Mother's Day!

My first Mother's Day was wonderful! Michael planned a surprise day for me and it turned out perfect. He let me sleep in while he bathed and dressed Raylee. He then gave me a beautiful card that "Raylee made." Then we headed off to the Warwick Melrose Historic Hotel in Dallas. They had an amazing brunch, including every type of food you can imagine...so I started with breakfast and a mimosa, then continued with lunch, and dessert! They had live music and beautiful flowers. We had a wonderful brunch and definitely overindulged! We enjoyed the rest of the day by looking at houses (one of our favorite past times!), and then layed around the house and played with Raylee. I am so thrilled to be a mom, and I am absolutely in love with my daughter and my husband! Being a mother is one of the most difficult yet rewarding challenges I have ever faced. I worry everyday about the mistakes I will make, and pray that the Lord will protect her from those mistakes. However, I can't imagine my life without my little Raylee. She makes me smile even in the worst of moments. I feel so blessed to be in exactly my position, and I thank God for her health and the miracle of her life. Here are some pics that I took to document the day!

Brittany's Wedding!

This weekend I was a bridesmaid in my good friend Brittany's wedding. It was beautiful, and we had a great time. I really enjoyed seeing all my college friends, and I miss fun times with "the nine!" Here are some pictures from the weekend!

2 Months!

Last week was a busy week as we had Raylee's two month checkup and a visit from her great-grandparents! After her first immunizations, Raylee cried for about 3 hours straight! I cried right along with her... :( I feel so thankful to have a relatively happy baby, and I pray for those parents that have a colicky baby. We also got a great report from the urologist who checked on Raylee's kidneys last week! She is perfectly healthy! Praise God!


On Tuesday, Grandma and Grandpa arrived and even though it rained almost the whole time they were here, we still had a great time! We went to the Dallas Arboretum and had a picnic! We all really enjoyed it! In fact, Raylee and I even got a membership. We also got to go to Kaufman and have dinner with the in-laws, which was really nice. Pictures forthcoming...

My grandparents are THE hardest working people I know, so of course they found little projects around our house to work on. My grandmother put some finishing touches on the nursery, so here are some pics for her to see. Thanks grandma and grandpa for everything!

Bitter sweet...

So, I know it has been a long time since I posted, but I recently returned my work laptop and it has hampered my computer time. It is much more difficult to post when I have to come up to my office with little Raylee. The reason I had to return my work laptop is that I have officially resigned my position as teacher and cheer coach. I titled this post "bitter sweet" because this truly reflects how I feel about resigning. I am so thrilled about the opportunity to become a stay at home mom and be fortunate enough to watch my little girl grown up. I am not so naive to think that everyone has this opportunity, and I am confident that this is the right decision for MY family. However, this doesn't mean that I am not just a little bit sad to leave my love of teaching and coaching. Having a child, and making the decision to stay at home has changed my life completely. While many of the changes are welcomed, sometimes I am just not sure who that leaves me to be. I have always found my identity in my achievements, and I feel as if I have to now find a new identity. I am definitely a people person, and working with high school students was extremely rewarding for me. I will miss my students and cheerleaders terribly. As I resigned last Wednesday, I saw many sad and surprised expressions on my students faces. I am one who hates to disappoint, so this made me have a twinge of regret. My principal had only well wishes for me, and I know that I left an impression on my students and the faculty at my high school. I know I worked hard and even influenced a few special students, so it is hard to leave it all behind. I know the Lord has a great plan for my family, and I will trust in Him to find my new identity. Next to God, and my husband, Raylee is the most important person in my life, and I want to look forward and not backward to the blessings she will bring to it.

Blooming Bows!

Part of the fun of having a little girl is getting her all dressed up in frilly dresses and bows! My new favorite bows have all come from bloomingbows.com! Check out their website! My favorite bow so far is the one Raylee wore for Easter. It is pink (but comes in all different colors) and has maribou on it (think feather boa!)

The Resurrection is the only thing that matters!

Happy Easter! Well, our Easter has been a little low key, as the entire Toney family is sick (except for us) and so we cancelled our family get together. My sister is in town, so the four of us (Michael, Chandra, Raylee and me) went to church and to brunch. This made me a little sad, because I am use to big family holiday celebration, but it also made me realize that the reason we celebrate Easter has nothing to do with Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets, or really even family celebrations. It has everything to do with Jesus! As our pastor said this morning, "The resurrection is the only thing that matters!" Our entire faith is built around this one occurrence, and there is factual evidence to back up our beliefs. For those that don't believe that Jesus is God, then it is false and rather presumptuous to claim that he was just a "moral leader." If Jesus was only a man, then he was either a legend, a liar, or a lunatic. He could not have been just a moral teacher, because he claimed his own divinity, and liars are never considered "moral." He wasn't crazy, or he wouldn't have been respected, and he wasn't a legend because history (secular history) proves he lived. Therefore, he is our Lord! This is THE most important decision we can make in our lives...our faith. If you haven't taken the time to consider and ponder this concept, please take this holiday and find some time to figure out the real reason behind our celebration. Most of my ideas here were taken from the Watermark sermon by Todd Wagner (watermarkcommunity.org). You can check out his other sermons (or this one) on the website.

Ok, so I am done "preaching" and I now I want to brag on my little one. We went to church for the first time since she was born (six weeks ago) and she was so great! She slept the whole time, and was also adorable in her Easter outfit. Here are some pics!

Fun with cousins!

On Thursday night, Raylee and I went to stay with Mamarae while daddy and PapaJ were in Las Vegas. We had lots of fun addressing baby announcements. Below is the announcement we are sending out. Amy Columbus was our photographer and she did an amazing job! Check her out at amycolumbuspphotography.com. Then on Friday we had lunch with Auntie Ashley and Uncle Stephen and the twins, Ava and Cambrie. We had fun with our cousins, and I am so excited for Raylee to have cousins so close to her age! I was really close with my cousins and aunts and uncles growing up and I really want that for Raylee. Here are some pics of the girls and one of my own cousins! The last pictures are of us dressed up to go to a wedding.