It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I LOVE this time of year. I always have...I refuse to let the adult stress of this season ruin some of the wonderful memories and fun that can be had by just allowing ourselves to enjoy it. Yes Christmas is stressful for parents and adults...we have to plan, buy, wrap, cook, blah blah blah but what good does it do to stress about it? Other than ruin the holiday all together. Not me...you won't find a scrooge in this house (unless your discussing Christmas cards and that is just one tradition I no longer partake in, I just can't do it, don't expect a card from me...it won't come!). Tomorrow marks the first of December and we're ready in style! We've got our tree up, decorated and adorned with presents, we've revived our sad (yet still pretty sad) door wreath, I've made centerpieces for both tables, decorated the buffet and mantle. We're READY!!!

Here's our centerpieces-

Small simple centerpiece for the kitchen table

This is a slightly larger and barely less simple one for the dining room table.

Both were put together quickly and inexpensively but they add a little more of that festive feel to the tables.

I'll take a better picture of the buffet later this weekend after the wall behind it is (hopefully) painted! But for now, here's a general idea of what we've done there.

Its a little harder to get in the spirit this year knowing that its going to be near 80 degrees tomorrow afternoon, but I'm not going to let it get us down. We're going to head out to Santa's Village tomorrow evening and be there for the lighting ceremony. Hopefully we'll make it through a good portion of the village and have some fun. Em should love the lights and I'm sure they'll make a good show of the lighting ceremony. I remember going as a child and hope that we can make it part of our families tradition as well. And best of all its a totally FREE event!! LOVE IT!

So here's to starting new traditions!! Tomorrow is Santa's village and I believe our elf will also make his first appearance. I'm not sure if she'll get into the elf thing or not, but I figure its time to try! We're going to make Christmas candies, visit Santa, listen to Christmas music, and be in the spirit all month long! She's only two at Christmas once!!

This is just a screen shot from our photographer of a picture she got of Em...I don't have the real image yet, but I couldn't wait to share it! I'll post the better quality image once I have it but for now...here's a little bit of sweetness :)

Yup...We've become THOSE people!

It officially happened. You know those annoying things you witness in public but aren't your business so you stay out of it? Like yelling and cursing across a table in a restaurant. Totally not my business, so no need to get involved...Right?!

Maybe until you become a Mama Bear with a toddler and the F-Bomb has been dropped for the third time. And its not just that they are talking loudly...these two men were violently yelling at each other. Had they been standing or in another setting, I fully believe there would have been a fist fight. A few minutes into the argument the calmer one who was yelling but not cursing mentioned to his partner that there was a child a few feet away and to watch his mouth. The other man didn't care. He continued to escalate until my husband couldn't take it anymore. He got up from the table and walked to theirs and started asking the men who they worked for. They were clearly contractors/workers of some sort and still wearing their yellow caution vests. The first (calmer) man, mentioned to my husband that he asked the other guy to knock off the language, my husband thanked him for that but said again...who do you work for. At this point the angrier of the two was still yelling and just couldn't seem to stop himself which is when out of no-one Mama Bear rose up and yelled back...

EXCUSE ME!!! I have a toddler here and would appreciate if you'd take your mouth elsewhere!

UM...where did that come from?! My husband looks at me with big eyes and I realize...from me! LOL! The angry man couldn't bring himself to make eye contact with me, never did look our way, but he never said another word either. My husband settles back into the table with their company name and his iPhone ready to lodge his formal complaint and I...well I sat looking at my daughter thinking...I just did that?!

So we are officially those people that tell others to watch their mouths in public. I never thought I'd see the day that I'd get involved in something like that but apparently its come. Luckily the GM of the restaurant is an old friend of ours and was not only thankful but gave us some free meal vouchers for taking care of the issue :) Gotta love having connections! And I would feel slightly embarrassed for myself but several patrons stopped by our table as they left and thanked us for handling the matter. Another Mother proudly said " GO Mama!" and then told me she was the exact same way until her kids were teens. Oh the way our kiddos change us!

So that was a first!! And hopefully a last. I don't like to get involved in things like that, especially in Texas. We do carry guns here ya know!

It's a miracle!!!!

