10 Easy Steps On How To Potty Train Your Two Year Old Son:

Nah, I'm just kidding. But hey, guess what?

I only have to buy diapers for my baby girl these days!! Our Toddler Man, Hud the Stud, has said goodbye to the diaper days and moved onto bigger and better things. 

I assure you, it did not come easily. 

And it didn't happen overnight.

And it sucked. Hard.

And to be totally honest, we're still working on it. 

Who knew getting a kid to use a toilet would be so tough?! No one told me that when I signed up for this whole parenting gig. 

We tried a few different versions of a few different methods, started and failed, took a break, tried again, took a longer break and then came back to it at the beginning of December. And honestly, it all spawned from a good kick in the rear and some encouragement while talking with my good friend who'd had success training her twin girls that are about the same age as Hudson. I literally got off the phone with her that afternoon, stripped Hud's diaper off, packed away the rest of them and said, "that's it, wee man! We're doing this!" Surprisingly, we actually had some pretty good progress before our trip and I was hopeful that we'd be able to keep it up but the break from usual routine and being away from home caused our potty-train to sort of derail (har har).. I'm pretty sure he spent the better part of those 3 weeks in a Pull-Up but I digress. 

We picked right back up when we came home and I am glad to say, a few weeks later, that we have finally succeeded. 

Granted, there's still the occasional accident, and random rebel from potty time and I feel like that's to be expected this early on in the game with him still technically on the "young" side for potty training. But who knows, maybe I'm just tooting our horn a little too early.. Quite frankly, I don't care. 

I have no secrets to share, nor fool proof methods to divulge.. But I will say, oh my word, the headache, the endless mess, the frustration- it has been worth it. And I am so glad to be moving forward. I'm sure there are plenty of great excuses in favor of the waiting game, but I haven't changed the kids diaper in about 2 months and it feels GREAT. 

I have, however, cleaned crap off my floor, the toilet, his hands, my hands, the bathtub, his legs, etc and done more "bathtub laundry" to clean peed on nundies and pants than I can express. So. There's that. 

Step one: just do it.

Step two: don't give up.

Step three: no really, don't give up.

Step four: I see that look in your eye, you wanna give up, and really, you could... No one would think less of you.. But don't.

Step five: oh hey, look at that. There's a little light at the end of the tunnel, keep going.

Step six: hardcore regression.

Step seven: okay, it's past the point of frustrating and quite possibly the most infuriating thing you've ever dealt with... But it's gonna be alright, keep pressing forward. 

Step eight: make him help clean the crap off his clothes. See how much he likes THAT.

Step nine: he hates it.

Step ten: sweet victory.  Sort of.

{... Yeah, he's gonna hate me for this one day... But that's what parents are for right? Embarrassing you and documenting milestone moments?? You're welcome, kid ;) }

Valentine's Date

We have some pretty amazing friends out here, let me tell you.

We feel so blessed. 

For Christmas we were gifted with some tickets to the opera for Valentine's Day along with a promise of free babysitters for the night from our beloved Kennedy's. I just can't even express our joy for having such fantastic people here to be living life with. They take every opportunity to bless us and I can only hope that we are reciprocating even half  of the love they've poured out on us while we have been here.

They have played such an important roll in our stay here, truly filling some of the "family" void  in our lives since we all are lacking in that department in NYC. We take every chance to explore the East Coast together, and hang out to talk, share, joke.. It's so fulfilling. Truly. We typically all get together on Saturday nights for brinner and games.. It's become a bit of a tradition and I love it! We are so thankful for their friendship/familyship!

Anyways, they gifted us this fantastic evening, and we had a blast. Dinner at a fancy pants restaurant, and the opera... Hudson even managed to sustain his first bit of a head injury while we were gone and Alee handled it like a pro! Sent us pics, gave us a play by play and we were able to decide that he was a-okay, no stitches needed, and we could continue on with our evening. We came home before the opera ended, though.. It was a 4 hour production and neither of us were too confident in our abilities to stay awake throughout the rest of the show. Haha, we headed home and spent a few hours hanging with Tyson and Alee and watching the Winter Olympics together. We love our friends.

Just your average, run of the mill, Mom story.

I'd like to paint a picture for you. 

