introducing

William "Will" Reeves Cavin! He was born March 15, 2011 at 3:32 pm weighing in at 8lb. 15oz. and is 21.5 inches long.

We are overjoyed and feeling great! More posts to come...

this is why

I will always remove the boys' clothes before they eat spaghetti. 

nursery number three

I wanted to create a room unique for all three of our children to come home to. While I realize our babies could sleep in a drawer for some time and couldn't care less about the thought and love put into a space created for them, it's important to me for sure.

Grey's nursery was complete with green walls and an animal theme since we didn't know if he was going to be a boy or a girl. It was very special because he used the same bedding that his cousin, Maddie, used as a baby. I loved his nursery but we moved when he was 8 months old into an apartment for 4 months while our house was being built. His nursery never was recreated. But he sure has had a couple of cool big boy rooms!

Tuck's nursery was really fun to put together. I enjoyed the whole process knowing this time he was indeed a boy and I could make it very "boyish." And he's still enjoying it himself!

Now for this next little man. I knew I wanted to do something vintage for him. I had planned on creating paneling with molding about 3/4 of the way up the walls. I was going to paint the rest of the walls a soft neutral yellow. Then I realized I literally had zero budget. I mean ZERO budget to work with. 

I had already ordered the alphabet flash cards from Land of Nod which was my inspiration for the nursery. It was already painted blue because it used to be Grey's room so we decided to leave it just the way it was and add our own touches. A few trips to my parent's attic (since my brothers and I are apparently now vintage) and taadaa!!!! This is probably my most favorite of all three rooms. There are so many pieces in this room that make it so special to me. 

{Looking in from the door} The rocking chair was purchased by my parents just before they had my oldest brother Chad. The quilt on the back of the rocking chair was made by such a sweet friend of mine who mailed me a "baby shower in a box" with all sorts of awesome homemade gifts. It was one of the more special things I have ever received. The quilt over the arm of the rocking chair was my mom's as a child. She has specific memories of playing with her brother on the quilt. I'm privileged that she let me borrow it! 

My dad made this shelf for us. {sidenote: I do realize I have not used all the flashcards. I picked out the ones I liked the best. They are 8x10 and took up more room than expected!} The two outfits hanging up are Grey and Tucker's coming home from the hospital outfits handmade by my mom. They are very special to me and there will definitely be a third hanging up in the near future.

The giraffe was my dad's as a child. His dad made it for him. 

This is mine and my brother's crib. My mom made all of the bedding and I love it. She put in long hard hours but it is so appreciated and special to me. {that seems to be a common phrase throughout this post. "It's special to me."}

The frame in this picture currently contains a few pictures of Grey and Tuck as newborns but will shortly contain pictures of a new little life. The airplane in the crib is waiting to be suspended from the ceiling above the crib. 

I made the print above the changing table and got the idea from here. I did it slightly different and got my desired outcome. Matthew painted this dresser that his parents gave us and we added some really awesome knobs from a dresser Matthew had growing up. I failed to get a close up of those. 

This is one of our Richard Scarry books from growing up. I love love love all things Richard Scarry and thoroughly enjoyed going through all the old books my mom and dad had saved from our childhood. I distinctly remember reading most of the books used in this nursery. It is so fun to read them to my own children. The tractor is an old pull toy that we found at a thrift store.

An old school {literally, an old school} chair my mom found with more Golden Books that were enjoyed by my brothers and I. Some of them were my mom's as a child!

Another shot of the frame and Grey's coming home from the hospital outfit. 

My dad made this cradle for us as children. All three of us slept in it. Again, very special to me to use it for our children.

One more. A close up of Tucker's coming home from the hospital outfit. I couldn't capture the detail but it's very sweet. 

After taking pictures of the nursery today I realized I need this lens. Oh, maybe one day! 

There we have it! We will be placing a sweet newborn in this room before long. I sure feel like it's going to be sooner than later. Good thing Jenny is sleeping with her phone all weekend :)

tuck time

My little Tucker Man...how sweet is the time I've had alone with him every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Exactly what I wanted it to be, a time that we can have doing very "Tuckery" things. 

When I have time alone with my boys, what we do together is like night and day. With Grey, I plan time to read and talk. With Tucker, well it's moment by moment. It usually involves the most physical thing I can psyche myself up for. No sitting down and reading (during the day at least) or doing puzzles or talking about shapes and colors. Nope, not with this one. 

Our time usually involves being outside, playing with sticks, sand, or dirt. He loves to run and eat and show me things. When we have to play inside because of weather, I find myself laying on the floor being tackled and kissed or playing with trains. 

As I've tried to savor our last few mornings just the two of us, I have watched the adventure in his eyes come out even more. 

One thing is for sure, he keeps me laughing constantly. I think that's how we spend quality time together best, we laugh a lot. 

