Category: Uncategorized

Ah, Easter. L’s last “first” Holiday…😢

Part of me considered getting the girls dressed up for a nice Easter photo, the other part of me had zero interest in fighting K to wear something that she didn’t want to. Decided I’d test the waters and see what she picked out – lately it’s been any tutu or dress in her closet, so there was hope. She walked in and laid this out…and it was then I realized there was no transitioning her to a bright Lilly dress just to pose for a picture. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂

I actually didn’t even get a photo of her in this dress because she changed into about 4 different bathing suits 20 minutes afterwards. 🤦🏼‍♀️😂

This was K’s first year decorating eggs and boy did she make it memorable….

She took the above pictured egg out several times and one was to show daddy (for the 3rd time). Well, that time it didn’t make it back to the carton.

I don’t remember how I realized it was gone, but a solid 30 minutes was spent looking before we gave up. K usually knows where everything is. This time, not so much. She originally told Chris she put it back in the fridge. Looking in the fridge determined that was a lie. I was convinced Jack (our dog) already found and ate it OR we would find in once it stunk up the house.

However; on Easter morning…I discovered it in the best place possible. THE FREEZER. 😆😅 THANK YA JESUS!!!

First win for the week (well, I guess second but finding the egg before it rotted is more of the win for the whole month): K is officially falling asleep by herself again! Recently I’ve had to lay in K’s bed until she falls asleep (5-10 min unless I fell asleep, too 😆) then sneak out of her room. We decided to break it and after 3 nights of drama, she finally went to bed on her own without screaming/yelling. 👏🏼

Her present for going to sleep alone 5 nights in a row was a Minnie purse she picked out from Amazon.

At least she keeps us entertained.

Having these little mirrors around (our children) really do show you the of the best and worst parts of yourself, huh? (Especially at age 3. Woosah.)

K gets in trouble for her smart ass comments pretty often, but we also have to laugh because she’s only repeating what she hears. 🤦🏼‍♀️

This doesn’t include her sass, but it’s one of my favorite discussions this week because she literally thinks she’s me. 🤣

K holding a lollipop: Hey mom, know what fruit this is?

Me: No. What is it?

K: Mottermelon

Me: Watermelon?

K: Yes. Say Mottermelon.

Me: Watermelon

K: Good job mommy!

😂😂 OKAY Kensie. She also walks out in the afternoon and says “hey guys, it’s 15 clock. Time for the pool!” 🧐

Win numero dos: Elle slept in a new sack with her arms free!!

Leighton has slept in the “Love to Dream” swaddle since she was a few months old. I tried the transition one where you unzip her arms but she flailed around and I gave in after 5 min and zipped them back up. Why fix what’s not broken, right? 😅

This kept popping up on my ads (solid marketing) and the reviews were great so we gave it a shot. I mean, uhh, the Easter Bunny hooked us up 😉 Night 1 was a success!!! She slept free armed all night long!! I can’t say the same for nap time…but I’ll take what I can get.

Win 3: Leighton’s teeth are all coming through at the same time and she isn’t screaming about it – this week her top teeth broke though and her favorite teether is still cans.

Win 4: Our children are sleeping in past 7am. (Knock on wood)

Win 5: I am the tannest I’ve been since my pre-baby tanning bed days 🙈 😎

We’ve been making the best of this gorgeous weather and time together with evening strolls, pool days, drinking and eating too much and probably letting K watch too much TV. But, we’re alive. Healthy. Functioning. Getting house projects done and taking extra time to hang out and explore in the evenings because as we literally say every single night, “well, got nothing else to do.”

OH. And we finally started Ozark. 10/10 would recommend. 🤑

Ah – tis the month of quarantine. Fingers crossed we get to celebrate the big UNO in style! 🥳

Elle is still our sweet, calm one…but as her personality grows I have no doubt her stubborn and demanding side will shine through soon. 😆

Leighton is happy as can be until she spots something she wants and you don’t give it to her. She doesn’t actually cry though, she screeches at you and does this loud fuss/yell. It’s something else. 🤣 L is obsessed with water, remotes and basically anything that isn’t a toy. She will straight chuck a toy across the room if she sees a better option within her reach.

She planks and has been popping up onto her knees, but she still army crawls all over the house. She’s like a cheap swiffer. (Or a REALLY expensive one, depending on how you look at it). Elle’s first teeth popped through this month, too!! 2 on the bottom and another coming in!