My two year ate a sandwich!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok...so maybe not a miracle to most, but HUGE for us! She is the pickiest eater! And while I say picky, there is a good amount of food she WILL eat. If its a fruit or vegetable she likely eats it. If it's cheese she eats it. If its meat your going to come up with maybe a handful of things she MAY eat from time to time. If its pasta she eats it. If its anything mixed together like a casserole or sandwich...FORGET IT!! She won't touch pizza, won't even try a bite. She loves a piece of bread, loves cheese, but you put those two things together...FORGET IT!!!

Last week my neighbor called to let me know she'd stumbled across a miracle bread. Her picky two year old had demolished a sandwich she'd made him using the new Pepperidge Farm Goldfish bread. She thought I should try it. Thinking that I'd buy said bread and end up eating it myself...I gave it a shot.

Today for lunch my picky Emilie at 1/4 of a cinnamon goldfish sandwich with cream cheese. I realize that sounds more like breakfast, but she's not a big breakfast kid so we usually stick to fruit and yogurt and well...we had to start somewhere and sweet was my best bet. Let me just tell you...She loved it!! She immediately took a bite (which if you know her, you know is huge. She won't usually even TRY a single bite of something she isn't pretty familiar with) and said "num num" lol. Over the course of the meal she took a total of about 5-6 bites which really was probably only about 1/4 of the sandwich. But she is only two, she was given lots of fruits and veggies on her plate as well, and 5-6 bites is 5-6 bites MORE than she's EVER taken before!!!! I am thrilled!!! I know... its a ridiculous victory...but this Momma's happy! SO...if you have a picky kiddo like me, TRY THIS BREAD!!

We got the white bread too and I'm excited to try it next! Maybe she'll eat a soy nut butter and jelly sandwich!! EEK!

Oh and P.S.-- Pepperidge Farm didn't endorse any of my above comments and I'm surely not being paid to compliment them...I just really was thrilled with this bread :)

The Holidays are here!!!

I feel like a little kid jumping up and down excitedly yelling the Holidays are here, the Holidays are here!!!!! I LOVE this time of year!! Ok, so maybe as an adult the financial stress of gifting the many people we love and physically attending/cooking/prepping for all of the festivities is a little harder than it is when your a kiddo just excited by the buzz in the air, but I like to see the best in things and do my best to make the holidays as special for my little family as possible. So I love it!!!

The day before Thanksgiving we had nice visit with my sister-in-law and her kiddos and made holiday treats. While these weren't nearly as easy as pinterest claimed them to be, we did have fun making them :)

You can find the tutorial here.

This year for Thanksgiving we had a first!! A first since we were married at the very least...we only attending ONE Thanksgiving celebration!!! And it was...AWESOME!!!! It was so nice to get up in the morning and head over to my Aunt's house to spend some time with our family. We talked and played and munched until it was time to stuff our faces. I think one of my favorite moments was watching my nearly 6' tall 16 year old cousin sitting in the floor playing cars with Emilie. She loved it and he is such a little kid in a big kids body that he really did too. I wish I'd taken a picture!! We all ate WAY too much and then after cleaning up the kitchen found a soft spot to rest a bit and visit. No one was running out the door on to their next event, no one was in any hurry, we just enjoyed each others company and it was fantastic. Probably my favorite Thanksgiving as far as I can remember! I have a lot to be thankful for and feel truly blessed that God has done some amazing things in our lives.

The rest of the four day weekend was exactly what it should have been. Equal parts laziness with equal parts productivity. Thanksgiving evening was pure lazy. Emilie had a late nap and then we had leftover pizza for dinner and just enjoyed being home together. It seems we don't get enough time like that. Friday we attempted to shop but were scared away by the lines so we hit the quiet Target and called it a day. We had leftovers for lunch and when Emilie went down for her nap the craziness began. I started dragging out presents and ended up wrapping gifts for close to 5 hours before we had the majority wrapped. WHEW! I am not looking forward to finishing the few I missed. Braden packed up the fall decor and put up the tree and then we took turns finishing wrapping and decorating for Christmas. Emilie has her own little tree to take ornaments off and on and then we have our big tree. No gifts under the tree this year, I re-wrapped far too many last year! Luckily we have some unused built in shelf space that perfectly holds all the gifts and still displays them nicely. Saturday was purely lazy...we accomplished little more than enjoying each others company and I'm happy with that. Sunday we did finish a painting project we'd been putting off, but we only finished a bucket of already opened paint and didn't even touch the several new buckets we'd purchased. We'll get there!

