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Today marks 6 weeks as a party of 4! 🎉

We all had such a great weekend and Leighton had her first trip to the beach!!

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a fan of the beach 😆 but Kensie LOVES it and her best friend Henley was in town so we took the girls to play for a little bit in the morning before it got too hot for the littlest nugget. The weather was actually perfect and L enjoyed her nap in the breeze!

These photos look very sweet and peaceful but the chaos of 2 toddlers and an infant taking a trip to the beach is REAL. Ashley and I piled all 3 girls into one car and played a solid game of carseat tetris that resulted in having to put Leighton’s seat in by climbing through the trunk. LOL (don’t call DCF. I promise it was safer than it sounds and no, she didn’t ride in the trunk). 😂

As we were trying to get the “big” girls changed and ready to leave, a car pulled up next to us with a family and older teenagers. The sweet mom looks at us and goes “it gets easier” – which just explains how disasterous we must have seemed. Hahahah!

She was very sweet though and it did make me stop and take a breath and think about the fact that they will only be so little for so long. ❤️

Speaking of growing too quickly, it wouldn’t be a post without these girls’ signature photo: “I hold her! Take a picture!” -KB

I know Leighton always looks miserable but I promise she smiles at KB as long as she’s not trying to hold her. HA!

Leighton appreciated her snuggles from Aunt Ashley and Uncle Will this weekend a little more than ones from K.

This was their last weekend in Florida as “residents” and while we had the best time and made some great memories, we are already missing having this whole crew together. 😔

Luckily, Kensie doesn’t understand it just yet – and she had such a fun weekend with a few of her sweet friends!

In between play dates, Kensie ran in circles around the house, made us put her tutu on way too many times, danced and asked me take photos of her.

OH. And “painted” her nails.

Meanwhile, Leighton slept. Because her big sister exhausts us all.

Today marks 6 weeks for me and L which means I’ve been officially cleared by the doctor! I’m working on getting into a new schedule so I can get back to the gym consistently and maybe not walk like a baby giraffe for 3 days after 50 squats. 🙈

Happy 6 weeks, sweet Elle!!! Now time, slow. down!!!

Today was Leighton’s first day at her “home away from home,” CFEO!!

One of our awesome members gave her this as a gift 🤣

Working out went better than I imagined it would this morning! I was going to wait until next week to go back, but I figured I should stop making excuses and get my ass in gear. 😜

There’s a ton of information out there about what you can/can’t do and at what point you can/can’t do those things postpartum. I’m no expert in that realm, but I’m a strong believer that everyone is different and you have to listen to your body. Mentally, I want to do it all and push through. I also know that my body just went through a LOT and if I’m not smart about how I treat it while I heal, it’ll only hurt me in the long run!

Today’s WOD was:

15:00 AMRAP

20 Alternating DB Snatches

15 Box Jump Overs

9 Calorie Row or Ski

I did the snatches from the hang position since I didn’t want my lower back to tighten up and I subbed burpees for my box jumps because my pelvic floor isn’t quite ready for the Impact of jumping.

It felt great to sweat and get my heart rate up again — and huge thanks to L for the few pauses I got to take to put her binky back in when she fussed. 😜

Yesterday to celebrate Leighton’s 5 week birthday we took a shopping trip to L’s favorite place, Target!!! (I love having kids to blame my bad habits on) She was so overwhelmed with excitement that she slept the entire time. 😉 However, we did use the best product EVER and I have to share it with you guys. I posted this before with K but in case you missed it – this is a Binxy Baby!

It’s a cart hammock!! It holds the car seat now and when she’s a little bigger, she can sit right in it!! I actually found out about it when K and I were at target and another mom was using it. Yesterday when I put it in the cart another mom asked me about it and took a picture of it so she could order one, too…what I’m saying is, Target, you should carry these. You’d sell out!!

We also got a wonderful delivery!! Leighton’s hospital bunny came home!

There’s a local lady that makes these sweet bunnies out of hospital blankets as a keepsake! She made Kensie’s a few years ago, too. Both are made from the very first blanket they were wrapped in once they were born! ❤️ (I washed them first…just to clarify. 😂)

Kensie about flipped when she saw it in L’s room. “That’s MINE!!!” Had to take a minute to calm her down and show her that they both had one. 🤣 #toddlerlife

Both girls are still a little stuffy but Leighton has been much calmer and happier the last 2 days since her adjustment. The worst is having to suction her nostrils…thank goodness she’s too young to remember how much she hates me when I do it to her!!! Lol

And I’ll let your night end the same way ours did tonight, with a lovely performance by the artist herself. (and she’s made Maria give her “dos braids like Ana” every day this week at daycare…)

Sorry for the noise and terrible video, I was burping Leighton 😂

What a (long) weekend!

We kicked it off with by celebrating the 4th – our first Holiday as a family of 4! Elle slept through the neighborhood block party AND the 30 minute firework show that happening in our backyard. Kensie was the opposite of asleep, but wanted nothing to do with the fireworks.

