Ty and Ansley's First Photoshoot

Ty and Ansley's First Photoshoot

Haven't had much time for blogging lately, but I wanted to share these pics we had made last week. I was really pleased with how they turned out. Both kids did great. Thanks to Mom for helping me make this outing which would have been almost impossible alone! We are doing well and getting used to having 2 kids. I am missing civilization, but plan to rejoin soon. Have a great week!

Ansley Brooke Petty

Welcome to the world Ansley Brooke Petty! Our sweet baby girl arrived on Tuesday May 1st at 1:17 PM. She weighed in at 7lb 9oz and was 20 inches long. We are of course in love with this little girl and so happy to have her out here where we can see her and kiss her. The delivery went well, much faster than the last time. In fact the nurse delivered her because the doctor wasn't there yet! That's okay because that nurse is a dear friend and she is very capable! Thanks Evonne! We are just so thankful that we have a healthy beautiful girl. Ty is doing well with the adjustment so far. He seems to be really interested in her, but still a little jealous at times. Mom is here helping us with the change so that has been wonderful. I may cry a river when she goes home! After 9 months of waiting here are some pictures of the newest addition to our family!

Easter Weekend

Okay, so it took me almost a week to post these, but here are some pics from last weekend. It was a rather eventful one. On Friday night we drove (in the snow!) to Hermitage and had dinner with our friends the Akins at O'Charleys. That was lots of fun. Then during the wee hours of the morning we had an episode of "false labor", which certainly did not feel false at the time!

Saturday afternoon my family came over and we "grilled in". That was a blast including the indoor Easter egg hunt for my nephew Noah. Thanks to Duane by the way for helping put together Ansley's furniture. Her room is coming right along now. It was fun having myself, my sis Jenny, and my cuz Sarah all together at one time because we are all 3 pregnant. They are in the early stages though and still look like supermodels! We are so excited to be getting 3 new babies. We take seriously the commandment to be fruitful and multiply! Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of this event.

On Sunday we went to Brian's parents house and ate a wonderful lunch with his family. We got to see sweet baby Jack who will surely be outgrowing me before his first birthday. He is a handsome little man and so pleasant! Ty got to play with his cousin Malcolm in their Easter outfits (I did get pics of that). Let's just say I am thankful for Shout after the abuse he gave that outfit Sunday. It all came out! We had a full and great weekend! Hope everyone else did too! We are just waiting for Ansley and trying to get Ty well. He has a nasty cold with a smoker's cough. I bought a portable aquarium swing at a consignment sale for Ansley a couple of weeks ago and apparently Ty has deemed it his "recliner". He is lounging in it right now. Oh man, am I in for it!

The Cross

With this week being Easter I just wanted to share the lyrics from a Chris Tomlin song about the cross. It is such a beautiful song. It is even more beautiful with the music, but I thought I would share the words to remind myself and all of us what this weekend (and everyday) is about. Hope everyone is having a great week! Happy Easter!!!

What can take a dying man and raise him up to life again?

What can heal a wounded soul?

What can make us white as snow?

What can fill the emptiness?

What can mend our brokenness?

Brokenness

Mighty, awesome, wonderful

Is the holy cross

Where the Lamb laid down His life

To lift us from the fall

Mighty is the power of the cross

What restores our faith in God?

What reveals the Father's love?

What can lead the wayward home?

What can melt a heart of stone?

What can free the guilty ones?

What can save and overcome?

Overcome

It's still a miracle to me

It's still a mystery

It's still a miracle to me

The power of God For those who believe

Forced Humility

Okay, so I was reminded today of one of the many reasons God blesses us with children. I decided that humbling me was definitely in His plan when he allowed me to be a parent. Allow me to explain. Today I took Ty to a consignment sale at Forrest Hills Baptist Church. It was a great sale by the way if anyone wants to go tonight or tomorrow. Anyway, he sat in his stroller fairly compliantly while I shopped as long as I gave him constant snacks, books, or toys to distract him. I was so pleasantly surprised that I even got in the time that I did before he got totally restless that I thought, hey I'll let him get out of the stroller and play with these big toys for a few minutes before I pay and strap him back into his carseat. Well, that was all well and good until it was time to leave. The term "drug him out kicking and screaming" took on literal meaning for me today. I literally carried the child out kicking, trashing, and screaming. It was priceless. Let me paint the picture. Imagine a 34 weeks (almost) pregnant woman pushing a stroller carrying a diaper bag and shopping bag with her left hand and an 18 month old being held horizontally face down and feet down on her hip with her right arm around his stomach while she tries to open the door with her body and leave. All the while the child is throwing a complete fit. Now, I know what all of those women (and couple of men) were thinking. It was either "Why can't that woman control her child?" or "Bless her heart. Her child is out of control, and look at her. She is about to have another one. She must be crazy." Let's just say I made it to the car without dropping him (barely) and chalked it up as not my proudest mommy moment. I write all of this to say that it is good to be embarrassed once in a while. It reminds me not to judge other people's situations and that it really doesn't matter what all those people were thinking. My other purpose in writing this is to ask: What do you do in a situation like that with an 18 month old? I talked to him very sternly about why we don't act like that and made him look me in the face. I also made him pat me sweetly to show him the correct way to treat mommy after he hit me while I was dragging him out. I am open for suggestions from any of you fellow parents. I realize that you can't allow your kids to behave like that, but I don't think I can give my one year old a beating either. So, what would you do? And don't worry, I won't be judging you! By the way, after that I took him to get a haircut where he screamed so hard to the whole time that his entire body was trembling. Banner day. It's a good thing he is so cute!!!