Here's Em with BOTH tree's. Luckily there is only one ornament holding her interest on the big tree and I was smart enough to put all breakable ornaments up high again this year.

And here's our mantle just because I like it :)

Wonderful weekends

You know how all week you yearn for the weekend, every day is one step close to that ever elusive weekend that is always over too quickly... That's how we are. We are constantly looking forward to the weekend, which is funny because we do a lot of fun things during the week...but the weekend usually means more uninterrupted family time and of course...no work!!!! I won't even try to tell you a weekend means sleeping in because our little alarm clock has an amazing internal clock and its consistent, even on the weekends! I think I've finally hit that point in my life that if I did sleep in I'd feel half the day was wasted! Does that mean I'm getting old??! I'm going to vote no...but I'm an old soul to start with so I've always been a little old at heart. Don't believe me?? Ask anyone who knows me...I'm soooo old at heart.

ANYWAYS! I'll get to the point...we had a great weekend planned!! We were meeting with one of my closest friends Saturday morning to do our family holiday pictures and then in the afternoon we were going to leave Em with my Aunt and have DATE NIGHT!

You know those adorable family pictures with everyone looking at the camera with perfect hair, cute bows, sweet smiles?? That will likely NOT be us!! My daughter knows and loves our photographer dearly, but she raises that camera and Em wants NOTHING to do with it!!! We do our best to hold her still and smile at the camera and PRAY we get a decent shot, then we chase her around hoping for one of those random shots that just kind of "happens", then we try another pose and hold her still as long as possible, then we repeat again. You'd THINK we'd get something...and because Lindsey is amazing...we probably will. I'll keep you posted. But if you don't believe me that we also get the craziest shots you can imagine...let me give you a little taste of one of the out-takes Lindsey shared with me.

Yes-- That IS my beautiful little girl. With her finger in her nose!!! OMG!!!! And despite the obvious, look at that hair?! I don't know how many times we adjusted or flat put that bow back on her, but I'm betting we see a lot more goofy hair shots as they come in. And even with her finger in her nose...she's STILL not looking at the camera. Yup...this is a proud moment for Mommy and Daddy. But it was just too priceless not to share with you!

Sadly my cousin was sick and my Aunt had to cancel her visit with Emilie but we took it in stride and decided to take her with us and make it a fun family night. And that's exactly what we had! I'm so thankful that it worked out the way it did because once we got there we had such a blast! We Christmas shopped and played and then we got to enjoy some festivities we had no idea were going on...

Em dancing in her stroller to the marching band and parade!

Watching the firework show and lighting of the Christmas tree!

What fun we had!! We had no idea all this was going on, we just stumbled upon it and had such a blast! It was a good lesson in being flexible and going with the flow because had we been out on date night or decided to stay home instead of just take Em along we would have missed all this fun! These little lessons and reminders are much needed to keep me on course because I tend to get so stuck in my "plans" that I miss out on the little fun that comes along when you're open to it. My Aunt says she's never met a detour she didn't like...that she always sees something fun or different than what she'd planned to see. That its always worth it in the end...a hard lesson to learn but one I'm working on!

The difference in boys and girls?!

Last night I had an epiphany! Other than not remembering my pregnancy with Em I realized that part of why it didn't seem like I remembered these things is because most of them are new! This pregnancy is totally different from Emilie's!! I just kinda thought pregnancy was pregnancy...NOT!

First of all...with Emilie I started gaining weight from the second we conceived and over the course of the 37 1/2 weeks I continued to gain weight to a frightening total of 45 lbs!! Now I did retain a LOT of fluid with Em so I can blame some of that, but really...I just flat out gained weight and I'm willing to own it because I may have gained 45 but I lost 55 nursing and chasing a baby! But with this little guy weight gain has been MUCH slower. Slower to the point of being told at my 12 week checkup that I needed to be eating a few more calories. But don't worry...a girls trip with my Aunt and Grandmother and Halloween were in between the next appointment at 16 weeks and I'd caught up :) Still I've hit that point at 18.5 weeks where I'm virtually halfway there (a week shy if things go according to plans, we will deliver at 39 weeks) and I've only gained half of what I gained at this point with Em. I'm not complaining! I just find it interesting.

