Happy Halloween!

We had the gang over for some yummy food, drinks, football, and of course, trick or treating! Hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

Sashes to the Merchants: fame.

Love this blog post from Sashes to the Merchants, so thought I would share! :)

Sashes to the Merchants: fame.: For all of us women in this online world, I feel like there is a dirty little word that it’s about time we talked on for a minute. the...

Awkward and Awesome Thursday!

Awkward:

“Your baby is so cute! How old is he?” … Well, SHE is 3 months old. Yes, she is bald and chubby J

When your neighbors stop by unexpectedly at 4pm and you are still in your pajamas enjoying a “Say Yes to the Dress” marathon.

Getting a massage and realizing half way through that you forgot to shave your legs.

Awesome:

Getting to drink all the caffeine I want without worrying about it passing through to my baby!

Fall decorations and smells. It’s second only to Christmas décor!

Pinterest! Thanks Jess for the exclusive invitation!

Spooktacular

We took the kiddos to Halloweenfest at Sea World on Sunday with “the cousins” and it was so much fun seeing all the kids dressed up! It was super crowded at the park…apparently free candy really gets people interested in sea creatures J

I was also reminded of one of the benefits of living in Santee. When we left our house it was sunny and warm {shorts & t-shirt weather}, but by the time we got to Sea World I was yearning for a coat & waited a ½ hour for a hot coffee J I guess east county ain’t so bad after all!

Next Chapter

Well the past12 weeks have flown by, and I can’t believe I am back at work today. I am heartbroken, nervous, and relieved all at the same time. Heartbroken that I won’t be waking up to Gracie’s precious little smile every morning or snuggling with her on the couch all day. Nervous for my babysitters and hoping that both kiddos don’t drive them to insanity. But also relieved to be getting structure back into my life {and for once wear an outfit and not have to worry about getting spit up all over it}.

These past couple of months have been so challenging but rewarding at the same time, and I’ve been able to truly reflect on how blessed I am to have two healthy, beautiful children. Even in the most frustrating moments {and there have been LOTS of those}, I am thankful for my family and so proud to be Jayden and Gracie’s mama. And I am encouraged to be the type of wife and mom that God would be pleased with. The kind of woman that puts her husband and kids before herself; one that finds pleasure in serving her family.

I have also been struggling with guilt & crazy emotions the past two weeks…wondering if being a working mom was the right decision, and worrying that my kids aren’t getting the best from me. But I’ve realized that working is a means of providing and caring for my family as well. You don’t have to be physically with your children all day to provide for them. Plus I have the benefit of having the BEST babysitters that truly want to spend time with my kids. In a perfect world, things would be different…but for now I am at peace with our situation. And I will stare at this picture on my desk all day and fight back tears…happy ones, sad ones…grateful ones.

Tummy Time

Normally this girl will have nothing to do with sleeping unless she is being held. In fact, she isn't really happy anywhere but in someone's arms. Which makes getting anything done around the house pretty difficult. But I have found the secret...this girl loves being on her tummy. Which gives my arms a much needed break! :) I even got a load of laundry done today...well, it's washed anyway...still working on the folding part!

Long Time No See

Not that you have missed much. With a newborn, the blogging has definitely fallen on the priority list…but so have the interesting things to blog about {Unless the details of sleeping, eating, feeding & changing diapers thrills you}. So I apologize if this blog takes a slight detour from the usual and turns into a babyfest…but that’s just my life at the moment. I’ll start with how our little bundle entered the world on July 28^th {her due date, btw!}…

The night before I walked LOTS of laps around the park by our house to try to get things moving along…and apparently it worked! At about 9pm that night, I noticed that my contractions felt different…slightly uncomfortable, but they were still very sporadic. It wasn’t until about 2am that I started noticing them coming at regular intervals, but I didn’t want to jump the gun so I went downstairs to watch some TV and have a snack. At about 3am, I decided {well, J kind of decided} that they were consistent and painful enough to go to the hospital. I figured we still had several hours of labor to go, and I really didn’t want to wake up Jayden or my family, so we took our time. J took a shower…I packed my bags and put on some makeup…and we finally left the house at 3:30, just about the time my contractions were getting pretty uncomfortable. Well, we got to the 163 South freeway and all of the sudden I got a little scared…not only were the contractions extremely painful, but I also felt a lot of “pressure”…J sped up and started running red lights…Jayden was delirious…and I was panicking a bit. We got to Mary Birch at 3:45 and when they checked me at triage, I was fully dilated and ready to push. They wheeled me into the delivery room at 3:51, and Grace Olivia was born at 3:57am. What a blur. But she is beautiful and healthy and perfect!

We are definitely adjusting to having a family of four…and it’s rough at times I’ll admit, but we are truly blessed! And now I'm off to sleep...for two hours :)