Happy Birthday Aaron! And Bentonville

Today is Aaron's 28th birthday!
I just got home yesterday from Bentonville (great trip btw) and I felt horrible, the pregnancy has really hit me in full effect. We went out to dinner with Aaron's side of the family, but I didn't even eat :(
Tonight we are going to Dave and Busters for dinner and to play games......without the kids :)

After lunch we are going to bring Aaron some birthday ice cream to his work, I am probably looking forward to it more than anyone :)

So Friday my sister Mollie and I left and headed to Bentonville Arkansas to see my parents and to attend an event at my parent's church.

We brought our two babies with us. This is Mollie in the back seat feeding both babies
The trip went well and we made it in good time. That night we had a great dinner and just relaxed because the next day was going to be a busy one!

In the morning we headed off to my mom's church to attend Mugs and Muffins. I was really excited because Angie Smith was speaking. Angie's Blog Bring the Rain, was the first blog I had ever read. My neighbor Marla told me about it. I was pregnant at the time and Angie was also pregnant with her fourth daughter Audry Caroline. I walked and prayed with her through the pregnancy and after. Audry was born 3 days after Preston, so it was really an emotional time.

Anyway, I was really excited to meet her and hear her speak. I wish I could have taped it to share with ya'll. If you get a chance to go to Women of Faith conference, she'll be speaking at some, so check them out!

Angie brought her middle daughter Kate, so she is adorable. While we were waiting in the book line Kate kept smiling at Alayna and Alayna was smiling back. I told Kate that Alayna was about the same age as her sister Charlotte. Kate said, with confusion and curiosity "how do you know about my sister Charlotte"? Kinda like, umm how do you know us??? Ha! So cute. I told her I read her mommy's blog and she got it.

I also got to meet Laurie and Kelly. They are just as sweet as you can imagine!

After the event my mom took us to Abuelos for lunch, great food!

Then, we went home and got the babies ready for their lunch and naps. My mom treated Mollie and I to pedicures and manicures. What a treat! I hadn't gotten my nails done in almost a year, so it was really nice! Thank you mom,what a treat!

That evening we all went to the promenade and did some shopping. Here is my dad playing with AlaynaWe went to a great pizza place for dinner, look at this cheese pizza. It was amazing. I am so glad I didn't feel sick then!Jack was hungry So was AlaynaThank you mom and dad for a GREAT weekend! We love you!

Bottle

Alayna has gone through some pretty big life changes in the past couple weeks. I can no longer nurse her due to the pregnancy so we had to teach her to drink from a bottle. This was so hard. She was being so stubborn and just wouldn't take the bottle. We tried three bottles a day for over a week before she drank her first two ounces from a bottle.

When Aaron would try to feed her, she would just look at me and cry, like mommy why are you doing this. I felt pretty bad.

She is doing perfect with it now. Ali, my friend, gave me one of her sons bottle/sippy cups and it seemed to do the trick. It was shaped like a nipple, but just flowed out so she didn't have to suck, this got her use to the flavor, then learning to suck was a whole new trial.
She is doing it though. I wish I could still nurse her, it was so easy and so cheap!

She hasn't been feeling good lately, she has a fever and a runny nose. Our Dr has her on Nasonex to help clear up her nasal passage. She has pretty much been stuffy since she was born. Let's hope it is helping.

The weather was nice here for a couple days so we got to go out and play! Alayna got to swing last fall, but now she can express her joy and she just laughs when she swings.

Her laugh is quite funny. Normally when we laugh we breath out, but Alayna breaths in, so she sounds like she is gasping for breath or she sounds like I dinosaur, it's really funny! I'll try and upload video of it.

This weekend Alayna and I are going to Arkansas with Mollie and Jack to see Angie Smith speak at my mom's church. I am sure it will be great. I am excited to see her and hopefully Kelly too. I'll probably be to shy to go up and say hi, but we'll see.

Aaron will be here with the kids. They have a birthday party to attend and I am sure they'll have fun.

I'll get video and pictures up soon!

Discernment

Every once and a while I like to update where I am with my walk with Christ. I want my children to know how much I strive to be like Christ. I also want to track my steps so I can look back and see what God has done in my life.

Lately God has been teaching me how to have discernment and understanding when it comes to knowing

I have never really prayed for God to give me discernment. I always thought that when I heard God, it was always God. Its not though, we have so much going on in our heads, how do we really know it's God? We need to pray that God will give us the discernment. Otherwise when will we know that the Holy Spirit is speaking to us?

Philippians 1: 9-10
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.

There was a time in college when I thought God told me I was going to marry a man, let's say his name was Phillip...... At the time we were friends, but not really talking to each other. I honestly had no doubt that this was God. I was walking with God and had a relationship with Him. I told many people that I knew who I was going to marry; it's kinda embarrassing now. This was a guy who didn't have a walk with Christ, who had a life style I didn't agree with. Those are all red flags!
The enemy knows us and knows how to trick us, his plan is well thought out and he'll use our weak spots to get to us. Of course I didn't know that then. I am thankful that God had my back. He had a better plan for me and He wasn't going to let me accept less than what He had planned. Thank you Lord!

It never worked out with Philip. I can't imagine my life if it would have. I can now see things so clearly, it amazes me. God never gave Phillip and I chance to work, because it might have gotten to the point of marriage and that wasn't His plan.

