Life Lately-- August 23

Because my life is not busy enough, I figured why not start blogging again? We are in the middle of a move to NOVA and are so excited. Packing boxes consumes me along with keeping my kids fed & (barely) happy.

So let's do a follow up on our family:

Emma will be 3 in October. She's been in speech for almost 18 months and we are seeing slow but amazing progress. If we're being completely honest, she's probably a good 9-12 months behind, but her therapist promises she will be caught up by kinder. I could do a whole post on her speech (and maybe I will), but the short is: we are seeing improvement and for that we are thankful.

She loves stuffed animals, picking out her own clothes, puffy stickers, puzzles, and any books that rhyme. She's bossy, very smart, and gets her own cereal every morning. Hopefully she will start contributing to our family in the form of cash very soon.

Blake is 2 months old and the snuggly-est, most smiley, and most easy going baby ever. His hobbies include staring at the ceiling fan, watching his sister play, and nursing. If he's awake and not doing one of those things, he's usually screaming. He surprisingly loves baths so we do lots of baths around here.

Nathan is busy with work and loves that he's on a better shift than midnights. Everyone asks if he hates commuting and I always say: He LOVES the quiet and being able to listen to podcasts and books! He started reading comic books about a year ago so in his free time (?), you can find him doing that. He's an expert baby burper.

Nothing is that exciting with me! I still love running whenever I can escape and I've been working on losing the last 20 lbs of baby weight. I love to read when the kids are asleep, spend my time constantly picking up, and strive to win Fit Bit challenges with my cousins.

We found mold in our apartment this morning and now I have a headache so badly I can't see straight. I'm sure it's killing me.

Life Lately

Emma is napping so I thought I could throw up a post of some random pictures of life lately. 

Emma is 20 months old and definitely in the "helper" stage-- we love it! She wants to help with everything. Including vacuuming. :-) Unloading the dishwasher and dryer are her favorites. 

Our little hydrangea bush bloomed and it is so, so beautiful! Last year I Googled how to change their color (they were purple), so I'd say that was successful! 

Last week the outlet mall had the Mommie & Me group and it was so fun. We got all the freebies and left early because it was super crowded. Emma did awesome and doesn't mind the crowd or loud noises. One kid was just relentlessly screaming. Glad to see it wasn't mine (this time). 

Every morning when we wake up Emma wants to be so loud and play and throw things to the main floor. I always whisper because Caralyn & Nathan are sleeping and then she'll whisper too. So funny. 

It lasted for about 30 minutes but I loved Emma's first braid! <3 <3 <3 Seriously, little girls are the best! 

We had to get steaks & corn for our Father's Day dinner and because I have half a brain, we tried out the tiny cart. Kidding, a little. 

It was fun and Emma only ran into our ankles a dozen or so times. 

Saturday morning was gymnastics as usual. The teachers (coaches?) used to put up mats to keep the cats (I mean kids) in, but they stopped doing that. 

Anytime Emma spots me, she makes a run for it. I am the only parent who literally has to hide. Granted, most of the parents are about 5 feet away from their child during separation time. CUT THE CORD, people!

We were getting ready to head out the door for the mall around 10:30-- what better time to have pasta with vodka sauce. 

We have a love/hate relationship with balloons. They occupy her and keep her happy, but oh my gosh she wants to squeeze the life out of it. I can only imagine the screams the day a balloon pops around her. 

Every day is just so much fun with my people! Caralyn had made Oreo balls and Emma somehow weaseled her way into getting one. I don't really know why Nathan was in her crib. 

After our Father's Day adventures a certain little girl was so tired. She snuggled right up and went to bed super easily that night. :-)

We go through about 2-3 bananas a day. We are like a bunch of monkeys! My grandmother found that romper at a thrift store and it's a little big but so soft & comfy. Win win. 

We had a ton of boxes from the grill, some diapers, and Nathan randomly bought Emma a shopping cart (!!), so Caralyn made a castle! 

It is so awesome. We may paint it or cover it with wrapping paper? Not sure yet. Oh and we brought the potty down because E is showing so much interest lately. I'm way too lazy to start but at least having it nearby will keep her familiar. Who knows, maybe she'll teach herself. Amiright?

And Caralyn always seems to find the most random things online. I don't really know what to say but we were crying laughing so loud when she sent this to me. 

I don't know. There is obviously something in the water up here because we just laugh and laugh every time we see it. It gets funnier each time.

We are trying to think of a way to prank Nathan-- our last one fell through so we need to find bigger and better ideas. All ideas welcome. ;)

Day By The Hour

Taking these photos is about ten times harder than one would imagine. . . 

