Tuesday, September 29, 2015

ballet under the stars

We don't have much of a weekend review because Eric worked and I holed up at home with Mia and cleaned house, ha ha! But Friday night was such a fun, happy, magical night! Our neck of the woods hosted an outdoor ballet, lakeside! The best part was that the event was totally free! This was basically the only thing on my wishlist in September that I was hoping to experience with Mia before baby arrived, and I'm so glad we were able to go!

 My posture does NOT help the fact that I look like there's a full grown baby in my belly, ha ha!
I dressed Mia up like a little ballerina which she loved! She got to make a little wand and get her face painted. I wanted to sway her decision but in the end she was so set on getting "Ariel on my HEAD!" that I couldn't say no, ha ha! And oh how she loved her Ariel!! I let her pick which food truck we ate at (okay, she got a quesadilla and I got a waffle, of course she ate just as much of mine as hers, ha ha!) I was curious to see how she would sit for the ballet but once it started she was totally entranced! She started moving her arms around and narrating the dance for me :) After a couple songs Eric showed up and that made Mia's night complete! We ended up moving to the edge of the lawn (I just couldn't handle sitting) and Mia danced with her wand for the next hour! It was SO ADORABLE! Mia had the BEST night and I'm so glad we got to go!

Monday, September 28, 2015

39 weeks {babybrink#2}

Eric was working so Mia took my picture... not bad, ha ha!

Size of baby: a mini watermelon. Feels bigger than mini ;) ha ha! I'm so curious to find out how big he is, especially compared to Mia! She was 7 lbs and 19 1/2 inches!

Movement: he is most active at night but I feel his movements all day long. How can I not? I am convinced I've got the most active, fully grown babe ever, ha ha! He's really good at reassuring me though if I ever feel around for movement because I can't remember the last time I felt him (due to how crazy life gets and not paying close attention, not because he isn't moving).

Cravings: no real cravings. In fact, eating hasn't been the easiest this week. I mean, I'm not sick, I just feel blah and nothing ever sounds good.

Miss anything: ha ha. It's not that I want to wish time away, but I miss not being/feeling pregnant ;) This past week has definitely been the hardest as I'm the most uncomfortable and the fatigue has really set in! Mix that with my lack of wanting food but still needing to feed my body, taking care of my ever busy toddler and body pains.... I kind of miss feeling "normal" :)

Random: the swelling still isn't as bad this time around (compared to Mia's pregnancy) and I can still wear my wedding ring!
No stretch marks (for the time being).
At my appointment last Wednesday (so I was 38 1/2 weeks) I weighed just under 154.5 pounds. I weighed 160 the day I was induced with Mia (at 40 weeks and 4 days) which totaled a 40 pound weight gain. This just proves to me that bodies gain what they need to gain for pregnancy despite what the numbers "suggest" you should gain!
At my appointment we also discovered that I was dilated to a 3! That is crazy to me since baby had only been head down for 2 days at that point, and I wasn't even dilated to a 2 when I was induced with Mia, who was always head down and in position!
The contractions have been much more intense than I ever experienced with Mia and much more frequent, which I guess would explain why I'm dilating :)

Best moment of the week: going to my EVC appointment (to flip the baby) and finding out he was mostly head down! His hand was in the way (like he was doing a flying superman pose) so my doctor "scared" his hand away while doing my exam and his head slid into place! I can't even describe what a relief that was for me! I've been a little nervous all week that he would flip back to breech, but so far, so good! I do wear a girdle when I sleep and sometimes throughout the day to try and keep him in position and discourage him from flipping!

Be sure to follow along on Instagram to see when baby boy decides it's time to snuggle in my arms instead of my belly ;)

Thursday, September 24, 2015

just some randoms {33}

After face timing with my parents, brother and sister in law and new niece Ella, Eric came home from work and Mia decided to be "baby Mia". She grabbed a newly washed burp cloth (for baby brother), a blanket and laid on Eric's shoulder while he "burped" her for a good few minutes, maybe even 5! Mia doesn't lay on anyone's shoulder for more than 2 seconds these days... ha ha! A look into our future once brother is born? I think so!

"I go to gym now!"

Little girl sleeping in her big bed. We are still obsessed with the big girl bed! I need to start sneaking in and snapping more pictures!

