"New year, new me"

  Just kidding, that's the worst saying in the world. Now that 2016 is here I figured I should touch on what we're going to do this year! We didn't really make resolutions but we do have plans!

  Starting off, I've decided every Sunday is going to be "purge day". We simply have to much stuff and I'm tired of it. I will admit part of it is me not wanting to get rid of stuff and I think that stems from growing up fairly poor and always wishing I more or what other kids had. I'm starting off by getting rid off all the baby clothes since Gannon is now in 12 month clothes! We won't be having anymore babies for atleast 3, but more like 5 years and I don't want to hang on to all of this stuff for that long. I'll be keeping the gender neutral stuff and a few things that are sentimental but otherwise it's all going!

  I'm also going to start getting out more. More playdats, LLL meeting, babywearing meetings, story time, all of that super fun mommy junk! Brantley has become EXTREMELY shy and I'm hoping getting him out and around more will help calm that down. I'm hoping this will help me make some friends because honestly, I'm lonely.

   I also plan to make some changes to how I parent my kids, Brantley specifically, since he's the one that needs the teaching and discipline. I'm hoping to get him potty trained by the end of the year and I have some small goals on what I want him to learn through out the year. Nothing huge, juat memorizing more colors, shapes, animals and maybe start numbers and the alphabet! He's SO smart and I fully believe he can do it but I need to start actually qorking on teaching him more. I've got tons of ideas from Pinterest and when tax season comes and we have the extra money I'm going to redo his bedroom and add a lot of different educational tools.

  I suppose the last things to touch on are my plans for Justin and I! We're going to start eating better and working out, hoping to lose the extra weight we've both been holding too. We've got lots of financial plans that will hopefully pan out according to plan, savings, paying things off, simple things like that. Lastly, we're going to work on our marriage and making time for ourselves because the kids have taken over and we literally get NO alone time, ever, for anything.

That's all for today folks,  I'll be back soon with another update! I'm really going to shoot for 2 posts a week this year, lord knows I've got enough to talk about!

2 years old!

Yep, you read that right. My first born baby is officially 2 years old! His birthday was on Thursday but Justin had worked 7p-3a and we were both having an off day. We took a trip to the zoo on Friday, and had a homemade cake after dinner! Saturday and Sunday day were both party days, Saturday was a party for my mom's side of the family and Sunday was just a small cookout for my dad's side of the family.

So, some may see this as tacky, but here's a birthday haul for y'all! Justins dad sent a little times police car which Brantley absolutely loves! Aunt Courtney sent super cool star wars underwear, a pack of white tshirts and some other site undwrwear. We got him 4 Tonka trucks that light up and make noise. Justins mom sent a talking Thomas the Train that moves around with this sensor paddle thing, it's hard to explain but it's really cool! My Grandpa Steve and Grandma Joanne got him a big tractor that makes noise, and our friend Molly and her little girl got him a super cool book about animals! Oh, last but not least my mom and Tim got him a bike with training wheels which he's slowly getting the hang of.

It's so hard for me to believe that Brantley is now 2 years old... I feel like I was just pregnant with him. Time has gone by so fast and I really don't like it at all. He talks 24/7 and picks up new words daily. He's the smartest most stubborn and determined little boy I've ever met. When he sets his mind to something there is no stopping him. That's something that I hope stays with him forever.

We're taking a trip to the zoo today (can you tell we really like the place, lol) so I'm going to end on that sappy note!

Double weekend review?

I had every intention to post a weekend review last weekend, but I wanted to cheat a little and include our Tuesday zoo trip in the post aswell but by Tuesday I'd completely forgot!

So, we'll start qith last Saturday! We woke up at our regular time and I could already tell it was going to be a rough day so I decided that we'd venture to the goodwill for 50% off day. Oddly enough my kids are usually well behaved in public and lunatics at home, so we spend alot of time wondering around stores! I had planned on going to toddler time at our local library after the goodwill but it was raining and I didn't want to deal with getting the kids in and out in the rain. The last thing I need is a kid with the sniffles!

Sunday was a lazy day to catch up with the house cleaning and the never ending laundry!

Here's a little cheat in the 'weekend' review;

Justin has every Monday and Tuesday night off (have I ever mentioned that he works graveyards?) So Monday is his day to catch up on sleep and game then Tuesday is always family day! This Tuesday we went to the zoo which we actually do often since we bough an annual pass in order to save money and basically be able to go when ever we wanted. Brantley is a huge fan of the zoo and it's been a great way to work on teaching him his animals. Right now just about everything that has fur and walk on four legs is a horsey, but he's learned what birds, monkeys and snakes are. It was sweltering outside and we made this a quick but fun trip that ended with lunch at Arbys!

This past Thursday Justin took us on a surprise adventure, he literally would not tell me where we were going. I had a sneaking suspicion that we were going to Binder Park Zoo (if you live near Battle Creek Mi I HIGHLY recommend this zoo!) It's about 1.5 hours from us which gave the kids a chance to get a good nap in before we got there. Since we have a membership at our local zoo we get a 50% discount at tons of zoos across the US and Binder Park is one. Being on a budget we like to keep our extracurricular actives cheap if possible. It was another sweltering day at nearly 90° so Justin made sure I packed snacks, water, sunscreen and sun hats for the kids and off we went! Brantley of course has a blast, he walked a good 2 miles before asking to be put up on my back where he finished out our trip. If I wasn't already sweating like crazy and getting a work out in adding an extra 30lbs definitely made sure I did. Gannon hung out in the stroller for the most part, he ate as soon as we got to the zoo, but it was just too hot to wear him and the stroller canopy offered shade without covering his head the way the ergo hood does. The best part of the whole trip was getting up close and personal with the Giraffes and feeding them! Gannon gawker liked crazy and Brantley smiled like never before while feeding and petting them. It's definitely worth the $5 for a basket of leaves for them. It was a fun filled day and I always love spontaneous trips!

