Been Busy

We at the Mercer house have been extremely busy. Well that has actually just been the past 5 days. Before then I have no excuse and I don't actually remember a time before then.

Lilah Violet
October 25th 2011
10:29am
6lbs 12 oz
19 1/2 inches long

See ya soon I hope. Mostly just to talk about my two beautiful girls.

Three Things Thursday

1. Would you believe that I have been so busy crafting that I have had a hard time finding time to blog? I am in that nesting stage before Baby Lilah comes so all I want to do is get stuff ready her to come...not the boring stuff like cleaning but the fun stuff like making a new shower curtain and building shelves and nightstands. I want to post pictures of all the stuff I have finished but I also want to make that its own post. So you'll just have to wait. Sorry.

2. I became an Aunt again today! My older brother Michael and his wife Luana had their second son today at around 7:15 am. Nathaniel David had an exciting last few weeks in utero but came into this world healthy and happy. He was 7lbs 4 oz and 19.5 in. Mommy is doing well too! I am very sad that we wont be able to visit for a while at least until 6 weeks after our baby comes so at the earliest Christmas! Lilly sure loves her cousins, even if all three of them are BOYS!

3. I start back to work Monday. Its only 15 hours a week but I am still apprehensive about leaving Lilly for a scheduled amount of time everyday. The extra income is worth it because it is just enough to keep us out of stressing over money. This also means the school year is starting and I will be writing a curriculum for Lilly to start. Nothing to strenuous but enough to be structured and educational play. We hope to be able to put her in mother's day out in January so this will be a good jump start. I just need to order the stuff I want and get it all together in one place so we can be organized.

Sorry no pics this time. Blogger is no being nice.

Another aggie wordle

Wordle Practice

We Moved!

It has been a long time but it hasn't been all my fault that I have been MIA. We Moved! That meant no internet for 2 weeks and in the past 4 weeks we have hosted 2 parties at our new house and held our small group church once and will again Sunday. I also hosted a full Harry Potter 7 movie marathon and watched kids during the day. Needless to say we are NOT finished unpacking and there is NO light at the end of the tunnel thus far. I am not discouraged though because I love it!

Just a peek at the unfinished playroom off the backyard!

I have had loads of help along the way too from people actually coming over and putting in the man hours to family keeping Lilly for us. We have painted 4 rooms completely and are in the process of finishing a huge mural for the girls' room. You'll just have to wait for pictures on that.

Did you catch that though. It's gonna be another girl! Lilah Violet is just about 15 weeks away from her big debut. So we made the decision to have the girls share a room even thought we will still have a spare because we thing it will teach good things to both girls and allow them to be closer. Its a big room too. Bigger than the master. Plus there is the HUGE playroom to house all toys so all that goes in the room are the room essentials, crib, bed, 2 dressers, etc.

Most of the house looks nice its just missing the stuff that makes it our house. Clayton likes it this way he wishes I would just forget about all the stuff that is still in the old house that still needs to be moved. It has been so nice to not have a moving timeline. Since my in-laws owned the house we last lived in we haven't had to be out by a certain time and we move at our own pace. I know at times they have wanted us to speed up the process but we'll be out soon.

I have quite a few posts that are needing to be written and I hope there is time for that soon. Right now I am a full time mommy and loving every minute of it. I finally unpacked my sewing machine a few days ago while Lilly was at Grandma's and it was nice!

So look forward to Lilly's 2nd birthday, finishing her princess and the pea quilt top, the girls' room mural and much more!

love ya,

Three Things Thursday

1. Today is the day! Will it be a boy or a girl? My check up is today and they will be doing the 20 week sonogram so I am really stinking excited BUT I still wont be finding out until the 2nd along with all my friend and family at the gender reveal party. I will come back and post the other exciting information though!

2. Last night we got the clear to close on our house for Friday! We are super excited and have it all planned out how we are going to move in and paint and what to buy and when. It is so much fun. But also a lot of stress because I have developed a fever blister which means I am stressed. Yuck no fun!