We walked into Old Navy and Mia got SO excited to see the dog! She waved and talked to it but acted a little nervous that it would walk up to her at any moment, and she wouldn't go pet it. I'm assuming she thinks it's real? When we were leaving she hurried and hopped on him before saying goodbye... I am still assuming she thinks it's a real dog, ha ha!

In case you were wondering what it looks like when I elevate my legs... here is a smaller, non pregnant, CUTER version of me ;) ha ha!

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

falling in love with Fall

We've enjoyed cloudy, stormy weather the last couple of days here in Arizona that brought cooler temperatures and a little tease of Fall weather (that is already quickly disappearing as we will hit 106 degrees this weekend!) and it's been heavenly! Mia and I busted out the Fall/Halloween decorations a week ago, Fall scents, etc and we are happy to welcome the Fall season on today's official first day of Fall! I am definitely homesick for Utah right now because Fall is such a beautiful season there! The crisp air, changing leaves, fun festivities, etc. So I thought it would be fun to throw it back to some of our Fall adventures in the past (while I'm day dreaming of Fall arriving in Arizona...)

Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving point when I was pregnant with Mia!
 
It doesn't get any cuter than Gardner's Village during Halloween time... especially with best friends!
 
Of course we had to take Mia back to Cornbelly's once she was out of my belly ;)

The first days of boot weather and playing at a farm with friends (and being photobombed by said friends, ha!)

Drives up the canyon to check out the gorgeous leaves. Cedar Canyon has some of the prettiest views and I will miss it this year!

Going to Mia's (and my) first ever pumpkin patch! Hoping to do this in Arizona!

Painting pumpkins (naked because it's still warm enough of in the sun, but nothing is more refreshing than that cool breeze!) Mia was obsessed with this!

And of course carving pumpkins (naked again. Obviously I'm crazy and don't like her clothes to get dirty, ha!) She LOVED doing this with Eric and I loved watching them! She's already asked to carve pumpkins with dad again this year!

THE BEST PART... dressing up and going Trick or Treating! Mia was a lady bug her first Halloween, a witch her second... and she picked her costume for her third Halloween :) Can't wait to she her and baby brother off!

Oh Fall, we have the fondest memories of you! I hope you'll show up in Arizona... eventually! Linking up with Pinky!

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

weekend highlights

We are still in weekend mode over here since Eric has a couple more days off work (he has to work this weekend) and making the most of our (most likely) last weekend as a family of 3 (since he has to work this coming weekend)! Side note: Eric thinks it's silly when I point out things like "this could be our last weekend as a family of 3" and I get where he's coming from... life will definitely change when baby boy is born, but that doesn't mean we will stop living life and having adventures! I just really want to make the most of this time with Mia while we can :) Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the highlights from our simple weekend!


Saturday was such a good day! I soaked up some girl time with Courtney and we indulged in pedi's/mani's! Eric and Mia had a date at Bass Pro Shops during that time and he sent me the cutest pictures of Mia climbing all over the 4 wheelers and rhinos, ha ha! She LOVED telling me about the bears and fish she saw! Luckily for Eric, Mia loves that stuff when I don't seem to have as much patience in those kinds of stores! We all met up for lunch at BJs and stuffed ourselves full of pizza and pizookies, yum! Such a good day with some of our favorite people!
Sunday was spent relaxing at home all day long, except for church of course! I love how peaceful this day has become for my little family! We can really reconnect and rejuvenate and feel ready to take on the new week! This will probably be how I survive life with two kids, ha ha!
Monday started bright and early as we dropped Mia off at Courtney's house to play while Eric and I had to go to the hospital for my procedure. I got the cutest pictures of Mia and Ryder destroying their house and playing dress up, oops! Ha ha! Mia and Ryder are the best of friends and I love their relationship!! Anyway, Eric and I went to the hospital for an EVC to flip baby boy, and we discovered that he was mostly head down! So my doctor was able to get him in position without doing the procedure... an answer to my prayers! More details to come but goodness, I feel so relieved! Now we are just praying he stays put until he's born! Any day now, baby!! I spent the rest of the day on my feet trying to induce labor (doctor's orders, ha ha!) and Eric went out for a guy's night with some people from work. I'm so glad he got some time to himself as well, and I'm definitely jealous of all the good food he ate ;) ha ha!
Oh how I wish the weekends could last forever!