This weekend, my Aunt Kris and Uncle Kevin came to town to visit and to meet Leighton!

We ventured out to the Winter Garden Farmer’s Market where K got her very first face paint art, followed by her first French braid!

I’ll admit, this babe constantly asking me to do her hair is every bit as exciting as I thought it would be when I found out I’d be a “girl mom”. 😆

We finished the weekend by taking them to the best restaurant ever: The Garlic!

Leighton slept the evening away while her sister ran in the rain, jumped off benches and redecorated the restaurant.

Both K and L have had stuffy noses this weekend (ohhh the joys of a newborn and a toddler that brings home her germs) but they both seem to be clearing up finally. The chiropractor was closed last week so it was the first week L didn’t get adjusted since she’s been born and this weekend she had her first 2 scream fests. I don’t think it was a coincidence! We made an impromptu visit today for an adjustment and to get her sinuses to drain and she seems to be much calmer and the stuffiness has improved!

^^ my friend Brenna got us this awesome carrier and I am OBSESSED!!! I had never even heard of them before but it’s so soft, light weight and comfy and she can face forward or backward! I linked it here for any mommas looking or if you need a solid baby shower gift!!

And finally…we got the rest of our Newborn/Family photos back!! I’m only slightly biased, but I love every single one of them…especially the ones below that show you what Kensie was REALLY doing the entire time, ha!!!

This was her playing “monkeys jumping on a bed” and the aftermath of her ripping her bow out of her hair like a true sasshole…

And then there’s these, which show the many faces of Leighton…

She’s extremely expressive as you can see, and she’s now added a smile to these poses!

But seriously – I am so glad we took the time to get these memories captured and our first “family of 4” photos taken! If anyone in Orlando is looking for an AMAZING photographer – Briana Lugo is your girl!!

 

 

A just like that…Leighton is one whole month old! 😭

She had her check up on Monday and I could’ve sworn she was much bigger than K at 1 month, but luckily I saved their forms from the doctor…and I was wrong!! Crazy how quickly you forget. 😆 L is a whopping .35 inches and .4oz smaller than K was at this point.

Most importantly, she’s healthy and happy! We even got some smiles from her today!

At her appointment, her doctor put her on her tummy to test her “tummy time” – this little CrossFit prodigy rolled right on over!!! 😯 And now, she’s officially done with tummy time, because every time since, she’s continued to just roll right on to her back. 💪🏼

Leighton is ridiculously strong. Her grip and muscle control is unreal. If she doesn’t want to move her hand from her face it’s like arm wrestling a grown adult to move it. Same with putting on her PJs. If she doesn’t want to bend her leg, you can’t bend it for her. Homegirl does it on her OWN time.

Alas, she is only 4 weeks old so life has basically consisted of eating, sleeping and pooping.

Oh. And shopping. Of course. 😜

She’s also a very noisy baby, and I don’t mean crying. L is so squeaky and grunty and even snores sometimes. 🤣

And now, we’re looking forward to a fun 4th with friends and spending the long weekend with family in town!

We hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July weekend!! 🇺🇸

Our little L turns one month old this week and I’m not too sure where the last 4+ weeks have gone! It feels like she was born a week ago, but I also barely remember life before her!

We had quite the jam-packed weekend and these girls were troopers through it all!

I think L hit a growth spurt on Friday because she slept All. Day. Long. It was the perfect day for it because I decided to take my chances and get my nails done AND we spontaneously took our first road trip as a family of 4 to Jax for the night!

It was a quick trip home for one of my best friends 30th birthdays – and the girls got a little QT with Gramma and Grampa while mom & dad had a fun night out!

Leighton is still working on crushing Kensie’s blow out record. We’ve had one a day all weekend…and 2 on Sunday. 😆 Currently accepting applications for a nanny that has to do nothing other than change diapers (because it’s all they’ll have time for…)

I think Kensie has moved completely past her minor jealousy stage, so other than being a typical toddler (🙄), she’s been the absolute BEST big sister. She’s still protective (or controlling…) over her and tells people not to touch her when they come over or pick her up. Lol!

She constantly asks to take pictures with “sister”, mainly because she knows that means she gets to hold her. And in K’s defense, L was less than pleased BEFORE we passed her off in this photo. 😂 Maybe one day she’ll smile.

K is such a great helper when it comes to Leighton! If she’s crying, K will run clear across the house to check on her and give her a binky or sing “twink-lay twink-lay little star” to her. 😆 also if you want her to do something and she won’t, just say it’s for Leighton and she abides. For now, anyway. Ha!!

While L slept, ate and pooped the weekend away, K had a blast with some of her friends from birthday parties to staying up way too late and eating nothing but sugar for dinner – because when you’re a kiddo, that’s what weekends are for!

Kensie’s fave: tutus and celebrating her friends birthdays!