At the time I married Aaron I didn't have a clue how perfect he was for me. I knew I loved him more than anybody in the world. but I didn't know how great we would fit together. God did and He planned for us to be together all along. Aaron is calm and relaxed. He has never gotten mad (maybe once) or yelled. He is gentle and kind when I am not. He steps up and does so many daddy duties when I am sitting on the couch not feeling good due to pregnancy (which has been half our marriage) or nursing (which has been the other half of our marriage) he gives the kids baths and puts them to bed. He is such a hard worker and a great husband. I can only thank God for putting us together.

God has a plan for us and it is up to us to pray for wisdom and discernment. God's plan might not be "your" plan, but it's the best plan.

Getting ready for Florida

I bought some Kate and Mack swimsuits for the girls, they are adorable and I had to try them on the girls when they came in the mail. We are getting so excited for our trip.

Expecting

On Feburary 3rd I posted this as my status on Facebook. I thought it was so funny I had to share:

Caroline Baldwin Bivens

is EXPECTING AGAIN!! I know, I know, it's crazy isn't it? I can't believe it myself. I wasn't going to put it on here, but wanted to make it official. I mean who would have guessed that we are expecting AGAIN!! Yep, it's official. We are expecting more snow on Sunday!! **Re-post if you have a sense of humor!!

Here are the comments I got:

• • 

    Keri Kellim Garcia That is NOT funny!!!! And I can't repost it, which is even unfunnier. :)

    February 3 at 4:44pm ·
  • 

    Amy Seely English Holy Cow! Congrats!!

    February 3 at 4:48pm ·
  • 

    Amy Seely English Funny!!! Didn't read it all!! Haha. You got me!!!

    February 3 at 4:49pm ·
  • 

    Lori Spencer Caroline?? Snow or baby??

    February 3 at 5:02pm ·
  • 

    Lindsey Kellim Caroline!!!!!!!! We'll be having some words tonight!!!

    February 3 at 5:25pm ·
  • 

    Ginger Cunningham Not funny! ....ok maybe a little, my heart stopped!

    February 3 at 5:28pm ·
  • 

    Lisa Tessendorf Are you positive you're not, Ms Fertile Mrtyle?

    February 3 at 5:29pm ·
  • 

    Caroline Baldwin Bivens

    Keri, it is funny, i keep readying it and laughing!
    Amy, you read the whole thing right?
    Lori, I'll let you figure that one out, or I'll talk to you tuesday when I see you.
    Lindsey, yes, we'll talk
    Ginger, so funny, check your inbox!
    Lisa, ............ :)

    February 3 at 5:51pm ·
  • 

    Ashley Clark I'm stealing this!

    February 3 at 6:02pm ·
  • 

    Cyndi Haines Oh my, I about fell over in my chair! LOL!!

    February 3 at 6:17pm ·
  • 

    Mollie Omenski You are so bad!

    February 3 at 6:45pm ·
  • 

    Lynn Baldwin Briggs Ha ha!

    February 3 at 6:58pm ·
  • 

    Katie Hensley Omg!!!!!! I was 2 seconds from being mad that you didn't call me. 1 second from calling you. NOT FUNNY!!!!!!

    February 3 at 7:51pm ·
  • 

    Katie Hensley Love you.

    February 3 at 7:51pm ·
  • 

    Nanette Baldwin Robinson Good grief!!!

    February 3 at 7:59pm ·
  • 

    Crystal Gray I'm stealing this one! Too funny!

    February 3 at 8:21pm ·
  • 

    Kim Mills I was calling Jessie to tell her and then I read the rest. You are a little naughty!!

    February 3 at 9:39pm ·
  • 

    Kaitlyn Snow o my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! dont do that!!! YOU TOTALLY FREAKED ME OUT i was like nooooooooo wayyyyyy!!! wow and then yup hahahahha nice props

    February 3 at 9:46pm ·
  • 

    Kimberly King Congrats, sweetheart! It's a beautiful thing! Motherhood most definitely suits you! :)

    February 3 at 10:57pm ·
  • 

    Ali Herring MY HEART ABOUT FELL OUT OF MY CHEST hahahahaaaaaaaa!!!!

    February 3 at 11:50pm ·
  • 

    Johnnie Baldwin Great posts!!! Talk about a reaction! LOL
  • 

    Bobby Baldwin CAROLINE!!! As I was reading this i was thinking to myself why didn't she call and tell me. This is funny. Well done. I love you.

    February 4 at 6:39am ·

The real funny part is, I didn't know I was actually pregnant until that night. So everyone, for the big news...........we are expecting number four in October!!!!! And no, we don't get snow here in Kansas in the month of October !

Vday

Our Valentine's started Saturday when our friends Ali and Aaron watched all the kids. Aaron and I had an evening to ourselves so we went to dinner. It was fun and really nice to be able to sit, relax and talk. It was nice and really needed, we rarely get to go out alone any more:( Thank you Ali and Aaron, it really meant a lot to us.



On Valentine's day Taylynn was invited back to her school for the Valentine's party, which was really great. She had all these Valentine's for her friends and the teachers. I won the cards from a Pear Tree Giveaway. Didn't Taylynn do a great job writing her name? I am so proud of her.








After school we met Aaron at the grocery store for lunch because we needed to get some things for our fondue.


After the store we went home and had a few Valentine's cards and a package waiting for us by the door. Thank you GG, Paw-Paw and Grandmother and Grandaddy!

Valentine's night we wanted to do a family fun night. I made cheese fondue, which only Aaron and I ate (which is fine by me) and chocolate fondue. We also watched Be Mine Charlie Brown, so cute. Taylynn did feel bad Charlie didn't get any Valentines :(
After the movie they got to open their Valentine's from us. Taylynn got a pretty dress and some candy. Preston got a shirt and some candy. It really was a great Valentine's Day.




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