Monday, September 21, 2015

38 weeks {babybrink#2}

Size of baby: baby boy is full grown! I would say that I'm so ready to have him (I'm so done being pregnant, ha ha!) but he is still breech so I'm nervous! I want him to stay in there as long as it takes for him to flip head down :) But he may never flip head down (in that case, I'm ready to have him, ha!)

Movement: this week I've really been able to pick out body parts with his movement, especially his head. His head is under my right ribs, bum towards my pelvis and feet in my left ribs. I can fill him stretch like he's trying to come out of my sides and I occasionally felt his head move down towards my hip bone like he was trying to flip, but never made it. There have been a couple of nights when I've woken up uncomfortable because I can feel myself laying on his head when I lay on my right side. It's really the weirdest thing to be able to feel his head just from how I'm laying!

Cravings: Again, no real cravings besides my usual peaches, chocolate chip cookies and ice cream, ha ha! Oh and shrimp tacos and a Dr Pepper from Cafe Rio sounded really good this last week, but we didn't have time to indulge. I wish our Cafe Rio offered shrimp tacos more days than just Saturdays, ha ha!

Random: I'm not as swollen as I was with Mia this time around! I didn't wear my wedding ring the last month or two of her pregnancy, and I felt like my face and ankles were in way worse shape than they are this time around. I wonder what the difference is?
I finally packed my hospital bag... procrastination at it's finest!
I am going to the hospital today to have the procedure done to try and flip baby boy. Prayers would be greatly appreciated!!

Best moment of the week: at my doctor appointment a few days ago (when I learned that baby boy is still breech :( darn!) we got to listen to baby boy's heart beat (of course) and I asked Mia what that sound was. She got SO EXCITED, "it's BABY BRUDDER! And he's comin' out of mom's belly, and...." she was so excited that she just kept rambling and I couldn't understand her. She thought it was time for him to come out and her excitement totally melted my heart! I can't WAIT for them to meet when he is born!! Any day now, baby!!

Friday, September 18, 2015

2.9

Sunday marks the day that Mia will be another month older. 3 more months until she turns 3, say what?! And this is her last monthly updated before officially being upgraded to a big sister! I am so excited for her and I just know she's ready for this change! Funny thing, I always said it would be great if my kids were 2 years 9 months - 3 years apart. I can't believe this actually worked out! Anyway, back to Mia! She is the star of our lives and this blog after all ;)

Dress and Purse c/o Arden Store
- Mia is saying little phrases that are constantly shocking me. I am always surprised at what she remembers hearing and she always repeats them at the right time (and when it's not the right time? It's too funny!) Little things like, "no problem!" or "holy cow!" or "I can't 'weive (believe) it" while burying her head in her hands, ha ha!
- She can count to twenty (I tried to teach her to count to thirty yesterday and she told me to stop talking around 29, ha ha!), knows her ABC's and has a few songs memorized! She also remembers certain Spanish words that Eric has taught her and uses them whenever she feels like it. My favorite is when she asks for "a'ua" instead of "water" It takes me a minute to remember that she's speaking a different language :)
- I feel like I've taken away a bit of her childhood by making her shower these days, but I just can't bend over to wash her down in the tub. Thankfully she loves showering and she will be back to baths after brother is born (but maybe not until he can bath with her?! She really likes showering and I really like that it only takes 2 minutes, ha ha!)
- Mia is very opinionated! Especially when it comes to her clothes, shoes and hair. She has a hairstylist for a mom but asks for a dang pony tail every. single day.
- She is the best listener and follows the rules like no other toddler I've ever seen, but lately she's testing the limits. She took a (washable, thank goodness) marker to our kitchen table, some of her toys, etc. I can't decide if she's "lashing out" due to the changes coming our way with the baby, or if this is a phase she was going to test out whether these big changes were coming or not.
- We are obsessed with Mia's big girl bed! I still can't believe how easy the transition was (like, there wasn't even a transition period!) She did fall out of her bed early one morning while sleeping and hit her head on the corner of the wood bed frame, so we bought one of those ugly guard rails to keep her safe!  
- Mia gets sassier by the day and it's kind of terrifying, ha ha! At first I was blaming it on the pregnancy and changes she knows are coming... until a friend mentioned how the 3's are worse than the "terrible 2's"... that's when I realized that this won't go away once baby is born. Things just might get crazier until she turns 4?! I guess we'll find out :) She's still the sweetest ever, when she wants to be ;) 
- Lately when she wants my attention, Mia will holler, "Courtney!" whether we are in public or at home. I immediately respond with, "what's my name?!" and she looks at me like duh mom as she replies, "mommy!" ha ha!
- She still wears mainly 2T clothing, but her clothing sizes range from 12 month - 3T. Size 6 shoes. Size 5 diapers. The cute girls at my doctor office weighed Mia and she weighs 28 pounds!

