Late October/Early November Thoughts+Photo Dump

The best months of the year.
Happy Hallgivingmas.
Or something like that.
I kid.

They really are months that I anticipate all year long.  From January 1st, I'm dreaming of what the next season will be like.  I look forward to each season as it comes, but these.  These are special times.  And as this new season of my life begins, a new mom to three, at the same time -there is just so much to take in.  SO much to take in.  I think of the quote that I said I wanted to "embrace" for 2019...

"I'm challenging myself in this new year to live for now. The present. Taking in every breath, every sight, and sound and holding it dearly...I want to rid myself of the little distractions because I have found that these are the thieves that steal our moments and rob our days. But time, time is our most precious gift."
-Joanna Gaines

(I'm sure there may be an eye roll or two, as much as I love JoAnna- but what she says may be discredited by some due to her popularity -you know...everyone clings to every word she says-BUT THIS.  
These words are profound)

I can say, throughout my pregnancy with Baker and ESPECIALLY since October 9th...

I am r e a l l y trying to pay attention to every moment, every word, every thought, every feeling.
Take all the pictures, all the videos-or don't.  Just be in the moment.
Write about it or only store it in my heart...Just take it all in and smile because it happened.
And here are some of those moments...

I spy Baker!

Big brothers & first time at church!  She was so sweet & good until time to eat!

She stays pretty on top of her schedule...

I'll be honest...Tepper has gotten on my nerves a lot lately with all her energy.
But I gotta hand it to her, she is amazing with the boys.  And they love her so much.
As do I.  And Cade is another level of love.

We have the sweetest neighbors❤️
Panera Bread Bagels & My favorite - meatloaf!

 Mom, these gowns don't let me stretch out!  I'll fix that!😆

 Conley perfected his stick figure on our booth.
Thankfully it was NOT a sharpie🙌🏻

 Right hand man!

 Loves her wrap!

 Can't say enough how thankful I am for my work at home job!  This was my first day back to work-& it was only two weeks after having Baker.  It made it so much easier getting to pop out of the office to my babes!

Snuggle squishy!

A girls first trip to Target...first stop: you know it.
  You know she was taken away by those dollar bins.

 And MOM...all this Christmas stuff?????!!!!

Floral is you, Baby Bae.

 Aldi opened like a mile from our house and... 😍🙌🏻💸
It is ah-mazzzzing.  Cheap stuff is where its at.

 Can you never grow up?  Please and thanks.

 Tree time!  Ready to enjoy this flocked mess🤪

 cheeks growing by the day.

 "Hey mom!  Take our picture with Teppy!"🙃

 Getting all the chores done!

 It makes my heart happy to look in the back seat and see it full!
A dream come true.  Minus all the fighting 😬

 His & her FIRST CHESNUT PRALINE.  November has been made.

 Little turkey babe!

 Life lately.

 Bean bags are life.

I always picture this happening...Cade putting the star on at the end...but it typically never happens.  This year it did😊

 I snapped these before bed one night💕
SOOO Precious.

 A moment.  Conley the first day of the famous Disney Plus.
He watched Frozen for the "first time in FOREVER."  Get it??
He watched the "Do you wanna build a snowman?" with the biggest grin on his face👆🏻
And it was just one of those moments.  It melted my heart.
While he's growing up so fast, he's still little!  And I love & cherish that.

 Her hands!

Conley has been taking such good care of his fur babies.
I can't!

Okay.  That is all.  Until Friday!
XO

Conley's Four!

A little FYI:  
I am going to be sporadic in my posts over the next few days.  

I've neglected writing so much lately.  All I do is nurse, work, clean, repeat!
I can't complain, I love this season of my life, but I will add, this is too special of a time in my life to drop the ball now.  Not to mention, blogging has always been so therapeutic for me since becoming a mom.  I miss it when I'm not able to & truly believe it is something to make time for.

So, forgive me for being all over the place-I'm going to try & play catch up this week😬

Today, I am going to post about Conley's Fourth Birthday.

My second babe is now a FOUR year old! 