7AM: Up, watching some Mickey while I start breakfast and put away clean dishes. We got her that kitten (Mr. Cat) at Books a Million for $5 and she's been smitten since Saturday. He comes everywhere with us. 

8AM: Fulfilling Emma's relentless requests to fill up her play coffee mugs with water. We had the colander out for the pipe cleaner activity and this is how I found Mr. Cat! 

9AM: Wake up Daddy and realize his anniversary present has been sitting outside all night. Whoops. 

10AM: Home from my jog. It's hard to see but Emma's face is so big with excitement. 

11AM: Emma is asleep and I'm starting lunch prep. Chili is in crock pot! 

12PM: Having my smoothie for lunch. E is still asleep-- sweet. :-) 

1PM: Someone is up and ready for lunch! Nathan & E eat and I talk to them before he runs out the door. E has some sick obsession with crumbling the cornbread into teeny tiny pieces. I cry because I spent a ridiculously long time sweeping/mopping last night. 

2PM: Still looking to make sure Daddy really left. Update: He did. We color the free coloring sheet we got from the library yesterday. 

3PM: Mr. Cat, Emma, & I head to Lowe's for light bulbs and to look at paint samples. 

4PM: Already regretting this project. 

5PM: Food and toy cleanup. Love that I captured the dogs begging! 

6PM: Starting to wind down and playing dollies. Emma is so sweet with her baby and we practice body parts. 

7PM: No picture. Homegirl asleep! 

8PM: Dishes from the day= done. Boom. PS-- Started using that purple water bottle for Emma while we're out and it's been awesome. 

9PM: Watch the Duggar interview and text Nathan every question/answer. I'm obsessed. 

Okay that's exhausting. Hope everyone has a great weekend! xoxo 

Day By The Hour

Yesterday Nathan worked a double, so it was just us girls all day. Every day with Emma is so much fun, but we especially love the regular "boring" days. I'll miss those days when Emma is begging me to drive her to her friend's house. 

7AM: We started a little early yesterday. . . 6:40. Our main floor was freezing so I put a little sweatsuit my dad got her on top of her jammies. I tried to take the jacket off and she threw a fit! 

As always, the harassing of the dogs starts early. :-) 

Something does not belong!

8AM: Playtime while I put the clean dishes away, inhale some breakfast, and get E's food ready. Why she moves her kitchen like that, I'll never know. 

9AM: I figured out how to put her on my back by myself! It was quite a process and required watching YouTube videos, LOL. We did a quick walk to get some fresh air. 

E has her own sunglasses and then wanted mine-- such a drama queen. Then she dropped mine and I didn't notice until she started yelling! 

10AM: More food while we bird watch. :-) Emma lets me know every time there is a bird, and she is a sad little girl when they leave. She insisted on the black leather shoes, don't ask. 

11AM: Nap time! Praise baby Jesus! Nathan got me those tulips the other day and I'm really enjoying them. I write in my journal and get everything together for our little Mother's Day crafts. 

12PM: Don't ask. We getting some mommie & me photos done, so I tried to find something cute to wear. UGH maxi dresses just don't look right on me. Regardless, I send this selfie to a few friends and we decide to try something else. 

1PM: Homegirl is up and we head outside. We walk to the playground at the pace of pond water-- stopping to look at every bird, plane, weed, and dandelion. 

E saw me blow on them and immediately grabbed a new one to do the same. She also blows on her food when I tell her it's hot. She is precious! 

2PM: We come inside, cool off, and read library books. I try to quiz her on the animals and she practically has "dog" down. 

3PM: We pack up everything and head to the mall before gymnastics. I return the hideous dress, the woman remembers us and helps me find something else that could work. 

4PM: We got to gymnastics early, so we talked to the coaches and they let her run around for a bit. They are so sweet to her! 

5PM: Having lots of fun at gym! E continued to point to the little boy beside her. The class is an hour and after about 45 minutes, Emma ran right to the exit and got my bag. I thought "Okay! We'll just head home early". Nope, she got a sip of her water and ran right back to the floor, LOL. 

6PM: Home, inhale dinner, quickly try on the next outfit, bath time. Ayyy yi yi I look like a cowgirl. 

Ems was asleep by 7. Score! Hope everyone is having a great day. Can't believe tomorrow is May, craziness. 

Random Wednesday Shenanigans

Forever ago, my friend told me to always remember the little things when you have kids. I have done this before (back here), but I figured I'd do it again since so much has changed in such a short period of time. 

