- Eleven weeks down... -

...and [less than] ONE to go!

Holy cowwwwabunga, dude! That maternity leave FLEW!

{Week one.} Not gonna lie, I was pretty terrified to bring home a tiny human at the apex of flu season [ugh, ugh, ughhhhhhh]; and so -- just as an instinctive + protective momma bear would/should do -- I initially refused a lot of visitors and basically turned our family into a pack of shut-ins.  I'm kind of hermit/homebody anyway, so I didn't think staying home 24/7 would be tooooo huge of a deal... But!  I forgot to factor in that I'm no newbie when it comes the disaster that is cabin fever and #zomg... Add a month plus of that emotional hurricane to this physical tornado:

...and [as you probably can't quite imagine, but rest assured it happened] I deteriorated into the hottest hot mess that you ever did see!  Scarlett was/is a gem, but having a newborn to juggle on top of no-nap Harper's energy and messes and attitude [terrible threes comin' right up] all while being stuck in this shoebox of a house in the dead of winter sometimessss often times pushed me 0.7 millimeters away from not-casually hopping off the edge of the cliff:

...and while I feel like the worst mom in the world for admitting it, lots of those first days home as the solo parent left me literallllllly staring bug-eyed out the bedroom window in the evening just waiting to see Brian's truck rolling into the subdivision.  Because ahhhhhh, "momming" alone x 10-11 hours a day x 5 days a week was [is still] hard, and as soon as Brian was home, sweet help be mine!!! 

So basically, the ugly reality of the situation was that, most of those early days, I camouflaged right into the mess of the house because I really struggled with getting dressed and putting on makeup and overall looking like a presentable human [not sad or depressed by any means, but lazy and living in "crazy mom survival mode" by all means]. This cabin fever situation snowballed quickly until finally [most likely due to the plethora of daily text messages like, "Whereeeee are you?" and/or, "What time you getting home tonight?" and/or occasionally some other emotionally-charged expletives as a precursor to arriving home at 6pm to find all of us still in pajamas], Brian recognized that a little Mexican + margaritas date might do our souls some good! [So sorry, Scarlett... I know you were little and vulnerable and it was 20 degrees outside with the flu germs just swirling circles around youuu, but MOMMA HAD TO GET OUT!]  And so! February brought our first family restaurant experience! #scarlettlovesmargaritas

And then!  After having a sniff of the outside world and life as I once knew it, we hit the ground running and have been on the go! go! go! ever since! For the sake of momma bear's mental health, we kicked it into gear fullllll speed ahead for the second half of maternity leave and never looked back. :) #thank #the #lord

First on the list was signing Harper up for gymnastics at the YMCA! Her class goes for thirty minutes every Friday morning, and her favorite activities are jumping on the trampolines and walking the balance beam.  The first day [after running and jumping and bouncing all around for a good twenty minutes], she ran up to the window where Scarlett and I were proudly watching. Smiling ear to ear, she happily knocked and waved at us, then ran away to keep playing. I was choking back tears, because #biggirlontheloose!  She's so old and brave and honestly doesn't even need her momma anymore!!! Go, Harper! You look so forward to this outing every Friday morning, and we love watching you blossom!

Gymnastics is the only "scheduled" event we have on the calendar, but [again for my sanity] we made sure to get out of the house most other days, too! Whether it was snagging a new master bedroom mattress during Short Furniture's President's Day sale:

...or unloading the circus at Wal-Mart juuuuust to buy one or two items [yes, that is Harper applying her purple eye shadow to impress the people of Wal-Mart]:

...or taking drives on the weekends to look at houses:

...or showing up at the pediatrician's office for 2-month and 3-year well child exams: 

...OR dropping in [multiple times] to visit Mommy's friends at work: 

...we just jumped on any opportunity that involved getting out of the house and breathing in the fresh air!!!  Every once in a while, Mother Nature threw us a nice curveball called "warm-ish weather," so believe me when I say we took fullllll advantage of that:

...by enjoying stroller rides/walks here, there, and everywhereee!  Sometimes we got to hang with four generations, because #imthemommy #noimthemommy #waitimthemommy!!!

We've had friends over for breakfast:

...lunch:

...and dinner:

...and even gone to visit some friends at THEIR house!

We've celebrated birthdays and holidays and visited the daycare and then poof! Eleven weeks down and what what? What's that you say? Well, now that I've actually happily settled into life on the go with my two princesses, it's already almost time to switch up the gears and go back to work! Wahhh!  It's bittersweet for sure... But more than not, [I think] I'm looking forward to it! While I love being a mom, I alsooooo love being a nurse! It's so fulfilling to be able to help others, and on top of that, I absolutely love my co-workers! [Hopefully I'm still singing this same tune next week, hah!]