He has been my baby for basically four years, & though we had a few days of figuring it out,
I think he has done a phenomenal job transitioning into a big brother!
(And he, along with each of my kids, will ALWAYS be my baby).

Conley is the most loving, strong-willed, determined, life loving, independent (for everything but self help skills that he can convince me to do-guilty🙋🏻‍♀️) four year old I know.  He keeps us laughing & on our feet.  I don't know what we would do without him!  He means so much to our little family!
---
Favorites: Speaking in his own language (Me: No, you can't have the phone, Conley: I hate my seatbelt, it is so BORING!  Me: Conley, clean up your mess...Conley:  I'm too scared!), he loves cats, Cat Boy from PJ Masks because he is a cat and blue (his favorite color which has now morphed in to "Blue purple"), and picking the opposite of anything Cam says.  But then again, he loves to talk, so after Cam tells something interesting, he will say," Hey!  Guess what? " And say the exact thing Cam said like it happened to him😂. My favorite.

You can find him: Jumping on the couch, sky diving at dangerous heights from household furniture,
eating macaroni & cheese, begging for gummy vitamins (since banning him from his beloved gummies after a dental visit), refusing to eat meat, "petting Baker," taunting Cam, begging for phones, screaming at the top of his lungs, and most recently-dabbing.  Thanks big bro.

According to Conley:
What is your name?  "Conley."
How old are you?  (Holds up hands with four fingers) "I cannot tell you."
What is your favorite thing to do? "ummm, play on the phone."
What do you want to be when you grow up? "astronaut."
What is your favorite food? "macaroni"
Who do you like to spend time with? "Cam." "Like, everyone Mom."
What do you do really well? "ummm, play on the phone."

Have I mentioned that I loathe phones???😫

What makes you laugh? "pooting."
What is the best time of day? "play on the playground."
What are you afraid of? "ummm, of ghosts."
Who is your best friend? "ummmm, everyone."
What do you like to do with your family? "ummmm. hangout."
What do you love to learn about? "ummm, school. so that's easy.  so easy.  the easiest thing ever."
Where do you like to go? "I like to go to space."
What is your favorite book? "my favorite book is Pokemon."
If you had one wish what would it be? "uh, ultra gun, like just watch me now."
Who are you going to marry? "No one.  I don't want to marry anyone, Mom.  Don't say that!"

Until the New Years Interview...😆
---
THE PARTY
I quit throwing huge parties after Conley's first birthday (it just became too much, & we couldn't possibly go to all the birthday we would love to go to).  Now, it's just family/neighbors that will travel to Knoxville.  When I asked Con what kind of party he wanted, he really never could pin point the birthday party he wanted, so I kind of helped him.
He loves The Nightmare before Christmas, we had a ton of Halloween decor that would "go with the flow," & Jack the Skellington just seemed like the perfect way to celebrate Con turning the big F-O-U-R.  So, Jack the Skellington it was!

He really doesn't care about a birthday theme right now (when mama's get to have fun🙃).
All he cared about was getting a humongous Stitch & a Batman toy.
Everyone delivered & he KEEPS telling me, "Mom, I loved my birfday."
We have the best family & friends ever.
You know how with time, many memories seem to fade?  Well, I hope his sweet little voice never fades.  I want to bottle it up & keep it with me always.  Corny-maybe, but I die over it.  And it's kept him alive on several occasions.

Here are a few pics from his special day!

This is our home, in it's natural state.

I should have taken more pictures!  But if you've ever been/thrown a kids bday party (especially your own, that is typically the bottom of the totem pole in things you get to do! 😬)

Sources:
Cake (by me-I took a class last summer, made a cake for our Bebe & never braved it again.  We couldn't find a Jack cake so I attempted.  I'd like to keep experimenting!)
Balloons: Amazon (don't fool with a balloon garland...that is why we have so many balloons on the floor).
Jack Balloon (Publix)

For their gift from their dad & I, we like to give them something that is attached to an experience or a fun day out (Build A Bear/Toys R us (may it RIP)/Smart Books & Toys-you get the picture!) and Con picked Build a Bear this year.  He started out wanting Pikachu, but decided on Chase when we got there.  He has basically slept with him & his ginormous Stitch every night since.  He LOVES stuffed animals❤️

We got Halloween donuts & chocolate milk (another banned item from the grand ole dentist) for breakfast & then went to the mall.  He was so excited!  Also, can't forget to mention this was also Bakers FIRST ever outing :). And first trip to a mall.  She was an angel, naturally!  Then we basically didn't go anywhere else until this past week😂
Here are some pictures from that special outing...