It's a Thursday night. We've been indoors all day because of arctic temperatures outside that I'm simply not willing to endure. Nic is working late. It's just after dinner time and the house is a wreck. 

I take a look around the dirty house and think, bathtime. Bathtime will flow perfectly into bedtime, which will flow into mommy clean up time, which can then smoothly transition to relax time, maybe work out, watch a movie, wait for my honey. 

What. A. Perfect. Plan.

I get Charlotte cleaned up while Hudson is climbing all over me begging to get in, and "helping" with the whole bathing an infant process. I don't typically do their baths separately but decided it would be a little easier to manage since I was home alone and could use the time that Hud bathed alone to get Charlotte ready for bed. I had it all mapped out in my head, so his pleas for diving in were met with calm responses like, "No, my honey. Let's be patient, alright? First we will wash baby and then you can get in with your cars and toys. Aren't you excited to get a bath all by yourself?! You're such a big boy!"

Anyways, I make the transition of moving the big kid in and taking my tiny one out. I start to fill up the tub with more warm water, wrap Lottie in her pink owl towel and carry her off to get diapered and dressed while she coos and kicks like a dream. I hear some unusual sounds coming from the bathroom so I call out, "Huuudson, what are you doing buddy!? I need you to stop that, alright. Momma's coming. I'll be right there." I snap up Charlotte's pjs in record time, get her in a safe spot surrounded by her toys and rush to the bathroom where my suspicions were confirmed. Hudson had been filling cup after cup of water from the spout and dumping it straight to the floor.

Awesome.

I scold him briefly and let him know that is not okay, accidental splashes are alright but purposefully pouring water out is not allowed. "It could be dangerous, okay bud?" Shut off the water, give a few more toys, and rudely try to mop up some of the water. 

"That's okay, not a big deal. That won't take but a couple minutes to clean up later. Gotta keep getting Charlotte ready for bed." 

I head back to the living room where my angel is sitting there playing with her feet, chewing on her hand and looking up at me like dinner had just arrived. 

We settle in on the couch for a pre-bedtime nursing sesh, all while, of course, keeping an ear out for my toddler in the other room, splishin and splashin and racing his cars. 

And then. Maybe not even 3 minutes later.

Chaos strikes.

Hudson starts calling for me, not in a normal playful sort of manner, in his hurt sounding voice. I'm thinking he must have his fingers caught in something or.. Who knows. Doesn't matter. I can't just sit here. 

I pull the sleepy baby off of me and lay her down amongst her toys once more- she of course, is not too happy about this.. So she starts yelling but I can't delay, I kiss her lil head, tell her I'm sorry- I must get to Hud who is now screaming at the top of his lungs. I come around the corner to him standing in the tub (always a no-no) rubbing his eyes and crying. My eyes immediately go straight to a floating bar of soap and I know what's happened. 

I turn the water on and start using my hand to cup the water and splash it in his face to flush his eyes out. This kid already hates having water poured on his head, when it comes to bathtime and washing his hair, but now that there's soap in his eyes? I've just become his worst enemy. Even more than the soap in his eyes, apparently, because he keeps pushing me away, rubbing harder and harder, to the point that there's now a thick lather going on from his hairline to his cheek bones. 

Alright, kid. What the heck. 

Now I'm starting to get a little frantic: I'm  thinking he's going to go blind if I don't get this dang soap out of his eyes, he needs to not be flailing while standing in the bathtub and oh by the way, my baby is still crying in the other room and from the sounds of that thud just rolled herself onto or knocked herself into something and I need to rescue her stat. Leaving me no other real choice, I grab the cup he'd earlier been using to dump wate out of the tub with and start to dump water down his face and hands to get rid of what has to be THE foamiest soap I have ever dealt with. 4, 5, 6 huge cups full of water and it finally rinses clean, but he's still screaming at the top of his lungs.

I pull him out of the tub, onto the soaked bathrug, wrap him in his towel and dry his face off. "Are you alright, bud? Are your eyes still burning? No?? Okay, I gotta go get your sister." I sit him down on the toilet seat and run out.

Or shall I say, slip and slide out. 

Wet feet, meet dry floor. Oh, you two don't work well together? That's too bad. Crash, bang, boom. Mom's out for the count. 

