Month: November 2019

I’ll have you know I’ve been working on this post for 4 days now. Not that there’s anything remarkably time consuming in it…I just couldn’t stay awake long enough to get it finished. Ha!!!

We’re winding down from an exciting and eventful week(plus) and gearing up for another!

The exciting news…Our pool is done!! The days of dirt tracking through the house aren’t quite hindsight yet, but I’m telling myself it’ll be worth it. 😂

As you can see, K is unbothered by the mess and prefers we leave mounds of dirt in the back around her “stage”. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Her daily request is to put on her boots and go play in “muddy puddles” (thanks, Peppa Pig).

I am SO thankful for all of Chris’ hard work to make it happen and the pure sweat equity he put into the deck! We’ve still got some work ahead of us but at least we have a water hole to jump into afterward. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂

We had a wonderful FriendsGiving/birthday celebration for a friend over the weekend and it’s safe to say L and K had a blast.

It was extra sweet since she’s been killing me with this whole transition to calling me “mom”. 😒

We attempted to get a family photo since I NEVER remember to do that lately and all it did was solidify why we pay the professionals…

…#ThisIsUs 🤷🏼‍♀️😂

Speaking of paying the professionals, if we’re friends on social media,l you know we got our Christmas photos back this week and I couldn’t be happier with them! Not only was the end product amazing, but it was a MUCH less exhausting experience than our Newborn/Family session a few months ago. 🤦🏼‍♀️😂

I’d say here’s a few of my favorites but there’s 4x more where this came from and I’m biased.

I may have had them printed and already displayed all over our house in less than 12 hours…

Keeping with the Christmas spirit, we took Kensie on a special date with just mommy and daddy on Sunday to see the Disney Jr. Live Holiday party! She had SO much fun after she got over “but sister!! We leave sister at home?” (To be clear, we had a babysitter 😂)

Watching her face light up with the most genuine smile when she saw Mickey and Santa was priceless – though I still doubt she will sit on Santa’s lap this year.

The best part is everyone thought she dressed up for the show. Little to they know this is her everyday attire. 😂

Of course Elle needed some special time, too. This babe is SO freaking chill that I feel like sometimes I don’t give her enough attention because I am always “go go go”; but the fact that she’s turning 6 months next week was a good reminder to slow down and soak her and all her perfect baby-ness in. ❤️

And the answer to the question I’ve been asked 91740 times since Friday: YES WE SAW FROZEN 2! Hahahaha

PHEW! I think I covered the highlights. Sprinkle in some playing, toddler tantrums, visits with friends and lots of laundry and it’s a solid recap. 🙌🏼

Oh. And mom friends -KB still won’t poop in a toilet (at home. She does at daycare 😡) so all advice is welcomed. 😆 for now we’re just waiting it out…and bribing doesn’t work.🤷🏼‍♀️

Not too sure where this week went…heck, or this year!!

We took our family Christmas photos this past weekend and I am SO impatiently waiting to see them. 😆

K was SO good (due to our incentive plan: smile and participate and you get to shop for a new toy 😉), so she got to pick out ANY toy she wanted when photos ended! (From Five Below, of course – I’m not dumb 😂).

I don’t want to give the complete wrong impression – she still thought running away and playing “hide and seek” in the Christmas trees was a good idea mid-shoot 🤦🏼‍♀️ but we can’t fault a 3 year old for wanting to play instead of pose and smile. 🤷🏼‍♀️

While Sunday was the best day (attitude wise) in a while, I wish I could say she’s been a sweetheart all week – but it’s most definitely not the case. Lol

She has her moments of pure defiance and I’ve lost my patience with her lately more times than I’d like to admit. Kens is way too smart for her own good and trying to parent the “me” out of her will in fact be the death of me. 😆

KB can manipulate situations and people better than some grown adults I know and I walk a fine line between being impressed and trying not to completely lose my shit on her. 🤣

Kensie also knows how to work the “sweet” angle and turn her charm on in a split second. She’ll ask for hugs and kisses and pretend like you’re her best friend for a solid 20 seconds (or until she’s told “no” again)…and the fact that she grows up and grows more independent every single day, makes it even harder. I want to soak in her sweetness while it lasts but I don’t want her to get away with her BS. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Last week we had to leave gymnastics class because Kens wouldn’t listen or participate. She kept running out of class and saying “nana nana boo boo” and trying to get the coach to chase her. 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

She had a few warnings and I told her if she left class again we were going home. K decided to test that. So, we left. I may make a ton of “mom mistakes” but Chris and I try our best to not say anything we aren’t willing to act on and act on anything we say we will.