We are just obsessed with this girl and love that she's ours forever!  

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Fall bucket list


 A throw back to Mia's first ever pumpkin patch in 2014!
Maybe it's too early to be thinking of Fall (it definitely feels like it's too early here in Arizona... but the good news is that we've been enjoying high 90's the past few days! It's amazing what a relief it is to have the temperature under 100 degrees, ha ha!) but I like being a rule breaker since Mia and I pulled out the Fall/Halloween decor yesterday anyway ;) Mia is into the seasons and holidays more than ever now that she understands more, and she's really excited for Halloween! I want to make this season as special for her as possible, even though I'll be a sleep deprived zombie for most of it :)

1- Take the kids (KIDS! Weird!) to a pumpkin patch. I think they have those in Arizona? If not, we will find some type of Fall festival type thing to enjoy as a family!

2- Make a spider craft with Mia. She seriously loves spiders... Costco has a huge, creepy spider that Mia loves and claims that it's hers. Really, it's the weirdest thing, ha ha! So I think she would LOVE making a spider craft!

3- Go to the zoo and check out their Halloween themed fun!

4- Make a pumpkin/Halloween treat. I may leave this one up to Eric or a set of grandparents (or all 3, I wouldn't be complaining over having lots of seasonal treats in the house ;)) to do with Mia as I'm not really a fan of baking in the first place, and I doubt I'll be able to handle cooking, let alone baking with a toddler!

5- Paint and carve pumpkins! Mia has actually asked me to carve pumpkins, she remembers doing them with Eric last year (which blows my mind that she remembers!)! And she is obsessed with painting so we will definitely do that again!

6- Go trick or treating! We've got both costumes ready to go and Mia is SO excited! She was just telling me about them on our walk yesterday morning :) She's excited to dress up with baby brother!

I'm keeping the list simple this year. If we are able to sneak in more Halloween fun, great!! I will be all for it! But I don't want to add any pressure to life as we adjust to having a newborn in the home again. Mia won't know the difference anyway ;)

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

a shooter, children's museum & nesting

Another weekend came and went way too quickly! Once again, we are soaking up our time as a family of 3 before life changes forever for our little family! We spent the whole weekend at home (besides running errands, going to the gym, swimming, etc) in total nesting mode! Eric is seriously super husband!! He's helping me clean the house from top to bottom and prep for baby boy's arrival (the car seat is in our jeep now, crazy!!) and I could not be more grateful for his help on his precious days off!
This picture is my fave! The air would blast Mia in the face each time she tried to shove the material in and this was her reaction every time :)
Mia absolutely loved the weekend with us even though we didn't have any special plans this time, but she and I met our cousins at the Phoenix Children's Museum while Eric was at work Friday and had the funnest time! This was the only time I took pictures all weekend long (which Eric loved, I'm sure!) It was so fun to watch Mia run around with her cousins and play with all the toys! This day also marked a momentous milestone in Mia's eyes.... ha ha! She got to use scissors for the first time in the art room, something she's been dying to do forever, and something I've avoided like the plague! Mia has watched me cut hair her whole life and I've tried to teach her that scissors are off limits because I can imagine how fun she would think it is to play "hairstylist" on herself... and you bet I will cry actual tears the day Mia cuts her own hair! Anyway, I suppose I'll just have to do my best to teach Mia how to use scissors (without cutting her fingers) and teach her that she ONLY cuts paper and ONLY when mom or dad are there to supervise, ha ha! It took all that was in me to pry the scissors from her little fingers to move on to another part of the museum :) She LOVED the scissors!
The only downer part of the weekend was our drive to the museum. We passed a group of police men on the side of the freeway, wearing bullet proof vests and crouched below the cement barrier, scoping a building with binoculars. UGH! Why must there be psychos who find joy in shooting random vehicles on the freeway?! (Why must there be psychos in this world intent on destroying lives?) I hope they catch the maniacs who are disrupting the freeway peace here in the Phoenix valley... as if traveling on the freeway isn't stressful enough!

