Monday is for the moms

* Disclaimer* I have decided to learn how to really use my camera... yesterday was the first day taking pictures in manual mode... these pictures are all from yesterday... i am not a quick learner ;)

My baby girl is 8 and a half months old and a spitfire! Unless she is sleeping, she is ALWAYS moving,

an arm, rolling around, or her absolute favorite- kicking something.

She started to crawl this past week... you know that cute little army crawl. She is so stinking pleased with herself! I see my life getting MUCH more hectic. 

We had a rainy day yesterday and Zadie's curls went CRAZY!

Oh how I hope these curls never go away.

I may never cut her hair just in case ;)

Mattie loves seeing herself in the mirror.

I wish this picture was a video and you could hear her sweet belly laughs.

This girl was cracking herself up!

Cousins.

Do you remember when we were having a baby shower for this little girl.

I can not believe how quick time has gone.

and I can not wait to watch these two become best friends!

I think Sphinx Moths are so cool!

My in-laws get them ALL OVER their ginger plants.

We seriously take chairs outside some evenings and just watch the action.

The beginning of last week was hard in mommy-ville.

A weepy, defiant two year old and a baby who seemed to hate sleeping,

by Wednesday this mamma had jumped on the crazy train.

Thankfully I have sisters.

After putting the girls to bed, I met up with one of them and spent time venting and laughing.

Even though I got less sleep that night I woke up Thursday morning rejuvenated and liking my kidlets again.

It solidified the point that I have to take time for myself.

So  I will.

And my family will be happier.

Take that!

I am ready for a great week. I have a million projects on my to-do list.

To bad I have a million chores on it too!

Cheers to Monday and crawling babies and sweet toddler curls.

It is great being a mom.

(most of the time ;)

xoxo

Monday is for the Moms

My girls.

I have a hard time believing that eight months has passed since this picture was taken.

I love so much watching them become sisters.

Anytime Zadie looks at Mattie is makes her scream out in pure delight.

And nine times out of ten when I asked Z who she wants to thank God for at night she says "Sissy."

It does this mamma's soul good.

I wish every part of having two children was beautiful, but truth be told there are many hard parts too.

Like watching Zadie take things from her little sister repeatedly.

It is so hard not to treat Z like a little adult,

to not be completely offended that she would take joy from her little sister.

She is only two.

Not a little adult.

Snatching will be done and time-outs will follow.

Such is the nature of things :)

Sometimes Mattie will decide she doesn't need to sleep 

and she will inevitably wake up Z.

No late mornings or long naps will be had by anyone.

They are truly sisters.

Today has been a day full of tears and laughter, 

snatches and kisses,

tantrums and snuggles.

I would like to curl up in bed and take a nap but the girls will not have it.

They will call for me and I will go get them.

Because they are much children

and what a blessing they are.

(Although sometimes it is a blessing in disguise :)

I am feeling it today.

The intensity of being a mom, of being needed all the time.

It is not something I have always loved about motherhood.

But it is something that has changed me, maybe even refined me, in such good ways.

I need these girls as much as they need me, 

that is a fact.

But that does not mean I am not looking forward to an "easy" day.

One where naps are not skipped.

Time-out is not needed.

Giggles run rampant through the house.

And the house is not grimy. 

I'll get one soon enough and I will think,

"I've got this whole mom-thing down."

Oh silly me, don't I remember pride comes before a fall :)

And I will have to remember that having this mom thing down will never happen.

It just doesn't exist.

To be a "good" mom is to be ever evolving,

Always evaluating yourself, your actions and reactions.

Then  changing what you don't like and what doesn't work.

This mom thing is hard.

Good thing the kids are so dang cute.

How is your day going? Mom or not, we all feel the pressure of being needed when we feel like we don't have much to give. What do you do to get a handle on things? Share your wisdom. I'm listening.

Let's be adventurers- Mommy edition

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This week I have been feeling the itch for a little adventure.

I'm not really picky.

It could be a day at the beach trying to paddle board for the first time.

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Or an overnight trip to this cute little bed and breakfast I have been dying to go to in this fabulous little hippy town.

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You know I wouldn't turn down a trip to Greece, my dream, either.

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In reality the hubs and I got to take a semi-spontaneous overnight night trip just last weekend with some of our favorite people.

We went scalloping.

Have you ever gone?

It is so fun and rejuvenating.

We were on the water for two days straight snorkeling and having adult time.