3. Our fridge went out! I know right perfect timing since we are moving in a matter of days but with a not-quite-two-year-old and a pregnant momma it is no fun in the heat of Texas to not have a fridge ever. All of my hard work stocking up on cheap meat went into the trash. 3 trash bags full from the freezer because once we noticed it it was too late to save any of that. The fridge we saved it and had to run into town to Clayton's mom's house until we buy our new fridge. Which thank the Lord we already were planning on buying a new one for the new house. This one is not even actually ours it is Clayton's Dad's. I feel bad for them but I do think it is fixable.

So there is my Thursday...off the the OBGYN!

Family Friday- Luke, Lilly and the Motorcycle

Even though my family is not really related to Luke they sure adore him. So I asked Hillary if we could keep him for the day and we went to my parents to let the kids play.

First they played all over the tricycle. Lilly loves the be pushed around on it and she usually wears this tiny baby helmet and elbow pads.

We were mostly on the grass though so no big deal.

She thought she was so cool sitting on it backwards.

My dad pushing her.

Sweet girl

What one does the other has to too so on jumps Luke.

The we gave Luke his first Motorcycle experience. He loved it!

This is Lilly's second time on the bike and she doesn't want off once she gets on.

She knows where Grandpa turns it on and so she tries to touch the same stuff to make it roar!

Luke looking at all the buttons to push.

Looks like a natural.

We need to send this one to Daddy.

Luke didn't want off either.

Lilly resting on the swing.

My dad with Luke. They all just love that Luke will come to them and let them hold him. Lilly is all over the place and wont stay still for them. We had so much fun with Luke. It wont be the last time we take him for a little family time.

Been Away

We have been away in Galveston and loved every minute of it. Between the vacation and moving I probably wouldn't normally have the time to blog much but on top of it all Clayton went on second shift this week and it is reeking havoc on our lives until we get used to it. Poor thing he is struggling most because this week 3 days he worked 4pm to 1am and then turned around the next 2 days and is working 8am- 5pm. His schedule doesn't seem to be consistent yet and that is hard but we will get through and hopefully see why it is God's plan for us to be on this weird schedule.

I am trying to satiate the need to be crafty right now but most of my stuff is packed away getting ready for the move that is about to happen. It is really hard when your sewing machine is packed away and you really just wanna make something.

I am also preparing for 2 parties! The GRP (gender reveal party)/ showing off our new house is taking place very quick after we move in. The Lilly's 2nd birthday party follows a weekend or 2 later. I am really excited but I am afraid I am biting off more than I can chew. That is why my friend Lauren is coming over this weekend to help me get everything in order that we can! I am super excited.

This is it for now because Lilly will be waking up soon and I need to get into that gear. Miss yall though.

Moving Monday: Project: Move

Temporarily Mondays will now be Moving Mondays.

My last post spilled the beans on our house purchase and over the weekend the inspection went fairly well so as soon as we hear back from the sellers on some repairs we will be moving forward fully to our closing date.

Being somewhere between 18 and 20 weeks pregnant I am supposed to be glowing and full or energy...but I am not. I also have to watch my exertion level due to my blood pressure. It seems anytime I have a lot to do in a few short days up goes my bp and thus down I go onto temporary bed rest. So my goal is to have a plan for this move.

Luckily we are only moving about 6 miles. We have lots of friends and family who have already offered to help out. In fact I have a friend who wants to drive over an hour to come help me set up the new baby's nursery. My sister in law wants to organize everything and help me clean before we get in. I am really blessed in this department.

Clayton and I have moved three or four time together since we have been together. First I moved into the dorms, then out, then back in, then out, then we both went to college, him to a dorm, me to an apartment, then both to another apartment, then both to Houston, then both here now. Whew! So we have moved quite a few times. So if I have experience and volunteers why am I scared you ask?

