part of our daily lingo. We talk about how our brother is our best friend and we talk about what best friends do for each other and how best friends are supposed to treat each other. 

We are totally still learning and navigating having two boys, especially so close in age. So, if you have any tips or tricks you want to share, please do!! 

2019 Highlights

I love seeing these fun Top Nine photos because it makes me remember all the exciting and fun things that were accomplished or celebrated this year! 

Finding out we were pregnant and that it’s going to be a GIRL! Celebrating Brooks turning 3 and Rhett turning 2. Being celebrated for some amazing accomplishments through UBAM and celebrating because I earned a FREE TRIP to Hawaii! Mother’s Day with my two little loves and Trevor and I celebrating 8 years of marriage at Living Kitchen! 

I’d say this list does an amazing job of celebrating the highlights, but it did miss a couple things!

Endless hours of work on our property...this might not seem like a “highlight” but when you get to experience the before and after, it’s a highlight seeing the beauty in where we live. Also, this hard work was great therapy! At a time when I was really struggling emotionally with not being able to get pregnant and really questioning God, it gave me some amazing time to talk to God and come to terms with HIS plan! I actually wrote a blog post about this but I never published it. Maybe one day... and obviously His timing is perfect!

Our new floors is DEFINITELY a highlight!! We had all concrete floors in our home which we loved but due to come unfortunate circumstances, we had to cover them. I do LOVE our new floors!

Getting 2 kitties! We are not cat people, ha, but we are big fans of these two cuties. Piper and Pistol!

Our trip to Branson for Brooks’ birthday!

Our yearly trip to Holland, MI for our family reunion!

My Girl’s Trip to Colorado with the best of friends!

Our weekend trip to visit GiGi and Great Grandpa!

The POLAR EXPRESS was a BIG highlight for the boys. They still talk about it and can’t wait to go back next year. 

Thanks for walking down memory lane with me! It’s been a great year, but there are definitely areas that I need to step up my game! The first one that comes to mind is DATE NIGHTS! Trevor and I did SO good at these for years and this year was hard to make it a priority. That is changing in the year 2020! We are both so passionate about marriage and helping others in their marriage, this is something that we need to do better with. We already have some fun things in the making, I can’t wait to share them with you all! 

Here’s to 2020!