Whirlwind Weekend

Whew.  What a weekend around here.  I am exhausted!

I guess technically the weekend started on Thursday night.  Hello football!  B even wore her football jammers...

B and I spent all of Friday playing.  She wanted to go outside so bad so I finally sucked it up and went out in the blazing heat.  She looks like she is ready for kindergarten here....

Saturday was the Razo.rback game.  B dressed up in her gear and I was trying to teach her to call the hogs.  She has the Wooooooooo part down and she yells "RAY-BACKS" at the right time.  Might be the cutest thing I've ever seen.  Will get it on video soon.  The best part? This dress was from last fall but fits because of no cloth diaper booty.  Panties for the win!  I am now pulling out all of her clothes from last fall because I think most of the stuff will still fit now.  

My mother in law also came on Saturday and brought C and S.  She had them for the weekend so she brought them down to play with B.  Blakely was beyond excited for one big reason.  Collier built her a fort within the first 3 minutes of being here.  She loved it and played in it the whole day.  They all stayed the night and had a big time.  

Cousins!

My mom and my aunt Jenni's birthday was on Sunday so we (me, them and all their friends!) went to eat on Saturday night.  I meant to take my good camera to get some pictures of them but I forgot.  My house was a crazy place and I tried to sneak out of there and ended up leaving it on the counter.  Boo.  Anyway, it was a good time.  We went to Jenni's house after and chatted and gave them their presents.  I got them both a photo album full of pictures of Blakely from 18 months until now.  I wrote out beside most of the pictures a little tidbit about where we were or just something funny about the picture.  I think they liked it ;)

Sunday was a big day mostly because it was FOOTBALL!  It was my first experience with my new N.FL Su.nday Ti.cket.  Needless to say I am in love with it...  Blakely went to my mom's house and Jenni and my Grand went over to spend the day with Blake.  They have a big time.  Blakely yells DAN-DI, GIGI, GEE-MAMA the whole way over.  

Sunday afternoon Lonnie and I had softball practice.  Have I mentioned we joined a co-ed league?  I can't remember.  Anyway, practice.  At 430 in the afternoon.  In the 100 degree heat.  Let me tell you something...that is not awesome.  And then it lasted for 3 hours!  I had been loading up on water for 2 days knowing it was going to be so hot.  It was good and I am so glad we joined because it is going to be really fun when it cools off a bit.  But I don't think I can do another one of those practices.  I felt fine after practice, just exhausted and hot, but on the drive home I started getting nauseated.  Got home and proceeded to puke for 5 minutes.  Then I was better!  Crazy.  Here's to cooler weather soon.  

Oh and I can barely move today.  Ouch.  A good ouch but still...  I haven't played softball in 13 years and my body definitely is reminding me of that today!  I am looking forward to getting back into it though.  There is a girl on our team that has a little girl Blakely's age.  I see a lot of playing in the dirt together in their future.  And it is something fun that Lonnie and I can do together.  I can't wait!  

Did you do anything fun this weekend?  

Just a random Wednesday

Linking up with Megan today for a bunch of randomness!

• You want to know what is embarrassing?  Having to go to the doctor and have your ear cleaned out because it is impacted with wax.  Yesterday morning when I was using a q-tip {I know} all of the sudden my ear just sealed up and I could not hear a thing.  I took B to school and then went and worked out hoping it would get better.  No.  It was driving me so crazy that I couldn't even wait for Lonnie to get home with some utensils to clean it out himself.  Off to the doctor I went.  My doctor cleaned it out and it felt amazing.  It was totally disgusting and I wanted to die when I saw what he got out of there but I was so happy even though I was embarrassed.  And then all of the sudden I was not happy....I was insane dizzy.  Like almost fell off of the table dizzy.  Apparently shooting water that is too cold in your ear causes vertigo.  So I sat there for about 10 minutes trying to get back to normal.  I can't tell you how weird it was to be so so dizzy but not nauseated.  I have vowed to never use a q-tip again.  Oh how I will miss them though...
• B is going to school 2 days a week now {which is why I am able to blog in the middle of the day...yay!}.  She loves it and I love that she loves it.  She woke up this morning chanting her teachers names.  I think she probably dreamed about them and school all night...ha!  
• When I picked her up yesterday this is what she did all the way home.  Non-stop.  I think they talked about letters at school?!

