Angels Among Us

I realized this morning that my house was blessed this holiday season with angels. I also had the unhappy realization that my angels have left.

With all of the company that we had in and out of our home and in Arizona with my husband's family, I was constantly in awe of what was accomplished while I slept. This morning I awakened thinking I heard Abby crying (a pretty common hallucination right now) only to check on her and find that she had a clean diaper, her pacifier and her sleep sheep on. The sleep sheep only runs for about 40 minutes, so some blessed angel had come in and taken care of my baby so I could sleep. I also found my house completely empty except for Weston, myself and sweet little Abby. Weston was sleeping and said it wasn't him. My wonderful mother must have done this chore for me before she left for the airport this morning.

The other night I despaired at my messy house, only to come down after feeding the baby at midnight and find the kitchen sparkling and my father wiping off the counter. In Arizona, I would find myself overwhelmed by Abby's crying, unable to figure out what was wrong, when my mother in law would sweep in, take and calm my baby so I could calm myself. I have come home several times to find that neighbors and friends have dropped off food, treats, and offers to help. How can I thank all of these wonderful people?!

I am so blessed and so grateful for this help. The introduction to parenting has been so much easier due to the amazing people I am surrounded with! With that in mind, I would like to throw a general thank you out to all of you. Even just posting happy thoughts in my comments has helped! So thank you, everyone!

Happy New Year to everyone and may your 2010 be blessed with angels, love, and hope.

Merry Christmas To All

We are wishing everyone a VERY merry Christmas!

This year, our big gift to each other is a beautiful, healthy little girl who is just a delight. Despite giving up sleep, regular schedules, showers etc, we are so happy to have her!

My sweet husband had pink cigars for the boys!
And we got home as quick as we could so we could enjoy our adorable, tiny bundle!
Look at her hair!!!! We absolutely love playing with it and it is SO soft!
And I don't think I could have done it without my mom! She spent Abby's first week with us and we are so grateful for her help!!! Doesn't she look great with a little grandbaby!
I hope your Christmas is as blessed as ours!

Our new bundle of Joy

Amanda and I are pround to announce the birth of Abigail Jean Woodruff. She was born at 9:15 this morning, 7 pounds 5 ounces. She is healthy, happy and VERY cute. Amanda was increadible! We feel so blessed that everything went well and there were NO problems.

More to come once we catch up on our sleep; here is Amanda and a 5min old Abby.

Weighty Issues

I don't have a lot to say right now except I HATE pictures of me! I cannot believe how much weight I have gained, especially in my face and arms! I don't feel like myself and looking in the mirror is shocking.

On the upside, just a couple more weeks! The nursery is now officially ready, although I have a few optional projects to keep me busy while I wait for Abby's arrival.

I am excited to meet her!!!

Luckily, I can still:

Touch my toes
Shave my legs
Paint my toenails
Sit in perfect lotus position

However, I can not:
Walk up stairs without panting
Sleep without hiccups
Eat without heartburn
Think about tomorrow without imagining my new baby girl in it

There Is No Arizona

Ok, maybe there is an Arizona. My sweet Mr Darling and I have been visiting his family in Arizona while his youngest brother returns from his two year mission in Oaxaca, Mexico. We are very glad to have Kirk home and while that seeing him is fun, there are many other highlights to our trip!
We caught the same flight as most of Mr Darling's siblings and were able to sit near each other on the plane.

Our first day here, we visited Tia Rosa's where I enjoyed the salmon tacos. If you have never had these, you are missing out! The trip to Arizona is a small price to pay for just one taco. We leave tomorrow and plan to eat there one more time at lunch!
Then, Kirk arrived!
We spent the next day with Kirk and putting together a bridal shower for Kimber. Then, today was a quiet sunday and Weston and I saw a famous Arizona sunset from the balcony of his parents' home!
Tomorrow we return to our sweet home, our most beautiful puppy, and before we leave, we plan to eat at least a couple more salmon tacos!

Sorry for not blogging for so long! Hopefully this final month of our Double Income, No Kids lifestyle will be fun, productive and *painless*!

Shhh...don't tell Amanda!

Hey everybody, Weston here. I have hacked in my darlings little blog in attempt to post some very sneeky pictures, hopefully I don't get into too much trouble. Anyway, so yesterday after some sweet talking, a benadryl and 2 juice boxes ;-) I was able to convince her to let me take some maternity pictures; and they turned out so good I just had to share. She is about 31 weeks along and LOVING it!!!

So, here you go world...enjoy the pictures.

Like An Apple On A Tree

While taking engagement pictures for one of my dear sisters in law, I persuaded Mr Darling to pretty please take a picture or two of me for posterity and my blog...

Here we are in an apple orchard. It is fall and the trees are so heavy with apples!

And here is a picture of me standing up, so you can see Abby's little bump a bit better. I am glad Abby is healthy but she takes up so much space!

For the record, I am 6 months along and just at the end of my second trimester, which was hyped up to be the fun part. I may disagree with that, but I am still thrilled for the arrival of our little girl.

Does anyone have any recommendations for getting rid of heartburn?