Mommy's Little Piggy

Well, I have been putting it off for fear of the mess, but I finally let Ty loose with a spoon by himself for the first time yesterday. We were having one of those very challenging days anyway so I decided to give him yogurt for a snack and gave him a spoon to go at it. He was pleasantly shocked at this freedom and made a total mess of course! He started out fairly clean and slowly became more of a mess. By the end he just decided to pick up the bowl and try to eat straight out of it. It was hilarious! I hope you enjoy the pictures. Now I guess I will have to keep letting him do it until he totally gets it. Lots more messes to come!

New House

At last I am delivering some promised pictures of the new house. We are officially in and partially unpacked. We are loving the new place and the new yard. We feel very blessed to have this place to raise our ever- growing family. Despite a 2 week sickness for me, a stomach virus for Brian, and 2 ear infections for Ty in the past couple of weeks everything went really well. That is largely due to the amazing friends and family we have who helped so much! We are all pretty healthy now thankfully. Ty is loving his new yard as you will see if you scroll down for more pictures. It is hard to capture a house on camera, but maybe you can get an idea of our new crib from these pics. Hopefully you can all see it in person soon if you haven't already! Our door is always open (figuratively). You just may want to call first to make sure we are dressed and awake! The first pic is of the kids' bathroom, the second and third are of the living room, the fourth is the kitchen from the living room, and the last is of Ty's room (which will soon by blue). By the way, speaking of our ever growing family, I am now 32 weeks pregnant and things are looking great. We are excited about getting to meet Miss Ansley soon. Hope everyone is doing great!

Ty Playing at the New House

Trip to Dallas

Well, it's been almost 2 weeks since we got back, but I am finally posting about our trip to Texas to visit Kim, Mitch, Ashton, Katie Ann, Campbell and Caroline. We had a great time. Ty really enjoyed his girl cousins. We don't get a lot of one on one time with these sweeties so we tried to soak it all in. Brian had to work while we were there, but he still got a lot of quality time with the Edgeworths. We've busy since we got back with the move. I will try to post some pics of the new place tomorrow. Have a great night!

Cookeville Fun!!!

Well, I've had some minor technical difficulties lately with my picture uploading, but at last it is working and I am finally posting! Week before last Ty and I went to visit the Dixon's in Cookeville while Brian was out of town for work. Ty had lots of fun with his cousins Noah and Micah. He also shed a few tears, as you can see. What can I say? He is his mother's son, a bit sensitive! Anyway, we had a great few days and were sad to leave. Ty is fascinated with Noah and still a bit skeptical of Micah. Micah is hilarious. He is saying lots of words and makes the funniest expressions you've ever seen. I wanted to share a few photos from the trip even though it has been a while.

The Petty family is in a bit of a whirlwind right now. We are set to move in two and a half weeks. We are trying to get packing and mortgages and inspections and such done. Yesterday I entered the third trimester of this pregnancy and let's just say I feel like it. Ty has been sick, but is doing much better. So, we feel very blessed with all that is happening but would definitely appreciate prayers for efficiency and serenity. I will try to post again soon.

Cousins Galore!!!

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Cousins Galore!!!

This weekend we got to visit with Brian's sister Kim and her 2 oldest children, Ashton and Katie Ann, who were in from Texas. We also got to visit with all of our other cousins on the Petty side. Malcolm and Ty had a big time together. They are starting to play together more and even fight over toys! Baby Jack is just as cute as can be and is doing great. We had a great time as usual. Ty loved playing with the girls too. He is fascinated by older kids. We even watched the Super Bowl out in Kingston Springs. We were glad the Colts won. I was able to get some cute shots of the kids playing around and wanted to share them. Have a great week!