• I have no idea what to do with myself when she is gone.  I am literally able to do things around the house that used to take me hours when she was here with me.  For example, I paid bills this morning in less than 30 minutes.  That used to be an all day process full of interruptions and toddler "helping".  I am so much more productive and when she does get home I am able to focus on her instead of trying to do other things during my time with her.  
• Ok.  I am saying it.  She is potty trained.  The last time she wore a pull up was on our trip to Pittsburgh.  She did well the whole trip but did have a wet pull up a few times.  But she wasn't scared to go potty in the airport, on the airplane or at Bridget's house.  She even showed off her potty skills to Emily!  It was pretty cute.  I was nervous about her regressing on the trip and once we got home but she hasn't.  So I ditched the pull ups and we are panties full time now.  Even at school and she has stayed dry.  I do not miss cloth diaper laundry!!! {fingers crossed this doesn't jinx us!}
• I finally decided on a theme for B's 2nd birthday party.  I am excited about it after not being able to get that way for a while.  I think I am going to do a Sunday afternoon party that is a little more low key.  The Saturday of her birthday weekend the Razorbac.ks play at home so I wanted everyone to be able to go to the game {3 hours away}.  And if I do Sunday afternoon then I don't have to have as much food so maybe it will be less stressful?
• I still haven't gotten my refund for our last IVF.  I was supposed to get a check in the mail soon after I spoke with the nurse about it.  Well, that was 6 weeks ago.  To say we are frustrated would be an understatement.  They have had plenty of time.  Lonnie is calling today and demanding answers.  He is doing it and not me because 1) I would probably cry and 2) they will be way more scared of him (I hate confrontation and am terrible at it anyway).  
• Y'ALL.  This is the most important bullet in this post.  NFL football starts tomorrow!!!  OMG.  You know I love me some football and I may be a *little* obsessed with fantasy football.  I am in 2 leagues this year.  The one with all of my girlfriends that we do every year and then another one with some people Lonnie works with.  I used to work with them too so I know most of them.  There is only one other girl in that league so I named my team A Woman Among Boys.  HAHA!  I am seriously so excited and I will try not to talk about it on every post.  Unless you want!  Who do you root for?  Do you hate football?  Lonnie hates it but I think it is mainly because I love it so much.  He is more of a baseball guy.  :)

Happy day before the NFL season starts!  

Motivation

I mentioned a while back that I am the matron of honor {that could not make me sound any older} in my friend Sarah's wedding.  Well, this weekend we went and picked out her dress and the bridesmaid dresses.  

She picked the most amazing dress and it was the 3rd one she tried on.  It is beautiful and so very flattering on her.  I knew it was the one right when she put it on.  Perfect!  

Then came time to pick out our dresses.  The plan was for us all to get a different dress but all in the same color {plum}.  What a great bride right?!  Here is the one I chose.

And I never do strapless because, well, you need boobs to hold up a strapless dress.  But this dress is tight below the boobs so that holds it up.  But do you know what tight below the boobs means?  Tight on the tummy!  

So I need to tighten up this tummy of mine so I don't look pregnant on her big day.  I have been working out but, I can't lie, I have been slacking off a bit lately.   I don't always enjoy working out.  I have to have some motivation to keep me going.  For example, knowing I have to wear a bathing suit in front of my teensy tiny sister in law {who had twins} motivates me to hit the gym.  Knowing we have a pool party to go to motivates me to hit it even harder.  And knowing I have to stand up there with Sarah in front of hundreds of people in a dress that is TIGHT AROUND MY TUMMY makes me want to never leave the gym.