We went out to a nice dinner and leisurely had drinks while listening to an hilarious one man band in perfect outdoor conditions.

It was amazing and it reminded me of our newlywed days.

That being said, I missed my girls like CRAZY and I would much rather take them with me on my adventures if someone could just invent a pill or something that took the place of a nap!

If I am being completely honest, sometimes I loose sight of how great I have it and I get antsy.

I start to worry that the adventurous part of my life is done.

Each day starts to feel REALLY monotonous and boring.

Each of these emotions are all really normal I imagine, I am not trend setter ;), but they are really sad.

I hate how it is in my nature to always feel unfulfilled, you know that the grass is always greener somewhere else.

 

(image source)

So my goal for this weekend is to enjoy the small things, water my own lawn, ya know.

I am going to giggle a lot.

Go outside.

and sew.

3 things I adore and I can do any boring ole' day :)

I am going to be greatfull.

Because my life is SO good.

But, don't you worry, I am not going to neglect my adventurer needs.

The best mom is a fulfilled mom.

SO, I am going to plan a little trip for the near future 

and when I feel antsy I am going to think about it and smile,

then get back to the moment I am living in.

Peace

a month of celebrations

The past 30 days have been full of celebrations for our family.

The hubster and I celebrated five years of marriage.

Mattie got to celebrate 6 months of life as the sweetest baby on the planet.

Brent had his ten year high school reunion.

And we all celebrated Zadie's 2nd birthday.

Pretty Amazing month.

I am truly blessed!

So, now I have a 0,1,2, and 3 year old-

you know, dogs included ;)

Here are some pictures from our latest photo shoot.

Don't let these pictures deceive you any...

This shoot went so poorly my photographer didn't charge me.

Well we bought a really yummy pizza for dinner because we were all pretty frazzled!

(Such a pretty girl)

(This is really the best picture we got together)

( we were already an hour past Mattie's bedtime when the shoot began- Mommy fail)

(She was such a trooper though :)

(I love that little face)

(My high school sweetheart)

(She was so tired)

(This is part of the reason the shoot when so bad.

If water is near Zadie HAS to be in it.)

So it has been an incredible month,

but it has also been exhausting.

My month of no sleep has now caught up with me and I am in the bed sick.

Do me a favor will ya?

Enjoy this beautiful day for me please!

xoxo

the beauty of birth

I am teary-eyed and emotional right now

and no it is not over a project gone wrong

(I got use to that a LONG time ago :))

For some reason the stars have aligned for me to read two beautiful birth stories tonight.

I know it is not a lot of people's thing, but I love hearing people's birth stories.

It is really so glorious, so beautiful, how are bodies are made.

We (as women) grow babies in our bodies, use the muscles of our bodies to push them out, feed them from our bodies,and love them with all we have. 

We are A. MAZ. ING.

One day I would love to share my birth stories with you guys.

They were two of the most incredible days of my life.

Seriously.

but for now I just want to be a mom with you for a moment

(if you are not a mom still please join in!)

Do you remember the moment you first held your child.

That feeling where you are so amazed with everything.

with yourself for growing this creation and making it through labor.

with the perfectness of your new child.

with love for your baby's daddy

(or whoever helped you through pregnancy)

with that knowledge that your life is forever changed.

That the person who walked into that labor room is not the same person who is leaving it.

It makes my heart swell and my eyes pour to think back to that moment.

What a precious gift.

Meeting sweet Zadie.

My lovely Mattie.

Isn't it incredible!

thanks for reminiscing with me

Lately...

I have been working on a lot of projects lately.

I actually just finished one I love today.

But I am far to tired to try to tackle those posts tonight.

So I just wanted to stop by and let you know what I have been up to.

image via

I finally went running again.

Boy, do I HURT today!

But it was so nice and the stress reliever I needed.

Today was an emotional day.

We had to say goodbye to an old and dear friend.

Ginger, my husbands childhood dog, died today at the ripe old age of 17.

She was a precious girl and she will be greatly missed by all.

A lot of tears have been shed and Zadie had her first interaction with death.

It has been a long day.

On a good note,

I get to spend every day with this smiling face.

She is such a sweet girl!

Please bear with me as I re-coop from our very active weekend and our loss of a sweet friend.

I promise I will be back soon with the super cool projects I have been working on!

How has your life been lately? Please tell me it has been better than mine?! :) Do you have any sweet puppies that have stolen your heart too? I would love to hear about them.

xoxo