He has become the most wonderful helper as he LOVES to assist me in vacuuming.

A sweet picture of the little man one morning this week that I will forever hold dear. He holds fast to his paci and blankie by day and by night. Not without a manly tractor and cape every once and a while. And to watch him run around in those footie pajamas...that will never get old.

Painting is another one of his favorite activities. Perfect for us on a morning alone or with Grey Bear. He's pretty intense when he concentrates. 

The sweetest moments we have together cannot be recorded in words. I will have to trust my memory to serve me well in years to come. As I try my darnedest to prepare him for big brotherhood, I see glimpses of a tender, caring heart. A leader, a fighter, a little boy full of fun and adventure is waiting for a little brother all his own. 

victory

This little boy. That one up there. Never, no not ever, has he ever let me read him a book. 

I have come to grips with it but have hated it his entire 21 months of life. And on my calendar each week I write at least one goal for each of the boys. My goal for Tucker has never changed. It's to simply read ONE book to him, just one. That's not much. I have even been hopeful that he would sit with me and allow me to talk to him about each page, not necessarily reading the words on the page. No such luck.

He will indeed look at a book on his own for about 5 full seconds until he's on to jumping, climbing, or eating. That's just the Tuck Monster and I do love him just the way he is.

Tonight, this glorious night!!! Imagine with me - two boys, in their jammies, sweet smelling fresh from the bath, snuggled up in their mommy's lap (or what remains of the lap I once had), the Jesus Storybook Bible, four little ears listening intently.

Tucker listened to the ENTIRE story of God giving Moses the Ten Commandments without moving from my lap. There were  no swords, sticks, or animals in this particular story so I was certain after the first five words were read, he would dart as he usually does.

Nope. Not tonight. It was a victory I will never forget. Here's to hoping this was only the very beginning of at least one story a day! 

breakfast with the bear

Grey Bear and I headed out for a special breakfast this morning, just he and I. I was excited. He was excited. His choice: Chicfila of course. 

With his baby brother's quickly approaching due date I really wanted a little one on one time with my first born. I don't get much of that these days and really really miss it.

I had intended for us to have some special time over our biscuits. I wanted him to know how much I value him and his heart. I asked the Lord early this morning to help me communicate that to him in a way he could understand. I really think just "breakfast with Mommy" was the amount of communication we needed at almost 4 years old. 

We like to talk with one another. He has never had a problem with his verbal communication. Sometimes I see this as a negative thing when he wants to talk all day long. And then God brings me to my senses and reminds me how special it is that I get to see and hear his heart all day long. It's a gift that he desires to communicate with me. So this morning I took full advantage of his communication skills. 

We talked about all sorts of things. 

About how happy he was to eat at Chicfila with JUST Mommy. About how big he is that he can squeeze his own jelly out for his biscuit. About how he wished Brooke was there to play on the playground with him. About how he's going to be 4 soon and that means he's going to be REALLY big but when he's 5 he will be REALLY EVEN BIGGER BIGGER. About how he can't wait for his baby brother to be born so he can hold him and kiss him and he'll have to tell Tucker not to squish him. About how funny Tucker is.  About how he loves Marmie and Poppie's Chicfila best and he wished we could go to that one soon. About making funny noises. About Krista's birthday today. About his favorite color green and how he loves the sanitizing wipes right outside the playground. About how he already had stuffed 3 into his pocket to take home. 

These were very much all topics he brought up in a span of about 10 minutes. 

And he talks with his hands just like his daddy.

Another mother of sons recently gave me some really great advice. She said to start at as young an age as possible constantly asking them specific questions, easy questions, so that they will get used to communicating in a specific way. I thought this was a wonderful idea to be very intentional about certain things with all three of my boys. I ask questions all the time but sometimes I'm not as intentional as I'd like to be. As I mentioned earlier, Grey has no problem communicating, but communicating what HE wants to communicate. Answering specific questions is another story.

I had 5 specific questions I wanted to ask him this morning. 

Some were quick answers and some required a little more thought.

1. What's your favorite color: "Mommy, you know my favorite color is green."

2. What's your favorite animal: "A giraffe of course."

3. What's your favorite food: "Ummm, maybe chicken. No no no. Jellybeans!" 

4. What's your favorite thing to do with:

Mommy? "Go to breakfast"

Daddy? "Build with Legos and play outside." 

Tucker? "Play Toy Story and fight with swords."

5. What's your favorite thing about God (I understood this was very open ended): "The Bible. I love to read the Bible." 

Then he cleaned his hands off with one of 20 sanitizing wipes he had collected.

Then he said, "Mom, you're a good person and I love you." 

Oh that Grey Bear. 

What a special time with this kiddo. Nothing too out of the ordinary, just a little one on one time. I love to see that smile and hear that sweet little voice. These are precious moments to remember always!