I was doing so well leading up to our last IVF {big motivator} but once that went bust it was harder to get up and go to the gym. I usually do pretty good in the summer since we live on the lake and I know a bathing suit can happen any day.  But during the winter?  I am terrible...  And the wedding is at the end of November, literally days after Thanks.giving.  OMG...

I am happy that I have found some motivation to get back into the gym like I was before.  Hopefully it will stick around for the next 3 months leading up to the wedding!  And if not, well, I'll blame the winter....

What keeps you motivated?  

I wish we could do that every weekend.

Recently I mentioned that my little family was going on a little trip to see another little family.  And this past weekend we did it!  Lonnie, Blakely and I packed up and headed to Pittsburgh to see Bridget, Steve, Emily and Gavin!  

Bridget and I have been super close for the longest.  It all started when we went through IVF together and got pregnant with our miracle babies.  That was almost 3 years ago.  It was time to meet for realzz.  

We had been talking about planning some sort of trip for a while but it just never would work out quite right.  When our last IVF failed, I told Lonnie that the next time he was off we were going.  End of story.  I needed it and Bridget did too.  He said ok (didn't even question it!) and I booked the trip!  

I have never met a blogger before and, to be honest, I wasn't nervous.  I mean, it was Bridget.  We text every day.  But when you tell other people (who don't know you have a blog) that you are going to Pittsburgh to meet someone you met on the internet, well, you get some funny looks.  And some c.atf.ish comments...HA!  

Anyway, we flew out on Thursday and I won't even tell you about our day of traveling.  You don't want to know.  I will say that we got up at 5 that morning (for a 10 o'clock flight) and were supposed to get to our hotel at 3 and then head over to Bridget's house.  We ended up getting to our hotel about 900 that night.  It was a long day and I was sad that I had to wait another day to meet them but we were exhausted.

Finally on Friday morning we went to their house.  On the drive over there Lonnie asked me if I was nervous.  I wasn't but when we turned onto her street my stomach did do about 10 backflips.  I mean we were really here.  Finally, after a zillion emails, even more texts, and too may skype chats to count I was going to see her in real life!  Crazy.  

And, just like I suspected, it was like we get to see each other every day.  :)  If only we did get to see each other every day.  :( 

So I know all you want to see is the pictures of our adorable kiddos, right?  Well here ya go!  

We went to this awesome zoo where you can pet and feed the animals.  Emily just loved feeding them and squealed with delight every single time.  

Blakely was like no way in hell I'm feeding that thing.  I'll just eat the carrot instead.

Gavin was just happy to chill.  That baby is the best.  I'm not even kidding. He just giggles and smiles all.the.time.  Awesome.  But we can all agree that Bridget deserved an easy baby after the honey badger baby, amiright?

Love this one of the girls checking out the lions.  They kept saying RAWR! 

The first thing Lonnie said when he saw E is WOW!  I thought Blakely was tall!  

Look at those adorable shirts Bridget had made for the girls.  I haven't been able to get B to take it off.  

After the girls napped we headed back over to their house to cookout and lets the girls run around and play.  We had beautiful weather and they have the perfect backyard setup.   

we weren't excited or anything ;)

E and G had on their Arkan.sas Ra.zorbacks gear that I got for them when we showed up the next day.  Those are some pretty cute HOG fans!!!  

We didn't get a pic of the kids in the jammers I got them but I just have to share because OMG CUTENESS.  

Saturday was spent playing outside even more and meeting Steve's parents who live across the street. 

The plan was to have them watch the kids while we went to the Stee.lers game that night.  I was nervous, I can't lie.  No one besides family members have watched B and only a few of them have put her to bed.  I was nervous until I met Stan and Jeanne.  Y'all.  They are so sweet and you can just see the love they have for Emily and Gavin oozing from their eyeballs.  It is awesome to see.  I immediately felt comfortable and B instantly warmed up to them too.  So to the Steelers game we went!  When we left they were outside playing on the swingset so B didn't care a bit that we were leaving.  WIN!  

The game was super fun but the best part was getting to talk with Bridget the whole time.  I don't think we shut up at all.  The people around us were probably so annoyed!  I do love me some football but I am a Patrio.ts fan for life!  But this may have made me come around to the Steel.ers...I even bought a shirt!  