Kensie screamed bloody murder the whole way home and basically until she fell asleep for nap about how she wanted to go back to class…

The good news? I think it worked! This week she made serious progress. She spent the first 20ish minutes sitting up in the chairs by me but long story short, she eventually joined class, listened to the coach, AND DIDN’T RUN AWAY ONCE! 🙌🏼

I can be pretty hard on her at times, but while we were eating dinner last night after playing play doh, she said “thanks for playing with me, mom” and my heart completely melted. 😭

Phew. I’m almost as exhausted from attempting to explain that as I am from trying to survive her attitude all week. 😂

On to the one that can’t walk or sass back yet…

Leighton had her first real food and homegirl is PASSIONATE about it. It wasn’t actually intentional (don’t jump down my neck, textbook moms 🙄) but she went AFTER my apple so I let her suck on it to see what she would do. Homie LOVES APPLES. 😯

L is always so calm and it’s extremely rare that she will cry, but she lost her ish when I took it a way and pitched a fit. 🤣😂

She was going in on that thing like she’s been starved. (Her cheeks and thighs can both confirm that isn’t the case).

We will soon find out if she has more of an appetite than her big sister does. 😆 (for those that haven’t always followed our blog, I swear Kensie would starve herself if it were an option…)

Hopefully I don’t jinx it, but Elle is the MOST content, happy and calm baby ever. It’s not hard to please her and anyone giving her attention usually gets a smile out of her. The hardest part (so far) is changing her clothes or diapers because she won’t hold still for half a second. 😆

I truly think God have us such a low maintenance angel baby in Elle because he knew the stage of life we would be in with Kens at the same time and we wouldn’t survive otherwise. 😂

Last night K walked in L’s room and said something to me and L just busted out laughing. Chris or I have YET to get her to laugh like this for us. Kens is the absolute only person that gets these belly giggles out of her. ❤️

They went on and on and if K as much as looked at L she would crack up. 🤷🏼‍♀️

She then wanted to “read sister a book” but that just turned into L trying to touch it and K yelling at her to stop it. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Regardless of the “hard” days – these girls are definitely worth it! ❤️

Well. This week can pretty much be summed up by saying “Daylight savings is the WORST”.

My children do NOT care what a clock or the sun says. Their internal clock is consistent and precise and I FEEL LIKE I MAY NEVER GET TO SLEEP PAST 5AM AGAIN! 😭

Not only was this week accompanied by a lack of sleep, but Kensie has officially shortened “mommy” to MOM and it physically hurts my heart every time she says it. Like WHY are you so “grown” up?! 😭

Thankfully, she still asks me to snuggle with her every day and if I’m lucky I get to be her best friend. If she’s mad at me I get told “you’re not my best friend!” 🙄

Kensie had a swim refresher this week and I was SO proud of her for so many reasons!!! I made a pretty lengthy post about it on my Facebook page – but long story short I was worried that even though K knows how to float on her back, she hates doing it so much that she wouldn’t do it if she needed to.

Mrs. Heidi tested her out and while it was a little hard to watch (because I just wanted to jump in and grab her!) I am SO grateful for the life saving skills that K has completely mastered in her time with Swimsprouts!

Not only did she show off her skills, but she went from screaming and scared on Monday to walking into the pool on her own, tearless, and even loving on Mrs. Heidi by Thursday. 🥰

Leighton babe was my little trooper all week (per usual) even with her nap schedule being thrown completely out of whack.

This little babe is starting to show her personality and it’s the best!! She LOVES to smile, wiggle and eat your face. Also, she now belly laughs and it is the absolute greatest.

Watching their sibling bond is priceless. Elle immediately lights up and smiles when K gives her any attention and she she tracks her around the room anytime she can see her. If K as much as says hi to her, L immediately gets a huge grin.

Though KB snaps her mood back and forth at any second for us, she is ALWAYS happy to see “sister!!!” If she hears her on the monitor in the morning she gets so excited and says “SISTER’S AWAKE!!!” and runs to her room to climb in the crib.

The first thing she does when I pick her up from daycare is climb in the car over to L’s seat, hug and kiss her and say “hi sister! I’m back! Did you have a good day??” (Sometimes followed by a “mommy! She’s not talking to me!” 🤦🏼‍♀️😂)

While she’s got a huge heart and one heck of a sweet side – Kens isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. 😆

Today was a ROUGH day in motherhood with K’s attitude from being overtired and well, 3.

Her meltdowns/tantrums today were triggered by: wanting Cheetos that we don’t have, me not giving her a sandwich because she said she wanted cereal, not letting her drive my car home from the gym and putting her food in the wrong bowl.

BUT, they’re always worth it. Once I’ve had enough coffee at least. 😉

Leighton turned 5 months old on this extra long day and she must have been excited since she woke up at 5:27am to celebrate. 🤪

One of my favorite things about this age is how easy it is to get them to smile for photos. 😆 This monthly photo was hard to get, but it had nothing to do with Elle…and everything to do with Kens. 🤦🏼‍♀️😂

The second K sees what I’m doing, she has to be involved and refuses to get off the blanket. Today she decided to take her own “photos” and it was pure gold. 😂

Leighton was workin it from BOTH angles. 💁🏼‍♀️

As much as Kensie loves to smother and hug and kiss “sister”, I think Elle loves it too. She is happiest being around K regardless of what’s going on and seems to just take it all in.

