Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Catching Up

So these last four and a half months have flown by! You always think you're going to get a chance to slow down during the summer. Yeah right! This summer was busier than ever! I'll start by giving you some updates on the kids!


Reese is seven months old now! And SUPER mobile. She's sitting up, clapping, and army crawling like crazy. I can't leave the room without her following behind me. She loves to get into all of Mason's toys. She's still taking about 3-4 bottles a day, as well as eating baby food 1-2 times a day. She loves sweet potatoes, pumpkin, apples, bananas, and pears. Not crazy about the green veggies. She tried a mum-mum rice snack yesterday for the first time and DEVOURED it. She's also starting to drink some water out of a bottle. In a month or two, we'll start trying out a sippy cup. Lots of people comment about how happy Reese looks. And it really is true. She's such a happy and joyful baby! Unless she's hungry or sleepy. She's wearing six month and six-to-nine month clothes. And as for that curly hair, Brandon and I both of grandmothers and great-grandmothers who have curly hair. We sure do love our little curly-headed bundle of joy!


Mason is now two years old! His birthday was back in July. We had a party for him at a local park with a splash pad and it was so much fun! And very minimal clean up ;) #parentscore Mason is now in full-on toddler mode encompassing melt downs, fickleness, and hilarious moments. He's currently in speech to help him communicate better. He's doing so well and I am SO proud of him! He's also come a long way with his separation anxiety. He finally likes going to school and church and being with other kids. He's becoming more social! And I realize how biased this is going to sound, but the kid is SUPER smart. He knows all of his colors and shapes and he's starting to recognize letters and numbers. He loves to learn and picks up on stuff really quickly. He recently discovered the show Paw Patrol and is just a tad bit obsessed. He always asks to watch "Paw" lol His favorite foods include chicken (especially if it's from Chick-fil-a), mac-n-cheese, bread, apples, bananas, eggs, cheese toast, and most specifically the blueberry & banana fruit squeezable. We should really invest some stock in those things. 




Back in August, we took our first family trip to the beach! We got a condo in Gulf Shores and brought my parents along. They were the best company and even better help with the kids! It was a great week and we all had a blast! Mason loved walking up and down the beach. He wanted to go, go go the whole time! The only time we could get him to sit still was when we fed him snacks. We're excited to go back again next summer!

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I decided not to continue posting about my weight loss. I started putting too much pressure on myself and felt like I was letting everyone down if I messed up one day. Life with two small children is a little cray at times and honestly some days, I'm just in survival mode! I'm still trying to stay mindful of how active I am and what I eat. But I have to give myself a break every now and then and take the pressure off. Some days, I eat clean with no carbs, no processed foods. Some days, I eat Chick-fil-A fries & ranch like they're going out of style. [Seriously...my biggest weakness!] But it's all about balance, right?

Along with that, I've been trying to lessen my time spent on social media. I still post pictures of the kids so that my family and friends out of town still have access to watching them grow up. But all the scrolling through feeds nonsense is what I've been trying to steer clear of. It's so easy to get wrapped up in all the junk. Politics, opinions... just junk. And before you know it, you're huffing and puffing over something that someone said on a website that doesn't really mean anything. Just a personal conviction.

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Let's talk about #momlife for a minute. First off, I should say how truly grateful I am to be surrounded by such amazing mamas. Within my family and close friends, I have some amazing mothers to run to for advice, encouragement, or even just an ear to listen to me. I could not imagine not having them in my life. Especially on the days when I feel like I'm completely losing it. Or the days my son screams for two hours straight because he wants to watch "Paw" on the iPad and he's already had WAY too much screen time. Or when he screams for two hours because we have fruit squeezeables in every other color BUT purple. And I hear "Puurrr" multiple times in a row. Or he screams until he can figure out how to put his sock on ALL BY HIMSELF. (Notice I haven't complained about Reese yet. Don't worry. Her day is coming. LOL) Or how about when you decide to take your kids to Pet Smart but can only fit one of them in the buggy so you let your two-year-old walk run "alongside you" and he decides to literally run as FAST AS HIS LITTLE LEGS CAN GO and bolt to the back of the store while you're checking out while everything in your wallet is falling out and you aren't sure if you can run with kid #2 in the buggy to catch kid #1 without her falling out?! On the real though, #momlife is seriously the best life! (I realize how silly that sounds after having said everything before that. Insert crying laughing emoji here. But I mean it!) These kids keep my life so fun and interesting! There's never a dull moment. I'm just so grateful.

And now I will leave you with some ridiculously cute pictures. Until next time...