It was really a fantastic two days but two days is just not nearly long enough.  There were plenty of "pinch me" moments.  Like when our girls were taking turns going down the slide {50 times}, when I got to snuggle that chunk of a baby G-buddy or when Bridget and I were having cocktails and chatting on her patio {omg}.  All things that we have talked about doing for the longest!  Really I could go on and on...  I wish so much that we could do those things more often.  Thank you to Bridget {AND STEVE!} for opening your home to my family.  We had the best time and I can't wait for the next time.  Blakely is still saying "Em-meees howsh" {Emily's house} every time we get in the car so I guess we will have to come back this weekend?!?!?!

22 months!

On August 13th (her first day of "school") our little (not little) Blakely turned 22 months!  

This was the month of the language boom.  The day she hit 22 months she started stringing 2, 3 and 4 words together regularly.  As I am writing this she said to me, "Mommy tie shoe please".  It blows me away how fast this happened.  One day she was just saying single words and now that.  Awesome.  She also repeats everything we say.  I can tell she is able to make more sounds now that she could a month ago.  She never could really say the "c" sound, like in cat.  Now she can.  And we all know how well she says football ;)

This was also the month of the potty training.  I've said this before but I want to mention it in this monthly post as well.  She is doing very well.  I don't know when you say your child is "potty trained" but she is well on her way.  I can't remember the last time she had an accident at home.  I don't ask her when we are at the house, I just wait for her to tell me.  When she and I go out during the day she wears panties and does well.  She FINALLY went in a public restroom and that has helped tremendously.  Now we don't spend a ton of time in the car on the Min.nie potty.  Score one for Mommy.  As much as I hate public restrooms it is so much easier to take her to the bathroom when we are out for lunch than to stand outside of my car in the 100 degree weather for 20 minutes while she holds it and plays games on my phone.  I am hoping this week at MDO she will start using their potty.  Last week her teacher told me she seemed scared of it but finally went when she saw another girl go.  When I take her in this week I am going to go with her and maybe that will make her not scared of it!  Also, I am sure after writing this paragraph I am going to eat my words and she will totally regress.  Let's hope not.  

This is what happens when you potty train your cloth diaper wearing toddler.  No pants fit!  Gangsta ;)

A super fun thing she started doing this month is hiding.  And she is really good at it.  When I had my little day to myself and she was with Lonnie all day, he called me and told me that he lost her for like 5 minutes!  She was hiding in the laundry basket.  I lost her one day and found her in the princess castle {picture below} being as quiet as a mouse and completely still.  It is really amazing.  Now we have to hide from daddy when he gets home everyday.  It is cute but I am sure I am going to hate this talent of hers.  

She calls herself Boppy.  She thinks she is saying Blakely but Boppy it is.  I don't want to ever forget that because it is so cute and I know it won't last long.  

She is a total bottomless pit this month.  I guess she is having a major growth spurt but she wants to eat all the time.  She doesn't really eat breakfast well but starting at about 10 am she wants to eat constantly.  Some favorites are pasta with sauce to dip, carrot sticks, and apple slices with peanut butter.  

{always eating}

She has loved Mic.key Mouse Clu.bhouse for a while.  But now, all of the sudden, she is super attached to her Min.nie.  She has to go everywhere with us.  Even if Blakely says she doesn't I always bring her because if she asks fo her when we are out and we don't have her?  Oh dear....

We have had some super fun pool days this month.  I think most weekends were spent at the pool.  Of course I don't have many pictures because I spend my time chasing her around and making sure she doesn't dive head first into the water.  But here is one from last weekend.  We spent most of the day there with Jenni and GranDi.  Blakely loooooves her Jenni {it sounds like Gigi and that just might stick!}.  

She is liking the water more and more each time we go.  This specific time she jumped into the water {with me catching her} at least 50 times.  She will kick when I tell her and will actually let me takes my hands off of her and she will swim around a little bit.  She doesn't quite have the arm paddle down yet but we are working on it.  I really wish I could get her in to swim lessons but all the places here want them to be 2.  Maybe someone has fall lessons or something.  I am going to look into that.  