Awesome.

But wait, my baby is still crying. Gotta get  up, gotta go get her!! I stumble into the living room and scoop her up with my now throbbing wrist and try to console her poor little hot body, with BRIGHT red face- the girl screamed herself into quite a fit of rage. And yet, not a second after I have her in my arms, she starts giggling. Why? Cause Hudson just struted out of the bathroom. 

And apparently shark towels are hilarious.

Woosah.  

Today.

Today has been a lot of things. 

Easy, unfortunately, has not been one of them. 

It's been a cross between frustration from potty training struggles and toddler rearing, insane sleep deprivation from infant care, and absolute heartache because my babies... They're growing up so fast. It's so cliché but it's becoming more and more real to me with every passing day.

It first struck me when Charlotte woke from her first nap this morning. We had the Businelle boys over for some playtime and I could hear her stirring, so I got the boys all distracted in the living room and I walked into the kid's room to find her laying in her crib giggling and grinning from ear to ear like she'd been excitedly awaiting my arrival. I picked her up and she immediately grabbed my face, and hugged it, slobbering all over.. My heart broke, just a teensy bit. This little girl, this joyful little being isn't a newborn anymore! She's nearly reached her 1/2 year mark and I am still trying to desperately cling to her little bitty baby moments. She's well on her way to mobility, sitting up, gets herself onto all fours, rolls across our living room, and scoots to get to what she wants.. I found myself tearing up as I walked her into our bedroom and stood in front of the mirror with her while she smiled back at herself.

These precious moments are but a blink. And then they're gone. It's unbelievable. It's wonderful. Devastatingly wonderful.

Then the rest of the day happened and I found myself totally and utterly frustrated, and unhappy. It's pathetic how quickly everything can take a turn for the worse. 

I fail, so miserably, every day. And my children get to witness it firsthand. Day in and day out, I get it all so wrong. Every night almost always ends with me vowing that tomorrow, somehow, I'll get it all right. Tomorrow, somehow, will be better. I'll be that perfect mom. I'll be that perfect wife. I'll be perfect. 

I found myself sitting next to Hudson tonight as he struggled to get to sleep, holding his hand, patting his chest, silently just staring at his sweet face. He's  two. Two whole years of this wonderful little man in my life and I still manage to forget to tell him how amazing he is. I went in upset with him, because he didn't nap today and was fighting sleep so heavily tonight I couldn't hardly stand it anymore. I wanted to snap at him, tell him he was being naughty and that he needed to close his eyes and go. to. sleep. But I took one look at his sweet little face, eyes swollen from exhaustion, full of tears, and my heart broke. He's only two. He's just as frustrated as I. Sleep isn't coming easy and it's painful. He needs me. Plain and simple. 

I turned on his little Dino glow light, and sat down next to his bed. Simmering down from my frustrated state to try and help him also calm down. I patted his chest, let out a sigh, and he followed suit. 

We just sat. I stared at him. He stared at the lights on the ceiling.

We have my old iPod hooked up to a little speaker set in their room to play worship music while they sleep, sometimes all day long.. Quite frankly, it's more for my sake than theirs.  But tonight, while I sat in there with him a  song came on that just broke me.. I cried. I couldn't help it. 

{Hide me now

Under your wings

Cover me

Within Your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar

I will soar with You above the storm

Father, You are King over the flood

I will be still, know You are God

Find rest, my soul

In Christ alone

Know His power 

In quietness and trust 

When the oceans rise and thunders roar

I will soar with You above the storm

Father, You are King over the flood

I will be still, know You are God}

Ah, Hillsong, you've done it again. Worded something beautifully and melodically. Something my heart can cling to and sing along to even when my mouth cannot utter a word. Why does it take a worship song to remind me that I can't do it on my own?! How many times am I gonna have to tell myself that before it gets through this thick skull?

Not by MY power or strength or drive. No, beloved, in Christ alone. 

Today has been a tough one. But it is not the whole story. 

Today, I failed. A lot. But it is not who I am.

Today broke my heart. But it is not the end of my story.

Find rest, my soul, in Christ alone. 

New Year Ramblings

I've realized I tend to talk about a lot of nonsense. 

