I found the prompt for this post on one of my favorite blogs (Little Miss Momma) and thought I'd give it a go!
{this moment} – A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember Inspired by SouleMama
To all the dads, grandpas, uncles, friends, and father figures: Happy (Belated) Father's Day! You all have such an important role in the lives of your children, grandchildren, etc., and I hope that you all felt extra loved and appreciated on Sunday! Even though Brandon had to work on actual Father's Day, we had a wonderful long weekend full of family, food, and lots of Whose Line is it Anyway reruns. We began our Father's Day weekend with a Rockies game on Thursday, which (if you ask me) is always a perfect way to spend a summer day! On Friday, my parents came out, the guys opened their gifts, I made this delicious meatball sub casserole for dinner, and we just relaxed.
Dad's annual Father's Day candy card
Best $1.50 ever spent.
**Side note: I didn't get any pictures of Brandon's gifts, but I got him a Birchbox Men subscription, new shorts to sleep in, and I surprised him with a bag of goodies to take to work on Sunday**
After sleeping in on Saturday, we did the local garage sale rounds (scored a giant filing cabinet for $10 and a barely used paper shredder for FREE), took it easy while my parents & brother went to see Jurassic World, took my Great Aunt Millie to mass & dinner, and then came back to our place to visit and go through some old family scrapbooks. It was another perfect day!
As I mentioned earlier, Brandon had to work on Sunday (but fortunately had a laid back day at work), so Jackson and I hosted my parents and brother for Father's Day brunch. After brunch, my parents headed home, I put Jackson down his nap, got as much work accomplished as I could, and then felt ambitious enough to take Jax to the park in the 98 degree weather (which was miserable, but Jax did NOT want to leave). After (Brandon's) work, we all showered, had dinner, made popcorn, and watched Family Feud (Jax's favorite show, no joke) -- it was such a perfect ending to a perfect weekend!
I made this slow cooker blueberry french toast & bacon, and my mom made hash browns and sausage links.. SO good!
Snack and Gru after nap.
Once again, I hope that all you dads out there had a wonderful day -- thank you for all you do!
I found the prompt for this post on one of my favorite blogs (Little Miss Momma) and thought I'd give it a go!
{this moment} – A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember Inspired by SouleMama
It's official: my (not so) baby is closer to being 2 than he is 1 *inserts all the sad face/broken heart emojis* While I miss my floppy, bright eyed newborn, I gotta admit that I'm pretty crazy about my sturdy, bright eyed toddler! I can't get over how smart, funny, and adorable this little guy is -- thank you God for giving him to Brandon and me!!
Here's what we've been up to this month:
Jackson with his cousins and Great Grandpa over Memorial Day weekend
Wearing: Some 12 month clothes but mostly 18 (18 month shirts fit pretty well but the pants are still way too long); Size 3 diapers
Sleep: I've come to terms with the fact that this kid just isn't a good sleeper (unless he's in our bed with his foot in my face).. Brandon and I kid that Jax is our little "learning curve" baby, but it's so true! We definitely know that with baby #2 (when, God willing, that happens), we WILL be crib training from the get go and WILL NOT be allowing him/her to sleep in our bed for the first year.
Jax likes: Walking, running, running away from mommy at the grocery store, phones, playing outside, playing at the library, when Grammy & Grandpa come to visit, his new hat, older kids, Bella, reading, classes at the library, pulling out the catch bed, shaking everyone's hands, doing the hand motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Patty Cake", sweets, carrying things around the house, his "new" racetrack
Jax dislikes: Being cooped up (or immobile) for too long, having to share, being told no, waking up alone, having to come inside, when mommy takes his popcicle from him because it has two daddy-longlegs on it Food: We are down to only nursing before nap & bed (yay!) -- his favorite foods are still Honey Greek yogurt, Belvita biscuits, chicken nuggets, breads of any kind, peanut butter, crackers of any kind, fruit/veggie pouches, any kind of bean, cheese, veggie noodles with melted mozzarella, spicy anything (like mom), and sweets in general.
Teeth: it's hard to get a good look (because he won't let me), but I'm guessing he has about 12 now, including a few molars!
Happenings: Visiting family in Kansas; toddler time at the library; lots of playing at the park/in the backyard; 7th haircut; visits to Grammy & Grandpas; Kansas family visits; first babysitter at our house (while mommy and daddy went on a day date); 3rd Rockies game; Grammy & Grandpa visits; lots of weekend garage sales; and daddy's 2nd Father's Day.
~Holy cow this kid is hammy (I wonder where he gets it?) and loves to show off, pretend to take selfies, and ham it up around other kids!
Yes; he wears this outfit multiple times a week #cantstopwontstop
~We have a big talker (which is so surprising, considering Brandon and I are so quiet and reserved :D)! He jabbers all the time and is constantly acting like he's trying to tell us something very important. His "real" words are dada, mama, ella (Bella), ba (boo), nah, yah, la la loo (I love you -- sweetest thing ever!), and hi.
I credit the little munchkin on the left for teaching her cousin to walk/run
~We have a FULL BLOWN walker now! The minute I published his 17-month update (saying he just barely walked), he took off!
~Jax went back and forth between using his right and left hands for awhile, and now he seems to be a full-blown lefty (which is funny because Brandon and I are both righties, but Brandon's dad and sister are both ambidextrous).. We'll see if he sticks with it!
Jax with my Aunt Heidi and her grandson, Gibson, at Jax's 1st birthday party last December
~I don't know where he picked it up, but Jax's new thing is shaking everyone's hand. On Saturday, we bumped into my Uncle Steve, Aunt Heidi, her son, and grandson (Gibson), and as soon as Jax saw him, he got the biggest smile on his face, ran over to him, grabbed his hand, and started who shake it! What 18-month-old does that?! Too funny! Moments later, they started fighting over a bucket..
