park days + making friends + the squirrel...

y
i mean... who wants to grow up and be lucy?! 
hands raised high right here.
she's as precious + carefree as they come, 
and 100% butter + syrup worthy.
last week(ish), we had a play date with friends at the park. abel talked about "wandon" and how he is his best friend + how excited he was to play with him for the entire week leading up to said playdate, and lucy has told me every time since, if the park is mentioned, that she wants to go with "mine friend, josie, to pay." SO cute seeing them make little friends. making friends can be hard as an adult i tell ya! so many guards up + too much over thinking, not to mention life is full + free time is a thing of the past for me personally, so it hasn't fit in my calendar in about three years to get out there and organically make new friends! i have friends, the very best friends that you could ask for, and sadly they live spread out across the globe... we are talking THAILAND + pretty soon spain, and california + north carolina, indiana, florida, colorado, you name it. it's a serious bummer, and i wish that teleportation and underground tunnels and all your friends being your neighbors was a thing. thankfully, these friendships stand the test of distance + time between talking... and picking up where you left off? well that IS a real thing. in the meantime, i am so grateful for chris, and that i have two sisters who are my very best friends, for friends not so far away, and for my children's perspective of friendship... one play date, a squirrel eats your muffins, best friends for life. 

you're like, squirrel??...
at this cute little playdate, we were all playing in the sandpit, when the kids decided they were ready for the muffins i had brought with us. we gathered our things + started heading towards our table + i saw a squirrel near or possibly in our muffin basket. i wasn't 100% sure, but as we approached, he jumped down + ran off with a pink cupcake liner hanging from his mouth. he climbed a tree + proceeded to fill his belly with one of our delicious 5 ingredient, peanut butter + banana muffins. i'm typically all for sharing, but we were forced to dump the rest, because squirrels + diseases and what not... both disappointing + hysterical all in one, and abel + lucy have had me tell the story to anyone who would listen ever since. so now you know :)

34 (& a half) W E E K S

where has this pregnancy gone?!
I love you sweet girl, I can't wait to meet you + call you by name! your siblings are ecstatic for you + tell me everyday that they love you + want you to come out. we are ready for our world to be changed again + for tiny baby parts + all of lucys left over clothes + blankets to be lived in and loved on once more. 
the doctor told me to start counting your kicks, but that would have me constantly counting because you're always rolling around in there, and I adore it, you are so cute! do you look like your brother or sister? do you have hair? is it cottontop? will you be as funny as Lucy or as gentle as Abel? 5.5 more weeks left to wonder + dream of your spirit. God is SO good to us, He knows all of these answers + more. He's made you for us + we will raise you for Him. I love you so much, counting the days until you're in my arms!

*photo from about a week ago at 33.5 weeks* 

oh, brother...

abel is the best
he is the best
from the north, south, east, and west
he's the best, he's the best
yes, yes, yes! woohoo!

...no but really he is. this is "the song" we sing whenever our kids do anything special or anything totally mundane that we have to make fun again. it's actually the song my mom made up for her own kids when we did things. i'm fairly certain this song wasn't around when i was young enough to appreciate it, it MAY date back to ashton being young, but i think it started with my brothers. either way! it's a happy little song that makes kids smile, and i'm all about that... AND abel really is the best + that's what i'm here to talk about...

abel is the very best brother in the world. if i had an older brother, he would be my first pick! he is loving + thoughtful, he shows concern + tries to keep lucy out of danger + in line. he waits for her + holds her hand + shows her how to do things, often times without prompting. he includes her in fun + adventure, and is all around winning when it comes to being a three year old. chris + i would both love to have another boy JUST like him in every way, but we also just feel it in our hearts that if abel ends up the only boy in our family, or the Grant family in general (5 to 1 going strong so far) that he is the perfect child for that role. have i praised abel today? ...kidding, but he's just special, i can't help myself + when he's older + looks back at this (which he will totally be into, like most men... duh ;)) i want him to have written proof of how much we adored him.

next up... abel is the best because he is officially PASSY FREE. i. can't. believe it.
as of, wednesday, may 18, 2016 - RIP "my pass".
bittersweet. 
mostly sweet, but i officially have to accept that he's not a baby anymore... though he'll always be mine. 

on weekends...

