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!

A funny for your Friday

If you follow me on Inst.agram then you saw this video yesterday, but I just had to share it here as well.  This is Blakely trying to say football.  She doesn't quite have the "foot" part down just yet and it sounds like another 4 letter word.  She runs around the house saying this all day since I got her a mini football the other day.  

Toddler talk is hilarious!  That or my husband is trying to sabotage football season already...

HAPPY FRIDAY!  

on staying at home.

I have honestly been wanting to write a post on my thoughts about being a stay at home mom for a good 6 months.  I can't ever seem to find the right words.  Sometimes I sit down to write it and everything sounds like I am complaining.  Then other times everything sounds all pretty and glitter and rainbows.  Staying at home is neither.  I guess it depends on where I am at when I try to write it out.  I've decided that I am never going to get it written unless I just sit down, write and be honest.  So here goes...

To begin with I was never one of those that knew I would be a SAHM.  I thought I was going back to work after I had Blakely up until I was set to go back in 4 weeks.  Then something sort of clicked with me.  I did not want to leave her.  I also had no idea where she was going to go when I went back to work.  (Obviously I had procrastinated on that).  I just looked at Lonnie one night and told him that I wanted to stay at home with her for a while longer.  He was all for it as he had been trying to get me to stop working since I got pregnant.  

It was hard for me to call my boss but I knew it was the right thing at the time.

The first few months of being a SAHM were hard but they were hard in an "omg I just had this baby and I have no clue what I am doing" way.  Just like all new moms...working or staying at home.  My life revolved around poop and boobs (and my recovering perineum...oh the endless pain).  I felt successful if I washed my hair and pooped without crying.  

I found my groove when B was about 6 months old.  I was rocking the stay at home mom gig.  My girl was on a great schedule (crucial) and she was happy.  I was napping when she napped for her morning nap so I was well rested.  During her other naps I got all the things done.  All the things.  I felt successful at life.  Dinner was cooked, the house was cleaned and I had make up on.  

Dude...this is easy.  We can NAP!

At about the one year mark, or a little before, things got a bit hard.  She started walking so there was that.  She was in to more things and I couldn't leave the room for even a second.  Where she could destroy a cabinet full of stuff in no time while she was a crawler, when she became a walker she was able to destroy three rooms in the same amount of time.  We were beginning the transition from baby to toddler.  But oh how fun that stage was!  A tiny tot toddling around like a drunken sailor.  And the few words she was starting to say.  It was so cute and I miss that!  

Things got a lot hard at about 14 months and stayed that way until about 18-19 months.  For me I felt like she wasn't a baby anymore.  We can't just lay on the floor all day and play with a basket of stuffed toys or blocks anymore.  I felt like I needed to be teaching her things.  How do I teach her things?!?  This was also the end of any "me time" I had during the day.  She now noticed everything I was doing and, therefore, wanted to be doing those same things.  I could no longer read a blog while she ate her lunch or pay bills while she played on the floor.  And forget about making any phone calls while she was awake.  I could not pee without a toddler on my lap (still can't pee without her yelling "ready, set, go!  Mommy peeeeee!) and showers were out of the question.  I started looking forward to nap time so much.  The days were running together and they felt a little like this.  Feed the toddler, clean up the toddler mess, change the toddler diaper (after catching her), entertain the toddler, get the toddler to nap, do household chores at lightening speed before toddler wakes up, toddler always wakes up before chores are finished (always), feed the toddler, clean up the toddler mess, change more diapers, entertain the toddler, pick up after the toddler, give the toddler snacks, clean up the toddler snacks, entertain the toddler with the afternoon fussies, change more diapers, feed the toddler, clean up the toddler mess, and pray that Lonnie is going to walk through the door to help me soon.  I felt successful if I did not have a glass of wine with my lunch.  

Rainbows and glitter and unicorn babies!  ;)

reality...no make up and LOTS of crying on the floor for both of us.  rough day.    

Those 6 months or so were very hard on me.  I felt very guilty for looking forward to her naps and her bed time.  I chose to be a SAHM...why am I not enjoying this?!  I think I just had a hard time transitioning from having a baby to having a toddler.  I was also not allowing myself to relax or do things for myself.  I just needed to give myself a break.  

Once B hit about 20 months old I think I got my groove back.  She hit an age where she can understand a little bit of reason.  I decided I had to try to get her to play by herself some during the day.  She has never done this well.  At least for me.  Lonnie says she plays by herself great when he is watching her...go figure.  She has always wanted me on the floor playing with her.  No not on the couch.  On the floor wherever she is.  Once a day I try to get her to have some independent play time.  Usually in the afternoon after her nap (I try to be consistent) I tell her mommy has to work and she has to play in the living room.  Some days are better than others but we are making progress.  Things also got better because I started making some time for me.  I made myself a priority and that has done wonders for me.  I make plans with my friends or plans with Lonnie and I don't (or try not to) feel guilty about it.  Even being able to shower alone at night while she plays with Lonnie helps my peace of mind more than I ever thought possible.   

Things are not perfect now but I do feel like I am doing a better job.  I am sure in 6 months I am going to want to update this post and say "You just think that part was hard".  But that is what I am learning.  Parenting and raising another human being is incredibly hard and incredibly amazing at the same time.  It is okay to say it is hard or to say you are having a hard time.  That makes you real.  I hate when people say "enjoy every second".  That is just an impossibility.  Every new mom hears those words and they are immediately set up for failure.  That is how I felt about being a SAHM.  I thought I was supposed to be enjoying every second and instead I was wanting to hide in the closet with a bag of chips and cry.  I have learned (and am still learning) to accept the struggles AND the successes and just let them be.  It doesn't have to be perfect all day long all the time.  Just enjoy the good times and make it through the hard times.  That is the good thing about toddlers.  They can have the biggest meltdown over you not letting them put their hand in the candle and you think you may lose it if they don't stop all the crying and all the writhing on the floor.  But then 30 minutes later they walk over to you and give you a big fat kiss and a hug that may never end.  It doesn't take away the fact that things were hard during the meltdown but I am choosing to focus on the good things, the happy things, and the things that won't last forever.

I know that my time being home with her 7 days a week is coming to a close.  She will not be this little for long.  Soon enough we will be picking out a preschool, driving her to games and practices, picking out dresses for school dances and taking her senior pictures (NO!).  When I think of staying at home with her in that context I am able to focus more on the happy and not the hard.  Sure some days I want to pull my hair out because within the first hour of her being awake she has yelled "SHIT MOMMY" 1,000 times.  (She means sit, so I hear this a lot every day....SHIT CHAIR MOMMY!  SHIT BED MOMMY!)  And sometimes I think I may cry when Lonnie calls and says he is going to be home late from work.  But I am doing better at not letting the hard stuff overwhelm me.  

This little darling (and occasional terror) is the best thing I have ever done.  And staying home with her has been the absolute hardest and most rewarding thing I have done

oh...and obviously she is in an "accessorizing" phase...

Flashing it back....vacation style.

Grand Cayman.  Our first vacation together in 2006.  We hadn't even known each other a year.  BABIES.  

St. John, US. Virgin Islands.  Honeymoon 2007

NYC for our 1 year anniversary.  2008

Domincan Republic 2009

 San Francisco 2010

AAAAAAAAND then we had a baby.  HA!  

I am ready for a mommy and daddy only trip!  Lonnie and I have been so many places and we love to travel together.  We knew once we had a baby that we wouldn't do it as much so I guess we tried to do as much as we could back then.  I am glad we did but I am ready to get back into it!

Lonnie?!  Are you reading this?!  Lets plan something!