I always think about these really deep issues, or thoughts, or subjects to dive into.. But by the time I sit down to actually get anything written I have a "derrrrrrr" sort of moment and just wind up filling you in on the Hansen family happenings. 

Which is mostly my way of jogging my own memory so I don't forget everything, all the time. 

Bear with me..

We had a pretty amazing end of 2013 and start to 2014. Wonderfully busy, like we tend to do.

Nic and I celebrated our 3rd year of marriage. Kind of hard to believe it has only been 3 years! Ha. I mean that in a good way, of course. It feels like we have been through and walked through so many things together... It just seems unreal that it has all taken place in such a short amount of time! If this is what we have already seen in 3 years, I am so excited to see what the next 50 look like! We had a lovely night at home with some ordered in sushi and homemade pav's. In case you didn't know, we actually served pavlova at our wedding instead of traditional cake. We didn't save the top tier or anything like that, because frankly, pavlova is too delicious to even THINK of not eating it in its entirety from the moment it leaves the oven. It's true. Don't believe me? You should try it. Nic bought me some amazing new shoes (that I only just became brave enough to try out in public) and I surprised him with a special wedding album! We do pretty well when it comes to surprising each other. 

Thanksgiving brought some visitors to our little corner of Manhattan, with lots of fun moments. Early morning rushing around for the Macy's parade, forgotten important details (ahem, like plugging in the crock pot over night.. And charging the air mattress  blower ahead of time..Guilty on both counts) lots of good food with lovely people, city sight seeing, game nights and plenty of laughs to go around. 

{Lottie Love's first Times Square Experience... She was unimpressed..

True New Yorker, I tell ya ;) }

Then came December! We did lots of online Christmas shopping, some potty training and travel like you wouldn't believe. Lottie had her first airplane ride and it went much better than anticipated. There were some still tears shed but nothing that couldn't be solved with a little bouncing and walking around in the back of the airplane. And in his true form, Hudson took to having his first trip with his own guaranteed seat (that we had to cough up full fare for each time.. Ouch.) like a pro. Sat in his seat, watched Cars or practiced his alphabet and puzzle games on the iPad, sipped on some apple juice, colored, played with Hot Wheels on the tray table.. You'd think he'd been born to do this sort of thing! 

First stop was Oklahoma where we got to see Dallas dwelling newlyweds Mark and Laura, and Kenny for a fun day of pre-Christmas festivities including go kart racing and playground time. We "endured" a week of hotel living with two young babes while Nic worked a busy week of meetings and Christmas parties. Room service, movies on demand and maids every day? I can't complain. 

Then came the treck to Albuquerque, what is usually about a 6.5 hour drive turned into a 13 hour fight against Mother Nature. Luckily, we'd rented a Tahoe. So we had the upper hand. But we started the morning off with about an inch and a half of solid ice covering the roads, foliage, street signs, Starbucks.. everything. Thankfully Nic had thought ahead and parked in a garage the night before so we didn't start off needing a chisel and a hammer to get ourselves into the truck! We inched our way out of Oklahoma into the panhandle, where we briefly stopped in Amarillo to see an old friend from our time in Kansas City.

We'd met him at his work and it started to snow so we set back out to head into New Mexico all the while trying to plan a spot to meet up with my cousin who was making her way from California to Texas with her hubby. Which we did, after picking up a stranded young couple and their baby who was not much younger than Charlotte! I am so thankful God was able to use us to get that little family to safety. I can't imagine being stranded in freezing cold weather with young babes. We were the only people to stop in over 2 hours of them being stopped on the side of the road! After getting them squared away we found a funny little truck stop that had an antique car museum inside to meet Michelle (Faye!) and her honey, Noah! I wish the visit could have lasted longer, I mean MUCH longer, but it was so so great to see them nonetheless. I am related to easily some of the most outstanding people on the planet. You can quote me on that one. 

{happy family}

We finally arrived in Albuquerque where we kicked off the 2 weeks with a big scare (thanks a lot Kenny ;) ), a surprise drop in from the newlyweds, and the first family photo NOT taken at a wedding in years. Ha! We had a few days with the whole family all together (all 13 of us!), complete with the most magnificent rendition of O Holy Night to ever hit Albuquerque, a train set to bond 3 generations of males (Pops, bros, Nic and Hud), grandparent babysitting, Gravity Park, epic Secret Santa and stocking gifting, annnd eating. There's always lots of eating. 