......I have never moved a child. Isn't it going to be weird for her to move to a new place? She'll have all her things in places she is not used to and there is really no way for me to warn her because I tell her all the time but she just looks at me and smiles or laughs. I know it really wont be traumatic or anything but I am just worried.

Also I need to get my tail in gear because we have exactly 1 box packed and it was Clayton that did that measly 1 box of DVDs. I can't decide what we can live without for the next 3-4 weeks and I don't want to waste space in the few tubs we do have before we go get some boxes. Mostly though, I can't stop looking/ shopping for things I know we need. I am all about looking forward and I just wish I could be making small car trips back and forth now taking things without really having to pack it all up. It would make my life so much easier. Oh well.

I hope to have a much better report next week about the progress of Project: Move. My goal 4 more boxes and have gone to Ross to ask for boxes for moving. I hear they give you bunches for FREE!

Family Friday- Hodge Podge

Family Friday

Since I missed a lot for a few weeks I am going to be catching up. Today will be some little things that happened that are worth mentioning.

First this is our living room flat screen TV below. I had a rough bout with the morning sickness with little Gummi Bear as Baby #2 is affectionately known because of it's appearance in it's first sonogram. Anyways. I was laying on my bed trying not to vomit and Lilly was in the living room (15 feet away) watching VeggieTales. I remember thinking God Bless VeggieTales. She is being so sweet in there while I have maybe 10 minutes to recover. The I walk in there and hear a funny noise. She had founf a pencil off our computer desk and decided to color all the VeggieTale things. When the TV was on I could barely see through it. I cried. I called Clayton and he did not answer I had no idea what to do. Luckily she had not punctured the screen so I just started wiping it with whatever I could find....a baby wipe. Low and behold it worked. Every bit of it came off. I cried again. Clayton finally called back and I told him everything. Luckily he did not have to stress about it. Also I can't believe I thought to take pictures before I freaked out.

Lilly has taken to sleeping pretty well lately in whatever situation she happens to be in. Sometime it is in the car where she is completely bent over in her carseat. Sometime she is on the couch sitting up and then sometimes she finds weird places like this one. I not complaining just documenting. She is in a papasan chair kinda shaped like a U.


Clayton's Birthday. This is the day after he got hired permentatly at Alcon and a week after we found out about Gummi Bear so I think he looks way less stressed than normal.


The next two pictures are of Lilly insisting that she eat a very sour pickle. Even though after every bite she made a horrible face. Oh well at least she is determined and she loves her some pickles just like her mommy.


Well that's all for this family Friday.

Three Things Thursday

I'm slowly getting the hang of this blogging thing again. A new development this week will probably make it slower still but I am not giving up, are you?

Three Things Thursday


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1. We Bought A House!
Yep we have been looking since Clayton got hired permanently at Alcon and have been through some heartbreaks but this house is wonderful. We did go with only a 3 bedroom when we wanted a 4 but we are closing in half of the garage to make a CRAFT ROOM!!!!/office so it all evens out. It is in our hometown and a little old but has been completely updated. It has a gorgeous sunroom and it completely what we want. We are so excited. This is the thing that will make blogging slow for a while because we have roughly three weeks to pack and get completely ready to move our life into our own home!

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2. Baby Update: I'm still baking along. When I went to my last appointment I had lost 2 pounds which is good when you start out over weight so I am down a total of 5 lbs and back to weighing what I weighed when I had Lilly. She also told me I am measuring still 2 weeks shy of what I thought my due date would be (October 20th) and so I am pretty convinced now that my due date is now Nov 6. I am still sure I will have an October baby but now when people ask I am no longer 20 weeks today!!! I am 17 weeks 4 days. I also scheduled my 20 week sonogram for June 23rd and that is when I will find out the gender. I am planning on keeping it a secret and having a gender reveal party. I have no idea how this will work out but at least I will try. On a much sadder note Clayton's cousin who was about 5 weeks behind me lost her baby yesterday. I am terribly sad for her and her sweet family. I cannot stop worrying now about this little one too. can't wait till the sonogram so I can see Gummi Bear is ok.

