Time to share the good news!

Someone at home is going to be a BIG sister :)

We are pumped to announce we are expanding to a family of 4 in October 2014!!

Happy to be Thankful

Today is Friday folks!

Can't complain there

AND

next week is Thanksgiving!

I'm kinda secretly pumped about this because my husband and I are having his family over to OUR house

Turkey Day at OUR house

This is a first!!

We luckily just bought a nice sit.down.let's.eat type table

which was (and still is for that matter) extremely HEAVY.

It's got a marble top and is about 6 ft long

and stunning!

My husband and I are in charge of all the side dishes

his parents will bring the ham and dessert

(no turkey here this year folks!)

I am headed to shop for most of the stuff today

and am excited about what I plan to prepare

Yummy sides include:

green bean casserole

crock pot mashed potatoes (and side bar of cheese, bacon and chives)

cranberry sauce

crock pot mac n cheese (thanks to a recipe from my friend Kelly)

sausage and sage stuffing (from a farmer's market)

and fresh chicken gravy (from farmer's market)

I'm drooling thinking about all this food

and I am kinda happy to not have to travel this year

Normally we would go to one set of parents

then the other

be super stuffed

and pass out

lights.out.gone.

food coma

(and beer coma too)

So, I am thankful and happy this year for being able to have my family over and share with them

Any of you have family traditions you do?

We typically go around the table and say what we are thankful for...

which always gets me emotional (especially when the kiddos say something super sweet!)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

My Little Boo

Halloween 2013 was a big success on MANY levels.

I made Kensie a Halloween costume (see post here).

She WORE the costume while trick or treating

She actually got the hang on trick or treating watching other really cute kids/families and had a BIG time

Little Boo running around the neighborhood

Sparkly arms and hair ties galore

SUPER happy kiddo (and mommy!)

I honestly can't wait for next year.

I don't know that I will be making her a costume from scratch again, that was ambitious of me...and I also prepped it/finished it back in August...making sure I had more than enough time.  Who knows what kinda time I will have next year OR if she will want a certain costume (which will be easily bought rather than not available like the BOO costume).

Hope you had a happy Halloween too!

Butterflies and Tumblin' Tots

This past weekend we went to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens

They currently have a Butterflies Live! exhibit going on

which is rather extraordinary!

Naturally, we were there when the gardens opened 

BUT

we were the ONLY 3 people inside the exhibit

the whole time we were there

We walked around and stared in amazement

Kensie was thrilled with all the butterflies

but I may have been a little more excited!

I have never seen SO many butterflies

in one place

and all different kinds

It was pretty magical

Sunday, The Little Gym was having an open house

We decided to go in and see what it was all about

At first, Kensie was really shy and sitting in my lap

Staring at all the other kids and adults

But she slowly crept out of her shell

and by the end of the open house

She didn't want to leave!

Of course, at home Sunday evening

We were changing her crib sheets

and she decided to make her bed into a jumping mat

Jump

Jump

Jump

and flop on her bottom

Totally the cutest...

Then we sang no more monkeys jumping on the bed

accompanied by 3 monkey animals she has

and she was bouncing the monkeys right along 

and trying to sing the song too

Love her big

Happy Friday the 13th!

Normally most people fear today

Friday the 13th!

(scary, huh?)

Well, I am excited for today!

Why?  You may ask...

My husband comes back home!!

He has been gone since Monday night 

for a work trip 

So, despite a machine not working right this morning

and feeling a little out of sorts

I am embracing today

and feeling happy

I mean, how can you not when

you start the day off

with Hardee's breakfast

since your toddler was up at

o-dark-thirty ;)

Have a great weekend all!

Mommy Guilt

So recently I have been seeing SO many Facebook posts
and other blogs talking about
the
dreaded

Mommy Guilt.