With Emilie I craved MY favorite foods. Watermelon --really ALL fruit-- but I would routinely buy a watermelon, cut it in half and sit on the couch with a grapefruit spoon and my half of watermelon, lol! I also craved CANDY!! Chocolate mostly! But with Landon I don't crave foods I even like?! I crave cheeseburgers, PIZZA, and sweets (not necessarily candy but sweets). Can I tell you who likes these foods??? MY HUSBAND!!! So this boy is forcing me to crave my husbands favorite weaknesses!!! How weird is that?? Now I have heard that boys make you crave salt and girls make you crave sweet which somewhat lines up, but this boy forces cravings that are my husbands exact favorite foods...its evil!

The only part I can't quite understand is that the food I ate with Emilie was much healthier for the most part than the foods I crave now (not that I always give in to the cravings but as I sat and ate a smore's poptart before bed lastnight all I could do was shake my head...I HATE THOSE!!) Yet somehow I gained easily double the weight with Emilie. It must be the fact that I am endlessly chasing and lifting a 30lb toddler that's keeping me in shape. There's definitely not the coming in and sitting on the couch watching bad TV with my feet up this round! LOL


-- On a side note-- We have family pictures in the morning with our favorite photographer and one of my best friends. Emilie's outfits are picked, Braden's are pretty much picked (need him to try them on and make sure the shirts still fit) but I just have a few ideas in my head for myself. She wants me to "show off the bump" so I have some things in mind but I've not finalized anything. Please send any spare vibes or prayers for my sanity and my closet as I try to figure this out before tomorrow morning! K? THANKS!!

Momnesia and Preggo Brain

Have you heard of the term Momnesia or PreggoBrain?! If not, let me first enlighten you!! Momnesia is defined as the mental fuzziness and memory lapses that set in shortly after childbirth. PreggoBrain is a state of forgetfulness and confusion experienced during pregnancy. Other symptoms can include but aren't limited to - clumsiness, memory loss and difficulty in retaining information or learning new things. Don't believe me...Google it!! I was shocked to see how many NEWS stories were out there regarding these two phenomenons. Luckily if you've had a child, or in my poor husbands case...lived with a pregnant woman...you know. Its real! Its a scary and real experience!

Now let me first say, I don't remember much of my pregnancy with Em anymore (MOMNESIA!!!) but I don't recall being as ridiculously stupid as I am lately. I knew I was affected with Momnesia after having my daughter, I'd seen it come into play, especially in the beginning when I was overly exhausted and nursing. But I eventually started to recover and it was more few and far between happenings. But I've learned something incredibly frightening lately...

The addition of Momnesia + PreggoBrain = Horrifying circumstances of ridiculous and STUPID behavior!!! Some of it is harmless: forgetting Em's sippy cup on outings, NEVER knowing where my keys are(losing my keys several times a day), forgetting what I was doing when I walk into a room, ect. Sadly the list of my ridiculousness goes on. But not all of it as funny and my most recent topped the cake! One evening every week Emilie and I spend with my Grandmother. Emilie had gotten up from her nap and we'd packed up and left for the afternoon/early evening. I had let the dogs out to potty before kenneling them up, closed the blinds knowing it would be dark when we came back, packed the car and we'd taken off. We had a nice visit as usual and headed home. When I pulled into the garage I heard barking. While that's not unusual in an alley way with several dog owners, this barking was different. It was close...it was in MY backyard! I'd left my poor dogs outside for the entire afternoon we were gone!!!!! I have NEVER done that before! They are strictly indoor dogs and barely spend much time outside at all. What's worse was I'd left the back door completely unlocked! My saving grace here is that the fence was locked and guarded by two rather annoyed large dogs and I had the alarm set. While I'd remembered to close the blinds I'd forgotten to turn on any lights. So the chicken that I am, needed a friend to talk to me while I walked the house checking things and turning on lights. The dogs were fine, mad at me, but fine. They ate dinner, got an extra treat and then spent the evening snuggling together. I think being locked out bonded them a little more ;)

So while some people don't believe in the phenomenon...I do. So please remember...