And to top it all off, this weekend K kept randomly hugging me and saying “thank you mommy!! I love you, you’re my best fwend.” …so excuse me while I go sob. 😭🥰

Today marks 3 weeks old for L and 3 days straight of no car meltdowns 🎉

I was certain she didn’t scream this weekend solely because Chris was in the car. It’s like when you tell the other parent how horrible your child has been acting all day and then they second they get home, the kid turns into an Angel and they’re like “what are you talking about?!” 🙄 I KNOW my fellow moms can relate. Anyway, we made it through 2 car rides today (without Chris) with only one brief fuss. 🙌🏼

We had a wonderful weekend with Aunt Shell and Leighton had her very first bottle!

I had to run some errands for a gym event on Friday and L decided she was starving while I was gone and it’s safe to say this little poop monster doesn’t care what the milk comes out of as long as she gets it. 😂

We are so thankful for the time we got to spend with Aunt Shell and she spoiled us stocking our freezer with homemade meals and our fridge with fresh cut fruit.

Last night our photographer from the newborn photos sent me a few sneak peeks and not only do I LOVE them, but I was also shocked at how it looks like Kensie was actually making our lives easy in them. 🤣

We’ve used Briana for all of our photo shoots since K was born so I knew she was good but if you only knew exactly HOW good…

She snapped these while playing with/distracting Kensie to get her to somewhat participate.

Chris, Leighton and I basically had to freeze in our pose while Briana tried everything possible to get Kens to be in the photo in one way or another. The one where she’s behind us, K was playing peek-a-boo. And the one where she’s jumping on the bed…yeah. She was just living her best life refusing to pose with us and playing “monkeys jumping on the bed”; not that I really expected her to full on participate for photos but I thought we could get a few of them out of her.

Also, the dress she is wearing was not even remotely planned to be worn at any point on this day. She BEGGED to wear a tutu that morning and so I put it on her planning to change her once we got there. Spoiler alert: she refused and I said screw it to avoid a meltdown. She wouldn’t let me fix her hair. Ripped out her bow…basically she was a dream. 🙄

My unsolicited advice for any moms going to a newborn session with a toddler in tow, have zero expectations. Just let it flow and know if you have a good photographer, all will end well. 😜

Even though it felt like an exhausting disaster in the moment – the memories we have from it are (now) hilarious and we got some very REAL, sweet family and sibling moments captured!

And while we’re on the topic of sibling photos, I finally got one of them where Leighton doesn’t look completely miserable during their morning snuggle sesh. 😂

I’m looking forward to getting the rest of our photos back and spamming you guys with all of them!!! 🤪

I’d like to use today’s post to extend an extra shout out to each person that gifted us diapers…Leighton is working her way through half a pack a day.

L’s signature move is laying on you calmly. Snuggling up to your neck…and then farting like a grown ass man. 🤢 Hopefully she gets it out of her system before she becomes a teen. Literally.

Anyway, I’ll move on from the poop (it’s just so hard to not talk about since it’s 80% of our day 😂)

Leighton is the BEST napper/sleeper and cuddler. (*knock on wood*) She loves to sleep with her hands by her face and will wiggle her way out of any swaddle to achieve her goal. She was actually in this position during every ultrasound, too!

She does NOT love the car. 😫 She’ll have to suck it up and get used to it because we’ve got places to go and people to see 😆, but we have yet to make it through a whole trip without at least one scream fest.

On to KB…I got these photos a few minutes apart yesterday and I may or may not have teared up a little. WHEN DID SHE GO FROM A TODDLER TO LITTLE GIRL?

She’s SUCH a little adult and back to hamming it up for the camera at all times.

I love that she’s finding her independence in and outside our home but it also makes me sad and want to just hold L longer and keep her small forever! 😭

We’re super excited and lucky to have Aunt Shell up here with us for a few days!!! K is SO happy and keeps telling her “don’t go bye bye, ok??” every time she walks out of a room – and L doesn’t seem to mind having her here, either. 🥰

We’re ready for a fun, relaxing weekend and here’s hoping Kens sleeps in as late as Leighton does tomorrow!!! 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼(wishful thinking…)

It was a monumental day in this Hall baby’s life.

L had her first blowout. 🤣

If you followed our blog with K, you know she set a record that will be hard to top; but it seems Leighton is getting an early start. Lucky me!

Yesterday was our 2 week check up and this lil’ chunk not only achieved the goal of being back at her birth weight but almost a whole pound over!!! Why should you care? You shouldn’t…but I’m pumped because it means I can let her sleep through the night and don’t have to wake her to feed her. 👏🏼👏🏼

We also had another visit to the Chiro and for those worried or picturing a doctor cracking her back (that is not what they do, FYI 😆), it’s actually so gentle that she slept through the whole thing!

Today we celebrated Taco Tuesday at Titi And BahBah’s house and L was the life of the party.

While the last 2 photos may seem peaceful, this kiddo was actually awake a good part of the day today! Luckily as long as she’s not gassy or hungry, she’s very content just looking around.

We’re still working on L’s less than thrilled facial expressions, but nothing beats Kensie’s genuine smile every time she gets to hold “baby sister”.

These morning photos are quickly becoming my favorite because there’s nothing better to wake up to than this sweetness!!