I will confess, 

I have this too

It's hard to talk about

Everyone's situation is so different from another
So the things I may rant and rave about
could be the exact opposite of what someone else is experiencing

But
for the most part
I feel like all mommies (and quite possibly daddies too)
have some form of this guilt

First off,
I think humans are built in with this ability to want and need to provide for those that depend on us
whether that may be your small child/teen/young adult or an elder in your family

That being said...
it's really difficult to feel SATISFIED

What I mean by that
is it's hard to feel like
EVERY
SINGLE
DAY
we have done
EVERYTHING
possible to make our child (etc.)
completely happy,
feel loved,
be well nourished,
learned new lessons,
got to do something exciting...

the list is endless

And
on top of all that
make OURSELVES
feel the exact same way

I know I am
"that Mom"
that typically comes home from work
throws on my pj's or sweats
cooks dinner (or ate least had the crock pot do work for me!)
eats/serves kiddo and husband
attempts to take a walk/stroll kiddo and dog
fails miserably
stays inside instead
plopped on the couch
with no energy
and wishes kiddo would fulfill herself
with all the toys/books/etc laying around
instead of pulling my finger/hand
and prodding me to get up
and follow her
ALL over the house
until she finally ramps up her energy
and then crashes around 8pm
at which point
I prep for the next day
shower
and climb into bed
worn.out.

I really have no idea how some mommies do it all
I have one little girl
and I feel like my evenings and weekends are full of keeping this one sweet girl super happy
which can be very....
exhausting

There are days when my daughter is content and happy from the time we pick her up from daycare
There are days when she cries the whole way home (we tried as many things as possible to cheer her)
There are days when my heart melts at how sweet and cuddly she is
and other days where I want to throw a mommy temper tantrum, kicking and screaming while pulling my hair out

There are days when my daughter gets a pretty well balanced meal
and others where she eats a can of puffs or chips
because that is ALL she will eat

I will say I do wish
that I...
had more energy
ate healthier meals
prepped healthier meals for my family
spent more time playing on the floor (or wherever K wants to play)
had more time with my husband
could leave the house at any given time (with or without my husband)
 could make sure my daughter was happy all the time
stressed less
worked out more
found more hours in the day (or even minutes) for just "me" time
wore "cooler" clothes and didn't feel so frumpy in sweats/pj's all the time
would pick up something healthy to snack on instead of ice cream or choc. chips
had more time to read good books
watched less "trash" tv
kept the house more well maintained
had time to get in my flower beds and weed/mulch
had time for a garden again

The reality check to this whole "I wish" situation...
I am NOT a super mom
I was never born a superhuman
So most of this cannot be

I am happy and totally in love
with my husband,
our daughter
and our dog
We do wonderful things together
and
have created some of my fondest memories

So don't get me wrong
I do love my family
but there are definite moments of guilt
that I do feel badly about
and I am being open and honest
in the hopes that if some other person
reads my blog and feels similar
they, too, can feel some comfort
in knowing they are not alone

So, if I come home and put on my pj's and flop on the couch,
tell my husband to go get fast food,
and hope my daughter plays well on her own for the evening
 instead of
going for a run,
preparing the healthiest meal for my family,
having a super fun activity planned for my daughter,
and meditating/reading before bed time...

I'm cool with that...

let's rephrase that to

I am learning to be cool with that!

Below are a couple of the mommy guilt posts I read...pretty sure both made me cry and realize,
hey,
I'm not the only one!

Mom Guilt. I'm getting over it.

moms-when-are-you-going-to-learn

A 1 1/2 year old ball of fun!

My daughter Kensington just turned the big 1 1/2 years old on Sept. 6th.

I took her in yesterday for her 18 month check-up

She is still taller than the average kiddo and skinny like a beanstalk

She was 98% height at 34.25"

About 64% weight at 25lbs 4oz

Of course, I took her into daycare afterwards and proceeded to tell her toddler room teacher that her poor arm would quite possibly be sore after her 3 shots...

AND

that's when my sweet girl used her 2 left feet...

ran forward

tripped

and

face

p

l

a

n

t

e

d

Ugh...forget the arm hurting!

Onto bleeding bottom lip which has gotten bigger this morning!

Luckily she is in good spirits and neither her arm nor her lip seem to have her bothered.

She's my tough lil cookie

and I love her so

Dorito Face

Seriously, why are you taking my picture mom?

Get these socks off now please!

I'm 1 1/2 today!

Big grin and bows in!

Like Father like daughter (mouths both gaping open...) <3

Mommy and Kensie

Water play after washing the dog

My little sweetheart!