The addition of Momnesia + PreggoBrain = Horrifying circumstances of ridiculous and STUPID behavior!!!

Sweet relief!

The hole in the ground in front of our house is fixed and covered!!! We still have to moisten the soil and pack it down a little but we can finally breathe a huge sigh of relief! So while yesterday I still wanted to do this...

Do you see her little hair sticking out of the blocks?! TOO FUNNY!

Today I'm breathing much easier!! I was able to create some wiggle in my budget and have finished more than half of my Christmas shopping which is HUGE!!!! It feels so good to have a handle on that!!!

So that's all I've got...I'm in a great mood today!!! So I just wanted to share a cute smile with you :)

Pipe breaks, craft therapy and Big Girl Rooms!

Oh what a week!!!!!! Last week we walked out in the front yard to put something in the mail and smelt something kind of...well...funky. Then I noticed a large amount of standing water in our flower bed and we immediately knew it was trouble. It WAS!!! Its been the thorn in my side for 6 days! We have a large tree in the front yard that so rudely allowed its root system to put stress on our sewage lines causing it to crack, and what happens when roots are near a cracked pipe?! Well...they invade it! To quote Stephanie Tanner..."HOW RUDE!!" After being quoted an astronomical price to fix it they hinted that the price would be greatly reduced if we dug our own 4'x 4' hole. So we did what anyone would do...we hired someone else much cheaper to do it for us!! LOL Of course once they got the pipe exposed and it was no longer covered in dirt we realized that the dirt was actually holding the "crack" together and it was actually in fact a pretty sizable break. Oh don't let me forget to mention, we also found that there was a second matching break 18" beyond that! So once we realize that we had exposed sewage pipes and couldn't flush our toilets we started calling around to find someone to come yesterday. They of course didn't actually come and cancelled us until this morning but what they did do was quote us several hundred dollars under what our original plumber did. Yup...guess who got cancelled and who got the job. Just in case you don't know what a 4' hole looks like, let me enlighten you...

Yea fun huh? Mind you this is mid work with the plumber - thus the totally disconnected pipe.

So over the last week I've been a little stressed?! I mean...we did have to pull most of what we'd saved for my maternity leave out to put it in the gaping hole in our front hard, that's cause for a little stress right? And what do I do when I stress??? I craft!! So I'd been scouring my pinterest boards for something to do that would relieve the stress and be a good Christmas gift -- gotta multitask ya know?! And while I almost hate to post this because there is a chance some of the people receiving them will see them...I'm equally doubtful that they'd actually read this post AND then remember it come Christmas. So here's the adorable Santa hand ornament Emilie and I made this week! They are still drying from the clear coat here :)

And because I fully believe in giving credit to the original source. Here is the pin so you can make them for your family with your little ones hand!

And finally...because I like to torture myself...we decided that this was the weekend to convert Emilie over to a big girls room. I had two thoughts on choosing this rather pitiful weekend. 1- We were stuck home dealing with the hole anyway, so why not? 2- She wasn't going to bed all that great and I REALLY didn't get that situation figured out just to switch her into her new bed and chance it all going back to screaming. So we did it! We purchased a rather inexpensive dresser from Target and dressed it up just a touch by spray painting the knobs a light pink before installing them. We didn't want to spend money on a decent dresser knowing how hard toddlers and little kiddos can be on things. I ended up really liking how it complements her room. We also purchased a tent we're using as her "reading nook" and hung it in one corner. I saw the idea on pinterest but making it stressed me out...so I ordered one off etsy from Aalbers Creations. She doesn't list them on her site anymore but she custom matched it to a photo I'd emailed her of Emilie's bedding and it was amazing! So if you're so inclined...you might check her out!! And finally we put up the daybed in Emilie's room and removed her toddler bed. She got a big girl bedding set and while the first night was rough, last night she went down and slept wonderfully...so I'm happy to say...I think she likes it :)

Please excuse the messy bed pictured here...I forgot that Emilie used it as a trampoline RIGHT before I shot this picture. OOPS!