This Saturday -yesterday- we took a trip to Target! I think for the first time ever Brantley didn't get anything while we were there! I found Gannon 2 shirts on clearance, I treated myself to new make up, and Justin got an Age of Ultron shirt since it was on clearance. We also had to go to Walmart for somw household stuff, laundry soap, toilet paper, stuff like that! I picked up and good bit of produce since we were running low on that too. Hopefully this week I can get it all cooked before it goes bad.

Today -Sunday- we went to Sunday Funday at my dads. He has a big cookout usually twice a month or so ad we always go. Brantley loves playing with his cousins, I love getting out of the house, seeing and gossiping with family and of course the awesome food. The pulled pork today was amazing! I ate way to much and ended up with a stomach ache, haha. After a long day in the sun and slip-n-slide Brantley is currently knocked out next to me in bed. I have high hopes he'll sleep well tonight. The last week has been HELL, he sleeps like 5 hours a night and refuse to nap so needless to say I'm exhausted. Gannon didn't do any playing in the water but the heat and busyness definitely wore him out, he knocked out quickly too! I plan to follow suit as soon as this blog publishes 😄

Small happening I forgot to mention, Thursday was haircut day for Brantley and I, and Gannon is now 3m! I'm going to put that post up tomorrow!

Tune in on Friday for a review of our week! I'm going to do my best to do a weekly and weekend review for y'all!

Never letting go

                                           "I want to hold you and never let go"

     This is a phrase I know we're all familiar with and I'm sure at some point we've all said it. I used to tell Justin this every time he left me for the rig.  If you REALLY think about it though, how many times have you held someone and physically had to force yourself to let them go? I'm sure some people have just said that for the novelty of it and some people really mean it. Tonight after I went down stairs to check on Brantley and Justin I found Brantley sleeping which I expected. I picked him up and carried him to his bed and all of the sudden I was just overcome with emotions and love for my sweet boy. My sweet yet very rotten and spirited boy. I don't know why but it hit me incredibly  hard in that moment that I've failed him as a mother lately, while he is a very deliberately defiant little boy at times I've been incredibly harsh on him. When he misbehaves instead of using that as an opportunity to teach him the right way we yell and put him in time out. I've really been trying to take a gentler approach to disciplining him and so far I've failed.

    Anyway, I derailed from the point of this post! While standing in Brantleys room tonight as I was about to lay him down I didn't want to. I mean I literally didn't ever want to let him go,  had to force myself to lay him down. I could have stood there swaying with his sweetly sleeping body in my arms for eternity. I've obviously always loved my children more than anything but in that short, sweet moment I realized exactly what a mothers love really is, it's never wanting to let go.

World Breastfeeding Week

August 1st kicks of World  Breastfeeding Week!

   I have been incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful breastfeeding relationship this time around. Being able to nurse Gannon so effortlessly, without worrying if he's getting enough or having him spit it all back up and scream has truly been amazing. From day 2 everything has been perfect and I couldn't be more thankful! My emotions have been healed on so many levels and it's been so refreshing for me. Breastfeeding gives me the opportunity to sit down, breath, and connect with Gannon even on my busiest most stressful days.

  With all of that said, today we participated in something I've wanted to do for a while, The Big Latch On! We woke up and packed the car to drive an hour to help break the Guinness book of world records record for the most breastfed babies latched at one time!  There were events held all over the world! I gathered with a small group of only 8 women but we had a lot of fun, and with only 8 of us we lucked out and everyone got a raffle prize. I just so happened to win a new BumGenius 4.0 Patch print, I had been wanting a second so I was super happy.

  It was such an amazing thing to he a part of something so big that helps to bring awareness to something that is so dear to my heart. I'm looking forward to attending for the next few years aswell as our nursing relationship continues and grows.

Gannon Dean

Long time no post!

It's been 3 months today since my last post and a LOT has happened in those 3 months! To start with, we had a baby!

   Gannon Dean made his arrival after just short of 5 hours of BRUTAL labor and 7 minutes of pushing on June 3rd weighing in at 8lbs and 20in long. He was the sweetest tiniest thing I've ever seen and my heart melted the second he was placed on my chest.

   This time around labor was MUCH harder and 8 hours shorter than my last  and pushing was mush easier. I will say that you truly do forget the pain as soon as it's over, thinking back I know how painful my labor was but I can't remember it, if that makes sense. I still absolutely loved being in labor and the act of giving birth. It's the most empowering, amazing thing I've ever done and I can't believe my body has down it not just once, but TWICE.

   At nearly 2 months old Gannon is still the sweetest little thing. He sleeps like a dream, nurses like a champ, and wants to be held constantly when he's awake. He's already grown almost 3in and gained over 4lbs, mommas mil is doing its job!

  Brantley is filling the big brother roll well, aside from always stealing Gannons socks he absolutely loves him. He asks to hold him all the time and jumps the the chance to entertain him during tummy time. We've had a lot of trouble with his sleeping and behavior but that's a post all its own one day soon.  

   Justin has decided to go back to school this fall and I couldn't be prouder of him. He's going to for his Masters doing something with computers.

  That's all I feel like typing up today, so that's all you get 😄