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This precious blue eyed boy is nine months old.

He is more than I could ever imagine a little boy would mean to me. His personality draws me in more and more each day.

He’s selective when he laughs, but when he does, it’s a deep, heartfelt laugh. He has the sweetest and most unconditional love for Hayden. It doesn’t matter what she does, he will follow her anywhere and gets so excited when she comes out in the morning. Some days he even goes looking for her.

He has the sweetest temperament and loves to be wherever people are. He crawls and explores and is fascinated with how things work. Cabinets and doors, drawers and knobs are his favorite and he could care less what’s inside. He will spend his time simply opening and closing them.

He’s fearless. Hardly startled and always pushing the limits. Hayden is my careful one. She’s cautious and takes her time. Reid is all in, all the time. It’s hard to keep him in one place, he has an agenda to explore as much as he can.

He crawls and pulls himself up on everything. His green jeep is a usual mode of transportation and he pushes that little truck all over the place. He gets into a new level of trouble and we have to keep a pretty close eye on him since he really loves to knock over plants and eat dirt…gross. Good luck telling him no. He either giggles at you or gives you this look.

He loves to eat with us and snack on puffs and he might be the messiest eater, ever. Even drinking water is a disaster.

His blue eyes are to die for and he is getting a head full of strawberry blonde hair. He has perfect little chubby hands and toes and is SOLID. It’s like packing a rock around.

Among his favorites are playing with the dishwasher door, getting up early with his daddy, and baths. He knows the sound of the water in the tub and scoots as fast as he can for the bathroom.

He loves pulling books off the bookshelf, looking out the sliding door and still takes a pacifier. Sleep isn’t a priority to him yet and we’re still going strong with mama milk. He is our favorite little man and we’re so very blessed to call him our own.

Today is Mother’s Day. Growing up, I just remember making crafts at school, picking wild flowers and being super sweet to my mom on that certain Sunday. Now having children of my own, it takes on a whole new meaning.

Being a mother is a job. It has schedules, and paperwork, meals are catered by yours truly and there are days my 2 bosses are real *bleeeeeps*.  Other days, operations run real smooth. My management skills come into play, the busy bees do as they are told and I even get to close shop early some nights.

It’s the only job in my life so far that I truly love. I wake up ready and willing to work at it. Well, willing. I say ready loosely. No other job has ever been so rewarding or satisfying. I strive each and every day to be better at it, and make lasting impressions on the tiny humans I’m responsible for. And the retirement package has potential to be fabulous! I mean I’m raising a crew that will one day cater to every one of my old lady needs.

It’s hard work. Sunrise to sunset you have to be on point, on your game and at times you pay dearly when you slack. *cue the unwatched baby to knock over your plant and eat the potting soil and your four year old “accidentally” tips her glass of milk over and it spills over every important piece of mail on the table *

I have days I moan and groan that clothes don’t fit as they did, and I’m irritated that the last bit of baby weight just won’t budge. Then I look at the beautiful children I carried with this body and brought into the world.

I lose my temper with a girl who has attitude for days, and get frustrated with a baby who cries relentlessly every time daddy leaves him behind.

But just remind myself my daughter is becoming her own individual and simply needs guidance to better understand all those tiny emotions she has, and a deep love for his daddy is something both Reid and Andy will cherish together.

Being a mother to me means letting go of little things. Not caring about minor details. Like a boy who snuggles up with his sister’s blankets. Or a girl who always steals her brother’s toys from him.

It’s means filling our home with all our favorite little people and loving them as part of our family.

Being a mother means I’ve created a life that I’m proud of. That I’ve sacrificed and have all my blood, sweat and tears into these little people that make up my amazing family. They are beautiful, unique and spectacular in all their own ways.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you special mamas out there.

I’m thankful for…

date nights

I’m lucky to have nights spent with a man who makes me smile. Who laughs with me. Who I can enjoy time with away from our kids. Who opens my door and holds my hand. Who tells me all night long I’m beautiful. Who I can be serious with and also be silly, and goofy and he’ll be dorky right along with me. Most of all, I’m lucky to have all of this and have our night end just like this.

One of my favorite people has a birthday on Thursday. And to kick off her birthday week, we celebrated her last night with a surprise dinner.

We made her favorite foods and of course had tasty cocktails along with it.

To top it all off, was the best birthday cake EVER. Anyone that knows Amy, knows that her favorite meal is shake and bake pork chops, with mashed potatoes and corn. My other sister in law, Veronica, is a baking genius and made her a birthday cake that was out of this world. Seriously.

I can’t even begin to tell you how delicious it was, too. Chocolate and butter cream and peanut butter cookies. Oh heavens.

Amy is my sister in law now. But first and foremost, she is my friend. She’s honest and humble. I don’t expect anything less what’s true and real when I’m with her and her strong will makes her a force to reckon with.