So that's my weekend in a nutshell!! Hope yours found you well, your pipes aren't broken, your beautiful grass hasn't been torn up with dirt and a huge hole to China, and your kid isn't screaming at bedtime! As for me...its a new day and a new week! We're off to playdate with some friends and then later today we have our sonogram to tell us with for SURE that the perinatologist was right and this little gymnast in my uterus is in fact a BOY! --- at this point he kind of better be...I've already mostly decorated his room ;)

A year since I've posted?!

Several of my friends have decided to blog...I think it's wonderful! But it got me thinking, why did I stop blogging? Maybe because I have all of two followers, maybe because being a Mom is the busiest job I could ever imagine, and maybe because I just got lazy! But regardless of all that, even if I only have one or two people reading this, blogging is an outlet...and lately...I need an outlet! So I'M BACK!!!

Ok, first! Looking at my last blog I have to laugh! My baby had NO HAIR!!! Here she is a year later!

Emilie is TWO!! She will be 2 1/2 at Christmas, and TIME FLIES!!! I mean just looking at those last pictures I feel like it was just the other day that she was that baby girl. Just weaning! Now she's a good little eater, still hit or miss on her milk, is talking up a storm and totally two some days! Last night was a great example of that! She's asserting her independence at bedtime lately and really fighting going to sleep. I mean FIGHTING!!! Last night once I knew she was dry, had a water, her room was cool enough and she had everything she could possibly need. We'd had a bath, read our books, sang our little song, and said our prayers, but the minute I walked out of the room she started the screaming. I was done. We've played this game for too many nights. I tried to reason with her...no luck. Then she started getting out of bed and when I put her back the screaming only worsened. That's it! We do not negotiate with terrorists! That's America's policy and now its mine. If she is acting like a terror and refuses to reason with me, then that's it. I shut her door and walked away. She scream...and scream...and scream. This went on for about 30 minutes, then she started to just whine for another 10-15 minutes and finally she was asleep. This was absolutely torture for me. If I'd been able-- I'd have poured myself a drink. But since that wasn't allowed I got out the Halloween candy instead. Thankfully for texting with my the hubs and an amazing friend I knew I was doing the right thing and they helped keep me strong. She slept nearly 11 hours and woke up happy as can be. She doesn't hate me for it!!!! So I have a feeling it will take a few more rough nights and then she'll be back to going to bed like the sweet baby she is. I can hold strong...I have a lot more candy and wonderful support! But it is soooo much harder than sleep training a baby that doesn't talk and cry for Mama!

You want to know why I wasn't allowed to have a drink don't you?! Well...its pretty much the same reason I can't allow Em to fight bedtime so much. We're expanding our family! I'm 17 weeks pregnant with baby #2...our second and final baby! No...don't doubt me, this is our last...no question about that. No uh ohs, no mind changing, we're going ahead and having a surgery my Dr's have wanted me to have for years and after baby Landon is delivered I'll be having a hysterectomy. There's no way around it, I haven't met a Doctor in the last 6 years that didn't recommend it. It's time. Thankfully I have a wonderful Doctor that I fully trust and we'll do the delivery and surgery at the same time and be done with it.

What? You caught that I called him Landon? Yes...God is laughing pretty hard at me lately as he decided to grace me with a baby BOY! I honestly never thought in a million years that would happen...but at our 13 week appointment with the specialist he noticed with 95% certainty that this baby...is...a...BOY! I still can't believe it! I'm starting to really like the idea though. Emilie will be my one and only baby girl. We will have experienced both and people tell me baby boys just adore their Mommies! We'll see!! Landon Bryce is set to join us around April 9th (at 39weeks) as long as everything goes well until then. :)

Well now that I've bored you to death, I'll sign off. Need to leave something to talk about next time :) But I think I'll leave you with a laugh. Em is being upgraded to a true big girl bed in the coming weeks, and while it isn't in her room yet, she does like to play on it sometimes. This is Emilie "singing into the microphone" on her new bed :)PS-- please excuse the diaper baby...she escaped while getting ready for bed!