Monday, September 14, 2015

37 weeks {babybrink#2}


Size of baby: a bunch of swiss chards- no, I don't know what that is :) I thought 37 weeks was considered full term, at least that's how it was when I was pregnant with Mia! But I just discovered that they officially changed "full term" to 39 weeks. Which is okay with me! I'll be busy soaking up my time with Mia as our only child for the next 2 weeks anyway!

Movement: we discovered at my appointment last week that baby boy is breech (little stinker!) so movement became stressful for me after that! I kept trying to guess what body parts I was feeling and trying to determine if he flipped yet (on his own. Praying he does so that I don't have to go to the hospital to have my doctor try and flip him later this week!) I finally took a chill pill and am back to enjoying the movements (and reassurance that baby is doing good in there!) because whether he flips or not, he will be in my arms before I know it! (But like I said, STILL praying that he flips on his own!)

Cravings: I don't really have cravings anymore. Peaches still hit the spot! And I get trigger cravings anytime I see a photo of something yummy, mostly sweets ;)

Miss anything: being able to bend over, ha ha! Movement is becoming more and more restrictive for me the bigger he gets! I also really miss snuggling Mia comfortably... but she's been cuddling more on the bump and that kind of makes my heart skip a beat!

Random: I totally have a little "outie" belly button! This never happened with Mia, it was just flat, even with my belly. This time around though, it's totally turned into a little outie. So weird to see it through my shirts in photos, or by reflection of a mirror, ha!

Best moment of the week: one day last week (actually, it happened twice in the last week) Mia was in the other room (pretend) playing with her brother! She kept calling him by name and it was the CUTEST thing! My heart melted and I can't WAIT to see them interact once he's here!!

Friday, September 11, 2015

5 is not enough

 



 
Today of all days, I am reminded in my weakest of moments just how strong we truly are! 
I am proud to be an American! 
United we stand, one nation under God and stronger than ever!
I will never forget. 

Thursday, September 10, 2015

currently

Our Shirts c/o Loved By Hannah and Eli Mia's Bracelets c/o Poppy Lane and Co

Loving: as excited as I am to meet baby brother (and not be pregnant anymore, ha ha!) I am really loving my time with Mia and Eric! Soaking up our time as a family of 3 as much as possible!!

Reading/Watching: I am beginning to think that I'll never find time to read a book for myself ever again!
But I do find the time to feed my Netflix addiction, oops! I'm alternating between Bachelor in Paradise and Scandal right now. Eric and I are still watching NCIS and loving it!! We also just watched Survivor (on Netflix) and it was pretty good. It made us so grateful for the brave men and women who are fighting for our freedom, stopping terrorist attacks and protecting our country, especially with 9/11 right around the corner!

Trying to: flip my baby. You guys, I had an appointment yesterday and I was so excited to see if my body has made any progress. I was happy to hear that my body has made progress...  but no thanks to baby boy! That little stinker is BREACH! And now I'm a ball of nerves and stress and I'm definitely praying that I don't go into labor until he's in position. I'm really trying to keep my cool and trust that everything will work out in the end, but this is all new territory to me (Mia was always in position/head down!) and things are about to get a lot more painful for me if I can't get him to flip on my own. So I would appreciate prayers as I continue to be diligent in the doctor's orders to try and get him in position, please and thank you!

Wishing: that I could win one of those amazingly huge giveaways on Instagram. I apologize now if you are one of my pregnant/new momma friends because I can't NOT tag you all in every single giveaway I find, ha ha! One day I WILL win, right?! Probably not, and I'll lose I'll my friends in the process for being so annoying, ha ha! #butseriously

Excited for: Fall! The smells, the treats, the decor, the food, etc! I'm definitely excited for cooler weather but we won't get that crisp, Fall air until winter time, ha ha (and I will be in heaven dealing with Fall-like weather during the winter instead of bitter cold and snow!) So as it gradually cools down here in Arizona (99 degrees is such a relief compared to the triple digits we've had for months!) I will try to make our home feel as festive and Fall-ish as possible (better get started now because I might be a sleep deprived zombie for all of October, ha!)