Now that she’s on the move, scooting, “crawling” and climbing everywhere, her favorite hobbies include pulling out any and every toy she can reach – which is Kensie’s nightmare. 😂 Since K was a baby I have always cleaned the playroom every single night when she’d go to bed. My OCD may have created a monster. Kens won’t play in the room if it’s a mess and freaks out when L is the one making it. She gasps and goes “MOMMY!!! Sister is making a MESSY!!!” I have to assure her it’s okay and that I’ll help her clean it up. 🤣

Best part of this month? She started giving hugs which is the BEST. K was the snuggliest baby (still is, my little stage 5 clinger…) and I so took those baby snuggs for granted. L doesn’t hold still unless she’s asleep.

We’ve adjusted decently well to quarantine life these last 2 weeks and are finding our new “normal”. It includes lots of walks, pool time and the best: time with daddy!

Working out at home/alone has been the hardest adjustment by far. I talked myself into a 30 minute workout the other day and got so frustrated when K came out into the garage and “interrupted” me. I know. I sound awful saying that. Trust me, I gave myself a full guilt trip once I took a step back and used some perspective.

It started with “can I color” and turned into “I want to run with you” and laying on the mat/trying to climb on me while I was doing burpees.

After promptly saying “no”, “please move”, “stop”, “hang on” and “I’ll play with you in 5 minutes” I checked myself on one of my 100m runs and instantly felt awful. I was so concerned with getting in my workout uninterrupted that I was making her feel like she was doing something wrong by just simply wanting to spend time with me/do what I was doing.

I changed my tune, got her bar down and let her run alongside me. Her face instantly lit up & it was such a slap in the face. How lucky am I to have this little munchkin that just wants to do what mommy is doing? Workouts may be little less “intense” but at least I’ve got this healthy nugget by my side while I do them!

Welp, one more month of what’s sure to be the most literal “same shit, different day” experience – but I’ll find the time to update along the way for those who want to see repetitive videos of L squawking, K swimming, me working out and Chris dealing with a house full of girls. 🙃

Well. Holy hell it’s been quite the week. Month. However long, basically pure chaos since I last updated!

For those that don’t know me personally, I own a CrossFit gym…aka a small business that was ordered to shut down on March 20th. 👎🏽 We’re running a virtual challenge for our members right now to get us through all of this “distancing” and for one of my “mindset” goals I chose journal – which reminded me to get on here and post!

It’s truly crazy how things can literally change overnight. I’ve felt all the emotions and finally made peace with the fact that it is what it is and I can only control what I do right now, not the outside world. So, I’m choosing to bust my ass for the gym, but also to step back and ENJOY this time with my family. I know it sounds crazy, but this too shall pass, and I don’t want to look back and have nothing positive to say about this time in our lives and I refuse to wish away even a second of these girls being little. 🥰

Social distancing is quite the opposite of our everyday lifestyle. Our days are usually full of errands, play dates and group workouts and our weekends are packed start to finish with get togethers, pool parties, cookouts and literally non-stop social gatherings. 😳 We’re extra thankful that some of our best friends happen to also be our neighbors, so we can quarantine together and get some sense of normalcy. 🙌🏼

Our new temporary normal has actually been much more relaxing than I expected it to be when we were in the thick of the “what ifs”. Chris got the garage organized and finally set up our home gym (6 years later 😂). Chris’ job is considered essential (he feels the need to remind me of that often 🙄😂) so he’s still gone part of the day, but when he gets home our evenings consist of working out, a long wagon walk with the babes (and drinks) and pool time! Basically Kensie’s dream life. 👸🏼

What I’m insanely grateful for right now is the forced SLOW down. I’m lucky enough to spend more time than most with my kiddos and hubs, but we are constantly doing something or going somewhere. It’s who we are and I wouldn’t trade it – but the empty calendar has allowed me to become more creative/innovative with my business and honestly allowed me to take 10 minutes to sit down and enjoy my coffee without feeling like I need to get the next thing done, because I have all the time in the world to do it now!