She strives to be nothing less than exactly who she is supposed to be, and that is a quality I respect and admire. Kind and thoughtful, hilarious and blunt are only a few of the things I love about her. In the few years that we have been close, she has been a loyal friend, a loving aunt to my children and nothing short of supportive of anything life has brought to us.

She is a strong and beautiful mother and I can only hope that our babies (that are only 2 weeks apart in age) can grow to have a special bond like we do.

Happy Birthday, Amy.

I’m thankful for….

simple celebrations

Hayden turns four today. Due to Andy’s work schedule we actually had her party with all her tiny friends a couple of weeks ago. She had a gymnastics party where they all got to run wild and jump in foam pits. Go down a giant blow up slide and jump their hearts out on tiny trampolines. All the while filling up on popcorn, cotton candy and cupcakes. It was fun, and hectic and a jam packed day.
So today we took it down a notch. We ate cupcakes for breakfast. Because, well, we can. You only turn four once.

We filled up lots of balloons and played all morning.

Even the tiniest of us enjoyed them. (no worries, all balloon activity was supervised)

Since today is all about her, Hayden picked out whatever she wanted to wear. She couldn’t quite decide on one look.

Her favorite cousins are coming over for a sleepover so I gathered up supplies for pizza and popcorn to go with our movies.

And while we wait for our party guests, Hayden is starting on her thank you cards for the gifts she already got. These are the cutest cards ever.

Big parties are exciting and memorable. But sometimes it’s the sweet and simple celebrations that take the cake.

Today, Hayden Evelee is officially a four year old.

She is all that is happy, sassy and energetic. She is wildly independent and makes me laugh each and every day.

She is the queen of dress up and most days I don’t even attempt to dress her because I know she’s just going to strip down and be a ladybug.

Or a princess.

Or perhaps a doctor.

She is willing and ready for any adventure. Be sure to leave her at least 10 minutes to prep though. She needs ample time to pack all the essentials in her pack back. Like one of my shoes, some fruit snacks, a few pieces of scrap wood, a couple socks that don’t match, a book, and a pair of broken sunglasses.

She became a big sister this year and is already a pro.

Her favorite season is summer, when she can run and play outside for endless hours.

She is silly and loves to tell jokes. Talks your ear off if you let her, and can come up with a pretty believable story. Or she might even fill you in on her favorite line from FRIENDS.. “Grandma’s chicken salad…” (said in a super creepy Joey voice)

She is an amazing eater. And I’m not saying that to toot my own horn. She eats sauerkraut you guys! She’ll fight you for the last pepper or broccoli stalk, and there isn’t a fruit she won’t eat. She prefers her eggs over easy, and is surprisingly good at eating sushi with chopsticks. Don’t get me wrong, she can down chocolate covered raisins like it’s nobody’s business. But she’s also been known to sneak into the kitchen when no one is watching and eat 3 bananas in a sitting. Or an entire apple. Seeds included. Oops. Nothing surprises me anymore with her. Not even when she tells me she finished her glass of milk. From dinner yesterday that got left out. Gross.

She can be sassy with the best of them and you better not call her anything but her name or she’ll be sure to let you know your incorrect.

She’s left handed and a wiz with a pair of scissors. Her drawings are hilarious, and if she’s lucky enough to be gifted play doh (play doh and I are no longer friends), she will create and build for days. Or for as long it lasts, which is approximately 2 1/2 days.

Currently her favorite movies are Mr. Peabody and Sherman and Paranorman. She loves Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom and watching You Tube videos of a lady opening easter eggs. It’s so weird but it keeps her busy so whatever.

She’s goofy and funny. Sweet and thoughtful. A lover and a fighter all rolled into one. Days when she’s not around are so boring and she keeps me on my toes in every way. Life with you around Hayden is simply the very best.

You, my beautiful baby boy, are six months old today.

It’s hard to imagine what life was like before you. You are sweet and loving. On most days you would rather snuggle up than be on your own. You are so curious about everything around you and I love to watch your fascination with whatever you get your little hands on.

Your smile and your laugh melts me instantly and whatever frustration I may have felt goes away without any hesitation.

Your sister is the only one that can make you stop crying without even trying. You simply smile in her very presence. You let her dress you up, smoosh you and startle you, and you never fuss.

I love your long eyelashes and golden hair. And your big blue eyes light up my whole world.

Your trying so hard to sit up and it’s hilarious to watch you do little bicycle kicks, like you truly believe your going to get somewhere. Your not a good night time sleeper, not even a little bit. But I forgive you, because you are so incredibly sweet during the day.

You still nurse like a champ and love any food we give you to try. Your already rolling and scooting around and getting into mischief, and enjoy annoying your sister by chewing on her socks or pulling her hair when she’s not paying attention.

Your little personality is really starting to develop and I’m over the moon to spend each and every moment with you. Reid Philip, thanks for letting me be your mama.

Thanks to random.org we have a winner for the giveaway. I gave each entry a number in order of when they came in and…. drumroll please……

Ellen!!! Hip hip hooray!! Your package is on the way sweet lady. Thanks to all of you lovely peeps that entered!