I've absolutely loved spending this special time with my littles, and the things I'll miss most next week are our lazy [late] morning snuggles:

...and afternoon yoga sessions:

...and late evenings and loose bedtime routines...

...but I only work three days a week so will still definitely get to enjoy these things with my babies the other four days!  Perfect!!! 

All in all, we're looking forward to next week and ironing out our new normal [and nail-biting over the anticipation of Monday just a little bit!]!

Back to the grind...

Wish us luck!!! :)

 

- Chloe's Birth Story -

Being a labor and delivery nurse is a pretty awesome job all of the time, but it's even more magical and special and AMAZING when you get to stand on the front lines for your best friends' deliveries!!!  I was so honored when Nikki asked me to be there for Chloe's arrival [only small problem was that I'm still on FMLA for maternity leave so couldn't be on the clock to take care of her, but eh, taking pictures was even more fun I think!].  But really, there aren't enough words in the world to say how much I LOVE THIS FAMILY and how very excited I was to be a part of their special day!

It was a picture-perfect day and delivery, and I am absolutely thrilled for your beautiful family of four! Thanks for trusting me [again!] to be your "birth photographer," haha. You rocked it, Nikki! :-*

- 362 left... -

I think I've blogged about this before, but my old-and-getting-older-by-the-minute-mom brain can't remember for certain, so here goes again! Harper's birthday is a week before mine, and of course there's tons of hype that comes with the anticipation of her big day + throwing her party; so it's always sort of weird when all that excitement winds down and oh! Sh*t! All the sudden it's my birthday and I've barely even given it 0.3 seconds of thought.  Whatever, though; you'd assume that by the time you reach your [super] upper-twenties, no one would give a damn about adding another candle to your cake...

...but you know what they say about the word ASSUME: "it makes an ASS- out of -U and -ME!"  And that rings so true when my mom is in the mix, because #alwaysloved and #neverforgotten.  So spoiled, but proud of it:

^^ Scarlett was the first one to grant me a birthday wish/coo .....at 3:40am when she woke me up by requesting/demanding her breakfast in bed.  (  o  )(  o  )  She beat Harper to the punch by several hours, but Harper gained her points back by loudly singing/yelling, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MOMMYYYY!" on repeat at the breakfast table.  We quickly finished breakfast, got dressed, and headed down to Grammy's for a lunch + play date with our faves!

This seems to be becoming a tradition, and I love it!

After an afternoon full of playing and catching up, we headed back home where Brian was cooking dinner.  Booyah!  Even with tummies full of steak + wine, we absolutely had room for a little Cold Stone treat:

Harper couldn't shovel it in fast enough, and Scarlett was like, "Meh, I'll catch some zzz's 'cause I know I'll get Mom's leftovers later." ;) :)

And .just.like.that., it was time for jammies and bedtime stories and the day was ova! Thanks [again!] to my awesome family for loving me and making my birthday extra special.  This is my last birthday before I hit the thirties [!!!]; 362 days left of my twenties and you betcha I'm gonna soak up every second and make this the very BEST year yet!!!

xoxo  :-*

- Wild and THREE! #whoa -

**********

And whennnnn again did this happen?  I remember being all prego and whale-ish like 2015 was juuust the other day, and now there's a THREE-year-old in 'da house?!  Here are the "older girl's" current favorites: 

Book: "Marfa Don't Say Saw-rryyyy" [Martha Doesn't Say Sorry]
Food: "Chicken!"
Store: "Wal-Mart! But Daddy don't yike Wal-Mart. No, he don't yike it, do he Mommy?!"
Treat: "Donuts from Grammy Penny!"
Game: "My barn and princess puzzles!"
Song: "Head, Show-ders, Knees, and TOES!"
Snack: "Woh-gurt and no-wa!" [Greek yogurt + granola]
Toy:  "Ummmm, all dose babies!"
Drink: "Milk!"
Animal: "Doggies!"
Candy: "M-m's" [M&Ms]
Color: "Bwue yike Elsa's dress!" [blue like Elsa's dress]

A couple days before her "real birthday," we celebrated in Doc McStuffins style and fun was had by all!

The morning after the party, Scarlett and I soaked in some snuggles with our "older girl"...

...and were then spoiled with a morning manicure and makeover!  Harp loved all her birthday gifts, but the [pretend] makeup set definitely took the cake; we haven't left the house without it since!

A few hours passed and we were on to the "birthday vacation!" [Video here!]

Thanks for joining, Fiona and Elly!!!

Livin' large...!!!

...And because two full days of celebrating weren't enough, Harper's REAL birthday finally rolled around! We left Scarlett behind with Grammy and scooted off to Ergadoozy for the afternoon!

Happy birthday, Harper!!! As we were watching her birthday video this morning, she said, "I wan a-nudder birfday 'marrow, okayyyy Mommy?" 

...It's fun to be three!!! :)))