Anyway. K sure has enjoyed this time too. She spends her days back and forth from the pool and playroom and changes her outfit a minimum of 4 times from PJs to a princess dress to bathing suit to a new suit back to PJs…🙄

L has been planking and pulling her knees up under her and had her bottom 2 teeth finally come through! She also graduated from her survival lessons at Swimsprout and can float like a pro. 👏🏼 Dropped her in our pool this weekend just to make sure 😆 🤷🏼‍♀️ 🏆

She’s also been perfecting “mama” by saying it every single day 💁🏼‍♀️, has a strong love for wind and water, learned a new spitting noise and recently rediscovered her hand. 🧐

OH and my ever so cautious used to refuse even getting in a pool child…IS OBSESSED WITH LAKE SWIMMING. I draw the line at open bodies of water. I’m terrified. K went out in the middle, SWAM AWAY FROM CHRIS, and pitched a FIT when it was time to get out. 😳 I’m thankful I didn’t impress my irrational fear upon her, but this also means we can never go out there without Chris because no way in hell is this momma casually chilling in the lake not knowing what’s under me. 🐠 🐊🙅🏼‍♀️

I know there’s people dealing with some really HEAVY stuff right now. I know depression and anxiety are skyrocketing. I hope there’s SOMETHING in your day that can make you smile and balance out the temporary suck this situation has caused. I hope you have a community of people you can reach out to, and if you need them, that you do it! And if you don’t have one, reach out to me. I’ll gladly plug you in! ❤️

And this one is for all my fellow parents that feel like they’re failing right now…we all are. But they’ll be okay. 😂😂

My little chunkaroo is getting longer, leaner, and way too close to her very first birthday. 😭

Leighton is truly the BEST baby we could have ever asked for! I joke that it’s because Kens is currently in “high maintenance” mode and Elle knows she has to be this chill for mere survival purposes. My survival, that is. 😜

Elle was born with this special little sparkle in her eye and damn do I have a soft spot for it!

If you ever need a pick me up, come over and get Leighton out of her bed in the morning. She’s like a puppy when their human gets home from work. 😆 Full leg kicks and smiles and even some grunts and growls on an extra good morning. She doesn’t get that pre-coffee cheerfulness from her mama, I can tell you that much. 🤣 I will say it makes dragging myself out of bed in the morning way more worth it.

Elle loves to be tickled and she LOVES her big sister more than anything in this world. Kens loves to play with her in the car and Elle’s giggles are so contagious. K greets her with a baby voiced “hiiii my little cutie girl” every morning and every afternoon when we pick her up – and L goes straight into leg kicking happy mode and squeals with excitement.

Elle wants anything I’m eating – well, anything I’m HOLDING; it all goes in her mouth, shoes being her personal favorite. 🤦🏼‍♀️ We’re pretty sure she’s got an allergy to strawberries because they’ve resulted in 2 vomit sessions…so steering clear of those for a few months which she’s really not happy about.

Leighton is crushing her swim lessons and still doesn’t cry. She gets so excited and tries to climb into the pool the second I set her down. I have a feeling she’ll be my little bumps and bruises daredevil.

Her doctor said her vocabulary is comparable to an 18 month old…which is terrifying to think anyone could talk more than Kensie does. 😂 Elle’s got Mama, dada, hi with a wave, yay with a clap and uh oh down! She’s also been waving and saying bye bye…but she definitely doesn’t know what it means because she does it mid eating. 🧐

Uh oh is at the top of her list lately and most of her “uh ohs” is her new intentional game of “fetch” while she repeatedly throws her pacifier out of her car seat. 🙄

She’s still sitting and scooting her way around town – no crawling just yet! She’s pulled one knee under her and done some solid backwards crawling, but she’s pretty content with her current butt scooting method.

I really don’t get the whole “2nd babies are good to trick you into a 3rd” concept. My thought process is the opposite. I know there’s no way it can get any better so we should quit while we’re ahead. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂

We’re posting a day late because Leighton’s 9 month mark was also the 22nd year anniversary of her Grandpa’s (my dad’s) death.

I’ve taken Kensie with me to visit every year and this year, Leighton got to join us, too!

K is at an age now where I wasn’t really sure what all she’d ask and I was even more unsure of how I would answer the questions she’d have. It’s so important to me that they grow up just knowing this is part of their past and not something that I randomly introduce them to at 10+ years old when I think they’re “ready” to understand it.

I took them to the police station first to show Kensie a picture and tell her “that’s my dad!” She was shy in the moment but full of questions the second we walked out…most of those questions being “when can we go back home to get my princess dress”. 🙄

After she put the flowers in his headstone at the cemetery, she asked where Grandpa is and if Grandma was coming. 😆

She’s a smart one, gotta give her that! I told her it’s Grandpa’s special stone they made to remember him and since she’s got a strange rock obsession, the answer satisfied her and she didn’t ask again. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I know once they are old enough to truly comprehend the whole thing, they’ll be so proud of the hero their Grandpa was!

