Can you believe it?!?!

We're having a baby!!!!!!!!! I seriously can't believe it's real sometimes but then I start feeling nauseous and I am reminded that this is really happening! Words can not express how grateful we are to our Heavenly Father for this little one.  

I never imagined that it would take 3 1/2 years to get pregnant again. I don't know why we had to wait so long, and maybe we never will, but I do know that it happened this way for a reason. During the last 3 1/2 years I learned a lot about myself and having faith in the Lords timing. It definitely was not easy and there were many times when I thought I couldn't get through it. But I did. No matter how bad a day I was having there was always peace and comfort from  our Heavenly Father telling me it was going to be ok. 

Here's the big sister to be!!! She is beyond excited! She's also been faithfully praying for years for mommy and daddy to have a baby. I loved hearing those prayers! So sweet and innocent and full of unwavering faith. I'm so happy she finally gets to be a big sister! I can't wait til September when we finally get to hold this little baby in our arms!!

Grant Andrew Murdock

Over Thanksgiving I had the opportunity of taking newborn pictures of my nephew! I've never done newborn pictures before, so I really didn't know what to expect or if they would even turn out at all! Let me tell ya, it ain't easy capturing the cuteness, but I think I got some pretty good shots.

I love his little wrinkly forehead!!

Check out those lips! So cute.

I love these next few of Jordan and Grant!

 Even though it was a lot of hard work, I had a lot of fun doing these!  Now all I need is more newborns to practice on : )

Ice, Ice, Baby!!

This morning we woke up to about 3 inches of solid ice on the ground!! Davanee couldn't wait to get out there!

She's ice skating : )

I love icicles!!

It was fun to play in for a little while, but definitely nice to come inside and warm back up!

Bunk Bed and Ear Piercing

So, ever since we moved to Big Spring Davanee has not slept well at all! A little over a month ago I had reached my limit (again) and decided we needed to try something different. We came up with a little sleep chart. Bryan and I told her that if she went to bed little a "big girl", without throwing a fit, and without having mom or dad lay by her for three weeks then she would get $10 that she could spend on whatever she wanted. She was all for it! The first couple of nights were pretty rough, and at some point during the second night, Bryan told her that if she filled up her chart then he would get her a bunk bed. I was pretty shocked but Davanee totally wanted that bunk bed! The following three weeks were a breeze!!

After she filled up her chart, we headed over to Midland so she could pick out the bed she wanted!

We tried to convince her to get to really pretty wooden one that had stairs, but she fell in love with the metal one and  there was no changing her mind!

She was definitely in heaven!!

Then there was the ear piercing. Back in October, all of Bryan's family got together for the first time since before Davanee was even born! Well, Davanee's cousin Brookelyn had just gotten her ears pierced and Davanee decided that she needed hers done too! I thought that if I explained the process to her she would change her mind...it turns out that I was wrong. After about a month of her asking about it, Bryan and I decided to go ahead and let her do it. There's no place that does ear piercing in Big Spring, of course, so we had to drive to Midland. It just so happened that the next weekend Bryan had off was the same weekend her bunk bed came in (they had to order it to the store) so she ended up having a very exciting day!!

She was so brave and did really well!!! Unfortunately, later that night, we noticed that her earrings were not even : ( We decided to take one side out in hopes that they could fix it the next day. It was so heartbreaking! Davanee was extremely upset but finally calmed down after a little while. First thing the next day we drove back to Midland to see what could be done. Fortunately, the store manage was there and had a lot of experience with ear piercing. She assured us that she could fix it! This time the piercing did not go well! Davanee fully knew what was coming and didn't want the pain again but at the same time still wanted to have her ears pierced. Finally we got her to sit still long enough to get it done. After it was all over, she immediately was thrilled to have both earrings back in!

The dot is where the earring was originally placed!!

Halloween 2013!

This year Davanee decided she wanted to dress-up as a fairy! I think I started asking her what she wanted to be back in August because I wanted to make sure I had enough time to make the costume. She must have changed her mind about 20 times but she finally decided on a fairy! So then we went out and I let her pick out her wings so I could make the tutu to match : ) I think it turned out really cute! And she was sooo excited that she FINALLY got to wear her wings!!

Happy Halloween!!

Just Dance!

This girl LOVES playing Just Dance on the Wii, and she's pretty darn good at it too!!

I'm thinkin' that maybe some dance classes might be in our future : )

Easter!!

I love Easter. It's a great time to reflect on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and all that He did for us. It was really neat this year because Davanee is old enough to begin to understand the real reason we celebrate Easter. As Bryan was telling her of how Jesus suffered in the garden and then was crucified, you could just see the love and concern in her face. Then Bryan told her about the Resurrection and she was so full of joy, it was priceless. Such a sweet moment.

Easter weekend was pretty relaxing. On Saturday, a family from our ward invited us over for an Easter egg hunt and egg dying. There were lots of kids there and Davanee had a blast!

Waiting for the Easter egg hunt to begin. Can you tell she's getting frustrated with all the waiting?

And she's off! It wasn't easy getting these pictures, this girl is fast!!

Hello cutie!

Striking a pose : )

Doing a little tree climbing after all the eggs were hunted.

So pretty

Back into daddy's arms : )

Afterward, each of the kids got to pick a little prize!

Easter morning!! We got up extra early so that Bryan could watch Davanee find her basket before he left for work.

 

During General Conference, Davanee wanted to dye eggs again. So we did!

Can you tell who's speaking right now?

Davanee loves dying eggs so much, she would  probably do it everyday if we let her.

I also made a new Easter pettiskirt for Davanee but I haven't gotten any good pictures of her in it yet. I'll get that done and posted soon!!