After Mark, Laura and Kenny made their way back to Dallas, the rest of us ventured up to Taos for some long-awaited slope adventures and overnight trip. I hadn't been on my board in 4+ years, Matt and Bri were about the same, and Nic had never touched skis... After some gentle coaching from Kev, and a bit of patience from all parties we all made it down and got our bearings reigned in for a really fun day! My parents were kind enough to hang around at the hotel with the kiddies so we could venture out on our own. Turns out the magic mixture to calming Charlotte down is dancing and bouncing around in the front seat with Pops to really loud 1970's rock.. That's my girl. Here's to hoping it doesn't take another 4 years to get me back on the slopes!! 

{hott hubby}

{Meryl and Matt}

{Our guide, our mentor, the man behind the madness- Kevin}

{"Kristin must be feeling really cute, she's taking so many pictures."}

The rest of the trip included, but was not limited to; Cards Against Humanity, an obscene amount of boxed wine, Mexican ribs, the pungent smell of pipe tobacco, wood fired pizza, guns, visits with old friends, ice skating, target practice, playground time, car seat anxiety, car borrowing, coffee, unnecessary break downs in communication, family time, sibling time, movie time, unsupervised Redbull consumption by a minor, hiking, discussions, wiener dog wrangling, UFC fights, RONDAAAA, buffalo chicken, New Years Eve sans babies, grandparent bonding, aunt and uncle bonding, brunching annnnnd eating. There's always lots of eating. ;) 

 {yeeeah.. Self timer app on my phone.. Great concept, not so great quality. Oh well!}

{these kids were spoiled by all their aunties and uncles!!}

{reunited with my sweet Jess and her wonderful little family}

{Ba-nana and her Lottie girl}

{Pops with his Hud the Stud}

{brunchity-brunch-brunch.}

Suffice to say, I really love my family. I have some amazing brothers and they picked out some really wonderful sisters for me. (Take your time, Kenny. There's no rush!!) You don't realize it much growing up but your years all spent together, living under one roof, really are priceless. We'd never make it out alive if we tried to do it now, of course, but it is really nice when we all get back together. 

I am so thankful to have been able to go for so long and be with my family! It was so great to see my children getting to spend time with my parents and siblings.. They're just such precious moments that we can never get back. So I am thankful for that. Can't wait for the next big Mullaney family get together. Maybe by then one of my bro's will have finally hopped on the baby bandwagon and have made me an auntie!! A girl can dream, right?

Anyways, just as we had left NYC in a blizzard we tried to return in a blizzard.. I don't know what we were thinking. Travel on the East Coast this time of year is just crazy.. We made it home around 4am on the 4th and have since made efforts to adjust back to our routines and life. 

I think that should be all for now. Much love, and God bless!

Awesome Opossum

Did YOU know there was a blogger app?? I sure didn't.

My life just became exceptionally easier. And yours just got exceptionally more wonderful... Now I can write wherever and whenever I want and that means I get to check in much more often! Easy for me- wonderful for you ;) Doesn't that make you SO happy?? I know it sure does for me. 

I know I say this all the time but so much has happened since I last was able to post. And that was only like.. 3 weeks ago. 

We decided on a fairly last minute random road trip with the Kennedy's! So much for missing an autumn tradition, right? Instead of a pumpkin patch, apple orchard adventure we decided to use up some of Nic's hotel and rental car points for an overnight trip to DC. We had a blast. Seriously. So. Much. Fun.

We drove down Saturday morning and were back by Sunday around noon. The kids did surprisingly well, it was Lottie's first real trip in the car- the only other time she's been in her car seat was for the short drive home from the hospital. And as always, our time with our NYC fam was priceless. We enjoy our time with Tyson and Alee so much more than they'll ever know. It's so great having friends here that are so easy to get along with, that we can share our hearts with, talk freely about Jesus with, adventure and have game nights with, and who love our kids allllmost as much as we do :) We are blessed. 