I was actually waiting until Tuesday to post because nothing remarkable had happened…UNTIL TODAY!

Literally. The Today Show. 🤩

I don’t even know where to start this post because my brain is still on cloud 9 and trying to process it all. If you know me, you know my strange obsession with the Today Show. If you come to my house M-F 7a-11a I can guarantee it’s on my TV…and every time Chris and I go to NYC we commit to that 4a wake up to go to the Plaza!

Kensie wouldn’t look at a TV to save her life for the longest time; however, Leighton is a different story. It’s like she knew from the womb these are her people. 😂 She plays on the floor and watches – full on looks, talks, claps and watches them every day.

One of my best friends, Emily, has a friend that works for NBC. He reached out Wednesday and asked if she wanted to go to the Today show because they were coming to Orlando to do a LIVE show for the first time!! She shares the same obsession so OF COURSE it was an immediate yes…she just loved us enough to let us come along for the ride!

Our morning started with a 3a wake up call and a 5a check in!

The anchors were going back and forth all morning before the Live show to do their voice overs. Hoda walked out, saw Elle, and the magic began! Her face was priceless and it was a moment I will NEVER forget 🥰!!! She walked up to say hi and we showed her the sign and full tears ensued. It was SO sweet.

While Leighton’s full TV debut was a solid mean mug session, she made quite the impression on set all morning. The Plaza Producer, Kevin, was the first person we met in NYC and he was how we got to record our gender reveal in 2018!

He was so happy to meet Leighton and kept carrying her around the set while he worked. 😂

As the show started, all Kevin told me was “don’t leave!” and “keep that baby happy!” …little does he know Elle doesn’t know how to be anything but happy.
We got a 5 minute warning before they were coming to talk to Leighton and kid you not, 1 minute after he said that she straight PASSED OUT. 4.5 hours of party was apparently her limit.

I figured she’d sleep through the whole thing at that point – she was such a tired babe (and side note: I secretly LOVED it because this wiggle machine is always non-stop and NEVER falls asleep on me 😭).

Her fascination and hamming it up for the cameras all morning long held true…as soon as the cameras came and cheering started she woke up and well, you can see the rest!

Not going to lie. When they showed the replay of our announcement I teared up – then tried to quickly get it together before they put the camera on us!!!🙈

It was SO special, fun, insanely spontaneous and CRAZY how the stars aligned for BOTH of these things to happen. I don’t think we could have ever planned it if we tried!! Leighton is destined to be a Today Show Anchor in 2030. 😜

Chris was the true MVP for passing on joining us so he could stay home with K and get her to daycare. Then, at daycare and they watched the whole thing on TV and then K FaceTimed me!! Luckily, she’s not old enough to be too jealous yet. 😂 She just wanted to know where I actually was, how I got inside the TV and if I was going to pick her up and take her “to workin’ out” (the gym…). 🤷🏼‍♀️

Also, I got so many messages from this photo saying Savannah and I look so much alike. Haha!! I’ll GLADLY sign up for her being my doppelgänger. 🤩 (Savannah, just let me know next time you need a stand in 😉).

GAH!!!

Feeling so thankful that we got to have this experience and make what is sure to be a top 5 lifetime memory!

Now I just need to make sure there’s a way to keep this video forever with the daily evolving technology…oh how I wish I could just record it to a VHS 😂

She did it! She spoke!! 😍 The best part…SHE SAID MAMA!!!! 🥳

If you’ve followed our blog since K, you might remember she said Dada first. Not only first but for MONTHS. KB straight refused to say mama. 😭

Anyway, Elle must have known Kens has gotten her act together recently and wanted to make sure she remained in that #1 spot. 😂

I don’t think it’s Leighton’s first word…but it’s definitely the one I’m most excited about. 😬 I am 90% sure she said “Hi” several times last week. It was accompanied by a wave, too. But I couldn’t get her to do it again and haven’t heard it since so I was hesitant to claim it. Haha!

Last night I forgot to turn her monitor on (insert mom of the year nomination here) and I woke up to her SCREAMING around 3am. But. It was “mama!! Mama! Ma! Ma!” Her sweet little tears broke my heart but hearing that made me sort of happy to run across the house. 😜

We’ve had a crazy, fun, BUSY week/weekend with some of our best friends!! I didn’t think it was possible to shove so many memories into 5 days but we like to over achieve. 🏆

The McGee’s came to town and we didn’t waste a second! Their daughter Henley is Kensie’s BFF and watching the 2 of them grow up together has been so much fun.