Happy 22 months sweet girl!  We love you so much!  

randomness during nap time...

• B had a great first day of MDO yesterday.  Until about 3:00.  Her teacher said she noticed that Blakely was just looking different than she had all day and so she went and held her and felt like she was hot.  They took her to the office and took her temp.  104.  Great.  They were calling me to come pick her up right as I was walking in the door.  They brought her to me and my girl looked so pitiful.  We are heading to the doctor in about an hour.  
• Potty training is going well.  She is in panties most of the time now.  I do put her in a pull up for MDO and for gymnastics class on Friday.  Mostly because I think she is having so much fun she forgets to tell me/her teacher that she needs to go.  For the most part, the pull up stays dry.  We spend a lot of time like the picture below.  She will wait to pee just so she can play in the back seat.  Oh, and it is about 100 degrees with the humidity of a sauna.  So this is always fun.  No...

 {isn't she going to love this picture later?}

• Lonnie has had an amazingly rough stretch at work.  2 terrible weeks and a call weekend in between.  When his work is crazy, everything is crazy.  He is off for a week starting this weekend and it can not get here fast enough!  Although he may sleep the whole time...
• Do you use the Timehop App?  You can sync it with your FB or Insta.gram and it will tell you what you posted one, two or three years ago!  I love it but must it make me tear up every day?  This is what it showed me the other day.  WHO IS THAT BABY???

• B is obsessed with this pink hat.  If she doesn't know where it is then she roams around whining "Boppy pink hat" until I find it for her.  {Boppy=Blakely}

• I can't seem to get motivated to plan B's 2nd birthday party.  What is wrong with me?  I have an idea of what I am going to do and I have made a few purchases but no planning beyond that.  Get with it mama!
• One more random thing.  This little family of mine is taking a weekend trip (4 days) pretty soon.  Any guesses where we are going?!?  {It is in the US}  Happy Wednesday!  

First day of school...

I am writing this while sitting at my kitchen table.  Alone.

Because Blakely is at SCHOOL!!

Wait...I haven't mentioned this yet?  

Well let me back up a bit then.  

At the beginning of the summer I started thinking about getting B into a Mother's Day Out program here in town starting in the fall.  Apparently MDO is a southern thing because I have mentioned it to a couple of non-southern blog friends and they had no idea what I was talking about.  (cough cough, Bridget, cough cough).

I mean it is basically a day care but they don't have the hours of a day care?  I really don't know much about day care in general so I can't really compare.  I can just tell you about this MDO!  It is from 8-330, 4 days a week.  I can take her when I want and pick her up when I want.  I guess you could say it is day care for stay at home moms!  

To start, I am only sending her one day a week.  Eventually I may send her 2 days a week but I would have to get on the waiting list so it probably wouldn't happen until the spring anyway.  She is also going to be spending one day a week with my friend Juanet.  Have I ever mentioned Juanet?  I can't remember but she needs a whole post so I'll do that later.  Anyway, starting now, B will be spending one day a week at MDO and one day a week with Juanet.  

Can I just tell you how excited I am about this?  For real.  It is going to be so good for her.  One of the main reasons I wanted her to go is because I think she needs more interaction with kids.  She only really plays with other kids at the gym day care and she loves that so much that I knew MDO would be a hit.  

I am also, of course, nervous.  Someone else is taking care of my baby!  I am pushing through my fears because I know it is what is best for her and for me.  I mean, I just ate a huge breakfast and I didn't have to share!  I am blogging and I haven't been interrupted one time!  Mommy win!  

And because you know she had a special outfit for the occasion....

She, of course, decided to sleep in this morning so she wasn't all that happy about pictures at first.  {always twirling that hair}

Then she warmed up a bit...  Can we talk about how big she is?  

And now I am off to take the hottest and longest shower ever...because I can!!!  Yippeeee!