He drug him all the way out of the mall with that leash and
...it was, yes, the cutest thing you've ever seen.

If you're still reading, I owe you a big thanks for enduring the outpouring of my mom heart🤪

Happy Monday, I'm crossing my fingers for a snowy Tuesday!

Halloween 2019

I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.

Everything around me is happening at warp speed & all I did was blink my eyes.

It is November, y'all!

I'm pretty sure I was just sitting on the couch watching Ryan Seacrest countdown to 2019 like...

y e s t e r d a y.

And here we are slowly, but surely (okay-sprinting) into 2020.

It's because I had a baby, isn't it?

 Halloween will always be one of my favorite holidays.  

#3, in fact, coming in behind ...

2. Thanksgiving

and of course 3. Christmas.

The decorations, bright orange pumpkins, crunchy leaves, and my favorite-family costumes (aka excuses to have themed family fun) keep me with that little kid belly excitement all year long.  I don't know why, but I won't question it.  

It's one of those little things in life that has always seemed to bring me joy.

 Now that we have two birthdays in October (okay 4 if you add our extended family members), October just became that much more special in my book.

 The only way Baker was going to let me carve pumpkins this year.  In the pouch.

Speaking of pumpkins...do you know how impossible it was to find pumpkins in Knoxville, TN the week of Halloween???  We called every store imaginable before finally finding a place that was getting one more load in the next morning & so kindly let me reserve four to pick up.  Mind you I had to call at 7 am.  But we got them!  I would have had a devastated 6 year old if I hadn't have found any.  When we got to the country store, they were depleted once again with unfortunate pumpkin harvesters desperately seeking any old thing to carve before the big night.  

Note to self: next year-buy them early.  Even if they rot!

 I can't.  My squishy baby deer.

 Pregaming ...watching our Halloween Inspo.

 First time at daddy's favorite - Three Amigos.

I couldn't eat Mexican food with her toward the end of my pregnancy

-as you can see, she's not impressed.

 My post partum fitness team.

Any guesses who we were this year?

Okay, we are Heavyweights.  Look it up if you want a laugh-thank me later.

Later, we had to change into something warm because it was fa-r e e z I n g!

The boys ended up getting extra candy from the neighbors because our crowd was off this year d/t weather.  I wish I could have bottled up the air & excitement that night as my sister & I took the big boys out trick or treating.  Conley was especially beside himself with excitement.

They were basically 18 years old going up and knocking on doors while we waited by the curb.  Saying trick or treat & thanking our neighbors for their special treats.  It was heart warming.  Even if they were maskless Pikachu & some video game Ranger.  Their little feet hurriedly shuffling from door to door to the houses with the lights still illuminating the streets.   

Conley would randomly wave as he got out of view at the gracious candy givers.  If their buckets were empty he would say, "That's not nice!"  And if they only had one type of candy, he would shout "All they had was _________!"  

Those precious little moments when you want to duck tape their mouths shut.😬😇

Me: "Oh, wow!  Starburst's are great!  How lucky!"

Please don't hate us.

I'm not going to lie.  As excited as I am to always put up the Christmas tree, I'm just as sad to take down our Halloween/fall-y (okay, not all-I'm halfway decorated for Thanksgiving) decorations.  I put them up as soon as we got back from the beach in August & it just doesn't seem possible that they've been up that long.  It comes & goes so quickly-THAT is why I am always about the anticipation.  It makes holidays last longer!  Until next year!

And we may or may not know what our next costume will be.

We that kinda crazy🙃