Thursday the girls went to daycare (go ahead, judge us) for their Valentine’s Day party and then got to swim at Mrs. Heidi’s together and she wore 👏🏼 them 👏🏼 out! 🙌🏼

Friday we braved Disney with the whole crew! The girls got to see Mickey in the parade which always lights K’s face up, meet princesses, ride their first roller coaster (the big girls only obviously) and made the best memories.

Leighton and Devyn had no clue what was happening of course 😂 but they were troopers and the music from the parade had Elle pumping those happy legs up and down the whole time!

Saturday we had a birthday party to go to and the girls were half zombies the whole time. 😂 I have never seen K so quiet and calm. No complaints here. 🤐

Sunday we attempted to chill at the house…but with the guys gone for the day it only took until about 9a before we knew we had to brave it and get out. 4 days with no naps led to a lot of toddler drama to cap off our weekend. 😅

I may have hit a record number of photos for one post at this point, so I’ll spare the other 100 including their daily morning shows in princess dresses, but I’m pretty sure this weekend was top 3 in KB’s book. 🥰👯‍♀️

FIRST OF ALL, I AM SO PISSED AT WORDPRESS. I finished today’s entire post and the app deleted the WHOLE thing. 😩😭

I usually steer clear of discussing touchy subjects or politics or offending people…and I made some pretty strong statements on why parents need to enroll their children in swim lessons on the post that got deleted so maybe it was a sign I shouldn’t post it. 🤪

Leighton started swim lessons last week and she did so great! In typical Elle fashion I think she cried all of 20 seconds over 3 lessons. 

She’s not actually learning to swim at this age, she’s just learning the survival lesson of rolling to her back and breathing if her face touches water. 

I get asked (or told) “isn’t that so hard to watch?!” – usually the question is pure curiosity and not judgement – but regardless, my answer is always the same: I’d imagine seeing the alternative would be MUCH harder. And no, honestly it’s not hard to watch someone who has been doing this for 20 years teach my babies how to survive in water! The whole process actually fascinates me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I won’t rewrite my whole rant but for the love of God, please give your children the tools to survive. I’ve watched Heidi teach babies, toddlers, elementary aged kids even children with physical and mental disabilities. There are way too many stories, many of them LOCAL of kids drowning. It is PREVENTABLE!! And I don’t mean “I’ll watch my kid. They won’t ever have the chance to fall in water” preventable. Yo, I’m sure parents that have lost a child to drowning didn’t start that day off saying “I’m going to put my child near water alone today and see what happens”. 🧐 I’ve seen way too many loving, attentive and amazing parents lose their babies this way and it is always from the most heartbreaking accidents.

Okay. I’ll stop now. But damn. Let me just put this info here for y’all: swimsproutllc@gmail.com
(704) 777-7688
(This is not a paid ad, lol! I just love this organization and her instructors…if you’re not in Orlando you can google ISR instructors in your area!) 

On to the rest of our week…

K has been crushing potty training…but not so much the whole sleep thing. She’s going to bed just fine now, but she wakes up SCREAMING for me to come in her room. One night I went in, she hugged me, laid down and said “chicken noodle!” I was like “wait, what?” and she said “poopy butt!” and started cracking up. All with her eyes closed…that ham.

I will say her threenager tantrums have calmed a LOT over the last few weeks (knock on wood). She’s still got her emotional/over tired moments but the psycho toddler tantrums have taken at least a temporary back seat. 

Since I am already all over the place with topics on this post…may as well throw in a product review! I was discussing diapers with a friend of mine and mentioned that I am glad Elle isn’t sensitive like K and can wear something other than the Honest brand…BUT I still put her in their overnight ones because Pampers leak and she wakes up with wet PJs. 

She swears by Huggies Overnights the same way I swear by Honest so I gave them a shot. SOLD!! I highly recommend either brand, but the Huggies are .10 cheaper per diaper. WHOOP! 

WELL. I originally had more photos to end this post with but WordPress is telling me my storage is full and they want $200 for me to post more soooo I guess this is our last post! Sorry we didn’t make it to a year for ya, Elle. GoFundMe for blogs? That a thing? LOL

Anyway, I’ll figure that part out (um, hopefully) so I can continuing spamming you all with some K and L goodness!! xo