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Labor (free) Day weekend

Let me just start by saying that I wasn't expecting to go into labor over the weekend, but it would have been kind of fun to have a baby on Labor Day ;) Can you believe that we forgot it was Labor Day weekend?! Obviously we had no big plans (no reason to plan anything when we didn't even realize it was a holiday weekend, ha ha!) and while I loved seeing every one's camping/beach pictures, no more traveling for this 9 month preggo! Despite having no special plans, this weekend was so good for our little family, just what we needed! Time! We are soaking up this sweet time as a family of 3 as much as possible!
Her little face kills me! She'd already been down this slide multiple times, but the anticipation of hitting the water still got to her, ha!!
Eric and I were able to sneak in a date to the movies one last time before baby boy arrives! That was seriously only our 2nd date since moving to Arizona... we really need to find some babysitters on our side of the valley, ha ha! We went to Mia's first official friend birthday party (where Eric played hard with Mia and I sat around eating the whole time, bahaha!), went shopping, ate good food, relaxed, took naps each day, cleaned house, etc. There were times when Eric and I wanted to kill each other (in a loving way...I think of course!), or times when my body hurt so bad I couldn't do anything but sit or lay down, melt downs from exhaustion, etc. Our holiday weekend wasn't a glamorous one by any means, but the good moments, the simple moments of just spending time together far outweigh the rotten moments that snuck their way in! I feel so rejuvenated after our weekend of playing, relaxing and getting things done in preparation for the changes coming our way... My heart is full and it feels like I couldn't love Eric and Mia more if I tried! Maybe next Labor Day we will experience a glamorous weekend away, or get brave and go camping ;)

Monday, September 7, 2015

36 weeks {babybrink#2}


Size of baby: a head of romaine lettuce or a canary melon. Let's be real here, none of that matters. At this point baby boy is the size of a newborn baby and will basically be packing on the ounces until he's born. From this point on, he's fully grown and will just weigh a bit more each week. I can't believe we have a fully grown baby already!

Movement: at this point his movements have actually become a quite painful at times. I still love feeling him move but multiple times through the day the pain actually causes me to stop and catch my breath for a second. Little man is running out of room!

Cravings: Chocolate chip cookies? Ha ha! People ask me all the time if I'm hungry 24/7, especially since I'm carrying a boy. I feel like I must feed myself really well and give my body everything it needs because I rarely find myself mentioning how hungry I am... I'm actually exhausted 24/7.

Miss anything: walking/moving without pain. I haven't experienced any pelvic pain this pregnancy until this past weekend (I felt it much earlier on with Mia) and I'm just hoping these are the normal pains of everything loosening up and baby moving into position... and not a sign that I've injured myself somehow.

Random: Mia hit the stage in the last week or so where she's voicing the fact that she doesn't want baby brother, ha ha! Since our sweet niece was born, we've really been able to talk to her about the reality of brother coming out of my belly and being with us. For the most part she's excited to hold him but she's been very specific when she doesn't want him around. She was pointing out family pictures of Eric, me and Mia and I told her that our next family photos would have daddy, mommy, Mia and baby brother! "NO! I don't WANT baby brudder!" Grandma asked Mia if brother was going to have her crib, and Mia kind of lost her mind over it (even though I thought she was okay with it since transitioning to her big girl bed, ha!). "Baby brudder can't have daddy!" I know we will have more moments like this once he's here, but I think for the most part that she will love having him around and won't hold back from loving (too much) on him :)

Best moment of the week: hitting the 9 month mark! It's so bittersweet! We are nervous for the changes coming our way, of course, but so excited to meet him! I just can't believe how quickly this pregnancy flew by! I will find out if my body's making any progress this week at the doctor (I sure hope my body is cooperating by the braxton hicks contractions I've been experiencing, If all of that is for nothing, that will be discouraging, ha!) The count down is on to seeing his sweet face!

Friday, September 4, 2015

insta-life

We finally introduced her to nightgowns... How will I ever get her to wear anything else? Like ever?! (And why didn't these pretty things exist when I was a little girl?! Obsessed!!) Mia twirled in her new nightgown, said "pretty girl!" then threw herself in my arms for the biggest "thank you" hug ever... Melt my heart!!

We live for family fun days!

Big sister is already trying to swipe baby brother's stuff (including dad's hat because, "I need ma hat, mom!" Eric has just as much influence on her as I do) Eric is so excited about this jersey & he couldn't resist trying it on Mia... In return she said, "baby brudder won't like it. It fits ME!" Sorry sis- belly shirts aren't allowed, ha ha!