Yesterday, Brandon and I took Jackson to his 3rd Rockies game!
It was a very, very hot day, so we didn't watch much of the game (we saw maybe 2 innings; the rest of the time was spent walking around in the shade), but had a great time exploring the Field, watching Jax run around, and spending time together as a family. Brandon's work actually gave us the tickets and the section we sat in was reserved for people from his company -- it was virtually empty, so we were able to take up five seats and let Jax run up and down the row without disturbing anyone.
I used to never really like this time of year, but I gotta admit that 2015 is changing that for me.
I know that all of you parents and caretakers out there are thinking, "Umm, Duh!" -- but just bear with me a sec. I knew that motherhood was going to change me forever, but I never realized just how much of a toll it'd take on my body (I'll tell you guys ALL about the joys of weaning soon), marriage, and just overall perspective on life.
If there's one thing that I wish I would have done differently over the last year and a half, it's that I would have made an effort to spend more time alone with my husband. Between my constant need to be with Jax, bed sharing, and just overall hectic-ness of 2014, I barely spent anytime alone with just Brandon (I can count on one hand the number of times we went out without Jax last year).
I'm thrilled to announce that things have been SO much better this year and that I'm a happier, more confident wife and mamma! How did things change so drastically in such a short amount of time? Well..
We've discovered babysitters.
We have made couple friends who we can hang out with before and after Jax goes to sleep (meaning we normally play games and hang out at our house, but that's okay because we have a blast!).
We have taken my parents up on offers to watch Jax overnight for us so we can take little one night vacations out-of-state.
We moved Jax out of our bed and into his crib.
We made a new nightly ritual of sitting in bed, watching a movie (or TV show -- currently OITNB, which is awful this season), and eating ice cream.
We have started to actually date again.. so much so, in fact, that I think we're doing more now than we did before we got engaged! It's amazing what a huge change it's made in our relationship and in my overall attitude.
What is your favorite way to date your spouse?
We actually got a babysitter and went to see "Jurassic World" on Friday afternoon -- soooooo good!!
I found the prompt for this post on one of my favorite blogs (Little Miss Momma) and thought I'd give it a go!
{this moment} – A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember Inspired by SouleMama
Have I mentioned how much I'm LOVING Brandon's new work schedule? I can't remember if I've written about it or not, but Brandon now works 10-hour days Sunday-Wednesday and has 3 DAYS OFF! It's wonderful and we're all extremely happy with his new hours.
Anyway, his new schedule has allowed us to travel/visit family more often, so after B's doctor appointment early Thursday morning, we grabbed some breakfast downtown headed east to visit my family for a few days (I do the marketing for my hometown museum so going home always gives me a chance to do some on location work and meetings) -- we had such a nice time visiting, eating too much, and just relaxing at my parent's house.
Sorry Bella, you have to stay home this time!
Denver Biscuit Company for breakfast = PURE HEAVEN
It's mos def storm season in Colorado!
Brandon and I were able to sneak away for dinner and drinks on Thursday night -- at one point, we looked at each other stunned because we realized we were able to actually have a long, uninterrupted conversation! #toddlerparentprobs
After attending a hometown festival on Saturday morning, we kidnapped my mom and headed back to Denver to shop, watch American Pharoah make Triple Crown history,work on the yard (Brandon), and then eat too much Chinese takeout and cookie s'mores. It was the perfect way to spend a Saturday!
Then on Sunday, my mom, Jax, and I went over to my aunt's house in Wash Park to visit with her and my Aunt and cousins from Kansas! As always, we had a wonderful laughing, overeating (my cousin made homemade bruschetta.. OMG!!), shopping, and just enjoying each others company. Since my goddaughter's 10th birthday is next week, we also threw her a little surprise party, complete with cake and lots of presents!
When we went to Penney's Saturday afternoon, Jackson found this hat and would not take it off (unless he walked up to someone, took hit off, and put it over his chest.. where does he get these things?!) -- he had everyone in the store grinning from ear to ear!
Playing with his cousins Sunday afternoon (did I mention that Grammy bought him the hat?)
Happy Birthday Emily Rose!
It's Emily's birthday but Jackson still got a present (a book from his Great Aunt Judy) -- he was quick to help Emily open all of her presents, too!
He LOVED his cousins!
Overall, it was such a fabulous weekend -- I just love getting to spend time with my guys and family! Brandon's weekend starts again today and I can't wait to see what adventures lie ahead for us! We hope you all have a wonderful weekend, too!
P.S. Hopefully I'll be able to write more next week.. these past few weeks of work have been kicking my butt! However, I think I'm finally getting a schedule worked out now (that involves getting up earlier than anyone else to work and working during nap time), so hopefully things will begin running a bit smoother around these parts.
I found the prompt for this post on one of my favorite blogs (Little Miss Momma) and thought I'd give it a go!
{this moment} – A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember Inspired by SouleMama
Daddy's Mickey Mouse sprinkler from the 80s? Check!
SPF 70 Sunscreen? Check!
Sticky Popsicle fingers? Check!
While Brandon was at work on Sunday, Jax and I enjoyed all of these things -- so I hereby declare that summer is here! I'm not going to lie; last summer was kind of a bust (we were living in our tiny 3rd floor apartment and I had to carry my 6-month-old and all of our supplies up and down the stairs multiple times a day) so I'm extra excited for this year because I have a fun toddler who LOVES to be outside AND we have a house with a yard! YAY!
I hope your summers are all off to an equally fabulous start! Here's to warm days, bonfires, and lots of seasonal fun!
I found the prompt for this post on one of my favorite blogs (Little Miss Momma) and thought I'd give it a go!
{this moment} – A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember Inspired by SouleMama