the weekends are my very favorite.
we weekend the best way we know how. sometimes we work on the house, sometimes we just play, sometimes the weekends are full of sweatpants, and others- so full that monday comes around + i feel like we skipped the weekend all together.
i am a bright side looker + try not to liiiiive for the weekend, BUT, chris is home on the weekends + that trumps week days allll on it's own because he's the best. plus... two parents, 4 hands, maybe going pee by myself!
i am SO excited for warm weather, and plenty of time in the "green grass" this summer! we will have a new little baby + i can hardly wait, or imagine what it will be like. this pregnancy has been so different than my two before it, for all of the obvious reasons, but mostly because i haven't been future thinking, but instead present. keeping up with the two sweet ones i have, savoring how things are as a family of four, and blinking + being weeks(months) behind on the pregnancy app i read so closely the first two rounds. it's great. i'd be lying if i didn't tell you though that I am starting to feel that shift some now that we are only 5.5 weeks away! like, i'm soooort of starting to hope for an early arrival, because I'm too darn excited + want to meet her + know her!
anyway, cheers to weekends (on monday) here are some photos from the last two for us! 
^^^abel took this one for us, I love it so much, he's really getting quite good with my camera! just wish he was in it! 
...and a few photos from this past weekend. we ice creamed before dinner, thought we saved a turtle from crossing the road... later googled + found out that said turtle is actually our state reptile + that if you find them crossing the road, help them to the side they're headed toward + leave them alone, they know where they're going! pretty cool! when chris + abel took him back to where he was headed, he actually went back out into the street right where chris originally picked him up + finished his journey... didn't need help from us thanks. abel thought it was great, he checked on him a million times while we had him + "fed" him grass and rocks haha! we put a table out on our porch + enjoyed the sunset + snacks, the kids chalked + bowled in the front yard + it felt a whole lot like summer was on its way! that, and a white picket fence never hurt anybody... thank you husband for marking off projects on our never ending, to do/finish list! 

a baby wishlist, round 3!



Hello Monday, and surprise! We are having another baby! 
...Okay, just kidding, you already knew that ;) 
Every once in a while, I like to put together a little wish list or gift guide for the kiddos, and with baby number three (& another girl) there really isn't much that we NEED thankfully, but it is still always fun to put together a few things that would be in the want category, and especially when you are shopping through a fun site that makes it THAT much more enjoyable to do so! 
ps — there’s a code at the bottom of this post for 10% off your next order through said website!
People, The Baby Cubby... 
Man, do I wish I had known about this website when I was a first time parent! The Baby Cubby is for every parent out there who has ever felt overwhelmed or discouraged about becoming a parent. The team is made up of actual parents, who have been there and can say, "me too!" They are passionate about encouraging, inspiring, and reminding parents how amazing and important they are, and they prove it by finding the best and safest baby gear and providing it in a fun shopping experience. This is not "just another baby website" where you scroll & scroll through baby stuff, just to end up with a cart full of numerous items that your pregnancy app told you that you needed, but that you don't really know enough about, and so you never end up pulling the trigger at check out due to the combo platter of indecision + lack of information... this is seriously my secret struggle: confessed. The Baby Cubby does things like test strollers on their stroller track, price match everyday - even amazon (amazon addict, say whaaaat?!), offer free shipping nationwide (on orders over $49), and actively engage with shoppers via social media and the cubby community blog to discuss some of the many topics of parenting.
Sold.
Putting this wish list together through their website was pie, and only got me more excited for our sweet girl's arrival! On to the goodies...

1. A swaddled baby is seriously Heaven. We have swaddles on swaddles, but we don't have these to die for Little Unicorn Swaddles, fruit... i mean, naturally they are at the tippety top of my want list.
2. I'm a sucker for a Little Piggie. I think I've had one picked out for each of our kiddos before they were born + never actually bought one, but third round just feels right.
3. We are ALL ABOUT 100% natural ingredients when it comes to our babes. This Tubby Todd gift set, please + thanks.
4. This Glider Board is among our few NEEDS + is already on the way to us. When we had Lucy, we bought the city select stroller in red and have LOVED it. Now that we're having a third, the glider gives us another way to grow in this stroller + have all our kids on board! We also feel like we've totally earned the parent console too + since we'll officially be outnumbered, I feel pretty good about my Starbucks in a cup holder + my hands free to catch any runaways ;)
5. Let's be real here + admit that of alllll the cute little outfits you see + spend money on for babies, newborns spend most of their time in jammies (or at least mine do). This sleeper looks so comfy + sweet.
6. Kickee Pants is one of my very favorite baby brands. SO soft. Gimme allllll the babies in the softest jams.
7. These Balls are the best! Little fingers can hold them so easily, plus when they start crawling, nothing encourages that more than things that roll!
8. It's no secret that we LOVE books. I might even be on my way to children's book hoarding, so these babylit Books definitely make the list.
9. Hoodie and Leggings... stop.
10. It's been so nice to be able to share + take turns with baby gear having my sisters around with their kiddos, and us all having them at different times! This time though, I'm so excited to be pregnant at the same time as Ashton. This also puts us in need of a Bouncer, since she so graciously let us borrow hers last time around :) I've only heard great things about 4Moms products, so I'd be excited to get my hands on this one.


As always, thank you for stopping by to see what we are up to!! Please use the code HELLOSUGARHILL to receive 10% off your order at babycubby.com, code expires may 28th.

*This post has been written in partnership with babycubby.com, but all opinions are entirely my own. Thanks for stopping in!*

them.

can't believe we are just shy of two months away from another one of these sweet ones to love... 
thank you Jesus.