Things I'm loving about this photo, despite all its imperfections: The bump (but kind of over it at the same time, if you know what I mean). My hubs (who is cheesin' it hardcore for the photographer). The photographer (who happens to be 2 1/2. It's been a fun week letting Mia take some pictures on my phone). We're feeling all the feels over meeting baby boy soon: excited, nervous, anxious... EXCITED!

 Mia LOVES my doctor appointments! She tells me it's because we get to hear baby brother's heartbeat... but I suspect it's actually because the nurses love her & she has them wrapped around her fingers, ha! She walked in the room, climbed onto the table and said, "it's Mia's turn!" before I set my purse down, ha ha! But she did have a huge smile on her face when we listened to baby's heartbeat!

Little moments I don't want to forget:: the way she says "I ho'd you?!" when she wants to be held.
 How obsessed she is with swords (this actually stresses me out because she plays HARD! Trying hard to find the balance between teaching her to avoid hurting others and just letting her play #helicoptermomalert) She is the perfect mix of girly girl and tomboy!  
Listening to her exclaim "my back hurts!" or "my belly's growin'!" She must hangout with her pregnant momma all the time, ha! It's been the sweetest thing to see how in tune she is with this pregnancy... and how hard she tries to convince us that baby brother is actually in HER belly!

Family date night at the ball game!

So, crazy thought.... there is a real possibility that September could be baby month. AH!! We be soaking up these last weeks as a family of three (and spoiling Mia rotten in the process) so follow along @courtbrink to see all the fun! And I'll be honest and tell you right now, Instagram will be the first to know when baby brother arrives so if nothing else, be sure to follow along when we finally introduce him to the world for the first time!

Thursday, September 3, 2015

big girl bed {the transition}

We did it! We finally transitioned Mia to a big girl bed a little less than two weeks ago! If it weren't for baby brother's arrival in the coming weeks, she would probably still be in her crib, ha ha! You see, at 2 1/2 Mia has only ever climbed out of her crib once (this was months ago and she either scared herself doing it, or got hurt and hasn't tried since!) and just really loved her crib. I was a nervous wreck to switch her to a bed where Mia could enjoy all the freedoms of not being caged in, ha ha! Why fix something that isn't broken, right?


I seriously freaked myself out the weeks leading up to the transition. So much so that I couldn't make up my mind when it came to picking a bed (Eric steered me in the direction of getting a bed with drawers, a feature that we are all loving!) and I avoided taking Mia shopping to pick out her bedding. I think a tiny part of me was struggling to let go of the fact that my baby girl truly isn't a baby anymore, but I was mostly just really nervous that we wouldn't be getting any sleep for a couple of weeks with her new found freedom. Why I underestimated Mia, I'll never know!!

Mia was thrilled (an understatement) to pick out bedding for her big girl bed (and I was thrilled with her choice!) and her reaction was priceless once Eric put together her bed! She wasn't expecting the surprise when we walked in her room so she stopped dead in her tracks, took in the view of her bed then whispered, "Wow!! Dat's amaaaaazing!" My heart almost burst!! I didn't even know that she knew how to say "amazing" or what it meant, ha ha! And I love that she was so in awe of her bed that she whispered!! Oh man, her excitement had me kicking myself for waiting so long to transition!

When we tucked her into bed her first night, I explained that she had to stay in her bed and sleep (or else she would have to sleep in her crib... I couldn't help myself from threatening her a little, ha ha) all night long. She rolled right over and didn't move until she was asleep! And that's seriously how it's been ever since! Sometimes during nap time I'll see her on the monitor picking books and bringing them in bed to read until she falls asleep :) I can't believe how easy the transition was! Mia loves her bed so much, and I love how much she loves it! Hopefully potty training will go just as smoothly when the time comes (and yes, I realize at this point that I'm the one holding her back. Nothing I can do about it until after the baby comes at this point, ha ha! Sorry Mia! Momma can only handle so much change at one time!)

We decided to have the kids share a room to keep the guest room available (hint, hint! We love visitors!) so this isn't my dream bed for my dream girl, but it's pretty perfect for the time being! Our big girl is absolutely LOVING it! And when she does get her own room again? I will definitely let myself enjoy the bedroom makeover next time around ;)