 

Anyways, DC was a lot of fun. We will definitely need to go back. We barely got a taste of the museums before it was time to leave! Alee had researched some of the must-see items before we went so we wound up in the Museum of American History, gawking at the ruby red slippers from the Wizard of Oz, Kermit, the original Flag that inspired the creation of the American flag, and Julia Child's kitchen. Pretty cool.

And as with most autumn adventures with our sweet friends we scored some Christmas card worthy photos..   

I don't have too much more exciting news but Thanksgiving is coming up and I gotta say, I am pretty disappointed with the lack of Thanksgiving decor around town. I hadn't purchased any decorations since we'd initially planned to be out of town this year so I went shopping this past weekend (a week and a half before the holiday!) and there was literally NOTHING besides some paper plates and napkins that had some fall leaves on them. I want a cornucopia, some tiny pumpkins, a "give thanks" banner! I've never known Target to disappoint when it comes to decor buuut this time around I'm left empty handed. Which is pretty sad. I may have to go outside, collect some leaves with Hud and make our own garland! We gotta have something...  

We'll figure it out. Don't you worry! Gotta go. Until next time :)

If Spring has spring then Fall must have… flung?

It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? Fall. I mean, really.

For the sake of not being cliche I not going to go into detail about how much I love autumn in the city, or how amazing all the different trees look, or how magical it is to walk through Central Park crunching through the leaves. I won't go on and on about how much I wish it was this time of year all year. Some people love summer, winter, spring… no, no, I am a fall type lady. But I won't get into that. You don't need to know that I have a body that is much better suited for sweaters than bikinis. Tastebuds that are much more keen on pumpkin (sweet and savory) than your standard day to day foods (who am I kidding though- I love some good BBQ, watermelon, fresh spring salads, etc..) And a heart that just soars whenever I get to have a cozy day inside with my kiddies sipping on tea and/or coffee by the candlelight.. Cause we don't have a fireplace. Otherwise it would totally be the fireplace. I'm not going to drown you in overused phrases about how much I love wearing scarves and boots and cardigans. I won't tell you that a hot cup of honey vanilla chamomile tea in the evening is something I look forward to almost every day that the temperatures are below 60. And I will not sing accolades of the wondrous fall time activities like apple picking, pumpkin patch hunting, cider donut eating, corn mazes, etc that just fill my heart with joy. I simply refuse to do that to you.

See what I did there?

Don't get me wrong, though- put a Pumpkin Spice Latte in my face and I will slap it right out of your hands. I have tried, believe me, but I cannot hop on the Pumpkin Spice Latte train.

{Conquered these steps with a friend and our 3 toddlers, 1 babe & 2 strollers... Try getting that experience in any other city! ;) }

We have celebrated 2 birthdays recently! I say recently when in reality its been about a month and a half- but still. It feels recent. Hudson is 2 now and Nic turned 25.. Just amazing, right? Wasn't I finding out I was pregnant with him like.. 2 weeks ago?! Not 2 years?! And Nic?? The somewhat mysterious and hot foreign guitar playing 20 year old I met... Now my husband, father to my children and an executive in NYC? Come on. Haha.. Unreal. We planned some fun things for birthday celebrations but mostly kept it small with our New York family. Hudson had an organized playdate with some of his buddies at Central Park and lots of exciting gifts from us and in the mail. Nic got a weekend full of surprises.. A late-night date night, some presents he was less than expecting, and all of his favorite foods. I am so blessed to be able to bless my boys. I think it is just too fun that we have 2 September boys and 2 July girls. Enough of a pattern for Nic to advocate for us to call it quits with the two kiddos.. Haha. We'll see about that. I can't say I feel all too in control when it comes to how many children we will have, seeing as we didn't exactly "plan" the timing of either of our two children! But who knows. Maybe one day we will get to adopt. That would be just amazing.

{Bedroom full of balloons.. Continued tradition from last year}

{September Birthday Boys out for pizza}

In other news, Hudson has become quite the talker! Ever since right around his birthday his vocab has been growing by leaps and bounds each day. Though he won't prove it to our friends when we put him on the spot. Of course…Haha. It usually goes a little something like this... "Hudson! Who is that? Is that your sister?? What's her name??… *blank stare* Come on.. You know this Hudson.. *blank stare* Hudson? Honey? Wanna sing us your birthday song? Show them how you know the birthday song, baby! *blank stare*… Hey Hudson! Is that a squirrel?? 'You gotta hear how he says squirrel, it's hilarious..'.. Hudson??! Look at that squirrel. Do you see it? What is that?! Can you tell us what that is?? *blank stare*" Whatever, kid. We know you're brilliant.

