The Evolution of the Snuggle

Let me preface this whole post by saying that I felt I owed it to our first child, Bella, to let her star on the blog before Baby Assunto gets here in August. It just seemed right. I am fully aware that what you are about to see is completely and totally ridiculous. I am not fooled. Our dog things that she is a human or that we are a part of her litter.


That being said, under certain circumstances even my closest friends will not want to read this post. (and you know who you are)

Because ...

1. You only kiiind of like dogs.

2. You are totally grossed out by dogs on furniture in homes (which I am too if things are not kept clean)

3. You can't appreciate snugly animals.

4. You don't like animals who think they're humans.

5. You despise humans who would encourage this behavior.


If you are very much okay with all five of those things, let me introduce you to my best best best buddy, Bella. We found her litter when she was 2 weeks old and got to take her home at 7 weeks. The lady we purchased her from let us come over as often as we wanted to play with the puppies in the litter, and we took full advantage.


One of my main goals is raising B was for her to be veeery cuddly. I even gave her treats when she was little so that she would snuggle. (sad? yes.) She took to the whole concept quite nicely, as you can see...

A good snuggler before she even has her eyes open

Snuggling with Ryan for the first time

We sure did eat the words, "She will neeeeever be on the sofa." She was just too cute.

Snuggling with her tongue out

I thought she'd grow out of it as she got bigger, but I was way wrong. In fact, her desire to snuggle might have gotten worse. Scary.

Not sure what brought this on

She can even snuggle alone

After a day at the lake

One of my all time favorites

And her new snuggle buddy, Baby Assunto

I think it would be safe to say that we love our dog... a lot. We're not nervous that she'll get put on the back burner with a new baby in the house because we know that will be the case. But, we look forward to lots of photo opps of the two babies together.

"Let there be walls!"

We've got lots of changes going on in the Assunto household with Baby A on the way!

Ryan's office happens to be our formal dining room, and it is a pretty open space. And, as much as I thought it would be super fun to have to take the baby and run into the nursery every time she cried while Ryan was on a work call, we thought putting walls up might be a helpful home improvement project. Walls were a builder option when our house was built back in the 90's anyway, so it wasn't anything too crazy.

Here is the "open office" before.

Ryan's uncle is an absolute expert in home improvement projects, and we are so, so, so thankful that he came to help us. He is excellent at double checking to make sure every detail is perfect and what we want. Thanks, Morris House!

Here's the start of the construction...

And, poof, after about a day and a half, we had walls!

And then doors and new crown molding!

I'll post some more pictures after we get it all repainted and finished. I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat waiting for those. :)

Lost in the pines and other updates

Well, the last few weeks have been crazy in our world. Although, I feel like we've been consistently busy for the past several months. I don't know that we're slowin' down anytime soon.

A few weeks ago I got to go with Rubey and Linda to see our good friend Lev. She was in Abilene to visit her family, so we met at a DQ halfway in between Austin and Abilene. Love me a Blizzard! Her little girl, Leighton, is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life. I'm so, so glad I finally got to meet her!!!! It was the highlight of my week!

The twins are still doing well. They've been out of town all week, and Ryan and I have missed their cute little giggles. They'll be moving out of Casa Assunto soon, as we get ready to put the nursery together. I'm so glad we got this time with them in the house, though!

Ryan and I decided a couple of months ago that we needed to go on a "Babymoon" since we probably wouldn't get to travel anywhere (other than to visit family) for quite a while. Neither of us wanted to go somewhere too far because we've been on the road so much for weddings and other family functions. So, we went to the Hyatt Lost Pines in Bastrop- about 40 minutes from our house in Austin. Just far enough away to feel gone and just close enough that I didn't have to stop to go to the bathroom. (Pregnant ladies, can I hear an amen?!)
We had suuuuch a great weekend! The grounds were beeeeeautiful and our room was super nice. It was the absolute perfect getaway!

We laid by the pool almost all day Saturday and read parenting/ baby books (yes, we're losers). And, yes, my husband is such a trooper!

Ryan did, however, get to cut loose a little bit, so don't feel too bad for him. Was there a line of children also waiting to get on this bull? Yes. Neato.

How can you not enjoy someplace that has nightly smores?

On Sunday afternoon, Ryan's cousin Chad came to meet us at the resort for some golf. At this point I put down the parenting books and busted out "The Help" (really good book if you haven't read it) and rode along in the cart, praying for a cool breeze every couple minutes.

We can't wait to get back to Lost Pines again one day with the kiddo. They have so many fun activities for kids. We toootally enjoyed the resort as a couple, but will definitely be returning with the munchkin.

Alright, the next couple of pics were taken with our new and improved digital SLR camera, and it's somewhat amazing how much better the quality is.

For my friends who have been begging for a belly pic, here you go. Again, I'm sorry, I'm not good with the belly pics. Everyone tells me I will be sad if I don't start taking more, so I'll try. I will.

And, the next is the first peek of the nursery! We can't wait to get started!

Right now our house is under construction as we prepare for baby... pics of that coming soon for both of y'all still reading this!

Cutest Roommates on the Block

I'm not even really sure where to begin this story. Once upon a time in the land of the Dominican Republic (where Ryan and I have been on several mission trips) two very, very cute Haitian boys were given up by their mother. Our friend, Sharla, and her organization, Makarios, came to the rescue and took these boys in and, after a few months, Sharla decided to adopt them. Fast forward 4 years, through a lot of paperwork mess, and a hurricane, the boys were granted humanitarian parole and got to come to the States. Sharla had moved to the D.R. full time with them but had to quickly pack up their lives and come back to the States.



Part of the move back to the States involved Sharla needing to buy a house for their happy family and, while they search, guess where they live? In Casa Assunto!

The boys have been lots of fun to have around. They have become good buddies with Bella and their cute little voices have been a delight.



So, meet the "Tweems"- Isaak and Jakob with their mom, Sharla....

Happy Spring!

Ryan and I had a fun weekend working in the yard and hanging out with friends. It was so nice just to be in town! I took a quick pic of some of the new things we planted...

The pregnancy is going well. This is week 20, which I can't believe is already here. I'm not very good with the belly pics (or blogging, for that matter) but here's the one I have. I don't just randomly hold avocados in every picture I take, but this was the week the baby was around the size of an avocado...maybe two weeks ago. Again, I'm terrible at the belly pic part of being pregnant.

And, the most exciting part of this week was getting to find out whether Baby A was a boy or a girl. We wanted to tell our parents in a fun way because we wouldn't get to see them in person, so we decorated two boxes- one with boy stuff and one with girl stuff.

We wrapped them up and sent them off. After our doctor's appointment we called and told them that they could open the striped box.... Which is when they found out that... IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Ryan and I went to Baby GAP as soon as I got home from work to mark the occasion. I'm sure it will be the first of many trips. Are baby girl swimsuits and dresses not the cutest things in the world?!

I feel so blessed to be having such a smooth and easy pregnancy with a healthy baby and now, getting to know we'll have a little girl this summer, is just about the most amazing thing ever. We can't wait. Ryan is super excited to teach his little girl his most favorite game of golf, and I'm busy looking on Etsy for cute bows and dresses.

The Lord has richly blessed our lives through this whole experience, and we are so excited about lots of fun times to come.

Happy spring, everyone! Enjoy the gorgeous days before it gets to be 104 and pregnant women everywhere are living in the local swimming pools.