Last Wednesday was l.o.n.g. Emma napped for 20 minutes. Nathan offered to go drive around and see if she would fall asleep, but she spent those 20 minutes talking to him from the back seat. How could you be upset? 

Oh well. As much as I wanted to return her right then and there, I thought we should keep her. 

We made Nathan some baked ziti for lunch and someone had a ton of it! I thought for sure that heavy pasta would make her tired..nope. 

I've been "doing" her hair like that for several reasons-- 1. It's easy 2. It takes 3 seconds and that's all she'll stand still for. 

We recently had to start putting her hair up before bed because it tickles her face while she sleeps! There's so much of it. 

Emma is still head over heels with the dogs. She laughs (cackles?) so loudly when they do something like play together, bark, charge after toys, or give her kisses. 

Cocoa is very unsure of her-- I think because she's older and she doesn't want to be bothered. Oreo, on the other hand, eats all of the attention right up. 

This puzzle is a huge hit right now! So what that she just dumps it on the floor and cheers when they hit the hardwood, she'll eventually learn how to play with it. Nathan and I had a competition to see who could put it together quickest with one hand...I beat him by 4 seconds. #saturdaynightyall

Oh my gosh pens! This girl can sniff out a pen from a mile away. She loves anything involved with coloring and would do it all day if I let her. 

I found some jumbo crayons for her that we'll have to try out this week. 

And getting the pen back? Forget it. It's like a hostage negotiation. Her Dr. thought it was so funny that she had pen on her belly when we visited. She's feisty alright! 

And she's almost tall enough to open doors! Boy we'll be in trouble when she gets to that stage. But it's very sweet when I tell her to "put that in your room" and she'll walk over (carrying the item) and try to open the door. 

Can't believe she's almost 1.5, big girl status! Okay, hope everyone is having a great weekend! xoxo

Day By The Hour

8AM:

Time to party because it's the weekend! We wake Daddy up around 8:30 because Emma cannot wait any longer. Also because we have to do laundry and it's impossible to carry everything up/down the stairs with Little E. I would leave her on the main floor but she'd light something on fire and invite boys over. 

9AM:

Breakfast recap. Note the 600 banana peels-- we go through 2 a day in this house. 

10AM: 

Still can't part with her banana peel. I'm not fighting her today and let her eat it. Whatevs. Also note: Numero dos pants because we got yogurt on her jammies. 

11AM:

My husband got the Girl Scout Cookie Tracker App and found out that they'd be at AC Moore at 11. So guess where we were at 11AM? 

12PM:

Made it to the mall. It's almost an hour drive so E napped in the car on the way there. 

1PM: 

New shoes for a certain little girl! The whole point of going to this mall was to go to Stride Rite. Apparently they are closing hundreds of their stores, and this one was one of them. Boo. Finish Line had some Sketchers and they were $30-- winner winner chicken dinner.

When the guy went back to get her shoes, Emma followed him. Yeah, we have a runner on her hands. 

See also (below): New kicks

2PM: 

Ran into one of Emma's homies in Baby Gap. My heart explodes when I look at this picture. Not pictured: Her unzipping his hoodie and him pulling her hair tie out. 

3PM: 

Heading home; shortbread cookie in hand. Car seat police-- I sat with her while she ate the cookie. Cheel, y'all. 

The entire way home Emma just stared at her new shoes..she loves them! She also looks like a big kid here. How is that possible? 

 4PM: 

Sorry. Get home. CRAP we never moved any laundry over. Feed dogs, let them out, throw everything back where it should be, change Weezy, what in God's name are we having for dinner. . . among 600 other things. 

5PM:

My husband sends me this picture while I'm getting groceries at Target and it makes me so sad. Emma is my very best friend and I hate leaving her! Actually she's just yelling in this picture (not crying)-- this is the door she saw me leave from. 

6PM:

We ended up getting BBQ take out. It was okay, probably won't go there again. While I'm recycling the containers I see this. 

..It's dry erase, people. Chill. It wiped right off. And I dropped the marker earlier this morning and the little monster found it! 

7PM: 

Baby is asleep (6:50!) and I just finished cleaning kitchen. 

8PM:

It's so much easier if you pick up all the kid toys at the end of every day. This way Emma can get straight to "work" tomorrow morning and play. It also ensures that we don't lose any toys: all the puzzle pieces are there, princesses, and stacking bowls. Type A problems. 

9PM:

Writing this post with Elf on as background noise. 

Happy weekend, y'all!