This chunk is a non stop MOVER.

She’s easily distracted while eating which makes it extra fun when K is around doing everything she can to get her attention. 🙄

Elle’s constantly rolling (off the couch 🤦🏼‍♀️), turning, leaning toward things, trying to grab anything and everything and looking around. If you hold her upright you’ve got no hopes at getting her to relax. It’s her prime look out spot. 😂

L is a party animal just like K was and she’s great at going with the he flow, but this momma needs some time to get things done! This week we started the 2-3-4 schedule which was what K eventually put herself on, and L is crushin’ it. 🙌🏼

She’s officially moved into her crib but still wakes up 1-2x at night to eat. I’ve started dream feeding and I think full on sleep training will be coming by next month if it doesn’t happen naturally. 🤞🏼

Leighton loves to gargle, babble, chew on her fingers and is constantly covered in drool, but she hasn’t had any teeth officially break through! (Thank God)

We still visit the Chiro regularly and truly feel it’s a huge part of why Leighton is such an easy going, happy baby!

Seriously can’t believe her half birthday is just around the corner. It seems like this little babe stretches another inch every single night. 😥

I’m enjoying every second of this stage and age! ❤️

It’s been a fun non-stop week in the Hall house and by non-stop I’m solely referring to Kensie talking. 🤪

The beginning of our week brought a bought of fussiness from the little one. 🥴 Still not too sure what her deal was, but we had 2-3 nights of 4+ wake ups throughout the night and lots of grouchiness during the day. My only guess is that she’s trying to kick the cold that K so generously shared with us.

I really can’t complain though – it’s pretty rare that this babe isn’t just going with the flow, chewing on her hands and cheesing when someone talks to her!

L has been itching to move around, so I busted out the bouncer to see if she’d be satisfied. I think it’s a hit!

Kens has been her usual high maintenance self, but also a sweet and hilarious little ham. She is into “make believe” for everything. There’s a part of the house that are her “castle stairs”and she dramatically runs up them at some point every day (we don’t have stairs…). She’s constantly singing or talking or making her animals climb “apple trees” (don’t have those in our house either. Shocking, I know). 🤷🏼‍♀️ At least she’s creative?

K keeps randomly saying “Happy Mother’s Day!” To me. I’m still waiting on her gift or some sort of special treatment, though. 🤨😂 I mean, I’m on team KB. Every day SHOULD be Mother’s Day.

This Halloween was Leighton’s first and it was Kensie’s first time trick-or-treating!

The morning started with K picking out an Elsa dress…getting all ready and saying “ok! Can I trick or treat now?” Sorry babe – not at 7am. 🤦🏼‍♀️

When the sun comes up she always goes “look mom!! It’s today!!!” – so she used that one against me to explain to me that it is Halloween and therefore, she should be allowed to trick or treat. She lost the battle, in case you’re curious.

L held down the candy fort with Daddy and Bah Bah while K roamed the hood with Mom and Titi.

While she acted shy when people tried to give her candy, she said she had the best trick-or-treat ever! It was probably because she met “blippi” and she spent the night stalking his golf cart and asking him if he liked her dress.

She asked me this morning if he was awake yet so we could go to his house. I hope this guy knew what he got himself into with that costume. 🤣

The best part of the night for me?? I honestly didn’t realize she didn’t have a diaper on the whole time! (Most of you probably don’t care – but my fellow moms will understand 😂)

KB was doing so great with potty training then the last couple of weeks she’s freaked out and begged for a diaper instead of panties and refuses to poop on a potty (yet she wears panties all day at daycare with zero issues…). I figured it was a control thing and her pediatrician said not to push it so we’ve been letting it ride.

Apparently she’s just going and not telling us & I find out by going in her bathroom and getting a whiff of old piss bc it didn’t get cleaned out of her potty. 🤢 Ah, parent life. But hey, at least she’s going!!! 😂 This morning she was in a diaper and told me she had to go potty, ran and went, and was great without diapers all day. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Fingers crossed we don’t go backwards on this journey again…

The best is when you ask her if she needs to potty. Instead of saying “no ma’am” she said “no thanks!” Hahahahaha – still working on deciphering those two.

Today KB started in the big 3 year old class at gymnastics which means I no longer go down on the floor with her! I was shocked she went right into class with zero hesitation! Such a proud moment.

…But then she redeemed herself by running away to go on the trampoline and in and out of class 6 times. 🤦🏼‍♀️ We ended class with an apology the most patient coach ever and Kensie said next week she’s going to listen the whole time. (I’ve got $20 on that being BS)

At least she’s cute?

And I will say – this fun but exhausting stage of K makes me greatly appreciate the immobile, non-talking and non-tantrum throwing stage of sweet little Elle! ❤️

And now it’s time for ALLLLL the Holiday fun!! 😍