Can you believe Charlotte is already 3 months old! I know I can't. She tries to sit up on her own, has become very "grabby" and likes to koala just about anything you put within her reach, giggles at her brother, coos and smiles and melts our hearts daily. We have so loved having a sweet daughter to call our own, and can hardly wait to see her personality continue to blossom. It's no lie when people tell you that it goes by too quickly. And how with each kid time it somehow accelerates even more. I don't wanna miss these precious moments!! It's absolutely wonderful, and absolutely devastating all at once.

{Snuggly bunch}

{"Reading" with each other}

We had hoped to have another fun upstate adventure with the Kennedy's this year but it just didn't work out with everyone's busy schedules. Nic traveled HEAPS this month. As soon as he was getting home from one trip he was having to pack another bag to head out somewhere else. This job has definitely been challenging on the "days away from home" front, but there are some perks here and there that help it to feel a little bit less painful. The airline points and hotel points have paid for a few trips of ours already, and the fact that we haven't spent more than probably $50 on clothing for Nic in the past year because of his clothing allowance for work is pretty amazing, not to mention all of the invaluable work experience he is gaining and the pretty incredible people we've become acquainted with. It's been tough but also very rewarding. We feel blessed, to say the least.

 {Love this sweet boy with all my heart}

{Yep, these kids have turned me to mush!! Look at those dimples!!} 

I got "white girl stereotyped" at Central Park a week or so ago. It was pretty funny, and a little bit shocking to say the least. It didn't really even hit me until the lady awkwardly walked away shortly after her comment..  I was talking with a fellow mom playground patron, discussing the age difference between my kiddies and the fact that she wants to wait until her daughter is more like 5-6 before having another babe. No judgment from my end, I said that I thought it was a great amount of time between kids and that it would be awesome for the older sibling to have a bigger part in helping take care of the younger one.. to which she replies, "Well, yeah, I am sure you have a lot of help from your nannies and all but it would just be me at home with the children, so I really do need to wait longer between kids…" Uhhhhh… What?! I laughed at the statement and said, "Oh, well, thats sweet, but it is just me at home- we don't pay for any help. I take care of them on my own.. and my husband helps when he isn't at work, of course!" Annnd for some reason that is beyond me,  the conversation died shortly thereafter. Nic said I had the prime opportunity to use the race card but I didn't take advantage! Maybe I'll just hang out at Central Park more often and wait for another chance…It is bound to happen. People tend to talk out of their asses here. I have had someone ask me if I was my kids nanny. And ask me if they are both from the same dad. And if we got married before or after we had the kids. And if we had planned to have them soooo close together. For some reason it's hard for people out here to wrap their minds around a 24 year old mother of 2, who is married to their father no less. Haha! Oh well. I take it all with a smile and nod. This life may not make sense to some, but I love it. I am blessed. We are blessed! I realize that! I mean, it really is incredible to be able to stay at home to raise our children in a city that requires most families to have a double income. I try my hardest to remember that in the moments that make me wanna kick that friggin remote control truck across the apartment because it somehow ended up under my feet for the 1,000th time today and the loud noise has now waked the baby!!!! Haha. See.. I can laugh now… But in the moment? Yeah. I'm not proud of my behavior.

We've been back and forth trying to make some solid plans for Thanksgiving but have finally settled on staying in the city. I'm actually really looking forward to it. I'd been excited for all the different possibilities we'd been looking at but I think I am most excited with staying here. I mean, really, the city is just so beautiful this time of year. ;)

{See what I mean?}

And it will be fun to see the parade up close and in person again, have a big lunch/dinner with our adopted NYC family, and just relax at home with our little family, having Nic home and not working for almost an entire week? Sounds like heaven to me.

On that note, I've got my little slice of heaven waking from her morning nap. Time to kick it into high gear and stop sitting around. Much love, and God bless, y'all.