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3. In all of this Chaos we are taking another small vacation in a week. Clayton, me and the babe are packing up and heading to Galveston. We used to live in Houston so first we are going to stop and see some friends and then get to the Island a little later. It will be Lilly's first trip to the coast, well at least on the outside because last time I was pregnant we went to Galveston for our anniversary. It was only a 40 minute drive from where we lived and we just woke up and went. Not that easy this time but I am sure tons more fun! We can't wait.

Our lives are a little crazy right now on top of all this we have Father's Day, Clayton moving to second shift, Gender Reveal Party, July 4th and Lilly's 2nd Birthday all within a little over a month. I am stressing myself out just putting it all down for you to read. Yikes! But in a good way.

Family Friday- SeaWorld

Family Friday: SeaWorld

I somewhat started my maternity leave May 20th at 3:15 pm. I wasn't counting down or anything. All year long I did long-term substitute positions all around our school district. My last one, kindergarten, ended and now I am a SSAHM, Summer Stay-at-home mom. We celebrated by Clayton taking Monday off and heading down to San Antonio Saturday morning to visit SeaWorld.

This is Lilly telling me what she is doing....watching Veggietales, duh! Between Pistachio and her 2 hour nap we made the 4 hour drive just fine.

Somehow I didn't bring my camera on day 1 so this is the beginning of day 2 outside the park. I love how she is pointing at just the right place that if this was a 3D pic it's be awesome.



First thing we did was feed the dolphins on Sunday and it was amazing. They came within inches of your face. They made all kinds of crazy noises and we got to pet them.

Then we went to SeaWorld's water park

Clayton taking Lilly down a kiddie slide. I love how they provided great life vests and there was a lot for her to do even though she is only 22 months.
She did great but this was the end of her first trip and she was kinda taken aback.

We also did the wave pool (she's not a fan), the kiddie place and the lazy river. This is her when we finally put her in the stroller and left. It took no time.


After a show and some lunch we went to feed the sea lions.

Lilly so wasn't interested in touching the fish, at least today she wasn't, the next day she was all over it.

Playing with the fan with ice cold water in it. one of the best things we could have taken cause in teh park they weren't soft blade which would have been painful for Lilly and they cost a small fortune.
On the Riverwalk

We ate at our normal...the Original.
Day 3 morning we saw Shamu. We had already seen his show and been talking about him for days BUT this did not prepare Lilly for him. She wasn't ok with being that close to him. I didn't even tell her that he killed that trainer in Florida...good thing.

Back to watch other people feed the dolphins.

Waiting to feed the Lorikeets.

Love his face.

At first she did not know what to think.

Mommy has all the luck. All the birds wanted to land in her hair.

I just got bit. They don't really hurt when they bite so they grad a piece of skin and then start turning their head back and forth like trying to tear meat! That hurts.

Lilly so wanted one to land on her but they said the red ones weren't good for little kids.

Mommy and Lilly in line to ride a small kids ride.


The it was on to Bay of Play the new Sesame Street kid water park. It was like a hug splash pad surrounded by rides and then a show or two. PERFECT!!!


Yep she was kicking the water and smack kicked a little boy in the face.


This is where Daddy was staying close but not wanting to get wet and this big water feature was tripped and dumped all over him. He was so soaked.



After a top for some souvenirs we were saying bye to SeaWorld and little miss Lilly was out. But that did not stop me from getting a family pic with Shamu.

Oh these are out of place but oh well. We saw a Sesame Street show and Lilly was freaking out like it was N'SYNC or something.

In the show she wandered to the front and then just held her hand up for them to get her. Eventually Burt bent down and grabbed her hand it was so sweet.


We had a blast and if you ever need a vacay for a little one to enjoy too. We completely recommend SeaWorld because we all loved it.